keep not your soul in your own hand for fear of losing that with the rest For no man can keep alive his own soul Psal. 22.29 No not in the greatest calm no not when the Lyon is a sleep how then should he do it at such a time when the horrible blast of the terrible ones shall beaâ— against his wall The consideration of this was that that made holy Paul who was a man upon whom persecution continually attended commit his soul to God Acts 20.23 2 Tim. 1.12 God as I shall shew you by and by is he and he alone that is able to keep the soul and deliver it from danger Man is naturally a self deceiver and therefore is not to be trusted any farther than as the watchful eye of God is over him But as to hiâ— soul he is not be trusted with that at all that must be wholly committed to God left altogether with him laid at his feet and he also must take the charge thereof or else 't is gone will be lost and will perish for ever and ever Wherefore 't is a dangerous thing for a man that is a sufferer to be a senseless man as to the danger that his soul is in and a prayerless man as to the committing of the keeping of it to God For he that is such has yet his soul and the keeping thereof in his own deceitful hand And so has he also that stays himself upon his friends upon his knowledge the promise of men or the mercy of his enemies or that has set in his mind a bound to himself how far he will venture for Religion and where he will stop This is the man that makes not God his trust and that therefore will surely fall in the day of his temptation Satan who now hunteth for the precious soul to destroy it has Power as well as Policy beyond what man can think He has power to blind harden and to make insensible the heart He also can make truth in the eyes of the suffering man a poor little and insignificant thing Judas had not committed the keeping of his soul to God but abode in himself and was left in his Tabernacle And you by and by see what a worthy price he set upon himself his Christ and Heaven and all All to him was not now worth thirty pieces of Silver And as he can make truth in thy esteem to be little so he can make sufferings great and ten times more terrible than he that hath committed the keeping of his soul to God shall ever find them A Gaol shall look as black as Hell and the loss of a few Stools and Chairs as bad as the loss of so many baggs of Gold Death for the Saviour of the World shall seem to be a thing both unreasonable and intolerable Such will chuse to run the hazzard of the loss of a thousand souls in the way of the world rather than the loss of one poor sorry transitory life for the holy word of God But the reason as I said is they have not committed the keeping of their soul to God For he that indeed has committed the keeping of his soul to that great one has shaken his hands of all things here Has bid adieu to the world to friends and life and waiteth upon God in a way of close keeping to his truth and walking in his wayes having counted the cost and been perswaded to take what cup God shall suffer the world to give him for so doing Sixthly Another conclusion that followeth from these words is That God is very willing to take the charge and care of the soul that is committed unto him of them that suffer for his sake in the world If this were not true the exhortation would not answer the end What is intended by Let him commit the keeping of his soul to God but that the sufferer should indeed leave that great care with him but if God be not willing to be concerned with such a charge what bottom is there for the exhortation But the exhortation has this for its bottom therefore God is willing to take the charge and care of the soul of him that suffereth for his name in this world The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate 1 Sam. 25.28 29. Psal. 34.22 None not one that committeth his soul â—o Gods keeping in a way of well doing but shall find him willing to be concerned therewith Ay this saith the sufferer if I could believe this it would rid me of all my fears But I find my self ingaged for God for I have made a profession of his name and cannot arrive to this belief that God is willing to take the charge and care of my soul. Wherefore I fear that if Tryals come so high as that life as well as estate must go that both life and Estate and soul and all will be lost at once Well honest heart these are thy fears but let them fly away and consider the Text again Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him as unto a faithful Creator These are Gods words Christs words and the invitation of the holy Ghost When therefore thou readest them be perswaded that thou hearest the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost all of them joyntly and severally speaking to thee and saying Poor sinner thou art ingaged for God in the world thou art suffering for his word leave thy soul with him as with one that is more willing to save it than thou art willing he should act faith trust God believe his word and go on in thy way of witness-bearing for him and thou shalt find all well and according to the desire of thy heart at last True Satan will make it his business to tempt thee to doubt of this that thy way may be made yet more hard and difficult to thee For he knows that unbelief is a soul-perplexing sin and makes that which would otherwise be light pleasant and easie unutterably heavy and burdensome to the sufferer Yea this he doth in hope to make thee at last to cast away thy profession thy Cause thy Faith thy Conscience thy soul and all But hear what the Holy Ghost saith again He shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the souls of the needy He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight Psal. 72.13 14. These words also are spoken for the comfort of sufferers ver 12. For he shall delivor the needy when he crieth the poor also and him that hath no helper Wherefore let them that are Gods sufferers pluck up a good heart let them not be afraid to trust God with their souls and with their eternal concerns Let them cast all their care upon God for he careth for them 1 Pet. 5.7 But I am in the Dark I answer never stick at that
