Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
It is uſeful to Chriſtians to diſcern the ſigns of the Times, and to be ready for all the Will of God. Providence bids us prepare for ſufferings; we have need to do ſo. Suffering is hard to ſenſe, and the excellency of a Chriſtian. The prepared Chriſtian is an happy man, and the unprepared miſerable.
Two things are of great uſe to Chriſtians; the one is, to diſcern the Signs of the Time. He that looks without and ſees the State of things there, and then turns to Scripture, and there ſees the iſſues that wait upon ſuch States, may diſcern the ſigns of the Time. The Luxury of the old World was a ſign of the Deluge; the Perſecution of the Prophets was a ſign of Jeruſalems Deſolation. When Epheſus declined, and left its firſt love, the Candleſtick was removing: When Laodicea was luke-warm, God was ready to ſpue them out of his mouth. And ſo it is in other things; ſuch and ſuch a State of things will have ſuch and ſuch an iſſue. The diſcerning of this will make Chriſtians time their duties, and do every thing in the true ſeaſon of it, which is no leſs profitable then beautiful. The other thing is, to be ready for all the Will of God; to have Graces aptly anſwering to Providence: Such holy Joy as may tune the heart to Proſperity; and ſuch humble Submiſſion as may frame the heart to adverſity: This is that bleſſed temper, that bids every thing welcome that comes in the Will of God.
If we obſerve the ſigns of our Times, we may eaſily diſcern Judgments a coming, and therefore nothing can be more neceſſary than to prepare for Sufferings. God hath a controverſy with us, and ſeems to ſpeak to us by his Providence, as he did to Iſrael by his Prophet, Prepare to meet thy God. Sit down then, O Chriſtians, and conſider how to do it, and think with your ſelves, with what penitential Tears, Wreſtling, Supplications, real Reformations, and holy Reſignations you will meet with him. Jeſus Chriſt the Captain of your ſalvation, ſeems now to ask you by his Providence, as the Roman General did his Souldiers, Are you ready? Reflect upon your ſelves, and conſider; are you ready to keep the Word of Chriſts Patience, to take up his Croſs and follow him? Though the croſs be not yet upon your backs, yet you muſt carry it in your Hearts; your minds muſt be ready at his call to ſuffer any thing, rather than to part with the Goſpel.
Preparation is neceſſary to every good work. The Pagan Prieſts had preparatory Waſhings before the ſacrifice; the People had an hoc age cried to them to awaken their Attention. The Jewes were to waſh their Clothes at the giving of the Law; they had their Preparations to Sabbaths and Ordinances: Chriſtians are to prepare for the Wood and for the holy Table; but above all, Preparation is neceſſary to ſufferings. The greater the thing is, the more requiſite is the Preparation: Suffering is a great thing, hard to Senſe, harſh to Fleſh and Blood. It may be it takes away the worldly Goods which are dear to men; it may be it comes neerer, and touches the Bone and the Fleſh, which is dearer then outward things: It may be it goes further, and treads down the precious Life, which is highly valuable. Nature in the beſt, ſhrinks and flies away from ſuch things as theſe; and, ſupernatural Graces and Aſſiſtances lift up men above themſelves, they will never bear them. In ſuch a caſe as this we have need to put on all our Spiritual Armor; not this or that piece only, but all of it; and not only to put it on, but to gird it on too: All will be little enough to make us ſtand in the evil day. Again, the more excellent a thing is, the more requiſite is the Preparation: Suffering for Chriſt is the excellency of a Chriſtian, the top and Complement of all his Graces; Faith cannot riſe higher; Love cannot ſhew it ſelf better than in this: No Profeſſion of Chriſtianity is ſo high, nor Imitation of Chriſt ſo full, as that which is made in blood: Here is the Chriſtians conſummatum eſt; his work is done, and Heaven opens to receive him into glory: And how ſhould we prepare our Souls, and gird up the Loins of our Minds, that we may be capable of that which is the higheſt Stature of a Chriſtian in this World, and the neereſt capacity to a better?
This Preparation is of very great moment to Chriſtians: Upon their having, or not having of it, depends their Happineſs or Miſery.
