truly walks with God in other things will through grace walk with him in Sufferings too He that hath an holy respect to Gods Presence and Eye at other times will have so in a time of Trial also The Constancy of God's People set forth in Psalm 44. is very observable they were given as Sheep for meat sold for nought made a reproach and a scorne a by-word and a shaking of the head among the people yet their heart was not turned back neither did their steps decline from Gods ways Verse 18. They were broken in the place of Dragons covered in the shadow of Death Yet they did not forget the name of their God nor stretch out their hands to a strang God Verse 20. And whence was this close adherence unto God The Reason is rendred in the 21th Verse if they should forsake God he would search them out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart We see how they were affected with the Presence and All-seing Eye of God and how doth it affect us If it make us depart from other sins it will much more make us depart from so great a sin as Apostacy is Again art thou true in thy active obedience to God Hast thou an universal respect to all the Commands even to those that call for right Hands and right Eyes This is very well he that is true in active obedience will be so in passive he that is for all the Commands of God will be for the Command of taking up the Cross and Suffering for Christ The Commands are copulative one of them is linked to another the stamp of Divine Authority is upon all the Glory of God is concerned in all they are all united in the root of Charity Those Principles of Grace which prompt to the obedience of one will prompt to the obedience of all He that is sincere in doing will be sincere in suffering Further hast thou a single Eye a pure intention at the great end is it thy real aim that God in all things may be glorified This is a good Sign he that hath a single Eye in one thing will have it in another he that glorifies God in other things will glorify him in sufferings too A man is as his end is what the forme is in Naturals that the end is in Morals He that hath God for his Center and ultimate end will embrace all the Mediums that tend thither and Suffering as the highest Medium of all therein is the highest Love demonstrated and God is practically lifted up above all his glory is upon the Throne and Estates Relations Lives all Earthly Concerns are at the Foot-stool Let us set our hearts upon the great end that whether we be doing Gods Commanding Will or suffering under his Disposing one the great design of God's glory may be still carried on by us Moreover ask thy self what was thy original contract with Jesus Christ How and upon what terms didst thou espouse him Didst thou take him entirely as he is offered in the Gospel Dist thou take him Cross and all Dist thou sit down and count what Christianity might cost thee It may be thou mayst be called to part with all to hate Father Mother Wife Children Life it self for Christ Dist thou deliberately consider these things and yet piously resolve that thou wouldst have Christ whatever he cost thee this is very excellent thou art now a Martyr in purpose Veniant crux ignis ossium confractiones modo Christum habeam Said Ignatius and Virtually hast swallowed down all the Persecutions that go along with the Gospel When the Cross comes thou wilt take it up upon thy back The flesh possibly may murmure but thou wilt say this was my original contract with Christ these were the terms of my Espousals I accept the Cross and will follow my suffering Saviour he is worthy for whom I suffer and the sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come Let us therefore be sure that we have made a right contract with Christ and accepted him Cross and all that when Sufferings come we may not fall off from him CHAP. V. The second direction for Suffering Mortification of sin an unmortified man is not in a capacity to suffer We must mortify all sin particularly the unbelief of the Heart the Love of the World in the three great Lusts of it the Hypocrisy in the Heart and the vain Superstition that is there Having dispatched the first Direction I come to a second If we would be in a posture for suffering let us seriously set our selves to mortify sin There is in Christians a double conformity to Christs Death the one stands in the mortification of Sin our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6.6 dying away by a secret virtue from his Cross The other stands in bearing the Cross thereby we fill up the afflictions of Christ Col. 1.24 The Sufferings of Christ in his Natural Body were full but the Sufferings of Christ in his Mystical Body at daily to be filled up The first conformity makes way for the second The mortifying of inward Lusts is an excellent preparative to the enduring