Seasonable Counsel OR ADVICE TO Sufferers BY JOHN BUNYAN LONDON Printed for Benjamin Alsop at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry MDCLXXXIV TO THE CHRISTIAN READER BEloved I thought it convenient since many at this day are exposed to sufferings to give my advice touching that to thee Namely that thou wouldest take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul diligently and not suffer thy self to be entangled in those snares that God hath suffered to be laid in the World for some Beware of men is the counsel of Christ for they will deliver you up Mat. 10 17. Keep thou therefore within the bounds of uprightness and integrity towards both God and man for that will fortifie that will preserve thee if not from yet under the rage of men in a comfortable and quiet frame of heart Wherefore do that and that only that will justifie they innocency and that will help thee not with forced Speech but with good Conscience when oppressed to make thy appeals to God and to the Consciences of all men This is the advice that I thank God I have taken my self for I find that there is nothing next to God and his Grace by Christ that can stand one in such stead as will a good and harmless Conscience I hope I can say God has made me a Christian and a Christian must be a harmless Man and to that end must imbrace nothing but harmless Principles A Christian business as a Christian is to believe in Jesus Christ and in God the Father by him and to seek the good of all about him according as his place state and capacity in this World will admit not medling with other mens matters but ever following that which is good A Christian is a Child of the Kingdom of God and that Kingdom take it as it begins in Grace or as it is perfected in Glory is not of this World but of that which is to come and though men of old as some may now be afraid of that Kingdom yet that Kingdom will hurt no man neither with its Principles nor by it self To instance somewhat Faith in Christ what harm can that do A life regulated by a moral Law what hurt is in that Rejoycing in Spirit for the hope of the life to come by Christ who will that harm Nor is the instituted worship of our Lord of any evil tendency Christianity teaches us also to do our enemies good to love them that hate us and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us and what evil can be in that This is the summ of the Christian Religion as by the word may be plainly made appear wherefore I counsel thee to keep close to these things and touch with nothing that jostleth therewith Nor do thou marvel thou living thus if some should be so foolish as to seek thy hurt and to afflict thee because thy works are good 1 John 3.12 For there is need that thou shouldest at sometimes be in manifold temptations thy good and innocent life notwithstanding 1 Pet. 1.6 For to omit other things there are some of the graces of God that are in thee that as to some of their Acts cannot shew themselves nor their excellency nor their power nor what they can do but as thou art in a suffering state Faith and Patience in persecution has that to do that to shew and that to perform that cannot be done shewed nor performed any where else but there There is also a patience of hope a rejoycing in hope when we are in tribulation that is over and above that which we have when we are at ease and quiet That also that all graces can endure and triumph over shall not be known but when and as we are in a state of affliction Now these Acts of our Graces are of that worth and esteem with God also he so much delighteth in them that occasion thorough his righteous Judgment must be ministred for them to shew their beauty and what bravery there is in them It is also to be considered that those Acts of our Graces that cannot be put forth or shew themselves in their splendor but when we Christianly suffer will yield such fruit to those whose Tryals call them to exercise that will in the day of God abound to their comfort and tend to their perfection an glory 1 Pet. 1.7 2 Cor. 4.17 Why then should we think thâ—t our innocent lives will exempt us from sufferings or that troubles shall do us such harm For verily it is for our present and future good that our God doth send them upon us I count therefore that such things are necessary for the health of our Souls as bodily pains and labour are for the Body People that live high and in idleness bring diseases upon the Body and they that live in all fulness of Gospel-Ordinances and are not exercised with Tryals grow gross are diseased and full of bad humours in their Souls And though this may to some seem strange yet our day has given us such an experimental