And that matter relating to this Bliss and Happiness of the Soul are matters of the greatest moment and consequence will appear from the following Particulars 1. Name me any one Concern in the whole World that is so great or of that Moment The Prosperity of a Kingdom is a great Concern but you cannot reap half the Comfort and satisfaction from that Prosperity which you can do from the Bliss and Happiness of your Souls The welfare of a Family is a great Concern but the bliss of your Souls is much greater for the want of the former may be sweetned by Arguments but the want of the other cannot be excused or qualified by all the Logick in the World Health is a great Concern but the bliss of your Souls is greater the former makes you robust and fit to bear Burthens but the latter enables you to conquer Sin to overcome Temptations and to vanquish Lusts and vain Desires A livelihood or competency in the World is a great Concern but the bliss of your Souls is greater The former indeed may give you credit and reputation among your Neighbours but the other is a motive to God and his holy Angels to respect and honour you A good Name is a great Concern but the bliss of your Souls is greater for if you be deprived of the former you are still in a capacity of being loved of God and enjoying the light of his Favour but wanting the other God can have no kind thoughts no favourable inclinations towards you 2. Matters which concern the bliss and happiness of your Souls relate to Eternity and therefore must needs be the weightiest Concern whatever is in this World fades perishes and dies Nothing is firm or stable or permanent and therefore what lasts but for a few moments cannot be comparable in Excellency to that which lasts for ever The happiness we speak of hath indeed a beginning but knows no ending it is a Bliss which doth not fade with your Death nor expire when the Breath goes out of your Nostrils but a happiness which as the end of your days qualifies you for the embraces of Angels and these deliver you into the Arms and Care and Protection of an Omnipotent God who will love you with an everlasting Love and whereas your Comforts here were in the Nature of dim-burning Candles he 'll increase that shine into a light equal to that of the Sun and the light of that Sun he will multiply seven times and make it as the light of the seven days in the first Creation The things which are seen are all Temporal saith the Apostle 2 Cor. IV. 18. but the things which are not seen and such are our Souls and the Bliss they are design'd for they are Etergal and then it is soon decided which are the weightiest Concerns the Temporal or Eternal 3. The very Heathen have look'd upon the things belonging to the Bliss of their Souls as things of the greatest moment It is enough to astonish the considerate Reader what Pagans and Infidels have done for their Bliss more than they would have done for Father and Mother for Brethren and Sisters for Wife and Children for Women and Concubines It 's granted that with all this they have retain'd their customary Sins and Vices yet the Punishments and Acts of Justice and Revenge or Cruelty rather they have sometimes inflicted upon themselves Punishments they would not have undergone for the dearest Friends they had sufficiently shew in what esteem the things belonging to the Bliss of their Souls were with them Time was when they sacrificed their dearest Children unto Moloch and caus'd their Sons and Daughters to pass through the Fire to the Honour of that God or Devil And at this day in Japan and China some starving themselves to Death others shutting themselves up in Caves and Dens and receiving Air thro' some hollow Canes or Pipes others charging themselves with heavy Iron-Chains others putting themselves to most uneasie and tormenting Postures and continuing in them a considerable time and all this for the Bliss of their Souls is an Argument that they look upon the Concerns relating to the Bliss of their Souls as Concerns of the greatest weight and moment 4. The wisest Men in all Ages have thought so Who wiser than Solomon He hath God's own Testimony that none was so wise before him and none should be so wise after him It 's true in his Old-age be plaid the fool but while his Wisdom was vigorous and in its Prime and Glory he was fully perswaded that these Concerns were of the greatest Importance and made it his business to draw others into the same Belief and what is the Book of Proverbs and the other of Ecclesiastes but a Demonstration of this Truth Nay men of all Conditions have been of this Judgment how different soever in other matters If Divines and Preachers of the Word only had spread this Doctrine the profaner Sort would have imagin'd that it was Interest which made us cry up these Concerns as the weightiest of all but men of divers Callings Employments and Professions have judg'd so David a King