cent 4. cap. 12. Valeat vita valeant meae facultates Farewel life farewel Estate Take heed that thy poor soul do not hang about Houses and Lands when thou art called forth to suffer for Christ and the pure Religion Further if thou wilt not part with thy worldly honour for Christ thou wilt never fuffer for him An ambitious man will do any thing for advancement he will bow to an Idol that himself may be honoured he lives upon a blast a little popular air and is too vain and light to suffer for Religion cast away therefore the love of Mundane Glory that thou maiest bear the reproach of Christ humble thy self before God that thou maiest be able to suffer for his Truth Count it an honour to suffer shame for Christ be willing to be reproached for him who can give thee the Spirit of glory 3. Mortify the Hypocrisy that is in thy bosom This sin is the art of seeming goodness or vice in a Vizor It is by this that men personate more grace than they have and enlarge their forms of Godliness beyond the power and make a profession much greater than is ever filled up It is from the remnants of this in good men that they sometimes take false steps and Squint at By-ends and start aside from God like a deceitful Bow It is from hence that the Saints now and then faint in their Faith cool in their Love and halt and make stops in their Obedience Watch therefore O Christian against this close evil consider the vileness of it think with thy self how greivous a thing it is to be false to that God who makes all other things true to thee the Sun to give thee true light and the creatures true nourishment the blood to run right in thy veines and the breath in thy nostrils loath and abhorr this abominable thing cry to heaven for more truth in thy inward parts labour to have the very power of Religion that thou maiest fill up thy profession mourn over thy Falls and withering Graces check thy starting heart and charg it to maintain a firm and close adherence to God set thy self all manner of waies to root out and extirpate the remnants of hypocrisy out of thy heart that when thou comest to suffer for Religion thy Heart may not decieve thee Truth in the Heart is necessary in hearing praying repenting believing obeying but above all it is so in suffering for Christ hypocrisy can personate all other graces but usually it stumbles and discovers itself in a day of trial therefore mortify the secret guil that is in thy heart that thou maiest stand fast under the cross 4. Mortify the vain superstition that is in the heart It is natural to us to desire the same thing as the children of Israel did to have Gods to go before us to have visible images or pictures of the deity a pompous and stately worship a gaudy Religion made up of humane additions and inventions and such a way of serving God as is accommodated to sense and framed after the commandments of men every one is ready to think in his false heart what Ticonius said with his lips Aug. Contr. Ep. Parmen Lib. 2. cap. 13. Quod volumus Sanctum est that which we will is holy That which in the worship of God is fine and decent in our eyes is so in Gods too But consider with thy self he that places his Religion in such things as these may chance to fall in Love with that fine Whore which is decked with gold and pretious stones Revel 17.4 He that will have a Religion sutable to Sense will hardly stand to that Religion which hath a Cross annexed to it If the Command of man be the reason of thy Worship thou wilt turn to every Point as that Command doth vary If thou canst nod in Superstition thou hadst need watch lest thou fall into flat Idolatry Remember God is a Spirit the true Worshippers worship in Spirit and truth and the true Worshippers will prove the true sufferers Stand to the pure Worship thou maiest not fall into a corrupt one Worship God in Spirit that thou maiest never fall down to an Idol CHAP. VI. The third Direction for Suffering is the Knowledg of God An ignorant man is not capable of suffering neither will every knowledge serve the turn The Knowledge that prepares for Suffering must be a well-rooted a right estimating a tasting or savouring a practical or operative Knowledge THe third Direction for suffering is this if we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must labour after the knowledge of God and the things of God An ignotant man who is a man in shape but a beast in heart is not a person capable of pious Suffering He knows not the Principles of Religion and for what should he suffer He hath no Principles of Grace in him and how should he suffer He is in darkness and to him Truth or Error one God or more pure Worship or Idolatry are all one he is alienated from the life of God Eph. 4.18 and therefore it is not imaginable that he should dye for God or his Truth For him to suffer for an unknown God or Christ is to suffer for he knows not what As the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what so the ignorant man if he suffer suffers for he knows not what The Athenians had an Altar to the unknown God Acts. 17.23 and possibly they offered up other Creatures to him But for a man