proof of the truth thereof as has not been known for some ages past Alas we have need of those bitter pills at which we so whinch and shuck and it will be well if at last we be purged as we should thereby I am sure we are but little the better as yet though the Physician has had us so long in hand Some bad humoâ—rs may possibly ere long be driven out but at present the disease is so high that it makes some professors fear more a Consumption will be made in their purses by these Doses than they desire to be made better in their Souls thereby I see that I still have need of these Tryals and if God will by these judge me as he judges his Saints that I may not be condemned with the World I will cry Grace Grace for ever The consideration also that we have deserved these things much silence me as to what may yet happen unto me I say to think that we have deserved them of God though against men we have done nothing makes me lay my hand upon my mouth and causes me to hold my tongue Shall we deserve correction And be angry because we have it Or shall it come to save us and shall we be offended with the hand that brings it Our sickness is so great that our enemies take notice of it let them know too that we also take our Purges patiently We are willing to pay for those Potions that are given us for the health of our Body how sick soever they make us and if God will have us pay too for that which is to better our Souls why should we grudge thereat Those that bring us these Medicines have little enough for their pains for my part I profess I would not for a great deal be bound for their wages to do their work True Physicians are for the most part chargeable and the niggards are too loth to part with their
Christ. John 1.16 Colos. 1.19 1 Tim. 1.14 This righteousness being planted in the heart leads a man out by the word of God to seek for another righteousness as invisible to and foreign from the natural man as this And that righteousness is that which properly is the righteousness of Jesus Christ a righteousness that standeth in his obedience to his Fathers Law as he was considered a common or publick person a righteousness which he brought into the World not for himself as considered in a private capacity but for those that shall by faith venture themselves upon him to obtain by him life eternal Rom. 5.19 Philip. 3.7 8 9 10. Again This closing by faith with this righteousness thus found in Christ and being taken therewith leads me yet to another righteousness which is instituted worship appointed by Christ for all his followers to be conversant in this worship is grounded on positive precepts and so on words of righteousness called Christs words Christs sayings c. Now upon this bottom begins the difference betwixt the men of God and the world For first by this inward principle of righteousness we come to see and say that men by nature are not Christians what priviledges soever they may account themselves partakers thereof But whosoever is a Christian of Gods making so is begotten and born of God and made a new creature by the anointing received from the holy one Jam. 1.18 Joh. 3.3.5 2 Cor. 5.17 18. Chap. 1.21 1 John 2.20.24.27 Now this these carnal men cannot endure to hear of because it quite excludes them as such from a share in the kingdom of Heaven To this again the Christian stands and backs what he says by the word of God Then the game begins and the men of the World are thoughtful how they may remove such troublesome fellows out of the way But because the Christians love their Neighbours and will not let them thus easily die in their sins therefore they contend with them both by Reasonings Writings Sermons and Books of Gospel Divinity and stand to what they say The world again are angry with these sayings Sermons and Books for that by them they are concluded to be persons that are without repentance and the hope of eternal life Here again the carnal World judges that these people are proud self-will'd Pragmatical contentious self conceited and so unsufferable People The Christian yet goes on and stands to what he has asserted Then the poor World as at their last shift begin to turn and over-turn the Gospelmans sayings perverting forcing stretching and dismembring of them and so making of them speak what was never thought much less intended by the believer Thus they served our Lord for not being able to down with his Doctrine they began to pervert his words and to make as also they said afterwards of Luthers some offensive some erroneous some Treasonable and that both against God and Caesar and so they hanged him up hoping there to put an end to things But his is but the beginning of things for the Christian man by the word of the Gospel goes further with his censure For he also findeth fault with all that this man by the ability of nature can do for the freeing himself from the law of sin and death He condemns him by the word because he is in a state of nature and he condemneth also what ever while in that state he doth as that which by no means can please God Rom. 14.23 Heb. 1.6 This now puts him more out this is a taking of his gods away from him This is to strip him of his raiment such as it is and to turn him naked into the presence of God This I say puts him out and out These wild brained fellows quoth he are never content they find fault with us as to our state they find fault with us as to our works our best works They blame us