of outward Sufferings An unmortified man that is under the power of his Lusts is in no fit capacity to suffer for Christ He is a part of that World that lieth in wickedness the World will love him as a part of it self and he will comply with the World as a part doth with the whole a little particle of Water will if it be possible fall into a round drop that it may answer to the figure of the great Ocean whereof it is a part and an unmortified man will be All-amode and of the same figure be it Pagan or Popish Idolatry with the corrupt World whereof he is a part his compliance will be such that he will have no occasion for sufferings neither is imaginable for what he will suffer from the World Will he suffer as good men do to avoid that greatest of evils Sin That is it which he allows and indulges in himself that is the darling of his Soul the joy of his way the current of his life the only element in which he converses and may he suffer to avoid such a thing as that is Or will he suffer to avoid the greatest of punishments Hell and Death No surely in willing his Lusts he virtually wils Hell and the torments of it in acting his sin his feet go down to death and all the wrath that is to come Or will he suffer for God out of Love to him and respect to his glory It is not imaginable that he should suffer for God whom he Serves not or Love him with the Idol in his heart or respect his glory against whom he is in arms and wose Laws and honour he treads down under his feet Or will he suffer or Christ his Saviour who died to wash away his Sins in his own blood It is not credible that he should
may be considered in that which it doth with respect to God and here are three things to be taken notice of 1. Patience subjects the soul to the will of God when the Cross comes the patient Christians will with Aaron hold their peace or if they speak they will do it in some such language as that of Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Patience will instruct them to lye in the lowest posture of Humility and to argue the matter with themselves in this manner Is God the Rector of the World and shall we not subject to him His Presence is in all his Power is over all his Wisdom and Righteousness orders all who can stay his hand or say to him what dost thou or call him to give account of any of his matters To strive with him is folly to murmur at any piece of his Government is Rebellion to think that things might have been better is to blaspheme his wise and just Providence And is he the Father of Spirits and shall we not be under him We give reverence to the Fathers of our flesh and how much thers should we be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Our Saviour Christ who suffered for us to sweeten sufferings to us argued thus with himself The Cup that my Father hath given me shall I not drink it John 18.11 After his pattern we should submit our selves to suffering remembring that though it come through bloody hands to us yet it is ordered by the Father of Spirits nay and by the Father of Mercies too who assures us That all things even Afflictions among the rest shall work together for good In those very sufferings in which man is cruel God will be merciful While the world hates and persecutes us God will embrace us in the Arms of his Love and carrie us through the Cross to the Crown of Glory Upon such accounts as these Patience doth subject the Soul unto the Cross Our Saviour the Mirror of Patience being to drink up the cup of Wrath expresses himself thus not my will but thine be done Luke 22.42 His will was swallowed up in his Fathers St. Ambrose in his Commentary on those words gives us this excellent note Disce Deo esse subjectus ut non quod ipse vis eligas sed quod Deo scias esse placiturum Learn to be subject to God that thou mayst not chuse what thou wouldest but what thou knowest to be pleasing to God Patience teaches us to be pleased with Gods pleasure and to will every thing not as it is in our own will but as it is in Gods 2. Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the Cross and for a good issue out of it We have both these promised in that of the Apostle God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape 1 Cor. 10.13 In the first Clause we have a Promise of strength proportionable to the Temptation in the last we have a Promise of a good issue out of it First Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the Cross this is the right Method of obtaining strength Wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen thy heart Psalm 27.14 Strength comes in a way of dependance upon God St. Austin speaks of a double patience De patientiâ cap. 15. there is patientia superborum the patience of the proud and patientia pauperum the patience of the poor humble Soul The one waits upon the will of man