ADVICE TO SUFFERERS.

BY JOHN BUNYAN.

London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in

the Poultry, 1684.

ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.

THIS valuable treatise was first published in a pocket volume

in 1684, and has only been reprinted in Whitfield's edition of

Bunyan's works, 2 vols. folio, 1767.

No man could have been better qualified to give advice to

sufferers for righteousness' sake, than John Bunyan: and this

work is exclusively devoted to that object. Shut up in a noisome

jail, under the iron hand of persecution, for nearly thirteen

years, in the constant fear of being hanged as a malefactor, for

refusing conformity to the national liturgy, he well knew what

sufferings were, and equally well did he know the sources of

consolation. It was wisely ordered by Divine Providence, that

before the king pardoned him, he had a legal return under the

hand and seal of the sheriff of Bedfordshire, certifying the

reasons of this frightful imprisonment. This is entered in the

minutes of the Privy Council on the 8th and 15th of May, 1672;

and it proves that he was thus cruelly punished for "being at

conventicles for nonconformity" and for no other cause. In this

"Advice" we find his opinion on the origin of persecution—the

instruments—the motives—its cruelty—with cautions,

counsels, and support to the persecuted. He considers

persecution a strange anomaly,—"The reason is that

Christianity is a harmless thing—that be it never so openly

professed it hurts no man." Simple-hearted, honest John, thou

dreamest. What wouldest thou have thought of a system by

which all would have been taught to tag their laces and mend

their own pots and kettles? What would have become of thy

trade as a brazier? Christianity teaches all mankind not to trust

in those empirics who profess to cure souls for Peter's pence,

tithes, mortuaries, and profits; but to go by themselves to the

Great Physician, and he will pour in his wine and oil, his

infallible remedies for a sin-sick soul, without money and

without price. To Bunyan this was not only harmless to others,

but the most boundless mercy that God could bestow upon man.

What could be more destructive to the hierarchy of popes,

cardinals, and papal nuncios of the Latin, with the patriarchs,

archimandrites, and papas of the Greek churches? A system by

which all their services are dispensed with, and priestly and

prelatic pride is leveled with the dust. Can we wonder that those

who preached the holy, humbling, self-denying doctrines of the

cross, were persecuted to the death? Bunyan's opinion is, that

Satan is the author of persecution, by which he intended to root

out Christianity. The whirlwind and the tempest drives away

those who are not rooted and grounded in the faith, some of

whom may have stood like stately cedars until the trying time

of trial came. But the humble Christian in such a season takes

deeper root—a stronger grasp. Faith, his anchor, is sure and

steadfast; it enters eternity and heaven, where Satan can find no

entrance to disturb its hold. In persecution, men are but the

devil's tools, and little think that they are doing his drudgery.

The man of God declares the truth in plain terms, "No one is a

Christian except he is born of God by the anointing of the Holy

One." Carnal men cannot endure this; and then "the game

begins," how such troublesome fellows may be put out of the

way, and their families be robbed of their possessions to enrich

the persecutors. "The holy places, vestures, gestures—the

shows and outward greatness of false religion, are in danger."

Their sumptuous ceremonies, glorious ornaments, new-

fashioned carriages,1 "will fall before the simplicity and

majesty of truth." The Christian falls out with sin at home, and

then with sinful ceremonies in divine worship. With him all that

is not prescribed in the word of God is forbidden. Sentiments

like these are a blow at the root of superstition with all its

fraudful emoluments. Hence the storms of persecution which

fall on the faithful followers of Christ. Antichrist declares the

excellency of human inventions to supply what he considers

defects in God's system.

Such is the mad folly of the human heart! Dust and ashes find

fault with a system which is the perfection of wisdom, mercy,

and love. And such their infatuation, that "none must be

suffered to live and breathe that refuseth conformity thereto."