because we are sinners and they find fault with us though we mend they say by nature we are no Christians and that our bestdoings will not make us such What would they have us do Thus therefore they renew their quarrel But the Christians man cannot help it unless he would see them go to Hell and saying nothing For the word of God doth as assuredly condemn mans righteousness as it doth condemn mans sin it condemneth not mans righteousness among men for there it is good and profitable Job 35.6 7 8. But with God to save the Soul it is no better than filthy raggs Isa. 64.6 Nor will this Christian man suffer these carnal ones to delude themselves with a change of teâ—ms for the Devil who is the great manager of carnal men in things that concern their Souls and in the plea that they make for themselves will help them to tricks and shifts to evade the power of the word of God Teaching them to call the beauties of Nature Grace and the acts of natural Powers the exercise of the graces of the spirit He will imbolden them also to call mans righteousness the righteousness of Christ and that by which a sinner may be justified in the sight of God from the Law These tricks the Christian sees and being faithful to Gods truth and desiring the Salvation of his neighbour he laboureth to discover the fallacy of and to propound better terms for this poor creature to imbrace and venture his Soul upon which terms are warranted by the new Testament a stranger to which the natural man is But I say the things which the Christian presseth being so foreign to nature and lying so cross to mans best things are presently judged by the natural man to be fables or foolishness 1 Cor. 2.14 Wherefore here again he takes another occasion to maintain his strife and contention against the righteous man Raising of slanders upon him and laying things to his charge that he understandeth not charging also his Doctrine with many grievous things Namely that he holdeth that man was made to be damn'd that mans righteousness is no better than sin that a man had as good do ill as well That we may believe and do what we list that holiness pleaseth not God and that sinning is the way to cause grace to abound Besides say they he condemneth good motions and all good beginnings of heart to God ward He casteth away that good we have and would have us to depend upon a justice to save us by that we can by no means approve of And thus the quarrel is made yet wider between the men of the World and the Christian man But there is not a stop put here For 't is possible for the carnal man to be beaten out of all his arguments for himself and his own things by the power and force of the word and to be made to consent to what the Christian has said as to the notion of the truth I must not speak this of all But yet the breach doth still abide for that yet
thy self by his word and providence and as for this or that mans judgment refer thy case to the judgment of God 3. Obj. But if I be taken and suffer my cause is like to be clothed with scandals slanders reproaches and all manner of false and evil speakings what must I do Answ. Saul charged David with Rebellion 1 Sam. 22.8.13 Amos was charged with conspiring against the King Amos 7.10 Daniel was charged with despising the King and so also were the three children Dan. 6.13 chap. 3.12 Jesus Christ himself was accused of perverting the nation of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and of saying that himself was Christ a King Luk. 23.2 These things therefore have been But 1. Canst thou after a due examination of thy self say that as to these things thou art innocent and clear I say will thy conscience justifie thee here Hast thou made it thy business to give unto God the things that are Gods and unto Caesar the things that are his according as God has commanded If so matter not what men shall say nor with what lies and reproaches they slander thee but for these things count thy self happy Blessed are you when men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely lying for my name sake saith Christ. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you Mat. 5.11 12. Comfort thy self therefore in the innocency of thy Soul and say I am counted a Rebel and yet am Loyal I am counted a deceiver and yet am true 1 Sam. 24.8 9 10 11 12. 2 Cor. 6.8 Also refer thy cause to the day of judgment for if thou canst rejoyce at the thoughts that thou shalt be cleared of all slanders and evil speakings then that will bear up thy heart as to what thou maiest suffer now The answer of a good conscience will carry a man thorough Hell to Heaven Count these slanders part of thy sufferings and those for which God will give thee a reward because thou art innocent and for that they are laid upon thee for thy professions sake But if thou be guilty look to thy self I am no comforter of such I come now to speak to the third and last part of the Text Namely of the good effect that will certainly follow to those that after a due manner shall take the advice afore given Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator Two things from the last clause of the Text lie yet before us And they are they by which will be shown what good effect will follow to those that suffer according to the will of God and that commit their Souls to his keeping 1. Such will find him to themselves a Creator 2. They will find him a faithful Creator Let them commit the keeping of