to offer up himself as a Sacrifice to an unknown God and to part with all this World when he knows nothing of a better is a very strang unaccountable thing Let us therefore cry after Wisdom and lift up our voice for Understanding Let us seek her as silver and search for her as for hid Treasures as the Wiseman exhorts Prov. 2.3 4. Let our Prayers ascend up to Heaven to bring her down from thence and our Endeavors dig in the Mines of Scripture to fetch her up from thence that so Vnderstanding may keep us as it is Verse 11. Knowledge is a preservative to him that hath it the People that know their God shall be strong Dan. 11.32 The young men who have the word of God abiding in them are strong 1 Joh. 2.14 Vnderstanding is a well-spring of life to him that hath it Prov. 16.22 It streams out in living Graces and strengthens the Inner-man and prepares it for a day of trial only it is to be remembred that every knowledge will not do this but it must be a well-rooted a right estimating a tasting or savouring a practical or operative Knowledge that doth it 1. It must be a well-rooted Knowledge that will prepare us for suffering Job tels his Friends That the root of the matter or as the original will bear the root of the wood was in him Job 19.28 He was sorely afflicted by God and men yet he held fast his integrity because he was not
or Notion but it is an active and lively thing it doth not meerly look to the glory above but puts the Soul into a posture for it Every one that hath in him the hope of so great a thing as the seeing the blessed God is purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 He knows Darkness cannot have communion with Light unclean eyes cannot be opened in so pure a place as Heaven is the earthly heart is too gross to be in the Region of holy Spirits he that drowns himself in Sensual Pleasures is not meet to drink of the pure Rivers that are above Malitious Spirits cannot be capable of dwelling there wher infinite Love opens it self in all its sweetness The false-hearted Hypocrite can never be admitted to see Truth in the Original nor the evil man to drink Goodness at the Fountain-head He therefore that hath a right hope of being with God in Heaven will purifie himself for such an high estate he will labor to have more of the light of Faith to fit him for that of Vision to have more purity of heart to make him meet to see the holy One to have more of Heaven in his affections to prepare him for that blessed Region to have more spiritual delight here that he may be capable of entring into the joy of his Lord hereafter to have his heart more filled with holy Love that he may be in an apt posture for the rich effusions of Love in Heaven to have more truth and goodness in his heart that he may be the more ready to enjoy the Fountain and Fulness of both I mean the blessed God who is All in All Thus this lively Hope makes a man meet for Heaven and in so doing it makes him meet for those Sufferings that lie in his way thither That Purity which disposes him to enjoy God in Heaven doth also dispose him to suffer for him on Earth and the greater disposition is to Heaven the Center of blessedness the stronger will the motion be to break through all difficulties that are in the passage thereunto Let us therefore get a purilying Hope that we may be fit for the Cross 3. Hope doth not only dispose us for the good things to come but it waits for them unto the end Hope is a waiting grace it makes a Christians life to be a perpetual waiting All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come saith Job Chap. 14. Vers 14. Job had many changes but he waited for that great one which should bring him into a state of unchangeaale happiness Whatever holy men are a doing still they are in a waiting posture When Jacob was blessing his Sons he did not for get this but broke out in a Sudden sweet Ejaculation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord Gen. 49.18 Hope makes Christians to wait for the good things to come at all times but in a Special manner in time of Sufferings St Paul speaking first of the suffering Saints and then of the groaning World Expresseth himself thus We our selves also which have the First-fruits of the Spirit groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption the Redemption of our Body for we are saved by Hope Rom. 8.23 24. Here we may observe the true state and posture of the Saints Afflictions make then groan but the Divine Hope the First-fruits of the Spirit make them wait for a better World in which Adoption and Redemption shall have their compleat perfection A Chrisstian in Afflictions being tormented in this World will wait for a better The Martyr Agatha having her Breasts cruelly cut off for Religion told the persecutor That yet she had two breasts remaining such as he could not touch the one of Faith the other of Hope which afforded her great Comforts in her Torments Faith adheres to the Promise Hope waits for the good things promised both strengthen in a day of Trial It is the very nature of Divine Hope to wait for the good things to come When the Sun of Prosperity