miseries with which holy men have been persecuted Apostles and Prophets wise and holy men men of whom this World was not worthy have been sawn asunder stretched upon the Rack tormented on the Wheel exposed upon Gibbets torn apieces by violence rosted upon the fire and taken off by death that hath been not only violent but merciless Now these trials require a mighty aid and no less than an heavenly and a divine assistance It is an easie thing for us to despise the danger that is at a distance To speak big words when we know the Enemy is afar off To profess that we will rather die for Jesus than we will deny him Our Lord hath many such forward Disciples as these who give him their word that they will not forsake him and yet for all their good words they deny him in a time of danger And indeed so it is that we shall then need a great assistance Nor can we tell how soon we may be put to the trial It is much for our Interest to discern whence our strength is to be expected The Holy Spirit is able to strengthen us to undergo undantedly all these evils And no aid less than that of the Holy Spirit would be sufficient It must be a power from above an help from God that can enable us to stand up against all the Wit and Malice the Craft and the Cruelty of men and Devils Indeed we are very apt to despond and our hearts fail within us We fear we shall never hold out under great pains and torments and we do much disquiet our selves about it But here is an help at hand and we shall find that he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world And this will appear if we consider the following particulars 1. That this Spirit is a Spirit of power and that power is Divine also The Holy Scriptures give us a large and very particular account of this matter and therein we have a full assurance that by the help of this heavenly aid we may be able to do more than we can think He that hath this Spirit of God is endued with a mighty power from above a power that is sufficient against all the powers of darkness When the Virgin asked the Angel who had told her she should conceive and bring forth a Son How this be seeing I know not a man Luk. 1.35 We find what answer he made viz. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee and then it follows Ver. 37. For with God nothing shall be unpossible The Holy Spirit is called the finger of God Luk. 11.20 And the great and mighty works which Jesus and his followers did were wrought by this Holy Spirit of God And these works are an irrefragable proof of the mighty power of the Spirit of God To this purpose we read of the demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 and of power And where in one place St. Act. 6.5 8. Stephen is said to be full of the Holy Ghost in the other place he is said to be full of Power He that receives the Spirit receives Power 2 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the Spirit of fear but of Power St. Peter says 1 Pet. 3.18 That Christ was put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit St. Paul expresseth the same truth in other words and that Variety confirms the truth of what I am now asserting St. Paul says That he was crucified through weakness 2 Cor. 13.4 yet he liveth by the power of God Here can be no defect of Power then where the Holy Spirit is The mighty works wrought by this divine Spirit sufficiently declare that no Power is wanting where he does assist And therefore why should we distrust and despond when we have the promise of this Power from on high We shall not need to fear even death it self if we be possessed of this heavenly help Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you We have just cause to distrust our selves indeed and we may well suppose that we cannot be able to stand upright but what shall be too hard for us when we have received that Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead Well may God lay on us what he thinks fit when he thus assisteth us with his Divine Spirit 2. This Holy Spirit is promised to this end to help us in these straits and necessities Luk. 12.11 12. And when they bring you into the Synagogues and unto Magistrates and Powers take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say It is enough and we ought to think it so that we have this assistance when we need it and are to use it And the Apostle tells us that we are happy even then when we are judged most miserable by the World 1 Pet. 4.14 when we are reproached for Christs sake because the Spirit of God and of glory resteth on us God hath provided well for us under the Gospel which is the ministration of the Spirit that he has promised a more than ordinary assistance in cases that are extraordinary 3. Besides we have sufficient proof that this heavenly assistance hath not been wanting to others in these difficulties We have to this purpose very great examples of those that were assisted by this holy Spirit in all their sufferings and persecutions They were by the Holy Ghost enabled under all that pain and suffering which they endured to glorifie God in the day of Visitation And whereas before they were weak and feeble as other men had the same fears and despondencies which other men are importuned with yet when they were assisted by this good Spirit of God they were full of Courage and undaunted amidst the severest trials which they underwent We know that St. Peter before the descent of the Holy Ghost was so fearful that he denied his Master when he was questioned by a silly maid But after the Holy Ghost descended he was bold as a Lion and durst confess him before all the House of Israel Acts 2.36 Now those men that were ready to forsake their Lord before they do not only own him publickly but they departed from the presence of the Council Act. 5.41 rejoycing that they were counted worthâ— to suffer shame for his name Nor was this Divine and supernatural assistance a Peculiar belonging to the Apostles and first Preachers of Christianity nor was it limited to those early days of Christianity It was continued in the Church of Christ and does still continue according to the Promise of our Lord and Saviour Joh. 14.16 And hence it came to pass