their Souls to him as unto a faithful Creator In this phrase a faithful Creator behold the wisdom of the holy Ghost how fitly and to the purpose he speaketh King is a great Title and God is sometimes called a King but he is not set forth by this Title here but by the Title of a Creator for it is not always in the power of a King to succour and relieve his Subjects that are suffering for his Crown and Dignity Father is a sweet Title a Title that carrieth in it an intimation of a great deal of bowels and compassion and God is often set forth also by this Title in the holy Scriptures But so he is not here but rather as a Creator For a Father a compassionate Father cannot always help succour or relieve his Children though he knows they are under affliction Oh but a Creator can Wherefore I say he is set forth here under the Title of a Creator First a Creator nothing can die under a Creators hands A Creator can sustain all A Creator can as a Creator do what he pleases The Lord the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not nor is weary Isa. 40.28 The cause of God for which his people suffer had been dead and buried a thousand years a go had it not been in the hand of a Creator The people that have stood by his cause had been out of both as to persons name and remembrance had they not been in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped when Israel was going in even into the mouth of the red Sea that ever his cause or that people should have revived again A huge host of the Egyptians were behind them and nothing but death before and on every hand of them but they lived they flourished they out-lived their enemies for they were in the hand of a Creator Who could have hoped that Israel should have returned again from the land from the hand and from under the Tyranny of the King of Babylon They could not deliver themselves from going thither they could not preserve themselves from being diminished when they came there their power was gone they were in captivity their distance from home was far their enemies possest their Land their City of defence was ruined and their houses burned down to the ground and yet they come home again there is nothing impossible to a Creator Who could have thought that the three Children could have lived in a fiery furnace that Daniel could have been safe among the Lyons that Jonah could have come home to his Countrey when he was in the Whales belly or that our Lord should have risen again from the dead but what is impossible to a Creator This therefore is a rare consideration for those to let their hearts be acquainted with that suffer according to the will of God and that have committed the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing They have a Creator to maintain and uphold their cause a Creator to oppose its opposers And hence it is said all that burden themselves with Jerusalem shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Zech. 12.3 Secondly A Creator A Creator can not only support a dying cause but also fainting spirits For as he fainteth not nor is is weary So he gives power to the faint and to those that have no might he increaseth strength Isa. 4.29 He is the God of the spirits of all flesh and has the life of the spirit of his people in his own hand Spirits have their being from him he is the Father of Spirits Spirits are made strong by him nor can any crush that spirit that God the Creator will uhpold Is it not a thing amazing to see one poor inconsiderable man in a Spirit of faith and patience overcome all the threatnings cruelties afflictions and sorrows that a whole World can lay upon him None can quail him none can crush him none can bend down his spirit None can make
Creator he is fastned to Christ yea is in him by an act of Creation Eph. 2.10 So that unless Christ and the creation of the holy Ghost can be destroyed he is safe that is suffering according to the will of God and that hath committed the keeping of his Soul to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator And this I would have you consider moreover the man that suffereth according to the will of God committeth not such a Soul to this Creator as dwells in carnal men a naked Soul a graceless Soul a Soul that has nothing in it but sin but he commits a converted Soul a regenerate Soul a Soul adorned beautified and sanctified with the Jewels and bracelets ear-rings and perfumes of the blessed spirit of grace And I say again this is the work of a Creator and a Creator can maintain it in its gallantry and he will do so but he will put forth acts of creating power for it every day Sixthly a Creator he that can create can turn and alter any thing to what himself would have it He that made the seven Stars and Orion turneth the shadow of death into the morning He can make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water Amos 5.8 Isa. 41.18 Our most afflicted and desolate conditions he can make as a little haven unto us he can make us sing in the wilderness and give us our vineyards from thence Hos. 2.14 15. He can make Paul sing in the stocks and good Rowland Taylor dance as he goeth to the burning stake Gaols and mocks and scourgings and flouts and imprisonments and hunger and nakedness and Peril and Sword and Dens and Caves and Rocks and Mountains God can so sweeten with the Honey of his word and make so famous for situation by the glory of his presence and so rich and fruitful