righteousness For many in the first three hundred years persecution when no body knew what they were would boldly come up to the face of their enemies and tell what they were and suffer for what they professed the death I remember also the Woman who when her Friends were gone before to suffer how she came running and panting after for fear she should not come thither time enough to suffer for Jesus Christ. But I will give you an instance of later times even in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign of an Hartfordshire man that went as far as Rome to bear his testimony for God against the wickedness of that place This man when he was arrived there and had told them wherefore he was come they took and condemned him to death to wit to be burned for an Heretick Now he was to ride from the prison to the place of execution upon an Ass with his face to the beasts tail and was to be stript from the shoulders to the waste that he might be tormented all the way he went with burning torches continually thrust to his sides But he nothing at all afraid spake in his exhortation to the people to fly from their sin and Idolatry he would also catch hold of the Forces and put them to his sides to shew how little he esteemed the worst that they could do Also when he was come to the place of execution he suffered there such cruelty with so unconcern'd a mind and with such burning zeal for Gods truth testified against them while he could speak That all amazed his enemies cried he could not have suffered as he did but by the help of the Devil His name I have now forgot but you will find it with the story at large in the Third Volum of Acts and Monuments at the 1022. page But we will pass this and come to our second particular Namely to shew when it may be said a man doth not only suffer for righteousness but also for righteousness sake To suffer for righteousness sake must be either with the intention of the persecutor or else of the persecuted The persecutor what ever the person suffering is if he afflicteth this person for a supposed good that he thinketh he hath or professeth he makes him suffer for righteousness sake So that in this sence a man that hath no grace may not only suffer for righteousness but also for righteousness sake But this I intend not because the Text is not concerned with it The thing therefore now intended to be spoken to is this namely when a man may be said to suffer what he suffereth upon a religious account of love to or for the sake of that good that he finds in the truths of God or because his heart is joyned and espoused to the good of the truths that he professeth not that there is any thing in any truth of God that is not good but a man may profess truth not for the sake of the goodness that is in it but upon a remote account Judas professed truth not of love to the truth but of love to the bag and to the money that was put therein Men may profess for a wife for a trade for friendship or because profession is at such a time or in such a place in fashion I wish that there were no cause to say this Now there is not any of these that profess the truth for the truth's sake that profess the truth of love to it nor shall they should they suffer as professors never so long never so much never so greviously be counted of God among them that suffer for righteousness sake that is of unfeigned love to righteousness Wherefore that I may shew you who may be said to suffer for righteousness sake I will propound and speak to several things First then He that suffereth in the Apostles sence for well doing or for righteousness sake sets his face against nothing but sin in He resisteth unto blood striving against sin â—â— sin is the object of his indignation because 't is an enemy to God and to his righteous cause is the World Heb. 12.4 Sin I say is that which such a man singleth out as his opposite as his antagonist and that against which his heart is set 'T is a rare thing to suffer a right and to have my spirit in my suffering bent only against Gods enemy sin Sin in Doctrine sin in Worship sin in Life sin in Conversation Now then he that suffereth for righteousness sake has singled out sin to pursue it to death long before he comes to the cross 'T is sin alas and his hatred to it that have brought him into this condition He fell out with sin at home in his own house in his own heart before he fell out with sin in the world or with sin in publick worship For he that can let sin go free and uncontrouled at home within let him suffer while he will he shall not suffer for righteousness sake And the reason is because a righteous Soul as the Phrase is 2 Pet. 2.8 has the greater antipathy against that sin that is most ready to defile it and that is as David calls it ones own iniquity or the sin that dwelleth in ones own flesh I have kept me says he from mine iniquity from mine own sin People that are afraid of fire are concerned most with that that burneth in their own chimney they have the most watchful eye against that that is like to burn down their own house first He also that suffereth