Sergius Paulus a Governour of a Province Cornelius a Captain the Souldiers that addressed themselves to John the Baptist Zenas a Lawyer Luke a Physician Lydia a Purple-seller Simon a Tanner Stephanas a Jaylour Aquila and Priscilla Tent-makers Zachaeus a Publican Nicodemus a Ruler Joseph a Rich man Lazarus a Beggar and when Men of various Professions do all concurr in this Assertion their Testimony deserves to be valued 5. Even wicked Men either in some great Affliction or upon their Death-beds do look upon the things belonging to the Bliss of their Souls as the greatest and their Testimony is the more considerable because it is press'd and forc'd out of them as it were Take them in their natural bent and inclination or in their Prosperity they profess nothing less than this but at such times by a secret instinct or strong impulse which they are not able to conquer they are compell'd to acknowledge so much A wicked Man ordinarily is a profess'd Enemy of this Truth viz. that the Concerns relating to the Bliss of his Soul are of any great importance for he labours hard and doth what he can to ruine the Happiness of his Soul but upon a Sick-bed or Death-bed sometimes he is not able to smother this Truth and now you hear him cry out O how have I hated Instruction how hath my Heart despised Reproof O that I had obeyed the Voice of my Teachers O that I had inclined mine Ear to instruction O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Now he would give all he is worth for the Bliss of his Soul This was the Sense of Manasseh when the Iron enter'd into his Soul This was the Judgment of the Prodigal when he was denied so much as the Husks that the Swine did feed on this is the Sentiment of thousands
have been sensible of and with them agrees the Author of the Wisdom of Solomon ch I. 4. Turbulent Passions keep out this Spirit of God But where the Soul is calm this Spirit spreads his wings over it as a Hen over her Brood and teaches her the mysteries of Godliness displays to her the glories of the Gospel represents to her the designs of God's Providences given her a lively sight of God's Goodness and the Reward to come and at once discovers to her and presses upon her the powerfull arguments of the Love of God which prevail with her to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes And since the meek have the honour of being blessed with this Celestial Wisdom whatever the World thinks of them they must be blessed and happy III. Blessed they are because they shall inherit the Earth and how they do that must be our last enquiry 1. Some by inheriting the earth understand the millennary Reign or the Reign of the Saints here on Earth for a thousand Years But surely this cannot be the meaning of it for if there be such a millennary Reign which I will neither affirm nor deny it is evident from Rev. XX. 4. that that Reign is confin'd to Martyrs and those that have been beheaded for the Testimony of Jesus and surely men may be meek and expect a reward of God without being Martyrs Therefore others more justly understand it of the present Earth we all inhabit and referr the blessedness here spoken of to the quiet possession the meek enjoy or have of the blessings God's liberal hand bestows upon them For though sometimes they lose all they have in the world though they are harrass'd by their enemies though their Meekness is sometime their loss though barbarous men sometime take advantage of their meekness to undo them yet for the most part they quietly and contentedly enjoy what God gives them be it more or less to be sure they have the best means in their hands to possess what they have in peace And that 's their Meekness which makes them recede frequently from their right for peace and quiet 's sake and God will not suffer them to be losers by their Meekness and therefore rewards that with content which they seem to want in other things it being his method to take care of and to fight for those who will not fight for themselves But though the meek may in this sense be said to inherit the Earth 1. With respect to their quiet Possession of the temporal things God gives them 2. With respect to the favour of men God makes them Heirs of 3. With respect to the success that some times attends their temporal concerns as a present recompence of their Vertue as it was said of a great man in this Kingdom that rose from a small to a very great Estate and used to overcome the malice of his Enemies with Meekness and Patience that he never sued any man nor any man ever sued him Though I say we must grant that in this sense the meek may be said to inherit the Earth Yet 2. This sense methinks in this place is not great enough where we find our Saviour intends to encourage his followers to the noblest Enterprizes by the noblest and most excellent Rewards When David spoke these words The meek shall inherit the earth it 's like he