Hidden Secrets Revealed by the Gospel
unfold them. I could say much to invite you, but that the matter itself is as a loadstone. My testimony will add little weight, yet, having some care committed to me by Mr P. N.,† whom this business chiefly concerned, I could do no less than let you understand here is one rich piece of spiritual workmanship, wrought by a master builder, very useful for the building up and beautifying of God's temples. The blessing of God Almighty be with it, and upon the whole Israel of God.—So prays L. SEAMAN.‡
HIDDEN SECRETS REVEALED BY THE
GOSPEL But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.—1 COR. 2:9.
THE holy apostle St Paul, the trumpet of the gospel, 'the vessel of election,' was ordained to be a messenger of reconciliation, and to spread the sweet savour of the gospel everywhere. And answerably to his calling, he makes way for the excellency of his embassage into the hearts of those he had to deal with. This he doth by the commendation of his function. And that he might the better prevail, he removes all objections to the contrary. There were some that would debase his office, saying that the gospel he taught—Christ crucified—was no such great matter. Therefore, in the 6th verse of this chapter, he shews that the gospel 'is wisdom, and that among them that are perfect;' among the best and ablest to judge. St Paul did not build, as the papists do now, upon the blindness of the people. But it were not popery if they did not infatuate the people. St
Paul saith to this effect:—We dare appeal to those that are the best, and of the best judgment, let them judge whether it be wisdom or no; the more perfect men are, the more able they are to judge of our wisdom.
It might be objected again, You see who cares for your wisdom, neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the great men and potentates, the scribes and pharisees, great, learned men, and withal men of innocent lives, notable for carriage. Therefore, saith he, 'We speak not the wisdom of this world, or the princes of this world, that come to nought.' Do not tell us of such men's wisdom, they and their wisdom will come to nought too. We teach wisdom of things that are eternal, to make men eternal. As for the princes of the world, they and all that they know, their thoughts and all their plots and devices, perish. But 'we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery;' that is, the wisdom of God's revealing, a deep wisdom, a mystery that 'God ordained before the world;' ancient wisdom, not a yesterday's knowledge, though lately discovered. The preaching of the gospel is the discovery of that wisdom that was hidden before the world was.
And to invite you, and make you more in love with it, it is a wisdom 'to your glory.' God hath a delight to shew himself wise in devising a plot to glorify poor wretched man.
As for the words themselves, they are a proof of what he had said before, why none of the princes of the world knew this great mystery.
If so be that the 'eye of any man hath not seen, nor the ear of any man hath heard, nor the heart of any man hath conceived,' what do you tell us of the wise men, which were not all, nay, what should I speak of men? The very angels (as we know by other places) are excluded from a full knowledge of these mysteries. Therefore it is no marvel though none of the princes of this world knew them. They are
universally hidden from all natural men. This I take to be the sense of the words. They are taken out of Isaiah 64:4. St Paul delights to prove things by the prophets. But here it is not so much a proof as an allusion, which we must observe to understand many such places.
For Isaiah there speaks of the great things God had done for his church, such as eye had not seen, nor ear heard. And the apostle alludes to it here, and adds somewhat. This clause, 'nor hath entered into the heart of man,' is not in that place, but it is necessarily understood. For if the eye doth not see, and the ear hear, it never enters into the heart of man. For whatsoever enters into the heart of man, it must be by those passages and windows, the gates of the soul, the senses.
And whereas St Paul saith, 'for them that love him,' it is for them that 'expect him,' as in Isaiah. The sense is all one. Whosoever love God, they expect and wait for him. Where there is no expectation, there is no love.
This is the apostle's drift. If God did do such great matters for his church, as 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,' according to the prophet Isaiah, what shall we think he will do in the kingdom of grace here and of glory hereafter?
The words then, as we see, contain the excellency of the mysteries of the gospel, described first by the hiddenness of it to men at first.
Secondly, By the goodness of the things revealed, such as 'neither eye hath seen,' &c.
The hiddenness and excellency of the gospel in that respect is set forth by way of negation. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived.' And indeed this is the way to set forth excellent divine things. God himself is set out by way of denial; by removing
imperfections: he is invisible, immortal, &c. And so heaven, that is near to God, as being prepared by him, it is set out by way of denial, as St Peter saith, 'It is an inheritance immortal, undefiled,' &c., 1
Peter 1:4.
