Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIIII.
Some Inducements to ſuffer any thing, rather than part with the pure Religion. Pious ſufferers glorify God; they propagate the Church; they give a token of Wrath to come upon Perſecutors; they are happy here and hereafter: Here in the proof of Sincerity, and in the preſence of God; hereafter in a freedom from all Evil, and a Communication of all Good.
HAving laid down Directions in order to ſuffering, I will ſhut up all with a few Conſiderations, which may ſerve as Motives to induce us at Gods call to ſuffer any thing rather than part with the pure Religion, which is a Jewel incomparably more worth than all thoſe things, which we can loſe for it.
1. Pious Sufferers do glorify God in a very ſignal eminent manner: What is ſaid of St. Peter's death, That it was a glorifying of God, Joh. 21.19. The ſame may be ſaid of the death of all other Martyrs; we glorify God by offering Praiſe; much more by offering our lives for him: We glorify him by giving ſome of our Eſtates in Charity, much more by giving our blood for his Name: We glorify, him, when we preſent our Bodies a living ſacrifice to him in Active Obedience, much more when we preſent them a dying one in Paſſive: Much of the glory of God breaks forth in his Suffering Saints; Free-grace ſhines out in the raiſing up Witneſſes to his Truth in a contradicting perſecuting World; Power admirably appears in bearing of them up with holy Joy and Pleaſure in the midſt of all the Torments, which men and Devils can invent againſt them. Excellent is that of the Apoſtle; Strengthned with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-ſuffering with joyfulneſs, Col. 1.11. Gods power is glorious in other things, but in his ſuffering Saints it lets out itſelf in a moſt illuſtrious manner: The Perſecutors have all Torments, all kinds of Death, but the Martyrs have all might, all patience, and long-ſuffering with joyfulneſs: As it was with Chriſt, his Power appeared in Miracles, but above all, in that he triumphed over Principalities and Powers upon the Croſs; ſo it is with Chriſtians, the Divine Power appears in other Graces, but above all in that patient ſuffering which overcomes the World: The Truth of God is in Martyrs practically proved to be exceeding pretious. The Fathers, in the firſt general Councils, were ſo earneſt for the Truth, that they would not exchange a letter or ſyllable of it. The Arian foreign would not paſs inſtead of foreign, nor the Neſtorian foreign, applied to Chriſt as man, inſtead of foreign applied to the bleſſed Virgin: All Believers ſeal up the Evangelical Truths by Faith, but the Martyrs ſeal them up by their blood alſo: Plainly ſhewing, that the leaſt jot or tittle of truth is more worth than life, and not to be ſold for a World. It was the pretiouſneſs of truth, that made Athanaſius ſtand it out againſt an Arrian World, and Luther ſtand it out againſt a Popiſh one. Moreover Divine Worſhip is by Martyrs maintained to be a Prerogative due to God alone. When all the World was given to Idolatry, the primitive Martyrs would die rather than rob God of his Honour: Their Sufferings told the World, that his Glory was not to be given to another, nor his praiſe to graven Images; no, not to ſave the lives of thoſe that were the only pure Worſhippers of him: Their lives could not be better ſpent than in ſuffering for his pure Worſhip; and after them, he would raiſe up others to Worſhip him. When the Emperor Commodus, Magd. Hiſt. Cent. 2. cap. 12.asked the Senator Julius, Why he could not worſhip Jupiter and Hercules; Julius, ambitious of Martyrdom, told the Emperor plainly, That Jupiter and Hercules were no Gods, and that the worſhippers of Idols muh periſh in eternal Torments; and ſoon after he ſealed up his Profeſſion with his blood. Auxentius would rather ſuffer baniſhment, than ſet a branch of a Wine-tree at the feet of Bacchus his Image, becauſe it had an appearance of Idolatry. The ſuffering of the Saints for the pure Worſhip, proclaims it to all, that God hath a ſacred jealouſy over his Worſhip, and will no more part with it, than he will with his Crown. If we would indeed glorify God, here is the higheſt medium to do it; No Praiſes, no Alms, no Services, no Active Obedience do ſo lift up the Glory of God, as pious Suffering doth, in which we do practically, declare that we value him above all things.