by the communications of the holy Ghost and so easie by the spreading of his feathers over us that we shall not be able to say that in all the world a more commodious place or comfortable condition can be found some have known this and have been rather ready to covet to be here than to shun and fly from it as a most unsavoury condition All these things I say God doth as a Creator He hath created Antipathies and he can make Antipathies close and have favour one for another The Lion and the Calf the Wolf and the Lamb the little Boy and the Cockatrice's den he can reconcile and make to be at agreement So sufferings and the Saint the Prison and the Saint losses crosses and afflictions and the Saint he can make to lie down sweetly together Seventhly A Creator A Creator can make up all that thou hast or shalt lose for the sake of thy profession by the hands of the Children of men be they Friends Relations a World life or what you can conceive of 1. Hast thou lost thy Friend for the sake of thy profession is the whole World set against thee for thy love to God to Christ his cause and righteousness Why a Creator can make up all Here therefore is the advantage that he hath that suffereth for righteousness sake Jonathan the very Son of bloody Saul when David had lost the help of all his own Relations he must fall in with him stick to him and love him as he loved his own Soul 1 Sam. 18.1 2 3. Obadiah Ahab's Steward when the Saints were driven even under ground by the rage of Jezabel the Queen he is appointed of God to feed them in Caves and holes of the Earth Yea the very Raven complied with the will of a Creator to bring the Prophet bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh at night 1 King 18.13 chap. 17.6 When Jeremiah the Prophet was rejected of all yea the Church that then was could not help him he was cast into the Dungeon and sunk to a great depth there in the mire God the Creator who ruleth the spirits of all men stirred up the heart of Ebed-melech the Ethiopian both to petition for his liberty and to put him out of the Dungeon by the help of thirty men Jer. 38.7 8 9 10 11 12 13. These now as Christ says were both Fathers Mothers Brothers Sisters and as a Loving Wife or Child Mat. 19.29 2. Hast thou for the sake of thy faith and profession thereof lost thy part in the World why a Creator can make thee houses as he did for the Midwives of Egypt and can build thee a sure house as he did for David his Servant who ventured all for the love that they had to the fear of God and his way Exo. 1.20 21. 2 Sam. 7. David was thrust out of Sauls house and driven from his own and God opened the heart of Achish the King of Gath to receive him and to give him Ziklag David when under the tyranny of Saul knew not what to do with his Father and his Mother who were persecuted for his sake but a Creator inclined the heart of the King of Moab to receive them to house and harbor 1 Sam. 27.5 6. Chap. 22.3 4. 3. Is thy life at stake is that like to go for thy profession for thy harmless profession of the Gospel Why God the Creator is Lord of life and to God the Lord belong the issues from death So then he can if he will hold thy breath in thy nostrils in spite of all the World or if he shall suffer them to take away this for his glory he can give thee another ten times as good for thy comfort He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Joh. 12.25 4. Is thy body to be disfigured dismembred starved hanged or burned for the faith and profession of the Gospel Why a Creator can either prevent it or suffering it can restore it the very same to thee again with great and manifold advantage He that made thee to be what thou now art can make thee to be what thou never yet wast It doth not yet appear what we shall be further than only by general words 1 John 3.2 Philip. 3.21 Eightly A Creator Peter sets him before us here as a Creator because he would have us live upon him as such as well as upon his grace love and mercy In Jobs day this was bewailed that none or but a few said where is God my maker that giveth songs in the night Job 35.10 Creator as was hinted before is one of Gods peculiar Titles It is not given to him above five or six times in all the Book of God and usually when given him it is either to shew his greatness or else to convince us that of duty we ought to depend upon him and not to faint if he be on our side for or under any adversity according as we are bidden in the Text Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit
hearts and shews it self in their lives a thing which the Devil and the World can by no means abide He that is born after the flesh persecuteth him that is born after the spirit Gal. 4. For they cannot agree in Religion the godly are so devout and the other are so profane that they cannot do Not but that Gods People as they are commanded are willing to let them alone but the other they cannot bear that they should serve God as they have said Mat. 15.14 And hence ariseth persecution The World also would have the Religion of the godly to be counted false a thing that the others can by no means endure but will stand by and maintain yet in all peaceable manner their own ways before them whatever it costs The Christian and the carnal professor are like those two Harlots that you read of in the Book of Kings who strove for the living child whose it should be whose contest could not be decided until it came to