experiment of those constant supports and sweetnings that I know a poor worm hath enjoyed in this condition yet it 's not your bonds I desire but your blessedness exalted over the heads of them especially I desire on your behalf that your soul may be furnished with that satisfactory clearness in the Cause and jealousie of the terms of Deliverance that invite you forth that in patience you may possess your soul with constancy enjoy the sweetness of it from its fitness for converse with God and with courage and resolution refel those Hen-pickings which I presume is your portion by some prudent Cowards wherewith your City aboundeth and your large acquaintance hath made you known unto I trust the great things of the Name Interest Glory and Gospel-truths of Jesus Christ owned by your act and sealed to in their excellency by your bonds will out-weigh the self-saving arguments of air health trade liberty which are things and greater things than these that must be hated upon this competition That prudent Proposal of Master save thy self had more of the Devil in it than I think Peter was aware when it was brought in to retard Christ's opportunity of glorifying his Father and saving his People in a way of suffering You well know the excellent proof of the Faith of those Travellers of old was they conquered the opportunity they had of returning to their Comforts and Relations their Kindred and Countrey from whence they came Truly there is before you and in your hand an opportunity of glorifying God in a way of suffering and it puts me in mind of a passage of a good man treating of the gale of opportunity thus expresseth himself to the case in hand A man may have an opportunity to suffer for Christ which if he neglect he may never have the like again To suffer for Christ is honourable God will not put this honour upon every one he puts this honour upon his Vessels of honour he gives Grace to a man and casts him into a vessel of Silver or Gold and then throws them into the fire to melt suffer for his Name The Mettal of that Christian must be Silver or Gold that can suffer for Christ a vessel of Wood throw it into the fire its Hoops will fly off it will break asunder and never hold out The three Children that were cast into the fiery furnace what glorious mould and metal were they made of Had they not taken that opportunity to suffer for God they might never meet with such a one again 1 What a spreading Fame and Glory of God did their sufferings scatter over all the World Dan. 3.28 29. God's Glory shines out of their sufferings enemies acknowledge none like Israel's God 2 They honour themselves 1. They no sooner in the fire but they meet with Jesus there vers 24 25. according to Isa 43.2 2. It was an honour to them that God should work such a noble miracle for them as to stop the mouth of the fire that it could not burn them 3 Their Suffering was the Churches honour and advantage it won great respect and honour to the Jewish Church and Religion 4 Did not their Suffering and God's owning them strengthen the weak Faith of their distressed Brethren the poor Jewes Your Sufferings may be the Conversion of others How willing would you be to Preach a Sermon if you were sure it would be the Conversion of some soul thy Suffering for Christ may be the best Sermon that ever thou preachedst in thy life and may win more upon souls as we say The best Living is the best Preaching so I say To suffer well is the best preaching c. 5 It will encrease your future glory 2 Cor. 4.17 I had other things on my thoughts but am interrupted by the unavoidable access of strangers and noise I may next say a little more I am troubled to break off thus but you know the heart the opportunity the interruption of a Prisoner especially where there there is a full and rude Prison The Lord help you that by a patient continuing in well-doing you may commit your soul body estate liberty into the hands of God as of a faithful Creator knowing whom you have believed and that he is able to keep that which you have committed to him against that day only the good thing that blessed Testimony to Truth as it is in Jesus committed by him unto you keep through the holy Spirit that dwelleth in you Sell not for a supposed opportunity to buy and sell and get gain your real opportunity to exalt Jesus Christ in suffering for his Names sake most who make haste this way out of bonds do usually reckon they will be more prudent next than to suffer for a circumstance and commonly God shews himself more jealous of his Glory than to imploy them again in so honourable a work Vnless as one of the Martyrs in Queen Maries time who recanted his Profession because said he I cannot burn for Christ but shortly after his House was burnt as I remember and he must burn without Christ Tho Lord strengthen you with might in your soul Amen Yours c. 30th of the 5th mon. 64. Upon a Letter sent to him for