The Militant Christian, Text (4 of 4)

The Militant Christian · Text (4 of 4)

p. 161Men (though never so Mighty) must submit themselves to this Gospel-Standard, or be destroyed for ever. They must embrace the Gospel of Peace, or else feel the weight of Divine Wrath. This is the Name which your Captain General hath written on his Vesture and on his Thigh; and this is the Motto he hath written on his Standard, Rex Regum, & Dominus Dominantium, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. This Standard shall not be taken down, until it hath Conquered all the Mighty and Malicious, the Potent and Proud Enemies of the Gospel. What shall become of the Beast, and of the Kings of the Earth and their Armies, when gathered together, to make War against him that sate on the White-Horse, and against his Army? Why, they shall be routed, ruined, and most miserably destroyed, Rev. 19.17, 18. And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun, and he cryed with a loud Voice, saying to all the Fowls that fly in the midst of Heaven, Come and gather your selves together, unto the Supper of the Great God, that you may eat the Flesh of Kings, and the Flesh of Captains, and the Flesh of Mighty men, and the Flesh of Horses, and of them that sit on them, and p. 192the Flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

The Gospel-Standard is an Ensign that hath been shot at, and designed against by the Enemies, but it stands up, and is displayed in the World; and it shall continue until it shall make all the Mighty ones of the World to strike Sayle, and vail Bonnet unto it.

The Lord Jesus will cut down with the sharp Sword that goeth out of his mouth, and trample under his feet all that will not come under his Scepter and Standard. 1 Cor. 15.28, 29.1 Cor 15:281 Cor 15:29He must Reign until all Authority be under him, and until all his Enemies be made his Foot-stool. Sentensis writeth, Cestensis in his 7th. Book. Anno. 1253.that when Grosted Bishop of Lincoln died, there was a Voice heard in the Popes Court (Vent miser in judicium Dei) Come thou wretch, to be judged of God; and that the Pope was found dead in his bed the next day, and a blew stroke upon his body, as though …he had been beaten with a Staff.

A Voice like this, shall in a little time ring over the World.

The Judgment of the Man of Sin, and of the Whore of Babylon, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations; the Judgment of the Beast, and of the Kings of the Earth, which have given up their Power unto him, is come. Jesus Christ will beat them down, and make them his Foot-stool, who rise up against his Standard. The Assyrians shall fall by the Sword. And there shall be such an Ensign displayed in Mount Sion, that the Princes shall be afraid of the Ensign, saith the Lord.

p. 193Ah Soldiers of Christ!It is said of Polemon, that to make his Soldiers fiercer in assailing the Lacedemonians, he cast his Colours into the midst of his Enemies, whereupon they pressed with great violence, esteeming it a great dishonour to abandon their Ensign. So Jesus Christ hath cast forth his Colours into the midst of his Enemies to encourage his Soldiers what an encourageing Standard hath your Captain set up for you, to the Terrour of your Enemies? O the blessed Epethites that are given unto the Gospel for your great encouragement! It is called the Gospel of Peace. The Gospel of the Grace of God. The Gospel of Christ. The Power of God unto Salvation. The word of life. The wisdom of God in a Mystery. The unsearchable riches of Christ, &c. Here you have lively displayed to you, the face of Christ, the love of Christ, the heart of Christ, the Blood of Christ, the Bowels of Christ, the love of Christ reaking, streaming, and sparkling in his Blood: The Gospel of Christ is the New-Testament in his Blood; There you may see your Magna Charta; There you may see the exceeding great and precious promises, which are given to you; there you may see the Precious Legacies, and unsearchable riches of Grace and Glory, which your dying dear Redeemer left you. There you may see the Golden Chain of your Salvation, how you are linked fast to Glory. There you may read the Father Electing, the Son Redeeming, and the holy Spirit Sanctifying and preparing you for Glory. There you may see that your blessed Captain is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, &c. There you may see him on the Cross evidently set forth and Crucified for you; and now sitting as a Conquerour on the Throne. There you may see him that was once Crowned with Thorns for you, to wear the Crown of Life and Immortality, and Laurel of Glory. There is not one discouraging p. 194Word in the Gospel, or Black-Letter, to dishearten you; the Gospel is the Book of Life already opened unto you; every line is Love and Life, Sweetness and Peace to you. O! where can you match this matchless Standard? Ah Saints of God, and Soldiers of Christ! Chear up, and be couragious under it.

And Sinners, Enemies to Christ, be you allured and enamoured to come in under it, or fear and tremble at the thoughts of standing out against it; you must bow or break, this is the long and short. It is said of Alexander, that when he came to besiege, or storm any Garison, he was wont to hang up a lighted Lamp to be a sign of Mercy, that if the Enemy would submit whilst that was burning, there was Quarter to be given; but after that was out, there was nothing but the bloody Standard up for a Sign; and nothing remained then but death. Sinners, the Lord Jesus doth so by you; he doth first hang forth the Golden Lamp of the Gospel of Life, to summon you in, and holds forth the Flag of Truce, the light-side of the Gospel of Peace unto you; but if you come not in, he will turn the black and bloody side of the Standard toward you, and shew your Doom and Death without Mercy,Heb 2.3.Heb 2:3 With an how shall you escape, if you neglect so great Salvation? And with a bring forth those mine Enemies, Luke 9.27.Luke 9:27that would not have me to Reign over them, and slay them before me.

Luk 2.34.Luke 2:34The Gospel, like Christ himself, is set for the fall and risi…g again of many in Israel; and for a Sign to be spoken against. It is for a Sign of p. 195the Fall and Destruction of Implacable Enemies; and for the rising, the consolation, the final Victory, and everlasting Salvation of all the true followers of the Lamb.

6Sixth Consideration: For your further encouragement, your Fortifications are good: they are all Impregnable, and Impenetrable, of most Invincible strength. Your Out-works, your Inner-works, your Ramparts, your Walls, your Bulwarks, your Forts and Towers, all your Defence is encouraging. Jer. 15.20. A Fenced Brazen Wall. That is strong; where are any Walls of Brass, but about the Church? And yet behold stronger than Brass, Isa. 26.1. Salvation will God appoint for Walls and Bulwarks. How safe must those be, that are Walled about with Brass, and Fortified round about with Salvation? Brass is strong, and Salvation is stronger; and yet view well your Defence, and you shall find it to be stronger again, Psal. 18.2. The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer, my God, my Strength in whom I will trust, my Buckler, and the Horn of my Salvation, and my high Tower. As the Cause is greater, and better than the Effect, so is the Lord more stronger than Salvation it self. Let me speak in the Dialect of the Psalmist, Psal. 48.12, 13. Walk about Sion, go round about her, tell the Towers thereof, mark ye well her Bulwarks, consider her Palaces. Sion was a Type of the Militant Church, and her Towers, and Walls, and Bulwarks, was Typical, to signifie Mystical Sion, the Church of Christ. Now Soldiers of Christ, go round about the p. 196Militant Church, and behold your Fortifications, view your Works, mark well your Bulwarks, and you shall find them to be of Invincible strength; and tell the Towers thereof that are for your defence. The Towers are so many, that you cannot easily tell them; yet mark them well, and count them if you can. All the Glorious Persons in the Trinity you may reckon for so many Towers; all the Glorious Names, Titles and Attributes of the blessed God-head, whether Communicable or Incommunicable, whether Nominal or Real; whether Absolute or Relative; and there are near Five hundred of these, of the one, and of the other, in Scripture, and you may tell every one of these for a Tower and Defence for the Church.

Again, count up the Glorious Promises of the Blessed God, that are of use, and in force, and you may write them down for so many Towers. Ah Soldiers of Christ! how strong must those Fortifications, those Walls and Bulwarks be, that have so many Towers to Flank and Defend them round about?

At one Tower Truth Preserves; at another Omnipotency Defends; at another Wisdom Counter-Works all the Plots, and Mines, and Stratagems of the Enemies; at another Justice clears off the Enemies; at another Wrath breaks out upon them like Fire, &c. At one Tower lies oppressing Pharoah, and his Potent Army, dead together; at another Lucifer, Son of the morning, that glittering Star Senacherib pluckt down from Heaven, and cast to the Earth; p. 197at another Persecuting Herod, smitten, and gives up the Ghost.

Ah! how Formidable and Terrible are the Attributes, Threatnings, and Promises of God to his Enemies! and how full of encouragement, and comfort are they unto his own People! Oh how safe must they be, that have such strong Fortifications as these? What a most Emphatical Scripture is that, to set forth the strength of Christs Soldiers defence? Isa. 33.16. There is an Emphasis in almost every word; and it answers all Objections that may be made, against the security and safety of them that fear the Lord, in the worst of times. He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks; bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure. Their place of Defence is Munited and Fortified with Rocks; Munition of Rocks, Impregnable, Impenetrable, Inaccessable Rocks, where the Pioneers can make no Mines to hurt; and it is so high, that no Scaling-Ladder can reach to the top of their Defence, they shall dwell so high; If the Enemy could make Ladders as long as Jacobs Ladder was, yet they could not Seale these Walls, they would be found too short to reach the top: For their place of Defence is as high as any thing in God.

Object. Object. But there may be a close Siege round about the strongest Defence, that the besieged may be starved out, and forced to yield.

Answ. Not so here; for Bread shall be given, Sol.saith the Text.

p. 198Object. Object. But the Enemy may turn away the Waters, or poyson them, as many times they do; and the strongest places have been taken this way.

Sol.Answ. Not so neither here; for his Waters shall be sure, saith the Text: The River of God shall always flow unto them, to make glad the City of God. Ah Soldiers of Christ! what encouragement is here to hold out the Siege, when your Defence is so strong, and your Provision so sure?

And among all your Strength, and Towers, mark well, and take special notice of your main Tower, and Castle-Royal, The Great Name of God. Prov. 18.10. The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower; the Righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The Omnipotent Power of God to aid, to succour, to preserve, and to deliver his poor People: This was that strong Tower to which Moses did run, and was safe, when pursued by Pharoah and his Mighty Army. Exod. 14. This was that strong Tower the Three Children took for their Defence, Dan. 3. And let me tell you, That the Great Name of God is in some sense, of a larger extent than the Promises of God: The Promises of God doth assure us, what God will do; but when we look to the Great Name of God, there it is what God can do upon an Accompt of his Omnipotent Power, and Prerogative Royal. The Three Children had no particular Promise that they should not be burnt in the Fiery Furnace; but they looked to Gods Royal Prerogative, and Almighty Power, and there they were p. 199safe. Our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us out of thy Hand, O King. When they had no particular Promise, they fled to, and pitched upon an Attribute, and they were safe. Oh what may not God do for his Great Name, when poor Creatures do make it their Refuge?

7Seventh Consideration: Though your Number be the fewest, yet your side is the strongest: the strength of the Trinity is on your side, and that is Infinitely more than can be against you. Exod. 14.14. The Lord shall Fight for you, said Moses to the Israelites; and how strong must they be, that God Fights for? Rom. 8.31. If God be for us, who can be against us?