So here positive words could not be found sufficient to set out the excellency of the things that God hath prepared.
As for the knowledge of the mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ, we neither can come to it by natural invention nor by natural discipline.
All the things that we know naturally, we know by one of these two ways; but divine things are known neither way.
Where could there have been any knowledge of Christ, if God had not opened his breast in the gospel, and come forth of his hidden light, and shewed himself in Christ, God-man; and in publishing the gospel established an ordinance of preaching for this purpose—where had the knowledge of salvation in Christ been?
To prove this we have here a gradation. The eye sees many things, but we hear more things than we see. Yet 'neither eye hath seen nor ear heard.' Ay, but the conceits of the heart are larger than the sight of the eye or the hearing of the ear. Yet neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, 'nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive,' &c.
The philosopher saith, there is nothing in the understanding, but it came into the senses before: (a) and therefore it cannot enter into the heart of man, if it enter not by the eye or by the ear.
The things here spoken of be especially the graces, and comforts, and privileges to be enjoyed in this life, and the consummation and perfection of them in heaven. Christ brings peace and joy, justification and sanctification, and the like; and even in this life. The perfection of these is in heaven, where the soul and the body shall be
both glorified, in a glorious place, together with glorious company; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, innumerable angels and just men.
These are those things that 'eye hath not seen,' &c.; the beginnings here, and the perfection and consummation of them hereafter.
Having thus far unfolded the words, I come to the points considerable.
Doct. First, God hath a company of beloved children in the world, that he means a special good unto.
The second, God hath prepared great matters for them.
1. If great persons prepare great things for those whom they greatly affect,* shall we not think that the great God will prepare great things for those that he hath affection to, and that have affection to him? If God be a friend to the elect, and they be his friends, surely he will answer friendship to the utmost. Answerable to the great love he bears his children, he hath provided great things for them.
If that be excellent that is long in preparing, then those things which belong to God's children must needs be excellent; for they were preparing even before the world was. Solomon's temple was an excellent fabric; it had long preparation, 1 Chron. 22:5. Ahasuerus made a feast to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, Esther 1:1, seq. It was long in preparing. Great things have great preparation.
Now these things that God intends his children have been preparing even from everlasting; and they are from everlasting to everlasting.
They must needs be excellent. But before I dwell on any particular point, here is a question to be answered.
Quest. If the things that God hath prepared for his children be secret and excellent, how then come we to know them at all?
We come to know them (1.) By divine revelation. God must reveal them first, as it is in the next verse, 'God hath revealed them by his
Spirit.'
The Spirit reveals them by way of negation, and indefinitely; as also by way of eminence. Whatsoever is excellent in the world, God borrows it to set out the excellency of the things that he hath provided for his children in grace and glory.
A feast is a comfortable thing. They are called a feast. A kingdom is a glorious thing. They are called a kingdom. Marriage is a sweet thing.
They are set forth by that; by an inheritance; and adoption of children, and such like. So that all these things are taken to be shadows of those things. And indeed they are but shadows; the reality is the heavenly kingdom of grace and glory, the heavenly riches, the heavenly inheritance, the heavenly sonship. When all these things vanish and come to nothing, then comes in the true kingdom, sonship, and inheritance.
Again (2.) We know them in this world by way of taste. For the things of the life to come there are few of them but God's children have some experimental taste of them in this world. God reserves not all for the life to come, but he gives a grape of Canaan in this wilderness.
(3.) Thirdly, by arguing from the less to the greater. If peace of conscience be so sweet here, what is eternal peace! If a little joy here be so pleasant and comfortable that it makes us forget ourselves, what will be that eternal joy there! If the delights of a kingdom be such that they fill men's hearts so full of contentment that ofttimes they know not themselves, what shall we think of that excellent kingdom! So by way of taste and relish we may rise from these petty things to those excellent things, which indeed are scarce a beam, scarce a drop of those excellencies.