Mr. Bunyan's cautions and counsels are full of peace—

"submission to the powers that be." Pray for the persecutor—

return good for his evil. He is in the hand of God, who will

soon level him with the dust, and call his soul to solemn

judgment. Although the sufferer's cause is good, do not run

yourself into trouble—Christ withdrew himself—Paul escaped

by being lowered down the city wall in a basket. If they

persecute you in one city, flee to another. "A minister can

quickly pack up and carry his religion with him, and offer what

he knows of his God to another people." God is the support of

his persecuted ones. "His power in holding up some, his wrath

in leaving of others; his making of shrubs to stand, and his

suffering of cedars to fall; his infatuating of the counsels of

men, and his making of the devil to outwit himself; his giving

of his presence to his people, and his leaving of his foes in the

dark; his discovering the uprightness of the hearts of his

sanctified ones, and laying open the hypocrisy of others, is a

working of spiritual wonders in the day of his wrath, and of the

whirlwind and storm." "Alas! we have need of these bitter pills

at which we so much winch and shuck. The physician has us in

hand. May God by these try and judge us as he judges his

saints, that we may not be condemned with the world." Such

were the feelings of John Bunyan after his long sufferings; they

are the fruits of a sanctified mind. Reader, great are our

mercies—the arm of the persecutor is paralysed by the

extension of the knowledge of Christ. Still we have to pass

through taunts and revilings, and sometimes the loss of goods;

but we are saved from those awful trials through which our

pilgrim forefathers passed. May our mercies be sanctified, and

may grace be bestowed upon us in rich abundance, to enable us

to pity and forgive those sects who, in a bye-gone age, were the

tools of Satan, and whose habitations were full of cruelty.—

GEO. OFFOR.

TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.

BELOVED, I thought it convenient, since many at this day are

exposed to sufferings, to give my advice touching that to thee.

Namely, that thou wouldest take heed to thyself, and keep thy

soul diligently, and not suffer thyself to be entangled in those

snares that God hath suffered to be laid in the world for some.

Beware of "men" in the counsel of Christ "for they will deliver

you up" (Matt 10:17). Keep thou therefore within the bounds of

uprightness and integrity towards both God and man: for that

will fortify, that will preserve thee, if not from, yet under the

rage of men, in a comfortable and quiet frame of heart.

Wherefore do that, and that only, that will justify thy

innocency, and that will help thee, not with forced speech, but

with good conscience, when oppressed, to make thy appeals to

God, and to the consciences of all men.

This is the advice that, I thank God, I have taken myself: for I

find that there is nothing, next to God and his grace by Christ,

that can stand one in such stead, as will a good and harmless

conscience.2

I hope I can say that God has made me a Christian: and a

Christian must be a harmless man, and to that end, must

embrace nothing but harmless principles. A Christian's

business, as a Christian, is to believe in Jesus Christ, and in God

the Father by him; and to seek the good of all about him,

according as his place, state and capacity in this world will

admit, not meddling with other men's matters, but ever

following that which is good.

A Christian is a child of the kingdom of God, and that kingdom,

take it as it begins in grace, or as it is perfected in glory, is not

of this world but of that which is to come: and though men of

old, as some may now, be afraid of that kingdom: yet that

kingdom will hurt no man, neither with its principles, nor by

itself. To instance somewhat, Faith in Christ: what harm can

that do? A life regulated by a moral law, what hurt is in that?

Rejoicing in spirit for the hope of the life to come by Christ,

who will that harm? Nor is the instituted worship of our Lord of

any evil tendency, Christianity teaches us also to do our

enemies good, to "Bless them that hate us, and to pray for them

that despitefully use us and persecute us," and what evil can be

in that? This is the sum of the Christian religion, as by the word

may be plainly made appear: wherefore I counsel thee to keep

close to these things, and touch with nothing that jostleth

therewith.