I have read of Antigonor, It is said of the Lacedemonians, that they were never wont to enquire of the number of their Enemys, but where they were.how that when some told him of the Super-numerous Army that was coming against him, and that he was under Number to Engage the Enemy; How many (said he) do you reckon Me to be? If an Antigonor would be reckoned for many; how many may Jesus Christ be reckoned to be? What if the Militant Church be few in number, One of a City, and Two of a Tribe; and there be never so many Legions of Devils, and Armies of wicked men against them? yet you may reckon Jesus Christ against all these, if they were a Thousand times more. Isa. 41.14. Fear not thou Worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee. If a poor despicable Worm, should take a Mote, and challenge the great Armies of the World to Fight them, as Alexanders, Pompeys, the great Turk, &c. every one would look upon it as a ridiculous thing, and p. 200would conclude this Worm to be no match to Fight them; I, but if an Omnipotent God will march forth with, and take the part of this Worm, then all the strength of Earth and Hell will be too weak to Engage with this Worm. Fear not thou worm Jacob, I will help thee. Though thou art as weak as a Worm, yet I have the strength of a God, and who can stand against a God, and a Worm, when their strength is United? And then it is added in the next verse,God is Maximus in minimis the greatest in the lest of all his Creatures. Behold I will make thee a new threshing Instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the Mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the Hills as Chaff. God will help this Worm Jacob, and then shall he thresh down all the Mountains that stand before him!

Ah Soldiers of Christ, though you be few and weak your Captain-General is of Invincible strength; and greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the World, 1 Jo. 4.4. Although you may be few and weak in your selves, yet you may be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his Might, Eph. 6.10. You have the Power of Gods Might on your side; and if we Fall (saith Luther) Christ Falls. Si nos ruimus ruit Christus. Luth.And you have the strength of the blessed Angels on your side, that potent Host: If your General see that you want help, he will raise the Forces of Heaven to Aid and Assist you; and then, how long will you be? Psal. 18.17. The Chariots of God are Twenty Thousand, even Thousands of Angels, the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the Holy Place. The Lord Jesus he commands the Host of the Mighty Angels, and if need be, he p. 201will command them down for your help. Down ye Principalities and Powers, Mights and Dominions, for the Relief of my Militant Church; I charge you to assist them, and to Minister unto them, and serve them; ye Ministring Spirits, I command and require you to the service of the Church. Ah Christians! you may easily see your Side to be the strongest, for your great encouragement.

8Eighth Consideration: Though your service be hard and sharp, yet it will be but short. You may endure a great Fight of Affliction, but it will be but a short Fight: your Fight shall hold but a few days. Rev. 2.10.The Captain of our Salvation, though he took a bitter draught of Affliction, yet he did but drink of the Brook that is in the way, not of the spring for perpetuity, Psa. 110.7.Ps 110:7 Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison, and you shall have Tribulation Ten days. The Ten days will soon be over; and if days may seem to be too long, it is shortned to an hour, Rev. 3.10. Their conflict is called the hour of Temptation: you have but an hour to suffer, and the Glass will quickly run out; and the Devil and wicked men have but their Hour to Afflict and Persecute. Luk. 22.53. But this is your Hour, and the Power of Darkness, said Jesus Christ to his Persecuting Enemies; and if the Hour may seem to be too long, it is shortned to a Moment, and that is the shortest of all time; a Moment is so short, that it can scarce be measured by Art. 2 Cor. 4.17. Our light afflictions which are but for a moment, &c. A Moment is gone in the twinkling of an eye, it is p…ssed away as sudden as a thought. Says one of the Martyrs, It is but to shut your eyes, and before you open them again, you will be in Heaven. p. 202I have but a stile or two, When thanasi… was to be Banished, he said to his Friends that bewailed his condition. Nubecula est, cito transibit. It is but a little Cloud, and will quickly be gone. Isa. 35.10. Rev. 12.12.Isa 35:10Rev 12:12said Doctor Taylor the Martyr. and I shall be at my Fathers house. Luther hath three Diminutives to set forth the shortness of the Christians Afflictions, they are (saith he) but for a Little, little, little while: It is but a short blast and it will soon be over.

Soldiers of Christ, chear up, and hold out; it is but a little while before your Combat and Conflict will be over, and your hard Service will receive a Period, and End, in a Quietus est: Sorrow and Sighing shall flee away, and then everlasting joy shall be upon your heads. The Devil comes down with great Wrath; he rageth much, because he knows his time is but short; and what encouragement should it be to you, to bear afflictions, and endure hardness, to keep up your Combat, when you know that the time is but short? 1 Cor. 7.29. But this I say, Brethren, the time is short, &c. The time is so short, that they that weep, should be as though they wept not: The shortness of the time should make afflictions rather to seem to be, than to be real and indeed.

9Ninth Consideration: Though your Enemies be never so Formidable and Terrible, yet they are all conquered: Look upon them asunder, or together, and they are all conquered.

11 The Devils, those Potent, cruel, malicious Enemies, they are Conquered and spoyled**foreign expolio. Strip them, Pull off their Armour, as Captives are dealt with in VVar.. Col. 2.15. And having spoyled Principalities and Powers, he made a shew of it openly, triumphing over them in it. It is an allusion (say some) to the custom of the Romans, who when they p. 203had Conquered their Enemies, and Disarmed them, they were wont (in a Triumphant manner) to Brandish their Swords and Display their Colours, and carry their Arms in open view as Trophies and Emblems of Victory, to shew to the beholders, how they were the Conquerours. And so the Lord Jesus having obtained the Victory, and gotten the Conquest, he rode as it were in Triumph, and made a shew of it openly to the World what he had done Here are the Arms and Weapons of the Prince of Da…kness, of the Principalities and Powers: I have spoyled them all I have disarmed them all, and made a shew of it openly, Triumphing over them in it; behold I have out-witted the Old-Se pent, I have ov rcome the Dragon. Now is the Judgment of this World, now shall the Prince of this World be cast out, Joh. 12.31.

22. For Afflictions and Persecutions, the Apostle challengeth the Field of them all, and bids Defiance to them, and insults over them in a Triumphant manner, as being already overcome by Jesus Christ, Rom. 8.35, 36, 37, &c. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall Tribulation, or D…stress, or Persecution, or Famine, or Nakedness, or Peril, or Sword? As it is written, for thy sake are we killed all the day long, we are accounted as Sheep for the slaughter. Come one, and all Afflictions and Persecutions, with all your blackness, and darkness, and threats, and terrours, what, will you have the Victory? Nay (notwithstanding all that you have done, or can do) we are the Conquerours; yea, and more than, Conquerours, through him p. 204that loveth us: Our Captain hath fought you, and Conquered you all; and now are we more than Conquerours of you; we have so Conquered, that we cannot be Conquered again.

Qui pro nob… mortem semel vicit semper vincit in nobis. Cyp. Ep. 9. He that once overcomes Death for us, alwayes over comes Death in us.3. For Death, that grim and gastly Enemy, that mighty Leveller, that King of Terrours which spareth none, the cruel Grave is Conquered likewise. The Apostle doth as it were deride and jeer at Death, and insults over it, as being a Disarmed and Conquered Enemy. 1 Cor. 15.54, 55, &c. Death is swallowed up in Victory. O Death, where is thy sting! O Grave, where is thy Victory! The sting of Death is Sin, and the strength of Sin is the Law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the Victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. O Death! thou wert once a Cruel, Formidable, Stinging, Killing Enemy; thou wert once terribly Armed; but Jesus Christ hath been in the Grave, He hath entred thy Quarters, and strong-Holds, He hath pluck't out thy Sting, and took off thy Arms, and spoyled thy Power. He hath swallowed thee up in Victory; and now, O Death, what canst thou do, for want of thy Sting? And now, O Grave, thou shalt be but a resting-place to sleep in, for them that dye in Jesus Christ, and a Dark-Passage to the Heavenly-Palace.

44. For all the World together, it is Conquered to your hands.

When Jesus Christ was to take his leave of the World, and of his Disciples, He chears up, and encourageth his Soldiers, like a valiant Conquerour, Joh. 16.33. In the World you shall p. 205have Tribulation, but be of good chear, Melancton was thus enraged by Luther: VVhy should we fear a Conquered VVorld, that have Christ the Conquerour on our side.I have overcome the World. Chear up brave Soldiers, in the midst of all Tribulations, Rage, and Furies of the World: Let the Wicked Storm and Rage never so much, keep up your Conflict, and follow couragiously, for I have overcome the World.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! What an Encouragement is this, to endure hardness, that your cruel Enemies are all Conquered? Your Captain-General hath broken through them all, and won the day; He is got over the Devils, and over all the Tribulations of the World, and got through the Grave, and stands on the other side, and bids you take courage, and chear up, for the World is Conquered; and now you are in the Pursuit of your Enemies, they are all Routed and Spoiled, and therefore bear it up gallantly, for the day is yours.

10Tenth Consideration: Your hardest Service shall not hurt you. It was an Heroical and true saying of one,Socrates an Heathen, speaking of his Enemies, said, they that kill me, cannot hurt me. A Christian may say so much more. We may be killed (saith he) but we cannot be hurt. No Commander else in the World can assure his Soldiers of that safety that Jesus Christ doth his. Luk. 21. The Lord Jesus tells his Soldiers of the hardness of their Service: How Men should lay their hands upon them, and Persecute them, and deliver them up unto the Synagogues, and into Prisons, and that they should be brought before Kings and Rulers for his Names sake; how they should be betrayed by Parents, and Brethren, and Kinsfolk and Friends, and some of them put to death, and how they should be hated of all men for his Names sake; This p. 206is hard service, you will say, and yet notwithstanding all this, he assures them, That not an hair of their Head shall Perish, ver. 18. Jesus Christ assures his Soldiers, as Paul did those that were with him in the Ship, Act. 27.34. notwithstanding the danger of the …empest, yet an hair should not fall from any of their heads: The Storm and Shipwrack should do them no hurt.Luther being in great danger, said he should be safe aut in coelo aut sub coelo. So Christ assures his Soldiers, how that all the dangers, and hazards, and sufferings of his followers shall not harm them one hair of their heads: He will secure their lowest and meanest concernments; the hair of the head is of least moment, it is but an Excrementitious part of the body, and can be spared with least detriment; but yet not an hair of your heads shall perish; He will provide some Plank, or Board, or something or other, to wast you over, and bring you safe to the shore of blessedness, notwithstanding all the gust and blast of Providences, and all the Persecutions, and Afflictions of this present World; Though you may be killed all the day long, yet you shall not be hurt.

