yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
gave him that Counsel that they thought would be to him the most grateful But there came to him an honest Stoick that dealt sincerely with him He told him that he need not much afflict himself as if some great matter were before him Non est res magna vivere omnes servi tui vivunt omnia animalia c. Sen. Ep. 77. It is says he no great thing to live All thy Servants live and every Animal does it It is a great thing to die well wisely and undauntedly Life considered abstractly is of no great price and there are many Creatures that have it which we do not greatly value upon that score And when our Lord requires us to give up our life he does not command any great thing of us in doing that Life it self is at best but a manner or circumstance of being and there are those Creatures which have it whose condition is yet very mean and low Life alone does not import any happiness at all Instead of that it often serves to make them who have it sensible of their misery 2. That supposing life more valuable than it is yet it is but a very little of it we lose when we part with it by the hands of violence It is indeed of very great moment how we live of very little how long He that takes our life away does rob us of very little And when God calls for it we have no cause to murmur and complain We generally take false measures here and there is nothing in which we more frequently miscount than we do in this matter And hence it is that we judge so much amiss of our Saviours Laws For what is this life that we put so great a price upon What it is at the most I reckon that what we have spent of it is not at all and what is to come is not yet That which is past is gone irrecoverably and that which is to come is not yet at all so that all we have and all that we can be said to lose is the present moment In all things else we cannot properly be said to be deprived of what we had lost before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. Ant. l. 3. c. 8. or to lose what we never had No man can be deprived of more than what he hath in actual possession We live the present moment only For all the rest we either have lived it or it is uncertain whether we shall or not This is all then that we lose and indeed all that we can enjoy at once the present moment So that one of the Ancients said very truly That he that died very old and he that died very young losâ— but one and the same thing Id. l. 2. c. 12. For said he the present time is that only which any man can be deprived of Agreeably hereunto the Apostle speaks when he calls the sufferingâ— of this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.18 the sufferings of this present time It is but a moment that we suffer for it is but a moment that we live at once It is true indeed we flatter our selves with a long time that we have to live but we cannot promise our selves that which is to come and we cannot with any propriety of Speech be said to lose that which we never had 3. That supposing we might have lived longer had we not been cut off by the hands of violence yet is this a very inconsiderable â—oss Our Saviour is no hard Master if he call us hence in our youth and full strength and suffer us to fall under the hands of violence What does all this amount to We do but die a little sooner and after another way And sure we have little love for our Lord and our Religion if we think much to do this For suppose we might have lived longer yet that is not much which we lose Perhaps a few years or months and what does it signifie What proportion does this hold to Eternity Or of what moment is it if you consider the boundless love of God and our blessed Saviour A long life is no infallible token of Gods favour under the Gospel This was indeed a blessing under the Law of Moses But we are now received into a better Covenant We know it was otherwise before the Law of Moses was given Enoch that walked with God and that pleased him lived the shortest life of any of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noaâ— And many times so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he diâ— in his youth whom God loves I hath been esteemed a favour to bâ— removed hence betimes We muâ—â— die and if we are sure of that iâ— is of small moment when we diâ— And therefore when we die foâ— our Religion we do not lose muâ—â— for the sake of it For we must all die We are but deprived of thaâ— which we knew before would eâ—â— long be taken from us If our house had not been pulled or fired down yet in a little while it would have fallen of it self He that kills me does not by doing so make me mortal Si mortem possemus evadere meritò mori timeremus Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 6. he found me so We have no cause to fear death when we know we cannot escape it When we are killed it is life not immortality which we are deprived of Let us not phansie that our Lord requires any great matter of us when he commands us to lay down our life for his sake We must have died if he had never made this Law and it is a small matter which he requires of us when he would have us die for him Dlogen Laertius Socrat. When one told Socrates that the Athenians had decreed his death He told him that Nature had decreed theirs also His death was