Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 16
SERMON XVI.
Preached at Lincolns Inne.
COLOS. 1. 24.
Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his bodies sake which is the Church.
WE are now to enter into the handling of the doctrine of Evangelicall counsailes; And these words have been ordinarily used by the writers of the Roman Church, for the defence of a point in controversie between them and us; which is a preparatory to that which hereafter is to be more fully handled upon another Text. Out of these words, they labour to establish works of supererogation, in which (they say) men doe or suffer more then was necessary for their owne salvation; and then the superfluity of those accrues to the Treasury of the Church, and by the Stewardship, and dispensation of the Church may be applied to other men living here, or suffering in Purgatory by way of satisfaction to Gods justice; But this is a doctrine which I have had occasion heretofore in this place to handle; And a doctrine which indeed deserves not the dignity to be too diligently disputed against; And as we will not stop upon the disproving of the doctrine, so we need not stay long, nor insist upon the vindicating of these words, from that wresting and detortion of theirs, in using them for the proofe of that doctrine. Because though at first,Greg. de Valent. they presented them with great eagernesse and vehemence, and assurance, Quicquid haeretici obstrepunt, illustris hic locus, say the Heretiques what they can, this is a clear and evident place for that doctrine, yet another after him is a little more cautelous and reserv'd,Bellar. Negari non potest quin ita expeni possint, it cannot be denied, but that these words may admit such an exposition; And then another more modified then both says,Cornel a Lapide. Primò & propriè non id intendit Apostolus; the Apostle had no such purpose in his first and proper intention to prove that doctrine in these words. Sed innuitur ille sensus; qui et si non genuinus, tamen à pari deduci potest: some such sense (says that author) may be implied and intimated, because, though it be not the true and naturall sense, yet by way of comparison, and convenience, such a meaning may be deduced. Generally their difference in having any patronage for that corrupt doctrine out of these words, appeares best in this, that if we consider their authors who have written in controversies, we shall see that most of them have laid hold upon these words for this doctrine; because they are destitute of all Scriptures, and glad of any, that appear to any, any whit that way inclinable; But if we consider those authors, who by way of commentary and exposition (either before, or since the controversies have been stirred) have handled these words, we shall find none of their owne authors of that kind, which by way of exposition of these words doth deliver this to be the meaning of them, that satisfaction may be made to the justice of God by the works of supererogation one man for another.
To come then to the words themselves in their true sense, and interpretation,Divisio. we shall find in them two generall considerations. First, that to him that is become a new creature, a true Christian, all old things are done away, and all things are made new: As he hath a new birth, as he hath put on a new man, as he is going towards a new Ierusalem, so hath he a new Philosophy, a new production, and generation of effects out of other causes, then before, he finds light out of darknesse, fire out of water, life out of death, joy out of afflictions, Nunc ga…de…, now I rejoyce in my sufferings &c. And then in a second consideration he finds that this is not by miracle, that he should hope for it but once, but he finds an expresse, and certaine, and constant reason why it must necessarily be so, because I still up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ &c. It is strange that I should conceive joy out of affliction, but when I come to see the reason that by that affliction, I fill up the sufferings of Christ &c. it is not strange, it cannot chuse but be so. The parts then will be but two, a proposition, and a reason; But in the first part it will be sit to consider first, the person, not meerely who it is, but in what capacity, the Apostle conceives this joy; And secondly, the season, Now, for joy is not always seasonable, there is a time of mourning, but now rejoycing; And then in a third place we shall come to the affection it selfe, Joy, which when it is true, and truly placed, is the nearest representation of heaven it selfe to this world. From thence we shall descend to the production of this joy, from whence it is derived, and that is out of sufferings, for this phrase in passionibus, in my sufferings, is not in the middest o… my sufferings, it is not that I have joy and comfort, though I suffer, but in passionibus is so in suffering as that the very suffering is the subject of my joy, I had no joy, no occasion of joy, if I did not suffer. But then these sufferings which must occasion this joy, are thus conditioned, thus qualified in our text; That, first, it be passio mea, my suffering, and not a suffering cast by my occasion upon the whole Church, or upon other men, mea, it is determined and limited in my selfe, and mea, but not prome, not for my selfe, not for mine owne transgressions, and violating of the law, but it is for others, pro vobis, says the Apostle, for out of that root springs the whole second part why there appertaines a joy to such sufferings, which is that the suffering of Christ being yet, not unperfect, but unperfected, Christ having not yet suffered all, which he is to suffer to this purpose, for the gathering of his Church, I fill up that which remaines undone; And that in Carne, not onelyonly in spirit and disposition, but really in my flesh, And all this not only for making sure of mine own salvation, but for the establishing and edifying a Church, but yet, his Church, for men seduced, and seducers of men have their Churches too, and suffer for those Churches; but this is for his Church, and that Church of his which is properly his body, and that is the visible Church: and these will be the particular branches of our two generall parts, the proposition, Gaudeo in afflictionibus &c. And the reason, Quiae adimpleo &c.
