despised vilified and distrusted persons in the Land while those who are but reputed Temporisers are the men looked upon received into the bosom promoted and entrusted Now where Religion is talked of and the ground and band of all correspondency and confidence is mens absolute flexibility and giving up themselves to any publique interest for private and self-respects sake even Charity her self will judg Religion is taken in but upon design It being thus manifest that many mens forwardness for Religion hath been to serve base carnal ends we may gather thence both what intolerable abuse hath been done to Religion and what guilt is then contracted 1. Religion hath grosly been abused and sadly suffered thereby and that many ways It its life and being whilest overgrown and overtopped with hypocrisie and worldly-mindedness in its honour whilest exposed to scandal and reproach and in its advance and growth whilest the Reformation intended and begun hath been by no means so much undermined retarded and blasted as by this All the professed contradictions and oppositions of the Papists and prophane have not so availed to crush and strangle this work as these self-designers like the Samaritans in Ezra Ezr. 4.1 2 coming in to joyn with the children of the Captivity in building the Temple on purpose to cross it have done 2. A great trespass is thereby committed Jer. 22 14. See our English margent Et lacerat sibi fenestras meas tectum cedrinum deinde pingit Iudici Junius i. e. Rerum e domo mea amocarum in usum suum loco obducit colorem floridum Judâ—ci ne fraus manifesta sit Id. this is for men with Jehojakim as our margent and Junius read that place in Jeremiah to cut out Gods windows and his Cedar-sieling out of his Temple therewith to build and deck our own houses and to paint over the breach they have so made in Gods house with Vermillion that is to bestow upon Religion a vain flourish or colourable complement and under pretence thereof to dispoil it of its solid and substantial furniture For that fact of Jehojakim the Lord pronounceth a wo upon him Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong that saith Ver. 13 14 15 An Regnaturus es quia tu misces te cum ista Cedro Jun. i. e. Res sacras admisces tuis an his artibus regnum tuum stabilum iri existimas Id. I will build me a wide house and large chambers and cutteth him out my windows and Cedar-sieling and then paints it over with vermillion and in particular tells him Shalt thou reign because thou closest thy self with that Cedar Let the false pretending dissemblers to Religion that seek and set up themselves and enlarge their houses and estates thereby take to themselves this woe else it will certainly take hold on them Let us go on to other particulars Here is a decay cooling dying of Religion we are all generally baptized persons professed Christians we bear the name of Christ own the Religion of his Gospel in opposition to and distinction from Heathenism Judaism Turcism yea and Popery We declare for Protestantism and Reformation but where is the soundness life vigor and efficacy of these things If any sense or power of these things moved in us at first unto the embracement of them what is become of it The Lord may say of us as of Jerusalem I remember thee the kindness of thy youth Jer. 2.2 the love of thine espousals In the beginning of Reformation in King Edwards Queen Maries and Queen Elizabeths days there was some zeal and forwardness expressed for the truth and for the pure worship of God in acting for the abolition of Popery and for Church-Reformation and in sufferings unto death but from that time how soon were we departed How continuedly have we degegenerated How far are we now fallen from that life and fervor Where are the forward actors Where are the resolute Endurers for the Cause of God A zealous strict gracious and fruitful course of life and conversation hath all along by the most been layd aside loathed hated denyed and persecuted We have of late begun high attempts and engagements as if we would not only recover but exceed and out-strip our first settings forth for Religion but this rise hath seemed to be but like that of a body mortally sick or wounded which in the approaches of death well have one or a few starts and liftings up to recall as it were its departing Soul but is not able to hold up when it is raised and therefore yields presently again to the seizure of death May we not fear that the late stirrings and sticklings for Reformation were but as sprints or struglings before death considering how little these are seconded yea how quite flat these are layd down yea what intentions studies and practices clean contrary to them are taken up and practised Methinks when I consider the story of Gideon I see a lively portraicture of the men of these times Gideon at first when in his low condition when he threshed wheat by the wine-press to hide it from the Midianites and when he confessed his family was poor in Manasseh and he was the least in his fathers house and the Lord set him to throw down the Altar of Baal and cut down the grove by it and to build an Altar unto the Lord and to offer thereon a burnt sacrifice with the wood of that grove he was very forward zealous and