hastened by them it was determined by a superiour Power We have no cause to complain but great cause to bless God that since we must die he is pleased to call upon us to do it in a righteous cause We are very foolish and fond if we now murmur and complain I know very well that we are affrighted with the pain of a violent and unnatural death And perhaps the shame and reproach of it is also irksom to us For its reproach and shame it is the most trifling pretence imaginanable And I can hardly think that a wise man upon second thoughts can be moved with so vain a consideration as this The truth of it is there is not any shadow in this pretence For to die for our Religion whatever our death be is not more our duty than it is our priviledge and our honour The first Christians judged thus They rejoyced in this that they were esteemed worthy to suffer for the name of Christ It is no reproach to suffer any death in a good cause He that dies for his Country is not by any wise man reproached because he was found dead in
a ditch It is the Crime not the kind of death that makes death dishonourable He falls well whatever hand pull him down that falls in a good cause Our Lord died upon a Cross His was a painful and the most shameful death It was the punishment of Slaves and the most infamous Criminals Now it is said of our Lord Heb. 12.2 that he endured the Cross despising the shame The pain was very afflictive to his flesh but yet such was his love that he endured that But then his death was as shameful as his Enemies could have devised but the shame our Lord despised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Antonin l. 7. 2.23 And sure if our Lord did this for us well may we do it for him Well may we glory in that Cross which our Lord hath born But then for the pain of a violent death we shall not need much to disquiet our selves we affright our selves without cause and we do disquiet our selves in vain We think of Racks and Wheels of fire and faggot when we think of our Enemies from whom we expect no mercy But it is certain that we often torment our selves with evils that shall never overtake us But yet we will suppose that we meet with great pain What then This pain will be tolerable or not If it be tolerable we may endure it if not we shall not be long troubled with it That will end or we shall We cannot last long under extreme pain Besides it is not unlikely but a disease may put us to sharper and longer pains than a Tyrant will ever do A Calenture may be more troublesom to us than fire and faggot and the flames of a Fever may scorch us more severely than other flames And they that have felt the extremity of the Gout and Stone will easily grant that it is a favour to die by the Sword of a Tyrant Quid refert in Equuleum an in lectulum torquendus ascenderis Petrarch Arrian Epictet l. 2. c. 6. We do not know but we may be tortured on our Beds and what great matter is it whether we be exercised upon a Bed or upon a Wheel It is very likely that a Tyrant will sooner release us than a disease What needest thou care says the heathen Philosopher what way thou goest into another World They are alike But yet if thou art willing to know the truth that is the shortest which a Tyrant sends Never was any Tyrant six months in killing any man A Fever hath often detained men a whole year What is it then that we fear Is it the Sword of an Enemy But are we sure we shall die an easier death Perhaps this Sword may may rescue us from greater pains and miseries Arrian l. 4. c. 7. When once I had learnt says the same Philosopher that he that is born must also die I am indifferent whether I die by a Fever or the fall of a Tile or I be killed by a Souldier But if I must compare I know that a Souldier will destroy me with the least pain It is very inconsiderable since we must die after what manner we do it And if there be any difference perhaps this way of dying by a Tyrant may be the gentler 4. That the life which we part with when we die for our Reliligion is not worth the keeping upon those terms upon which alone we have the liberty to preserve it Life I grant is a very valuable thing Especially the life of a man But let us consider a while what that is that makes it so It is not because it gives us the opportunity of eating and drinking and sporting our selves in the World This is the life of a Brute and not the life of a man much less of a worshipper of God But our life is desirable as it relates to a better life and it serves the purposes of Eternity They are the causes or ends of life which make it desirable So long as they continue life is not only a blessing but a most unspeakable one The great ends of life are the service of God and doing good to one another in order to a future glory and immortality It is here we lay a foundation for a future bliss and happiness This life is the Stage on which we act our parts well This is the state of trial and this life is very valuable considered with its reference and subordination to that glory which we expect hereafter We know there is a reward for the righteous and out of respect to that it is that we strive to abound in all the fruits of righteousness and perfect holiness in the fear of God Whiles our life serves so great an end it is worth the preserving but without this it is nothing