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
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
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
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
that holy Martyrs and those that have been persecuted for righteousness sake have been able to persevere in bearing witness to the truth notwithstanding all the torments which they did endure from their enemies hands They that were tortured endured with singular patience their Tormentors Cruelties and wearied out those men who were their Executioners Nor were they only the Ministers of Religion who might be supposed to be endued with a greater measure of the Spirit that endured with undaunted resolution but the Lay-people also even Women were able to endure the greatest severities I should be endless if I should go about to tell what great examples we have in former and later Ages upon record to this purpose 2. We need a more than ordinary assistance to support and comfort us under the losses and other afflictions which we meet with in this present life The Comforts of this life what price soever we may set upon them are at best very uncertain to us And we very often out-live those blessings which rendered this present life comfortable to us We are deprived of the delight of our eyes and the labour of our hands and of that which was the joy of our hearts Our dearest Friends are snatcht away from our Embraces our Children and our Relatives are taken from us by a sudden and an unlooked-for death and we are bereft of the plenty and the store which once we did enjoy and are left solitary and there is none to comfort us In this case the devout and pious Christian is of all men in the world the best provided for He hath peace and comfort which the world knows nothing of And that he hath from the Holy Spirit of God which he is endued with In this dry and barren Wilderness he hath his fresh Springs And after all his losses and his toyl he haâ— a Comforter that visits him and abides with him for ever Thus the Promise runs which ouâ— Lord made a little before he lesâ— the World Joh. 14.16 And a most gracious Promise this to us who live in these houses of clay and that are faâ—â— removed from our Country and our Fathers house We shall be sure to meet with tribulations here to hear store of evil tidings and very sad stories of the miseries that befall others and that threaten us Thanks be to God for the comforts of the Holy Ghost It is to be hoped that we shall thereby be soâ— far refreshed and relieved as to support us under all our other sorrows in our way to Heaven This Holy Spirit is like the Rock that followed the men of Israel in the Desert and furnished them with water in a dry and thirsty Land This is that Oyl of gladness that makes us rejoyce in the midst of the sorrows of this mortal life The Seal of God that tells us to whom we do belong and the Earnest of our future inheritance which does ascertain us of a great reward in Reversion And by this means we are upheld by this heavenly Comforter under sickness and poverty pain and reproach confinement and the fears of death till we are set at liberty and placed among the Spirits of just men made perfect 2. I shall lay before you the great assurance that we shall receive this heavenly aid For we cannot but be throughly convinced that this Promise of the Holy Spirit is an exceeding great and precious one We are next to consider what great ground we have to expect that this heavenly gift shall be bestowed upon us So it is that if we look down into our own breasts we shall find our selves in so ill a case that we cannot think them fit Temples for so pure and holy a Being as the Spirit of God Our Souls are like the Earth when it was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the Deep We may soon discover the need we have of this Divine assistance to digest and put in order to cherish and enlighten this dark and confused Chaos But all this while we have no assurance that we shall be thus favoured But blessed be the name of God we have great assurance that he will send his Holy Spirit into our hearts and not forsake us And what that assurance is you may take in the following particulars 1. We have the Promise of God and that to us ought to be enough God had of old foretold Isa 44.3 Joel 1.18 Act. 2.17 that in the times of the Messias he would pour his holy Spirit plentifully even upon all flesh A Promise that was in great measure fulfilled at the day of Pentecost next after the Ascension of the Son of God He did before that command his Apostles Acts 1.4 5. that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father which saith he ye have heard of me For John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence Our Lord had given them before this a great assurance that this Comforter should come and abide with them for ever And we need not doubt but that he that promised would make good his word to us 2. Especially if it be considered how necessary this Holy Spirit is for the compleating and finishing the work of mans Redemption It It is true we were redeemed by the bloud of Christ but then we are renewed by the Holy Spirit and by him enabled to give obedience to his Laws Heb. 5 9â— who is the Author of Eternal Salvation but it is to them that do obey him Since God hath given us his Son we need no longer doubt but that he will with him give us all things especially all things needful for life and godliness We need not doubt of receiving the supports of the Holy Spirit to enable us to profess that truth constantly which the same Spirit dictated to holy men Heb. 2.4 and which was confirmed by Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost There is no room left for doubting but that we shall receive this Holy Spirit if we constantly and fervently implore him 3. Again our Saviour hath given us the utmost assurance in those words where he says Luk. 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Parents do not use to deny their Children what is needful for them Nor do they need a positive Law to oblige them to it There is a Law in their nature does direct and determine them in this case And those Parents that are otherwise evil men are yet very prone to bestow good things on their Children Now then who can doubt of Gods readiness to bestow his Holy Spirit upon them that ask him Earthly Parents are evil they are so by nature and more so by custom and a course of sinning But our heavenly Father is