meant the Land of Canaan and a quiet Possession of their own in that Country but as the Land of Canaan was an Emblem of the Land of eternal Glory so Christ whose Province it was to bring Life and Immortality to light must be supposed to speak of this Earth in a more sublime and exalted sense and therefore by the Earth here must be understood something greater even the happy Regions of immortal Bliss call'd sometimes the new Heaven and the new Earth Rev. XXII 1. sometimes a heavenly Country Heb. XI 16. sometimes the Land of the living at least in the sense of some of the Fathers Psal. CXVI 9. even those Regions which were prefigured by the Land of Promise by the Land that flow'd with Milk and Honey In a word the Holy Ghost in Scripture loves to express those happy Regions of eternal Love and Felicity by various Names sometimes by a River because the Joys are in a perpetual Flux and Motion there sometimes by a Mountain or Hill because the glorified Saints will be exalted to Seats high and lofty and overlooking all the World sometimes by a City because of the Unanimity of the Inhabitants sometimes by a Kingdom because of the Splendor and Glory of that State and here by the Earth because of the affluence of all things that can make the Meek rich and blessed and happy And they are said to inherit this glorious Land 1. Because as Children they have a right to it while they live here as a Son hath a right to his Father's Land 2. Because after death they shall actually possess this Estate of their Father which is in Heaven so that their inheriting speaks them Children Sons and Daughters of the Almighty to whose share the rich Demesnes of the other World will fall not after their Father's death who is immortal and cannot die but after their own death and this shews the difference betwixt inheriting Estates here on Earth and inheriting the Regions of eternal Bliss There Men inherit after their Father's death here after their own death Inferences 1. It 's evident from hence how improper and unfit a solitary life is for the practice of the noblest Precepts of Christianity Meekness and subduing our wrathfull cholerick peevish and angry Inclinations is certainly one of the most excellent rules of our holy Religion But how shall he that retires from all company lives in a desart in a wilderness in a wood where he lives ' out of all converse how shall he live up to the strictness of this rule who hath none to offend him none to displease him none to affront him none to do him an injury none to talk impertinently before him none to oppose or cross him Its temptations must try this vertue To be chast upon Mount Athos where no Women come to be sober in Scythia where no Wine no strong Liquors grow is pitifull and mean and at best but a negative innocence but with Lot to be chast in Sodom sober with Anacharsis in debauch'd Athens with the Salamander to lie in the Fire without being consumed and like Fishes to swim in the Salt Sea and to contract nothing of its Saltness this is vertue this is heroick this is Christian like Provocations Insolencies Injuries these are the Touchstone that must shew whether our Meekness be genuine or not The most cholerick Man alive may fansie himself to be the meekest Creature under Heaven while there is none to disturb or disorder his Passions But in your Trade in your Commerce in your Traffick in your Callings and Employments in Company in Society of others when you are slighted
or venting some charitable Wishes that he might be instrumental in their Reformation But as I said to do so a Man must have the Spirit of Christ to be touch'd with the Temporal Misfortunes and Calamities of Men a Man needs no more than common and natural Pity So the Persian Monarch fell a weeping when from a Hill he beheld his well disciplin'd Army to think that in less than a hundred Years all these brave Men would be dead and gone but to be touch'd with the everlasting Misery of Men's immortal Souls there must be an Illumination from above and the Spirit of Christ and a deep Consideration that must affect the Heart with a profound Sense of it A Soul taken up with the World and the Pleasures of it is unconcern'd who perishes or who is saved But he that understands what Salvasion means and labours hard after it himself and understands that the threatnings of the Gospel are no Bug-bears but very real things cannot but spend many a sad Thought about a concern of that consequence And oh that there were such a Heart not only in all the Ministers of the Gospel but in other private Men even in you all and that in your actual Endeavours to reclaim your wicked Neighbours you might discover the concern you have for their spiritual and everlasting Welfare If the World did not grow better under this Attempt your own Souls however would grow in Grace and in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost 2. The Multitude came