Wherein is shewed the necessity of going out of ourselves,
Preparations for Sufferings : Or, and pumping for expressions less. And thus I have briefly shewed you, how toturnish yourselves with this needful quali fication also.
CHAP.
XIII.
Wherein is shewed the necessity of going out of ourselves, eum when our habitual and actual preparations are at the greate height ; and depending as constantly and entirely upon the Spirit, who is Lord of all gracious influences, as if we had done nothing : Together with the means of working the be art to such a frame.
T Hus you have seen your habitual and actual readiness for sufferings ; and blessed is the soul that gives diligèner to this work : But now left all that I have said, and you have wrought, should be in vain ; I must let you know, that all this will not secure you, unless you can, by humility, faith, and self-denial, go out ofyourselves to Christ, and live upot him daily for tupply of grace, as much as if you had none of all this furniture and provision for sufferings.
I confess, grace is a very beautiful and lovely creature, and it is hard for a man to look upon his own graces, and not do at upon them.
But yet know, that if you had all these excellent preparations that have been mentioned, yea, and all angelical perfections fuperadded, yet are you notcompletewithout this dependance upon Christ, Col. ii. 10, Whenever you go forth to suffer for Christ, you should say at theheadofallyourexcellent graces, duties, and preparations, as Jehofaphat did, when at the head ofapuiflant and mighty army, 2Chron. xx. 12. " O Lord,
"have no might nor strength, but my eyes are unto thee.
This is one thing in which Paul excelled, and was a special part of his readiness. See 1 Cor. xv. 10. What a poor cre ture istheeminentestsaint, left to himself in an hour of trial? the hop, the ivy, and the woodbine, are taught by nature to cling about stronger props and supporters : What they do by nature, we should do by grace.
The necessity and great advantage of this will appear upon divers considerations.
Confid. 1. The Christian's own imbecilityand insufficiency, even in the strength and height of all his acquirements and preparations ; what are you, to grapple with such an adversary!
Certainly, you are no match for him that conquered Adam hand to hand in his stateofintegrity.
It is not your inherent
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strength that enables you to stand, butwhatyou receive, and daily derive from Jesus Christ, John xv. 5.
Without me," or never fo little separated from me, "yecando nothing ; all " yourfufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5. Upon this very consideration it was, that the apostle exhorts the Ephesians, to " be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might," (i. e.) not to depend upon their own stock and furniture ; but Divine affistances , and daily communications ; " For we wrestle not " with flesh and blood, but principalities and powers," Eph. vi. 10, 12.
In his own strength shall no man prevail.
Confid. 2. It is the great design of God in the gospel, to exalthis Son,and to have all glory attributed and ascribedtohim,
" That in all things he might have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 18. That Christ " might be all in all," Col. iii. 11. Hence, no saint must have a self-fufficiency, or be trusted with a stock as Adam was, but Christ being filled with all the fulness of God, and made the πρωτον δεκτικον, or first receptacle of all grace; " For it pleased the Father, that in him all fulness
" should dwell;" all the saints are therefore to go to him for supplies, and of his fulness to receive, John i. 16.
This fulness being a ministerial fulness, like that of the fun, or of a fountain, intended to supply all our wants. And hence is it that faith, a self-emptying and denying grace, is appointed to be the instrument of fetching our supplies from Christ.
All must be derived from him, that all the praise and glory maybe ascribed to him, Phil. iv. 14.
And this is a most wife and congruous ordination of God, for hereby not only are his people the better secured,but by this also, the reproach that lay uponChrift is rolled away.
He was reproached on earth, as barren, empty, weak ; " Can any good come out of Naza- " reth ?" He was looked upon as a "Root springing out of a 66 dry ground," but by this shall his reproach be wiped away :
So that unless you will go about to cross the great design of God, in the exaltation of his Christ, you must go out ofyourselves, and humbly and constantly rely upon supplies from Christ, and his grace, to help in the times of need.
