Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
The third Direction for Suffering is the Knowledg of God. An ignorant man is not capable of ſuffering; neither will every knowledge ſerve the turn. The Knowledge, that prepares for Suffering, muſt be a well-rooted, a right eſtimating, a taſting or ſavouring, a practical or operative Knowledge.
THe third Direction for ſuffering is this, if we would be in a fit poſture for ſuffering we muſt labour after the knowledge of God and the things of God: An ignotant man, who is a man in ſhape, but a beaſt in heart, is not a perſon capable of pious Suffering; He knows not the Principles of Religion, and for what ſhould he ſuffer? He hath no Principles of Grace in him, and how ſhould he ſuffer? He is in darkneſs, and to him Truth or Error, one God or more, pure Worſhip or Idolatry, are all one; he is alienated from the life of God, Eph. 4.18. and therefore it is not imaginable that he ſhould dye for God or his Truth: For him to ſuffer for an unknown God or Chriſt, is to ſuffer for he knows not what. As the Samaritans worſhipped they knew not what; ſo the ignorant man, if he ſuffer, ſuffers for he knows not what. The Athenians had an Altar to the unknown God, Acts. 17.23. and poſſibly they offered up other Creatures to him: But for a man to offer up himſelf as a Sacrifice to an unknown God, and to part with all this World when he knows nothing of a better, is a very ſtrang unaccountable thing. Let us therefore cry after Wiſdom, and lift up our voice for Underſtanding: Let us ſeek her as ſilver, and ſearch for her as for hid Treaſures, as the Wiſeman exhorts Prov. 2.3. & 4. Let our Prayers aſcend up to Heaven, to bring her down from thence; and our Endeavors dig in the Mines of Scripture to fetch her up from thence, that ſo Ʋnderſtanding may keep us, as it is Verſe 11. Knowledge is a preſervative to him that hath it; the People that know their God ſhall be ſtrong, Dan. 11.32. The young men, who have the word. of God abiding in them, are strong 1 Joh. 2.14. Ʋnderſtanding is a well-ſpring of life to him that hath it, Prov. 16.22. It ſtreams out in living Graces, and ſtrengthens the Inner-man, and prepares it for a day of trial; only it is to be remembred, that every knowledge will not do this, but it muſt be a well-rooted, a right eſtimating, a taſting or ſavouring, a practical or operative Knowledge that doth it.
1. It muſt be a well-rooted Knowledge that will prepare us for ſuffering. Job tels his Friends, That the root of the matter, or, (as the original, will bear) the root of the wood was in him, Job 19.28. He was ſorely afflicted by God and men, yet he held faſt his integrity, becauſe he was not a man of meer Leaves, but had a root of Knowledge and Grace in him. It is with Chriſtians as it is with Trees, the more the Tree is rooted in the ground, the faſter it ſtands in a ſtorm; the more a Chriſtian is rooted in Evangelical Truths, the firmer he ſtands in a time of Perſecution. Thoſe of the ſtony ground received the word with joy, but fell off in time of perperſecution becauſe they had no root in them ſelves, Math. 13.21. The Heavenly Truth did but lye upon the face of their Hearts, and never ſunk into them to become a virtual Principle in them. The Truth, that we would ſuffer for, had not need be a looſe Notion, but Truth in the hidden parts, faſtned there as a nail in a ſure place, ſealed up to the heart by the holy ſpirit, ingrafted and innaturalized in the mind that we may not let it go: We had need be grounded and ſetled in the faith, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, Col. 1.23. Grounded as an houſe upon a ſure Foundation, and ſetled as a man ſitting faſt in a Chair: We had need have a good Scripture bottom, and be firmly ſeated in the Truth, that we may be capable of ſuffering for Religion. The Scripture tels us, that there is but one God, one only to be worſhipped and ſerved, that his glory may not be given to another, nor his praiſe to graven Images; that Idols are ſilver and gold, the work of mens hands; that they have mouths and ſpeak not, eyes and ſee not, ears and hear not, noſes and ſmell not, hands and handle not, feet and walk not, that the Makers and Worſhippers of them are like unto them, as ſtupid as the ſenſeleſs Images are; that an Idol is nothing, a thing of no moment or power at all, a meer nothing to be it ſelf made a God, or ſo much as to repreſent one. If ſuch truths as theſe (of which St. Cyprian hath given a great Catalogue in his Exhortation to Martyrdome) be intimately radicated in the heart, they will ſtrengthen it againſt Idolatry.Magd. Hiſt. Cent. 4. cap. 12. The glorious Martyr Eulalia ſeemed to be full of them, when in her great ſufferings ſhe ſung, that Iſis, Apollo, Venus, were nothing, and Maximianus the worſhipper of them was himſelf nothing: O let us adhere to the holy Truths in the Word; theſe came down from Heaven, and like their Original are nothing but pure Truth without any mixture of Error in them; theſe appear to us in the light of the firſt Truth, and lead to the bliſs-making Viſion of him in Heaven; and as we deſire to be there, let us firmly adhere to them, eſpecially to the word of Chriſts Patience; The Truth that muſt be ſuffered for at ſuch at time as this, to that we muſt cleave cloſeſt, becauſe in that will be the greateſt ſtreſs and trial. It is good to be eſtabliſhed in all Truth, but now it is in a ſpecial manner neceſſary to be well fixed in the Truth that concerns the Pure Religion, which runs very low in the Chriſtian World, while in the mean while the Idolatrous one is like to be triumphant.