to hear Christ so do you at this Day It 's true you cannot hear Christ in Person but you hear him in his Messengers of whom he hath said He that heareth you heareth me Take heed therefore how you hear Faith comes by hearing but if you hear and for all that hearing believe not your hearing will aggravate your Condemnation It 's true you do believe but it is after the common Rate By believing I mean obeying which is the true Scripture Notion of believing how you are to hear the Blessed Virgin hath taught you by her Example for hearing the wonderfull things spoken of her Son it is said she kept them and ponder'd them in her heart Luke II. 19. This is true hearing to ponder in our Minds what we hear to ponder the reasonableness of the things which are spoken to us in the Name of the Lord to ponder the consequences of them and what will become of us if we neglect things of that importance and to rouze our selves into to suitable Actions Actions that may bear witness of our deep Sense of our danger and that we are really concern'd about our everlasting State and that our resolutions are strong and invincible to secure God's Love Such men as they hear so they shall see in the City of our God They hear of very glorious things in the Mansions Christ is gone to prepare for all his true Disciples and their Eyes shall see them and they shall see more than their Ears did hear and look so long upon the charming Objects till their sight is turned into Ravishment and Extasie 3. The Multitude came to Christ to be healed So do you at this day come to the Ministers of the Gospel I hope with the same intent It 's true we cannot cure the Dropsie and Stone and Gout and Strangury and such other Diseases of the Body But we can cure Diseases in your Souls which are very like the Distempers I just now spoke of the Tympany of Pride the Fever of Lust the Dropsie of Covetousness the Leprosie of Sensuality the Consumption of Envy and the Stone in the Heart c. When I say we can cure all these the meaning is not by our own strength and power but by prescribing such Remedies and Medicines which if you will but take you will recover infallibly Infallible Medicines I know are matter of sport among Men but here we may talk for we have God on our side of infallible Remedies very seriously Cicero wonders since Man consists of Soul and Body that the Cure of the Body should be so industriously sought after and admired insomuch that they are not ashamed to referr Aesculapius into the Number of the Gods but few or none touble their Heads about curing their Souls but the Wonder will soon cease if we consider that Men feel the Diseases of their Bodies but have no sense of the Distempers of their Souls and indeed how should they feel them when they cover their sins with Names of Vertue and Titles of Innocence their Luxury by generosity their being ashamed of the Gospel of Christ by modesty their breaking their most solemn Vows and Promises by weakness and infirmity their notorious mispending their time and extravagance in their Speeches Dresses and Behaviour by Christian liberty their Covetousness by discretion c. To be cured of your Sins which are the Diseases of your Souls the first thing to be done is to take off the Vizour from them to abjure the false Glosses and to renounce the soft Interpretations you put upon them And yet after all one cannot but wonder that at this time of day there should be so many Souls sick Is there no Balm in Gilead Are there no Physicians there Yes yes There is Balm in Gilead there are Physicians and very faithfull ones But O Jerusalem Jerusalem How often would I have gather'd thy Children as a Hen doth gather her Chickens and you would not Ay! that 's the dreadfull Cause why so many of you are sick and sick to death and find no cure There are excellent Medicines given there are admirable Remedies prescribed but like untowardly Patients you will not make use of the Physick that 's administred to you and thus you perish and thus you are undone But 4. St. Luke takes notice that when Christ intended to deliver this Sermon he was a whole Night before engaged in Prayer to God Surely this was to teach us not to attempt or begin any thing of Concernment without Prayer This is to be observed both in rellgious and civil matters Even before you go to Prayer send up some short Ejaculations in your mind to God to give you Hearts to pray and Power and Wisdom to offer to him the desires of your Hearts Before you read a Chapter in the Bible beg of God to enlighten your Minds and to work upon your Wills that you may chearfully do what he requires of you in his Word and to bestow spiritual Wisdom upon you that you may understand what you read Before you go to Church beg of him to give you attentive Minds sober Thoughts and a great sense of his Presence in the Assembly of the Saints Before you begin a religious Fast beg of him to quicken your Hearts to raise your Devotion to assist you with humble thoughts and to accept of your Humiliation and teach you to perform it so that it may be acceptable in his sight This Rule is to be observed in all other