To beginne then with the first branch of the first part,1. Part. Ego. The person; we are sure it was Sain… Paul, who we are sure was an Apostle, for so he tells the Colo…sians in the beginning of the Epistle; Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ, by the will of God, but yet he was not properly, peculiarly their Apostle, he was theirs as he was the Apostle of the Gentiles; but he was not theirs,Rom. 11. 12. 1 Cor. 9. 1. as he was the Apostle of the Corinthians; If I be not an Apostle to others (says he) yet doubtlesse I am to you; for amongst the Corinthians he had laid the foundations of a Church, Are ye not my worke in the Lord? (says he there) but for the Colossians, he had never preached to them, never seen them; Epaphras had laid the foundation amongst them; And Archippus was working, now at the writing of this Epistle, upon the upper buildings, as we may see in the Epistle it selfe; Epaphras had planted,Col. 1. 7. 4. 17. and Archippus watered; How entred Paul? First as an Apostle, he had a generall jurisdiction, and superintendency over them, and over all the Gentiles, and over all the Church; And then, as a man whose miraculous conversion, and religious conversation, whose incessant preaching, and whose constant suffering, had made famous, and reverend over the whole Church of God, all that proceeded from him had much authority, and power, in all places to which it was directed; As himselfe says of Andronicas and Iunia his kinsmen;Rom. 16. 7. that they were Nobiles in Apostolis, Nobly spoken of amongst the Apostles, so Saint Paul himselfe was Nobilis Apostolus in Discipulis, reverendly esteemed amongst all the Disciples,August. for a laborious Apostle; Saint Augustine joyned his desire to have heard Saint Paul preach, with his other two wishes, to have seen Christ in the flesh, and to have seen Rome in her glory;Chrysost. And Saint Chrysostome admires Rome, so much admired for other things, for this principally, that she had heard Saint Paul preach; And that, Si…ut…orpus magnum & validum, ita duos haberet illustres oculos, as she was a great and glorious body, so she had two great and glorious eyes; The presence and the memories of Saint Peter, and Saint Paul; he writes not to them then meerely as an Apostle not in that capacity, for he joines Timothy with himselfe at the beginning of the Epistle, who was no Apostle, properly; though upon that occasion, of Pauls writing in his owne, and in Timothies name, Saint Chrysostame say,Chrysoft. in a larger sense, Ergo Timothe…s Apostolus, if Timothy be in commission with Paul, Timothy is an Apostle too: But Saint Paul by his …ame and estimation, having justly got a power and interest in them, he cherishes that by this salutation, and he binds them the more to accept his instructions, by giving them a part in all his persecutions, and by letting them see, how much they were in his care, even in that distance; A servile application of himselfe to the humors of others, becomes not th… ministers of God; It becomes him not to depart from his ingenuity, and freedome, to a servile humoring, but to be negligent of their opinion of him, with whom he is to converse, and upon whose conscience he is to worke, becomes him not neither. It is his doctrine that must beare him out; But if his discretion doe not make him acceptable too, his doctrine will have the weaker root when; Saint Paul and the Colossians thought well of one another, the work of God was likely to goe forward amongst them; And where it is not so, the work prospers not.
