Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
The fift Direction for Suffering, is Love to God and Chriſt. Love to God; ſuch as value him deſire him, delight in him, and will and endeavour to ſerve and honour him: Love to Chriſt, ſuch as value him, deſire him, delight in him, and will and endeavour to ſerve and honour him.
THe fiſt Direction is this; if we would be in a fit poſture for ſuffering, we muſt get a ſincere Love to God and Chriſt; St.De Civit. Lib. 14. cap. 28. Auſtin ſaith, That two Loves made two Cities; the Love of ſelf made the Earthly City, the Love of God makes the Heavenly one; the perſecutor dwels in the one, and the Martyr in the other. There is an aſſimilating efficacy in Love whereby it caſts the mind into the Mould of the thing beloved;Siterram amas terra es; ſi Deum, quidni dicerem Deus es. Aug. If thou love Earth, thou art Earth; if thou Love God, thou art partaker of the Divine Nature, and doſt reſemble God himſelf. The greateſt impediment to pious ſuffering is the Love of the World and ſelf; and the greateſt preparative to it is the Love of God and Chriſt. I ſhall firſt ſpeak of love to God, as a preparative thereunto; and then of Love to Chriſt as ſuch.
1. Love to God is a preparative to ſuffering: If we love him above all things, no outward Object will draw us from him; if we love him with all the heart, no inward Luſt will make us fall from him. Love to him ſtands in four things; each of which will diſpoſe us to ſuffer for him.
1. Love to him ſtands in an high valuation of him; it eſteems him to be ſuch an one as he is ſet forth in Scripture: To be the only wiſe God, the only Potentate, the only One that is good; to be all theſe eſſentially, fontally, ſupereminently: He, that hath ſuch an eſtimate of him, will be ready to ſuffer for him: To ſuch an one it is folly to learn the only Wiſe, weakneſs to leave the only Potentate, miſery to leave the only Good; And how can he leave ſo excellent an Object? to ſuch an one it is prudence to adhere to the only Wiſe, ſtrength to adhere to the only Potentate, happineſs to adhere to the only Good; And how can he chuſe but adhere to him? It was the ſaying of an Ancient,Minut. …. 18. Tum dignè Deum aeſtimamus cum inaeſtimabilem dicimus; then we rightly eſteem God, when we account him ineſtimable. Eſtates, Bodies, Lives may be valued, but he is infinitely beyond all eſtimation: All creatures are but as ſhadows, and little drops of being in compariſon of him; It is a juſt debt we owe to him, to rate him incomparably above all things, and in ſo doing the Soul it ſelf is ennobled and made fit to ſuffer for him: As a man by valuing the World above itſelf, becomes baſe and brutiſh, and like the Beaſts that periſh; ſo a man by eſtimating God above all things, becomes heroical and Divine, and like the Angels that live altogether upon him: Such an one is able to part with life in the Channel, to have it in the Fountain; to let go all other things, to have all in the one All-ſufficient God.
2. Love to God ſtands in holy D ſires after him; it makes the ſoul pant after him; as the heart panteth after the Waterbrooks, Duleiſſimo Deo totus immergi cupit & inviſcerari. Carthus.and go out of itſelf in holy anhelations after union with him: Such is the Heavenly property of it, that it aſpires to be one Spirit with him, to have idem Velle and idem Nolle, to will as he wills, and nill as he nills; and when once our Wills are melted into his; every thing that comes from him will be welcome to us. Though Fleſh and Blood may cry out of Suffering, as a very hard thing, yet Love will ſay, that nothing can be wiſer or better then that which our Father orders and laies out for us. If deſire after God as the ſupream good once put our Souls into motion, we ſhall follow him not into Ordinances only, but into Sufferings alſo: His gratious Preſence is in both; In Ordinances it is in a good meaſure, but in Sufferings, which are the higheſt Services on Earth, it is in a more eminent manner. God doth not barely ſay to his afflicted people, I am with thee; but I will ſtrengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteouſneſs; Eſay. 41.10. many words are heaped up together to impart the excellency of his preſence with them. O let our hearts burn within us with ardent deſires after him, that we may be able to bear the fiery Trial at its coming.