not be a most blessed thing to be a Saint and of that Communion According to the account the Holy Ghost gives of a Saint such a Man must be a greater Person than the most potent Monarch of the World and although Solomon's Treasure in all his Glory was not so dear to God as a Saint is one that is really so not one that proudly assumes that Title not one whom Men in civility call so not one who out of self-conceitedness thinks himself one but one in whom the true Characters of Sanctity meet 2. He that particularly mourns for the sins of others for the sins of the Times or for the sins of the Nation or of the whole Christian World is thereby made conformable to the Son of God of whom we read that he drew near the City and wept over it because of the impiety that reigned in it Luke XIX 41. And to be like the Son of God must be both a great and a blessed State Greatness and Blessedness do not always go together but here they do for as nothing can be greater than the Son of God so nothing can be more blessed Seems it to you a small thing to be the King's Son-in-law said the shepherd's Son and is it not more magnificent to be like the Son of God If he were blessed in this mourning certainly he that imitates him in that sort of mourning must be so for he was the Pattern both of our Vertue and Reward 3. Such mourners are the Eriends of God God takes care of them and in the midst of their mourning is concern'd for them his Bowels yearn over them and though he lets them mourn for their good because their Souls thrive and prosper under it yet he leaves them not forsakes them not but is with them in that mourning Condition his Eyes are open upon them not to punish but to bless not to destroy but to build up not to kill but to revive and as despicable as their State may seem they shall be comforted which calls me to the last Part. III. How and when they shall be comforted They shall be comforted in this World and in the World to come 1. In this World and the steps or particulars of this Comfort are as follows 1. They shall be supported by God's Spirit and in their weakness shall be made strong as St. Paul was when he mourned under strong Temptations under the buffetings of Satan's Angel My Grace saith God is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. XII 9. that is though I do not think fit to deliver thee as yet there shall be sufficient Grace given to support thee under the Temptation Or 2. They shall be enlightned in the midst of their mourning and they shall see the wise and holy Designs of God who suffers them to mourn which sight shall cause a serenity and calmness in their minds such a calm as shall recreate them in darkness and make their Burthen tolerable or easie to be born And this is the effect of that famous Promise Psal. CXII 4. Vnto the upright there arises a light in darkness Or 3. God will send Men to comfort them as he did Philip to the Eunuch who was perplexed about a place of Scripture and knew not how to help himself His good Providence will so order it that either some faithfull Minister of the Word or some other good Man shall come to them and speak a word in season to them whereby their Souls shall receive strength and courage to hold out as it was in Hezekiah's case Isa. XXXVIII 2 3. and following Verses Or 4. His word shall comfort them either publickly preach'd or read in private When they are meditating in the Law of God something shall come in that like the dawning of the day shall revive the weary Traveller and this David found by experience This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickned me Psal. CXIX 50. Or 5. They shall be deliver'd from the Temptation or vanquish the Corruption under which they groan and such Power shall be given them as shall enable them to mock all the fiery Darts of the Devil and to overcome the Evil with Good as we see in St. Paul Rom. VIII 2. Or 6. God will make their very mourning sweet to them make their Tears their Cordials their Sorrow shall be comfortable to them and they shall find greater content and satisfaction in their Tears than others do in their Corn and Wine and Oil as we see in the Apostles 2 Cor. VII 4. 