This was then the person;Nunc. Paul, as he had a calling, and an authority by the Apostleship, and Paul as he had made his calling, and authority, and Apostleship acceptable to them, by his wisedome and descreet behaviour towards them, and the whole Church. The season followes next, when he presents this doctrine to them Nunc Gaudeo, now I rejoyce, and there is a Nunc illi, and a Nunc illis to be considered, one time it hath relation to Saint Paul himselfe, and another that hath relation to the Colossians.
His time,Illi. the Nunc illis, was nunc in vinculis, now when he was in prison at Rome, for from thence he writ this Epistle; Ordinarily a prisoner is the lesse to be beleeved for his being in prison and in fetters, if he speak such things as conduce to his discharge of those fetters, or his deliverance from that imprisonment, it is likely enough that a prisoner will lye for such an advantage; But when Saint Paul being now a prisoner for the preaching of the Gospell, speaks still for the advancement of the Gospell, that he suffers for, and finds out another way of preaching it by letters and by epistles, when he opens himselfe to more danger, to open to them more doctrine, then that was very credible which he spake, though in prison; There is in all his epistles impetus Spiritus Christi, as Irenaeus says, a vehemence of the holy Ghost, but yet amplius habent quae è vinculis, says Chrisostome, Irenae. Chrysost.Those epistles which Saint Paul writ in prison, have more of this vehemency in them: a sentence written with a cole upon a wall by a close prisoner, affects us when we come to read it; Stolne letters, by which a prisoner adventers the losse of that liberty which he had, come therefore the more welcome, if they come; It is not always a bold and veliement reprehension of great persons, that is argument enough of a good and a rectified zeale, for an intemperate use of the liberty of the Gospell, and sometimes the impotency of a satyricall humor, makes men preach freely, and over-freely, offensively, scandalously; and so exasperate the magistrate; God forbid that a man should build a reputation of zeale, for having been called in question for preaching of a Sermon; And then to think it wisdome, redimere se quo queat minimo, to sinke againe and get off as good cheape as he can; But when the malignity of others hath slandred his doctrine, or their galled consciences make them kicke at his doctrine, then to proceed with a Christian magnanimity, and a spirituall Nobility in the maintenance of that doctrine, to preferre then before the greatnesse of the their persons and the greatnesse of his owne danger, the greatnesse of the glory of God, and the greatnesse of the losse which Gods Church should suffer by his lenity and prevarication: To edifie others by his constancy, then when this building in apparence and likelyhood must be raised upon his owne ruine, then was Saint Pauls Nunc, concerning himselfe, then was his season to plant and convey this doctrine to these Colossians, when it was most dangerous for him to doe so.
Now to consider this season and fitnesse as it concerned them; The Nunc illis, Illis.It was then, when Epaphras had declrared unto him their love, and when upon so good testimony of their disposition, he had a desire that they might be fulfilled with knowledge of Gods will in all wisdome and spirituall understanding, as he says verse 9. when he knew how farre they had proceeded in mysteries of the Christian Religion, and that they had a spirituall hunger of more, then it was seasonable to present to them this great point, that Christ had suffered throughly, sufficiently, aboundantly, for the reconciliation of the whole world, and yet that there remained some sufferings, (and those of Christ too) to be fulfilled, by us; That all was done; and yet there remained more to be done, that after Christs consummatum est, which was all the text, there should be an Adimplendum est, interlined, that after Christ had fulfilled the Law, and the Prophets by his sufferings, Saint Paul must fulfill the residue of Christs sufferings, was a doctrin unseasonably taught, till they had learnt much, and shewed a desire to learn more; In the Primitive Church men of ripe understandings were content to think two or three yeares well spent in learning of Catechisms and rudiments of Christian Religion; and the greatest Bishops were content to think that they discharged their duties well, if they ca…echized ignorant men in such rudiments, for we know from Genna…dius an Ecclesiasticall author, that the Bishops of Greece, and of the Eastern Church, did use to con S. Cyrils sermons (made at Easter and some other Festivals) without book, and preached over those Sermons of his making, to Congregations of strong understanding, and so had more time for their Ca…echizing of others; Optatus thinks, that when Saint Paul says, Ego plantavi, Apollos rigavit, I