Eleventh Consideration: Your hardest service is New-Covenant Priviledg. And what an encouragement is it to endure hardness! Phil. 1.28, 29. And in nothing terrified by your Adversaries, which is to them an evident token of Perdition; but to you of Salvation, and that of God: For to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. It is a token of Salvation to you, and it is given as Faith is given, through p. 207the same hand of Divine love, and through the blessed Covenant of free and everlasting Grace. 1 Cor. 3.22. Whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, or the World, or Life, or Death **Death is an out-let to all evil, and an in-let to all happiness. Nemo ante funera faelix Solon., or things present, or things to come, All is yours. All is yours; it is yours Emphatically, it's yours by way of Priviledg; the Ministers, and the Afflictions and Persecutions that do attend the Gospel, …s yours; all the things that are Present, are yours, yea Death is yours, and all is yours; what ever it be, it is for the Priviledg and Advantage of them that be in Christ: All things are so the Priviledg of believers; as that they work together for good, Rom. 8.28. The Lord carries on the happiness of believers, all the cross winds of Providence the Lord makes use of, to carry them to the Haven of rest and happiness; every billow of Persecution and Affliction, to mount them nearer to Heaven: The Persecutors are but as it were Gods Scullions, to scour the Saints, and to make them the brighter for Glory; neither Men nor Devils can so Afflict, but the Lord will make it for the priveledg and advantage of his People. Josephs Gradation in his Afflictions, the Pit, and the Prison, and the like, they were but as so many steps to his Preferment: What his brethren intended for evil, that the Lord intended for good: And so what Men and Devils design and intend for evil to the people of God, that the Lord doth carry on their good by, and makes it their Priviledg.

12Twelfth Consideration: Soldiers of Christ, for your further encouragement your hard p. 208Service is honourable Service. It is for your present and Immortal honour, to endure hardness in Christs Service, the Marks and Scars that you receive in Christs Service are honourable: Paul did glory in his sufferings, as having a great deal of honour in them;Gal. 6.14, 17.Gal 6:14Gal 6:17 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the Marks of the Lord Jesus.

There is more honour in the Cross of Christ, than in the Crowns of the World;Ignatius when Marcellus was asked how he durst give Battel to Hannibal: he answered, I am a Roman born, and a Soldier, and by him shall I make my Renown everlasting. Christs Soldiers shall gain everlasting renown by their service for Christ. the more of the Cross, the more of Honour. It is more Honourable to be a Martyr, than a Monarch. The Marks of the Lord Jesus, are Honourable Marks; they are not Brands of Infamy, as the Marks of Malefactors are, which they are Stigmatized and Branded withal; but as the Scars and Cuts which Soldiers have received in some honourable Battel: The Marks which Christs Soldiers bear, are the Marks of the Lord Jesus, which they have received in the Warfare of the Lamb. The Chain of Christ is a Glorious Chain. Alice Drivers, a Martyr, said concerning her Iron Chain, Never did Handkerchief so become my Neck, as this Chain. The Chain of Persecution is more Honourable, than the Chains of Gold.Sir Lewis Marsake saw the Halters to be put about the Necks of his two fellow-sufferers, and seeing himself to be spared because of his degree, called to the Lieutenant for one of those precious Chains about his Neck, in honour of his Lord; VVhy I pray you (saith he) do you deny me the badg of so excellent an Order? Is not my Cause the same with theirs? Mirrour of Martyrs. pag. 315. 2 Tim. 1.16. Onesiphorus hath often refreshed my Bowels, and was not ashamed of my Chain. I have read of one of the Martyrs, that was wont to call his Chain, p. 209Christs Chain of Pearl. Oh the Honour that there is in enduring hardness in the service of Christ! It is an Honour that God never put upon the blessed Angels; they have the Honour of being Ministring-Spirits to serve God in a way of active Obedience; but were never suffering-Spirits, to serve him in a way of passive Obedience. Romanus, a Noble man by Birth, gloried more in his Persecutions and Martyrdom, than in his Birth, and Nobleness of his Blood: Though he was whipt, and cut, and torn, yet said he to the Persecutors, Spare me not for my Nobility; for not the Blood of my Progenitors, but Christian Profession, makes me Noble. The Crown of Martrydom, is the most glorious Crown in the World: And therefore be hence Encouraged, to endure hardness in Christs Service, for it is for your Honour: Your Service doth Crown you, whilst you are yet in your Combat.

13Thirteenth Consideration: Your Service may be hard, yet your Pay shall be good. You shall have good Pay in hand, and better hereafter; here is an Hundred-fold in this Life, with Persecution, for all your sufferings; and eternal Life in the World to come, Mar. 10.29, 30.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! what encouraging-Pay is here? An Hundred-fold in hand, for all your service, be it never so hard, and yet so much in Arrears to be Paid off hereafter, when the general Muster and Pay-day shall come? What encouragement was this to Paul, that good Soldier of Christ, who had endured so much hardness in Christs Service? That Pay-day p. 210was coming, when all his Service should be well paid off. 2 Tim. 4.7, 8. I have fought the good Fight, I have finished my Course, I have kept the Faith; Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which God the Righteous Judg will give me at that day. Now Fight your good Fight, and endure hardness; every piece of your hard Service shall be ennumerated at the great Day, and paid off to the utmost; Jesus Christ will pay off all his Soldiers with Crown-Pay, not with Crowns of Gold, but Crowns of Glory, 1 Pet. 5.4. So Rev. 2.10. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life. A Crown to shew the Splendor, Glory and Riches of it; and a Crown of Life to shew the permanency and duration of it; It is a Crown of glory that fadeth not away. Jesus Christ will pay off all his Soldiers with the same Pay that he hath received himself, for all the hardness that he endured, Joh. 17.22. And the glory that thou hast given me, have I given them. Ah! where is any Commander, that will pay off his Soldiers like Jesus Christ? You shall have the same Crown, the same Kingdom, the same Glory, the same Throne that he hath himself, Rev. 3.21. To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his Throne.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! will not this Pay of the Kingdom, encourage you to endure any hardness for Christ? What should you do or suffer for such Pay as this? It is but a little while before your hardness will be over, and p. 211your Captain will hug and embrace you with his Well done thou good and faithful Servant, Mat. 25.23. Majora certamina majora sequuntur praemia. Tertul. ad Scapulam.Matt 25:23enter thou into the joys of thy Lord; take the Possession of the joys and riches of glory for ever, as a reward for all your Service and hardships: The greater the present sufferings, the greater the future rewards.

14Fourteenth Consideration: Though your Service be never so hard in it self, your Captain can make it easie: Mat 11.28, 29. My yoke is easie, and my burden is light. It is Christs yoke and his burden, and he will help draw in the yoke, and help bear the burthen, and then it will be easie and light: If a Child should be put to bear a yoke, or a burden of any considerable weight, it would be insufferable, and too hard for him; but now if a strong Giant will help his Child, and make the yoke and the burden to be his own, how easie will it be? I can do all things (saith the Apostle Paul) through Ch…ist which strengthneth me, Phil. 4.13. He could do …or suffer any thing through the strength of Christ.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! the strengthnings, the supportings, the quicknings, the comfortings, the heart-chearings, the soul-revivings of Jesus Christ, can make your hardest Service very sweet and easie: It can make Afflictions,Heb. 12 11.Heb 12:11 rather seem to be grievous, than to be grievous indeed. Other Commanders can put their Soldiers upon hard Service, but they cannot make it easie, as Jesus Christ can do: He can so Principle, and Influence, and Enamour the Souls of his Soldiers with love, that their hardest p. 212Service will be very sweet; he can unsting Affliction, and so sweeten our distresses, that a Prison may become a Paradise, and a day of great Affliction and Persecution, to be a day of great Rejoycing, Mat. 5.11, 12. He can Communicate that Grace, which will make you to glory in Tribulation: He hath so sweetned the sufferings of his followers, that Bainham the Martyr could liken his fiery Tortures unto a Bed of Down, and a Bed of Roses. When Martin charged the Jaylor concerning the hard usage of one Elizabeth Young, in Prison, that she should have one day Bread, and another Water: (saith she) If you take away my meat, I trust, God will take away my hunger. Ah Christians! the Lord hath many ways to facilitate and sweeten the hardest service, and sorest sufferings.

15Fifteenth Consideration: Those that have endured most hardness in Christs Service, have commended it at last. St. Paul calls his Fight, a good Fight; he commended it for a good Fight, when he had finished his Course, 2 Tim. 4.7. Notwithstanding all his Stripes and Nakedness, his Imprisonments, Poverty, and Persecution, when ready to be offered up and beheaded, he commends it for a good Fight of Faith. When Polycarpus had served long under Christs Banner, and was come to Martrydom, saith he, I have been a servant of Christ these Eighty six years, and I have alwayes found him a good Master. The true followers of Christ, have always commended his Service. A sharp Fight, a bloody Fight, and yet a good Fight; hard Service, and yet good Service, p. 213and a good Master. It was a notable saying of John Mallet, a Soldier of the Emperor of Germany, We have often hazarded our Lives for the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and shall we now shrink to die for the King of Kings? Let us follow our Captain. The Saints have chosen this service, and commended it for the best.

16Sixteenth Consideration. That notwithstanding all the hardships you endure, and all the hazards, dangers and deaths that you live among, yet you are immortal until your time is come, and your work is finished. There was no taking off the life of Christ Jesus the Captain of your Salvation, until his time was come. Oh the many dangers that Paul was in! and yet he finished his Course, and finished his Ministry, and did his Work. History tells us of Saint John, that he was cast into a Tun of scalding Lead by Domitian the Emperor, and was by way of Miracle delivered, and afterward banished into the Isle of Patmos; and notwithstanding all his dangers, he lived till very old age, and died at last a natural death. So we read Rev. 11.7. That the Witnesses could not be slain until they had finished their Testimony; they first finished their testimony and witness.

We read of one that was specially aimed at in that bloody Massacre in France, who crept into some little hole to preserve himself; and was no sooner in, but in a very short space a Spider had made a Web before the hole, where the bloody pursuers coming to search, seeing the Web, they concluded he could not be there; and by that means he escaped their hands. p. 214Christians, what encouragement is this? the Lord hath unknown ways to protect and preserve in the midst of all your dangers, until your time is come, and your work is done.

17Seventeenth Consideration. It is your way to conquer, to endure hardness. The Captain of our Salvation he conquered by enduring; and so it is the way he hath left for all his Soldiers and Followers, to get the victory and overcome, by keeping up the combat, and enduring hardness: Jesus Christ overcame by the blood of the Cross; and Christians have no way to overcome without bearing his Cross. It is said Rev. 12 11, And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their Testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. The Lamb overcame by his own blood, and the Saints overcome by the blood of the Lamb, in suffering for him; they overcome in holding fast their Testimony, and not loving their lives unto the death? The Apostle enumerating a great deal of hardness and sufferings, Rom. 8.37. Nay, (saith he) in all these things we are more then Conquerors.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! this is your way to conquer, and to be more then Conquerors, to endure hardness. How notably doth Cyprian set forth the Victoriousness of the Saints in suffering the hardest things that could be inflicted on them. The tormented stood stronger than the tormentors; the beaten and butchered members overcame the hands that did beat and butcher them; cruel stripes oft repeated, long continued, could not p. 215overcome their impregnable Faith, no not though their bowels were digged out, and not so much the members, as the wounds of the Servants of the Lord were tormented; their blood gushed out, which even quenched the burning of persecution, yea, extinguished the flames and fire of Hell, with a glorious stream.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! in the midst of your hardest and hottest serv ce, be hence encouraged, and triumphantly cry up Victory, victory; Conquest, conquest; now I am in the ready way to overcome. First, the battel, the victory when I am dead, saith Fabrianus.