Conveyance from a Church of Christ in London to one of their Fellowship in Prison near him That you may stand perfect and compleat in all the Will of God desired My inward Friend THe receipt of yours to me exposing to my view for advantage as well as committing to my hand for Conveyance that lively instance of the care of a whole Congregation towards one of their Members was not more welcome to me than the matter offered therein to observation was rebuking and convincing of my sinful shortness towards divers unto whom I stand deeply engaged as well as dearly related in Gospel-bonds I hope it hath had and will farther be succeeded with this issue to awaken me to a farther observation and apprehension of that great debt that I owe on Christ's behalf to divers souls whose faces for a long time I have not seen in the flesh from which my distance in respect of place doth not discharge me in point of duty and be of directive usefulness to guide my way and inform how I ought to behave my self among the scattered members of the Church of the Living God which is where it is as it should be the Pillar and Ground of Truth on which as on a Pillar that should go out no more should stand engraven to be seen and read of all men the publick Edicts of our King with all his Statutes and Judgments especially in a time when they are spoken against and would be razed out nay razed to the very foundation thereof by the sons of Edom that border of wickedness the people against whom God hath indignation for ever The consideration whereof doth not only require that they be living stones who are competent for such ends having living tables in their
so should we There are divers Truths that in most Ages are not controverted these are not so properly the Truths under present consideration but such as the design of the Adversary is manifest to root out from being professed under heaven such are the Word of Patience which must be kept Rev. 3.10 the present Truth which must be had in remembrance and establishment 2 Pet. 1.12 Object Why is not every truth a truth now a present truth Answ Though that which is truth at any time abides truth at all times yet as hath been said those truths in a most eminent manner are called present truths which concern at present the vindication of the Glory of God and draw on the present tryals of the day upon the Assertors of it I note this the rather because in this shifting-day many that would be thought to be the Lord's Witnesses please themselves with this Blessed be God we hold to Fundamentals What Fundamental Truths have we yielded or denied and think themselves no way concerned to keep up a testimony for those truths which they call Circumstantial such as are not matters of Salvation whether it be held or practised this way or the other way Alas by such distinctions and evasions as these men have let go almost their whole testimony about the Royal right of Christ to set up Institutions of Worship that are to be maintained in his Authority only And I fear that such who can so easily relinquish their testimony to present Truths under this pretention They are not Fundamental Truths it will be found that when those Truths which they now call Fundamental shall be brought as they may speedily be brought to their tryal and so become present Truths there will other distinctions be found out to avoid the offence of the Cross concerning them also For an unconceiveable weakness in sticking close to every Truth is unavoidably contracted by yielding to the betraying of any Truth Hence Paul would not give place by subjection no not for an hour when there was great contention that the Truth of the Gospel might be continued Gal. 2.5 so vers 14. you see how eagerly he contended with Peter which might have endangered the Peace of the Churches meerly because he walked not uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel That Point which that Epistle handleth being the present Truth which was most assaulted and endangered to be lost in that day occasions him to be so jealous of it that he would and did run all manner of hazards rather than betray it Our case is the same now many glorious Truths hath the Lord brought forth asserted cleared and committed to his Saints and Churches to keep unrebukeable till the appearing of Christ especially those of his Dominion over his Saints and others these now being put upon a publick test upon the stage of the World and we as Witnesses Subpoenâ to give in Evidence to the truth and goodness of them We durst not accept of any overtures of Deliverance or otherwayes whereby our Testimony to them should be balked 4. When I cannot come at the good of Deliverance but I must bind up my hands from being capable of doing God that service in my generation which he requireth of me freely for the time to come when these are the terms Deliverance is too dear forme and may not be accepted We are called