the other upon the Grace of God True Patience knows that it is God only that can strengthen the Inner man by his Spirit Eph. 3.16 No other but his glorious power can strengthen with all might unto all patience Col. 1.11 De Martyr form 5. Notable is that of St. Austin Haec est vox Martyrum omniatolerare de se nihil praesumere This is the voice of the Martyrs to bear every thing and to presume of themselves nothing Thus the noble Martyr Potamenia Spondan Annal. An. 310. being threatned to be cast into a Vessel of burning Pitch begged that she might not be cast in all at once but piece-meal that they might see how much Patience the unknown Christ had given to her True patience waits upon God for strength but this is not all it also waits upon God for a good issue out of the suffering Salvation belongs unto the Lord and he gives many good issues to his suffering people If they have an encrease of Graces and Comforts that 's one good issue If they hold out and persevere to the end that 's another good issue If by death they pass from the Cross to the Crown from a Temporal Life to an Eternal one that 's the best issue of all For such issues as these do patient Souls wait till the Lord put an end to all their troubles 3. Patience produces spiritual joy and praise This is the difference between Philosophical Patience and Christian Patience Philosophical may bear adversity but Christian hath joy in the bearing of it It was the ancient custome of the Primitive Christians to have often in their mouths Aust in P. l. 132. Deo gratias God be thanked for this mercy and for that mercy The patient Christian that looks upon the good issues of suffering may sit down and sing Deo gratias not to Blessings only but to Afflictions also Job being stript of all cried out The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1.21 St. Austin speaking of Job observes That when he had nothing of outward things yet there were Gemmae laudis Dei Aust de Temp. Ser. 105. the Jewels of the Praise of God found with him Suffering Saints have so much of the Love of God shed abroad in their hearts that they have praemium ante praemium a lesser Heaven before a greater St. Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I super abound or overflow in joy in all our Tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 The gracious Presence of God did not only cause joy but the overflowing of it in his heart St. James saith to the seattered Christians Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations Jam. 1 2. That is when ye fall into Afflictions for the Gospel All joy How can poor afflicted Souls reckon thus In the Trial their Graces appear in their pure beauty Strength is made perfect in Weakness Consolations abound as much nay more than Afflictions the beams of Divine Love irradiate the heart and fill it with a sweet serenity Hope enters Heaven and fixes upon the Crown of Life and Heaven comes down in a Spirit of Glory upon the heart Here is joy all joy indeed the total sum of it in this life is made up in these things It was the saying of the Martyr Mr. Philpot That to dye for Christ is the greatest Promotion that God can bring any
him To adhere to his Atonement is peace and comfort to adhere to his Words is to keep the way of life to adhere to his Treasures of Grace is to have continual influences of grace from him And how can we chuse but adhere to him St. Paul counted all things dross and dung for him Phil. 3.8 St. Cyprian in his Exhortation to Martyrdome gives this as one rule that we should nihil Christo praeponere prefer nothing before Christ To esteem any thing better then him is the way to turn Apostate but to esteem him better then all is the way to stand in a day of Trial. 2. Love to Christ stands in holy desires after him it causes a man to long and faint for him and as one in extremity to cry out Give me Christ or else I dye Without the laver of his blood I dye in my sins without the supplies of his Grace I dye in my wants O! that I may have him the Spouse in the Canticles was sick of Love languishing and ready to fall into a Spiritual Swoon with her passionate desires after him and his gratious Presence nothing in all the World could cure or satisfie her but his all-desirable self That soul that truly desireth Christ doth not desire aliud praeter illum aliud tanquam illum aliud post illum any thing besides him any thing equally to him any thing after him Such an ardor and holy flame of Love as this is is an extatical thing it makes a man go out of himself to seek after him it will sell all for him and like those virgin souls Revel 14.4 follow him whithersoever he goeth not only into the Banqueting-house of Ordinances but into Sufferings and Afflictions for him The Martyr Gordius had such an ardent Love to Christ Magd. hist Cent. 4. cap. 