18Eighteenth Consideration: Your Wounds and Scarrs shall be all healed; your broken Bones, your dislocated Joynts and Members shall be all well set, and made sound. John Baptist's Head shall be set on his Shoulders again; the Tongues which the Persecutors cut off, shall be put in the Mouths of the Saints again, to sing Hallelujah and Praise for ever; the Bodies of the Saints which have been rack't and wreck't rent and torn lacerated and cruciated inhumanly butchered and quartered, shall be all fet together in their proper places, and perfectly cured: the Bodies of the Saints that have been burnt to Ashes, and devoured by Beasts of Prey, and suffered never so many Mutations and Transmutations, shall at last be raised in the greatest Perfection, in Splendor and Glory. Phil. 3.21. Who shall change our vile bodies, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. The body of the p. 216Lord Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation, was once Wounded and Pierced with the Spear of the Enemy, and his Hands and Feet nailed to the Cross; but now these Wounds are healed, and his Body most perfect in Glory; and so shall the Bodies of the Saints be fashioned, and made like unto his glorious body: It is the Will of the Father, that it should be so. Joh. 6.39. And this is the Fathers will that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Jesus Christ will lose nothing of his Soldiers, not the least member of their bodies; no not so much as an hair of their heads, but will raise it up all in perfection and glory at last.

The enemies that wound and kill the Saints, are a means to hasten them to a perfect cure of all their imperfections: And hereupon Hugh Laverock, an old lame man, comforted himself, and John ap Rice his fellow Martyr, a blind man, when they were at the stake, Be of good comfort my Brother, Acts & Mon. prol. 3. p. 701.for my Lord of London is our good Physician, he will heal us both shortly, thee of thy Blindness, and me of my Lameness.

19Nineteenth Consideration. That it is better to endure hardness in Christs service, than to endure hardness for sin. Better to suffer as a Martyr for well-doing, than as a Malefactor for evil-doing, 1 Pet. 4.15, 16. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busie-body in other mens matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed, but let him glorifie God on this behalf. There is cause of shame, and p. 217cause of sorrow in suffering for sin, but there is cause of comfort and rejoicing in suffering for Christ. The torments that Cranmer, Bainham, and others had in their Consciences for recanting, was far worse than the torment of the fire at the Stake, which afterward they did comfortably endure.

Suffering for sin, how doth that sink the Spirits, and apale the countenance, and puts the Conscience, that tender part, upon the Wrack, and turns it into a very Hell of Torments! How dreadfully and desparately did Francis Spira lament, that ever he should wave suffering for Christs Truth and Cause, to suffer so much as he did for his Apostasie! he was, as it were, in Hell upon Earth, with the Torment of Conscience; and if there were any worse Hell behind, (he said) he longed for nothing more, than to know the worst and height of his Misery.

They that read the Lamentable Story of this poor Despairing Creature, will easily conclude, That it is better to endure hardness for Christ, than for Sin. And when men do wave the Service of Christ, for the hardness of it, he will make them to endure hardness for their Sin, whether they will or no. One Denton, in Queen Maries days, answered a Christian Friend of his acquaintance, That those were the truths of God which he had formerly declared unto him; but (said he) I cannot burn: But in some few daies after, his House being on fire, he was burned in it. And is it not better to burn at a Stake for Christ, than to burn in our Houses for our Sin? There is cause of p. 218Shame, and Sorrow, and Repentance, in suffering for Sin; but there is cause of boldness, of glorying, and rejoycing in suffering for Christ.

20Twentieth Consideration: That Persecuted Godliness, is better than Prosperous Wickedness; and the worst of Sufferings, is better than the best of Sin. Heb. 11.24, 25, 26. Moses preferred the Reproaches of Christ, and Sufferings for Christ, before all the Pleasures, Riches, Pomp and Splendor of Pharoahs Court; he accounted, that there were better Pleasures, better Riches and Honours in suffering for Christ with the people of God, than Pharoahs Court could afford; and surely accounted rightly, and there upon made that blessed choice.

The more we suffer for Christ, the more may we expect of the Presence of Christ, of the Consolations of Christ, of Communion with Christ; and one days Communion with Jesus Christ (saith Galiacius) is better than all the World.

Christ keeps the best Cordials for the most fainting-times; and he turns the Water of the most bitter Afflictions, into the Wine of Heavenly Consolation. Jam. 1.2. My Brethren, count it all joy, when you fall into divers Temptations. Here is ground of all joy, under multiplicity and variety of Persecution and afflictions; but the best of sinful worldly prosperity have those stings and bitterness, either mixed with,Malum ruere cum Chri…to quam regnare cum Cesare. Luther. or entail'd unto it.

I had rather (saith Luther) fall with Christ, than stand with Cesar. I had rather, saith another, to be a Martyr, than a Monarch.

p. 219Ignatius, that faithful Disciple and valiant Champion of Christ, did prefer the worst of Suffering, before the best of Sin, and the greatest of worldly prosperity. Saith he Let the Fire, the Cross, Skirmishing with wild Beasts, Cuttings, Butcherings, or Rentings in Pieces, breaking of my Bones asunder, manglings of my Members, bruising of my whole Body, and the torments of the Devil (all the torments that Man and the Devil can invent) fall upon me, so that I may enjoy Jesus Christ; the ends of the Kingdom of the World will not help me, it is better for me to Dye for Christ Jesus, than to Reign over the ends of the Earth.

Godly Philpot the Martyr preferred the Bishops nasty Cole-house, before Queen Maries Palace. Though (saith he) my Lords Cole-house be very black, yet it is more to be desired of the faithful, than the Queens Palace.

Soldiers of Christ, be hence encouraged; the hardest sufferings for Christ, is better than the best of Sin.

21Lastly. The last Encouragement that I shall give to endure hardness in Christs service, is this, That it is your way to your Kingdom.

If you look upon your sufferings for Christ, as your way that leads to the Kingdom of Christ, it will greatly encourage you to endure it. We must (saith the Apostle) through many tribulations, enter into the Kingdom of God. Act 14.22.Acts 14:22Here is much tribulation to be endured, but here is encouragement enough to endure it; It is the way that leads to the Kingdom of God. If a p. 220Prince were to go to enter upon,VVhat way to Heaven (said Dr. Cranmer, is so sure a way, as to suffer in Christs cause: If the…e be any way on Hors-back to Heaven, surely this is the way. Act. and Mon. Vol. 3. pag. 333. and take Possession of his Kingdom, he would not think much if he did meet with many troubles and inconveniences in his Journey; the thoughts of this, that he is going to his Kingdom, will encourage him sufficiently to bear with it. This the Apostle layes down as an encouragement to suffer for Christ, and endure hardness in his Service, 2 Tim. 2.12. If we suffer, we shall also Reign with him. Ah! what an encouragement is the Kingdom, and the Crown, to take up the Cross? When Mr. Sanders the Martyr, was come to the Stake,Acts. and Mon. Vol. 3. pag. 140. he took it in his Arms, and kissed it, saying, Welcome the Cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life. It was a notable saying of Mr. Tovart the Martyr, He who turns his back in this conflict, goes by the loss; but whosoever Fights manfully, obtains in the end, the Crown, not a Crown of Gold, but a Crown of Glory Immortal.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! what Kingdom-encouragement is here, to endure the greatest hardness, seeing you are in your way to your Kingdom, and to all the Immunities, Honours, and Pleasures of it. I hope (said Gauderin to his fellow-Prisoners) before noon, to drink of the Wine of the Kingdom of Heaven.

2Secondly, For the Directions.

1First. Live much in the lively views of what hardness your great Leader Jesus Christ endured for you. Look upon his Poverty, his Reproaches, his Revilings; look upon him in that hot and bloody service in the Garden, when he sweat not only Water, but Blood, in that sore p. 221Conflict;Quanto pro melius, tanto mihi charius. Bern. By so much the more Christ is vile for me, by so much the dearer he is to me. Look upon him under that weight of wrath which lay on him, that dark day, when he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Look upon the Buffettings, the Spittings on him; Look upon him wearing a Crown of Thorns, who was wont to wear a Crown of Glory; Look upon him nailed Hand and Foot to an Ignominious cursed Cross, with the Soldiers piercing his righteous Side with a Bloody Spear; Look upon him treading the Wine-press of the Fathers Wrath, and lying under the Curse of the Law. Ah Sirs! the Lord Jesus hath endured far harder Service for you, than ever he calls any of his Soldiers unto for him; He hath led the Van in this hard Service for us; Let us be viewing of him, that we may endure hardness for him. Heb. 13.12, 13. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctifie the people with his own Blood, Suffered without the Gate. Let us therefore go forth unto him without the Camp, bearing his Reproach. Shall the Son of God let out his Blood to Sanctifie and save us, and shall not we drain our Veins, …n bearing his Reproach, and following of him? Ah! what is our hardness that we can endure, when compared with what Christ endured for us? When John Hus the Martyr, had the skin flead off his Head, and the Persecutors had put on him a Paper Crown of a Cubit high, painted with Three ugly Devils; saith he,Act. and Mon. …ol. 1. p. 820. My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a Crown of Thorns; why should I not wear this light Paper-Crown for his sake, be it never so ignominious? truly I will do it, and that willingly. And when p. 222he saw the Chain which was to fasten his neck to the Stake, he smiled, and said, that he would willingly receive the same Chain for Jesus Christ's sake, who (he knew) was bound with a far worse Chain for him.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! this is a special means to induce, you to indure hardness for Christ, to consider what he hath endured for you. My dear Lord Jesus (said Sanders) hath begun to me, of a more bitter Cup than mine shall be, and shall I not pledg my most sweet Saviour? yes, I hope.

2Secondly, Look at the cloud of Witnesses, the noble Army of Confessors and Martyrs, how they have led the Van, and born the brunt, and endured much hardness in the warfare of the Lamb.Drusius the Almain, used to visit the Graves and Tombs of the most renowned, which were buried in Italy, especially at his going to warfare, saying, That beholding of their Monuments, he did recover both strength and stoutness. Dion. Heb. 12.1. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of Witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the Sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, &c. The Apostle he expounds the cloud of Witnesses of the Old-Testament-believers (mentioned in the 11 Chap.) as a Motive and means to stir up the New-Testament-believers to follow after them, by their example.

