A Prospect of Heaven, Treatise · Chapter 30
CHAP. XXX. Sheweth, that no afflictions or ſufferings ſhall rob the Saints of their crown of glory.
Ʋſe 2. HEnce we may be informed, that no afflictions ſhall deprive the Saints of their crown of glory, no temptations, no trials that we ſuffer here, ſhall be able to deprive us, or to diſ-inherit us of the Kingdom of Heaven! what though through the malice of Satan, the injuſtice and cruelty of our adverſaries, we may be put to endure much, to ſuffer much, yet when they have all done, they ſhall not ſhut up Heaven againſt us, we ſhall have our reward there for all that; there we ſhall receive the crown of glory: there are two reaſons why they cannot deprive us of that crown.
1. That which cannot animam laedere, cannot caelo privare, that which cannot hurt the ſoul, cannot deprive him of Heaven; I have Heaven ſure as long as I have my ſoul ſafe: but no afflictions can do that; they cannot prejudice or hurt the ſoul, not endanger the ſafety of it, nor come neer the life of it; all the hurt they can do, is but to the body onelyonly, ſo far they can reach and no farther. Our Saviour gives us that comfort, Luk. 12.4. Be not afraid of them, ſaith he, that can kill the body; and when they have done ſo, there is no more that they can do: indeed that's a comfort worth a thinking on, that whoſoever our Enemies be, or whatever our afflictions be, they can onelyonly reach to the hurting of the body, but there's no more that they can do: it is a ſtrange barbarouſneſs of nature that ſome Tyrants will ſhew, when they have killed and Martyred the poor Saints of God, as if that were too little to ſatisfie their rage, and that the fire of it could not be ſufficiently quenched with their blood; they'l take pleaſure to exerciſe fury upon their dead bodies, mangle them, hew them, and tread them under their feet; yea, ſometimes take them out of their graves, when they have been buried, as in the time of Queen Mary, thoſe mercileſs Popiſh perſecutors of the Proteſtant Religion did by Martin Bucer, and Paul Fagius, when they had long lain ſleeping in their graves. Alas! it onelyonly ſhewed the barbarous fury of the bloody Papiſts, it did no harm at all to the innocent bodies of the dead Saints; when the body is once dead there is no more to be done, as our Saviour ſaith. The Heathen themſelves apprehended this, and caſt it out as a Shield of defiance to all their Perſecutors and Tormentors: as Laertius writeth of Anaxarchus, when he was condemned to be pounded to death in a Morter with Peſtles of Iron,foreign. L…ert. lib. 1. ca. 10. he returned the Tyrant this anſwer. Do it, (ſaith he) pound and break in pieces this caſe and veſſel that holdeth Anaxarchus (meaning his body) but Anaxarchus thou ſhalt not touch; he knew his ſoul was out of the Tyrants reach. Afflictions and tortures hurt not the ſoul then; 'tis only ſin hurts that; let not ſin deſtroy it, nothing ſhall deſtroy it: and if ſufferings and torments have not power to deſtroy our ſouls, they can never have power to deprive us of Heaven.
2. That which can never ſeparate us from God, can never ſhut us out of Heaven: let us be ſure that God is ours, and we may be ſure that Heaven is ours: our ſins may ſeparate us from God. Iſa. 59.2. but our ſufferings, our afflictions ſhall never ſeparate us from him: you may remember that heroical challenge of S. Paul, Rom. 8.35. What ſhall ſeparate us from the love of Chriſt? There be three things to be noted in that challenge. 1. That the godly are ſubject to all thoſe evils that the Apoſtle there reckons up; he reckons up ſeven in all; and ſtill that which cometh after, aggravateth that which went before. Tribulation or trouble, that's the firſt: but to be in trouble and in anguiſh too; in anguiſh to be driven into perſecution and baniſhment; in baniſhment to ſuffer hunger and nakedneſs; with theſe to be in continual peril and danger: after all, to dye violently by the ſword: theſe are great evils all of them, and all of them exceeding one another, and yet it is certain, the godly are ſubject to all of them. 2. That in theſe evils the main end that the Devil aims at, is to ſeparate God from us, and us from God; as may plainly be ſeen in Job's caſe, where the Devil laid all the load he could upon him, and all to ſet God and him at variance, to make him to blaſpheme God, and God to forſake him. 3. That yet the anchor of our ſafety is ſo firmly caſt, as that no ſuch tempeſts as theſe ſhall ever cauſe ſuch a Shipwrack: in vain ſhall the Devil ever labour by any of theſe cords to pull God and us aſunder; they ſhall not make the faithful for their parts to ſhrink any whit from him; nay they will rather ſtick the cloſer to him: as wind puts not out the fire, but rather kindleth it; ſo that ſame wind of affliction which is ſent out to blow upon them, it ſhall not be a means to put out, but rather to kindle the fire of their love. God on the other ſide for his part will never the ſooner forſake them; nay, he is ſo far from forſaking his Children in afflictions, as he doth then draw the nearer to them. Perhaps they are not alwayes ſo ſenſible of his preſence, but afraid that he hideth his face away; yet certain it is, he is then ever at hand, and near unto them, ready to do by them, as Chriſt did by Peter in the ſtorm; as ſoon as they begin to ſink, to put his hand under them, and to ſave them from drowning. David ſaith, God hath compaſſion on us as a Father hath compaſſion on his Children; now Fathers have moſt compaſſion on their Children when they ſee them in moſt trouble and diſtreſs; if natural Fathers have ſo, God our Heavenly Father cannot then be void of the bowels of affection, when he ſeeth us in affliction and diſtreſs; God doth then pity us, and thoſe are infallible arguments of his love toward us: now if troubles and afflictions cannot ſeparate God's love from us, ſure they cannot ſhut up God's Kingdom againſt us, but notwithſtanding all the hardſhips they make us to ſuffer for the time, yet when we have been tryed, we ſhall receive the crown of life.