planted the faith, and Apollos watered, he intended in those words,Optatus. Ego de pagano feci catechumenum, ille de catechumeno Christianum, That Saint Paul took ignorant persons into his charge, to catechize them at first, and when they were instructed by him, Apollos watered them with the water of Baptism, Tertullian thought hee did young beginners in Christianity no wrong,Tertull. when he called them catulos infantiae re…entis, nec perfectis luminibus reptantes, Young whelps which are not yet come to a perfect use of their eyes, in the mysteries of Religion. Now God hath delivered us in a great measure from this weaknesse in seeing, because we are catechized from our cra…s, and from this penury in preaching, we need not preach others Sermons, nor feed upon cold meat, in Homilies, but wee are fallen upon such times too, as that men doe not thinke themselves Christians, except they can tell what God meant to doe with them before he meant they should bee Christians; for we can be intended to be Christians, but from Christ; and wee must needs seek a Predestination, without any relation to Christ; a decree in God for salvation, and damnation, before any decree for the reparation of mankind, by Christ, every Common-placer will adventure to …each, and every artificer will pretend to understand the purpose, yea, and the order too, and method of Gods eternall and unrevealed decree, Saint Paul required a great deal more knowledge then these men use to bring, before he presented to them, a great deal, a lesse point of Doctrin then these men use to aske.
This was then the Nunc illis their season, when they had humbly received so much of the knowledge of the fundamentall points of Religion.Gaudium. Saint Paul was willing to communicate more and more, stronger and stronger meat unto them; That which he presents here is, that which may seem least to appertain to a Christian, (that is loy) because a Christian is a person that hath surrendred himself over to a sad and serious, and a severe examination of all his actions, that all bee done to the glory of God; but for all this, this joy, true joy is truly, properly, onelyonly belonging to a Christian; because this joy is the Testimony of a good conscience, that wee have received God, so as God hath manifested himself in Christ, and worshipt God, so God hath ordained: In a true Church there are many tesserae externae, outward badges and marks, by which others may judge, and pronounce mee to bee a true Christian; But the tessera interna…, the inward badge and marke, by which I know this in my selfe, is joy; The blessednesse of heaven it selfe, Salvation, and the fruits of Paradise, (that Paradise which cannot be expressed, cannot be comprehended) have yet got no other name in the subtilty of the Schools, nor in the fulnesse of the Scriptures, but to be called the joys of heaven;Matth. 25. 21. Luke 15. 7. & 10. 2. 10. Essentiall blessednesse is called so, Enter into thy Masters joy, that is, into the Kingdome of heaven; and accidentall happinesse added to that essentiall happinesse is called so too: There is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner; and so in the Revela…ion, Rejoyce ye heavens, and yee that dwell in them, for the a…c…ser of our brethren is cast down… There is now joy even in heaven, which was not there before; Certainly as that man shall never see the Father of Lights after this, to whom the day never breaks in this life: As that man must never look to walk with the Lamb wheresoever he goes in heaven, that ranne away from the Lamb whensoever he came towards him, in this life; so he shall never possesse the joyes of heaven hereafter, that feels no joy here; There must be joy here, which Tanquam Cellulae mellis (as Saint Bernard says in his mellifluous language) as the honey-comb walles in,Bernard. and prepares, and preserves the honey, and is as a shell to that kernell; so there must bee a joy here, which must prepare and preserve the joys of heaven it self, and be as a shell of those joys. For heaven and salvation is not a Creation, but a Multiplication; it begins not when wee dye, but it increases and dilates it self infinitely then; Christ himself, when he was pleased to feed all that people in the wildernesse, he asks first, Quot panes habetis, how many loafes have you? and then multiplyed them abundantly, as conduced most to his glory; but some there was before. When thou goest to eat that bread, of which whosoever eates shall never dye, the bread of life in the Land of life, Christ shall consider what joy thou broughtest with thee out of this world, and he shall extend and multiply that joy unexpressibly; but if thou carry none from hence, thou shalt find none there. Hee that were to travell into a far country, would study before, somewhat the map, and the manners, and the language of the Country; Hee that looks for the fulnesse of the joyes of heaven hereafter, will have a taste, an insight in them before he goe: And as it is not enough for him that would travail, to study any language indifferently (were it not an impertinent thing for him that went to lye in France, to study Dutch?) So if wee pretend to make the joys of heaven our residence, it is a madnesse to study the joys of the world; The Kingdome of heaven is righteousnesse, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom. 14. 