There was a great cloud of them, but a greater cloud of New-Testament-believers have followed after; we have cloud upon cloud of Witnesses encompassing us; Old-Testament, Primitive, and Modern Confessors and Martyrs, faithful and valiant Soldiers of Christ, that have march'd before us; honourable in enduring hardness in the Service of Jesus Christ. Let us p. 223follow after, by their example. They have endured the hardness of Bonds, of Banishment, of the Whip, of the Saw, of the Rack, the Wheel, the Gibbet, the Fire, and all the tortures and torments that the malice and cruelty of Men and Devils could afford and inflict upon them: And these speak to us in the Language of Herwin the Martyr to his Brethren at the Stake,Act. and Mon Vol. 3. p. 17. I Fight (said he) under the Standard, and in the quarrel of my great Lord and Captain Christ. I am going to be Crucified, follow you me, when God of his goodness shall call you to it. And as Francis Colver (to his two Sons who were Massacred together with himself) Sheep we are for the slaughter, this is no new thing; Let us follow Millions of Martyrs through temporal Death, unto Eternal Life. Cicely Ormes, Act. and Mon. Vol. 33. p. 853.seeing two Martyrs at the Stake, told them, that she would Pledg them in the same Cup; and she did accordingly, for she was burnt at the same stake. Jam. 5.10. Take, my brethren, the Prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering Affliction, and of Patience. Take the Prophets, take the Apostles, take the many Thousands of the Saints, (that have endured hard things before you) for an example of suffering Affliction, and of Patience.

In the Primitive times, when Persecution was very sore, the surviving Saints did follow after the slain, as if their Torment, their Blood, and Death had had an Attractive vertue to draw others after them. When those that went in the Front had drank deep Draughts of Torments, those that were in the Rear were greedy p. 224to come up and Pledg; and some have said, they feared that the Torments would be over before they should come.

3Thirdly, Look at, and seriously consider the hardness and misery that the Damned endure and suffer, for denying, and disowning of the service of Christ. And what is the hardest, of your sufferings to theirs?Mar. 8.36.Mark 8:36 What loss is like the loss of God, the chiefest good? What Prison so strong, so dismal, so dark, as the Infernal and Eternal prison? What Chains so terrible and strong as the Chains of Darkness and Everlastingness in which the Damaned lie? What were Peters, Pauls Chains to theirs? What was the Material Fire which consumed the Bodies of the Martyrs to ashes; to the fire of Hell, the flames of Gods revenging Wrath, which shall always torment, but never consume.

O (said Hyperius) what a difference is there betwixt this, and Eternal Fire? who would shun this, to leap into that? This is but the Fire that men do kindle, but the other is the Fire that the breath of the Lord, like a stream of Brimstone, doth kindle, Isa. 30.33. This Fire is soon extinguished, it is but a blast, and it's gone; but with the Damned, the Worm never dies, and the Fire is never quenched, Mar. 9.44. What are all the torments that the Martyrs have suffered, to the torments of the Damned? The one but a flea-biting to the other. What wrath is like the wrath of God? or what torment is like the torment of Conscience?Rev. 21.8.Rev 21:8 or what fire of Persecution and Affliction, is like the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone for p. 225ever? O, said Francis Spira, that I might lye Thousands of years in this Fire on the Hearth, so as I might escape the Fire of Hell. The Damned have nothing to support, or relieve their Spirits, they suffer in hellish Desparation without any hope, without succour, without intermission, without end. It was a notable saying of a Godly woman to her fellow-Martyrs, as she was looking on her Judges, These (said she) stay to suffer the Torments of their Consciences, and are reserved to Judgment; but we are going to Glory and Happiness.

What was the fiery Fornace which great Nebuchadnezzar prepared, to the Tophet which the great God prepared? The sufferings of the Damned are far greater than ever Christ calls his Soldiers unto.

4Fourthly, Look at the Invisible God, and the Invisible things of the other World. Get up to the top of Pisgah, and view the Holy Land; of what precious use was this to Moses, to mount his spirit above the fear of what Pharoah could do, when enraged against him, and to endure Affliction, Heb. 11.27. By Faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the Wrath of the King; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. When the showers of stones fell upon Stephen the Deacon, the Proto-Martyr,Act. 7.55.56.Acts 7:55Acts 7:56 he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; how little then did he regard the stones which malicious hands cast at him, or fear the near approach of the King of Terrors? Faith is an invisible eye, and it can see into another World, and it can fetch the comfort, the sweetness of p. 226God, of Christ, of Heaven, upon Earth.

What a Soul-strengthning, a Soul-chearing, and Heart-rejoycing prospect was that which Job took, to bear him up under all worldly Afflictions which he endured? Job 19 25, 26. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the last day upon the Earth; and though after my skin, Worms destroy this body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God. How did the Apostle and the Primitive Christians, cordial and quiet their Spirits, and bear up themselves under all their variety of Afflictions and Sufferings? 1 Cor. 4.16, 17, 18. They looked at the far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory, at the unseen and eternal things; and whilst they took this prospect, they were kept from fainting and sinking. Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation, used this means himself, to bear himself up, and carry him through all the hardness and Affliction he met with in his Race that he ran. Heb. 12.2. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. So the believing-Hebrews, looking at the better and more enduring substance they had in Heaven, they could take joyfully the spoyling of their worldly goods, Heb. 10.34. It is of most singular use to look beyond the present infelicities of this Terrene World, to the invisible things of the World to come. Said Stallour to Pike, his fellow-Martyr, Yet a little while, and we shall see one another before the Throne and face of God. Faith can reallise and fetch home the unseen things of the other World, to encourage and p. 227support the Soul under present sufferings. It made Tankerfield say at the Stake,Act. and Mon Vol. 3. p. 397. Although I have a sharp Dinner, I hope to have a joyful Supper in Heaven. It was this prospect, that made Sanders to embrace and kiss the Stake, and say, Welcome the Cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life.

5Fifthly, Let your hearts hang loose from the things of this World. The less your hears are set upon Terrene things, the better will you take up, and bear the Cross of Christ. No man that Warreth (saith the Apostle, 2 Tim. 2.4.) entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Soldier. If ever you will please your Captain Christ, by enduring hardness in his service, then keep your hearts from being intangled with the things of this World.Rev 12.1. She had the variable Moon-like things in contempt. Si propter i…a me denegraturum Christum putas ista denuo accipe. If you think that I will deny Christ to keep my Offices, then take all again said Hormisdas to the King of Persia. Clark. Mir. p. 84. Gal. 6.14.Rev 12:1Gal 6:14 The Church that bare the brunt of Persecution, in the Warfare of the Lamb, against the Old-Serpent, the Dragon, &c. is described to have the Moon under her feet. They must begin with self-denyal, that will take up the Cross. When Julitta was Condemned to lose her Land and Life, for refusing to Worship the Heathenish false Gods; (said she) farwel Riches, and welcom Poverty, far wel Life, and welcom Death; all that I have, if it were a Thousand times more, would I rather lose, than speak one wicked Blasphemous word against God my Creator: I yield thee most hearty thanks, O my God, for this Grace, that I can contemn and despise this frail transitory World.

When Paul had the World Crucified to him, and himself Crucified to the World, then he p. 228could not only bear the Cross, but also glory in the Cross of Christ. Ah Christians! look upon all the glittering Glory of this lower World, to be only like that of the glow-worm, which shines but in the Night, and is not worth the taking up by any passenger.

6Sixthly, Keep warm your hearts with the love of Christ. The more you love Christ, the more will you do for him, and the more, and the better will you suffer for him. And this is love, that we keep his Commandments, and his Commandments are not grievous, 1 Joh. 5.3. A Soul inflamed with the love of Christ, what will it not do, or suffer for him? Love is an Arm invincible,Cant. 8.6, 7.Song 8:6Song 8:7 a Flame unquenchable. Jacobs love to Rachel, made the servitude of a double Apprentiship to seem but a few days; and so love to Christ, will make the heaviest and hardest Afflictions to seem but light,2 Cor. 4.17.2 Cor 4:17 and the longest Afflictions to seem but short. Josephus observes it to be the love of Christs Disciples,Joseph L. 18. C. 4. Moses Choice. p. 48. Bernard used to say, Lord Jesus, I love thee, plus quam men, meos, me, more than all my goods, more than all my friends, and relations; yea more than my if. that caused them to follow him. At that time (saith he) Jesus, a wise man, did many Miracles; and although he was Condemned to the Cross, yet did not those that followed him from the beginning, forbear to love him, notwithstanding the ignomy of his Death. When Judas will sell him, the Disciples that love him, will follow him to the Garden, and to Mount Calvary. It was the glory of Scipio, in which he much boasted, That there was not any of his Soldiers, but would adventure his life for him, if it were to leap into the Sea, to cast themselves from a high Tower, or any way he should require of them.

p. 229Ah Soldiers of Christ! get your hearts inflamed with the love of Christ, and you will do the like for him. Saith Algerius, in his Letter from the Prison of Venice, He that feareth not to be burned in the Fire, how will he fear the heat of Weather, or what careth he for the pinching-Frost which burneth for the love of the Lord.

When Francis Alost, a Flanders-Martyr, was going to suffer, he used those speeches of the Apostle,2 Pet. 1.14. 2 Cor. 5.14.2 Pet 1:142 Cor 5:14 I must put off this my earthy Tabernacle; which the love of Jesus my Lord constraineth me to do.

Love is such a Divine Principle, that it will make a Soul to look over, and set light by all the difficulties, dangers, and hardships that you can meet with in the ways of Christ; yea, it will make the greatest sufferings desirable and delectable. Said Mr. Bland the Martyr, at the Stake, This Death is more dear unto me, than Thousands of Gold and Silver; such love, O Lord hast thou laid up in my breast, that I hunger for thee.