worth For barely to live is not the happiness and perfection of a man If then it come to this that we must lose our life or prostitute our Consciences and deny the faith our life is not worth the keeping upon these hard terms For when the end of life is gone what is life it self but a burden and reproach to him that hath it In other things we judge thus We value things by their end and usefulness And when they are rendred unfit for their end we value them not any longer Who regards any thing any farther than as it answers its end Who regards an unfruitful and dry Vine or Fig-tree Who values adulterate Coin or useless Beasts It is the end and usefulness of things that sets a rate and price upon them We reject those things that are useless as we do Salt that hath lost its savour But nothing is more vile and contemptible than our life when it is deprived of its end A man that hath Shipwracked his Faith and prostituted his Conscience to save his goods and his life is of all Creatures in this lower world the most deplorably miserable He lives indeed but he is an uneasie burden to himself and a cumber to the Earth He lives but his life is nothing worth when he is bereft of his integrity and hath forfeited his future hopes Life is not worth any mans keeping upon such terms as these are Plat. Ap. Socr. Socrates told the Athenians that if they would offer him his life upon condition that he should no longer Philosophize he would thank them indeed but not accept of life upon those terms And adds that he would rather obey God than them Hence it was that the first Christians would rather die than do that which was evil And some of the honester Heathens did thus also Arrian Epictet l. 1. c. 8. Priscus Helvidius was a Senator of Rome and considered the duty of his place The Emperour sent to him and forbid him to come into the Senate Priscus told him It was in his power to remove him from being a Senator till that was done he would go into the Senate Then the Emperour commanded him if went into the Senate to
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
the fire that never goes out What proportion is there between Time and Eternity Between a sorrow that lasteth for a moment and that sorrow which excludes all hope of an end But then if we think of the Joys of Heaven that are the portion of the Pious and persevering Christian we shall find that all the sorrows of this life bear no proportion to them The Apostle tells us that they are not to be compared I reckon says he that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 If then we turn our Eyes from Time upon Eternity from the sufferings we feel to the glory which we wait for we shall not easily sink under our burden nor any longer impeach the Divine Care and Providence 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not says the Apostle For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen Let us now consider 3. The ends and usefulness of these Evils which happen to good men in this life For though we call these sufferings evils yet are they occasions of very much good And 1. They are for the general good of the world and the advancement of Religion amongst men Hereby men have taken occasion to enquire into the Principles of them that suffer and to acquaint themselves with that Religion which they overlooked before Hence they have been convinced of the truth of Religion and that it is a reality and will bear men up under all the evils of this world The patient sufferings of Holy men have greatly adorned and spread the Religion for which they suffered Hence many new Converts have been brought into the Faith and hereby men have been confirmed in the truth The undanted sufferings of good men for Religion have spread it more than learned Books and subtle Arguments could do Every man is not able to judge of the strength of an Argument nor to detect the Sophistry of cunning men He that is constant to the death does more by his patient sufferings than he could have done by his Wit and Learning We gain a great credit to our Religion when it supports us under our Evils which we suffer They that see this are convinced greatly in their Consciences They now believe Religion not only true but a Principle of power and great efficacy and that the pious man serves God for greater respects than any worldly thing It was a great Calumny against Job that he served God for his worldly ends only Job 1.11 But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face Thus doth Satan accuse Job unto God How false this Accusation was appeared from what followed By his patient enduring he shewed that he was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed evil It is a cheap thing to profess Religion when there is no danger in it This does not recommend it unto others Men will suspect that this profession either serves a worldly interest or was owing to our education or some chance But he that dares to die for his Religion does greatly commend it to the Consciences of men By this means the world was vanquished and Christian Religion planted among men This course was of great power towards the confounding of Infidels and the gaining new Believers It served to strengthen the weak and confirm the strong The bloud of Martyrs was the Seed of the Church and he that died for his