heaven but their full portion he reserves for them till they come to heaven and truly the portion of a Child of God is very great God is the portion of his people and believe it God will never see his people want so long as he hath it and Gods treasure is inexhaustible it can never be drawn dry All things are yours saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 3.21 peaking to the believing Corinthisns whether Paul or Apollo or Ceahas or the world or life or death or phings present or things to come all tre yours and ye are Christs and Christ as Gods Having thus briefly run over the words I come now to give the practical Observations which flow from hence for our edification And first of all I observe from henc the transcendent excellency of savin faith by faith Moses did thus and thus Secondly I note from hence tha the condition of Gods Children in this life is an afflicted condition Thirdly I observe likewise from hence that the people of God should rather suffer any affliction than commit the least sin it is better to suffer than sin And then fourthly I observe hence the great vanity of sinful pleasures they are but for a season Fifthly I observe that the reproaches of Christ are better yea as the Text sweetly expresses if are greater riches than all the honours of the world And then lastly I observe from hence that God hath a recompence of reward for his people he will make them amends for all their losses at the last he that loseth any thing for Christ shall be no loser by the bargain Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my Name sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Mat. 19.29 Before I proceed to Application I shall a little open and confirm these several truths by way of Doctrinal Explication And to begin with the first viz. What faith is a most transcendent excellent and saving grace and this you may see all along this whole Chapter First it brings the people of God into a good report By faith our services become acceptable in the sight of God And without faith it is impossible to please God For whatsoever is not of faith is sin By faith Noah being warned of God prepared the Ark to the saving of his house and thereby became an heir of righteousness By faith Abraham forsook his Countrey for by faith he saw the heavenly City which God had prepared for him And all along the whole Chapter you may see the excellency of faith in the several effects of it in the faithful Saints and servants of God who of all others best deserve the name of Worthies Who through faith subdued Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the Sword And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover bonds and imprisonments They were stoned sawn asunder were tempted slain with the sword They wandred about in sheepskins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented These all obtained a good report through faith By faith the sick are healed Luke 7.50 Dy faith the people of God are purified justified and by faith they are saved Rom. 5.1 Ephes 2.8 By faith we have access to God by prayer Rom. 5.2 By faith we believe the word of God and they that by faith do believe in God shall at the last receive the end of their faith even the salvation of their precious souls 1 Pet. 1.9 In the next place to come to second point which is this That the condition of Gods children in this life is an afflicted condition God had but one Son without sin but God hath never a son without affliction Our blessed Saviour himself was not free from afflictions nay he was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he was oppressed and he was afflicted Isa 53.3 7. The Prophets they were afflicted and imprisoned and slain Likewise the Apostles and Primitive Christians as you may see at large in this Chapter where my Text is Heb. 11. They were stoned sawn asunder cruelly scourged and imprisoned yea as the Psalmist saith Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of them all Psal 34.19 Our Saviour tells his Disciples what they must look for in the world at his departure from them If the world hate you saith our Saviour John 17.18 19 ye know that it hated me before it hated you If ye were of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world that I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Remember the word that I said unto you the servants is not greater than their Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you and all these things will they do unto you for my names sake Yea saith the holy Apostle St. Paul reckoning up his manifold persecutions in 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecutions Many more Scriptures I might give you for the confirmation of this excellent truth but these I hope may suffice this being a truth which the people of God in all ages have born testimony unto with their blood Nay this truth is so clear that it even may be read by the light of these fires in which the Saints of God suffered death those glorious fires which ever burneth fresh in the memory of Gods people even those fiery chariots which carried out heavenly Elijahs our blessed Martyrs to heaven In the third place the third Observation to be considered is this That the people of God should rather suffer any affliction than sin This you may see in Joseph who rather than he would commit folly with his Mistriss rather then sin against God he would run the hazard of all afflictions How shall I do this great wickedness aad sin against God Gen. 39.9 And this truth is most eminently confirmed by holy Job who rather than he would curse God and dye would willingly with patience undergo all his afflictions Job underwent all afflictions and it is said of him In all this Job sinned not Let God afflict saith Job I will suffer with patience it is the Lord let him do what he pleases my afflictions shall never move me to forsake my God Though God afflict me all the dayes of my life yet will I wait with patience till my change come And in the thirteenth Chayter he resolves though God should kill him yet he would trust in him So likewise we finde an eminent example for this in holy Daniel as you may read Dan. 6.14 15 16. Daniel rather than he would sin against God in ceasing to call upon God by prayer would suffer himself to be cast into the Lions den So likewise the three children in the third Chapter of Daniel