If Peter and John, when they were in the mountain, were not their own men,—when they saw but a glimpse, but a little glory of Christ manifested in the mount, Mat. 9:6,—what shall we think when there is the fulness of that glorious revelation at the right hand of God, where there is 'fulness of pleasures for ever'? Ps. 16:11. How shall our souls be filled at that time! Thus by way of rising from the lesser to the greater, by tasting, feeling, and by divine revelation, we may know in some measure the excellency of those things prepared for us.
Now to clear this thing more fully, know that there are three degrees of revelation.
First, There must be a revelation of the things themselves, by word, and writing, or speech, and the like; as we know not the mind of a man but either by speech or writing. So there must be a revelation of these things, or else the wit of angels could never have devised how to reconcile justice and mercy, by infinite wisdom, by sending a mediator to procure peace, God-man, to work our salvation.
Therefore we could not know them without a revelation and discovery outward. This is the first degree, that we may call revelation by Scripture, or by the doctrine of the gospel. Who could discover those things that are merely supernatural, but God himself?
Second, Then again, When they are revealed by the word of God, and by men that have a function to unfold the unsearchable riches of Christ by the ministry of the gospel, yet notwithstanding they are hidden riddles still to a company of carnal men. Put case the veil be taken off from the things themselves, yet if the veil be over the soul, the understanding, will, and affections, there is no apprehension of them. Therefore there must be a second revelation, that is, by the Spirit of God. Of necessity this must be; for even as the apostle saith in this chapter, 'None knoweth the mind of man but the spirit that is
in man,' ver. 11, so none knoweth the mind of God but the Spirit of God. What is the gospel, without the Spirit of Christ to discover the mind of God to us? We know not the good meaning of God to us in particular. We know in general that such things are revealed in Scripture; but what is that to us if Christ be not our Saviour and God our Father? unless we can say as St Paul saith, 'He loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. 2:20. Therefore you see a necessity of revelation by the Spirit.
But this is not all that is here meant. There is, Thirdly, A higher discovery, and that is in heaven. That that is revealed here is but in part; and thereupon if we believe, we believe but in part, and we love but in part. If our knowledge, which is the ground of all other graces and affections, be imperfect, all that follows must needs be imperfect also. Therefore St John saith, 'We know that we are the sons of God, but it appears not what we shall be,' 1 John 3:2. What we shall be in heaven it doth not appear now.
There must be a further revelation, and that will be hereafter, when our souls shall be united together with our bodies. And then, indeed, our eyes shall see, our ears hear, and hearts shall conceive those things that while we are here in the womb of the church we neither can see, nor hear, nor understand, more than the child in the womb of the mother can conceive the excellencies in this civil* life. Thus we see these truths a little more unfolded. I will now add somewhat to make use of what hath been spoken.
Use 1. First of all, therefore, for matter of instruction. If it be so, that the things of the gospel be such, as that without a revelation from God they could not be known, then we see that there is no principle at all of the gospel in nature. There is not a spark of light, or any inclination to the gospel, but it is merely above nature. For he
removes here all natural ways of knowing the gospel, eye, ear, and understanding. Therefore the knowledge of it is merely supernatural.
For if God had not revealed it, who could ever have devised it? And when he revealed it, to discover it by his Spirit, it is supernatural; but in heaven much more, which is the third degree I spake of.
Therefore, by the way, you may know the reason why so many heresies have sprung out of the gospel, more than out of the law and the misunderstanding of it. There are few or no heresies from that, because the principles of the law are written in the heart. Men naturally know that whoredom, and adultery, and filthy living, &c., are sins. Men have not so quenched nature but that they know that those things are naught. Therefore there have been excellent lawmakers among the heathens. But the gospel is a mere 'mystery' discovered out of the breast of God, without† all principles of nature.
There are thousands of errors that are not to be reckoned, about the nature, the person, and the benefits of Christ; about justification and sanctification, and free will and grace, and such things. What a world of heresies have proud wits continually started up! This would never have been but that the gospel is a thing above nature. Therefore, when a proud wit and supernatural knowledge revealed meet together, the proud heart storms and loves to struggle, and deviseth this thing and that thing to commend itself; and hereupon comes heresies, the mingling of natural wit with divine truths. If men had had passive wits to submit to divine truths, and to work nothing out of themselves, as the spider out of her own bowels,‡ there had not been such heresies in the church; but their hearts meeting with supernatural truths, their proud hearts mingling with it, they have devised these errors; that I note in the first place.