couragious both in the removing of Idolatry and erecting the worship of the true God But when he had accomplished his great conquests and the deliverance of Israel from the Midianites and Amalekites how then proceeded he in reference to Religion Why he makes a request to his people for their golden Ear-rings Judg. 6.11 15. cap. 8 24 c. accordingly they grant and spreading a garment every man therein casts the Ear-rings of his prey and he makes an Ephod thereof and puts it in his City and all Israel goes thither awhoring after it Even thus have men the Gideons the mighty men of valor now delt with Religion At the first when they were little in their own sight then down with the Altar of Baal and the grove down with Idolatry Superstition and all humane Innovations and Inventions in Religion Then for nothing so much as for Reformation and purity in the Worship of God and in the Ministry and Government of his House but when the Wars are over and Victory is obtained then the conclusion about Religion is this Let every man bring in his golden Ear-ring the uncouth and extravagant Notions and Opinions which he hath taken up during the War an employment which hath often proved not more hurtful to mens bodies by bringing diseases wounds and death then to their minds and souls by breeding Error and vice and make a many-coloured changeable Ephod that is an interwoven mixture and free Toleration
please him to enable me to speak both of him the thing that is right and to men to his servants that which may be sound and satisfying The Question propounded affordeth matter for four Queries or it offereth four things to be distinctly considered and resolved 1. Whether there be any Example of this vis Gods hiding himself from his peoples prayers grounded upon his Promises and his seeming by his Providences to answer the prayers which are contrary thereunto 2. How or in what sence God may be said so to do 3. What may be the Reason of his so doing 4. What Vse should be made of it CHAP. II. THe first Query answered viz. Whether Gods hiding himself from his peoples prayers grounded upon his Promises and seeming by his Providences to answer the prayers which are contrary thereunto can be parallel'd with any Example SECT I. The Question affirmed and divided into Parts THis first Query is to be answered Affirmatively It is a thing that may be Exemplified there is no new thing in it Yea we are not without many Presidents of it going before us In producing the Examples required I will divide the matter to be patterned into its two Parts and shew the Examples 1. Of Gods hiding himself from his peoples prayers grounded upon his Promises 2. Of his seeming by his Providences to answer the prayers which are contrary thereunto SECT II. Examples of Gods Hiding himself from his Peoples Prayers FIrst Of the former viz. Gods hiding himself from his peoples prayers grounded upon his Promises there is great store of notable Examples of this I will set them down in this order 1. The Acknowledgments or Complaints of this in the mouths of the people of God 2. The Declarations of God himself to this purpose 3. Historical Observations of the thing I. First Of this the Saints or people of God have made their Acknowledgment or Complaint in Scripture And this is observable 1. Either of the prayers of particular persons 2. Or of the prayers of the Community or multitude of Gods people that is of the Church First For Personal Prayers Single persons have found themselves in this condition And this may be noted touching their prayers 1. For others 2. For themselves 3. For Gods own Cause 1. Let us hear their Testimonies in relation to their prayers for others Holy David telleth us He clothed himself with sackcloth Psa 35 13 and humbled his Soul with fasting for his Enemies and Persecutors Saul and his party and his prayer returned into his own bosom that is it proved ineffectual as for them He also solemnly fasted and besought God for his sick child but it availed not on the seventh day the child dyed Moses prayed earnestly for them of Israel who had set up and worshiped the golden Calf Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of thy Book Exod. 32.32 33 34 35. which thou hast written But what answer had he to this pathetick prayer And the Lord said unto Moses Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my Book therefore now go lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee behold mine Angel shall go before thee Nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them And the Lord plagued the people because they made the Calf which Aaron made The Prophet Isaiah professeth his uncessantness in prayer for Zions and Jerusalems glorious Restauration For Zions sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest Isai 62.1 6 7. 63.11 15. 64.7 until the Righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burneth And he enjoyneth the same instancy in prayer to all other praying persons Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Yet in the two following Chapters he in his own and their persons expostulateth and bemoaneth the Lords withdrawing and withholding himself from them and his people notwithstanding their prayers Where is he that brought them up out of the Sea with the Shepherd of his flock where is he that put his holy Spirit within him where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained And this his hiding himself is set out to be so dismal and long that they were even grown weary of prayer And there is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities The Prophet Jeremiah prayeth most tenderly for Judah and Zion Jer. 14.19 21. 