Confid. 3. A Christian is constantly todependupon Christ, notwithstanding all his own preparations, and inherent qualifications ; because the activity even of inherent grace depends upon him.
Inherent grace is be holding to exciting and assisting grace for all it is enabled to do. You cannot act a grace without his Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 10. 2 Cor. iii. 5. John xv. 5.
It maybe said of grace in us, as it was of the land of Canaan, Deut. xi. 10, 11, 12. " It is not as the land of Egypt, whence
Preparations for Sufferings: Or, τι yecame out, where thou sowedst thy feed, andwateredft it
" with thy foot, as a garden of herbs : but a land of hills and " vallies, drinking water of the rain of heaven ; a land which
" the LordthyGodcareth for: his eyes are always upon it, " from the beginning of the year, even to the endoftheyear."
As the life and fragancyofvegetables depend on the influences of heaven, so do our graces upon Christ. And hence he is called, ( 1.) A root, Isa. xi. 10.
(2.) An head, Col. i. 18.
(3.) A fun, Mal. iv. 2.
(4.) A fountain,Zech. xiii. 1. All which comparisons do fully carry this truth in them.
Confid. 4. Lastly, In this life ofdependance lies your security; and indeed this is the great difference betwixt the two covenants. In the first, Adam's stock was in his own hands, and so his security or misery depended upon the unconstrained choice of his own mutable and self-determining will. But now in the new covenant, all are to go to Christ, todependupon him for supplies,and are so secured against alldestructivedangers, Jude 1. 1 Pet. i. 5. Should you go forth in your own strength against a temptation, either your grace would fail, and you fall in the conflict; or if you obtain any victory over it by your own strength, yet it is a thousand to one but your pridewouldconquer you, when you had conquered it : Like him that flew an elephant, but was himself slainby the fall of that elephant which he flew.
But now, by this way, as God hath secured you against the dangers without; so also the frame and constitution of this new covenant is such as prevents the danger arising from our own pride too. Not Ego et Deus me2us; I and my Goddidthis; as was once faidby a prophane mouth; " but selfisabased, and the Lord lifted up in his own
" strength," 1 Cor. iv. 7. And thus I have brieflyevinced the neceffityofthis dailydependance.
But next it concerns you to know, whatthisdependancewe speak of is: this also I shall briefly open to you, laying down somewhat negatively, and somewhat positively about it.
1. Negatively. It is not to deny the grace wrought in us by the Spirit; this were both injustice and ingratitude; we may know our own graces so as to be thankful for them, though not so as to be proud of them, I Cor. xv. 10.
2. Neg. It is not a lazy excuse from our duty: you do not depend, but rather dish on our Christ by so doing ; you must not say,because Christ must do all, therefore I must do nothing : but rather work out your salvation, because it is he that workethboth to will and to do,Phil. ii. 12, 13. These are not op posed, butfubordinated.
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Butthenpositively, it lies in three things.
1. Positively. In seeing and acknowledging the infinite fuffi-' ciencyand fulness that is in Christ : to acknowledge him to be all in all ; notonlybyway ofimpetration procuring all,Heb. ix. 12. but alsobyway of application, bringing home to the soul all the blessings purchased by his blood,and setthng us in the possession of it, John xiv. 3. And fo from first to last to eyehimas the author and finisher of our faith.
2. Posit. In seeing the necessary dependance that allourgraceshave upon him.
So that as you see the stream depending on the fountain, the beam upon the fun,the branch upon the root, the building upon the foundation,even so do our graces uponChrift: on him they live, and cut offfromhim they die.
"Our life is hid with ChristinGod," Col. iii. 3. When you feet his, and also fee that all your activity, and striving, is but as the hoisting up of the fails, in order to the motion of the ship,which candonothingtill there come a gale;when you look upon your grace as a creature that must be upheld, fed, acted, andprefervedbyChrist, Col. ii. 19. then you are pre-pared for this act ofdependance: As for instance,youcanneverdependupon Christ for the acting of that grace of hope, until you see Christ to be the prop and foundation of it, and that it depends upon him, as upon its cause, 1 Pet. i. 3. as upon its object, Heb. vi. 19. and as upon its foundation and groundwork, Col. i. 27.