times afterwards we have very large accounts of the sufferings of the Apostles and Primitive Christians for a long time and a very particular account of the exemplary patience and meekness courage and undauntedness of them that suffered These are things very well known to them that have read the holy Scriptures and the ancient Writers of the Christian Church Besides the many examples we have upon record of those who have with great patience suffered for the truth in the later Ages of Christianity We have many examples of those who have chearfully gone into Goales and given their bodies to be burnt for the sake of the truth Thirdly I shall shew you the great usefulness of these great examples to us For when we are directed to reflect upon them it is supposed that it is for our advantage that we should do so For it cannot be denied but that the Church hath gained much by the exemplary sufferings of holy men The bloud of Martys hath been a fruitful Seed And the Church did then grow when it was persecuted Phil. 1.12 14. I would ye should understand Brethren that the things which hapned unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel And many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the Word without fear Holy men have done great service to the Church by a resolute dying for the Truth Their death hath been like that of Samson's who destroyed more Philistins then than he had at any time before The Heathen could say of good men That if in their life they were profitable v. Arrian Epictet l. 4. c. 1. they were much more so in their death For by this means the Truth hath got ground and the Religion hath been spread in the world Men are very prone to favour the persecuted and afflicted side and where they see the afflicted support undauntedly they are very much inclined to judge favourably of their Cause Hence in the Primitive times men came into the Church when they saw the Christians suffer the greatest torments with the most invincible patience They began to enquire what this Religion was which did thus support its Followers And hence they were induced to the Profession of that Religion which did so powerfully support its Followers Plures efficimur quoties metimur à vobis Tert. Apol. c. 45 And thus when some were cut off others came in from the Heathen world But I shall particularly consider the usefulness of these examples to us I shall shew you what benefit we may receive from the patient sufferings of Martyrs and other holy men 1. We are by this means assured that the greatest torments may be endured and supported under We do very often fear that we should never be able to bear the scorching flames that we can never endure the torments of a Rack extremity of cold and hunger and other pains For we have been tenderly brought up and have been uneasie under small pains And have not known what hunger and thirst cold and nakedness mean Hence we conclude that we should never be able to endure great severities The truth is It were much to be feared that we should rather renounce our Religion than hold out under the sharpest perseution did we only look into our selves But when we consider the power of God and look upon the examples of holy Martyrs we have great cause to hope that we shall be able to submit to torments and to death for the sake of our Religion For if we are weak if we have been brought up tenderly if we are of a timerous nature c. so were many of those Martyrs who yet rejoyced afterwards in Prisons welcomed the Fire and Faggot and rejoyced that they were thought worthy to die for the name of Jesus And those have done this who did suspect themselves and were suspected by others also We are hereby encouraged to hope well when we see that men that were subject to the like passions with us have continued stedfast to the last 2. We are further hereby assured that God will not fail to give assistance in the time of need Which is a truth the belief whereof does much tend to quiet and comfort us amidst our many fears and distractions Hence we are encouraged to hope that God will stand by us and help us when our burden is heavy upon us and we can now come boldly unto the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need This is the use that we are called upon to make of the sufferings of our Lord Cha. 12.3 Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Indeed God hath been pleased to assure us Heb. 13.5 that He will never leave us nor forsake us And the Apostle says 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able But will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it In which words we are assured that God will give us a good event if we call in and depend upon his help and assistance 2 Thes 3.3 The Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from all evil And the same Apostle elsewhere speaks to the same purpose 1 Thes 5.22 23 24. saying Abstain from all appearance of evil And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it These are great promises and assurances which God hath been pleased to give us and we ought upon all occasions to consider them But so it is we are of little faith and very prone to fear But then seeing we are incompassed with so thick a cloud of Witnesses to whom these promises have been made good we are farther confirmed that he who hath done it will still perform the word which he hath spoken For these examples before our eyes have a great force towards the ridding us of those fears which are apt to solicite us For from them we learn what weak Creatures can do when they are assisted by a power from above 3. We are by this means farther confirmed in our Religion and consequently thereupon the more firmly obliged to continue stedfast in the Profession of it He that dies for his Religion and does it undauntedly does more than he that defends it by learned Discourses It is not every man can discern the force of Arguments He that lives well and that dies with courage for his Religion 't is he that defends his Faith and commends it to the Consciences of men This man does most effectually