for righteousness sake doth it also because he would not that sin should cleave to the worship of God and indeed this is mostly the cause of the sufferings of the godly They will not have to do with that worship that hath sinful traditions commixed with Gods appointments because they know that God is jealous of his worship and has given a strict charge that all things be done according to the pattern shewed to us in the Mount He knows also that God will not be with that worship and those worshippers that have not regard to worship by the rule of the Testament of Christ. He is also against the sin that is apt to cleave to himself while he standeth in the presence of God I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compass thine altar O Lord. This man also chuses to be in the practical parts of worship if possible for he knows that to have to do about holy things sincerely is the way to be at the remotest distance from sin He chuses also to be with those holy Ones that are of the same mind with him against sin For he knows that two are better than one and that a threefold Cord is not easily broken Wherefore look to your selves you that do or may be called to suffer for Religion if you bend not your selves against sin if to be revenged of sin be not the cause of your suffering you cannot be said
Creator he is fastned to Christ yea is in him by an act of Creation Eph. 2.10 So that unless Christ and the creation of the holy Ghost can be destroyed he is safe that is suffering according to the will of God and that hath committed the keeping of his Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator And this I would have you consider moreover the man that suffereth according to the will of God committeth not such a Soul to this Creator as dwells in carnal men a naked Soul a graceless Soul a Soul that has nothing in it but sin but he commits a converted Soul a regenerate Soul a Soul adorned beautified and sanctified with the Jewels and bracelets ear-rings and perfumes of the blessed spirit of grace And I say again this is the work of a Creator and a Creator can maintain it in its gallantry and he will do so but he will put forth acts of creating power for it every day Sixthly a Creator he that can create can turn and alter any thing to what himself would have it He that made the seven Stars and Orion turneth the shadow of death into the morning He can make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water Amos 5.8 Isa. 41.18 Our most afflicted and desolate conditions he can make as a little haven unto us he can make us sing in the wilderness and give us our vineyards from thence Hos. 2.14 15. He can make Paul sing in the stocks and good Rowland Taylor dance as he goeth to the burning stake Gaols and mocks and scourgings and flouts and imprisonments and hunger and nakedness and Peril and Sword and Dens and Caves and Rocks and Mountains God can so sweeten with the Honey of his word and make so famous for situation by the glory of his presence and so rich and fruitful by the communications of the holy Ghost and so easie by the spreading of his feathers over us that we shall not be able to say that in all the world a more commodious place or comfortable condition can be found some have known this and have been rather ready to covet to be here than to shun and fly from it as a most unsavoury condition All these things I say God doth as a Creator He hath created Antipathies and he can make Antipathies close and have favour one for another The Lion and the Calf the Wolf and the Lamb the little Boy and the Cockatrice's den he can reconcile and make to be at agreement So sufferings and the Saint the Prison and the Saint losses crosses and afflictions and the Saint he can make to lie down sweetly together Seventhly A Creator A Creator can make up all that thou hast or shalt lose for the sake of thy profession by the hands of the Children of men be they Friends Relations a World life or what you can conceive of 1. Hast thou lost thy Friend for the sake of thy profession is the whole World set against thee for thy love to God to Christ his cause and righteousness Why a Creator can make up all Here therefore is the advantage that he hath that suffereth for righteousness sake Jonathan the very Son of bloody Saul when David had lost the help of all his own Relations he must fall in with him stick to him and love him as he loved his own Soul 1 Sam. 18.1 2 3. Obadiah Ahab's Steward when the Saints were driven even under ground by the rage of Jezabel the Queen he is appointed of God to feed them in Caves and holes of the Earth Yea the very Raven complied with the will of a Creator to bring the Prophet bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh at night 1 King 18.13 chap. 17.6 When Jeremiah the Prophet was rejected of all yea the Church that then was could not help him he was cast into the Dungeon and sunk to a great depth there in the mire God the Creator who ruleth the spirits of all men stirred up the heart of Ebed-melech the Ethiopian both to petition for his liberty and to put him out of the Dungeon by the help of thirty men Jer. 38.7 8 9 10 11 12 13. These now as Christ says were both Fathers Mothers Brothers Sisters and as a Loving Wife or Child Mat. 19.29 2. Hast thou for the sake of thy faith and profession thereof lost thy part in the World why a Creator can make thee houses as he did for the Midwives of Egypt and can build thee a sure house as he did for David his Servant who ventured all for the love that they had to the fear of God and his way Exo. 1.20 21. 