2. It muſt be a right eſtimating Knowledge that will prepare us for ſuffering, Every Notion of the things of God will not do it; he, that hath an high notion of them, but a low eſtimation, hath but a knowledge falſly ſo called; he knows them not as he ought to know them, becauſe he knows them only to know them, but not to value them: We muſt ſo know them, as to rate them above a World; this is of great moment in order to Suffering: A man is capable to ſuffer, or not, according as his eſtimate of Spiritual things is higher or lower. When the Martyr Polycarp was urged by the Proconſul to deny Chriſt,Euſtb, Lio. 4. cap. 15. his anſwer was, A potioribus non eſſe tranſeundum ad pejora; we muſt not paſs from better things to worſe. He eſteemed Chriſt better then the World, and therefore he ſuffered for him: But if he had eſteemed the World better then Chriſt, he had never been a Martyr: As the eſtimation is ſo is the man. We know the Evangelical Truth, but if we do not rate it higher then all the World, we ſhall never be able to ſuffer for it: It is indeed in itſelf a glorious Beam let down from Heaven, a pure diſcovery of the great Salvation that is in Jeſus Chriſt, and in that reſpect incomparably more worth then all the World; but if we do not ſo account it, we ſhall fall from it to embrace the World as being better in our eyes. It is very remarkable, that when the Emperors Preſect allured the great Baſil to the Arrian Doctrine,Tneod. b. 4. cap. 19. as being but a ſmall thing, the holy man anſwered, That he would not part with one ſyllable of Scripture, no, not to ſave his life. Such an eſteem of Truth is of excellent uſe to make a man adhere to it in an evil day. We know the pure worſhip, but if we do not prize it above all earthly things, we ſhall never be able to ſuffer for it: It is in itſelf a thing exceeding pretious: it is the choiceſt part of life that is ſpent in it; the honor of God is more immediately concerned in it then in other things. That noble Convert Galeacius Caracciolus, who left all for Chriſt, prized one days Communion with Chriſt more than all the Gold or Silver in the World: And if we can rate it ſo, we ſhall never turn aſide from it to the Idolatrous World, nor be carried into ſin by the ſtream of the Time: Or ſay as one going to Maſs did, Eamus ad communem errorem; let us go to the Common Error. We know the Glory of Chriſt is to be promoted, but if we do not value it above our own Reputation, we ſhall never ſuffer reproach for him. Moſes eſteemed the reproach of Chriſt greater riches then the treaſures of Egypt, Hebx. 11.26. Reproach in itſelf is a vile thing, no way eſtimable, but the reproach of Chriſt hath an honor in it, and outſhines all the glories of the World. Marſacus, a French Souldier, being adjudged with others to the Fire, and for his Military ſervice not having, as others had,Thuan Lib. 12. An. 1553. a With put about his neck, demands the reaſon why he might not be permitted to wear ſuch a Chain as his Fellows did, and to be made of the ſame illuſtrious order as they were of. If we have ſuch a Divine Spirit, as this is, in us, we ſhall count in an high honor to ſuffer reproach for Chriſt. A right eſtimation of things, is an excellent help to bear ſufferings for Religion.