He that is prepared for Sufferings, come what will come, is a happy man; if ſufferings do not come, he is yet a Martyr in mind and purpoſe. God ſees the ſuffering frame that is in him; his willing mind is accepted as much as if his blood were actually Shed; and being ready to dye for Chriſt, he is ready to live with him in Heaven; If Sufferings come, he is provided for then. St. Paul was ready to be bound and die for the name of Jeſus. Polycarpe, when threatned with Various deaths, made this reply, Quid tardas? Why doſt thou delay? Inflict what thou wilt. The prepared Chriſtian is ready for all the Will of God, which is an happineſs that no Suffering can interrupt: He is in a poſture to overcome all the World, and he will do it. The very Pagan Emperors did obſerve the primitive martyrs to be Victors in death. It is ſaid of the Martyr Vincentius, Magd. hiſt. cent. 4. cap. 12.that according to his name, he overcame in Words, and overcame in Puniſhments; overcame in Confeſſion, and overcame in Tribulation; overcame in Fire, and over came in Water; overcame Living and overcame Dying. The prepared Chriſtian is a Vincent, a Conquerer of the World; his Love is above the ſmiles of it, his Fear above the Terrors of it: Nay, he is more than a Conqueror; he overcomes by ſuffering, and lives by death; nay being dead, he yet ſpeaks forth the truth he ſuffered for, and propagates it to all poſterity: Neither need we wonder at this Conqueſt, he is not alone but hath God with him: And, as the Emperor Antoninus Verus ſaid of the Primitive Chriſtians, He carries God about with him in conſcience; and where God is, there muſt be happineſs in the moſt afflicted Condition; the whole ſacred Trinity are preſent with him; the everlaſting Father will ſtrengthen him; the Son will walk with him in the fiery Furnace; the holy Spirit will come to him with all his cordials. Stephen was never ſo full of it as when he was ſtoned.Hiſt. mag. Cent. 2. The Martyr Felicitas profeſſed to her Perſecutor, That ſhe had the holy Spirit in her: The prepared Chriſtian hath a Spirit of Power in Infirmities, a Spirit of Glory in Reproaches, a Spirit of Comfort in Diſtreſſes. There are no ſuch rich Anointings, as thoſe that wait upon the Croſs of Chriſt: At other times a Chriſtian hath ſome meaſures of the Spirit; but then he hath ſuch large effuſions of it, that no Sufferings can make him miſerable: The Clouds without cannot break the ſerenity in his Conſcience; the noiſe of a troubleſome World cannot interrupt that Divine Peace which keeps his heart; no malice of man can hinder the ſheddings of Gods Love into him; no wants or exigencies can deprive him of the hidden Manna promiſed to the Overcomer; he is happy even in a Vale of Tears: And what will he be in Heaven? There his reward will be great, nay, greater than that of others.
On the other hand; he that is not propared for Sufferings, is a miſerable man: He hath a Name of Religion and that's all; a Notion of the Goſpel, but without a Root; he hath a falſe Chriſt, that is, a Chriſt without a Croſs, but the right Chriſt he knowes not; a pretence to Heaven he hath, but he is not in a poſture for it, neither will he go thither in an hard way: If Sufferings come, he is ſnared, as Fiſhes in an evil Net; the ſurprize will rob him of that which he ſeems to have; he will not have ſo much as the Name or notion of Religion left: Chriſt will be an Offence, or ſtumbling-Block to him; Heaven it ſelf will not be worth ſuffering for. Thus thoſe of the Stony ground received the word with joy, but becauſe their hearts were not ready for it, as ſoon as Perſecution aroſe, they were offended.Magd. hiſt. Cent. 2. cap. 3. Thus it was obſerved among the Primitive Chriſtians, that the unready and unprepared did faint and fall in time of Perſecution. The Cup of Sufferings is bitter, Nature ſtarts at it: The unprepared Chriſtian, rather than drink it, will in all likelihood turn Apoſtate in the day of trial; proſperous error will be embraced by him before perſecuted Truth; Idolatary with the World will goe down better than the pure Worſhip without it; Chriſt coming in Poverty and Tribulation will be forſaken; Antichriſt appearing in the Pomp and outward greatneſs of the World, will be followed: Meer Vanity will outweigh all the great offers of the Goſpel; a Soul and a God will be laid at ſtake for a little outward proſperity: And what a forlorn Condition is this? And without Repentance, how diſmal muſt the end be? The Good God, whom he hath forſaken, will depart from him; Jeſus Chriſt the Saviour will caſt him out; a curſe & a blaſt will be upon his Proſperity; a ſting and a wound in Conſcience will make him weary of himſelf; in a word, he will become loathſome to God, Men, and himſelf.Cypr. de Lapſis. It is ſtoried, That in the third Century the tokens of Gods wrath came in an extraordinary way upon thoſe Chriſtians that fell off in time of Perſecution; ſome of them were ſtruck dumb, ſome vexed with Devils, ſome tormented in their bowels unto Death; and, though not in theſe wayes, yet in other will his wrath come down upon all Apoſtates; if they are not dumb before men, they will be ſpeechleſs before God; if Devils vex not their Bodies, they will yet poſſeſs their Souls; if there be no torments in their Bowels, yet there are in their Conſciences: The miſeries, which Apoſtates incur, are much greater than thoſe, which they avoid by their Apoſtacies. It is therefore highly reaſonable, that we ſhould prepare for Sufferings, leſt by Apoſtacy we make our ſelves more miſerable, than any outward Suffering can make us.