Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Preparation for Sufferings conſidered more generally. A Chriſtian that will be prepared for Sufferings muſt ſecure to himſelf three things; that is, A good Cauſe, a good Heart, and a good God.
Having ſeen the neceſſity of Perſecution, and the neceſſity of Preparation, I come now to the main thing intended; to conſider how a Chriſtian may be prepared for Sufferings: And here I ſhall firſt ſpeak in General, and then more Particularly. In General, a Chriſtian, that would be prepared for Sufferings, muſt ſecure to himſelf three things; a good Cauſe, a good Heart, and a good God; The firſt will make Suffering honourable; the Second will make us us meet for it; the third will give aſſiſtance and comfort in it.
1. The Chriſtian muſt ſecure to himſelf a good Cauſe; he muſt take care not to ſuffer as an Evil doer; this is not grateful to God, nor honorable among Men; in it Chriſt is not imitated, but Chriſtianity is ſhamed: Such Sufferers are the Devils Martyrs; it cannot be reaſonably expected that they ſhould have the gratious Preſence of God, or any comfort in Conſcience; their own hearts cry out, Guilty, and plainly tel them, that their Suffering is but the juſt wages of their Iniquity. A Chriſtian muſt be ſure, that there be no guilt in that which he ſuffers for. Holy Daniel ſaith, that Innocency was found in him, Dan. 6.22. He ſpeaks not of the innocency of his Perſon, as if he were without ſin; but of the innocency of his Cauſe, for which he ſuffered: His praying againſt a Law did not merit a Den of Lions; he broke the Humane Command only to keep the Divine. It highly concerns the Chriſtian to have an innocent Cauſe; it is the Cauſe, not the meer Suffering, that makes the Martyr. Again, the Chriſtian muſt take care, that he ſuffer not as a Buſy-body in other mens Matter; he muſt not have his own Station, nor forfeit Gods protection, he muſt abide with God in his Calling, and do his own Buſineſs. God took care of the Bird ſitting over her young in her Neſt, Deut. 22.6. but not of the wandring one. The learned Johannes Fancius, of a Miniſter of the Goſpel in his Prince's Court, turned Miniſter of State to his Prince, and was at laſt for ſome evil Counſel, condemned to dye; and before he ſuffered, he much lamented the leaving of his Calling, and left this Diſtick.
Diſce meo exemplo mandato munere fungi,
Et fuge ceu peſtem foreign
Learn this of me, thine own Office to bear,
In others meddle not, the Plague is there.
It is very uncomfortable to a Chriſtian, when he runs into Sufferings by going out of his own Sphear. Moreover, the Chriſtian muſt take care, that he ſuffer not for his own raſhneſs. He that defaced the Emperors Edict againſt Chriſtians, and Suffered for it, was not accounted a Martyr. Biſhop Audas demoliſhed the Perſian Temple, dedicated to the Fire, as their Numen, and ſuffered for it; but it was reckoned as a Piece of raſh and unreaſonable Zeal: We muſt not caſt our ſelves into dangers; God will keep us in our ways,Theod. Hiſt. Lib. 4, cap. 39. not in our Precipices. We muſt take up the Croſs that God makes for us, but not make one of our ſelves by our own raſhneſs: If we muſt ſuffer, let it be for that good Conſcience which is a continual Feaſt; for that Righteouſneſs which is in Conjunction with Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghoſt: Let it be for that Jeſus who ſuffered for us; for that God who crowns momentary Sufferings with eternal Glory. This was the caſe of the Primitive Chriſtians; they ſuffered, but it was in a good Cauſe. Juſtin Martyr and Athenagoras in their Apologies for them, ſhew, That there was nothing amiſs found in them; no Atheiſm, no Thyeſtean Suppers, no unclean Copulations, no unjuſt Actions; the only Crime was Chriſtianity. And afterwards Tertullian ſhews, That the name in Chriſtians was condemned, but no Crime was found in them towards God or man. This is the firſt thing we are to do, we muſt ſecure a good Cauſe.