3. Love to God ſtands in an holy Complacence in him; it makes the Soul reſt upon him as Noah's Dove did upon the Ark, and Center in him as in the ſupream Good. Holy deſires end in inward ſatisfaction; David thirſting after God comes to have his ſoul ſatisfied as with marrow and fatneſs, Pſal. 63.5. And Chriſtians that breathe after him, come to have ſweet ſpiritual joys and delights, taſts of Heaven and drops from the pure rivers of pleaſures that are above: Theſe are able to ſweeten the bittereſt ſufferings. It is ſaid of the Theſſalonians, that they received the word in much affliction with joy of the holy Ghoſt. 1 Theſſal. 1.6. The Goſpel doth not go alone, but Affliction accompanies it; neither will affliction go down alone, but the joy of the holy Ghoſt ſweetens it: The bleſſed Martyrs have experimentally found theſe divine joys in their hearts. It is ſaid of Alexander the Martyr,Magd. hiſt. Cent. 2. Chapt. 12. famous for his Love to God, that ne ingemuit, he did not ſo much as fetch a groan in the midſt of his Torments; and doubtleſs he had ſtrong conſolations within to bear him up in his Sufferings. The Martyr Algerius being in priſon wrote thus; in the dark Dungeon I find a Paradiſe of Pleaſure; in a place of ſorrow dwells tranquillity; in an Infernal Cave I have joy of Soul: O how good is the Lord! How eaſy and ſweet his yoke! Such Heavenly Cordials will bare up Chriſtians in the greateſt trials: O let us labour to delight our ſouls in God, that we may be able to ſuffer for him.
4. Love to God ſtands in an holy Benevolence towards him; it delivers and ſurrenders up the whole man to him; it wills and endeavors (ſo far as a poor Creature can to an Infinite Creator) to bring all ſervice and glory to him. Thus the 24. elders fel down before him and caſt down their crowns, ſaying Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, Revel. 4.10, 11. renouncing themſelves they referr all that they have and are to him alone: This is an excellent preparative to Suffering. If we would indeed ſerve him, we muſt be willing to ſuffer for him; for that is the higheſt Service that can be done to him on earth: If we would indeed glorify him, we muſt be ready to Suffer for him; for that is the greateſt glory that we can poſſibly give unto him; therein we do practically declare to all the World, that God is our All, Riches, Honours, Relations, Life it ſelf, are as nothing to him. O let us labor to ſurrender up our ſelves to him in other things, that we may not fail to make the greateſt ſurrender of all in Suffering.
2. Love to Chriſt is a preparative to ſuffering: Ignatius (whoſe Motto was, Amor meus crucifixus, My Love was crucified) would ſuffer any thing for Chriſt. The Martyr Felicitas was ſo in love with Chriſt,Magd. hiſt. Cent. 2. cap. 12. that ſhe would not only ſuffer herſelf, but have her ſeven ſons ſuffer for him alſo. Love to Chriſt ſtands in four things, each of which will diſpoſe us to ſuffer for him.
1. Love to Chriſt ſtands in an high Valuation of him; it eſteems him altogether pretious: Pretious in his Perſon, being Immanuel, God and man in one; pretious in his atoning ſufferings, which (being by his Deity elevated into a kind of infinity) were enough to pay for the ſin of a World; pretious in his holy words; his Myſteries being heights, his Commands rectitude, his Promiſes Grace: pretious in the rich Treaſures of Grace, which are in him, and everflowing out towards Believers: He that thus eſteems of him will be ready to ſuffer for him. To leave his atoning ſufferings is to run into Hell; to leave his words is to run into all Error; to leave his Treaſures of Grace is to run into Spiritual Poverty: And how can we leave him? To adhere to his Atonement is peace and comfort; to adhere to his Words is to keep the way of life; to adhere to his Treaſures of Grace, is to have continual influences of grace from him: And how can we chuſe but adhere to him? St. Paul counted all things droſs and dung for him, Phil. 3.8. St. Cyprian, in his Exhortation to Martyrdome, gives this as one rule, that we ſhould nihil Chriſto praeponere, prefer nothing before Chriſt. To eſteem any thing better then him, is the way to turn Apoſtate; but to eſteem him better then all, is the way to ſtand in a day of Trial.