well as very great which send us to the Throne of Grace so it is very evident from what hath been said that our supports and our supplies are derived to us from the Intercession of the Son of God Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins But that there may be no manner of doubt remaining of the truth of what hath been said before I shall from the Scriptures shew you the assurances which they give us of this truth from whence it will evidently appear that Christ now he is in Heaven is our Patron and our Advocate there I shall begin with those words of St. John My little Children 1 Joh. 2.1 2. these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Can any thing be more plain or more comfortable than these words are Nothing so much dejects the good man as his sins and his infirmities These things indeed sink him low and fill him with great fears And certain it is that no man can say he hath no sin Chap. 1.8 9. but he that deceives himself But is the good man left without a remedy No certainly If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness It is true indeed we ought not to sin out of the hopes of pardon and if we do so our condition is very sad indeed But so it is that the best man may be surprized and overtaken and if he be here is comfort for him in these words Behold here an Advocate with the Father and we shall not want an Accuser when we have done amiss for besides the Devil who is the Accuser of the Brethren our great Enemy Rev. 12.10 our own Conscience will quickly do that We shall need an Advocate to plead our Cause with God and to undertake for us And blessed be God we are provided for We have an Advocate with the Father We do not want an Intercessor with God But we might fear still if our Advocate were himself guilty we could have little comfort from his Intercession for us who is himself obnoxious But it follows Jesus Christ the righteous A most powerful and innocent person undertakes for us But yet for all this guilt makes men fearful and suspicious and they fear they shall not obtain pardon though their Advocate be innocent and powerful unless he have something more to plead in the behalf of them that are accused And therefore it follows He is the propitiation for our sins Our Advocate cannot only plead his own Innocence as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but he can plead his Merit too he having by his death made expiation for our sins Rom. 5.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Our Advocate hath paid a price for our ransom and this price was accepted of God and the bloud that Jesus shed does now plead for us If after all this the dejected sinner fear that the bloud which Christ shed was not shed for him this needless fear is removed by the words which follow And not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Let us next consider the words of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews where he tells us that Christ entred into Heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 Just as the High Priest entred with the bloud of the Sacrifice into the Holy of Holies which he offered up there for himself Ver. 7. and for the errors of the People There it was that the High Priest made Attonement for all the Congregation of Israel Lev. 16.17 Our blessed Lord hath shed his bloud and now appears before God for us Neither by the bloud of Goats and Calves but by his own bloud he entred in once into the holy place Heb. 9.12 having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 10.12 Again This man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sin for ever sate down at the right hand of God It is observed by a very learned man that these two expressions viz. To appear in the presence of God for us And To offer himself up to God both which are said of Christ Heb. 9. do signifie one and the same thing diversely considered The latter expression implies the beginning the former the continuation of one and the same thing Our Saviour commends us to God and this is meant when it is said that he appears in the presence of God for us but he began to do this when after he had shed his bloud he offered himself to God in heaven Heb. 9.25 As the High Priest after the Sacrifice was slain carried the bloud into the Holy of Holies and there appeared with it before God So that this appearing of Christ for us and his offering himself to God imports his Intercession for us and does imply the merits of his bloud and the Atonement which our Lord hath made for us And this speaks great comfort to us Heb. 9.13 14. For if the bloud of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead workâ— to serve the living God The Author of this Epistle tell us Heb. 7.24 25. that Christ hath an unchangeable Priesthood He is not like one oâ— the Priests of Aaron who died and left one of his Brethren to succeed him Our Lord lives for ever Wherefore he is able also to saâ—â— them to the uttermost that come untâ— God by him seeing he ever liveth tâ— make Intercession for them Which words assure us at once of Christ power to save us and of his inclination and readiness to do it For as he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him so he is also prone to do it and concerns himself about it he ever liveth to make intercession for them To make intercession is to plead in the behalf of another that he may be relieved or released It is opposed to accusing or condemning Who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.34 It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us To what hath been said let me add the words of our Saviour Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16.23 Here is great encouragement to us to pray to God We may now approach unto God with very