7.says Saint Paul; And this Kingdome of heaven is Intra nos, says Christ, it is in us, and it is joy that is in us; but every joy is not this Kingdome, and therefore says the same Apostle,Phil. 4.4. Rejoyce in the Lord; There is no other true joy, none but that; But yet says he there, Rejoyce, and again, I say rejoi…e; that is, both again we say it, again, and again we call upon you to have this spirituall joy, for without this joy ye have not the earnest of the Spirit; And it is again rejoyce, bring all the joys ye have, to a second examination, and see if you can rejoyce in them again; Have you rejoyced all day in Feasts, in Musickes, in Conversations? well, at night you must be alone, hand to hand with God. Again, I say rejoyce, sleep not, till you have tryed whether your joy will hold out there too. Have you rejoyced in the contemplation of those temporall blessings… which God hath given you? 'tis well, for you may do so: But yet again I say Rejoyce; call that joy to an accompt, and see whether you ca… rejoyce again, in such a use of those blessings as he that gave them to you, requires of you. Have you rejoyced in your zeal of Gods service? that's a true rejoycing in the Lord; But yet still rejoyce again, see that this joy be accompanyed with another joy; that you have zeal with knowledge: Rejoyce, but rejoyce again, refine your joy, purge away all drosse, and lees from your joy, there is no false joy enters into heaven, but yet no sadnesse neither.
There is a necessary sadnes in this life,Tristitiae. but even in this life necessary only so, as Physick is necessary,Chrisost. Tristitia data, ut peccata deleamus, It is Data, a gift of God, a sadnes and sorrow infused by him, & not assumed by our selves upon the crosses of this world; And so it is physick, and it is Morbi illius peccati, it is proper and peculiar physick for that disease for sinne; But, (as that Father pathetically enlarges that consideration) Remedium lippitudinis non t…llit alios morbos, water for fore eyes, will not cure the tooth-ach, sorrow and sadnesse which is prescribed for sinne, will not cure, should not be applyed to the other infirmities and diseases of our humane condition; Pecunia mulctatus est, (says that Father still) Doluit, non emendavit, A man hath a decree passed against him in a Court of Justice, or lost a Ship by tempest, and hee hath griev'd for this, hath this revers'd the decree, or repaired the shipwrack? Filium amisit, doluit, non resuscitavit. His Son, his eldest Son, his onelyonly Son, his towardly Son is dead, and he hath grieved for this; hath he raised his Son to life again? Infirmatur ipse, doluit, abstulit morbum? Himself is fallen into a consumption, and languishes, and grieves, but doth it restore him? Why no, for sadnesse, and sorrow is not the physick against decrees, and shipwracks, and consumptions, and death: But then Peccavit quis (says he still) & deluit? peccata delevit; Hath any man sinned against his God, and come to a true sorrow for that sinne? peccata delevit he hath wash't away that sinne, from his soule; for sorrow is good for nothing else, intended for nothing else, but onelyonly for our sinnes, out of which sadnesse first arose: And then, considered so, this sadnesse is not truly, nor properly sadnesse, because it is not so intirely; There is health in the bitternesse of physique; There is joy in the depth of this sadnesse; Saint Basill inforces those words of the Apostle,Concor. …. in Psal. 48. 2 Cor. 6. 10. Quasi tristes, semper autem gandentes, usefully to this point; Tristitia nostra habet quasi, gaudium non habet, Our sorrow, says he, hath a limitation, a modification, it is but as it were sorrow, and we cannot tell whether we may call it sorrow or no, but our joy is perfect joy, because it is rooted in an assurance: Est in spe certa, our hope of deliverance is in him that never deceived any; for says he then, our sadnesse passes away as a dreame, Et qui insomnium judicat, addit quasi, quasi dicebam, quasi equitabam, quasi cogitabam, he that tells his dreame, tells it still in that phrase, me thought I spoke, me thought I went, and me thought I thought, so all the sorrow of Gods children is but a quasi tristes, because it determines in joy, and determines soon. To end this, because there is a difference inter delectationem & gaudium, between delight and joy (for delight is in sensuall things, and in beasts, as well as in men, but joy is grounded in reason, and in reason rectified, which is, conscience (therefore we are called to rejoyce againe; to try whether our joy be true joy, and not onelyonly a delight, and when it is found to be a true joy, we say still rejoyce, that is, continue your spirituall joy till it meet the eternall joy in the kingdome of heaven, and grow up into one joy, but because sadnesse and sorrow have but one use, and a determined and limited imployment, onelyonly for sin, we doe not say, be sorry, and again be sorry, but when you have been truly sorry for your sinnes, when you have taken that spirituall physique, beleeve your selfe to be well, accept the seale of the holy Ghost, for the remission of your sins, in Christ Jesus, and come to that health which that physique promises, peace of conscience.
This joy then which Saint Paul found to be so essentiall,In passionibus. so necessary for man, he found that God placed within mans reach; so neare him as that God afforded man this joy where he least looked for it, even in affliction; And of this joy in affliction, we may observe three steps, three degrees; one is indeed but halfe a joy; and that the Philosophers had; A second is a true joy, and that all Christians have; but the third is an overflowing, and aboundant joy, to which the Apostle was come, and to which by his example, hee would rouse others, that joy, of which himselfe speaks againe;1. Cor. 17. 4. I am filled with comfort and am exceeding joyfull, in all our tribulations; The first of these, which we call a halfe joy, is but an indolency, and a forced unsensiblenesse of those miseries which were upon them; a searing up, a stupefaction, is not of the senses, yet of the affections; That resolution which some morall men had against misery, Non facies ut te dicam malam, no misery should draw them to doe misery that honour, as to call it misery; And, in respect of that extreme anguish which out of an over tendernesse, ordinary men did suffer under the calamities of this life, even this poore indolency and privation of griefe, was a joy, but yet but a halfe joy; the second joy, which is a true joy, but common to all Christians, is that assurance, which they have in their tribulations, that God will give them the issue with the temptation; not that they pretend not to feel that calamity, so the Philosophers did, but that it shall not swallow them, this is naturall to a Christian, he is not a Christian without this; Thinke it not strange, says the Apostle, as though some strange thing were come unto you, (for we must accustome our selves to the expectation of tribulation) but rejoyce, says he, and when his glory shall appeare, yee shall be made glad and rejoyce; He bids us rejoyce, and yet all that he promises, is but rejoycing at last, he bids us rejoyce, all the way; though the consummate, aud determinable joy come not till the end, yet God hath set bounds to our tribulations, as to the sea, and they shall not overflow us; But this perfect joy (to speake of such degrees of perfection, as may be had in this life) this third joy, the joy of this text, is not a collaterall joy, that stands by us in the tribulation, and sustaines us, but it is a fundamentall joy, a radicall joy, a viscerall, a gremiall joy, that arises out of the bosome and wombe and bowels of the tribulation it selfe. It is not that I rejoyce, though I be afflicted, but I rejoyce because I am afflicted; It is not because I shall not sink in my calamity, and be buried in that valley, but because my calamity raises me, and makes my valley a hill, and gives me an eminency, and brings God and me nearer to one another, then without that calamity I should have been,Acts 5. 41. when I can depart rejoycing, and that therefore, because I am worthy to suffer rebuke for the name of Christ, as the Apostles did, when I can feel that pattern proposed to my joy,Matth. 5. 12. and to my tribulation, which Christ gives, Rejoyce and be glad, for so persecuted they the Prophets, when I can find that seale printed upon me,1 Pet. 4. 14. by my tribulation, If ye be railed on for the name of Christ, blessed are ye, for the spirit of God and of glory resteth on you, that is, that affliction fixes the holy Ghost upon me, which in prosperity, falls upon me but as Sun-beames; Briefly if my soule have had that conference, that discourse with God, that he hath declared to me his purpose in all my calamities, (as he told Ananias that he had done to Paul, he is a chosen vessell unto me,Acts 9. 16. for I will shew him how many things he must suffer for my sake) If the light of Gods Spirit shew us the number, the force, the intent of our tribulations, then is our soule come to that highest joy, which she is capable of in this life, when as cold and dead water, when it comes to the fire, hath a motion and dilatation and a bubling and a kind of dancing in the vessell, so my soule, that lay asleep in prosperity, hath by this fire of Tribulation, a motion, a joy, an exaltation.