2 Sam. 7. David was thrust out of Sauls house and driven from his own and God opened the heart of Achish the King of Gath to receive him and to give him Ziklag David when under the tyranny of Saul knew not what to do with his Father and his Mother who were persecuted for his sake but a Creator inclined the heart of the King of Moab to receive them to house and harbor 1 Sam. 27.5 6. Chap. 22.3 4. 3. Is thy life at stake is that like to go for thy profession for thy harmless profession of the Gospel Why God the Creator is Lord of life and to God the Lord belong the issues from death So then he can if he will hold thy breath in thy nostrils in spite of all the World or if he shall suffer them to take away this for his glory he can give thee another ten times as good for thy comfort He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Joh. 12.25 4. Is thy body to be disfigured dismembred starved hanged or burned for the faith and profession of the Gospel Why a Creator can either prevent it or suffering it can restore it the very same to thee again with great and manifold advantage He that made thee to be what thou now art can make thee to be what thou never yet wast It doth not yet appear what we shall be further than only by general words 1 John 3.2 Philip. 3.21 Eightly A Creator Peter sets him before us here as a Creator because he would have us live upon him as such as well as upon his grace love and mercy In Jobs day this was bewailed that none or but a few said where is God my maker that giveth songs in the night Job 35.10 Creator as was hinted before is one of Gods peculiar Titles It is not given to him above five or six times in all the Book of God and usually when given him it is either to shew his greatness or else to convince us that of duty we ought to depend upon him and not to faint if he be on our side for or under any adversity according as we are bidden in the Text Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit
that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die Isa. 51.12 God says the wise man hath set the one against the other the day of adversity and the day of prosperity to the end that man should find nothing after him to complain of For as certainly as there is a time to mourn so certainly there is a time to rejoyce set I say for them that suffer for Gods cause according to Gods will Eccles. 7.14 chap. 3.4 There are several degrees of suffering for righteousness there is the scourge of the tongue The ruin of an estate the loss of liberty a Gaol a Gibbet a Stake a Dagger Now answerable to these are the comforts of the holy Ghost prepared like to like part proportioned to part only the consolations are said to abound 2 Cor. 1. But the lighter the sufferings are the more difficult it is to judge of the comforts of the spirit of God for 't is common for a man to be comfortable under sufferings when he suffereth but little and knows also that his enemy can touch his flesh his estate or the like but little I say 't is common for such a man to be comfortable in his sufferings from the consideration that his enemies can touch him no further And this may be the joy of the flesh the result of reason and may be very much if not altogether without a mixture of the joy of the holy Ghost therewith The more deep therefore and the more dreadful the sufferings are the more clearly are seen the comforts of the spirit when a man has comfort where the flesh is dead stirreth not and can do nothing When a man can be comfortable at the loss of all when he is under the sentence of death or at the place of execution When a mans cause a mans conscience the promise and the holy Ghost have all one comfortable voice and do all together with their Trumpets make one sound in the Soul then the comforts are good of the right kind of God and his spirit I told you before that there are several degrees of sufferings wherefore it is not to be expected that he that suffers but little should partake of the comforts that are prepared for them that suffer much He that has only the scourge of the tongue knows not what are the comforts that are prepared for him that meets with the scourge of the whip And how should a man know what manner of comforts the holy Ghost doth use to give at the Gaol and the Gibbet when himself for righteousness never was there But whether this or the other Christian knows it God has his consolations for his suffering people and those too such as are proportioned to the nature or degree of their sufferings The which shall assuredly be made appear to them that shall after a godly manner stick to his