7Seventhly, Labour for an humble frame of Spirit, and lye low. The more humble-spirited you are, the lower you are in your own eyes; the better will you be accomplished to endure hardness, and to suffer in the service of Christ: They have been best at enduring of Afflictions, that have been most Meek and Humble.Job. 42.6.Job 42:6 Job who could be content to sit on the Dunghil, and could abhorr himself in Dust and Ashes, How well was he accomplished to endure Afflictions? David look'd upon himself,Psa. 22.6.Ps 22:6 as a Worm and no Man: And hence he could better p. 230bear up, under all the troubles that he met withal. If a man look upon himself to be but a Worm, he will not think much, if the feet of Men or Beasts trample upon him. This is the way to out-shoot the Devil and wicked Men in their own Bow. When Soldiers lye low, on the Earth and in the Valley, the shots of the Enemies pass over them, and hurt them not.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! lye lower in your thoughts (if possible) then any Affliction can put you; this is the way to be before-hand, and to keep the Weather-gage of your Enemies; lye as low as a Prison, as low as a Dungeon, or a Cave, as low as Earth and Hell, in your own eyes; Look upon your selves as less, than the least of Gods Mercies, and worthy of the greatest Afflictions and Miseries; so will you endure hardness, and will not kick, and fling, and flinch, and draw back when Afflictions pinch you. The high-Buildings and lofty Turrets, do soonest fall; the tallest Cedars are blown down, when the low Shrubs of the Wilderness stand fast and firm. Paul looked upon himself with a very Diminutive eye,Eph. 3.8.Eph 3:8 unworthy so much of the very name of an Apostle, and to be less than the least of all Saints. And how mighty was he, in enduring of hardness? Look upon your selves as unworthy to bear the name of Christ, to be imployed in the meanest, or hardest service for Christ, unworthy to loose the latchet of his Shoes with John Baptist, or to hear his Cross with Paul. Rejoyce, rejoyce, said Mr. Bradford to his Friends, and give thanks with me, and for me, that ever God did vouchsafe so great a benefit to our Countrey, as p. 231to choose the most unworthy (I mean my self) to be one in whom it pleased himself to suffer.

The Philosophers observe, that if you would see Stars at noon, you must down into a deep Well; so the deeper you go, and the lower you lye in Humility; the more you see of God, and of Heaven, to comfort and support you under your deepest sufferings.

8Eighthly, If you would endure hardness in Christs Service, then consult not with carnal reason; but keep that out of your counsel; for that will perswade you to wave the Cross, and to comply, and Sin rather then suffer. As soon as Paul was called to endure hardness in Christs Service, he presently shut out carnal reason from out of his counsel, Gal. 1.16. Immediately, I conferred not with Flesh and Blood. If Paul when he was called to Preach among the Barbarous Heathens, should have consulted with human reason, the wisdom of the Flesh that would have suggested the many inconveniences and dangers of such an employment, and have spoken in the language of Peter to Christ, Master, spare thy self; and far be it from thee; That cannot endure to hear, that the Captain of our Salvation, or any of his followers should take up the Cross; That would represent only the dark-side of Christs ways, and frame nothing but discouragements and carnal shifts: And therefore Paul would have nothing to do with it. This is the Serpentine Wisdom which is from beneath, which is earthly, sensual, and devillish. Jam. 3.15.Jas 3:15This will teach men to sleep in a whole skin, to swim with the stream; p. 232to hold with the strongest,The Italians being unable to excuse the great faults, treacheries, cowardize & dissimulation of their Countrey, go about to colour their Villanies with the name of Italian prudence. Tis sad to consider, that many Professors of Christ should too much imitate them. to correspond with the times, to prefer Sin before sufferings, this is the great Enemy to the Cross of Christ. How sharply did Christ reprove Peter, with his get thee behind me Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things which be of men. We are to shun Carnal-reason, and Fleshly-wisdom, as we would the Devil.

When the Proconsul bid Cyprian to consult about the Sentence of his Martrydom, He answered, In so just a Cause there needs no deliberation.

When a friend of Mr. Friths, had contrived a way to free him of his Imprisonment, by some indirect way, he smiled at it, and slighted it, I am fallen into the Bishops hands only for Religion sake, and for such Doctrine as I am bound in Conscience, under pain of Damnation to maintain: If I should now start aside, and run away, I should run from my God, and from the Testimony of his Word, whereby I should deserve a Thousand Hells. When a Pardon was brought to Mr. Hooper, and laid before him upon a stool at the Stake, that if he would recant, he might have the benefit of it; at the sight thereof he cried out, If you love my Soul, away with it, If you love my Soul away with it. Carnal reason would have advised him (if that had been harkned unto) to take up the Pardon,Heb. 11.24, 25, 26.Heb 11:24Heb 11:25Heb 11:26 and come away from the Fire.

If Moses had advised with Carnal reason, and p. 233Fleshly-wisdom, he had never left the Court of Pharoah to take up the Cross of Christ as he did. That would have pleaded thus: Why, Moses, thou art well enough at the Court, thou hast honour, and riches, and pleasures; the King loves thee, the Daughter of the King hath Adopted thee her Son; thou art now next to the King, and thou mayest shortly have the Crown thy self; and thy brethren, the Hebrews, are in a low afflicted condition, thou canst do neither them, nor thy self good, to joyn thy self with them; but stay at the Court, for here thou hast advantage to serve them, by improving thy Interest in the King and Courtiers, for them; and if thou shouldst leave the Court, thou wilt incurr the displeasure of the King, &c. But Moses hearkens to none of these Carnal Pleas, but joyns himself with the people of God in their low afflicted estate, and did chuse the reproaches of Christ, before all that the Court of Egypt could afford.

Ah Sirs! do not hearken to the wisdom of the Flesh, the Machivillian-policy of the World;Tully cryed out in his latter age, O Ʋtinam nunquam sapuissem, would I had never known what wisdom meant. Many will cry out so at last, of the carnal wisdom of the VVorld. That will advise you to forswear this Covenant, to strain Conscience, to take that Oath, to Conform to the inventions of men, or else you cannot be safe, and 'tis but Christian prudence so to do. Ah! take heed of the wisdom of the Serpent, without the innocency of the Dove, if ever you will endure hardness as good Soldiers of Christ.

9Ninthly, Be often counting the cost of p. 234Christian professiion, and following of Christ Count upon the worst at first, and be often in reviewing of the accompt, that you may not be mistaken in what you do, and meet with after-reckonings, as too many have done. This Lesson the Lord Jesus taught his Auditors, and it is to our present purpose, in order to the taking up,Quae olii diu patiendo leria faciunt sapiens levia facit diu cogitando. That which others make easy by suffering, that a wise man makes easie before-hand. Sibs. and bearing of the Cross. Luk. 14.27, 28. And whosoever doth not bear his Cross, and come after me, cannot be my Disciple. For which of you intending to build a Tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the Cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it.

If a man should begin to build, and reckon but upon pence, when it will cost him pounds, or reckon upon hundreds, when it will cost thousands, and not able to finish it, the building will come to nothing, but to shame, and undo the Builder. And so it is here, in the building of Christian profession; if a man should begin it inconsiderate, and reckon it but an easie thing to finish it, that it will cost but a little time, and a little pains; and that there will be a great deal of ease and credit; and afterwards comes one storm of Affliction and Persecution after another, like Jobs Messengers; here men meet with disappointments, and the Cross is heavier than they counted upon, and now cannot bear it. Sirs, if ever you intend to endure hardness, and to hold it out in the service of Christ, be sure to count upon the most, and the worst it may cost you; Count that it may cost you abundance of Reproach, and Contempt; to be made like the Apostles, p. 235the filth of the World, and the off-scouring of all things; Count that it may cost you, as much as it hath cost others heretofore, many bickerings from the Devil, much Opposition and Persecution from the men of the World; Bonds, Banishment, Confiscation of goods, yea, Life and Blood; put all into the account. Paul counted upon the worst, and the most it could cost him, and so he endured hardness, and finished his Course in professing and Preaching of Christ, Act. 20.22, 23, 24.

When Andrew the Apostle, was threatned by the Proconsul, with the Cross, if he did not leave off his Preaching; Said he, I would never have Preached the Doctrine of the Cross, if I had feared the suffering of the Cross: And when he came to the Cross to be Crucified, (he said) O Cross! welcome, and long looked for, with a willing mind, joyfully I come to thee, being the Scholar of him that hanged on thee, &c.

When William Hunter was led to the Stake, he said to the Sheriffs Son, I thank God, I am not afraid, for I have cast my Account, what it will cost me already.

Christians, be sure to cast your account to the full, before-hand, that so you may prevent all disappointments, and not be offended in Christ because of the Cross.

10Tenthly, Put on Christian Resolution and Magnanimity of Spirit; resolve in the strength of Christ, and in the grace of Christ, to go through all the dangers and difficulties, and to endure what hardness soever you may meet with in the service of Christ, 2 Tim. 2.1. Thou p. 236therefore my Son, Pyrrhus seeing the Foritude and Valour of the Romans, said, if Valour were lost, the mould of it might be found in a Romans heart; where should true spiritual Valour be found, but in the Heart of a Christian.be strong in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus: And then endure hardness, as a good Soldier of Christ. Be strong in the Lord, and in the Power of his might; and then you are prepared to use your Armour, to resist Temptation, and endure Afflictions, Eph. 6.10, 11, 12, &c. Resolve upon conflicting with Corruptions, of resisting Temptations, of enduring Afflictions, and taking up the heaviest Cross of Christ that shall lie in your way.

It was a speech of Cyrus, to one of his Soldiers, It is the part (said he) of a true valiant man, either to live honourably, or to dye honourably. And so it is the part of every true Christian, either to live honourably, or dye honourably in the Service of Christ. Barnabas exhorted the Christians, that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. Ah! resolve upon, and purpose in your hearts, to cleave to the service of the Lord Christ, come what there will, let none of these things move you; resolve with the Servants and Soldiers of Christ, of old.

Act. and Mon. Vol. 2. p. 568.When Wingfield was disswading and discouraging Kerby the Martyr from suffering; telling him, the Fire is hot, the Terrour great, the Pain extream, Life sweet; better it were betime to stick to Mercy, while there is hope of Mercy, than rashly to begin, and then to shrink. Said Kerby to him. Ah, Mr. Wingfield, be at my burning, and you shall say, there standeth a Christian Soldier in the Fire; for I know that Fire, Water, Sword, and all other things, are in the hands of God, and he will suffer no more to p. 237be laid upon us, than he will enable us to bear. Ah! where is that Christian Valour and Resolution that was in these suffering-Servants of Christ? We are ready to fear every shadow, and to be affrighted with every bug-bear, and to shrink at every suffering; surely it was not so in those past daies.

Mr. Palmer was wont to say,Act. and Mon. Vol. 3. p. 734. that none were to be accounted Valiant, but such as could despise injuries. Ah Soldiers of Christ! put on Resolution, and Valiant minds; that, like the Captain of your Salvation, you may endure the Cross, and despise the Shame; and endure hardness, as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ.

11Eleventhly, Be often minding what is your present condition in this World; and then you will the better endure the hardness and Afflictions which are incident unto it. We are too apt to forget what we are, and where we are, and that is one great reason, that we can endure Affliction no better. In this World we are Pilgrims, Strangers, Travellers, Soldiers, &c. The Old-Testament-Believers, they considered what was their present condition in this World, and hence did the more contentedly endure the hardness of it. Heb. 11.13, 14. For they confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth. For they that say such things, declare plainly, that they seek a Countrey. A Stranger will not think much, if the Dogs bark at him, as he passeth along, he knows it's usual; a Traveller will not think it much, if he meet with painful up-hills, as well as down-hills and plain way; he will not think it much, if he meet with p. 238storms,Nimis delicatus es Christiane, qui voluptatem hoc seculo concupiscis. Thou art too delicate, O Christian who must have pleasure in this world. Tertul. and showers, and blasts, as well as calm and Sun-shine; if he meet with dirt, and mire, as well as clean ways; he will not be much troubled if he meet with inconveniences in his Inn, when he considers, that he is on his Journey, and that he is not at home. What Strangers and Pilgrims expect to be without wearisom and painful steps, and hardship in their Journey and Pilgrimage? Can Soldiers and Combatants, that have entred on a Warfare, expect to live quiet in their houses, and rest on their down-beds, whilest the Enemy is in the Field, and drawn up in Battalia? sure they will not.