Nor do thou marvel, thou living thus, if some should be so

foolish as to seek thy hurt, and to afflict thee, because thy

works are good (1 John 3:12,13). For there is need that thou

shouldest at sometimes be in manifold temptations, thy good

and innocent life notwithstanding (1 Peter 1:6). For, to omit

other things, there are some of the graces of God that are in

thee, that as to some of their acts, cannot shew themselves, nor

their excellency, nor their power, nor what they can do: but as

thou art in a suffering state. Faith and patience, in persecution,

has that to do, that to shew, and that to perform, that cannot be

done, shewed, nor performed any where else but there. There is

also a patience of hope; a rejoicing in hope, when we are in

tribulation, that is, over and above that which we have when we

are at ease and quiet. That also that all graces can endure, and

triumph over, shall not be known, but when, and as we are in a

state of affliction. Now these acts of our graces are of that

worth and esteem with God, also he so much delighteth in

them: that occasion through his righteous judgment, must be

ministered for them to shew their beauty, and what bravery 3

there is in them.

It is also to be considered that those acts of our graces, that

cannot be put forth, or shew themselves in their splendour, but

when we Christianly suffer, will yield such fruit to those whose

trials call them to exercise, that will, in the day of God, abound

to their comfort, and tend to their perfection in glory (1 Peter

1:7; 2 Cor 4:17).

Why then should we think that our innocent lives will exempt

us from sufferings, or that troubles shall do us such harm? For

verily it is for our present and future good that our God doth

send them upon us. I count therefore, that such things are

necessary for the health of our souls, as bodily4 pains and

labour are for [the health of] the body. People that live high,

and in idleness, bring diseases upon the body: and they that live

in all fullness of gospel-ordinances, and are not exercised with

trials, grow gross, are diseased and full of bad humours in their

souls. And though this may to some seem strange: yet our day

has given us such an experimental proof of the truth thereof, as

has not been known for some ages past.

Alas! we have need of those bitter pills, at which we so winch

and shuck:5 and it will be well if at last we be purged as we

should thereby. I am sure we are but little the better as yet,

though the physician has had us so long in hand. Some bad

humours may possibly ere long be driven out: but at present the

disease is so high, that it makes some professors fear more a

consumption will be made in their purses by these doses, than

they desire to be made better in their souls thereby. I see that I

still have need of these trials; and if God will by these judge me

as he judges his saints, that I may not be condemned with the

world, I will cry, Grace, grace for ever.

The consideration also that we have deserved these things,

much6 silences me as to what may yet happen unto me. I say, to

think that we have deserved them of God, though against men

we have done nothing, makes me lay my hand upon my mouth,

and causes me to hold my tongue. Shall we deserve correction?

And be angry because we have it! Or shall it come to save us?

and shall we be offended with the hand that brings it! Our

sickness is so great that our enemies take notice of it; let them

know too that we also take our purges patiently. We are willing

to pay for those potions that are given us for the health of our

body, how sick soever they make us: and if God will have us

pay too for that which is to better our souls, why should we

grudge thereat? Those that bring us these medicines have little

enough for their pains: for my part, I profess, I would not for a

great deal, be bound, for their wages, to do their work. True,

physicians are for the most part chargeable, and the niggards

are too loth to part with their money to them: but when

necessity says they must either take physic, or die: of two evils

they desire to choose the least. Why, affliction is better than sin,

and if God sends the one to cleanse us from the other, let us

thank him, and be also content to pay the messenger.

And thou that art so loth to pay for thy sinning, and for the

means that puts thee upon that exercise of thy graces, as will be

for thy good hereafter: take heed of tempting of God lest he

doubleth this potion unto thee. The child, by eating of raw fruit,

stands in need of physic, but the child of a childish humour

refuseth to take the potion, what follows but a doubling of the

affliction, to wit, frowns, chides, and further threatenings and a

forcing of the bitter pills upon him. But let me, to persuade thee

to lie down and take thy potion, tell thee, it is of absolute

necessity, to wit, for thy spiritual and internal health. For, First,

Is it better that thou receive judgment in this world, or that thou

stay for it to be condemned with the ungodly in the next?

Second, Is it better that thou shouldest, as to some acts of thy

graces, be foreign, and a stranger, and consequently that thou

shouldest lose that far more exceeding, and eternal weight of

glory that is prepared as the reward thereof? or that thou

shouldest receive it at the hand of God, when the day shall

come that every man shall have praise of him for their doings?