Religion spread it This was of greater moment than learned Arguments or carnal weapons Our Religion was founded upon sufferings and built upon a Crucified Saviour 2. As the sufferings of good men are for the good of the world so they are for the good of those men who suffer They are gainers by their sufferings and this Consideration doth serve to clear the care and Providence of God It may seem strange that the severe afflictions that befall us should be for our advantage That I should bury my only Child and my dearest Friend lose my Estate and be cast in a righteous cause that I should meet with contempt and scorn and great disappointments are indeed great trials but such as may conduce if I be not wanting greatly to my advantage It is true that the sorrowful sufferer does not see how this can be But yet afterwards he sees it clearly and lives to bless God for those very evils under which he sometimes groaned We know that Fire and the Lance rough and harsh medicines and methods cure some men that were in danger of perishing Joseph's imprisonment was no likely way to his advancement but yet God made it the occasion of his rise We do not presently understand these things but what Jesus said to Peter we find often verified in the case before us Joh. 13.7 What I do says he thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter One would think Clay and Spittle might put out the eyes of him that sees and yet we know our Lord by this means cured the blind I shall lay before you some of the advantages which a good man receives from the sufferings which befall him in this life First These evils conduce much to the destroying of the remainders of sin in a good man Our evil habits are not rooted out all at once There is some folly bound up in the hearts of good men which this rod of correction serves to beat out Prosperity generally hides our wickedness from us Afflictions are faithful friends they tell us our fault plainly they awaken us and conduce much towards our amendment And that they may gain their end it is frequently so contrived by the wise Providence of God that we may read our sin in our very suffering As our affliction is the unhappy off-spring of our fault so it hath upon it some features and signatures that speak it like its Parent We may very often read in our suffering what was our sin It were very easie to give you many instances to this purpose were it not too much out of the way of the present discourse It is very certain that our afflictions are instructive and very faithful Monitors to us Psal 119.67 71. Before I was afflicted I went astray says the Psalmist but now have I kept thy word Again It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes There is nothing so formidable as a constant and uninterrupted prosperity We are generally the worse for being prosperous And it is too often so that our Vices and our Prosperity grow up together It is rarely seen but even good men are somewhat the worse on this score It was a saying of one of the Ancients That he thought none could be more unhappy than that man who never met with any adversity
long into a state of liberty and joy Let us think of this In alium sumimur partum Sen. Ep. 102. and we shall not be cast down at our painin our passage thither Let us under our Throws and pain look up to that immortality for the sake of which we suffer Think of Eternity He that apprehends that will not be dismayed at force nor terrified with the instruments of Cruelty Let it never be said the hope of Riches and Honour here hath more force than the hopes of Heaven That other men shall do and suffer more for earthly than we do for heavenly things That Temporal hopes can effect that which the hope of Eternals cannot do CHAP. IV. SEcondly Our Religion gives us the utmost assurance of Gods gracious and particular care and Providence and being assured of this we are provided with another great support under all the Evils of this present life These two things have a mighty force to quiet us when they are duly considered The hope of Heaven hereafter and the assurance of Gods care and special Providence here If our hope lies beyond this World and we be in the mean time assured that God rules among men there is nothing that can afflict us greatly If we have no greater design about us than that we may be happy with God in a future life we shall not be much cast down at the troubles of this present state For these troubles will be so far from hindring our attainment of that great end that they rather advance us and set us forward Death it self which is the extremest Evil does but put us into the possession of our eternal rest And whatever Storm or Tempest befalls us we ought to welcom it when it drives us nearer to our desired Haven But let us in the next place consider the support which we have from that assurance which our Religion gives us of Gods special care and Providence If we live under a lively sense of this truth we shall be in great measure rid of our anxious cares and troubles For now though we should be tossed upon a Tempestuous Sea and the Keel wherein we are should be in in danger from the proud and swelling Waves yet we may rest securely when we remember who sits at Stern And here First I shall lay before you the assurance our Religion gives us of Gods care and