You can neverdependuponChrist for your joy and comfort, until you fee what a necessary dependance this also hath upon him, Phil. iii. 3. and that, both as to its being and acting, John xvi. 22.
معا You can never depend upon him, for strength inanyduty, untilyoufeehowyour duties depend upon Christ,not only for the strength by which they are performed, Johnxv.4,5. but also for acceptationwhentheyare performed, 1 Pet. ii. 5.
It were easy to instance in anyothergrace.
(3.)It lies in * looking offfromyourowngrace whenever youareputuponthe acting of it, (I mean in regardofanydependanceuponit) and looking by an eye of faith for acceptation to Christ, Heb. xii. 2. Totheputtingforth of which act of dependanceuponChrist,holy ejaculations in our on-sets upon مسا duty, or those quick and vigorous lifting up of our souls to God that way, are of special use, it being a duty fitted for the
Preparations for Sufferings: Or, purpose,when there is noroomforfetandfolemnprayer. And thus briefly of its nature.
And tourgeyou to this duty, I shall offer these seven considerations : which,oh,that they i night prevailuponyourhearts, and make you for ever to clasp and cling about Christ more than ever you have done.
Consideration 1. You have little reason to rely upon the strength of your own graces, for you maybe easily deceived in that matter, and think you have much more grace than you have. How often are the common gifts of the Spirit mistaken for his special graces ! the sixth chapter to the Hebrews is able to make am an tremble in this thing.
Confid. 2. Suppose you have much grace, yet have you not strong corruptions, andmayyou not meet with strong temp. tations also ? He that hath less of other graces than you, may have more humility and self-denial than you,and so may stand when you fall.
Great enlargements are often attended with great temptations of pride, &c.
Confid. 3. Whatever measures of grace you have arrived at, yet ail is not able to secure you from falling, if God with-hold or with-draw his aids and influences.
Abraham had more faith than you, and yet he fell into a fin contrary to that very grace wherein he so excelled others,Gen. xx. 2. Jobhadmore patience than you ; which of you could behave yourselves as he did,hadyoubeeninthe like circumstances as he was ? chap. i. 2. he is renowned for it in the scripture, James v. 11. yet he fell into that fin which is contrary to this grace also, chap. iii.
Moses had more meekness than you : "Now the man Mo- " ses was the meekestmanupon the earth."
If you be but reproved, and thatjustlyforyour faults, howwaspish are you ?
Yet see how this grace failed even in him, in an eminent trial of it, Numb. xi. 13, 14, 15. Adam was much more advantag ed in this respect than you, being made upright, and no cor. ruption inherent in him, yet he fell: the angels more again, yet they fell. Ohwhen will you learn the vanity offelf-dependance.
Confid. 4. Nothing more provoketh the Lord to withdraw his Spirit, and letyoufall,than this fin offelf-confidence doth,
Luke xiv. 29, 30, 31. God will teach you by fad experience your own weakness,and what frail and vain things you be, it you will learn it by no other means.
Confid. 5. If God permit you to fall, (as doubtless he will, if you be self-conceited), then the more eminent you have been, or are for grace, the more will the name of God be reproached
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by your fall.
This will furnish the triumphs oftheuncircum cifed, and the lamentations of your brethren, and make them fay, " How are the mighty fallen !" What dismal consequents will attend your fall ?
Confid. 6. Have you not fad experience of your own weak. ness from day to day in your lesser trials ? Have you not said in some smaller conflicts, as David once did, " My feet had
-" wellnigh flipt."
