Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
The fourth direction for Suffering is pretious Faith; This hath a triple reſpect; areſpect to God, his providence, Power, and Grace: Areſpect to Christ, as a propitiation, a Pattern. an Head and Helper: Areſpect to the Promiſes; the Promiſes of Gods Preſence, the Promiſes of Confirmation, the Promiſes of a good Iſſue.
THe fourth Direction is this, if we would be in a fit poſture for Suffering, we muſt labour after a pretious Faith: A Dogmatical Faith will not do it; the Devil himſelf, who is the Chief Agent in Perſecution, hath ſuch a Faith; neither will a temporary Faith do it, this is but a meer bloſſom, that fals off in a ſtorm of Perſecution; it muſt be a pretious Faith, a Furnace Faith, that will endure the fiery Trial: This is the Apoſtles foreign, Shield like a door, broad enough to cover the Soul and all its Graces, Eph. 6.16. this is to be taken above all other pieces of Spiritual Armor; it is eminent among the Graces as the Sun is among the Planets: It is the great conquering Grace; all other Graces act in conjunction with it. In the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews, ſtiled by ſome the little Book of Martyrs, the Saints are brought in doing and ſuffering great things, but all is aſcribed to Faith, as the Captain-grace of all the reſt, the firſt mover to other Graces: It works by Love, and not only ſo but by Meekneſs, Obedience, Patience, running like blood and Spirits in every part of the New-creature. Faith hath a triple reſpect, to God, to Chriſt, to the Promiſes, and in each of theſe it is of ſingular uſe in order to ſufferings.
1. Faith hath a reſpect to God; it makes its approaches to him, nay, it fixes the the Soul in him as in its Center. Hence it is that the righteous fears no evil tidings, becauſe his Heart is fixed, truſting in the Lord, Pſal. 112.7. The word rowles about, but he by faith ſtands faſt in the unmoveable God. Hence it is that the Church becomes unmoveable too. God is in the midſt of her, ſhe ſhall not be moved, Pſal. 46.5. There are three things in God which Faith fixes upon in order to pious Suffering.
1. Faith fixes upon his Providence. The Stoick could ſay, That there was no living in a World empty of God and Providence: Much more may the Chriſtian that is toſſed up and down in a perſecuting World, ſay ſo. But his Faith tels him, that perſecution comes not by Chance, Man rages, but God reigns: The World is as a tempeſtuous Sea, but God ſits at the Sterne and governs all: He limits the fury of Perſecutors; the wrath of man ſhall praiſe him; the remainder of wrath, (or as it is in the original) the remainder of wraths he will reſtrain Pſalm. 76.10. He lets out wrath in the ſingular number, and reſtrains wraths in the plural; nothing of it comes forth but what is permitted; nothing of it is permitted but the minor part only. He it is that orders the ſufferings of the Saints: Senſe indeed ſees only the outward Confuſion, but Faith knows, that there is a live, a Divine Order in it: Senſe looks at the wicked hands that are red with the blood of Innocents, but Faith looks at the holy hand that is in it: This is one thing, that bears up good men, that their Father in Heaven diſpoſes of all.Spond. An. 451. When Attila called himſelf, Flagellum Dei, the ſcurge of God; Lupus bid him come and do as he pleaſed. When Chriſtians by Faith look on Perſecutors as the rod and ſtaff in Gods hand, they are ready to Subject themſelves to the Croſs: It is better, if the will of God be ſo, that ye ſuffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing, 1. Pet. 3.17. That interpoſed phraſe (if the will of God be ſo) is very remarkable to Believers: were there nothing in their Sufferings but the Will of bloody men, they would bear them more hardly and unwillingly; but becauſe the Will of the good God is there, they endure them more eaſily and freely then otherwiſe they would do: They know very well that God will turn all to good; his ends are far other then thoſe of Satan and his Inſtruments. Our Saviour tels the Church of Smyrna, that the Devil ſhould caſt ſome of them into Priſon, that they might be tried, Rev. 2.10. In which words it is to be obſerved, that Gods end is joined unto Satans act: Satan would have them in Chains, but God would try them that their Graces might come forth as gold out of the fire. The Aſſyrian Monarch meant to cutt off Nations not a few, Eſay. 10.7. but God meant to chaſtiſe his People, and then to burn the Rod, Verſ. 12, & 17. He, that by Faith can ſee the holy Land and ends of God in Perſecution, will be ready to ſuffer under it.