Ah Sirs! we are ready to forget what we are, and where we be; that we are in an unkind and injurious World, that is full of Molestations and Vexations; that we are in our Inn, and on our Journey, and not at our Home; that we are on our boistrous Ocean, and not in the Haven.

When Bilney was carried away to execution, said he, to a friend which encouraged him, I am sailing with the Mariner, through a boistrous Sea, but shortly shall be in the Haven. De Brez, a French Minister and Martyr, in his Letter to his Wife, said, This world is not the place of our rest, no, Heaven is our home, this is but the place of our Banishment.

12Twelfthly, Improve present sufferings to prepare you for future and less sufferings to prepare you for greater. The lesson of the Cross is to be learned daily, as the Cross is to be took up daily; and the well-exercising of our selves p. 239about the Cross when it is light,Consuetudo omnia dura lenit. Custom doth make all hard things become easie. will be a good means to help us to bear it when it is heavy; the exercise of Patience under present Tribulation, will bring in such experiences, it will familiarise Sufferings, and exercise other graces, until the Soul comes to glory in Tribulation, Rom. 5.3, 4, 5.

Bilney the Martyr, by exercising his Finger in the flame of the Candle, prepared his whole body to endure the more tormenting pains of the flames at the Stake.

They say, That Custom is a second Nature. If we did exercise our selves more in improving our present sufferings aright, it would become natural to us, to endure future, and greater sufferings; it would familiarise, and naturalise the Cross of Christ unto us.

When Mr. Act and Mon. Vol. 2. p. 564.Damlip had been a Prisoner near two years in the Marshalsey, the Keeper having acquainted him with the nearness of his Death, did notwithstanding eat his meat as usually he did; at which, some at the Table wondred; Ah my Masters (said he) Do you think I have been so long Gods Prisoner in the Marshalsey, and have not yet learned to dye?

Paul, who protested, that he did dye daily, 1 Cor. 15.31.1 Cor 15:31how easie and chearfully could he dye at last? The exercise of Grace under lesser sufferings, will encrease and strengthen Grace for greater.

13Thirteenth, Look more upon your Sins, than upon your Sufferings. The Soul that lives much in the beholding of his Sins, will see the less cause to pinch at his sufferings: Although in respect to men, we may suffer unjustly; yet, if we look upon our Sins, we may see cause p. 240enough as they come from the hand of God, that we should suffer sorer, and harder things. It was very hard things that the Church did suffer, when the Lord made breach upon breach, upon Zion; when the Sword was abroad, and Death at home; when complicated miseries were upon them, then did they cast an eye upon the evil of their Sins, and that did silence them under the greatness of their sufferings. Lam. 3.39. Wherefore doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his Sins? Mich. 7.9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute Judgment for me.

Mr. Philpot, hath a notable passage in his Letter to the Lady Vane, Act. and Mon. vol. 3. p. 605.to this purpose, (saith he) Satan hath brought me out of the Kings-Bench into the Bishop of Londons Cole-house, a dark, and an ugly Prison as any is about London; but my dark body of Sin hath well deserved the same. Ah! if we look upon the dark body of Sin, we may see reason enough, why we should come under the dark Clouds of Affliction and Persecution.

A man that lives much in the views of his Sin, will easily see the greatest of his Sufferings to be very little Corrections, and the fiery Trials to be necessary to cleanse away his Dross: If a man look upon his Sins to have deserved the sorest Judgments, the greatest Plagues, the most of Wrath, the strongest Chains, the blackness of Darkness, and the hottest Hell; how could he then think much to endure any hardness in the service of Christ?

p. 24114Fourteenth, Look on your Mercies, as well as your Miseries; look upon Enjoyments, as well as your Wants; look on your Comforts, as well as your Crosses; this is of great use, to help you to endure hardness: Look upon the light side of your condition, as well as the dark, and you will endure hardness the better. This was one reason, why the Israelites could endure the hardness of the Wilderness no better, (but did murmur and repine) because they did mind so much of their wants and streights, and so much forgat the Miracles of Mercies that they d…d enjoy; they did little mind the Miraculous deliverance they had from the hand of Pharoah at the red Sea, and the Rock which did follow them, and flow to them in the Wilderness, and the Manna that did rain down about their Tents; but were looking at the Flesh-pots, the Fish, the Cucumbers, the Melons, the Leeks, the Onions and the Garlick which they had in Egypt, Numb. 11.4, 5, 6. Had they minded their Wilderness-Mercies more, they would have endured their Wilderness-Afflictions better: Had they considered what Mercies they had in their bread, in their drink, in their clothes and in their shoes; their meat and drink was not ordinary, but Miraculous and Spiritual; they did all eat of the same Spiritual meat, and did all drink of the same Spiritual drink, 1 Cor. 10.3, 4. And their clothes and their shoes did not wax old, and wear out. Had their Souls been affected with a sense of their Mercies, how easily might they have born their Wilderness-Afflictions? It was a dolorous time p. 242when the Prophet Jeremiah breathed forth those sad Lamentations, extremity of Famine, and Sword; Oh, the Worm-wood, and Gall, and bitterness of their Affliction! and whilst he looked on these things, his eyes did affect his heart, but he did not terminate his thoughts on the dark-side of their condition; but takes a Prospect of the Mercies they had, in their greatest Miseries, to give some relief and support to their Souls, Lam. 3.22, 23. It is of the Lords Mercy we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.

Ah Christians! look how your Mercies are renewed, as well as your Miseries: The Saints can never be so low in Affliction, but there is something of Mercy to afford relief to their Spirits.

When tidings was brought to the Lady La Glee, Act. and Mon Vol. 3. p. 25.that she was condemned to be hanged, she fell down upon her knees, and blessed God, for that it pleased him to shew her so much Mercy, as to deliver her by such a kind of Death, out of the troubles of this wretched life; and to honour her so far, as to call her to suffer for his Truth, and to wear his Livery, meaning the Halter. Ah! if Christians would learn this Divine Chymistry, to extract Mercies out of Miseries, they might unfold Sampsons Riddle, and get Bread out of the Eaters mouth, and sweetness out of the strong, to sweeten the worst of Sufferings.

15Fifteenth, Compare the present Cross with the future Crown. This hath been a special means p. 243by which suffering-Saints have been much advantaged, comparing their present sufferings, with their future glory. Rom. 8.18. For I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

What is it that a Christian can suffer in here, which is worthy to be compared to the future glory and blessedness? Said Francis Soet, You deprive me of this Life, and promote me to a better, which is as if you should rob me of Counters, and furnish me with Gold. What proportion is there between Counters and Gold? and what comparison between Dirt and Glory?

When a Martyr feeling the Flame at the Stake, to come to his face, Ah (saith he) what a small pain is this, to be compared with the glory to come? 2 Cor. 4.17, 18. For our light Afflictions which are but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen, are Temporal, but the things which are not seen, are Eternal. How Diminutively doth the Apostle speak of the Sufferings, in comparison of the Glory? The Affliction is but light, but the Glory is pondorous, it's a weight of Glory, a far greater and exceeding weight; the Afflictions are but for a Moment, but the Glory is Eternal.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! what are all the Sufferings of this present time, when compared with the Eternal Glory? be hence quickned to take up the Cross, because of the Crown. p. 244Oh keep up your Combat and Conflict, the Crown will pay for all. The greater are the Combats, (saith Tertullian) the greater are the following Rewards. Rev. 2.10. 1 Pet. 5.4.Rev 2:101 Pet 5:4Ah Christians! what are the greatest and most grievous Momentary Sufferings of this present Life, when compared with the never-fading, never-dying, and Immortal Crown of future Glory in the World to come?

16Sixteenth, Resign up your selves to the Will of God, to the Sovereignity of God; submit to the Will of God, and acquiesce in the Wisdom of God; If you could do this, how well might you bear up under any Affliction, and endure any hardness? Job had resigned up himself to the will of God, and then how well could he bear all his losses and crosses, his poverty and sores, in his Afflicted Dunghil-condition? Job. 1.21. The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. "o Eli, when Samuel brought him that sad Message, of what the Lord would do unto his House, at which, the ears of every one that heard it should tingle:1 Sam. 3.18.1 Sam 3:18 It is the Lord, (saith he) let him do what seemeth him good. He had resigned up himself to the Will of God, and hence could bear the better that fearful stroke. The Three Children had resigned up themselves to the Will of God, and were at a point with the King, notwithstanding all his threats; Whether their God would deliver them or no, it was all a case, the Will of the Lord be done: And then they could willingly, and readily embrace the Fiery Fornace, p. 245rather than Worship the Idol. Dan. 3.16, 17, 18.

Paul resigned up himself to the Will of God, Act. 21.13. And then how well could he endure hardness in the service of Christ?

When one Craswel, Ast and Mon. Vol. 3. p. 292.offering to befriend Mr. Bradford, asking him, what suit he should make for him to the Queen? What you do, (said Mr. Bradford) do it not at my request: If the Queen will give me my Life, I will thank her; If she will Banish me, I will thank her; If she will Condemn me to perpetual Imprisonment, I will thank her.

When Policarpus had notice of the pursuers, that came to the Inn to Apprehend him,Ast. and Mon. Vol. 1. p. 55. he might have escaped, but he would not: But said, the Will of God be done.

Ah! how easie might we bear the Cross of Christ, and drink of the Cup with Christ, if we had a resigning Spirit like him; to say, Nevertheless, not my Will, but thy Will be done, Mat. 26.39. Luther would say in his Prayer, My Will be done, for Lord, my Will is, that thy Will should be done. Next to the Hallowing the Name of God, and coming of his Kingdom, the Lord Christ hath taught us to Pray with resignation of Spirit, That the Will of the Father be done.

There is Infinite reason, that we should Resign up our selves to the Will of God, not only with respect to his Sovereignity and Prerogative-Royal, but also in regard the Lord hath ordered all his Providences in infinite Wisdom and Mercy, for the good of his People. The p. 246Everlasting Covenant is ordered in all things, and sure, 2 Sam. 23.

You cannot order things so sure, and so well as the Lord hath done for you: And therefore acquiesce in the Wisdom and the Will of God; and be at his beck and check, for the Lord to do with you, to do for you, to bring upon you what seemeth him good; and this will be a good means to help you to endure hardness, as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ.