long into a state of liberty and joy Let us think of this In alium sumimur partum Sen. Ep. 102. and we shall not be cast down at our painin our passage thither Let us under our Throws and pain look up to that immortality for the sake of which we suffer Think of Eternity He that apprehends that will not be dismayed at force nor terrified with the instruments of Cruelty Let it never be said the hope of Riches and Honour here hath more force than the hopes of Heaven That other men shall do and suffer more for earthly than we do for heavenly things That Temporal hopes can effect that which the hope of Eternals cannot do CHAP. IV. SEcondly Our Religion gives us the utmost assurance of Gods gracious and particular care and Providence and being assured of this we are provided with another great support under all the Evils of this present life These two things have a mighty force to quiet us when they are duly considered The hope of Heaven hereafter and the assurance of Gods care and special Providence here If our hope lies beyond this World and we be in the mean time assured that God rules among men there is nothing that can afflict us greatly If we have no greater design about us than that we may be happy with God in a future life we shall not be much cast down at the troubles of this present state For these troubles will be so far from hindring our attainment of that great end that they rather advance us and set us forward Death it self which is the extremest Evil does but put us into the possession of our eternal rest And whatever Storm or Tempest befalls us we ought to welcom it when it drives us nearer to our desired Haven But let us in the next place consider the support which we have from that assurance which our Religion gives us of Gods special care and Providence If we live under a lively sense of this truth we shall be in great measure rid of our anxious cares and troubles For now though we should be tossed upon a Tempestuous Sea and the Keel wherein we are should be in in danger from the proud and swelling Waves yet we may rest securely when we remember who sits at Stern And here First I shall lay before you the assurance our Religion gives us of Gods care and special Providence Secondly I shall shew you how potent an argument this is toward our support Thirdly I shall make some application of it 1. I shall lay before you the assurance our Religion gives us of Gods care and special Providence By his special care and Providence I mean his care of Men and especially of his Church I might here put you in mind of what God did of old for his Church and People before the coming of the Messiah The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament will afford you many instances of Gods special care of the Jewish people whom he had chosen out of all the Nations of the World He ruled among them and though he appointed Governours over them yet was he their great Lord and King And indeed their form of Government was a peculiar one For it is not without cause by one of the Ancients called a Theocrasie God was their King from him they had their Laws their Defence and Protection And God gave that People very many and very great Demonstrations of his special care of them He dwelt among them they were under his Wings And were of all people in the world the most happy while they continued obedient unto God I should be endless if I should go about to reckon up what proofs God gave of his great care of that Church and of his especial Providence over it He shewed it by Miracles of Mercy by Wonders of Love by most singular and remarkable deliverances which he wrought for them In due time God sent his Son into the World and after that as he inlarged his Church and People so he continued his care of them too And by his Son he hath given us farther assurance of his very particular care and Providence And the Son of God did in his Sermons and Discourses assure his followers of this truth And by that means did prepare them for suffering and dispose them to patience and contentedness and to an unshaken and steady faith in God under all events of things By this course our Lord would deliver us from those cares and anxieties from those fears and distractions that render this life the greatest burden to us And because we are apt to be mightily concerned for the necessaries of this life and very apt to be afraid of Death especially of a violent and unnatural one therefore we find our Lord fortifying us against these evils and that he does by giving us a full assurance of the special care and good Providence of God For this as I shall shew afterward is a most powerful consideration to render us quiet and contented and to rid us of our distracting cares and those fears that make this life a burden to us And to this purpose our Saviour discourses most divinely in his Sermon on the Mount a considerable part of which incomparable Sermon was spent in this Argument And it tends directly to free us of that anxiety and care which is the great burden of our lives But I had rather you should hear the words themselves which our blessed Lord spake And these they are Mat. 6.25 to Ver. 33. Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink Nor yet for your body what ye shall put on Is not the life more than Meat and the body than Raiment Ver. 26. Behold the Fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they Ver. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit unto his Stature Ver. 28. And why take ye thought for raiment Consider the Lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin And yet I say unto you Ver. 29. that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Ver. 30. Wherefore if God so cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little faith Therefore take no thought saying Ver. 31. What shall we eat Or what shall we drink Or wherewithal shall we be cloathed Ver. 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Can any thing be more effectual to rid us of our anxious and uneasie thoughts than these Arguments which our Lord has laid before us Shew me any Philosopher that ever discoursed at this powerful rate These words