Shines it waits in a way of obedience Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and do thy Commandments saith David Psal 119.166 He waited in a way of obedience to Gods Commands And when the storm of Perfecution comes it waits in a way of Patience Hence the Apostle speaks of the patience of hope 1. Thessal 1.3 That hope which in Prosperity waited in a way of Obedience will in Adversity wait in a way of Patience Hope would have the Christian to be always waiting for the upper World but when the Cross comes it presseth upon him more vehemently and will speak after this manner to him what hast thou waited for the great reward in Heaven in Duties and Ordinances and wilt thou not wait for it in Sufferings too Heaven is the same still and Sufferings are not worthy to be compared with it Do but suffer a little and thou shalt be there When the Martyr Ananias in the Persian Persecution seemed to tremble at the approaching Cross Pusices spake thus to him Sozom. L. 2. cap. 10. Paulisper O senex oculos claude nam statim lumen Dei videbis Shut thine eyes a little O old man and immediately thou shalt see the light of God Excellent is that of the Apostle 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 but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2. Cor. 4.17 18. Here it is observable Affliction is light and momentary but glory is a weight and eternal there is no proportion between them If by hope we look at the invisible and eternal things this will support our hearts that it is but a little short suffering and we shall be in Heavenly bliss for ever Let us therefore labor after a waiting hope that we may patiently bear the Cross CHAP. X. The Seventh Direction for Suffering is holy Fear not the Fear of man but of God not a diffidential Fear but a fiducial one not a servile Fear but a filial one Holy Fear looks at Sin more then at suffering at Sufferings in Hell more then at those on Earth at Spiritual and Eternal losses more then at Carnal and Temporal THe Seventh Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for suffering we must get an holy Fear in our hearts The wise Solomon begins his Proverbs with this The fear of the Lord is the beginning or head of Knowledge Prov 1.7 and ends his Ecclesiastes with this That to fear God and keep his Commandments is the whole duty of Man Eccl. 12.13 Other things appertain to the Beast or the Devil but holy Fear is the All of man it makes him a perfect man not only to do Gods Will but to suffer under it In speaking to this I shall first consider
thee He knew that his strength was in God only Oh let us labor to have an humble dependance upon God that when sufferings come we may look and be supported wait and renew strength be nothing in our selves and have all in God So we shall be safe and secure from anxious fears dabitur in horâ support and comfort will come in the time of need CHAP. XII The ninth Direction for Suffering is Active Obedience to the will of God it flows from a good and honest heart it respects Gods will and Glory it makes us to grow up into Christ and to be allied to him it encreases Grace and spiritual strength it obtains the gracious Presence of God and it is the way to Heaven THe ninth Direction is this if we would be in a fit posture for Suffering we must labor after an Active Obedience to the Will of God to do in a right manner as he would have us to do It is a notable saying of the Rabbins Marces praeceptum praecepti one Precept is the reward of another He that rightly observes one Precept shall have in the name of a reward such Grace from God as shall enable him to do another and a more difficult Command It is an excellent thing to enure our selves to the doing of Gods will Obedience is the chain about the Spouses neck Cant. 4.9 one link hangs upon another one piece of Obedience draws on another Active Obedience will prepare us for passive the doing of Gods Will will dispose us for the Suffering of it The Apostle prays for the Colossians first that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and then in the next Verse that they might be strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness Col. 1.10.11 Where we may observe that an holy Life goes before and then suffering Graces follow after There are in Obedience six things observable each of which tend to prepare us for Suffering 1. True Obedience flows from a good and an honest heart nay I may adde it flows from the holy Spirit of God It flows from a good and honest Heart many unprofitable hearers that are but the good and honest Heart brings forth fruit It was an high Character which the Apostle gives to the Romans That they had obeyed from the Heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to them or as it is in the original into which they were delivered Rom. 6.17 The Gospel was not only delivered to them but they were delivered and as it were cast into the mould of it and that was the reason that they obeyed from the heart Nay further Obedience flows from the holy spirit it is a choice Promise in the Covenant I will put my spirit into you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36.27 