12. that he was ready to suffer mille mortes a thousand deaths for the name of Jesus Christ O let us Labour to have our hearts kindled and inflamed with holy desires after him that we may be able to stand and endure the fiery trial 3. Love to Christ stands in an holy Complacence in him it makes the soul enjoy a kind of heaven in his Presence and delight itself in his satisfying Sweetness The Spouse in the Canticles was ravished and as it were swallowed up in him the savour of his sweet Ointments lay upon her heart his Love was better to her then all the Wine of the World she sat under the broad shadow of his Merits with great delight Pardons and Graces dropping down from the Tree of Life upon her he is in her eyes totus desideria all loves or desires every thing in him hath a divine sweetness in it This spiritual joy and delight in Christ our Saviour is an excellent preparative in order to suffering The Church will have him lie all night between her breasts Cant. 1.13 all night that is in times of fear and temptation that his presence may sweeten the bitterest condition to her The Cross of Jesus if we tast the sweetness of it will turn a Marah into joy and comfort Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit thy presence O Lord made the tormenting Gridiron sweet to St. Lawrence saith an Ancient Philip Lantgrave of Hesse being a long time Prisoner under Charles the fifth felt the divine consolations of Martyrs supporting of him O let us labor to tast more of the sweetness of Christ to find his blood in every Pardon his Spirit in every Grace his Wine-cellar in every Ordinance that the Divine Comforts that we experimentally feel in him may sweeten the Cross to us 4. Love to Christ stands in an holy Benevolence towards him it surrenders up the whole man to him it endeavours to serve and honour him to the utmost Thus those many thousands cry out worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Rev. 5.11 12. they give all to Christ This is an excellent Preparative for Suffering If we would serve him in other things we must serve him in suffering for him if we would honour him in obedience to other Commands we must honour him in taking up the Cross too St. Paul desired that Christ might be magnified in his body whether it were by life or by death Phil. 1.20 If he lived he would magnifie Christ by Active Obedience and if he died he would do it by Passive Either way he would have Christ glorified in him Tot laudant-ora quot sunt vulnera Magd. hist Cent. 4. cap. 12. The Martyr Romanus having a multitude of wounds in his body thanked the Persecutor for opening so many mouths to glorify Christ In nothing is Christ so much glorified as in his suffering Saints therein they demonstrate the highest Love Seal up the Evangelical Truths with their own blood practically prefer Christ before all the World and offer up themselves for him who gave himself a Sacrifice for them O let us labor to make a total resignation of our selves to him that if sufferings come we may be able to bear them for his sake CHAP. IX The sixth Direction for suffering is a lively hope of eternal Life Hope assures us that there is another World that the good things of it exceed those of this that we have an interest in them Hope disposes us for them Hope waits for them unto the end THe sixth Direction is this If we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must get a lively hope of eternal Life As our life is a Sea Hope is compared to an Anchor which makes us stand steady in a storm As our life is a warfare Hope is compared to an Helmet which covers the soul in times of danger As the body liveth Spirando by breathing so the Soul lives Sperando by hoping A man cannot drown so long as his head is above water Hope lifts up the head and looks up to the Redemption and Salvation that is to come in another World in its fulness and perfection Hope doth three things it assures good things to come it disposes us for them it waits for them unto the end Each of which will be of singular use to fit us for pious Sufferings 1. Hope assures good things to come It is called the Hope of Salvation Thessal 5.8 the hope of Glory Rom. 5.2 the hope of eternal Life Tit. 1.2 because it assures these things To this I shall speak in three Particulars 1. Hope assures us that there is another World called in Scripture the World to come without this there can be no foundation for pious Suffering no man can freely part with this World unless he be assured of another If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 Miserable indeed to be persecuted out of one World and to have never another to go to If Christians were in as dark a case