15.1 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah hath thy Soul lothed Zion Why hast thou smitten us and there is no healing for us We looked for peace but there is no good and for the time of healing and behold trouble Do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the throne of thy glory remember break not thy Covenant with us c. And what is the Lords return unto this Then said the Lord unto me Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight and let them go forth King Josiah upon his hearing read the words of the Book of the Law and understanding by it the great wrath of the Lord which was kindled against him and his people 2 K ng 23.25 26. he besought the Lord with extraordinary humiliation zeal and diligence His heart was tender he humbled himself before the Lord he rent his clothes and wept before God he sent to enquire of the Lord for himself and all Judah by the Prophetess Hâ—ld ah e assembled the people published the Book of the Law made and imposed on the people a Covenant before the Lord to yield obedience to it He rooted up Idolatry and Sorcery He restored the Temple and true Worship of God He was in all these a peerless King Like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him But all this would not appease Gods anger nor avert his Judgments unto desolation from Judah Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah c. The Prophet Habakkuk gives us to understand how speedless he was in prayer beginning his Prophesie with this complaint unto God Hab. 1.2 O Lord how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save And going yet a second time unto God by prayer in expectation and hope of a better answer I will
Baals Priests in Elijahs contest with them 1 King 18 26 but sometimes it was a doubtful and aenigmatical or a downright false and lying answer Hab 2.18 The molten Image is a teacher of lyes the Idols have spoken vanity and the Diviners have seen a lye and have told false dreams Zech. 10.2 5 The answer is further described That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart that is the consequence of their enquiry shall be their catching and ensnaring they shall be possessed with the error and misprision of their own brains in stead of a true revelation from God and by it they shall be held and led on with confidence as in a net or snare to their own ruine This sentence is the same both in effect and in cause with that of the Apostle For this cause God shall send them strong delusion 2 Thes 2.10 11 12 that they should believe a lye and wherefore is it because they received not the love of the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness and the special means by which they should thus fall into the trap is in the subsequent words And if the Prophet be deceived Verse 9 when he hath spoken a thing I the Lord have deceived that Prophet It should be by the deceiving and deceivedness of false Prophets whose falshood and delusion whether subjective or effective whether in themselves or in the people though it be their own sin as the peoples delusion also is their own sin in that they seek to and credit such Prophets yet it is also penal and so from God not by active infusion but by giving them up to Satan his instruments and engines to themselves and their own stumbling blocks 2. The other part of the sentence is Vers 8. I the Lord will answer him by my self and I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and proverb and I will cut him off from the midst of my people Here is still more weight added to the punishment of the presumptuous sinner that dares enquire of God with his heart upon his sin he shall not only be denyed a favorable and resolving answer from God nor only besides that be given up by God to others and his own deceits but he shall have thereto an immediate positive return from God and it is an heavy one it containeth much it is a most dreadful thing for a man to have the face of God set against him it is one of the terriblest expressions in the whole Scripture and he that will seek to God but will not sincerely set himself towards him to seek his face but will keep up the stumbling block of his iniquity before his own face he must look for this return Therefore it behoves every one not only in relation to the well-speeding of his enquiry in this or any other matter but in reference to all other his concernments to that dearest concernment of his own Soul that there be an unfeigned parting betwixt him and his iniquity To close up then this Rule let that admonition of God himself annexed to the rebuke and sentence I have been insisting on in this place be embraced and followed Vers 6 which is this Therefore say unto the House of Israel thus saith the Lord God Repent and turn your selves from your Idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations and let us together with this remember that in Psal 111. when the Psalmist had discoursed of the great honorable glorious and wonderful works of God and of the duty of searching them out he concludeth with this sentence as containing the way thereto and with it I will conclude this particular The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have all they which do his Commandments Other two Rules there are which I shall dispatch shortly 4. Come to the enquiry with an humble heart 1. With an heart-humbled under this condition of Gods hiding himself from us in relation to prayer according to the nature of it and as it deserves We have great reason to take it very heavily The Lords hiding from his servants or from his Church hath ever been the matter of their deepest hearts-piercing bitterest sorrow and dolefullest lamentation So it was to Job to David Job 30.28 to Heman Job saith I went mourning without the Sun Psa 30.7 88.15 I stood up and I cryed in the Congregation David saith Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Heman complains I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted And so it hath been to the Church of God When the Lord told Israel in the Wilderness upon their sin and notwithstanding Moses intercession for them that he would not go up in the midst of them for that they were a stiff-necked people it 's said When the people heard these evil tydings Exod. 33.3 4 they mourned and no man did put on his ornaments The Church in that allegory of Solomons Song when she arose up and opened to her beloved and found that he had withdrawn himself Cant. 5.5 6 8 and was gone her Soul failed or melted and when she sought him and could not find him when she called him but he gave her no answer she charges the daughters of Jerusalem if they could find him to tell him she was sick of love 2. With an heart humbled under the sense of our ignorance and inability to see into this matter of our selves There must be an ingenuous and lowly acknowledgment of our blindness and unskilfulness to discern what we should see herein and of our proneness to be puzled non-plussed and offended at all those ways of God wherein he walks behind a cloud in any sort towards us If we would be enwised in this particular 1 Cor. 3.18 we must become fools in our own sense that we may be wise He that intently looketh over the History of Job may find this failing both in Job and his friends which might be one cause of their mistaking touching the ways of God towards his afflicted servants that they arrogated too much to themselves and insisted too much upon comparisons with each other in point of wisdom and understanding Agur going to utter his Prophecy or Doctrine of Christ under the Titles of Ithiel and Vchal the former rendered God with me the latter God Almighty thus vilifies yea nullifies himself Prov. 30.2 3 Vide Jun. Trap Cleaver in loc Surely I am more brutish c. or as some interpret Surely I have been brutish since I was a man neither is there in me the understanding that was in Adam I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledg of the holy And if we will understand the reason why he who is Ithiel or Emmanuel God with us doth sometimes withhold or conceal his presence from us we must take Agurs course and abase our selves
taken for the clearing thereof in order to the taking effect of those prayers and the bringing on of that restauration 3. The Salvation of Sion that thereupon ensues in answer to prayer then is she called Sought out a City not forsaken by all which we are given to understand that betwixt a restless persistency in prayer and the accomplishment thereof there are ordinarily some interposing impediments which must be removed and for that reason the said accomplishment is for some time delayed The impediments which are in the way of the people of God to the mercies they pray for are for the most part either bad Rulers that are over them or bad people that are mingled and associated with them 1. Sometimes such persons as are in power and rule and are enemies to God and his people they or their enmity or oppositeness are the obstacles to be removed Whilest Daniel is afflicting his Soul and solemnly supplicating in behalf of the Church of God the Temple Dan. 10.1 2 and the City of Ierusalem three full weeks the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia stands in the way of the Angel that was dispatched to Daniel with the answer of his prayers and hinders him from arriving at Daniel for that space and so did the said Prince and divers of his successors afterwards interrupt the effecting of Daniels prayers in the instauration of the Temple and recovery of the Church of God in Iudea The Angel therefore who at the end of those three weeks comes to Daniel to deliver him his answer telleth him by way of satisfaction in the delay already past and that which was yet to come in relation to the matter or things prayed about His words were heard from the first day but he came not until then havâ—ng been withstood and detained for those three weeks by the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia Ver. 12 13 20 and that as soon as he had delivered to him his message he was forthwith to return