Omethinks this should teach you to look more to God, and less to self. " If you have run with foot- " men, and they have wearied you in the land of peace, think
"sadly how you should contend with horses in the swellings of " Jordan." Do not you fee that you are but feathers in the wind of temptation ? Consult your former experiences, and they will tellyouwhatweaklings you are.
Confid. 7. Lastly, Hath Christgivenyou more grace than o thers, then how much more hath he obliged you to honour him thereby ? And is this your requital of his love ? What ! to take the crown from his head, and put it upon your own!
Certainly a greater injurycannotbedone toChristthanthis.
Well then,by all thisbe perfuadedto ceasefromyourselves, yea, from your religious selves ; and to all other your preparations, add this as a choice one; if you do these things, you shall never fall. And thus you fee the complete Christian in his equipage for sufferings.
CHAP.
XIV.
Containing the first use of the point by way of conviction, discovering the unreadiness of multitudes of professors for suffer ing-work.
YOU have seen, by all that hath been spoken, what the necessary pre-requifites unto a suffering condition are: andwhatmanner of persons you must be, (both for habitual and actual readiness), if ever you honour Christ by bonds, or death for him. And I doubt not but your judgments and confciencesyieldtotheevidentnecessityofthesethings, where. in I have placed the Christian's readiness. But, alas ! where shall we find among the throngs and crowds of professors,any considerable numbers thus qualified and prepared ? To suffer for Christ, is a gift that few have received. We are fallen intothedregs of time. Oh how little of primitive zealand simplicity remains among the professors of this age! latter times
VOL . VII.
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Preparations for Sufferings : Or, have produced a fort of professors of another stamp and spirit.
These have the light, but they had the love : these fee more, but they did and suffered more. Howmanythat are no ornament to religion, doadorn themselves with the name of it!
Now, according to this account given of a ready Christian, divers professing persons will be convicted of their unreadiness and inability to manage suffering-work : As first,
1. The politic and hypocritical professors,whose hearts were never set right at first, and therefore cannot be stedfaft when trials come, Psal. Ixxviii. 8.
Their hearts were never found in God'sstatutes, and therefore no wonder if they be not only a shame to, but ashamed of their profession, Psalm cxix. 80.
Never wonder if you fee that profession which began in hypocrisy, to end in apostasy.
These want their habitual readiness for sufferings, and fo cannot drink of that cup: Needs must they fall when tried; and when they fall, they fall dreadfully, and often irrecoverably; for they neither have the feed of God in them, nor any promise of God made to them.
And are there not many such to be found in every place For, ( 1.) How. difficult is it to persuade many of you to any duty that hath loss or hazard attending on it ? Doth not the sincere heart stand inclinable and disposed to all the known will of God ? Psalm cxix. 6. Do Christians use to enquire more what is cheap, easy, and safe for them, or what is their duty ? Gal. i. 16.
Speak conscience, for to thee do I appeal ; artthounot conscious of some reserves, limitations,and excсер tions ? Doth not the man, like Naaman, desire the Lord to excuse and pardon him in this or that thing ? 2 Kings v. 17.
And thinkest thou that this is consistent with sincere obedience, which excepts no duty, nor quarrels with any command, because they all flow equally from the sovereignty of God, James ii. 11. and so doth what it doth intuitu voluntatis, upon the fight of God's will. Say conscience, are there not great ftrug. glings, disputes, and contests betwixt thee,and fleshly interests insuchcafes ? And art thou not frequently over-borne ? Oh search your hearts in this particular.
Yea,secondly, I appealtoyou, whethertherebe not manyamongyou that choose sin rather than affliction ? This is always the hypocrite's option and choice: He judges sufferings the greatest evils, and fo orders himself in his election.
It was merely to avoid persecution that those hypocrites, Gal. vi. 12. constrained others to be circumcised, only to gratify the Jews; that so, by a sinful compliance with them, the offence of the eress might cease.
IfPaulwouldhave done fo, he might have
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avoided it too, but he durst not whatever he suffered, Gal. v.