Whore no not to save his life offered to him on those terms Holy Fear will tell us that sin must not be done to avoid suffering that we were better bear all reproaches then dishonour God lose our Estates then leave our Religion nay and lay down our lives then be separated from the Divine Love O let us look upon sin as the Maximum formidabile as that which hath in it the most proper cause of fear and flight that no external miseries and dangers may be able to drive us into it 2. Holy Fear looks at the sufferings which God inflicts in Hell as incomparably greater then those which man doth or can inflict upon Earth Our Saviour directing our fear to its right Object takes notice of the vast difference between them Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill he soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell Math. 10.28 Mans killing is one thing but Gods destroying another Man may kill the Body and it may be in a tormenting manner but there is no death like the second no torments on Earth are comparable to those in Hell no finite arm can strike so hard as the infinite One no Culinary or Elementary Fire can burn so hot as the Infernal doth God bid Moses take and sprinkle the ashes of the Furnace and they should become boils and blains Exod. 9.8 9. A Great Doctor of ours glosses on the words thus The sufferings here on Earth are but the ashes of the Furnace small things in comparison of the Furnace itself an Hell of unquenchable fire man may kill the body but he is not alwaies a killing of it he may torment but he cannot bear up the Patient in long suffering the torments in a little time will cease and the Martyr Sleep in Jesus but God kils the damned and is still a killing them power supports them and Justice punishes them the fire of Hell kindled by eternal breath never goes out and the smoak of their torment ascends for ever and ever After thousands and ten thousand of years still there will be wrath to come such as no time can measure Man may kill the body but after that he can do no more his Engines of Cruelty cannot reach the Soul or touch the inward man which is a Sanctuary for God but God kils the soul his wrath is in a peculiar manner poured out there where the chief seat of sin was the neverdying Worm is ever growing upon corscience The spirit of the damned furiously reflects upon itself over the eternal misery that it lies under All the horrors of a Spira or a Judas are far short of that desperate rage and anguish which tortures the lost souls in Hell He that hath this holy fear in him will chuse any sufferings on Earth rather then those in Hell One of the sons of Solomona told the Tyrant Antiochus that his fire was cold and indeed it was so comparatively to the Fire of Hell St. Austin putting the question whom we should obey God commanding one thing or the Emperor commanding another makes his answer Da veniam Imperator tu carcerem minaris ille gehennam Gives place O Emperor De Verb. Dom. serm 6. thou threatnest a Prison he a Hell When Polycarp was threatned with Fire his answer was That the Persecuter threatned only a momentary Fire but knew not The Eternal one He that ever heard that true Thunder which is the voice of God would hardly be afraid of such Artificial Cracks as the Emperor Cajus Caligula used to make to shew himself a God And he that carries upon his heart an awe of those sufferings which God inflicts in Hell will hardly fear those which men inflict on Earth 3. Holy Fear looks upon Spiritual and Eternal Losses as incomparably greater then Carnal and Temporal ones The loss of the World may be made up in the saving of the Soul but for the loss of a Soul nothing can make a recompence That little sparkle of Divinity mightily outweighs the great Globe of the World What are Bodies to Spirits Nemo saith Austin bene se inspexit qui non omni corpori qualemlibet animam praeponendam esse fateatur he that looks well into himself must confess that any Soul is to be preferred before all Bodies The loss of mans favor may be richly made up by the presence of Gods Moses endured the King's wrath as seeing the invisible one the presence of God was so with him that he feared no human frowns But if the Divine Favour be wanting nothing can supply the defect of it It 's true a man without it may have all outward blessings flowing round about him but he eats and drinks and Sleeps under the wrath of God which hangs over his head as the sword did over the head of Damocles at the Tyrants Table and as soon as the thread of life breaks it comes down upon him in an utter ruine The loss of Creatures may be made up by an interest in God a real Christian having nothing may possess all things in him but if a man forsake God what will the World give in exchang for him It 's Riches are but poor moth-eaten things which in a little time vanish away its Pleasures are but the titillations of Sense and perish in the using its Honours are but a blast a little popular Air which