Use 2. Then again, if the things that we have in the gospel be such divine truths, above nature altogether, then we must not stand to look for reason too much, nor trust the reason or wit of any man, but
divine authority especially. For if divine authority cease in the gospel, what were it? Nothing. The law is written in men's hearts; but we must trust divine authority in the gospel above all other portions of Scripture, and not to the wit of any man whatsoever.
The Church of Rome, that is possessed with a spirit of pride and ignorance and tyranny, they will force knowledge on them that be under them from their sole authorities. The church saith so, and we are the church; and it is not for you to know, &c., and Scriptures are so and so. But is the gospel a supernatural mystery above the capacity of any man? and shall we build upon the authority of the church for these truths? Oh, no! There must be no forcing of evangelical truths from the authority or parts of any man. But these are not things that we stand in so much need of. Therefore I hasten to that which is more useful. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,' &c.
Use 3. Here then we have an use of direction how to carry ourselves in reading and studying holy truths; especially the sacred mysteries of the gospel. How shall we study them? We think to break into them with the engine of our wit, and to understand them, and never come to God for his Spirit, God will curse such proud attempts. 'Who knows the things of man, but the spirit of a man? and who knows the things of God, but the Spirit of God?' Therefore in studying the gospel, let us come with a spirit of faith, and a spirit of humility and meekness. There is no breaking into these things with the strength of parts. That hath been the ground of so many heresies as have been in the church. Only Christ 'hath the key of David, that shutteth, and no man openeth; and openeth, and no man shutteth,' Rev. 3:7. He hath the key of the Scripture, and the key to open the understanding. And to press this point a little. If 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things of the gospel,' without the revelation of the Spirit, then we must come with
this mind when we come to hear the things of the gospel. Lord, without thy Holy Spirit they are all as a clasped book; they are hidden mysteries to me, though they be revealed in the gospel. If my heart be shut to them, they are all hidden to me.
We see men of excellent parts are enemies to that they teach themselves, opposing the power of the gospel. Whence is all this?
Because they think only the opening of these things makes them divines, whereas without the Holy Ghost sanctifying and altering the heart in some measure to taste and relish these things, that as they are divine in themselves, so to have somewhat divine in the heart to taste these things, it is impossible but that the heart should rise against them; and so it doth. For when it comes to particulars, you must deny yourself in this honour, in this pleasure, and commodity; now you must venture the displeasure of man for this and that truth.
The heart riseth in scorn and loathing of divine truth. When it comes to particulars they know nothing as they should. For when is truth known, but when in particulars we stand for it; and will neither betray it nor do anything that doth not benefit* a Christian? If we have not the Spirit of God to relish truths in particular, they will do us no good. And except the Spirit sanctify the heart of man first by these truths, the truth will never be understood by the proud natural heart of man.
Therefore the course that God takes with his children is this. Those that he means to save, he first inspires into their hearts some desire to come to hear and attend upon the means of salvation, to understand the gospel; and then under the means of salvation he shines into the understanding by a heavenly light, and inspires into the will and affections some heavenly inclination to this truth of the gospel, to justification, sanctification, self-denial, and the like, and works a new life; and new senses, and upon them, wrought under the
means, comes the soul to relish, and to understand these mysteries; and then the ears and the eyes are open to see these things, and never before. A holy man, that hath his heart subdued by the Spirit of God in the use of the means, oh he relisheth the point of forgiveness of sins; he relisheth the point of sanctification; he studies it daily more and more, and nearer communion with God; he relisheth peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost; they are sweet things, and all the duties of Christianity, because he makes it his main business to adorn his profession; and to live here, so as he may live for ever hereafter. And this must be of necessity; for mark out of the text: if the natural eye and ear and heart can never see nor hear, nor conceive the things of God, must there not be a supernatural ear and eye and heart put into the soul? Must not the heart and all be newmoulded again? If the former frame be not sufficient for these things, of necessity it must be so.