3. It muſt be a taſting or Savouring Knowledge that will prepare us for ſuffering.Treat. of Faith. cap. 9. It is the taſte of God's Word (ſaith Dr. lackſon) that ſweetens ſufferings to us, and makes us couragious to adventure upon all difficulties that are objected to deter as from entring into the land of Promiſe; Such ſpeculative conceits of the Food of Life as we may find in the Schoolmen, are of as little force to inflame our hearts with longing after that Heavenly Kingdom, as Poetical Deſcriptions of far Countries, are to make us undertake their Conqueſt: We muſt have Knowledge and Senſe, Phil. 1.9. Theory and Experience too, to make us ſtand in the evil day; we muſt taſt and ſee that the Lord is gracious, that we may be able to ſuffer for him. A ſpiritual reliſh of the ſweet ſtreams of Grace that flow from him, is a choice preparative to make us take and drink of the bitter Cup. Gotteſchalcus ſuffered a cloſe impriſonment for twenty years together, meerly for preaching up the Doctrine of Grace; and it is without queſtion, that he had not a meer Notion, but an experimental taſte of it in his Suffering: Many have the Knowledge of Chriſt in a way of Speculation, but we muſt have the Savour of his Sweet Ointments upon our heart that we may follow him into Suffering. We had need feel the ſweetneſs of his blood in the calms of Conſcience, that we may Shed our own blood for him: Let us not content our ſelves to have Chriſt only in our Bibles, but endeavor to have a proof of him in our Hearts; a proof of his ſweet-ſmelling Sacrifice in our inward peace; a proof of his rich Anointings in our ſupplies of Grace: The experience of Chriſt in us, is a ſtrong encouragement to ſuffer for him. He that hath a Chriſt only in Notion, will fall off from him, but he that hath a tried Chriſt will hardly leave him.
4. It muſt be a Knowledge practical and operative in the life, that will prepare us for ſuffering: A meer notional Knowledge of Chriſt is not a right one: He that ſaith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 1. Joh. 2.4. Such an one contradicts himſelf; his Converſation gives the lie to his Profeſſion; the Truth is not in him in a practical way; his Knowledge is but a Flaſh, a vaniſhing Vapor, that gives no vital influence to his life; he will not do other Commands, much leſs will he take up the Croſs, which is a Command more grievous to Senſe then others are. He, that would be prepared for Sufferings, muſt labor for ſuch a knowledge as gives a proof of itſelf in holy Obedience: Doing is a good preparative for ſuffering; he that ſincerely doth other Commands, will take up his Croſs too, that being a Command as well as others: He, that indeed is ſubject to Gods commanding Will, will be ſubject to his diſpoſing one too, which orders the coming of the croſs to us: It is the active Chriſtian that will, if occaſion ſerve, be paſſive. Our Saviour Chriſt doth notably ſet forth what kind of Chriſtians will ſtand in time of Perſecution, and what will fall: He that heareth his ſayings and doth them, builds upon the rock, and when the ſtorm comes, he ſtands faſt, becauſe he is founded upon the Rock, Math. 7.24.25. that is, he is founded upon Chriſt by Faith and Ocedience; and in the Storm he continues upon him by Patience; the Rock bears him up as a part of itſelf: But he that heareth Chriſts ſayings, and doth them not, builds upon the ſand, and when the ſtorm comes, he fals. Verſ. 26, 27. Becauſe he is upon the Sand; he hath no true Foundation for his Religion, he never did dig deep enough to come to Self-denial, and therefore in the Storm, his fall is very great, he and his Religion utterly periſh; as when a houſe is broke up from the very Foundation, or a Tree is blown up by the Roots. Therefore if we would ſtand firm and unmovable in a Storm, let us labor to have Such a lively and operative Knowledge of Chriſt, as may diffuſe itſelf into an univerſal Obedience to his precepts: He, that enures himſelf to do the Will of God, will be ready, when the Croſs comes, to take it up, and ſay, This is the Will of God too and muſt be done.
To conclude, that we may have this excellent Knowledge, we muſt not only read the holy Scriptures, but with Zuinglius, look up to Heaven for that holy Spirit that is able to lead us into all Truth, and to ſeal it upon our hearts for ever.