soon go away and come to nothing When once God who is the Fountain and Spring of all good departs it is in vain to hope for any thing from the little Rivulets and Cisterns of the Creature He that hath this holy Fear in him will chuse to suffer loss in Carnal and Temporal things rather then in Spiritual and Eternal It is the saying of St. Ambrose Eaest vera pietas quaepraeponit divina humanis perpetua temporalibus Lib. 7. Epist 56. that is true Piety which prefers Divine Things to humane and perpetual things to temporal St. Austin sets out servile and filial Fear by an Adulterous and a Chast Wife Timet mulier adultera In Joh. Tract 63. in E pist Joh. Tract 9. ne vir ejus veniat timet casta ne vir ejus abscedat The adulterous woman sears lest her husband may come the chast woman fears lest her husband depart In like manner servile Fear makes us afraid that God will punish filial Fear makes us afraid that God will depart The loss of him is more then the loss of all things When the Martyr Menas under the Persecution of Dioclesian Magd. hist Cent 4. cap. 12. was brought forth to suffer he gave this reason for it Nihilest quod meâ sententiá conferripossit cum regno coelorum neque enim totus Mundus potest aequâ lance expensus uni comparari animae there is nothing in my judgment like the Kingdom of Heaven neither may the whole World if weighed in an equal ballance be compared with one Soul He had
to sufferings The greater the thing is the more requisite is the Preparation Suffering is a great thing hard to Sense harsh to Flesh and Blood It may be it takes away the worldly Goods which are dear to men it may be it comes neerer and touches the Bone and the Flesh which is dearer then outward things It may be it goes further and treads down the precious Life which is highly valuable Nature in the best shrinks and flies away from such things as these and supernatural Graces and Assistances lift up men above themselves they will never bear them In such a case as this we have need to put on all our Spiritual Armor not this or that piece only but all of it and not only to put it on but to gird it on too All will be little enough to make us stand in the evil day Again the more excellent a thing is the more requisite is the Preparation Suffering for Christ is the excellency of a Christian the top and Complement of all his Graces Faith cannot rise higher Love cannot shew it self better than in this No Profession of Christianity is so high nor Imitation of Christ so full as that which is made in blood Here is the Christians consummatum est his work is done and Heaven opens to receive him into glory And how should we prepare our Souls and gird up the Loins of our Minds that we may be capable of that which is the highest Stature of a Christian in this World and the neerest capacity to a better This Preparation is of very great moment to Christians Upon their having or not having of it depends their Happiness or Misery He that is prepared for Sufferings come what will come is a happy man if sufferings do not come he is yet a Martyr in mind and purpose God sees the suffering frame that is in him his willing mind is accepted as much as if his blood were actually Shed and being ready to dye for Christ he is ready to live with him in Heaven If Sufferings come he is provided for then St. Paul was ready to be bound and die for the name of Jesus Polycarpe when threatned with Various deaths made this reply Quid tardas Why dost thou delay Inflict what thou wilt The prepared Christian is ready for all the Will of God which is an happiness that no Suffering can interrupt He is in a posture to overcome all the World and he will do it The very Pagan Emperors did observe the primitive martyrs to be Victors in death It is said of the Martyr Vincentius Magd. hist cent 4. cap. 12. that according to his name he overcame in Words and overcame in Punishments overcame in Confession and overcame in Tribulation overcame in Fire and over came in Water overcame Living and overcame Dying The prepared Christian is a Vincent a Conquerer of the World his Love is above the smiles of it his Fear above the Terrors of it Nay he is more than a Conqueror he overcomes by suffering and lives by death nay being dead he yet speaks forth the truth he suffered for and propagates it to all posterity Neither need we wonder at this Conquest he is not alone but hath God with him And as the Emperor Antoninus Verus said of the Primitive Christians He carries God about with him in conscience and where God is there must be happiness in the most afflicted Condition the whole sacred Trinity are present with him the everlasting Father will strengthen him the Son will walk with him in the fiery Furnace the holy Spirit will come to him with all his cordials Stephen was never so full of it as when he was stoned