An Offer of Farther Help to Suffering Saints, Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. Containing another uſe of the Point, by way of Exhortatation, perſwading all the People of God, whileſt the Lord reſpites, and graciouſly delayes their trials, to anſwer the end of God therein, and prepare themſelves for greater trials; where ſeveral Motives are propounded, to excite to the Duty.
UP then from your Beds of ſloth, awake from your ſecurity, O ye Saints; get upon your Watch-Towers, tremble in your ſelves, that ye may reſt in the Day of Evil, Hab. 2.1, 3, 16. Put on the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to ſtand in the evil day, and when you have done all to ſtand, Eph. 6. O let it never be ſaid of your Dwellings, as it is of the Tabernacles of the wicked. Job 21.9. Their Houſes are ſafe from fear.
Auguſtus hearing of one that was deeply in debt, who yet ſlept heartily; ſent for his Pillow, ſuppoſing there was ſome ſtrange vertue in that Pillow. I wonder what Pillow you have gotten, O ye drowſie Saints, that you can ſleep ſo quietly upon it, now that all things about you are conſpiring trouble, and threatning danger. Can you ſleep like Jonah, when Seas of wrath are tumbling and roaring round about you, and threatning to entomb you, and all your enjoyments? Behold, The Stork in the Heavens knows her appointed time, Jer. 8.7. and hath not God made you wiſer then the Fowls of the Air, Job 35.11. It may be the ſound of ſome preſent Judgement may a little ſtartle you, like a ſudden clap of Thunder in the Aire; but how ſoon doth Sloth and Security prevail and overcome you again? They ſay Poyſon by being habituated, may be made innocent: We are ſo uſed to, or rather hardned under calamities, that nothing moves or effectually awakens us. Lord! What will the end of theſe things be? Wilt thou ſurpriſe thy people at unawares? Shall thy judgements find them ſecure, and leave them deſperate? O that God would perſwade you to gather your ſelves together, yea to gather together, (not in an unlawful and ſeditious way) but in the way of duty, before the decree bring forth, and the day paſs as the chaffe, Zeph. 2.1, 2. O prepare to meet your God, Amos …4.12. Prepare your faith, love, courage, &c. before God call you to the exerciſe of them.
And to excite you to this duty, beſides all the fore-mentioned benefits of a prepared Spirit, conſider theſe following particulars by way of motive.
The many calls which God hath given you to this work. The Lord hath uttered his voice, Motive. 1 and called from Heaven unto you; will you be deaf to his calls? He hath called upon you (1) by the Word: God would have it cry to you firſt, becauſe he would give the firſt honour to his Word. He hath given all his Prophets one mouth, Luke 1.70. and they have warned you faithfully. (2) By the Rod: This alſo hath a loud voice, Micah 6.9. Pſal. 2.5. Men of underſtanding will hear this voice; and thoſe that will not hear it, ſhall be laſhed by it even till they are ſick with ſmiting, verſ. 13. (3) By prodigious and portentous ſigns in the Heavens and Earth, ſuch as no Age can parallel, theſe have a loud voice to all that regard the works of the Lord, or the operations of his hands. Euſebius calls them Gods Sermons to the World. foreign, Euſeb. Hiſt. lib. 3. cap. 8.Oh that we were wiſe to conſider what Gods ends are in theſe things! One obſerves, That as they are the plaineſt and moſt obvious to ſenſe, ſo they are commonly the laſt Sermons which God intends to preach to Nations, before he inflicts his puniſhments on them, if they repent not. O let not God, ſpeaking in ordinary and extraordinary wayes to you, ſtill ſpeak in vain.
Your preparation for ſufferings, Motive. 2 is the moſt probable means of preventing your fall and ruine by thoſe ſufferings. Sufferings prove fata… and deſtructive to ſome; but it is to Secure and Careleſs ones. Such as are diligent and faithful in the uſe of Gods means, are ſecured from the danger. Chriſt layes our conſtancy and perſeverance very much upon our fore-caſting the worſt that may fall out, Luke 14.28. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to ſtand, Epheſ. 6. He that hath firſt ſevered Chriſt in his thoughts from all worldly advantages, and put the caſe thus to his own ſoul, O my ſoul, canſt thou embrace or love a naked Chriſt? Canſt be content to be impoveriſhed, impriſoned, and ſuffer the loſs of all for him? He is moſt likely to cleave faithfully to him, when the caſe is really preſented to him indeed. And can it ſeem a light thing in your eyes, to be enabled to ſtand in ſuch an evil day? If you fall away from Chriſt, then all that you have wrought is loſt, Ezek. 33.13. Gideons one Baſtard deſtroyed all his ſeventy Sons. This act renders all former actions and profeſſions vain. If you fall, you ſhall thereby be brought into a more perfect bondage to the Devil then ever, Matth. 12.23. Yea, ordinarily Apoſtates are judicially given up to be Perſecutors, Hoſ. 5.12. 1 Tim. 1.20. and are ſeldome or never recovered again by Grace, Heb. 6.4, 6. They that lick up their vomit, ſeldome caſt it up any more. It is a fall, within a little as low as the unpardonable ſin, whence never any riſe again. In ſome caſes the Judge will not allow the Offender his Book. And is it not then a choice and deſirable mercy to eſcape and prevent ſuch a fall as this is? O good Souls, ply your preparation-work cloſe then.