11. Oh this is a shrewd sign of a false heart, Job xxxvi. 21.
And the contrary disposition is always found in the upright heart, Heb. xi. 25.
Nay, are there not some that have, and others that are ready to throw up their profession, when they fee into what difficulties it involves them ? Whilst they could live upon the profession of truth, they entertained it; but when truth comes to live upon them, they thrust it out, and cry, away with this profession, it will beggar and undo us : They then repent of their forwardness, and secretly wish they had never engaged in it. O examine whether your hearts be not thus turned back, and your steps declined.
If so, it is manifest you are hypcritical professors, and that it was some outward self-respect at first engaged you in yourprofeffion, but can never enable you to hold out when difficult days come.
I say it is manifest by this departure from your profession, that some outward felfrespect at first allured you to it.
As now, when I behold the artificial motions of the wheels in a watch, and see how regularly the needle marks the journal-hours of the fun upon the flat of the quadrant, and fee nothing that moves or guides it ; it would cause admiration if I had never seen it before, or did not understand the cause and motion : but when I look upon the other side, and there find wheels, refforts, and counterpoises, and a spring that causes all those motions, I cease to wonder.
Certainly some lust or other was the spring of all thy religious motions ; stop or take off that, and motion ceases: And if it be so, this scab of hypocrisy will at last break out into that botch of apoftacy.
Thou canst never hold out long under trials, Matth. xiii. 21. Oh how many such sad fights may we live to fee as trials come! Difficult times are coming on, 2Tim, iii. 1. And woe to such then as want sincerity at the bottom of their profession.
2. And as these have no habitual readiness for sufferings, - and, consequently, must be ruined by them, so there are others that maybe truly godly, and have the root of the matter in them, who are yet far from an actual readiness, and fo continuing,are like to be a reproach toreligionwhen their trial comes ; for it is not a little grace in the sleepy habit that will secure you from falling scandalously by the hand of temptation: and although that feed of God which is in you, will re- - cover you again, and prevent total and final apoftacy, yet, Oh,
-confiderwhat afad thing it is to enter into, and be conquered Bbb2
Preparations for Sufferings : Or, by temptation, to be led away in triumph bythetempter,and made a reproach to Christ. O it is afad consideration to think how many there be amongst the people of God,that discover little or no actual preparation for sufferings : As, first,
1. Upon how many of the saints is the spirit of slumber poured out ? Even the wife, as well as foolish, seem now to be asleep.
There is a twofold spiritual sleep: the first is total, uponwickedmen : and it is one of God's forest and dreadful left strokes upon their fouls, Ifa.xxix. 10. * The Hebrew word there is the fame with that which is used of Adam,when God cast him into that deep sleep whilst he tookouthis rib. And in
2Tim . ii . 26. it signifies such a sleep as that which is occasioned by drunkenness ; out of such asleep doth the Lord awaken all that are saved, and they never fall into it any more. The o ther is partial, Cant. v. 2, and is incident to the people of God, Matth. xxv. 5. This is nothing else but thattorpor or fluggishness of Spirit which seizethupon the saints, and never did it prevail, I fear, among them more,than now. For where is their activity for God? Where is he thatftirreth up himself to take hold of God ? Ifa. lxiv. 7. Where is there such age neration as that, Psal. xxiv. 6.? We pray, confer, and hear, for the most part, but as men speak betwixt sleeping and waking.
Where can you find, except here and there one, that hath a quick and lively sense of God's indignation upon him, or that trembles at his judgments ? Isnotthattheverycaseofthe most which God describes, Ifa. xlii. ult. ?
2.How many are seized by a private and worldly Spirit, e very man turning to his own house,and eagerly pursuing the world? Hab. i. 9. Jer. xlv, 4, 5. Oh ! how are we intang. led in the wilderness ? How doth the world eat up our time, and eat out our zeal ; cowardize and soften our spit its, and render us utterly unfit for theyoke and burden of Christ ? You that see so much beauty, and taste so much sweetness in the creature, you will have an hard task when called to deny it:
You are not yet prepared to drink of the cup, or take up the cross of Christ.