2 Cor. XII 10. Or 7. God will give them a livelier sight and clearer apprehensions of the things which are not seen and these shall buoy them up in the Flood that rises against them and with these Bladders they shall swim through the salt Sea and be preserv'd from sinking as we see in the Believers spoken of 2 Cor. IV. 16 17 18. Or 8. Their death shall comfort them which shall deliver them from all their Miseries and Annoyances put a stop to all the rage of their Spiritual and Temporal Enemies and make an end of all their bitter Draughts insomuch that they shall be able to say with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luke II. 29 30. Some of these ways they shall be comforted in this present World But 2. More amply more fully more abundantly in the World to come The comforts to come are comforts indeed These comforts David speaks of Psal. XXIII 2. He shall make me to lie down in green pastures he shall lead me beside the still waters To this purpose Isaiah Chap. XXXV 10. The ransom'd of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joys upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall fly away They shall have beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa. LXI 3. When such mourners leave this World such a scene of comfort will open to them as will make them for a while like unto them that dream the surprize and the comfort will be so great St. John describes their comforts more particularly Rev. XXI 4. and Rev. XXII 4 5. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away And they shall see his face and his name shall be upon their foreheads and there shall be no night there and they need no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign for ever and ever Inferences I. Let not every Man that hath sometimes in a Fit mourned for his sin presently imagine that he is one of the Number of the Blessed in the Text It 's true they that mourn for sin are â—n part the Men here aimed at but the manner
death with Shells some were burnt with their Entrails torn out some broyl'd upon Grid-irons some roasted alive against the Fire some Women had their Breasts some Men their Legs and Thighs sear'd with hot Irons some were tost to death upon Bulls-horns some hang'd by the Neck and Heels some were burnt in a Furnace some fry'd in an Iron Chair some had their Bones broken with Batts some were beaten with Cudgels some had sharp points thrust in under their Nails some were put in Vessels of boyling Oyl some dragg'd through the Streets and Kennels some had their Tongues cut out some had their Eyes bor'd out some were sawn asunder some flead alive some torn in pieces with wild Horses some kill'd with Famine some suffer'd to perish in Frost and Snow Where was God where was the Lord Jesus all the while will some say why he was there he was with them in all their Torments gave them Courage to endure all this Strength to bear up under all their Miseries Here the Power of God appear'd more than it would have done in their greatest Prosperity This made the World to gaze and stare and think they must be more than Men that suffer'd with so much Patience This gave Reputation to Religion By this means the Name of the Lord Jesus came to be glorified This converted Heathens wrought upon Infidels pull'd down Idolatry chased the Devil from his Throne This made Men come in to Christ in multitudes This made them forsake the Devil and the World this made them part with their Sins and Lusts and lay force upon the Kingdom of Heaven And thus the World was overcome and Scepters and Crowns were made to stoop to the Cross of Christ and it 's hard to say whether more were converted by Miracles or by these patient and heroick Sufferings of Christians their Sufferings forc'd people into a belief of a future Reward and the Torments they endur'd made God amiable that thousands did embrace him And yet III. As in other things so even in matter of Persecution great mistakes may be committed and therefore in judging of Persecution we must ever attend and look to the cause for which men are said to be persecuted This caution is very necessary that we may not wrongfully accuse men whose office it is to punish Offenders nor flatter our selves with the satisfaction of a good work when we have done nothing less Persecuting for righteousness sake is a very great sin a sin that cries for Vengeance which is the reason why God even in this present life hath poured out his Wrath upon persons guilty of this crime Nero was thrown down from the Imperial Throne proscrib'd by the Senate as an Enemy of mankind and at last forc'd to kill himself Domitian was slain in his Chamber not without the consent of his Wife and all his Images and Statues thrown down by order of the Senate Decius was kill'd in Battle and depriv'd of the common Honour of Burial Valerianus was taken by the Persians and put in a Cage and at last flead and his Skin hung up for a Trophy in one of the Persian Temples Aurelianus in the very beginning of his Persecution dies miserably and wallows in his own blood Galerius a prodigious and unusual Sickness seizes him a sore rising in the nether part of his Belly which bred such a swarm of Worms as made him stink above Ground Maxentius was vanquish'd by Constantine the Great and his body thrown into the River Tiber not to mention any more Instances of this nature And I wish that this trade of persecuting had been confined