2. Pious Sufferers do propagate and multiply the Church. When Abel, the firſt Martyr was ſlain, there was a Seth raiſed up in his room. When righteous perſons are ſlain by Perſecutors, more of them ſpiring up in the Church. The more the Children of Iſrael were afflicted in Egypt, the more they multiplied and grew, Exod. 1.11. As the ground, that is moſt harrowed, is moſt fruitful; ſo God's People, the more they were ſtraitned under the burdens of men, the more they were enlarged by the bleſſing of God. The Roman Emperors did deſign utterly to extirpate Chriſtianity: Diocleſian (the greateſt Perſecutor of all, who filled the World with the blood of Martyrs) thought he had effected it; this Inſcription was upon his Coin. Nomine Chriſtianorum deleto, qui rem publicam everterunt: The name of Chriſtians, who overthrew the Commonwealth, is extinct: But they were all in a miſtake; in the midſt of the Ten bloody Perſecutions, there was ſtill a new Generation of Chriſtians ſpringing up out of the blood of the Martyrs. Tertullian tels the vexing torturing Perſecutors,Apol. cap. ult. Plures efficimur, quoties metimur; ſemen eſt ſanguis Chriſtianorum: The more we are mowed and cut down, the more we grow and multiply; the blood of Chriſtians is the Seed of the Church. St. Austin ſaith of the perſecuted Chriſtians, Coedebantur, De Civi… Dei. Lib. 22. cap. 6.torquebantur, urebantur, laniabantur, trucidabantur, & multiplicabantur: They were beaten, tortured, burned, torn, killed, and yet they were multiplied. Julian the Apoſtate learned this from perſecution under Diocletian, and upon that account he abſtained for a time from exerciſing Torments and bloody Cruelties upon Chriſtians,Magd. cent. 4. cap. 3. becauſe he ſaw that the Chriſtians by patient Suffering were multiplied and became more glorious in the eyes of the People. Antichriſt hath ſhed a great deal of pretious blood, and the witneſſes of the pure Religion have been ſlain under him, yet hath the Evangelical Truth remained, and the Witneſſeſs, which were Slain, have from time to time revived and ſtood up in illuſtrious Succeſſors, who have held forth the ſame Truth, and ſpoke in the ſame Spirit and Power, as thoſe before them had done. When after the Pariſian Maſſacre there happened to be a great ſerenity in Heaven,Thuan Lib. 52. and a Barbery-tree bloſſoming in a time unuſal, ſome Papiſts ſaid, That the thing was grateful to God, as if Heaven and Earth had rejoiced at it: But the Proteſtants took it as a ſign, that the Church ſhould revive and flouriſh again, like the buſh that burned, and was not conſumed. The true Church, which is founded in Chriſts blood, is not propagated or multiplied by Martial Arms, but by patient Sufferings: This is the true way to do good to the Church, and to continue the Goſpel among us; if we are indeed in a poſture for ſuffering, and ready to Seal up the Truth with our Blood, we may comfortly hope, that, whatever Sufferings come, the Goſpel and gratious Preſence of God ſhall not finally depart from our Nation.