2. Faith fixes upon his Power. When Shadrach, Meſhach and Abednego were threatned with a fiery Furnace for not worſhipping the Golden Image, their anſwer was, Our God is able to deliver us, Dan. 3.17. Perſecutors may be ſtrong, but Faith aſſures the Soul that God is much ſtronger, and can deliver his People; nay, and will do it alſo; not, as thoſe three Worthies were, in a viſible manner, yet in an inviſible one: Suffering Saints, have ever found by experience that the Power of God hath bore them up in their Sufferings. When Coelocerius, in the Perſecution under the Emperor Adrian, ſaw the ſupports and patience that Fauſtina & Jobita had in their ſufferings for Chriſt, he cried out, Vere magnus Deus Chriſtianorum; the God of the Chriſtians is truly great. When Juſtin Martyr ſaw the Martyrs cheerfully dying for their Religion, he thereupon fell off from Plato's School to Chriſt: St. Paul the great experienced Sufferer, exhorts Timothy to be partaker of the Afflictions of the Goſpel, according to the power of God, 2 Tim. 1.8. that is he ſhould ſuffer not in his own power, but in God's. Think thus with thy ſelf, O Chriſtian, God can and will give ſuch internal Supports and Comforts as ſhall more then counterpoiſe all thy Sufferings for him: Fix thy Faith upon his Power, and thou canſt not fail in the Trial.
3. Faith fixes upon his Grace and mercy: Men are cruel, but God is gracious and merciful to his People at all times, but eſpecially in a time of Trial: He chuſes them in the Furnace of Affliction, Eſay. 48.10. When men reprobate them as the off-ſcouring of all things, then God doth as it were chuſe them afreſh; I mean, his electing love, which was in his heart towards them, as early as eternity it ſelf, doth then break out in freſh acts of Grace towards them. St. Paul tels the Philippians, that it was freely given to them in the behalf of Chriſt not only to believe on him, but to ſuffer for his ſake, Phil. 1.29. Faith which is the firſt guift, and Suffering which is the laſt in this life, do both iſſue out from the Fountain of Grace. Caſt thy ſelf, O Chriſtian, upon the Grace and Mercy of thy good God; that Grace, which cals, juſtifies, ſanctifies thee, will alſo give thee the guift of ſuffering; that mercy, which ſpares thee in thy ordinary duties, will in a time of Suffering be indulgent over thee in a more then ordinary manner: The mercy of God will be upon us according as we truſt in him; the ſweeteſt Strains of Mercy are reſerved for the higheſt acts of Faith, which are ſeen more in Sufferings then in other things. If we carry Faith with us into Priſons and fiery Furnaces, Goodneſs and Mercy will follow us thither in an eminent way. Faith hath a reſpect to Chriſt, it comes to him as to a Center of reſt, receives him as a pretious guift, leans on him as a ſure foundation; nay, foreign, it individuates and appropriates him to the Soul. There are three things in Chriſt which Faith looks to in order to Suffering.
1. Faith looks to him as a Propitiation: It hides in his Wounds, as in the clefts of the Rock; it waſhes the ſoul in that atoning blood that cleanſes from all ſin, Hereby the Chriſtian is ſo ſtrengthned in the Innerman that he can glory in Tribulations, Rom. 5.3. The World perſecutes, but he hath peace with God; man hates, but he hath the Love of God in his Heart; Sufferings may come, but they fall only upon the outward man; there is no ſting within, nor guilt preſſing upon Conſcience. When Luther was in fear of an Apoplexy, he cried out, Feri, Domine, feri, paratus ſum, quia à peccatis abſolutus; ſtrike, Lord, ſtrike, I am ready, becauſe abſolved from Sin. A Chriſtian, that is waſhed from ſin in the blood of Jeſus, may bear the perſecuting ſtroke; he hath refrigerium Chriſti, a ſweet refreſhment from Chriſt's Atonement in that inward peace, which is made by it in Conſcience.
2. Faith looks to Chriſt as a Pattern: He is not only a Propitiation to be truſted in, but a Pattern to be imitated by us: He ſuffered for us, leaving us an example, that we ſhould follow his ſteps, 1 Pet. 2.21. Whom ſhould we follow but our Lord and Saviour? How can we Spare our own blood, if we be waſhed in his? He drunk up the bitter Cup to the bottom, and ſhall we not take ſome drops of it? He bore the wrath of God for us, and ſhall we not bear the wrath of man for him? He learned obedience by the things which he ſuffered, and how much more ſhould we poor Creatures do ſo? He entred by ſuffering into glory; and why ſhould we dream of another way thither? If we would be ready to ſuffer, let us look unto Jeſus the Author and Finiſher of our Faith, who for the joy that was ſet before him, endured the Croſs, deſpiſing the ſhame; Let us conſider him that endured ſuch contradiction of ſinners againſt himſelf, leſt we be weary and faint in our minds, Hebr. 12.2, 3. The noble Alzearius, being asked,Arr. Tact. 161. how he could ſo patiently bear injuries, anſwered thus; Converto me ad injurias Chriſti, I turn me to the injuries done to my Saviour. We muſt look to Chriſt's Croſs, that we may bear our own it being now, no longer meer ſuffering, but ſanctified by the ſufferings of our Saviour.