again to fight with the Prince of Persia Interpreters understand this Prince of Persia in vers 13. to be Cambyses and the resistance which he made to the Angel to be his opposing by his inhibition the building of the Temple which formerly was authorized by his father Cyrus but now whilest Cyrus is absent and imployed in the Scythian War his son Cambyses governing in his place forbiddeth it and the Prince of Persia in vers 20. is conceived to signifie those his successors by whom or during whose reigns the aforesaid work in Iudea ceased to wit Darius Histaspes Ahasuerus called Xerxes and Artaxerxes called Longimanus The Angel therefore as the Minister of God is sent first to take cognizance and course about those proceedings of Cambyses and then to bring unto Daniel matter of information and encouragement touching the subject of his prayers and after that he is to return back to the Court of Persia and there continually to attend the actions of the Princes thereof successively and to fight against those of them that withstood the rebuilding of the Temple and recovery of the state of Iudah All this work was in order to the remotion of the impediments which letted the effecting of Daniels Petitions and for this reason it was that there was so much time to run out ere they could be accomplished as the Prophet himself saith in his Preface to this Vision Vers 1. A thing was revealed unto me and the thing was true but the time appointed was long 2. Sometimes the impediments to be removed are such wicked persons as are mingled or associated with the special people of God whom neither the Will of God nor the conveniency and good of those his people will brook to be copartners with them in the mercies prayed for The Lord declareth his purpose and promise to confer sundry blessings upon a certain party whom he calleth My people that have sought me Isai 65.8 9 10. and whom he contradistinguisheth from that rebellious and provoking people whom he had described before vers 2 3 4 5. But when shall those promises take effect what is it that stands in their way to them Why that rebellious and provoking people must first be proceeded with and taken out of the way they must not survive to participate with the faithful servants of God in those mercies concerning them therefore he saith vers 11. and on-ward But ye are they that forsake the Lord that forget my holy mountain c. Therefore I will number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter c. Behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit and ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another name By that Vision of the two baskets of figs Jer. 24. the Lord sheweth the Prophet the reason why he would not grant the Jews already in captivity represented by the basket of very good figs a return from captivity presently nor until after seventy years and it was because the Lord would first consume from off the Land of Judea Zedekiah and the rest that still remained there or that dwelt in Egypt who were signified by the other basket of very evil figs see vers 8 9 10. these were first to be emptyed out and made an end of if the other the better part now in Babylon should have returned while these were left alive in Judea they must have been mixed with them and so either the better party must have fared as ill as the worse or the worst must have shared with the better in their felicity either the naughty figs would have tainted the good and so both have perished together or the happiness of the good would have been blemished by the presence of the bad it was therefore in special wisdom and mercy provided by God that these two sorts should be kept several in two baskets in two far distant Lands that the purer part was put and kept by themselves at Babylon until the more degenerate and incorrigible part were consumed out that so the other might re-enter and enjoy the Land City and Temple of God alone according hereunto is that in Ezekiel Ezek. 20.38 41 42 I will purge out from among them the rebels and them that transgress against me they shall not enter into the Land of Israel and then it 's said I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the Countries c. 7. Lastly The delay of the Saints prayers may be to raise up their thoughts their faith their love and their longing desire unto the last day and second and glorious
coming and appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ that 's the great Audit-day the great and full harvest the solemnest and compleat year of release and Jubilee Some promises and prayers are wholly referred for their accomplishment or answer to that day and others have not their perfect and ultimate accomplishment until then that 's the full period and utmost mark of the Saints faith a 1 Pet. 1.9 the complement or winding up of their hope b Vers 13 the last point of their paience c Jam. 5.7 the close of the whole book of God and in especial of the Revelation wherein are recorded the great promises and comforts of the Church their clouds of prayer and strong cries their exquisite and lasting tryals in faith and patience their reigns and rages of their many Rev. 22.20 mighty and cruel Enemies the close I say of all this is Even so come Lord Iesus