Obedience being a meer supernatural act comes from the holy Spirit as the prime Cause thereof a general Concourse suffices not there must be a peculiar Motion and Impulsion of the Spirit in it which made Gerson say That all spiritual life was founded in miraculo influentiae divinae in the miracle of a Divine Influence We see what are the Principles and Fountains of Active Obedience and the very same will produce Passive too The good and honest heart brings forth fruit with patience Luke 8.15 The words with patience are very remarkable the good and honest heart may meet with Persecutions in the world yet it would blossome and bring forth fruit in the midst thereof The righteous flourishes as the Palm-Tree Psal 92.12 The Palm-Tree is a Symbol of Immortality growing under its burden and the Righteous who hath an Immortal seed in him flourishes under all the pressures of a persecuting World Again the holy Spirit which makes good men do Gods will will enable them to suffer it too St. Paul took pleasure in persecutions because when he was weak then he was strong 2 Cor. 12.10 that is the holy Spirit did strengthen his inward man to bear the Cross The holy Spirit in the Saints is a Well of water springing up to everlasting Life John 4.14 The persesecuting World would fain stop and damme it up but in the midst of all Oppositions it Springs and never leaves springing till the Saints be in Heaven and before they come thither it is as St. Peter speaks a spirit of glory resting upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 it brings down some glimpses of Heaven into their hearts whilst they are suffering for Religion 2. True Obedience hath a pure respect to Gods Will and Glory It hath a pure respect to Gods Will it doth not do the Commands of God upon a by-account as Jehu destroied Ahab's house but it doth them intuitu Voluntatis because it is the will of God it is that which swaies and casts the ballance in a good mans heart and life As in matters of Faith he believes because God hath said it so in matters of Practise he obeys because God hath commanded it Also it hath a pure respect to Gods Glory Mens cujusque id est quisque the man is as his mind is and the mind is as his end is An obedient person will not be a Center to himself nor make God the most excellent Being a medium to any other thing His great design is that God in all things may be glorified His Holiness is but to shine as a beam from the holy one his Mercy is but as a little drop flowing from the Divine Ocean his Obedience is to tell the World that God is supream like his Saviour Christ he seeks not his own glory but his Fathers Such an Obedience as this admirably disposes a man for suffering He that doth some things because they are commanded will take up the Cross too because it is in a peculiar manner commanded in the Gospel The stamp of the Divine Authority is not only found upon the Precepts of Piety and Justice but upon that of Patience too Also he that doth sincerely glorify God in other things will if occasion be glorifie him in pious sufferings Some honour may be done to God in other Duties but in no other thing is there such honour given to him as in bearing the Cross therein a man doth practically declare that he values God above all the World and therefore the Martyrs have as the School-men tell us a greater reward in heaven than others Others have the essential Glory in the Vision of God but for the Martyrs is reserved an Aureola a peculiar Coronet to be added to their Crown of Glory propter victoriam de mundo for their victory over the World 3. True Obedience makes us to grow up into Christ the Head and to be of neer alliance to him It makes us to grow up into Christ the head Eph. 4.15 Obedience being the exercise of all Graces brings us into a neer union with Christ and makes us more and more like to
may be considered in that which it doth with respect to God and here are three things to be taken notice of 1. Patience subjects the soul to the will of God when the Cross comes the patient Christians will with Aaron hold their peace or if they speak they will do it in some such language as that of Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Patience will instruct them to lye in the lowest posture of Humility and to argue the matter with themselves in this manner Is God the Rector of the World and shall we not subject to him His Presence is in all his Power is over all his Wisdom and Righteousness orders all who can stay his hand or say to him what dost thou or call him to give account of any of his matters To strive with him is folly to murmur at any piece of his Government is Rebellion to think that things might have been better is to blaspheme his wise and just Providence And is he the Father of Spirits and shall we not be under him We give reverence to the Fathers of our flesh and how much thers should we be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Our Saviour Christ who suffered for us to sweeten sufferings to us argued thus with himself The Cup that my Father hath given me shall I not drink it John 18.11 After