in the world God comforted Rachel concerning her children that Herod murdered in the stead and upon the account of Christ. He bids her refrain her self from tears by this promise that her children should come again from the land of the enemy from death And again saith he Thy children shall come again to their own border which I think if it be meant in a Gospel sence must be to the heavenly inheritance compare Jer. 31.15 with Matt. 2.18 And methinks this should be mentioned not only for her and their sakes but to comfort all those that either have had or yet may have their children thus suffer for righteousness None of these things as shall be further shewed anon happen without the determinate counsel of God He has ordered the sufferings of little children as well as that of persons more in years And 't is easie to think that God can as well foresee which of his elect shall suffer by violent hands in their Infancy as which of them shall then die a natural death He has Saints small in age as well as in esteem or otherwise and sometimes the least member of the body suffereth violence as well as the head or other chief parts And although I desire not to see these days again yet me thinks it will please me to see those little ones that thus have already suffered for Jesus to stand in their white Robes with the elders of the people before the throne to sing unto the Lamb. But to pass this and to come to that which is more directly intended to be spoken to namely to shew you who doth actively suffer for righteousness And 1. 'T is he that chuseth by his own will and consent to suffer for it All suffering that can be called active suffering must be by the consent of the will and that is done when a man shall have sin and suffering set before him and shall chuse suffering rather than sin He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and again They did not accept of deliverance that is of base and unworthy terms that they might obtain a better resurrection Heb. 11.25 ver 35. Indeed no man can force a Christian to suffer as a Christian without his own consent All Christians are sufferers of will and consent Hence 't is said they must take up their cross by which taking up an act of their will is intended So again take my yoke upon you which also intends an act of the will Mat. 10.38 Chap. 16.24 Chap. 11.29 This therefore is the first thing that I would present you with Not that an act of the will is enough to declare a man a sufferer for righteousness it standing alone for a man thorough the strength of delusion and the power of an erroneous conscience may be willing to suffer for the grossest opinions in the world But I bring it to shew that actual suffering for righteousness must also be by the consent of the will the mind of the man must be in it Secondly He that suffereth for righteousness thus must also have a good cause A good cause is that which is essential to suffering for righteousness A good cause what is that Why verily It is the truth of God either in the whole of it as contained in the Scriptures of truth or in the parts of it as set before me to believe or do by any part of that holy word This may be called the matter for which one suffereth or as it is called in another place the word of righteousness Heb. 5.13 It may also be called the form of sound Doctrine or the like Because without this word the Matter and nature of Gods truths cannot be known Pilate's question what is truth will still abide a question to those that have not or regard not the word the rule of righteousness John 18.38 See then that thy cause be good thou that wouldest know what it is to suffer for righteousness Step not an hairs breadth without the bounds of the word of truth also take heed of misunderstanding or of wringing out of its Place any thing that is there Let the words of the upright stand upright warp them not to the end they may comply in shew with any crooked notion And to prevent this take these three words as a guide in this matter to thee They shew men their sins and how to close with a Saviour they enjoyn men to be holy and humble they command men to submit themselves to authority And what ever is cross to these comes from ignorance of or from a wresting the rule of righteousness out of its place But more particularly the word of righteousness thy cause within the bounds of which thou must keep if thou wilt suffer for righteousness is to be divided into two parts 1. It containeth a revelation of moral righteousness 2. It containeth a revelation of evangelical righteousness As for moral righteousness men seldom suffer only for that Because that is the righteousness of the World and that simply as such that sets it self up in every mans conscience and has a testimony for it self even in the light of nature Besides there is nothing that maketh head against that but that which every man is ashamed by words to plead for and that is immorality And this is that which Peter intends when he saith And if ye be followers of that which is good who will harm you 1 Pet. 3.13 If ye be followers of moral goodness But if it should so happen for the case is rare that any man should make you sufferers because you love God and do good to your neighbour happy are ye Though I do not think that the Apostles conclusion terminates there But more of these things anon For let a man be a good neighbour in morals let him feed the hungry cloath the naked give freely out of his purse to the poor and do that which he would another should do to him and stop there and not meddle with the name of Christ and he shall have but few enemies in the World For 't is not the Law but Christ that is the stumbling block and the rock of offence to men Isaiah 8.14 15. Rom. 9.31 32 33. Wherefore there is in Gods word a revelation of another righteousness a righteousness which is not so visible to yea and that suteth not so with the reason of man as that moral righteousness doth Wherefore this righteousness makes men righteous in principle and practise so as is foreign to natural men Hence 't is said to be foolishness to them And again Its praise is not of men Rom. 2.29 1 Cor. 2.14 This righteousness is also revealed in the Scriptures but the blind cannot see it It is the work of the holy Ghost in the heart and is therefore called the fruits of the spirit and the grace which in the head and fulness of it is only to be found in