and by them questioned for doing their duty namely for preaching the Gospel you will finde in the 29. ver that St. Peter and the other Apostles answered and said We ought to obey God rather than men And after that when they were beaten and commanded not to preach any more in the name of Iesus what did the Apostles do did they obey no. They rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ And as you may see in the last verse of that Chapter That daily in the Temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ Several other instances I might give you but I proceed In the next place the next thing considerable is the eminency of Moses faith in the 24 25 26. verses By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter where by the way observe that it is more honour to be a Christian than to be a Courtier It is more honourable to be the son of God by grace and adoption than to be the son of the greatest Monarch or Emperour in the World There is none so nobly descended in all the world as the people of God they are of the Blood Royal of Heaven others they may take their pedegree from Kings and Monarchs and the great ones of the world but the people of God are all descended from him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the blessed and onely potentate 1 Timothy 6.15 Yea the people of God are all of them Kings and Priests unto God Revelations 1.6 Here likewise we might observe what low thoughts Christians ought to have of every thing be it never so honourable in comparison of Iesus Christ It had been an honour yes an exceeding great honour if we may account worldly greatness and honour for Moses to have been reputed the son of Pharaohs daughter but how inconsiderable a thing was this in the eyes of Moses who was more nobly descended being born of God a chosen servant of Iesus Christ to go in and out before his people Israel but I proceed Now the eminency of Moses faith you may see in these following particulars first Moses here sees the various difficulties and dangers which were then like to fall upon him for his faith Will Moses forsake Pharaoh and embrace Iesus Christ then Moses must suffer affliction this Moses foresees and this makes his faith more glorious As the people of God are by faith assured of Christ so likewise being once in Christ they are sure to bear the Crosse of Christ Christ and his Cross are inseparable All taht will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 2 Timothy 3.11 See what our blessed Saviour saith in the Gospel of Saint Luke If any man will come after me that is if any man will be a good Christian let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me Luke 9.23 He that will follow Christ must bear the Cross as the blessed Apostles did they rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ And truly the people of God may well rejoyce in their sufferings for why Christ hath born the brunt of all he hath made our burthen light although Christ by his sufferings hath not fréed the people of God from sufferings yet he hath made their sufferings to become easie Iust as it is with a man carrying a great trée on his back and you may sée little children to bear up the small twigs of the trée alas there is no weight in them the weight of all the whole but then lies on the mans shoulders so beloved it is with Christians Christ carries the load the weight of all their afflictions they do but bear up the little end the small twigs of it therefore the Apostle excellently calls his afflictions light Our light affliction saith he which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Secondly the eminency of Moses faith appcars also in this namely the great willingness and forwardness of Moses in that it is said He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people which intimates unto us the readiness of Moses to become the servant of Iesus Christ Certainly this was a very great at of faith in Moses a carnal eye would rather have chosen to have béen the son of Pharaohs Daughter an eye of sense which sées no better would rather have chosen greatness and eminency in the world then the meanness and poverty of Gods people rather to have béen Pharaohs Grandchilde and honourable at Court then to have béen the poor afflicted sons of Gad. Carnal men men whose God is their wealth and whose hearts are set upon their riches would rather chuse to be rich with Dives than to be poor with Lazarus but a gracious Soul had rather want bread with Lazarus than to want grace with Dives It is not all the riches in the world that can content and satisfie the soul of a Saint a few will sée it better for him if God sées it good for him to beg his bread with poor Lazarus on earth than to beg his water with rich Dives in hell A godly man by faith sées that glory which is to come they know that when this earthly tabernacle of theirs shall be dissolved that they have a building with God in heaven an inheritance which is uncorruptible and undefiled which passeth not away reserved in heaven for them who do believe but a wicked man he sees onely by an eye of sense he sees no farther than his riches he thinks if he may be great and honourable here in the world he esteems this the onely happiness and he thinks nothing better than to be rich and indeed he may well think so for he knows of no better condition The world with the honours and pleasures of it are even a heaven to the men of this world I and indeed it is all the heaven they shall have Son remember saith Abraham to Dives in the 16. of St. Luke that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things Dives would very fain have enjoyed heaven after his death and yet he would live upon earth in such a sumptuous delicious manner as if this would had been his onely heaven And true it is the postion of a wicked man is in this life God gives wicked men their portion in this life but he reserves a portion for his Saints in the life to come Wicked men are very like to some prodigal spendthrifts who spend all their portion before they come to years but the portion of Gods people is reserved for them till they come to age God sees it good yea best for his Children to have their portions reserved for them till they come to years and that is till they come to heaven He gives his people as much of the world as may serve to bear their charges to