3. Faith looks to Chriſt as an Head and Helper: He is not a meer Pattern, but an Head and Helper too; Were there no other ſupporting Grace for the Saints but that little in their own boſome, they might expect to fail in the Trial; but there is an inexhauſtible Fountain of Grace in their Head in Heaven, and that will bear them up in all their Sufferings. This made St. Paul glory in Perſecutions, becauſe the Power of Chriſt would reſt upon him; and when he was weak in himſelf, he was ſtrong in that, 2. Cor. 12.9, 10. St. Cyprian, ſpeaking of Chriſt in the Martyrs, ſaith, Qui pro nobis mortem ſemel vicit, Epiſt. 9. ad Mort.ſemper vincit in nobis; he that once overcame death for us, alwais overcomes it in us: This the Martyr Blandina, though weak in body, found by experience, being bore up in the midſt of Torments by the Power of Chriſt,Euſeb. L. 5. cap. 1. and finding a freſh refreſhment; as often as ſhe ſaid, Chriſtiana ſum, I am a Chriſtian. The ſame was ſeen in the Martyr Sanctus, who bore various Torments above all humane Strength, becauſe he was bedewed and confirmed out of the Celeſtial Fountain of living water flowing down from Chriſt. Whatever thou doeſt, O Chriſtian, be ſure to apply thy ſelf by Faith unto the neverfailing Fountain of Grace in him, that thou mayſt have ſuch Supplies of Grace, as may bear thee up in an evil day.
3. Faith hath a reſpect to the Promiſes; Theſe are the Breaſts of Conſolation, the Channels in which the Grace in Gods heart flows down to the Sons of men: Here the Chriſtian may provide himſelf with Cordials againſt the time of ſuffering. I ſhall here only mention three kinds of Promiſes, for Faith to live upon in a day of Trial.
1. Faith muſt live upon the Promiſes of Gods gratious Preſence: God tels his People, that he will be with them in the fire and in the water, Eſay. 43.2. that is, in all danger and calamities whatſoever; neither ſhall this Preſence be for a little time only, but conſtant and perpetual: He will never leave them, nor forſake them, Hebr. 13.5. This is a choice comfort to good men, that in Tribulations they are not left alone, but God is with them. St. Paul had experience of this; all men forſook him, but God ſtood with him and ſtrengthned him, 2. Tim. 4.16, 17. The Preſence of God was to him more then a World, and able to ſupport him againſt all his Adverſaries. St. Cyprian, ſpeaking of the Martyrs in his time,Epiſt. 9. ſaith, That God was not a meer ſpectator in their ſufferings, but ipſe luctatur in nobis, ipſe concongreditur, ipſe in certamine coronat, pariter & coronatur; he ſtrives in us, he encounters our adverſaries, he crowns us in the Battel, and is himſelf crowned therein. Let us therefore by Faith reſt upon the promiſe of Gods Preſence, and aſſure our hearts that he will be with us in our Suffering: All the Promiſes of God are Yea and Amen in Chriſt, and his being Immanuel, God with us in the humane Nature, is a Pledge to the Saints, that God will be with them in their Sufferings for him.
2. Faith muſt live up on the promiſes of Confirmation. The Apoſtle tels the Corinthians, That God ſhall confirm them unto the end; and adds this as a reaſon, God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowſhip of his ſon Jeſus Chriſt our Lord, 1, Cor. 1.89. God doth as it were pawn his faithfulneſs upon it, that they being once brought into union with Chriſt, ſhall never fall off, but be confirmed unto the end: The gates of hell ſhall never prevail againſt them; they ſhall be kept through faith unto ſalvation; nay, and their Faith ſhall be kept too. Chriſt did not only pray for Peter, that his Faith fail not, but he prays ſo for all the faithful: Oh how comfortable are ſuch promiſes to the Saints! Let us by faith lay up theſe rich Cordials in our hearts to keep up from fainting in Perſecution.
3. Faith muſt live upon the Promiſes of a good Iſſue: All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to his people, Pſal. 23.10. All things ſhall work together for their good, Rom. 8.28. Perſecutions and all. God alters the property of his Peoples Afflictions, and by an Almighty Alchimy turns Droſs into Gold; he makes perſecution turn to the refining of the Saints Graces, and to the glorifying of his own great name: O! what great good things doth he bring out of evil? How much of his Love and faithfulneſs may be ſeen in the Croſs? Let us therefore fix our hearts upon ſuch promiſes, that, paſſing through the fiery Trial, we may ſee the good end the Lord makes of it.