to Heathens but here it stay'd not After that the World turn'd Christian it was not long before one Party began to persecute another The Arrians were the first that began it and the Church of Rome soon learn'd this art beginning with the Novatians but practised it afterwards with greater cruelty upon the Waldenses and Albigenses and all those whom she is please to style Hereticks The Greek Church when she had Power and Princes that favour'd her Interest hath run too often upon the same Rock And I know this very Church we are Members of hath been often charged by our dissenting Brethren with a persecuting Spirit I shall not now enquire into the truth or falshood of this charge being willing to forget what is past even the shadow of it the rather because the Point will require examining various circumstances which either heighten or very much qualify the pretended sin but whatever Errors Rudenesses or Insolencies have been committed by officers of Justice in executing the Law upon Dissenters which must not be presently charg'd upon the Doctrine and Temper of the Church Blessed be God there is at this time in our Church a general Inclination to Tenderness Compassion and Mildness to the moderate sort of those who differ from the Sentiments of the Church and to hearken to a reasonable Accommodation of Matters to the satisfaction of those who look upon themselves as Sufferers That which I chiefly aim at in this Discourse is that we must not rashly charge every thing that looks like Punishment with the odious name of Persecution for Righteousness sake neither in the persons that inflict Punishment nor in those that suffer it And indeed a person that suffers or is like to suffer for an Opinion or Practice of his own had need consider well before he suffers what he is going to suffer for and whether the thing he is ready to suffer for is worth it To suffer for any Catholick Doctrine receiv'd in all Ages by all Churches or for a known Article of Faith or for a thing expresly commanded or forbid by the Gospel is great and noble and Christian-like but to suffer for an Invention of our own or for things which have no solid Foundation in Scripture hath nothing of Glory or Christian Magnanimity in it nor will God give us any thanks for it and in this case a Christian had a thousand times better endeavour to rectify his Judgment especially when no substantial Doctrine or Duty is prejudiced by it and comply with the Will and Desire of the Magistrate than suffer for a thing for which he hath no good Authority from the word of God I might apply this to some particular differences but I forbear and though I do believe that many who have suffer'd for such things which are not plainly deliver'd in Scripture may have found very great comfort in their Sufferings yet whether that comfort was a sign that they were persecuted for Righteousness sake I very much question However if such persons do suffer wrongfully they shall lose nothing by their sufferings for God is not unrighteous to forget our Work and labour of love and the time will come when God will bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-day The truth is Men's understandings being of various capacities and sizes and apt to be by ass'd by various
interests and circumstances there may and will be mistakes committed both by those that punish Men for different opinions in matters of Religion and by those who suffer for such opinions However let us throughly acquaint our selves with the Will of God in the Gospel that we may know what things we ought to suffer for and what not And if it be so that we suffer for the Name of Christ happy are we for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon us 1 Pet. IV. 14. And in such sufferings we have reason to be not only patient but cheerfull which gives me occasion to put you in mind IV. Of a fault We that are so impatient under ordinary Afflictions what should we be if Persecution should come among us Blessed be God we have for many Years sat under our own Vines and under our own Fig-trees have enjoy'd the Gospel and the truth of God without any considerable disturbance and I hope we shall do so still But should it please God to send a Persecution among us because of the Word it is to be feared that abundance with Demas Ecebolius and the Traditores of old would embrace this present World and preferr their ease before suffering though they buy it at a very dear Rate with the loss of truth and the Shipwrack of a good Conscience Indeed there are very few of us that prepare themselves for such a Providence We pamper our Bodies we consult the interest of the Flesh we give our selves all the ease we can we do not deny our selves in things pleasing to our Appetite Every thing our Flesh craves and our Purse can procure we are eager for we dread any thing that 's irksome to our Bodies we do not acquaint our selves with voluntary