3. How many poor Christians are of a low andtimorous Spirit, readytotrembleatthe shaking of a leaf? Ah poor hearts ! howunfit are you for bonds or death ! This passion of fear that sopredominates in you, is the very passion which Satan assaults, and lays siege to in the hour of temptation, as was before noted: And commonly it isoccasioned(where it flows
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38г not from the natural constitution) from an excessive love to the world, or from some guilt upon the spirit.
It is true, the Lord can so assist weak faith, and so subdue strong fears, as that you may be enabled to stand the shock when it comes :
(For, asI noted formerly, our strength lies not in any thing inherent in us, but we are strong or weak, according to the divine presence and assistances that we enjoy) but yet if you labour not to mortify this evil, and stir not up yourselves in C the use of all appointed means, to rouze your zeal and courage for God, I know no warrant you have to expect such assistances.
Lastly, How many poor Christians among us are to this day dark and cloudy in their evidences for heaven ? Hadtheywalked closely with God, been laborious in the disquifition and search of their own hearts, they had long finceobtained a clearness and satisfaction about the state of their own hearts : But as the case stands with them, how unfit are they for bonds or death.
Oh ! it is a fad case, when inward and outward troubles meet together, as you may fee, Gen. xlii. 21, 22. when there shall be sightings without, and fears within : When such a pang as that, Lam. iii, 17, 18, shall come over thy heart, what wiltthou do ?
By all thathathbeen said, it appears, that the most of professors are in a very unready posture for sufferings; so that as troubles come to an height, we are like to see many fad spectacles : Many offences will come ; religion is like to be wounded in the house of its friends. Oh! what a day of merey have we enjoyed ? What helps and choice advantages, above any precedent age, and yet unready? Howfad and inexcufableisthis?
CHAP.
XV.
Containing another use of the point, by way ofexhortation,persuading all the people of God, whilst the Lord refpites, and graciously delays their trials, to answer the end of God therein, and prepare themselves for greater trials : wherefeveral motives are propounded, to excite to the duty .
UP then from your beds of sloth, awake from your security, O ye faints, get upon your watch-towers, trembleinyourselves, thatye may rest inthedayof evil, Hab. ii .
1, 3, 16. " Put on the whole armour of God, that yemaybe
Preparations for Sufferings : Or, " able to stand in the evil day, and when you have done all,
" to stand," Eph. vi. 11. O let it never be said of your dwellings, as it is of the tabernacles of the wicked, Job xxi. 9.
" Their houses are safe from fear."
Augustushearing of one that was deeply in debt, who yet slept heartily, sent for his pillow, supposing there was some strange virtue in that pillow.
I wonderwhatpillow you have gotten, O ye drowsy saints, that you canfleep so quietly upon it, now that all things about you are conspiring trouble, andthreateningdanger.
Can you sleep likeJonah, when seas of wrath are tumbling and roaring round about you, and threatentoentombyouandallyourenjoyments?Behold," The " stork in the heavens knows her appointed time," Jer. vii.
8. and hath notGodmade you wiser than thefowls of the air, Jobxxxv. 11. It maybe the found offome present judgment may a little startle you, like a sudden clap of thunder in the air; but how foondoth sloth and security prevail, and overcome you again. They say poison by being habituated, may be made innocent : We are soused to, or ratherhardenedunder calamities, that nothing moves or effectually awakens us.
Lord, what will the end of these things be ? Wilt thou furprizethypeople at unawares ? Shall thy judgments find them secure, and leave them desperate ? O that God would persuade you " to gather yourselves together, yea, to gather together,"
(not in an unlawful and seditious way,but inthewayofduty), " before the decree bring forth,and thedaypass as the chaff,"
Zeph. ii. 1, 2. O prepare to meet your God, Amos iv. 12.