unto Liberty and withal required to stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and not to be entangled with any yoke of bondage Gal. 5.1 Not to be the servants of men 1 Cor. 7.23 For if we seek to please them we cannot be the servants of Christ Gal. 1.10 Now that thing which would bind up my hands from being serviceable to Jesus Christ when he calls for my service my yielding thereunto whatever it be is a betraying of my Christian Liberty which Christ hath purchased for me with his blood We are debtors unto Grace and may not violate that obligation or yield to any thing that incapacitates us to discharge it by any means or on any terms You reade frequently at what an high rate in several contests Paul stands upon his Romane Priviledges he would not when in Prison came out to the detriment or disparagement of those his humane liberties Acts 16.37 And shall Paul think earthly priviledges to be such as he would indure longer imprisonment rather than basely betray them and shall we who are called to Gospel-liberties bought at so dear a rate beyond his Acts 22.28 1 Pet. 1.18 sell them for a song God forbid You know when Moses was upon the Treaty with Pharaoh about the enlargement of Israel out of Egypt divers overtures Pharaoh makes according as the hand of the Lord pressed on him They should sacrifice in the Land Exod. 8.26 or they should go out so none but the Men might go leaving the Women and Children chap. 10.9 10 11. or They should all go but they should leave the Flocks and Herds chap. 10.24 But what is the resolution of Moses There shall not an hoof be left behind for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither v. 26. Shall Moses and Israel stand on their Points to endure Bondage rather than leave an Hoof behind And shall we make such terms to have Locks and Fetters upon our Hands and Feet from serving Christ for time to come seeing we little know what he may require of us to serve him withal God forbid Can true Israelites endure to have Deliverance upon such terms as the thrusting out their right eyes and laying it for a reproach on all Israel Would not all the Lords people lift up their voices and weep if it should be so 1 Sam. 11.2 4. Object What would you have me do I am now perhaps a Prisoner They will give me liberty so I will engage to Preach no more to Meet no more c. If they keep me a Prisoner I cannot Meet or Preach c. And if I promise I will not I shall be but in the same capacity I am in now and am likely to be still in Answ This way of reasoning is very ensnaring for first if thou art in bonds thy great interest lies in this in giving diligence that the Word of God is not bound 2 Tim. 2.9 but rather as Paul saith Phil. 1.12 That the things that fall out of this kind fall out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel Such therefore as seek and get freedom on terms that leave the Word obstructed in that free passage wherein it should run and be glorified 2 Thes 3.1 they do but get the fetters off from their own feet and set them upon the Word of God which is but Deliverance with a mischief 2 Thy liberty obtained in such a way and on such reasonings is but a liberty and freedom to serve thy self feed and satisfie thy self and lusts
the World and the glory of them and that in a moment of time with this offer All this Power will I give thee and the Glory of them Luke 4.5 6. To Asaph with a condition of men that have no bands in death their strength firm are not in trouble as other men nor plagued as other men eyes standing out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Therefore God's People often turn in hither Psal 73. beginning The first temptation was by a Tree good for food pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make one wise Gen. 3.6 He never wants high and fair profers to make up a temptation effectual to allure You shall buy and sell be free of the great City that made rich all her Merchants Rev. 18.10 to 19. so you will receive the mark in the forehead or right hand you may admit it secretly if you will not openly chap. 13.16 17. 2 The Tempter also insists much and gains much advantage by representing and imposing the Presentness of Deliverance you shall have this presently The Resurrection you speak of is a great way off a long time to come and will you tarry till the Heavens be no more for such a thing and in mean time overlook that Deliverance which is in hand A Bird in Hand is worth two in the Wood. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandring of the desire Eccles 6.9 This offer of things that are seen hath great prevalency with a soul who lives more by Sence than by Faith this was the snare of Demas he forsook that way of the Lord having loved the present world 2 Tim. 4.10 To be delivered from the present world Gal. 1.4 is an extraordinary salvation it being so apt to take with us when we begin to grow weary and can wait on the Lord no longer and reckon as was noted of Esau I am at the point of Death and what good can this Birth-right this hope of a Resurrection and another World to come do to me Give me Deliverance will such a one say or I die Thus the Captive Exile hasteth lest he die in the Pit and his bread should fail Secondly But consider we the Resurrection and here if we will improve the thoughts of it to advantage we should admit to our thoughts about it those Objections that may make it seem less taking there are Three of them that we may easily conjecture might rationally arise in the spirits of these poor tempted tortured ones against their adhering to the Resurrection in the neglect of present Deliverance 1. About the very truth of this Notion of the Resurrection there is the appearance of a very great impossibility Flesh and Blood Sence and Reason object How can these things be If a man die can he live again Of all living there is hope a living Dog is better than a dead Lyon the living know that they shall die but the dead know nothing at all Eccles 9.4 5. These are the Reasonings of a rational mind that admits only of humane demonstration When Paul was making his Defence before Agrippa one who was expert in all Customs and Questions among the Jews yet reasons on this Supposition That it was thought a thing incredible with them that God should raise the dead Acts 26.8 with vers 3. If the question be put Can these dry bones live Sense Reason Learning hath no better than this astonished answer Lord thou knowest Ezek. 37.3 This now is a great disadvantage unto a rational choice as our case is But here steps in Faith which acts upon dead things a dead Womb in Sarah dead Loins in Abraham a Sacrificed Isaac a Crucified Christ the slaughtered Witnesses a betrayed Cause are subjects proper to a living Faith to exercise its self upon when it hath a word of Promise Faith thinks it not incredible that God should raise the dead it lives upon that great Power that raised Jesus from the dead So that though the bones be scattered about the Graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth Wood Psal 141.7 though the bodies of the Saints are given to be meat to the Fowls of the Heaven and their flesh to the Beasts of the Earth their Blood shed like water and there be none to bury them Psal 79.2 3. though Limb be torn from Limb and Quarter set at the greatest distance from Quarter though the fire devours the Bowels and the Dogs lick the Blood yet Faith is not hereby lost in a certainty of Conclusion This is Dust in Covenant with the God of Abraham of Isaac Jacob and though it be dead to us yet all live to him Luke 20.37 38. 2. If there should be a yielding to the possibility of it yet it might be objected The demonstration of the Point and its determination in Scripture-evidence was not apparent and manifest in that day Life and Immortality being reserved to be brought to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 and the way into the Holiest of all being not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing Heb. 9.8 Not but that there was a sufficient Testimony in the Scriptures of Moses and the Prophets to this Truth to guide Believers in the Hope of Glory but so far was there a Vail on this as well as other Truths that the Sadduces a Sect of no mean Repute and Authority in the Jewish Church not only questioned but utterly denyed any such thing to be founded in the Old Testament at all Mat. 22.23 Acts 23.8 Nay under the clear manifectations of this Truth in the Testimony of Christ and the Apostles in the New Testament you see a generation who affirmed That the Resurrection is past already and overthrew the Faith of some against whom the Apostle disputes at large 1 Cor. 15. Nay notwithstanding all this we see in all Ages there have been some who by weakning the Authority of the Scriptures in geneeal or by a lawless wanton allegorizing the Scriptures that refer to this and other precious Truths in particular do satisfie their reason in rejecting the truth of the Lord's Testimony herein If it may be supposed that these souls of whom the Text makes report should be assaulted with any part of this temptation about the obscurity of the revelation of this Doctrine in the Scriptures it must needs magnifie the excellency of their Faith that conquered this disadvantage and through this cloud also conclude the preferency of the Resurrection to their tendered Deliverance 3. But supposing the possibility and probability of this Doctrine be acknowledged to have been undoubted to them yet this might remain a very considerable remora in their way it was a thing a great while to come many thousand years have passed since the assertion of it and yet no appearance of it and many thousand years may yet be ere it take place as was their reasoning Ezek. 12.27 and as the Scoffers of the last dayes object 2 Pet. 3.4 Now as was