Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5 · Verse 10
Verse 10. Blessed are they that are persecuted.]
To be persecuted (as simply considered) is no blessed thing; for then it were to be desired and praid for. But let a man love a quiet life, and labout…. 34. 13. to see good daies, said those two great champions, David and1 Pet. …. 10. Peter, who themselves had indured a world of persecution, and paid for their learning. The like counsell gives St Paul, and the Authour1 Tim. 2. 2. to the Hebrews: For they felt by experience, how unable1 Thes. 4. 11. Heb. 12. 11.they were to bear crosses when they fall upon them. It was this Peter that denied his master, upon the sight of a silly wench that questioned him: And this David, that changed his behaviour before Abimelech, and thereupon gave this advice to all that should come after him.
For righteousnesse sake]
This is it that makes the Martyr, a good cause and a good conscience. Martyrem facit causa, non supplicium, saith one Father; Not the suffering, but the cause makes a…. Martyr. And, Multum interest, & qualia quis, & qualis quis que Greg.patiatur, saith another: It greatly skilleth, both what it is a man suffereth, and what a one he is that suffereth. If he suffer as an evildoer, he hath his mends in his own hands: but if for righteousnesseTalia quis que luat … quis que …. sake, as here, and if men say and do all manner of evil against you (falsly and lyingly) for my sake, as in the next verse, and for the foreignGospels sake, as Marke hath it, this is no bar to blessednesse. Nay, it is an high preferment on earth, Phil. 1. 29. and hath a crown abiding it in Heaven, beyond the which mortall mens wishes cannot… extend. But let all that will have share in these comforts, see that they be able to say with the Church, Psal. 144. 21 22. Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of the hearts, that, for thy sake, we are …… continually. Upon which words excellently St Austin, Quid est, inquit, novit occulta? quae …? &c. What secrets of the heart, saith he, are those that God is here said to know? Surely these; that for thy sake we are slain, &c. slain thou maist… see a man, but wherefore or for whose sake he is slain, thou knowest not, God only knoweth. Sunt qui causâ humanae gloriae paterentur, as that Father goeth on. There want not those that would suffer death (and seemingly for righteousnesse sake) only for applause of the world and vain glory. As Lucian telleth of Peregrinus the Philosopher, that meerly for the glory of it he would have been made a Martyr. The Circumcelliones (a most pernicious branch of the haeresie of the Donatists) were so … to obtain (by suffering) the praise of Martyrdom, that they would seem to throw themselves down headlong from high places, or cast themselves into fire or water. Al xander the … was near martyrdom, Acts 19. 33. who yet afterward made shipwrack of the faith, and became a bitter enemy to the truth, that he had profesled, 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. & 4. 14, 15. Faelix …, an Anabaptist of …, being put to death for his obstinacy, and ill practices at Tigure, praised God that had called him to…. Annal decad 2. pag. 92. the sealing up of his truth with his blood, was animated to constancy by his mother and brother, and ended his life with these words, Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit. What could any hearty Hooper, trusty Taylour, or sincere … have said or done more in such a case? It is not then the suffering, but the suffering for righteousnesse sake that proveth a man …, and entitleth him to heaven. The Philistims died by the fall of the house, as well as Samson; sed diver so fine, ac fato, as one saith. Christ…. and the theeves were in the same condemnation: Similis paena, sed aissimilis causa, saith Austin: their punishment was all alike, but not their cause. Baltasar … the Burgundian that slew the Prince of Orange, 1584. Iun. 30. endured very grievous torments: But it was pertinacy in him rather then patience, stupidity of sense,D. … upon …. not a solidity of faith, a wretchlesse disposition, not a confident resolution. Therefore no heaven followed upon it, because he suffered not as a Martyr, but as a malefactour.
For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven]
Surely, if there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by the crosse, said that Martyr,Bradf. that was hasting thither in a fiery charet. The Turks account all them, whom the Christians kill in battell, Mahometan Saints and Martyrs; assigning them a very high place in Paradise. In someTurk. …. sol. …. parts of the West-Indies there is an opinion in grosse, that the soul is immortall; and that there is a life after this life, where, beyond certain hills (they know not where) those that died in defence ofArch B. Abbots … p. …. their countrey, should remain after death in much blessednesse; which opinion made them very valiant in their fights. Should not the assarance of Heaven make us valiant for the truth? should weJer. 9. 3. not suffer with joy the spoiling of our goods? yea the losse of ourHeb. 10. 34. lives, for life eternall? should we not look up to the recompence of reward, to Christ the authour and finisher of our faith, who stands over us in the encounter, as once over Stephen, with aActs 7. Crown on his head, and another in his hand, and saith, Vincenti Rev. ….Dabo, to him that overcommeth will I give this. Surely this son of David will shortly remove us from the ashes of our forlorn …, to the Hebron of our peace and glory: This son of Jesse 1 Sam. 32. 7.will give every one of us, not fields and vineyards, but Crowns, Scepters, Kingdoms, glories, beauties, &c. The expectation of this blessed day, this nightlesse day (as one calleth it) must (as it did withforeign Naz. Davids souldiers all the time of their banishment) digest all our sorrows, and make us in the midst of miseries for Christ, to overabound exceedingly with joy, as Paul did. Q. Elizabeths governmentforeign was so much the more happy and welcome, because it … upon the stormy times of Q Mary. She came as a fresh2 Cor. 7. 4. spring after a sharpe winter; and brought the ship of England from a troublous and tempestuous sea, to a safe and quiet harbour. So will the Lord Christ do for all his persecuted people. Ye see (said Bilney the Martyr, and they were his last words, to one that exhorted him to be constant, and take his death patiently) ye see, saith he, when the mariner is entred his ship to sail on the troublous sea, how he, for a while, is tossed in the billows of the same: but yet in hope that he shall once come to the quiet haven, he beareth in better comfort the troubles that he feeleth. So am I now towards this sayling: and whatsoever storms I shall feel, yet shortly after shall my ship be in the haven, as I doubt not thereof by the grace of God, &c. Lo, this was that, that held the good mans headAct. and Mon. sol 923. above water, the hope of Heaven. And so it did many others, whom it were easie to instance. Elizabeth Cooper, Martyr, being condemned, and at the stake with Simon Miller, when the fire came unto her, she a little shranke thereat, crying once, ha. When Simon heard the same, he put his hand behind him toward her, and willed her to be strong and of good chear: For, good sister, said …, we shall have a joyfull and sweet supper. Whereat she beingIbid 1319. strengthned, stood as still and as quiet, as one most glad to finish that good course. Now I take my leave of you (writeth William Tims, Martyr, in a letter to a friend of his, a little before his death) till we meet in Heaven. And hie you after; I have tarried a great … for you. And seeing you be so long in making ready, I will tarry no longer for you: You shall finde me merrily …, Holy, Ibid 1723.holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth, at my journies end, &c. And, I cannot here let slip that golden …, wherewith those 40 Martyrs (mentioned by St Basil) comforted one another, when theyforeign were cast out naked all night in the winter, and were to be burned the next morrow. Sharpe is the winter (said they,) but sweet is Paradice; painfull is the frost, but joyfull the fruition that followeth it. Wait but a while, and the Patriarks … shall cherish us. After one night we shall lay hold upon eternall life. Let our … feel the fire for a season, that we may for ever walke arm in armforeign with Angels: let our hands fall off, that they may for ever be lifted up to the praise of the Almighty, &c.