and believe me though there may be a great deal of weight in the reproaches of Christ to press us down yet there is abundance of worth in them to inrich us though they may be as thorns here yet they shall be as a crown of glory to us hereafter See what our Saviour saith in Matth. 5.11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake foe theirs is the kingdome of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven Christ doth not say if ye be rich and honourable in the world you shall be blessed but Christ saith if thou art reproached thou shalt be blessed Thou mayest be rich and honourable in the world and yet be everlastingly miserable but if thou art reproached for Christ thou shalt be rewarded with Christ If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.12 Sixthly and lastly I observe from hence That God hath a recompence of reward for his people If we suffer for Christ we shall also reign with Christ If we be reproached with Christ here we shall be rewarded with Christ hereafter See what our blessed Saviour saith Matth. 19.29 Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or friends for my sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit eternal life I might be longer on this point but I procéed to the Vses which shall flow from hence for our edification And the first Vse is this Is it so then that Faith is such an excellent grace then let me exhort you all in the name of Christ to believe to get Faith Beloved Faith is not onely excellent in it self but it will also make you excellent The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour Prov. 15.26 Believers were the onely excellent persons in whom David delighted Psalm 16.3 Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 For whatsoever is not of faith is sin and God cannot be pleased with sin In a word if ever you would be saved get faith for without faith there is no salvation it is unbelief which is the soul-damning sin He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned The Sentence of damnation is already past against all unbelievers He that believeth not is condemned already John 3.18 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 For the Lords sake sinners believe if you have any regard to your own good believe if you have any love or pitty to your precious souls believe if you would not be eternally miserable believe in the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be eternally blessed Secondly Is it so that the condition of Gods Children in this life is an afflicted condition what then shall the condition of wicked men be in the life to come If judgment thus begin at the house of God what then shall be the end of sinners If the righteous be thus scarcely saved where then shall the sinner and ungodly appear If God be thus severe to his Children how terrible will he then be to his enemies If through so many tribulations the people of God enter into heaven then into what woeful miseries doe sinners plunge themselves into for a few sinful pleasures for a few séeming sinful pleasures they heap to themselves eternal torments O consider this you that forget God In this life the people of God are afflicted but in the life to coure they shall be rewarded Lazarus he was afflicted with hunger and sores yea scorned and contemned by Dives but in the life to come Lazarus is rewarded but Dives is tormented The time will come when Gods people shall have pleasures everlasting pleasures when the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God Psalm 9.17 The Lord tryeth the righteous saith David but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup Psalm 11.6 Thirdly Is it better to suffer than to sin then this may inform us of the great evil of apostacy they that will turn from the truth rather than suffer for the truth such I say never did imbrace the truth in the love of it they went out from us but they were not of us Many will own Christ and the word of Christ when they may do it without fear but when trouble and persecutions come then they fall away But whosoever they are that in this case go about to save their lives shall lose them they that deny Christ for fear of persecution Christ will deny him before his Father Apostacy was the sin of the Devil and they that apostatize from Christ for fear of persecution shall have the Devils reward Thou wilt not suffer for Christ but Christ will make thée suffer eternally Thou thinkest life is swéet and indéed so it is but remember eternal life is much more sweeter and the soul is more precious than life Christ laid down his life to save souls therefore Christians should lay down ten thousand lives if it were possible to have so many rather than lose their souls By apostacy from the truth thou mayest save thy life but in so doing thou losest thy soul which is of more value than ten thousand lives Did Christ lay down his life for us and shall not we much more lay down our lives for him Did Christ who is the prince of life become obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse for us then let nothing separate us from the love of Christ Christians should shew themselves to be the servants of Christ by afflictions persecutions be the way what it will fair or foul thick or thin Christians should persevere The Apostles loved not their lives unto the death in the cause of Christ and he that is afraid of his life in the cause of Christ is surely afraid of heaven If he that endures to the end shall be saved then certainly he that falls away shall be damned If we fear them who can onely kill the body more than God who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell what will become of us In a word let me encourage you all in the words of the holy Ghost as you may finde it Revel 3.10 what saith God there Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed and ye shall have tribulation ten dayes But be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Fourthly Is it so that all sinful pleasures are short and vain are they but for a season then