that holy Martyrs and those that have been persecuted for righteousness sake have been able to persevere in bearing witness to the truth notwithstanding all the torments which they did endure from their enemies hands They that were tortured endured with singular patience their Tormentors Cruelties and wearied out those men who were their Executioners Nor were they only the Ministers of Religion who might be supposed to be endued with a greater measure of the Spirit that endured with undaunted resolution but the Lay-people also even Women were able to endure the greatest severities I should be endless if I should go about to tell what great examples we have in former and later Ages upon record to this purpose 2. We need a more than ordinary assistance to support and comfort us under the losses and other afflictions which we meet with in this present life The Comforts of this life what price soever we may set upon them are at best very uncertain to us And we very often out-live those blessings which rendered this present life comfortable to us We are deprived of the delight of our eyes and the labour of our hands and of that which was the joy of our hearts Our dearest Friends are snatcht away from our Embraces our Children and our Relatives are taken from us by a sudden and an unlooked-for death and we are bereft of the plenty and the store which once we did enjoy and are left solitary and there is none to comfort us In this case the devout and pious Christian is of all men in the world the best provided for He hath peace and comfort which the world knows nothing of And that he hath from the Holy Spirit of God which he is endued with In this dry and barren Wilderness he hath his fresh Springs And after all his losses and his toyl he haâ— a Comforter that visits him and abides with him for ever Thus the Promise runs which ouâ— Lord made a little before he lesâ— the World Joh. 14.16 And a most gracious Promise this to us who live in these houses of clay and that are faâ—â— removed from our Country and our Fathers house We shall be sure to meet with tribulations here to hear store of evil tidings and very sad stories of the miseries that befall others and that threaten us Thanks be to God for the comforts of the Holy Ghost It is to be hoped that we shall thereby be soâ— far refreshed and relieved as to support us under all our other sorrows in our way to Heaven This Holy Spirit is like the Rock that followed the men of Israel in the Desert and furnished them with water in a dry and thirsty Land This is that Oyl of gladness that makes us rejoyce in the midst of the sorrows of this mortal life The Seal of God that tells us to whom we do belong and the Earnest of our future inheritance which does ascertain us of a great reward in Reversion And by this means we are upheld by this heavenly Comforter under sickness and poverty pain and reproach confinement and the fears of death till we are set at liberty and placed among the Spirits of just men made perfect 2. I shall lay before you the great assurance that we shall receive this heavenly aid For we cannot but be throughly convinced that this Promise of the Holy Spirit is an exceeding great and precious one We are next to consider what great ground we have to expect that this heavenly gift shall be bestowed upon us So it is that if we look down into our own breasts we shall find our selves in so ill a case that we cannot think them fit Temples for so pure and holy a Being as the Spirit of God Our Souls are like the Earth when it was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the Deep We may soon discover the need we have of this Divine assistance to digest and put in order to cherish and enlighten this dark and confused Chaos But all this while we have no assurance that we shall be thus favoured But blessed be the name of God we have great assurance that he will send his Holy Spirit into our hearts and not forsake us And what that assurance is you may take in the following particulars 1. We have the Promise of God and that to us ought to be enough God had of old foretold Isa 44.3 Joel 1.18 Act. 2.17 that in the times of the Messias he would pour his holy Spirit plentifully even upon all flesh A Promise that was in great measure fulfilled at the day of Pentecost next after the Ascension of the Son of God He did before that command his Apostles Acts 1.4 5. that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father which saith he ye have heard of me For John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence Our Lord had given them before this a great assurance that this Comforter should come and abide with them for ever And we need not doubt but that he that promised would make good his word to us 2. Especially if it be considered how necessary this Holy Spirit is for the compleating and finishing the work of mans Redemption It It is true we were redeemed by the bloud of Christ but then we are renewed by the Holy Spirit and by him enabled to give obedience to his Laws Heb. 5 9â— who is the Author of Eternal Salvation but it is to them that do obey him Since God hath given us his Son we need no longer doubt but that he will with him give us all things especially all things needful for life and godliness We need not doubt of receiving the supports of the Holy Spirit to enable us to profess that truth constantly which the same Spirit dictated to holy men Heb. 2.4 and which was confirmed by Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost There is no room left for doubting but that we shall receive this Holy Spirit if we constantly and fervently implore him 3. Again our Saviour hath given us the utmost assurance in those words where he says Luk. 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Parents do not use to deny their Children what is needful for them Nor do they need a positive Law to oblige them to it There is a Law in their nature does direct and determine them in this case And those Parents that are otherwise evil men are yet very prone to bestow good things on their Children Now then who can doubt of Gods readiness to bestow his Holy Spirit upon them that ask him Earthly Parents are evil they are so by nature and more so by custom and a course of sinning But our heavenly Father is