Solomon likewise shutteth up his Ecclesiastes with this Eccles 12.13 14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil This is the conclusion of the whole that is of all the discourse in the book and therefore of what he had said before of the oppressions which he had considered under the Sun that there were the tears of such as were oppressed Chap. 4.1 and they had no comforter and that on the side of the oppressors there was power but they had no comforter and of that vanity Chap. 8.14 that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked again there be wicked men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the righteous And that as to the present and visible state of persons all things come alike to all to him that sacrificeth Cha. 9.1 2 and to him that sacrificeth not The conclusion drift and use of all is to fear God and keep his Commandments and for a spur thereunto and a corrective and encouragement against all the vexation of spirit that ariseth from the above recounted evils we must fix our minds on this God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing August de Civ Dei lib. 20 c 3 St Austin readeth this last clause with every secret thing somewhat otherwise then our Translations to wit of every despised man paraphrasing it thus God will bring every work that is every act of man in this life unto judgment yea the works of every despised man of every contemptible person that seemeth not to be noted at all God seeth him and despiseth him not neither overpasseth him in judgment And thus much of the first sort of ends which the Lord may have in suspending for a time the return of his peoples prayers to wit such as concern themselves that pray The other sort viz. those that respect others I am now come unto The ends of such delay reflecting upon others briefly may be these 1. To raise and make up the number full of those who in the purpose and promise of God are to be partners or joynt-possessors of the mercies prayed for The Apostle saith of that cloud of Beleevers before the first coming of Christ who witness unto us the necessity and efficacy of faith They received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect These received not the promise that is they attained not the thing promised or the fulfilling of the promâ—se of the Messiahs coming in the flesh with the immediate glorious consequences thereof and the reason is God had provided that better thing to wit the Evangelical estate so called for its precellency above theirs of the first Covenant for us that is for the Beleevers of the Church under the Gospel who had been prevented of this prerogative over them if they by the coming of Christ in their days had enjoyed in their life time the Gospel perfection No doubt but those men of faith under the Law as they beleeved the Incarnation of Christ to come so they prayed for it * Mat. 13.17 but their prayers were put off that the Christians of Pauls time and of the following ages might not by the anti-dating of Christs manifestation in the flesh be forestalled by their predecessors of that priviledg which was peculiarly intended for them The general calling of the Jews which was the earnest prayer of Saint Paul Rom. 10 1 11.12 15 and ought to be the continual vote of the Gentile Church and which will be as great a wonder as the resurrection of a man of a Nation from the dead and which shall be the riches of the world and of the Gentiles is deferred until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Vers 25. It hath been so long and is yet deferred for that end that all the Gentile Nations and persons whom the Lord hath foretold or purposed that he will call may be gathered into the Church God will have as it were the Theater of the Gentile Churches full for their beholding and enjoying that admirable and abundant mercy of the Jews conversion We sometimes are put to pray and our posterity are intended to enter into the harvest of our prayers not we or it may be they that are yet unborn or though in being yet uncapable are to have a share in the blessings prayed for as well as we and for them therefore the return of our prayers is stayed 2. To compleat the account of the sufferers and sufferings of the people of God The Souls under the Altar that cry with a loud voyce Rev. 6.9 10 11. saying How long O Lord c. it is said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled The Apostle Paul in all his persecutions desired and had the prayers of the Churches of Christ for his constant enduring and deliverance * Rom. 15.30 31. 2 Cor. 1.11 Phil. 1.19 1 Thes 3.6 Philom 22 Heb. 13.18 yet his troubles were many great and sometimes long and the reason he himself gives Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodies sake which is the Church The sufferings of the Apostle are here called the afflictions of Câ—rist both in regard of the mystical union which is betwixt Christ and every Beleever as between the head and the members and in regard of that sympathy or sense of the sufferings of the faithful wherewith Christ is touched and he termeth his present bonds a filling up of the remainders of the afflictions of Christ denoting to us that God hath apportionated unto every member of Christ a