2. Love to Chriſt ſtands in holy deſires after him; it cauſes a man to long and faint for him, and, as one in extremity, to cry out, Give me Chriſt, or elſe I dye: Without the laver of his blood, I dye in my ſins; without the ſupplies of his Grace, I dye in my wants: O! that I may have him! the Spouſe in the Canticles was ſick of Love, languiſhing and ready to fall into a Spiritual Swoon with her paſſionate deſires after him and his gratious Preſence; nothing in all the World could cure or ſatisfie her, but his all-deſirable ſelf. That ſoul that truly deſireth Chriſt, doth not deſire aliud praeter illum, aliud tanquam illum, aliud poſt illum; any thing beſides him, any thing equally to him, any thing after him: Such an ardor and holy flame of Love, as this is, is an extatical thing; it makes a man go out of himſelf to ſeek after him; it will ſell all for him, and, like thoſe virgin ſouls, Revel. 14.4. follow him whitherſoever he goeth; not only into the Banqueting-houſe of Ordinances, but into Sufferings and Afflictions for him. The Martyr Gordius had ſuch an ardent Love to Chriſt.Magd. hiſt. Cent. 4. cap. 12. that he was ready to ſuffer, mille mortes, a thouſand deaths for the name of Jeſus Chriſt, O let us Labour to have our hearts kindled and inflamed with holy deſires after him, that we may be able to ſtand and endure the fiery trial.
3. Love to Chriſt ſtands in an holy Complacence in him, it makes the ſoul enjoy a kind of heaven in his Preſence, and delight itſelf in his ſatisfying Sweetneſs. The Spouſe in the Canticles was raviſhed, and, as it were, ſwallowed up in him; the ſavour of his ſweet Ointments lay upon her heart; his Love was better to her then all the Wine of the World; ſhe ſat under the broad ſhadow of his Merits with great delight, Pardons and Graces dropping down from the Tree of Life upon her; he is in her eyes, totus deſideria, all loves or deſires; every thing in him hath a divine ſweetneſs in it. This ſpiritual joy and delight in Chriſt our Saviour, is an excellent preparative in order to ſuffering: The Church will have him lie all night between her breaſts Cant. 1.13. all night, that is, in times of fear and temptation, that his preſence may ſweeten the bittereſt condition to her. The Croſs of Jeſus, if we taſt the ſweetneſs of it, will turn a Marah into joy and comfort: Tua praeſentia, Domine, Laurentio ipſam craticulam dulcem fecit; thy preſence, O Lord, made the tormenting Gridiron ſweet to St. Lawrence, ſaith an Ancient. Philip Lantgrave of Heſſe, being a long time Priſoner under Charles the fifth, felt the divine conſolations of Martyrs ſupporting of him. O let us labor to taſt more of the ſweetneſs of Chriſt, to find his blood in every Pardon, his Spirit in every Grace, his Wine-cellar in every Ordinance, that the Divine Comforts, that we experimentally feel in him, may ſweeten the Croſs to us.
4. Love to Chriſt ſtands in an holy Benevolence towards him; it ſurrenders up the whole man to him; it endeavours to ſerve and honour him to the utmoſt. Thus thoſe many thouſands cry out, worthy is the Lamb that was ſlain to receive power, and riches, and wiſdom, and ſtrength, and honour, and glory, and bleſſing. Rev. 5.11, 12. they give all to Chriſt. This is an excellent Preparative for Suffering: If we would ſerve him in other things, we muſt ſerve him in ſuffering for him; if we would honour him in obedience to other Commands, we muſt honour him in taking up the Croſs too. St. Paul deſired, that Chriſt might be magnified in his body, whether it were by life or by death: Phil. 1.20. If he lived he would magnifie Chriſt by Active Obedience; and if he died, he would do it by Paſſive: Either way he would have Chriſt glorified in him.Tot laudant-ora, quot ſunt vulnera. Magd. hiſt. Cent. 4. cap. 12. The Martyr Romanus, having a multitude of wounds in his body, thanked the Perſecutor for opening ſo many mouths to glorify Chriſt. In nothing is Chriſt ſo much glorified as, in his ſuffering Saints; therein they demonſtrate the higheſt Love, Seal up the Evangelical Truths with their own blood; practically prefer Chriſt before all the World, and offer up themſelves for him who gave himſelf a Sacrifice for them. O let us labor to make a total reſignation of our ſelves to him, that if ſufferings come, we may be able to bear them for his ſake.