his pattern we should submit our selves to suffering remembring that though it come through bloody hands to us yet it is ordered by the Father of Spirits nay and by the Father of Mercies too who assures us That all things even Afflictions among the rest shall work together for good In those very sufferings in which man is cruel God will be merciful While the world hates and persecutes us God will embrace us in the Arms of his Love and carrie us through the Cross to the Crown of Glory Upon such accounts as these Patience doth subject the Soul unto the Cross Our Saviour the Mirror of Patience being to drink up the cup of Wrath expresses himself thus not my will but thine be done Luke 22.42 His will was swallowed up in his Fathers St. Ambrose in his Commentary on those words gives us this excellent note Disce Deo esse subjectus ut non quod ipse vis eligas sed quod Deo scias esse placiturum Learn to be subject to God that thou mayst not chuse what thou wouldest but what thou knowest to be pleasing to God Patience teaches us to be pleased with Gods pleasure and to will every thing not as it is in our own will but as it is in Gods 2. Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the Cross and for a good issue out of it We have both these promised in that of the Apostle God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape 1 Cor. 10.13 In the first Clause we have a Promise of strength proportionable to the Temptation in the last we have a Promise of a good issue out of it First Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the Cross this is the right Method of obtaining strength Wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen thy heart Psalm 27.14 Strength comes in a way of dependance upon God St. Austin speaks of a double patience De patientiâ cap. 15. there is patientia superborum the patience of the proud and patientia pauperum the patience of the poor humble Soul The one waits upon the will of man the other upon the Grace of God True Patience knows that it is God only that can strengthen the Inner man by his Spirit Eph. 3.16 No other but his glorious power can strengthen with all might unto all patience Col. 1.11 De Martyr form 5. Notable is that of St. Austin Haec est vox Martyrum omniatolerare de se nihil praesumere This is the voice of the Martyrs to bear every thing and to presume of themselves nothing Thus the noble Martyr Potamenia Spondan Annal. An. 310. being threatned to be cast into a Vessel of burning Pitch begged that she might not be cast in all at once but piece-meal that they might see how much Patience the unknown Christ had given to her True patience waits upon God for strength but this is not all it also waits upon God for a good issue out of the suffering Salvation belongs unto the Lord and he gives many good issues to his suffering people If they have an encrease of Graces and Comforts that 's one good issue If they hold out and persevere to the end that 's another good issue If by death they pass from the Cross to the Crown from a Temporal Life to an Eternal one that 's the best issue of all For such issues as these do patient Souls wait till the Lord put an end to all their troubles 3. Patience produces spiritual joy and praise This is the difference between Philosophical Patience and Christian Patience Philosophical may bear adversity but Christian hath joy in the bearing of it It was the ancient custome of the Primitive Christians to have often in their mouths Aust in P. l. 132. Deo gratias God be thanked for this mercy and for that mercy The patient Christian that looks upon the good issues of suffering may sit down and sing Deo gratias not to Blessings only but to Afflictions also Job being stript of all cried out The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1.21 St. Austin speaking of Job observes That when he had nothing of outward things yet there were Gemmae laudis Dei Aust de Temp. Ser. 105. the Jewels of the Praise of God found with him Suffering Saints have so much of the Love of God shed abroad in their hearts that they have praemium ante praemium a lesser Heaven before a greater St. Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I super abound or overflow in joy in all our Tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 The gracious Presence of God did not only cause joy but the overflowing of it in his heart St. James saith to the seattered Christians Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations Jam. 1 2. That is when ye fall into Afflictions for the Gospel All joy How can poor afflicted Souls reckon thus In the Trial their Graces appear in their pure beauty Strength is made perfect in Weakness Consolations abound as much nay more than Afflictions the beams of Divine Love irradiate the heart and fill it with a sweet serenity Hope enters Heaven and fixes upon the Crown of Life and Heaven comes down in a Spirit of Glory upon the heart Here is joy all joy indeed the total sum of it in this life is made up in these things It was the saying of the Martyr Mr. Philpot That to dye for Christ is the greatest Promotion that God can bring any