3. Pious Sufferers do give an evident token to the Perſecutor, that the wrath of God will come upon him. When the Emperor Commodus was worſhipping Jupiter, Vincentius, Euſebius, Peregrinus, Magd. hiſt. cent. 2. cap. 12.and Potentianus, went about and exhorted the People, to depart from the Worſhip of Devils, and honour the One only true God, leſt they periſhed with Commodus; and ſoon after they ſuffered Martyrdome for the ſame thing. Though all the Martyrs did not in words warn the Perſecutors, that the Wrath of God would come upon them, yet they all by their patient Suffering gave them an evident token of it. St. Paul exhorts the Philippians to patient ſuffering upon this account; Stand faſt, ſaith he, in one Spirit, with one mind, ſtriving together for the Faith of the Goſpel, and in nothing terrified by your adverſaries, which is to them an evident token of Perdition, but to you of Salvation, and that of God, Phil. 1.27, 28. The Perſecutor comes with his Torments and Engines of Cruelty, to terrify the Martyr, but the Martyr by his Chriſtian Patience and Courage, gives the Perſecutor and evident token, that the wrath of God will come down upon him at laſt: If bloody Perſecutors, who look upon the ſuffering Martyrs, had but their Eyes open, they would ſee cauſe enough to reflect upon themſelves, and ſay, Surely theſe men have a patience more than humane, and therefore they ſuffer for God; and if ſo, we in perſecuting them, fight againſt him, & may expect, that his wrath ſhould come down upon us, as it hath upon former Perſecutors. Herod Agrippa was eaten up of Worms; Nero with a trembling hand, cut his own throat; Trajan was thought to have poiſoned himſelf; upon the Perſecution in the time of Antoninus Verus, there followed Wars, Earthquakes, Inundations, Peſtilences, as ſo many Tokens of Divine Vengeance; Decius was ſlain, together with his Children; Diocleſian died of fearful and miſerable Diſeaſes; Julian in the Perſian war was mortally wounded by an Arrow from Heaven, and threw up his blood thither with that horrible Blaſphemy, Viciſti Galilaee; Valens in his war againſt the Gothes, was wounded, and, flying into a Cottage, was burnt with it by the Enemy. The temporal Judgments, that have befallen former Perſecutors, tell the after-ones what they may look for here in this World; or if they might eſcape here, eternal Vengeance will ſurely meet them hereafter. Our Saviour Chriſt will at the great day bid thoſe that did not feed, cloth, and Viſit him in his Members, depart into ever laſting fire, Matth. 25.41. much more will he ſay ſo to thoſe that Impriſon, torment, and kill him in his Members. When Henry the ſecond of France, in his running a Tilt, received a fatal wound in his Eye, he looked to the Priſon,Thuan. L. 22. where the poor Proteſtants were ſhut up as Captives for their Religion and often uttered theſe words, That he was afraid, that he had done the poor innocent men wrong: Conſcience then told him, what it was to perſecute. Oh! That ſuch things as theſe might ſtop Perſecutors in their bloody ways, as the Thunderbolt falling neer the Emperor Anrelianus did him in his intended Perſecution of the Chriſtians: The patience of thoſe, that ſuffer under their cruel hands, tell them, that the wrath of God will fall upon them at Laſt. I conclude with that of St. Cyprian, Ad Demetrianum.Quanto major perſecutio, tanto gravior pro perſecutione vindicta, The greater the Perſecution is, the heavier will be the Vengeance for it.
4. Pious Sufferers are happy here and hereafter. They are happy here upon a double account.
1. They give the higheſt proof of their Sincerity, that can be given: Abraham gave a great proof of his Sincerity in leaving his Countrey, and a greater in offering up his only Son Iſaac at Gods command; but I take it, the Martyr gives a higher proof of it than is done in either of thoſe, it being more to part with all the World than to part with our Countrey, and to offer up our ſelves to God than to offer up a Son. The higheſt proof of Grace is in Suffering; That Faith muh be right that endures the fiery Furnace; that Love muſt be pure, that practically lifts up God above all other things; that Hope muſt be lively that lets go a preſent World for a future one; that Obedience muſt be glorious that continues unto the death. The Martyr hath a fair proſpect, with a comfortable ſight of his own uprightneſs, Conſcience gives an Euge to his Graces and Sufferings; nay, the holy Spirit is as a ſeal and earneſt of his Heavenly Inheritance; It bears witneſs with his Spirit, that he is a Son and Heir of God.