sufferings do not keep under our Bodies nor bring them into subjection and is this a due preparation for Persecutions Nay under any loss or cross or ordinary sickness or sad accident how faint how weak how impatient how uneasie how discontented are we Thou that frettest for the loss of ten or twenty Pound what wouldst thou do if in time of Persecution thou shouldst be plunder'd and turn'd out of all Thou that complainest so much if thy Finger doth but ake what wouldst thou do if in time of Persecution thy whole Body should be burnt Thou that lookest upon thy self as a very miserable Man because an ordinary distemper hangs about thee what wouldst thou do if in time of Persecution thou shouldst be tormented with Pincers and Tongs and Irons heated in the Fire Thou that canst not bear the loss of a Child or a Husband what wouldst thou do if in time of Persecution all thy Relations and Friends should be torn away from thee thy Children murther'd before thine Eyes their Brains dasht out against a Stone and barbarous Soldiers embruing their Hands in thy Father or thy Mother's Blood Thou that art so discontented now because thou canst not have such outward accommodations as thou wouldst have what wouldst thou do if in time of Persecution thy Body should be broken on a Wheel or nailed to a Cross or thy Skin pluckt off or thy Tongue cut out or thy Flesh kill'd with Cold or starved with Hunger and so left naked to the open shame of the World Such considerations surely cannot be improper for Men who fear and talk of a Persecution And were these thoughts often upon our minds in all probability they would make us less anxious about the felicities of this World lay a restraint upon our wild Appetites and the foolish desires of the Flesh and with the Martyr move us to try our Finger in the Candle before our Bodies come to feel the Fire Nay this very consideration would make us more patient under our ordinary Troubles and thank God he lays no greater Trials upon us that he deals so gently with us and as yet suffers no Temptation to befall us but what is common to Men Whatever affliction befalls us let us think of the various Torments of the Saints of old and think this is nothing to what St. Paul endured or to what St. Peter suffer'd or to what such aâ— Apostle such a dear Servant of God felt Setting the greater Trials before us will make our common sicknesses and crosses seem less in our Eyes as Men forget the pain of the Gout or the chilliness of an Ague when they find the House over their Heads on fire V. And now that we speak of Persecution who sees not that Persecution for Righteousness sake is a certain sign there is a Kingdom of Heaven if we believe there is a God that sees all and knows all and takes pleasure in them that serve him is it possible that he can see Men suffer for him and bleed and die for his Gospel and not reward them It is certain they have no reward here and therefore they must necessarily have a reward hereafter The Apostle therefore might very well say 1 Cor. XV. 19. if in this life only we had hope in Christ we should of all Men be most miserable As the impunity of Men abominably profane and the uninterrupted Prosperity of very wicked Men is a Demonstration that there must be Punishments in the next life so the sufferings the continued the exquisite the grievous sufferings of Men that truly love God that obey him stand in awe of him and fear him more than the greatest Monarchs can forego all for his Name sake and rather lose Lands and Houses and Goods and Life it self than offend him Their sufferings I say without any visible reward or recompence here are Items sufficient to any rational and considerate Man that there must be a Kingdom of Heaven or a wonderfull felicity in another World that is to be their individual companion and attendant If there be a God it stands to reason he must be infinitely perfect if infinitely perfect he must be infinitely good and if infinitely good how is it possible for him to see Men live and die to him and for him and do nothing remarkably for them A great Man here on Earth that hath any generosity in him if a Man hath worn himself out in his Service or for his sake hath lost all he hath in the World even life it self thinks himself in Honour obliged to make some provision for his Wife and Children if he leaves any or to erect a Monument for him or to do something after his Death to testifie his gratefull acknowledgement of his faithfull service And what is the goodness and generosity of Man compared with the Infinite goodness of God a meer shadow an atome a grain of sand compared with the Sun or a Mountain or the vast Globe of the Earth And as God is infinitely good so the rewards he gives must be suppos'd infinite like himself and that 's it we mean by the Kingdom of Heaven This Argument is needless to you that believe the Word of God however to such as never