This is the highest degree of suffering;In passionibus meis. but this suffering hath this condition here, that it be passio mea; And this too, that it be mea, and not pro me, but pro aliis: that it be mine, and no bodies else, by my occasion; That it be mine without any fault of mine, that I be no cause that it fell upon me, and that I be no occasion, that it fall upon others. And first, it is not mine, if I borrow it; I can have no joy in the sufferings of Martyrs and other Saints of God, by way of applying their sufferings to me, by way of imitation and example I may, by way of application and satisfaction I cannot, borrowed sufferings are not my sufferings: They are not mine neither, if I steale them, if I force them; If my intemperate, and scandalous zeal, or pretence of zeal, extort a chastisement from the State, if I exasperate the Magistrate and draw an affliction upon my self, this stoln suffering, this forced suffering is not passio mea, it is not mine, if it should not be mine;August. Natura cujusque rei est, quam Deus indidit, That onelyonly is the nature of every thing which God hath imprinted in it: That affliction onelyonly is mine, which God hath appointed for me, and what he hath appointed we may see by his exclusions: Let none of you suffer as a murtherer,1 Pet. 4. 15. or as a thief, or as an evill doer, or as a busie-body in other mens matters, (and that reaches far:) I am not possess…r bonae fidei, I come not to this suffering by a good title, I cannot call it mine; I may finde joy in it, that is, in the middest of it, I may finde comfort in the mercy of Christ, though I suffer as a malefactor; But there is no joy in the suffering it self, for it is not mine, it is not I, but my sinne, my breach of the law, my disobedience that suffers. It is not mine again, if it be not mine in particular, mine, and limited in me. To those sufferings that fall upon me for my conscience, or for the discharge of my duty, there belongs a joy, but when the whole Church is in persecution, and by my occasion especially, or at all, woe unto them, by whom the first offence comes; this is no joyfull matter, and therefore vae illis per quos scandalum, they who by their ambition of preferment, or indulgence to their present case, or indifferency how things fall out, or presumptuous confidence in Gods care, for looking well enough to his own, how little soever they doe, give way to the beginnings of superstition, in the times of persecution; when persecutions come, either they shall have no sufferings, that is, God shall suffer them to fall away, and refuse their testimony in his cause, or they shall have no joy in their sufferings, because they shall see this persecution is not theirs, it is not limited in them, but induced by their prevarication upon the whole Church; And lastly, this suffering is not mine, if I stretch it too far; if I over-value it, it is not mine; A man forfeits his priviledge, by exceeding it; There is no joy belongs to my suffering, if I place a merit in it; Meum non est cujus nomine nulla mihi superest acti…, says the Law; That's none of mine for which I can bring no action; and what actio… can I bring against God, for a reward of my merit? Have I given him any thing of mine? Quid habeo quod non accepi? what have I that I received not from him? Have I given him all his own? how came I to abound then, and see him starve in the streets in his distressed members? Hath he changed his blessings unto me in single mony? Hath he made me rich by half pence and farthings; and yet have I done so much as that for him? Have I suffered for his glory? Am not I vas figuli, a potters vessell, and that Potters vessel; and whose hand soever he imploys, the hand of sicknesse, the hand of poverty, the hand of justice, the hand of malice, still it is his hand that breakes the vessell, and this vessell which is his own; for, can any such vessell have a propriety in it selfe, or bee any other bodies primarily then his, from whom it hath the beeing? To recollect these, if I will have joy in suffering it must be mine, mine, and not borrowed out of an imaginary treasure of the Church; from the works of others Supererogation: mine, and not stollen or enforced by exasperating the Magistrate to a persecution: mine by good title and not by suffering for breach of the Law, mine in particular, and not a generall persecution upon the Church by my occasion; And mine by a stranger title then all this, mine by resignation, mine by disavowing it, mine by confessing that it is none of mine; Till I acknowledge, that all my sufferings are even for Gods glory, are his works, and none of mine, they are none of mine, and by that humility they become mine, and then I may rejoyce in my sufferings.