2. As they give the higheſt proof of their Sincerity, ſo they have the gracious Preſence of God in the moſt eminent way with them: All his glorious Attributes do, as it were, pitch their Tents round about them, and put forth their Virtues in a gracious manner for their good. His Power reſts upon them to bear them up, how weak ſoever, in the fiery Trial; his Wiſdom directs them how to carry the ſelves under the Croſs; his Mercy melts over them, while they are under mans Cruelty; his Love is ſhed abroad in their heart while they bear the World hatred: The Preſence of God will be to them in ſtead of, nay, infinitely more than all other Comforts: They may ſay, If God be for us, who can be againſt us? Rom. 8.31. Why? Devils can, wicked men can, but, Aquinas expounds the words, Quis contra nos laeſive & prevalenter? Who can be againſt us to hurt us, and prevail over us? That which is of God, cannot be overthrown; they may break out with St. Paul, in that gallant triumph, foreign I am perſwaded, that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things preſent, nor things to come, nor hight, nor depth, nor any other Creature ſhall be able to ſeparare us from the Love of God in Chriſt, Rom. 8.38, 39. What St. Bernard ſaith of the Church, is true of them a noble part of it;In Cant. ſer. 79. Nec Verboſitate Philoſophorum, nec Cavillationibus Haereticorum, nec Gladiis Perſecutorum potuit illa Separari à Charitate Dei, quae eſt in Chriſto: They cannot be ſeparated from the Love of God in Chriſt, neither by the words of Philoſophers, nor by the Cavils of Hereticks, nor yet by the Swords of Perſecutors: God is in the midſt of them, and they ſhall not be moved.
Again, They are happy hereafter, & this ſtands in two things:
1. They are freed from all evils: In Heaven they ſhall have no Corruption within, nor Oppreſſion without; no Noiſe of Paſſion in the heart, nor rout of turbulent Perſecutors to diſquiet them; the will of the Fleſh ſhall have a total Circumciſion; the infirmities of the Body ſhall have a perfect cure; the Serpent cannot hiſs in Paradiſe; no temptations or miſeries can faſten on a Saint in Glory: There is Day without Night, Love without Fear, Joy without ſorrow, Life without Death, all Happineſs without the leaſt mixture of Evil: There the bleſſed Martyrs ſhall be freed from all their troubles and miſeries.
2. They are endowed with all good and happineſs: The promiſes made to the Overcomer in the Revelation of St. John, ſhall be made good to them, they ſhall eat of the Tree of Life in a bleſſed immortality; they ſhall have the white ſtone in a perfect abſolution; they ſhall be clothed in Robes of Glory; they ſhall be Pillars in the heavenly Temple, ſtanding there as ornaments in an immoveable Felicity; they ſhall ſit down with Chriſt in his throne, and judge their Enemies that condemned them; they ſhall inherit all things; they that loſt all for God ſhall enherit all in him, who is goodneſs itſelf, and the fountain of it: They ſhall ſee him, who is the original and Chriſtal ocean of all truth; they ſhall enjoy him who is the ſupream good, and ſabbath of ſouls; they ſhall be ſwallowed up in the joy of infinite truth and goodneſs; and their happineſs ſhall not be for a time, but run parallel with eternity itſelf; they ſhall be for ever in the Lord in the bleſſed Region: De Civit. Dei. Lib. 22. cap. 30.There, as St. Auſtin hath it, God who is all in all, Sine fine Videbitur, ſince faſtidio amabitur, ſine fatigatione laudabitur, ſhall be ſeen without end, loved without diſdain, and praiſed without wearineſs. In the next World there will be a vaſt difference between Perſecutors and Sufferers. The Pride and Cruelty of the one will be paid for in Torments and endleſs Miſery in the Priſon of Hell, and the Patience and Suffering of the other will be returned in Joys and eternal Felicity in the bleſſed Heaven.
FINIS.
End of the text · Edward Polhill, Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day (1682)