Prepare your faith, love, courage, &c. before God call you to the exercise of them.
And to excite you to this duty, besides all the fore-mentionel benefits ofa prepared spirit, consider these following part i. cularsby way of motive.
1. Motive. The many calls which God hath given you to this work.
The Lord hath uttered his voice, and called from heaven unto you ; will you be deaf to his calls ? He hath called upon you, (1.) By the word : God would have it cry to you first, because he would give the first honourtohis word
He hath given all his prophets one mouth, Luke i. 70. and they havewarnedyou faithfully.
(2.) By the rod : this also hath a loud voice, Micah vi. 9. Psalm ii 5. Men of understanding will hear this voice; and those that will not hear it, shall be
Iashedby it even till they are fickwith smiting, verse 13. (3.) By prodigious andprotentous signs in the heavens and earth, such as no age can parallel, these have a loud voice to all that
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regard the works of the Lord, or the operations of his hands.
Eufebius calls them God'sfermons to the world *. Oh that we were wife to consider what God's ends are in these things ! one observes, That as they are the plainest and most obvious
⚫to sense, so they are commonly the last sermons which God • intends to preach to nations, before he inflicts his punishment on them, if they repent not ' O let not God, speaking in ordinary and extraordinary ways to you, still speak in vain.
Your preparation for sufferings, is the most probable means ofpreventingyourfallandruinbythosesufferings.
2.Motive. Sufferings prove fatalanddestructivetosome;but it is to secure and careless ones : Such as are diligent and faithful in the use of God's means, are secured from the danger.
* Christ lays our constancy and perseverance very n.uch upon our forecasting the worst that may fall out, Luke xiv. 28.
" Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to " stand," Eph. vi. He that hath first severed Christ in his thoughts from all worldly advantages, and puts the case thus to * his own soul, O my soul, canst thou embrace or love a naked
Christ ? Canstthou be content to be impoverished, imprisoned, and suffer the loss of all for him? He is most likely to cleave
faithfully to him, when the case is reallypresentedtohim in- ✓deed.
And can it seem a lightthing in your eyes, to be enabled to stand in such an evil day? If you fall away from Christ, then all you have wrought is lost, Ezek. xxxiii. 13.
Gideon's one bastard destroyed all his seventy sons.
This act renders all former actions and professions vain.
If you fall, you shall thereby be brought into a more perfect bondage to the devil thanever, Matth.xii. 23. Yea, ordinarily, apoftates are judicially given up to be perfecutors, Hofeav. 12. 1 Tim. i. 20. and are seldom or neverrecoveredagainby grace,Heb. vi. 4, 6. They that lick up their vomit, seldom cast it up any more.
It is a fall within a little as low as the unpardonable fin, whence never any rise again. In some cases the judge will not allow the offender his book. And is it not then a choice anddefireable mercy to escape and prevent such a fall as this ? O goodfouls, plyyour preparation-work close then ; prepare, or you perish .
3. Motive. This will best answer the grace of God, in afford ingyou such choice helps and advantages as you have enjoyed.
How longhaveyou enjoyed the free liberty of the gospel, shin * Τα το Θεκκηρύγματα.
Eufeb. hist. lib. ii. cap. 8,
Preparations for Sufferings : Or, ing in its luftre among you ? This fun, which to some other nations hath not risen, and to divers on whom it hath shined, yet it is but as a winter's fun, remote, and its beams but feeble; but you have lived, as it were, under the line, it hath been over your heads, and shed its richest influences upon you.
Yea, God's ministers, who are notonlyappointed to be watchmen, Ezek. iii. 16. but trumpeters to discover danger, Num. x. 8. These have faithfully warned you ofadayoftrouble, and given you their best assistance to make you ready for it. And is not their joy, yea, life, bound up in your stability in such a day of trial ? Doth not every one call upon you in the words of the apostle, Phil. iv. 1. " Therefore, my brethren, dearly
" beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast " in the Lord, mydearlybeloved."