truth and trust him with their Souls Joseph was cast into Prison but God was with him John was banished into the Isle called Patmos for the word of God But what revelations of God had he there even such as he was a stranger to all his life before this therefore is to be well heeded For it is a demonstration of the faithfulness of God to those that suffering according to his will do commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Fourthly He will also be faithful to us in this He will not let the sharpness nor keenness nor venom of the arrows of the enemies of his people reach so far as to destroy both body and Soul at once but he will preserve them when what can be done is done to his eternal Kingdom and Glory Thus being preserved to his eternal Kingdom and glory is a mâ—rvellous thing But it must be so because God has called them to it Wherefore after Peter had told them that the Devil their adversary sought to devour them and had bidden them resist him stedfast in the faith he saith But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal Kingdom and glory by Christ Jesus after ye have suffered a while make you perfect strengthen stablish settle you 1 Pet. 5.8 9 10. The truth is persecution of the godly was of God never intended for their destruction but for their Glory and to make them shine the more when they are beyond this valley of the shadow of death Indeed we oft-times when we are perscuted do feel the terrors of our adversaries in our minds But 't is not because they can shoot them thither nor because they of themselves have power to reach so far but we like fools by our ignorance and unbelief do admit them thither No suffering nor inflicter of suffering can reach the peace of the sufferer without his own consent This is provision of Gods making Yea and if thorow our folly their terror is admitted to touch us yet since we are not our own but are bought with a price we are not so at our own dispose but that God will have the butting and bounding of their rage as also a power to uphold and support our spirits When I said my foot slipped thy mercy O Lord held me up And the reason why by Gods ordinance the spirit is not to be touched in suffering is because that is it that is to sustain the infirmity of the sufferer therefore God will have the spirit of his servants kept sound and in good health Prov. 18.14 Isaiah 57.16 The room therefore and the ground that the enemy has to play upon is the body and outward substance of the people of God but the spirit is reserved for the reason hinted before and also that it might be capable of maintaining of communion with God And how else could they obey that command that bids them rejoyce in tribulation and glorifie God in the fires as it is Rom. 12 and Isaiah 24.15 But I say if they have not power to touch much less to destroy body and Soul for ever The body is Gods and he gives that to them to destroy the spirit is Gods and he keeps that to himself to shew that he has both power to do with us what he pleases and that he will recover our body also out of their hand for if the spirit lives so must the body when men have done what they can therewith This is the argument of our Lord Jesus Christ himself Luke 20.37.38 Therefore the faithfulness of God not only is but also will be seen by them that dare trust him till the next World to his glory and their eternal comfort We will now conclude with a short word by way of use you see how I have opened the Text and what hath naturally followed thereupon from the whole of which may be gathered First that the people of God are a suffering people a people subject to trouble for their faith and profession The reason is besides what hath been said already because the power of truth is in their
disadvantages If the scourge stay suddenly that 's more than it hath done to thee he will laugh at the tryal of the innocent Job 9.23 It is a great delight to our God to see his people hold fast their integrity and not to deny his Name when under such cloudy dispensations and discouraging circumstances And considerations that thy thus doing is pleasing in his sight thorough Christ will be a support unto thee God sees thee though thou canst not now see him and he observeth now thy way though darkness is round about him and when he hath tryed thee thou shalt come forth like Gold Seventhly Take heed of setting of thy self a bound and period to thy sufferings unless that period be the grave Say not to thy afflictors Hitherto and no further and here shall your proud waves be stayed I say take heed of doing thus for fear God should let them go beyond thee For a man is not prepared to suffer further than he thinketh the enemy may be permitted to go Hence Christ sets their bounds at the loss of life and no nearer So then so far as they go beyond thee so far they will find thee unprovided and so not fortified for a reception of their on-set with that Christian Gallantry which becomes thee Observe Paul he died daily he was always delivered unto death he despaired of life and this is the way to be prepared for any calamity When