Through all our sufferings then, there must passe an acknowledgement that we are unprofitable servants;Pro vobis. towards God utterly unprofitable; So unprofitable to our selves, as that we can merit nothing by our sufferings; but still we may and must have a purpose to profit others by our constancy; it is Pro vobis, that Saint Paul says hee suffers for them,1 Cor. 12. 15. for their souls; I will most gladly bestow, and be bestowed for your soules, (says he.1 Cor. 1. 13.) But Numquid Paulus crucifixus pro vobis, was Paul crucified for you? is his own question, as he suffered for them here, so we may be bold to say he was crucified for them; that is, that by his crucifying and suffering, the benefit of Christs sufferings, and crucifying might be the more cheerfully embraced by them, and the more effectually applyed to them; Pro vobis, is Pro vestro commodo, for your advantage, and to make you the more active in making sure your own salvation;1 Cor. 1. 16. We are afflicted (says he) for your consolation; that's first, that you might take comfort, and spirituall courage by our example, that God will no more forsake you, then he hath done us, and then, hee addes salvation too; for your consolation and salvation; for our sufferings beget this consolation; and then, this consolation facilitates your salvation; and then, when Saint Paul had that testimony in his own conscience, that his purpose in his sufferings, was Pro illis, to advantage Gods children, and then saw in his experience so good effect of it, as that it wrought, and begot faith in them, then the more his sufferings encreast, the more his joys encreast; Though (says he) I be offered up, upon the service, and sacrifice of your faith, I am glad and rejoyce with you all; And therefore hee calls the Philippians, who were converted by him, Gaudium, & Coronam, his Joy and his Crown; not onelyonly a Crown, in that sense, as an auditory, a congregation that compasses the Preacher, was ordinarily called a Crown, Cor…na. (In which sense that Martyr Cornelius answered the Judge, when he was charged to have held intelligence, and to have received Letters from Saint Cyprian against the State, Ego de Corona Domini, (says he, from Gods Church, 'tis true, I have, but Contra Rempublicam, against the State, I have received no Letters.) But not onelyonly in this sense, Saint Paul calls those whom he had converted, his Crown, his Crown, that is, his Church; but he cals them his Crown in heaven, What is our hope, our joy, our Crown of rejoycing, are not even you it? and where? even in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his coming, says the Apostle; And therefore not to stand upon that contemplation of Saint Gregories, that at the Resurrection Peter shall lead up his converted Jewes, and Paul his converted Nations, and every Apostle his own Church; Since you, to whom God sends us, doe as well make up our Crown, as we doe yours, since your being wrought upon, and our working upon you conduce to both our Crowns, call you the labour, and diligence of your Pastors, (for that's all the suffering they are called to, till our sins together call in a persecution) call you their painfulnesse your Crown, and we shall call your applyablenesse to the Gospel, which we preach, our Crown, for both conduce to both; but especially childrens children, are the Crown of the Elders, says Solomon: If when we have begot you in Christ, by our preaching, you also beget others by your holy life and conversation, you have added another generation unto us, and you have preached over our Sermons again, as fruitfully as we our selves; you shall be our Crown, and they shall be your Crowns, and Christ Jesus a Crown of everlasting glory to us all. Amen.