2. We muſt ſecure good Hearts. It is ſaid of the Children of Ephraim, that being armed, and carrying Bows, they turned back in the day of Battel, Pſal. 78.9. and the reaſon of this we have in the precedent Verſe, they ſet not their hearts aright. Unleſs the Heart be good, as well as the Cauſe, men will turn back from God, and the pure Religion: Corrupt Hearts will fall in with the World, and ever be on the Sunny ſide: In Diocleſian's time they can be Pagans; in Conſtantine's Chriſtians; in Conſtantius's Arrians; in Julian's Pagans again.Purpuram colunt, non Deum. It is the good Heart only that is ſit for Sufferings. Now two things are requiſite to make a good Heart; it muſt be purged from ſin; and again, it muſt be furniſhed with principles of Grace. 1. It muſt be purged from ſin; from the guilt and power of it: It muſt be purged from the guilt of ſin. A man that hath inward wounds is unfit to bear outward ones. Guilt upon Conſcience, like a Boyl upon the Back, makes one uncapable to bear the burden of a Croſs. They, that are partakers of Chriſts Sufferings in Martyrdome, had need firſt partake of them for Remiſſion: They, that waſh their Robes in the Blood of the Lamb, by ſuffering for him, had need firſt waſh their Conſciences in it to take away their Guiltneſs. It is not imaginable that a man can piouſly embrace a Temporal Death, when immediately after it he ſhall fall into an Eternal one: Or that he can patiently bear the wrath of Man, when the wrath of God is to enſue upon it. It was a very forlorn Caſe with the Egyptians, when they were drowning in the Sea, and God looked through the Cloud upon them; and ſo it will be with Chriſtians, if the World be as a troubled Sea to them and withal; God look with an angry Face upon them: Therefore it much concernes them to get a pardon ſealed in the Blood of Jeſus Chriſt, that, when they come to ſuffer, they may have nothing to bear but the ſingle Croſs, without any preſſure of Guilt upon Conſcience to aggravate it. Again, It muſt be purged from the power of Sin. Every Luſt is a Dalilah, an Exhauſter (as the Hebrew word ſignifies,) it takes away the Heart, drains and debaſes the man, makes him vile and impotent, and by conſequence altogether uncapable of ſo heroical a thing as ſuffering for God is: He that hath ſin reigning in his Heart, will comply with it reigning in the World; he that carrieth an Idol within will fall down to an outward one: Such an one will do any thing rather than ſuffer; The power of ſin muſt be broken, that a man may be ready to take up the Croſs. Further, the Heart, that it may be good, muſt not only be purged from ſin, but furniſhed with Principles of Grace. The old Heart will not Hear, or Pray, or give Almes, or do any thing for God in a right manner, much leſs will it ſuffer for him. A man muſt have gracious Principles, ſuch as holy Knowledg, Faith, Fear, Love Zeal, Hope, Humility, Obedience, and Patience are, that he may be ready for ſuffering. There is a double preparation for it, Habitual and Actual; Habitual ſtands in the having thoſe principles, and actual in the uſing of them. He that hath them hath a Divine temper diſpoſing him for every piece of the Divine Will; he is in the frame of his Heart above Creatures, and hath no Center but in his Creator; he is higher than Time and this lower World, and lies upon the Borders of Heaven and Eternity: His great Concerns are not in the Smiles and Frowns of men, but in the Will and Favour of God; His fear is of greater evil than the World can inflict; and his expectation is of greater good than the World can beſtow: His Principles make him habitually ready for Suffering, and when occaſion comes, the uſe of them will make him actually ſo. Such an one may ſay at the fiery Trial, as the famous Jerom of Prage did when the Wood was laid to him, Salve feſta dies, Welcome thou joyful day of ſuffering for Chriſt. This is the ſecond thing, we muſt ſecure good Hearts.
3. We muſt ſecure a good God to be with us in our Sufferings. A good Cauſe will not bear us up without a good Heart, nor will a good Heart ſtand without a good God to ſupport it. The prayer of David is very remarkable, Let Integrity and Ʋprightneſs preſerve me, for I wait on thee, Pſal. 25.21. Integrity is a Preſervative; but we muſt wait on God to have our very Integrity preſerved; and pray, as the holy Pſalmiſt doth in the precedent Verſe, O keep my ſoul; the moſt upright ſoul needs it. Graces keep the Heart, but thoſe very Graces muſt be kept by the Keeper of Iſrael. The God of Grace is as neceſſary to the New-creature as the God of Nature is to the Old: If he withdraw, Faith will fail, Love will cool, Hope will wither, Zeal will be extinct, and all Graces will Vaniſh, as the Beams do upon the abſence of the Sun; The gracious preſence of God is neceſſary to us at all times, eſpecially in times of Suffering. Joſeph's Priſon would have been very diſmal, if God had not been there. When all men forſook Paul, he had been very forlorn if God had forſook him too. How hard is it to be in wants, if the All-ſufficient one be gone? How intolerable are Diſtreſſes, if the God of all Comfort be abſent? How ſhall we bear the Cruelties of men if the Father of Mercies do not aſſiſt us? Or how ſhall we ſtand under own Creature-weakneſs, if the never fainting Creator do not ſtrengthen us? What ſhall we do in doubts if the only Wiſe one do not guide us? Or what ſhall we do in the Vally of the Shadow of death if the living God be not with us? The Preſence of God (ſaith a worthy Divine) will turn a Priſon into a Pallace, a Fiery Furnace into a Gallery of Pleaſure, and the Stocks into a Muſick-School. Acts 16.25. I may add, it is in ſtead of all things to us: With it no Suffering can be too heavy; without it none can be tolerable. Let us therefore labour to ſecure this Preſence with us, and for that end, let us ſecure our being in Chriſt, and our walking in him. Firſt let us ſecure our being in Chriſt: God manifeſt in the Fleſh, is the foundation of God sin habiting in the Spirits of men: If Chriſt had not come and mediated for us, God would never have come to dwell and to walk in us: If we are in Chriſt, God, who is perſonally preſent with his Humane Nature, will be graciouſly preſent with us as Members of of him: We ſhall be preſerved in Chriſt, as pieces of him, by that ſpecial Preſence which accompanies thoſe that are in him. Our bleſſed Saviour prays, that thoſe that were given him might be kept through the Fathers Name, Joh. 17.11. that is, through that Divine Power, Wiſdom, Mercy, and Grace which is with them, Again, let us ſecure our walking in Chriſt. Let us walk after his Command and Pattern; that is, in Meekneſs of Wiſdom, in Zeal for Gods Glory, in readineſs of Obedience, in ſweetneſs of Charity, in an univerſal Compliance witht the Divine Will. Let there be ſomewhat of Chriſt in every ſtep, this is the way to have the Divine Preſence with us. Thus our Saviour left us, If any man Love me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our aboad with him, Joh. 14.23. Such as keep his words, ſhall have the Shechinah, the Divine Preſence in a peculiar manner with them: This will be to them Joy in Sorrow, Security in Fears Strength in Weakneſs, Life in Death, and All things in the want of All.