Use 4. From hence learn to arm yourselves against all scandals.* When ye see men of all parts and account, and such there may be, men of deep apprehensions and understanding in the Scripture for the matter of notion, and for the language of the Scripture exquisite, and yet to be proud, malicious, haters of sanctity, next to devils, none greater, consider what is the reason. Either they have proud spirits that despise and neglect the means of salvation altogether; or if they do come, they come as judges; they will not submit their proud hearts to the sweet motions of the Spirit. Stumble not at it, if such men be both enemies to that they teach themselves, and those that practise it. The reason is, because their proud hearts were never subdued by the Spirit to understand the things they speak of. For such a teacher understands supernatural things by a natural light, and by human reason; that is, to talk, and discourse, &c., but he sees not supernatural things by a supernatural light, divine things by a divine light. Therefore a poor soul that hears the things published by
him, understands them better by the help of the Spirit than he that speaks them; better indeed for his use and comfort. As we see, there are some that can measure land exactly; but the man that owneth the land measured, he knows the use of the ground and delights in it as his own. The other can tell, here is so much ground, &c. So some divines, they can tell there are such points, and so they are raised; and they can be exquisite in this; but what profit have they by it?
The poor soul that hears these things, by the help of the Spirit he can say, These are mine, as the man for whom the ground is measured.
As it is with those that come to a feast, the physician comes and says, This is wholesome and good, and this is good for this and that, but eats nothing. Others that know not these things, they eat the meat, and are nourished in the mean time. So when such men discourse of this and that, a poor man that hath the Spirit, he relisheth these things as his own. The other goes away, only discourseth as a philosopher of the meat, and eats nothing.
And therefore when you read and hear these things, content not yourselves with the first degree of revelation. No; that is not enough.
When you have done that, desire of God to join his Spirit, to give you spiritual eyes and hearts, that you may close with divine truths, and be divine as the truths are; that there may be a consent of the heart with the truth. Then the word of God will be sweet indeed.
Use 5. Again, here we see this divine truth, that a man when he hath the Spirit of God knows things otherwise than he did know them before, though he did not know them by outward revelation of hearing and reading, &c. And he believes them otherwise than he did before; he sees them by a new light. It is not the same knowledge that an unregenerate man hath with that he hath after, when God works upon his heart, 1 Cor. 2:14, 15; for then it is a divine supernatural
knowledge. And it is not the same faith and belief. The Spirit of God raiseth a man up in a degree of creatures above other men, as other men are above beasts; he gives new eyes, new ears, and a new heart; he moulds him anew every way. Therefore you have good men sometimes wonder at themselves, when God hath touched their hearts, that they have had such shallow conceits of this and that truth before. Now they see that they were in the dark, that they were in a damp before, that they conceived things to be so and so, and thought themselves somebody. But when God opens their eyes, and takes away the scales, and lets them see things in their proper light, heavenly things by a heavenly light, and with a heavenly eye, they wonder at their former foolishness in divinity, especially so far as concerns the gospel. For there is more in the Scripture than pure supernatural divinity; there are many other arts in the Scripture.
The gospel, I say, is a knowledge, not of natural men, or great wits, but of holy sanctified men. Therefore we must not think that these things may be known by nature, &c. It is a sacred knowledge, so much as will bring us to heaven; it is a knowledge of holy men, that have their hearts brought to love and taste, and relish that they know. Therefore it is no wonder, though a company of men of great parts live naughtily. They are no true divines, because they have no true knowledge. The devil is no divine, nor a wicked man properly.
Though he can discourse of such things, yet he is not properly a divine; because he knows not things by a divine light, or heavenly things by a heavenly light. The knowledge of the gospel, it is a knowledge of sanctified, holy men. But to come nearer to our practice.