17Seventeenth, Make not the most of men, no, nor the best of men, in every thing, your Rule to walk by. The most of men, (I mean, of such as profess Christ) look more at safety, than at duty, and will not hear of taking up of the Cross of Christ; but like dead Fish, swim with the Stream, and please the Flesh: And the best of Men, may not in every thing be a true Copy for us to write after, nor a Rule for our imitation. Peter denied Christ in down-right terms, in words at length; he curs'd and swore, that he did not so much as know him, Mar. 14.71. If the rest of the Disciples had imitated Peter, of what sad consequence had it been, then they had all denyed the Lord Christ, as Peter did. Paul was so far from imitating Peter another time,Gal 2.11, 12, 13, 14.Gal 2:11Gal 2:12Gal 2:13Gal 2:14 that he withstood him to the face: Peter could be a Jew with the Jews, and a Gentile with the Gentiles, and dissemble his Principles; but Barnabas and others that did imitate him, were carried away with the Dissimulations. The best of men in this World, are not perfect, they have Flesh as well as Spirit, and p. 247have been over-born by corruptions and temptations, to shrink from the Cross, and therefore we must not make them our Rule, nor follow them any further, than they follow Christ.

When an Old Bishop, perswaded Mr. Haukes the Martyr, to learn of his Elders, to bear somewhat with their Popish-way.Fecknam. I will bear with nothing (said he) that is contrary to the Word of God. And another charging him, for building his Faith on Latimer, Cranmer, Ridley, &c. Said he, I build my Faith on no man, and that ye well know; for if those men, and as many more as these be, should recant, and deny what they have said, or done, yet will I stand to it, and by this shall ye know, that I build my Faith upon no man.

Cranmer, Bilney, Bainham, and others Recanted, who afterward repented of their Recanting; and sealed to the Truth of what they Recanted with their Blood. It is no good argument that many use in these dayes, to justifie Apostasie, and waving of the Cross of the Lord, by sinful Compliance, to bring the examples of men, in such a manner: Why, (say they) it is the opinion of divers good men; and there be divers learned, and godly men do this, and that, and the other thing, and they must not be touched. But let men be never so godly, or learned, they have a dark-side, as well as a light, and it is no new thing even for such to shrink, and to pinch at the Cross. Peter must not be followed in his Apostasie, nor the Martyrs in their Recantations: p. 248If learned and good men, can swear down Episcopacy and Prelacy, and take it up again; If they can swear away Christs Offices and Interest out of the Land, and can displease Christ, to please Cesar; and if you should make them your Rule to walk by, when will you take up the Cross of Christ, and endure hardness as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ?

18Eighteenth, Take heed of those Teachers, and of those Doctrines, that lead off from the Cross, that are Enemies to the Cross of Christ. The Doctrine of the Gospel, is called, the Preaching of the Cross. But there hath been of old, 1 Cor. 1.18.1 Cor 1:18and still are such Teachers as are Enemies unto it. There were Teachers in the very Primitive times, that carryed on a design against the Cross of Christ. Gal. 6 12, 13. As many as make a fair shew in the Flesh, they constrain you to be Circumcised, only lest they should suffer Persecution for the Cross of Christ. They did Preach Circumcision, and practice Circumcision on purpose to avoid Persecution for the Gospel of Christ. Their design was to obtain the Jews favour, by shewing themselves zealous followers of their Ceremonies, and to avoid the hatred and sufferings which the Doctrine of Christ brings along with it, to the likeness and communions of his own Sufferings. If the Galatians would hearken to these men, they would shew them a way to escape Persecution, and to pass by the Cross of Christ; and there are many of the same Make in p. 249our times, who Preach up Conformity to avoid Persecution, aad will Sign with the Sign of the Cross, because they will not take up the Cross, and suffer Persecution for the Cross of Christ; that will receive the Mark of the Beast, that they may escape the Rage of the Beast, and may buy, and sell, and get profit by the Beast.

There are two or three Doctrines taught, which if hearkned unto, and received, will keep you from Persecution, and enduring hardness in Christs Service.

1First, That we must be of the Religion with the Magistrate, and obey the Higher Powers Actively, in matters of Religion. If this were true Doctrine, then all the Ten Tribes ought to have Conformed to Jeroboams Idolatrous Golden Calves, 1 King. 12, 28, 29.1 Kgs 12:281 Kgs 12:29which he set up in Dan, and Bethel. Dan. 3.Dan 3Then the Three Children ought to have Worshiped Nebuchadnezzars Image;Dan. 6.Dan 6 And Daniel forborn Prayer for Thirty days. Then a Traveller might change his Religion, as often as the Moon changeth, and be a Mahumetan in Turky, a Papist in Spain, and a Protestant at large in England. Then they that lived before us in King Henry the Eighth's time, ought to have been Papists; and in King Edwards time, turn Protestants; and under Queen Mary, to be Papists again; and in Queen Elizabeths time, face-about, and be Protestants at last.

2Secondly, That we must Conform to the Doctrine of the Church, and to the Orders and Ceremonies of the Church; That the p. 250Church hath Power to Create Ceremonies, and we must Conform to them, &c. This is Doctrine that will bring you to be at Peace with the Beast, by shifting the Cross of Chri…; and if you receive such Doctrin… as this, you will not endure hardness for Christ. If the Old-Testament, and New-Testament-believers; If the Primitive and Modern Confesso…s and Martyrs, would have received such unscriptural Doctrine as this, they might have saved themselves from those grievous and hard things, that they suffered for the Truths of God. They were only for the Word of God, and that was the Testimony they held, and Sealed with their Blood.

Act. and Mon. Vol. 3. p. 2.When Robert Ogvier a Martyr, with his Wife and two Children, were brought before the Magistrates, they said unto the Prisoners, It is told us, that you never come to Mass; yea, and also, that you Disswade others from coming thereto; and that you maintain Conventicles in your Houses. To this he Answers: Whereas, you lay to my Charge, that I go not to Mass, I refuse so to do indeed, because the death and Precious Blood of the Son of God, and his Sacrifice, is utterly abolished there, and trodden under foot, for Christ by one Sacrifice hath perfected for ever, them that are Sanctified, Heb. 10.14. The Mass is the meer Inventions of men, and you know what Christ saith, Mat. 15.9. In vain do they Worship me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments p. 251of men. And as for the Second Accusation, I cannot, nor will deny, but there have met together in my House honest People, fearing God, for the advancement of Gods Glory, and the good of many, and not to wrong any. I knew indeed that the Emperour had sorbid it, but what then? I knew also that Christ in his Gospel hath commanded it. Mat. 18.20. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there (saith he) am I in the midst of them. Thus you see I could not well obey the Emperour, but I must disobey Christ; In this Case, I chuse rather to obey my God, than Man.

O take heed then of those Doctrines that are against the Cross of Christ, as these suffering Servants of the Lord did!

Mr. Latimer, in his Letter to Dr. Ridly, Act. and Mon. Vol. 3. p. 441.hath this passage, Let them not deceve you with their Sophistical Sophisms and Fallac…es; you know that false things may have more appearance of truth, than things that be most true; Remember Pauls watch-word, Col. 2.Col 2Let no man deceive you with likeliness of speech; Fear of Death doth perswade a great number, beware of that Argument.

Ah Soldiers of Christ! if ever you will endure hardness for Christ, beware of these Enemies of the Cross.

19Nineteenth, Chear up to your Souls, a Covenant Interest in Christ. The more you know the Lord to be yours, the better will you bear Afflictions, and endure hardness in his ways. This was the best Anchor-hold, the p. 252Prophet Jeremiah had to ride out, and hold fast by, in those grievous Afflictions of the Church,Tolle Meum, tolle Deum. Take away My, from God, and take away God himself, in regard of Comfort. D. Sibs. S. Conflict. Lam 3.24. The Lord is my Portion, saith my Soul, therefore will I hope in him. This made Paul to account all things but dung and dross, for the Excellency of Christ Jesus his Lord, for whom he had suffered the loss of all things, Phil. 3.8. Ah! what will be too good to lose for Christ? Or, what will be thought too much to part with for Christ if you can say, that it is for Christ Jesus my Lord? Our God (said the Three Children) whom we serve, is able to deliver, &c. Dan. 3.

Feri Domine, feri nam a peccatis absolutus sum. Strike Lord, strike, for I am absolved from my Sins, said Luther.If we can say with Keyser the Martyr (at the Stake) O Jesus, I am thine, have mercy upon me, and save me: How will it enable to face the Flames, and endure the Pains? This brought Paul to stand Equipoise, like the Beam of a Ballance, Phil. 1.21, 22, 23. For me to live, is Christ, and to dye is gain, &c. This made Paulinus to say, When his City, Gold, Silver, and all he had was taken away, Lord, let not the loss of these things trouble me. This made Peter the Apostle, at his Crucifixion, and Lambert the Martyr, in the midst of the Fire, to cry out, None but Christ, none but Ch…ist, nothing but Christ.

20Twentieth, Look at Christs presence with you in the midst, and greatest, of all your suffering; and that is another good means to propp and bear up your Spirits under all the hardness that you can endure. Isa. 43.2. When thou passest through the Waters, I will be with thee, and through the Rivers, they shall p. 253not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the Fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the Flames kindle upon thee. He will be with you to act suitable for you, to succour you, to comfort you, to strengthen you, to protect, to preserve and deliver you, &c. David would not be dismayed, because of this, Psal. 23.4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will not fear: for thou art with me, thy Rod and thy Staff, they comfort me. He was with Noah in the Ark; Malim presente Deo esse in Inferno quam absente Deo in Coelo. Luther.With Job on the Dung-hill; With Jeremiah in the Dungeon; With the Three Children in the Fiery Fornace; With Daniel in the Den; With the Apostles in the Prison; He was with the Martyrs in the Bishops Cole-house, and in other noisom Prisons; And was with them at the Stake, in the midst of the Flame. He is with us in the Combat, saith one. O said Algerius, How easie and sweet is the Lords yoke? Learn ye well, beloved, how Amiable the Lord is, how Meek and Merciful, who visiteth his Servants in Temptations; neither disdaineth he to keep company with us in such vile and stinking Caves, &c.

21Lastly, Study the many Obligations that lye upon you to endure hardness. There be Obligations that lye upon you from the Precepts, from the Promises, from Ordinances, from Providences, from the Word, from the Rod, from the Love of Christ, from the Blood of Christ, from the Spirit of Christ, from the Interest of Christ: And you have obliged your selves to Christ; you have Promised, and Covenaneed to endure hardness; Remember p. 254that the Vows of God are upon you: And when ever Christ calls you forth to sufferings, be ready to answer these Obligations, and say with godly Philpot, Act. and Mon. vol. 3. p. 593.going to the Stake, I will pay my Vows in thee, O Smithfield. And with David, Psa. 116.18. I will pay my Vows unto thee, O Lord.

FINIS.

End of the text · Stephen Coven, The Militant Christian (1668)