3. This will beſt anſwer the Grace of God, in affording you ſuch choice helps and advantages as you have enjoyed. How long have you enjoyed the free liberty of the Goſpel, ſhining in its luſter among you? This Sun which to ſome other Nations hath not riſen, and to divers on whom it hath ſhined, yet it is but as a Winters Sun, remote, and its Beams but feeble: But you have lived as it were under the Line, It hath been over your heads, and ſhed its richeſt influences upon you. Yea, Gods Miniſters, who are not onelyonly appointed to be Watchmen, Ezek. 3.17. but Trumpeters to diſcover danger, Numb. 10.8. theſe have faithfully warned you of a day of trouble, and given you their beſt aſſiſtance to make you ready for it. And is not their joy, yea life bound up in your ſtability in ſuch a day of Tryal? Doth not every one of them call upon you in the words of the Apoſtle, Phil. 4.1. Therefore my Brethren, dearly Beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, ſo ſtand faſt in the Lord my dearly beloved. Will it not cut them to the very heart, if after all their ſpending labours among you, they ſtill leave you unready? Enemies ſtill to the Croſs of Chriſt, impoſſible to be reconciled and perſwaded to ſufferingwork for Chriſt.
I remember I have read of the Athenian Codrus, who being informed by the Oracle, that the people whoſe King ſhould be ſlain in battail, ſhould be Conquerours: He thereupon diſrobed himſelf, and in a diſguiſe went into the Enemies Quarters, that he might ſteal a death to make his people victorious.
Oh! how glad would your Miniſters be, if you might conquer, and overcome in the day of temptation, whatever become of their lives and liberties! Yea, and if they be offered up upon the ſacrifice and ſervice of your Faith, they can rejoyce and joy with you all. Such is their zeal and longing after your ſecurity and welfare. But if ſtill you remain an unready people, and do become a prey to temptation, Oh how inexcuſable will you be!
4. Remember how ready the Lord Jeſus was to ſuffer the hardeſt and vileſt things for you. He had a bitter cup put into his hands to drink for you, into which the wrath both of God and man was ſqueezed out. Dolor Chriſti fuit major omnibus doloribus. Aquin.Never had man ſuch ſufferings to undergo as Chriſts. Whether you conſider (1) the dignity of his perſou, who was in the form of God, and might have ſtood upon his peerage and equality with him; he is the ſparkling Diamond of Heaven, Acts 7.56. The Darling of the Fathers Soul, Iſa. 42.1. glorious as the onelyonly begotten of the Father, John 1.14. yea glory it ſelf, James 2.1. yea, the very brightneſs of glory, Heb. 1.3. He is the deliciae Chriſtiani orbis, fairer then the Sons of men: And for him to be ſo debaſed, below ſo many thouſands of his own Creatures; become a worm, and no man; this was a wonderful humiliation. It was Jeremiah's lamentation, that ſuch as were brought up in Scarlet, embraced Dunghills; that Princes were hanged up by the hands, and the faces of Elders were not reverenced. But what was that to the humiliation of the Lord of glory? Or (2) that he ſuffered in the prime and flower of his years; when full of life and ſenſe, and more capable of exquiſite ſenſe of pain then others: Aquinas.For he was optimae complexionatus, of a ſingular conſtitution: and all the while he hanged on the Tree, his ſenſe of pain not at all blunted or decayed, Mark 15.37, 39. Or (3) the manner of his death. It was the death of the Croſs; which was as a Rack to Chriſt: for in reference to the diſtention of his members upon the Croſs, is that ſpoken, Pſal. 22.17. I may tell all my bones. Or (4) That all this while God hid his face from him. When Stephen ſuffered, he ſaw the Heavens opened. The Martyrs you ſee here, were many of them raviſhed and tranſported with extaſies of joy in their ſufferings; but Chriſt in the dark. He ſuffered in … Soul as well as in his Body; and the ſufferings of his Soul, were the very Soul of his ſufferings. It was the Fathers wrath that lay ſo heavy on him, as to put him into ſuch an agony, that an inſtance was never given of the like in nature: For he ſweat foreign great drops or clodders of blood, which fell from his Body to the ground, Luke 22.44. It amazed him, and made him very heavy. See Mark 14.33. yea, ſorrowful even to death, Matth. 26.38.
And yet as bitter as the Cup was, he freely and willingly drank it up, John 18.11. prepared himſelf to be offered up a ſacrifice, Pſal. 40.6.7. gave his back to the Smiters, Iſa. 50.6. yea longed exceedingly for the time till it came, Luke 12.50.
Now, if Chriſt ſo cheerfully prepared and addreſt himſelf to ſuch ſufferings as theſe for you, ſhould you not prepare your ſelves to encounter any difficulty or hardſhip for him? O my Brethren, Doth not this ſeem a juſt and fair inference to you, from the ſufferings of Chriſt for you? 1 Pet. 4.1. Foraſmuch then as Chriſt hath ſuffered for us in the fleſh, arm your ſelves likewiſe with the ſame mind.
Oh trifle no longer; feed not your ſelves with fancies and groundleſs preſumptions of immunity and peace, but foreſee difficulties, and fit your ſelves to bear them.