Use. 6. If eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive those things that God hath prepared for his, then let us make this the rule of our esteem of anything that is good,
or anything that is ill; make it a rule of valuation. The apostle here, you see, hath a rank of things above the sight of the eye, or the hearing of the ear, or the conceiving of the heart of man. If there be such a rank of things above this, then the greatest ills are those that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man; and indeed they are so. We grieve at the ague, and at the stone, and at the gout; they are grievous things indeed. Oh, but what be these things that we feel and see, to those in another world, that we cannot apprehend for the greatness of them! The torments of hell, we cannot conceive and understand them here; for it is indeed to be in hell itself to conceive what hell is. And therefore when God enlargeth men's spirits to see them, they make away themselves. And so for the greatest good. These goods here, this outward glory, we can see through it. Christ could see through all the glory in the world that the devil shewed him, Mat. 4:8. And these are things that we can hear of, and hear the utmost that can be spoken of them. Therefore surely they are not the greatest good. There are more excellent things than they. Because the eye sees them, the ear hears of them, and the understanding can conceive of them. But there be things that the eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the soul conceived; and these be the joys of heaven. And thereupon, to descend to practice, if this be a rule to value things that the best things are transcendent, beyond sense and comprehension, then shall I for those things that I can see, and can hear, and feel, and understand, shall I lose those excellent good things, that 'neither eye hath seen nor ear heard,' &c.? Is not this desperate folly, to venture the loss of the best things, of the most transcendent things, that are above the capacity of the greatest reaches of the world? Shall I lose all for petty poor things that are within my own reach and compass?
How foolish, therefore, are those that are given to pleasures! They feel the pleasure indeed, but the sting comes after. They delight in
those ill things that they can hear, and hear all that can be spoken of them, and never think of the excellent things that the eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, &c.
Let this make us in love with divine truths in the Scripture, with the gospel, that part of the Scripture that promiseth salvation by Christ, and all the graces and privileges of Christianity. They are above our reach. We study other things. We can reach them. We can reach the mysteries of the law by long study, and the mysteries of physic, and to the mysteries of trades by understanding, and when men have done all they may be fools in the main—Solomon's fools. They may do all these things, and be wise for particular things, by particular reaches of that which eye hath seen, and ear heard, &c.; and then for the best things that are above the capacity of men, they may die empty of all, and go to the place of the damned. To be wise to salvation is the best wisdom.
What a pitiful case is this, that God should give us our understandings for better things than we can see or hear in this world, yet we employ them in things of the world wholly. Let us not do as some shallow, proud heads, that regard not divine things. The holy Scriptures they will not vouchsafe to read once a-day, perhaps not once a-week; nay, some searce have a Bible in their studies. For shame; shall we be so atheistical, when God hath provided such excellent things contained in this book of God, the Testament? Shall we slight these excellent things for knowledge that shall perish with us? as St Paul saith before the text. The knowledge of all other things is perishing, knowledge of perishing men. Learn on earth that that will abide in heaven, saith St Austin. If we be wise, let us know those things on earth, that the comfort of them may abide with us in heaven. Therefore let us be stirred up to value the Scriptures, the mysteries of salvation in the gospel; they are things that 'eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard,' &c. Nay, I say more, that little that we have here, by hearing truths unfolded, whereby the Spirit of God slides into our hearts, and works with them. There is that peace that a man hath in his heart, in the unfolding of the point of justification or adoption, or any divine comfort, that it breeds such inward peace and joy as is unspeakable and glorious. All that we have in the world is not worth those little beginnings that are wrought by the hearing of the word of God here. If the first fruits here be joy ofttimes
'unspeakable and glorious,' 1 Peter 1:8, if the first fruits be 'peace that passeth understanding,' Phil. 4:7, what will the consummation and perfection of these things be at that day?
Again, here you see a ground of the wonderful patience of the martyrs. You wonder that they would suffer their bodies to be torn, and have their souls severed so violently from their bodies. Alas!* cease to wonder; when they had a sense wrought in them by the Spirit of God of the things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard. If a man should have asked them why they would suffer their bodies to be misused thus, when they might have redeemed all this with a little quiet? Oh, they would have answered presently, as some of them have done: We suffer these things in our bodies and in our senses, for those that are above our senses; we know there are things laid up for us that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, &c. What do you tell us of this torment and that torment? We shall have more glory in heaven than we can have misery here. For we can see this, and there is an end of it; but we shall have joy that 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, &c. As St Paul most divinely, in divers places in Rom. 8:18, the things that we suffer here are not 'worthy of the glory that shall be revealed.' Therefore let us not wonder so much at their patience as to lay up this ground of patience against an evil day when we may be drawn to seal the truth with our blood. By the way learn what popery is. They think to merit by their doings, but especially by their