well as very great which send us to the Throne of Grace so it is very evident from what hath been said that our supports and our supplies are derived to us from the Intercession of the Son of God Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins But that there may be no manner of doubt remaining of the truth of what hath been said before I shall from the Scriptures shew you the assurances which they give us of this truth from whence it will evidently appear that Christ now he is in Heaven is our Patron and our Advocate there I shall begin with those words of St. John My little Children 1 Joh. 2.1 2. these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Can any thing be more plain or more comfortable than these words are Nothing so much dejects the good man as his sins and his infirmities These things indeed sink him low and fill him with great fears And certain it is that no man can say he hath no sin Chap. 1.8 9. but he that deceives himself But is the good man left without a remedy No certainly If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness It is true indeed we ought not to sin out of the hopes of pardon and if we do so our condition is very sad indeed But so it is that the best man may be surprized and overtaken and if he be here is comfort for him in these words Behold here an Advocate with the Father and we shall not want an Accuser when we have done amiss for besides the Devil who is the Accuser of the Brethren our great Enemy Rev. 12.10 our own Conscience will quickly do that We shall need an Advocate to plead our Cause with God and to undertake for us And blessed be God we are provided for We have an Advocate with the Father We do not want an Intercessor with God But we might fear still if our Advocate were himself guilty we could have little comfort from his Intercession for us who is himself obnoxious But it follows Jesus Christ the righteous A most powerful and innocent person undertakes for us But yet for all this guilt makes men fearful and suspicious and they fear they shall not obtain pardon though their Advocate be innocent and powerful unless he have something more to plead in the behalf of them that are accused And therefore it follows He is the propitiation for our sins Our Advocate cannot only plead his own Innocence as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but he can plead his Merit too he having by his death made expiation for our sins Rom. 5.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Our Advocate hath paid a price for our ransom and this price was accepted of God and the bloud that Jesus shed does now plead for us If after all this the dejected sinner fear that the bloud which Christ shed was not shed for him this needless fear is removed by the words which follow And not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Let us next consider the words of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews where he tells us that Christ entred into Heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 Just as the High Priest entred with the bloud of the Sacrifice into the Holy of Holies which he offered up there for himself Ver. 7. and for the errors of the People There it was that the High Priest made Attonement for all the Congregation of Israel Lev. 16.17 Our blessed Lord hath shed his bloud and now appears before God for us Neither by the bloud of Goats and Calves but by his own bloud he entred in once into the holy place Heb. 9.12 having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 10.12 Again This man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sin for ever sate down at the right hand of God It is observed by a very learned man that these two expressions viz. To appear in the presence of God for us And To offer himself up to God both which are said of Christ Heb. 9. do signifie one and the same thing diversely considered The latter expression implies the beginning the former the continuation of one and the same thing Our Saviour commends us to God and this is meant when it is said that he appears in the presence of God for us but he began to do this when after he had shed his bloud he offered himself to God in heaven Heb. 9.25 As the High Priest after the Sacrifice was slain carried the bloud into the Holy of Holies and there appeared with it before God So that this appearing of Christ for us and his offering himself to God imports his Intercession for us and does imply the merits of his bloud and the Atonement which our Lord hath made for us And this speaks great comfort to us Heb. 9.13 14. For if the bloud of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead workâ— to serve the living God The Author of this Epistle tell us Heb. 7.24 25. that Christ hath an unchangeable Priesthood He is not like one oâ— the Priests of Aaron who died and left one of his Brethren to succeed him Our Lord lives for ever Wherefore he is able also to saâ—â— them to the uttermost that come untâ— God by him seeing he ever liveth tâ— make Intercession for them Which words assure us at once of Christ power to save us and of his inclination and readiness to do it For as he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him so he is also prone to do it and concerns himself about it he ever liveth to make intercession for them To make intercession is to plead in the behalf of another that he may be relieved or released It is opposed to accusing or condemning Who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.34 It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us To what hath been said let me add the words of our Saviour Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16.23 Here is great encouragement to us to pray to God We may now approach unto God with very