Hist mag Cent. 2. The Martyr Felicitas professed to her Persecutor That she had the holy Spirit in her The prepared Christian hath a Spirit of Power in Infirmities a Spirit of Glory in Reproaches a Spirit of Comfort in Distresses There are no such rich Anointings as those that wait upon the Cross of Christ At other times a Christian hath some measures of the Spirit but then he hath such large effusions of it that no Sufferings can make him miserable The Clouds without cannot break the serenity in his Conscience the noise of a troublesome World cannot interrupt that Divine Peace which keeps his heart no malice of man can hinder the sheddings of Gods Love into him no wants or exigencies can deprive him of the hidden Manna promised to the Overcomer he is happy even in a Vale of Tears And what will he be in Heaven There his reward will be great nay greater than that of others On the other hand he that is not propared for Sufferings is a miserable man He hath a Name of Religion and that 's all a Notion of the Gospel but without a Root he hath a false Christ that is a Christ without a Cross but the right Christ he knowes not a pretence to Heaven he hath but he is not in a posture for it neither will he go thither in an hard way If Sufferings come he is snared as Fishes in an evil Net the surprize will rob him of that which he seems to have he will not have so much as the Name or notion of Religion left Christ will be an Offence or stumbling-Block to him Heaven it self will not be worth suffering for Thus those of the Stony ground received the word with joy but because their hearts were not ready for it as soon as Persecution arose they were offended Magd. hist Cent. 2. cap. 3. Thus it was observed among the Primitive Christians that the unready and unprepared did faint and fall in time of Persecution The Cup of Sufferings is bitter Nature starts at it The unprepared Christian rather than drink it will in all likelihood turn Apostate in the day of trial prosperous error will be embraced by him before persecuted Truth Idolatary with the World will goe down better than the pure Worship without it Christ coming in Poverty and Tribulation will be forsaken Antichrist appearing in the Pomp and outward greatness of the World will be followed Meer Vanity will outweigh all the great offers of the Gospel a Soul and a God will be laid at stake for a little outward prosperity And what a forlorn Condition is this And without Repentance how dismal must the end be The Good God whom he hath forsaken will depart from him Jesus Christ the Saviour will cast him out a curse a blast will be upon his Prosperity a sting and a wound in Conscience will make him weary of himself in a word he will become loathsome to God Men and himself Cypr. de Lapsis It is storied That in the third Century the tokens of Gods wrath came in an extraordinary way upon those Christians that fell off in time of Persecution some of them were struck dumb some vexed with Devils some tormented in their bowels unto Death and though not in these wayes yet in other
will his wrath come down upon all Apostates if they are not dumb before men they will be speechless before God if Devils vex not their Bodies they will yet possess their Souls if there be no torments in their Bowels yet there are in their Consciences The miseries which Apostates incur are much greater than those which they avoid by their Apostacies It is therefore highly reasonable that we should prepare for Sufferings lest by Apostacy we make our selves more miserable than any outward Suffering can make us CHAP. III. Preparation for Sufferings considered more generally A Christian that will be prepared for Sufferings must secure to himself three things that is A good Cause a good Heart and a good God Having seen the necessity of Persecution and the necessity of Preparation I come now to the main thing intended to consider how a Christian may be prepared for Sufferings And here I shall first speak in General and then more Particularly In General a Christian that would be prepared for Sufferings must secure to himself three things a good Cause a good Heart and a good God The first will make Suffering honourable the Second will make us us meet for it the third will give assistance and comfort in it 1. The Christian must secure to himself a good Cause he must take care not to suffer as an Evil doer this is not grateful to God nor honorable among Men in it Christ is not imitated but Christianity is shamed Such Sufferers are the Devils Martyrs it cannot be reasonably expected that they should have the gratious Presence of God or any comfort in Conscience their own hearts cry out Guilty and plainly tel them that their Suffering is but the just wages of their Iniquity A Christian must be sure that there be no guilt in that which he suffers