Children for when that golden Image was set up and worship commanded to be done unto it not one that we read of durst stand upright when the time was come that bowing was the sign of worship Only the three Children would not bow 't was necessary that some should shew that there was a God in Heaven and that divine worship was due alone to him Dan. 3.10 11 12. But they run the hazzard of being turned to ashes in a burning fiery furnace for so doing But necessity has a loud voice and shrill in the ears of a tender conscience This voice will awake jealousie and kindle a burning fire within for the name and cause and way and people of the God of Heaven Thirdly there is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness by the voice of providence That is when by providence I am cast for my profession into the hands of the enemies of God and his truth then I am called to suffer for it what God shall please to let them lay upon me Only for the making of thy way more clear in this matter I will deliver what I have to say with a caution or two 1. Thou must take heed that thy call be good to this or that place at which by providence thou art delivered up 2. Thou must also take heed that when thou art there thou busiest thy self in nothing but that that good is 3. Thou must also take heed that thou stay there no longer than while thou mayest do good or receive good there 4. Thus far a man is in the way of his duty and therefore may conclude that the providence of God under which now he is is such as has mercy and salvation in the bowels of it what soever is by it at the present brought upon him Christ Jesus our Lord though his death was determined and of absolute necessity and that chiefly for which he came into the world chose rather to be taken in the way of his duty than in any other way or any where else Wherefore when the hour was come he takes with him some of his Disciples and goeth into a garden a solitary place to pray which done he sets his Disciples to watch and falleth himself to prayer So he prays once he prays twice he prays thrice and he giveth also good doctrine to his Disciples And now behold while he was here in the way of his duâ—â— busying himself in prayer to God and in giving of good instruction to his followers upon him comes Judas and a multitude with swords and staves and weapons to take him To which providence he in all meekness submits for he knew that by it he had a call to suffer Mat. 26 36 37 38. In this way also the Apostles were called to suffer even while they were in the way of their duty Yea God bid them go into the Temple to preach and there delivered them into the hands of their enemies Acts 4.1 2 3. chap. 5.10.25 26. Be we in the way of our duty in the place and aboue the work unto which we are called of God whether that work be religious or civil we may without fear leave the issue of things to God who only doth wonderful things And he who lets not a Sparrow fall to the ground without his providence will not suffer an hair of our head to perish but by his order Luk. 12.6 7. And since he has engaged us in his work as he has if he has called us to it we may expect that he will manage and also bear us out therein either so as by giving of us a good deliverance by way of restoration to our former liberty and service for him or so as to carry us well out of this world to them that under the Altar are crying how long holy and true Nor shall we when we come there repent that we suffered for him here O how little do Saints in a suffering condition think of the Robes the Crowns the Harps and the Song that shall be given to them and that they shall have when they come upon mount Sion Revel 6.11 chap. 14.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Fourthly there is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness By an immediate and powerful impulse of the spirit of God upon the heart This I say is sometimes and but sometimes for this is not Gods ordinary way nor are many of his Servants called after this manner to suffer for righteousness Moses was called thus to suffer when he went so often unto Pharaoh with the message of God in his mouth and he endured as seeing him who is invisible Heb. 11.25 26 27. Paul was called thus to suffer and he obeyed and went and performed that work according to the will of God This kind of call Paul calls a binding or a being bound in the spirit because the Holy Ghost had laid such a command upon him to do so that he could not by any means get from under the power of it And now behold saith he I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Acts 20.22 For he that is under this call has as I said bonds laid upon his spirit which carry him to the place where his testimony is to be born for God Nor shall he if he willingly submits and goes as Paul did but have an extraordinary presence of God with him as he And see what a presence he had For after the second assault was given him by the enemy even the night following the Lord stood by him and said Be of good chear Paul for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem so must thou bear witness also at Rome Acts 23.11 Thus God meeteth his people in their service for him when he calls them aloud to do great service for him The power of such a call as this I say is great and men of ordinary spirits must needs give place thereto and leave a man thus bound to the God that thus has bound him All the help such can afford him is to follow him with our prayers not to judge him or grieve him or lay stumbling blocks before him No they must not weep nor mourn for him so as to make him sorrowful See Acts 21.12 13 14. His friends may suggest unto him what is like to attend his present errand as Agabus did by the spirit to Paul when he took his girdle and bound himself therewith to shew him how his enemies should serve him whither he went Thus saith the holy Ghost said he So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Acts 21.11 But if this call be indeed upon a man all sorrow is turned into joy before him For he is ready not only to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Acts 21.13 Instances also of later times might be given of a call extraordinary to suffer for
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