Will it not cutthemto the very heart, if after all their spending labours among you, they still leaveyouunready? enemies still to the cross of Christ, impossible to be reconciled and persuaded to suffering-work for Christ.
I remember I have read of the Athenian Codrus, who being informed by the oracle, that the people whose king should be slain in battle should be conquerors: he thereupon difrobed himself, and in a disguise went into the enemies quarters,that he might steal a death to make his people victorious.
Oh! howgladwould your ministers be, if you might con. querand overcome in the dayoftemptation, whatever become of their lives and liberties ! Yea, and if they be offered up up onthefacrifice and service of your faith, they can rejoice, and joywithyou all.
Such is their zeal and longing after your fe curityand welfare.
But if still you remain anunready people, and do become a prey to temptation,Ohhow inexcusable will you be !
4. Motive. Remember how ready the Lord Jesus was to fufferthe hardest and vilest things for you.
He had a bitter cup put into his hands to drink for you, into which the wrath both of God and man was squeezed out.
Never hadman such sufferings to undergo as Christ *, whether you confider, (1.) The dignity of his person, who was in the form of God, and might have stood upon hispeerageand equality with him; he is the sparkling diamond of heaven, Acts vii. 56. the dar:
-lingofthe Father's soul, Ifa. xlii. 1. glorious as the only begotten of the Father, John i. 14. yea, glory itself, James ii.1. yea, the very brightness of glory, Heb. i. 3. He is thedeliciae
* Dolor Chrifti suit major omnibus doloribus, Aquia.
The best Work in the worst Times.
Chriftiani orbis, fairer than the sons of men : And for him to be so debased, below so many thousands of his own creatures, become a worm, and no man ; this was a wonderful humiliation.
It was Jeremiah's lamentation, that such as were brought up in scarlet, embraced dunghills ; that princes were hanged up by the hands, and the faces of elders were not reverenced :
But what was that to the humiliation of the Lord of glory ?
Or, (2.) That he suffered in the prime and flower of his years , when full of life and sense, and more capable of exquisite sense ofpainthan others : for he was optime complexion at us t ofa singular constitution; and all the while he hanged on the tree, his sense of pain not at all blunted or decayed, Mark xv. 37, 39. Or, (3.) The manner of his death. It was the death of the cross, which was a rack to Christ : for in reference to the distention of his members upon the cross is that spoken,Pial. xxii. 17. " I may tell all my bones." Or, (4.) That all this while God hid his face from him.
When Stephen suffered, he saw the heavens opened. The martyrs were many of them. ravished and transported with extafies of joy in their sufferings; but Christ in the dark. He suffered in his soul as well as in his body; and the sufferings of his soul were the very foul of his sufferings.
It was the Father's wrath that lay fo heavy on him, as to put him into such an agony, that an instance was never given of the like nature ! for he sweat θρομβοί, great drops, or clodders of blood, which fell from his body to • the ground, Luke xxii. 44. " It amazed him, andmadehim very heavy ;" see Mark xiv. 33. yea," sorrowful even to " death," Matth. xxvi. 38 .
And yet, as bitter as the cup was, he freely and willingly drank it up, Johnxviii. 11. prepared himself to be offered up a sacrifice, Psal. xl. 6, 7. gave his back to the smiters,"
Ifa. 1.6. yea, longed exceedingly for thetimetillitcame, Luke xii. 50.
Now, if Christ so chearfully prepared andaddressedhimself to such sufferings as these for you, should you not prepare yourselves to encounter any difficulty or hardship for him ? O my brethren, doth not this seem a just and fair inference to you, from the sufferings of Christ for you ? 1 Pet. iv. 1
" Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, " arm yourselves likewise with the same mind."
Oh, trifle no longer, feed not yourselves with fancies and * Aquinas.
Cce
VOL. VII.