for Holy Daniel saith that Innocency was found in him Dan. 6.22 He speaks not of the innocency of his Person as if he were without sin but of the innocency of his Cause for which he suffered His praying against a Law did not merit a Den of Lions he broke the Humane Command only to keep the Divine It highly concerns the Christian to have an innocent Cause it is the Cause not the meer Suffering that makes the Martyr Again the Christian must take care that he suffer not as a Busy-body in other mens Matter he must not have his own Station nor forfeit Gods protection he must abide with God in his Calling and do his own Business God took care of the Bird sitting over her young in her Nest Deut. 22.6 but not of the wandring one The learned Johannes Fancius of a Minister of the Gospel in his Prince's Court turned Minister of State to his Prince and was at last for some evil Counsel condemned to dye and before he suffered he much lamented the leaving of his Calling and left this Distick Disce meo exemplo mandato munere fungi Et fuge ceu pestem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Learn this of me thine own Office to bear In others meddle not the Plague is there It is very uncomfortable to a Christian when he runs into Sufferings by going out of his own Sphear Moreover the Christian must take care that he suffer not for his own rashness He that defaced the Emperors Edict against Christians and Suffered for it was not accounted a Martyr Bishop Audas demolished the Persian Temple dedicated to the Fire as their Numen and suffered for it but it was reckoned as a Piece of rash and unreasonable Zeal We must not cast our selves into dangers God will keep us in our ways Theod. Hist Lib. 4 cap. 39. not in our Precipices We must take up the Cross that God makes for us but not make one of our selves by our own rashness If we must suffer let it be for that good Conscience which is a continual Feast for that Righteousness which is in Conjunction with Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Let it be for that Jesus who suffered for us for that God who crowns momentary Sufferings with eternal Glory This was the case of the Primitive Christians they suffered but it was in a good Cause Justin Martyr and Athenagoras in their Apologies for them shew That there was nothing amiss found in them no Atheism no Thyestean Suppers no unclean Copulations no unjust Actions the only Crime was Christianity And afterwards Tertullian shews That the name in Christians was condemned but no Crime was found in them towards God or man This is the first thing we are to do we must secure a good Cause 2. We must secure good Hearts It is said of the Children of Ephraim that being armed and carrying Bows they turned back in the day of Battel Psal 78.9 and the reason of this we have in the precedent Verse they set not their hearts aright Unless the Heart be good as well as the Cause men will turn back from God and the pure Religion Corrupt Hearts will fall in with the World and ever be on the Sunny side In Dioclesian's time they can be Pagans in Constantine's Christians in Constantius's Arrians in Julian's Pagans again Purpuram colunt non Deum It is the good Heart only that is sit for Sufferings Now two things are requisite to make a good Heart it must be purged from sin and again it must be furnished with principles of Grace 1. It must be purged from sin from the guilt and power of it It must be purged from the guilt of sin A man that hath inward wounds is unfit to bear outward ones Guilt upon Conscience like a Boyl upon the Back makes one uncapable to bear the burden of a Cross They that are partakers of Christs Sufferings in Martyrdome had need first partake of them for Remission They that wash their Robes in the Blood of the Lamb by suffering for him had need first wash their Consciences in it to take away their Guiltness It is not imaginable that a man can piously embrace a Temporal Death when immediately after it he shall fall into an Eternal one Or that he can patiently bear the wrath of Man when the wrath of God is to ensue upon it It was a very forlorn Case with the Egyptians when they were drowning in the Sea and God looked through the Cloud upon them and so it will be with Christians if the World be as a troubled Sea to them and withal God look with an angry Face upon them Therefore it much concernes them to get a pardon sealed in the Blood of Jesus Christ that when they come to suffer they may have nothing to bear but the single Cross without any pressure of Guilt upon Conscience to aggravate it Again It must be purged from the power of Sin Every Lust is a Dalilah an Exhauster as the Hebrew word signifies it takes away the Heart drains and debases the man makes him vile and impotent and by consequence altogether uncapable of so heroical a thing