special Providence Secondly I shall shew you how potent an argument this is toward our support Thirdly I shall make some application of it 1. I shall lay before you the assurance our Religion gives us of Gods care and special Providence By his special care and Providence I mean his care of Men and especially of his Church I might here put you in mind of what God did of old for his Church and People before the coming of the Messiah The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament will afford you many instances of Gods special care of the Jewish people whom he had chosen out of all the Nations of the World He ruled among them and though he appointed Governours over them yet was he their great Lord and King And indeed their form of Government was a peculiar one For it is not without cause by one of the Ancients called a Theocrasie God was their King from him they had their Laws their Defence and Protection And God gave that People very many and very great Demonstrations of his special care of them He dwelt among them they were under his Wings And were of all people in the world the most happy while they continued obedient unto God I should be endless if I should go about to reckon up what proofs God gave of his great care of that Church and of his especial Providence over it He shewed it by Miracles of Mercy by Wonders of Love by most singular and remarkable deliverances which he wrought for them In due time God sent his Son into the World and after that as he inlarged his Church and People so he continued his care of them too And by his Son he hath given us farther assurance of his very particular care and Providence And the Son of God did in his Sermons and Discourses assure his followers of this truth And by that means did prepare them for suffering and dispose them to patience and contentedness and to an unshaken and steady faith in God under all events of things By this course our Lord would deliver us from those cares and anxieties from those fears and distractions that render this life the greatest burden to us And because we are apt to be mightily concerned for the necessaries of this life and very apt to be afraid of Death especially of a violent and unnatural one therefore we find our Lord fortifying us against these evils and that he does by giving us a full assurance of the special care and good Providence of God For this as I shall shew afterward is a most powerful consideration to render us quiet and contented and to rid us of our distracting cares and those fears that make this life a burden to us And to this purpose our Saviour discourses most divinely in his Sermon on the Mount a considerable part of which incomparable Sermon was spent in this Argument And it tends directly to free us of that anxiety and care which is the great burden of our lives But I had rather you should hear the words themselves which our blessed Lord spake And these they are Mat. 6.25 to Ver. 33. Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink Nor yet for your body what ye shall put on Is not the life more than Meat and the body than Raiment Ver. 26. Behold the Fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they Ver. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit unto his Stature Ver. 28. And why take ye thought for raiment Consider the Lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin And yet I say unto you Ver. 29. that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Ver. 30. Wherefore if God so cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little faith Therefore take no thought saying Ver. 31. What shall we eat Or what shall we drink Or wherewithal shall we be cloathed Ver. 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Can any thing be more effectual to rid us of our anxious and uneasie thoughts than these Arguments which our Lord has laid before us Shew me any Philosopher that ever discoursed at this powerful rate These words
are very divine and mightily fitted to gain their end They are words that couch under them very great Arguments to move us by If God have given us life which nothing but his kindness could move him to do we need not doubt of meat to preserve that life He that hath given us a body that needs cloathing will surely give us something to cloath it withal The Fowls are fed that can neither sow nor reap nor do they gather into Barns and shall we distrust Our anxiety is burdensom indeed but it does not advance us It neither feeds nor cloaths us God cloaths the flowers and Lillies of the field which are not capable of care and anxiety and that after a more gay manner than what any Monarch even Solomon himself was clothed And if the grass of the field which was not designed for any long continuance be thus beautified by God shall we fear nakedness These cares may better become the Heathens who had but a slender belief of God's special Providence they become us not who do profess a belief that God knows what our needs are These are the powerful Arguments that our Lord lays before us And can there be any thing more convincing than what our Saviour hath said Can any thing be more effectual to rid us of our troublesom cares for ever Can any thing be added to this Discourse If there may it is that surely which our Lord himself has added in the next words Mat. 6.33 34. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Take therefore no thought for the morrow For the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof If we will be careful let us take care to do the Will of God Let us do our part and God will take care of us We shall have enough to do with our present work let us leave futurities to him that is only wise and good But perhaps it is the least of our care what we shall eat and drink and wherewith we shall be cloathed We are careful about greater matters than these are And that is the smallest of our care what provision we shall make for our bodies We are full of thoughts how we shall be able to suffer persecution and continue constant to the death We may be brought before the great men of the World and how shall we do then for Wisdom and Courage We may be delivered up into the hands of powerful men What shall we then do Our Lord does not leave us in that case When they deliver you up says he 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 It will be enough that we have help when we need it We ought to consider that we shall not be forgotten by God That nothing shall happen to us without his knowledge and permission Ver. 29 30 31. Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many Sparrows These words give us assurance of the very particular care and Providence of God and therein the greatest support under all our afflictions that is imaginable The World was greatly in the dark in the question of Gods Providence and there were great and foul errors crept into the World concerning it Thus Epicurus is said to have denied the Providence of God altogether Aristotle to have confined it to the Heavens Some of the Arabians to have restrained it to Universals only and some of the Jews to have limited it to Mankind and not extended it unto Beasts Nay some of the Jews were narrower still and would needs confine the Providence of God to the Jewish Land or Nation only Vid. Jacchiad in Dan. 7.3 Cum Annot. L. Emper. v. Abraven on Exod. 23.20 who were Gods Portion and Lot But our blessed Saviour does in the words above-named assure us that Gods care is not to be bounded and restrained And thus though he be not equally concerned for all his Creatures yet they are all a part of his care And he hath not only a general care of Mankind but a care of the Individuals also and a very special and particular care of his Worshippers and Followers Nay the very Beasts themselves are part of his care and not only Oxen Beasts of great labour and usefulness but the smallest fowls of the air even the Sparrows those cheap and inconsiderable ones Nor is God only concerned for the life of a man Our Saviour descends lower when he says The very hairs of your head are all numbred We are further assured by the Apostle that God careth for us and that therefore we ought to cast all our Care or burden 1 Pet. 5.7 as it is in the Psalmist Psal 55.23 to which these words seem to refer upon him But then he would have us cast all our care upon him Not only our care for meat and drink c. Our care for our selves but our care for our Friends and our Relatives Our care for future Events and Contingencies Phil. 4.6 Be careful for nothing says another Apostle 1 Cor. 7 3â—.35 And elsewhere he tells them to whom he writes that he would have them be without carefulness and that they might attend upon the Lord without distraction That is we must from the consideration of Gods special Providence discharge our selves of all our tormenting and disquieting cares giving up our selves intirely to the will of that God who rules and governs this lower World 2. I shall now shew how powerful an argument this is towards our support And that is First As by it we are discharged of our anxiety and disquiet of mind which for want of this consideration afflicts and burdens us If God govern the World we may be quiet and still We have nothing to do but obey his Will and to submit chearfully to his disposal of things We are not fit for the government and well it is for us that we are not concerned We want Wisdom and Power and are too shallow and too weak for so great a weight We have nothing to do now but Adore the Divine Wisdom and Goodness and to follow God It is well for us that we are discharged from a burden which neither we nor our Fathers were ever able to bear Psal 97.1 The Lord reigneth let the Earth rejoyce let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof Secondly As by this Doctrine we receive assurance that all things will be well administred and tend to a good account at last We shall not now need to fear We need not disquiet our selves with the things that happen as if they came to pass by chance or an inevitable fate God