the sword of the King 1 Kings 3. O but when the sword was drawn under a shew as if the living Child must now be cut in two then the true mother was known from the false For her bowels yearned upon her Son ver 26.27 The World what shew soever they have for Religion and however they urge it that the truth is with them have no yearning of bowels for it Let it be neither mine nor thine said she but divide it but the woman whose the living child was had not an heart to say so Religion may lie and die in a ditch for all those that are given to their sins nor doth their zeal appear except when they are griping of the godly for his faith towards God Bowels yearning of Bowels over Gods condemned Religion is only found in the Souls of those who own God has made it Secondly Is it so are Gods people a suffering people Then this should inform them that will be Religious to prepare themselves for what is like to attend them for their Religion To prepare I say not with carnal weapons but with the graces of the spirit of God that will help them with meekness and patience to endure Sit down then I say and count up the cost before for Religion thou engagest too far lest thou take upon thee to meddle with that which thou wilt not know what to do with in the end Prov. 25.8 Luke 14.25 26 27 28 29 30. Many there be that are faulty here they have taken upon them to profess not considering what what they have taken in hand may cost them Wherefore when troubles come indeed then they start and cry This they like not because they looked not for it and if this be the way to heaven let who will go on in it for them Thus they take offence and leave Christs cause and people to shift for themselves in the World Mat. 13.20 21. Thirdly But let Gods people think never the worse of Religion because of the course entertainment it meeteth with in the World 'T is better to chuse God and affliction than the World and sin and carnal peace 'T is necessary that we should suffer because that we have sinned And if God will have us suffer a little white here for his word instead of suffering for our sins in Hell let 's be content and count it a mercy with thankfulness The wicked are reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath Job 21.30 How kindly therefore doth God deal with us when he chuses to afflict us but for a little that with everlasting kindness he may have mercy upon us Isa. 54.7 8. And 't is better if the will of God be so that we suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing 1 Pet. 3. â—7 Fourthly Look not therefore upon the sufferings of Gods people for their Religion to be tokens of Gods great anger 'T is to be sure as our heavenly Father orders it rather a token of his love for suffering for the Gospel and for the sincere profession of it is indeed a dignity put upon us a dignity that all men are not counted worthy of Count it therefore a favour that God has bestowed upon thee his truth and graces to enable thee to profess it though thou be made to suffer for it Acts 5.41 Thou mightest have been a sufferer for thy sins in Hell but thou art not but contrariwise art perhaps suffering for conscience to God this is a dignity for that thou dost thus by vertue of an heavenly gift on the behalf of Christ for the Gospel sake and according to the will of God This is a dignity that a persecutor shall not be counted worthy of until he first convert to Christ Philip. 1.29 Fifthly take thy affliction with meekness and patience though thou endurest grief wrongfully For this is thank worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully 1 Pet. 2. Lay thy hand then upon thy mouth and speak not a word of ill against him that doth thee wrong leave thy cause and thy enemy to God yea rather pray that his sin may not be laid to his charge wherefore as I said before now shew thy self a good man by loving pitying praying for and by doing good as thou art commanded to them that dispitefully use thee Mat. 5.44 I know thy flesh will be apt to huff and to be angry and to wish would thou mightest revenge thy self But this is base carnal sensual devilish cast therefore such thoughts from thee as thoughts that are not fit for a Christians breast and betake thee to those weapons that are not carnal For the Artillery of a Christian is the word faith and prayer and in our patience we must possess our Souls 2 Cor. 10.5 Luke 21.16 17 18 19. Sixthly Be much in the consideration of the All-sufficience of thy Father whose cause thou hast espoused whose word thou hast chosen for thy heritage and whose paths thou delightest to walk in I say be much in considering how all the World is sustained by him and that all life and breath is in his hand to continue or diminish as he pleases Think with thy self also how able he is to rescue thee from all affliction or to uphold thee in it with a quiet mind Go to him continually as to a fountain of life that is open for the supply of the needy Remember also if he comes not at thy call and comforteth thee not so soon as thou desirest it is not of want of love or compassion to thy Soul but to try thy graces and to shew to the fallen Angels that thou wilt serve God for nought rather than give out Also if it seemeth to thee as if God took no care of thee to help thee but that he hath rather turned thee over to the ungodly count this also as a sign that he delights to see thee hold fast his name though thou art laid under the greatest of