a man thinks he has only to prepare for an assault by footmen how shall he contend with horses or if he looks no further than to horses what will he do at the swellings of Jordan Jer. 12.5 6. Wherefore set thine enemies no bounds say not they shall not pursue me to the death have the sentence of death in thy self For though they may but tick and toy with thee at first their Sword may reach thy heart blood at last The Cat at play with the Mouse is sometimes a fit emblem of the way of the wicked with the children of God Wherefore as I said be always dying die dayly he that is not only ready to be bound but to die is fit to encounter any amazement Eighthly If thine enemies would or do put thee under a cloud if they wrap thee up in a Bears-skin and then set the Doggs upon thee marvel not at the matter this was Joseph's David's Christ's Stephen's portion only be thou innocent say nothing do nothing that should render thee faulty yea say and do always that that should reader thee a good neighbour a good Christian and a faithful Subject This is the way to help thee to make with boldness thy appeals to God This is the way to imbolden thy face against the faces of thine enemies this is the way to keep thy conscience quiet and peaceable within thee and this is the way to provoke God to appear for thy rescue or to revenge thy blood when thou art gone And do this because 't is thy duty we must fear God and honour the King And because this is the way to make the work of thy enemies hard Few men have that boldness as to say this I do against you because you profess Christ. When they persecuted the Lord himself they said to him for a good work we stone thee not John 10.32.33 Religion that is pure is a hot thing and it usually burns the fingers of those that fight against it wherefore 't is not common for men to oppose Religion under its own naked complexion wherefore the Jews sought to fasten other matters up on Christ to kill him for them though the great spite they had against him was for his Doctrine and miracles 'T was for envy to that that they set themselves against him and that made them invent to charge him with Rebellion and Treason Mat. 27.18 Luk. 2â— 2 Ninthly Wherefore it becomes all godly men to study to be quiet to mind their own business and as much as in them lies to be at peace with all men To owe no man any thing but love Pray therefore for all that are in authority pray for the peace of the Countrey in which thou dwellest Keep company with holy and quiet and peaceable men Seek by all good ways the promotion of godliness put up injuries be good to the poor do good against evil be patient towards all men for these things are good and profitable to men Tit. 3.8 Be not enclining to injure men behind their backs speak evil of no man reproach not the Governour nor his actions as he is set over thee all his ways are Gods either for thy help or the tryal of thy graces Wherefore he needs thy prayers not thy revilings thy peaceable deportment and not a troublesome life I know that none of these things can save thee from being devoured by the mouth of the Sons of Belial 1 King 21.12 13. Only what I say is duty is profitable is commendable is necessary and that which will when the Devil has done his worst render thee lovely to thy Friends terrible to thine enemies serviceable in thy place as a Christian and will crown the remembrance of thy name to them that survive thee with a blessing The memory of the just shall be blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 Tenthly I will conclude then with a word to those professors if there be any such that are of an unquiet and troublesome spirit Friends I may say to you as our Lord said once to his Disciples ye know not of what spirit ye are To wish the destruction of your enemies doth not become you If ye be born to and are called that you may inherit a blessing pray be free of your blessing bless and curse not If you believe that the God whom you serve is Supream Governour and is also wise enough to manage affairs in the World for his Church pray keep fingers off and refrain from doing evil If the counsel of Gamaliel was good when given to the enemies of Gods people why not fit to be given to Christians themselves Therefore refrain from these men and let them alone if the work that these men do is that which God will promote and set up for ever then you cannot disannul it if not God has appointed the time of its fall A Christian and of a troblesome spirit for shame forbear shew out-of a good conversation thy works with meekness of wisdom and here let me present thee with three or four things First consider that though Cain was a very murderer yet God forbad any mans medling with him under a penalty of revenging his so doing upon his own head seven said And the Lord said unto him therefore whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold Gen. 4.15 But why not meddle with Cain since he was a murderer The reason is because he persecuted his Brother for righteousness sake and so espoused a quarrel against God for he that persecutes another for