vindicate his Religion from those aspersions that are cast upon it No man does more effectually refute the slanders against Religion than he that dies for it chearfully as for example This course confirms the truth of Religion There are those who would insinuate that Religion is a State-Engine contrived for worldly ends and for the better government of men That Heaven and Hell are no realities but contrived for the interest of humane Societies He that is willing to part with his life in defence of his Religion does destroy this insinuation and makes it evident that his Religion does not serve a worldly interest and that Heaven and Hell are great realities There are others that insinuate that Religion is an ineffectual Principle And if you were to judge of Religion by the Lives as well as Doctrines of some men you would be apt to think it a very dull and ineffectual Principle that were destitute of all power to enable men to do what it does command But then the man that forsakes this world that despises all its glories and continues undaunted under all its threats and frowns He that dares to be good whatever he suffer on that behalf such a man as this makes it appear that his Religion is a very powerful Principle and that it is accompanied with a Divine Assistance Again They that suffer for Religion do recommend the excellency and inward glories of Religion They discover the beauties of it And that they do when they give so great a proof of what it commends to us viz. A fervent love of God a contempt of the World a profound Meekness Patience and Charity Justice and Truth These are those things which shine in these examples and do speak aloud the perfections of that Religion which does produce them CHAP. VII I Come now to lay before you some other helps and assistances that the afflicted and persecuted Christian is provided with And in the next place I desire you to consider The Intercession of the Son of God And this is an unspeakable comfort and support where it is duly considered And that so it is we may learn from what we read of St. Stephen You know very well that he was accused and though he made his defence yet he was so far from appeasing his Enemies thereby that they were more enraged We read that they were cut to the heart Acts 7.54 55 56. and they gnashed on him with their teeth But though his Enemies were enraged and disturbed yet this holy man continues calm and quiet And what was it that kept him so We read what it was in these words But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God Here was that which kept him undisturbed when his Enemies were transported with fury Hence he had his strength and his undauntedness He says himself Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God And now though his Enemies gnash on him with their teeth though they cry out with a loud voice though they stop their ears and run upon him with one accord and cast him out of the City and stone him Yet the holy man is not for all this discomposed nor so far disturbed but that he was able to continue to call upon God and his blessed Saviour and to pray for his Enemies that put him to death And after this it is not said that he was killed or stoned that he was murdered or the like but that he fell asleep Ver. 60. After this gentle manner is this Saints death expressed But that which made his death so easie to him was that as he was full of the Holy Ghost so he saw Jesus at the right hand of God And we shall find that this sight of Jesus at Gods right hand will be of great moment towards our support under the greatest and sharpest miseries of this life Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect says St. Paul It is God that Justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died But we have greater comfort than this and therefore he goes on Yea rather that is risen again nor does the Apostle stay here neither who is even at the right hand of God he goes farther still who also maketh intercession for us This is a great height indeed we are now very secure from danger since Jesus did not only die for our sins and rise again for our Justification but after this went into Heaven and is there concerned on our behalf Well might the Apostle now Triumphingly go on and he does so when he says Ver. 35 36 37 38 39. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or Sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more than Conquerours through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But for the better proceeding in this comfortable Argument of Christs interceding for us in Heaven I shall First Shew where Christ now is viz. in Heaven at Gods right hand Secondly I shall shew you how far he is there concerned on our behalf Thirdly I shall shew you how this tends towards our support and comfort under the troubles of this life 1. I shall shew where Christ is viz. in Heaven He was contented for our sakes to be born of a Woman to lie in a Manager to be tempted in a Wilderness to die upon a Cross and to be buried in a Sepulchre But thanks be to God he that was born ever lives and he that died and was buried was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven Heb. 1.3 and is sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Chap. 2.9 crowned with glory and honour Chap. 7.26 Eph. 5.10 Chap. 1.20 21. Made higher than the Heavens He is ascended up far above all Heavens Far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but that which is to come Phil. 2.9 God hath highly exalted and given him a Name which is above every name 1 Pet. 3.22 He is gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him It cannot be denied but the Air and the Clouds are called by the name of heaven and consequently when Christ was in them he might be said to have been in Heaven But certain it is that the expressions
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