and a sufficient support even in that case Our Religion were a very mean Institution if it would not bear a man up against the fears of death I shall to what hath been said above add some things to your farther consideration to encourage you to give up your life rather than to deny your Religion and wrong your Consciences And I. That it cannot be supposed that death can hurt a man If death have any evil belonging to it it is owing to our own folly It is our sin only that gives it a sting It is impossible it should hurt him that is sincerely good Socrates told the Athenians that they would rather hurt themselves than him by taking away his life and that for his Accusers he did not believe they could do him hurt he not thinking it reasonable to believe it in the power of evil men to hurt the good It is indeed in their power to kill it is not in their power to hurt them that are good That death can do us no hurt that hath had a good life gone before it The worst of men desire to die the death of the righteous Of all men those that are good have least cause to fear dying For they have placed their happiness beyond this world And death is to them unwelcom that live at ease here II. That it is very certain that many men have overcome the fear of death from a mean and low Principle compared with that of the Christian who suffers for righteousness sake Death I grant strikes a dread upon Mankind It is that which we commonly startle at It comes to take us apieces to remove us from our Friends and Familiars that for some time we have conversed with And hence it is that men generally fear death and decline it what they can But yet we know that many have overcom this fear of death some of them from a mean and others from an evil Principle Death is formidable and a good man is not quite rid of all the fear of death yet there are many considerations that make death seem desirable Revenge triumphs over it Love makes light of it Honour is ambitious of it fear of disgrace chooses it Sorrow runs after it it Fear prevents it A weak and foolish Passion a trifling and a faulty Principle reconciles men to death Some have thrown away their lives others have given them up many have parted with them upon trifling accounts and sometimes upon evil ones They have been contented to part with their lives from an evil Principle or from a trifling one How many have proved Martyrs to their Lusts How many to gratifie their Lust and their Revenge have brought upon themselves a lingring or a sudden death How many have fallen Sacrifices to their Luxury and Intemperance their Pride and Lust Pudeat semper tantum in vobis posse turpes causas nil posse pulcherrimas Petrarch And is it not a great shame that we should stick to do that from a good Principle which others do from a faulty one Is it not a shame that the Lusts of men should prevail more than the Laws of Christ And that men should make themselves miserable at that expence which they refuse to be at in order to their happiness There have been those who have died for a silly Woman for a point of Honour for their Fame and for their Country These things have prevailed with them to endure torments and devote themselves to destruction So much have these things prevailed with them Tanti vitream Quanti veram Margaritam Tertul. ad Martyr that their lives were not precious in their own eyes It is a great reproach to us if we refuse to suffer that for the sake of Christ and his Gospel which others have suffered for the sake of this World The Heathen could not but take notice of this speaking of death Senec. Ep. 4. Seest thou not says he upon what frivolous accounts it is contemned One hangs himself at the door of his Mistris Another throws himself headlong from the house top to avoid a churlish and unquiet Master Another stabs himself that he may prevent his return home Dost thou not think that vertue might have done that which an excess of fear hath done Shall a foolish Lust and an impotent Passion have more force than the sense of our duly and the well grounded hopes of eternal happiness We read in our Books of some that have sacrificed their lives to their Fame or thrown them away in compliance with the foolish customs of their Country or from a Principle of Superstition M. Anton. l. 5. se 14. It is a very astonishing thing says one of the Heathens that Ignorance and Ostentation should be more powerful than Wisdom We have a story in the Acts of our Church of a man in Queen Maries days who when he was put in mind to suffer for that truth which he had for some time professed replied that he could not burn Nor did he burn for his Religion But in the days of Queen Elizabeth this man's house was on fire and then to save his Goods he adventures into his house and he and his Goods were burnt in the same flames He that would not burn to save his Soul ventures into the fire to preserve his Goods And then he lost his Goods and his Life and it is to be feared his Soul also III. The good man does not want very considerations to perswade him to quit this present life for the sake of a better He is well assured that by thus losing his life he shall save it That he shall be assisted in his conflict and rewarded when he hath finished his course He is not left without a Comforter and he is assured of a plentiful Reward He knows in whom he hath believed and can commit the keeping of his Soul unto God as unto a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 He does but put off his flesh and knows that he shall be cloathed with life and immortality He does but part with an earthly Tabernacle for a building not made with hands And by his constant sufferings he glorifies God spreads his truth confirms his Servants and makes way for a greater glory to himself Do not then fear to follow your Lord and all those blessed Souls that have led the way When your Lord commands make no demur but follow him chearfully though it be to the place of skulls It is not worth your while to preserve your life with the loss of your innocence Gods favour is more than life and that will stand us in stead when this life shall be no more It is a madness to forfeit our eternal hopes that we may live here a little longer especially when our life will be but a plague and burden to us when we have purchased it with the loss of our innocence We shall find the horrours of a guilty mind more painful than the flames and much more lasting