Third, And I say again, since chastisements are a sign of

sonship, a token of love: and the contrary a sign of bastardy,

and a token of hatred (Heb 12:6-8; Hosea 4:14). Is it not better

that we bear those tokens and marks in our flesh that bespeak us

to belong to Christ, than those that declare us to be none of his?

For my part, God help me to choose rather to suffer affliction

with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a

season: and God of his mercy prepare me for his will. I am not

for running myself into sufferings, but if godliness will expose

me to them, the Lord God make me more godly still: for I

believe there is a world to come.

But, Christian reader, I would not detain thee from a sight of

those sheets in thy hand: only let me beg of thee, that thou wilt

not be offended either with God, or men, if the cross is laid

heavy upon thee. Not with God, for he doth nothing without a

cause, nor with men, for they are the hand of God: and will

they, nill they; 7 they are the servants of God to thee for good

(Psa 17:14; Jer 24:5). Take therefore what comes to thee from

God by them, thankfully. If the messenger that brings it is glad

that it is in his power to do thee hurt, and to afflict thee; if he

skips for joy at thy calamity: be sorry for him; pity him, and

pray to thy Father for him: he is ignorant and understandeth not

the judgment of thy God, yea he sheweth by this his behavior,

that though he, as God's ordinance, serveth thee by afflicting of

thee: yet means he nothing less than to destroy thee: by the

which also he prognosticates before thee that he is working out

his own damnation by doing of thee good. Lay therefore the

woeful state of such to heart, and render him that which is good

for his evil; and love for his hatred to thee; then shalt thou shew

that thou art acted by a spirit of holiness, and art like thy

heavenly Father. And be it so, that thy pity and prayers can do

such an one no good, yet they must light some where, or return

again, as ships come loaden from the Indies, full of blessings

into thine own bosom.

And besides all this, is there nothing in dark providences, for

the sake of the sight and observation of which, such a day may

be rendered lovely, when it is upon us? Is there nothing of God,

of his wisdom and power and goodness to be seen in thunder,

and lightning, in hailstones? in storms? and darkness and

tempests? Why then is it said, he "hath his way in the

whirlwind and in the storm" (Nahum 1:3). And why have God's

servants of old made such notes, and observed from them such

excellent and wonderful things. There is that of God to be seen

in such a day as cannot be seen in another. His power in

holding up some, his wrath in leaving of others; his making of

shrubs to stand, and his suffering of cedars to fall; his

infatuating of the counsels of men, and his making of the devil

to outwit himself; his giving of his presence to his people, and

his leaving of his foes in the dark; his discovering the

uprightness of the hearts of his sanctified ones, and laying open

the hypocrisy of others, is a working of spiritual wonders in the

day of his wrath, and of the whirlwind and storm. These days!

these days are the days that do most aptly give an occasion to

Christians, of any, to take the exactest measures and scantlings

of ourselves. We are apt to overshoot, in days that are calm, and

to think ourselves far higher, and more strong than we find we

be, when the trying day is upon us. The mouth of Gaal and the

boasts of Peter were great and high before the trial came, but

when that came, they found themselves to fall far short of the

courage they thought they had (Judg 9:38).

We also, before the temptation comes, think we can walk upon

the sea, but when the winds blow, we feel ourselves begin to

sink. Hence such a time is rightly said to be a time to try us, or

to find out what we are, and is there no good in this? Is it not

this that rightly rectifies our judgment about ourselves, that

makes us to know ourselves, that tends to cut off those

superfluous sprigs of pride and self-conceitedness, wherewith

we are subject to be overcome? Is not such a day, the day that

bends us, humbleth us, and that makes us bow before God, for

our faults committed in our prosperity? and yet doth it yield no

good unto us? we cold not live without such turnings of the

hand of God upon us. We should be overgrown with flesh, if

we had not our seasonable winters. It is said that in some

countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit, because there is

no winter there. The Lord bless all seasons to his people, and

help them rightly to behave themselves, under all the times that

go over them.

Farewell. I am thine to serve thee in the gospel,

JOHN BUNYAN.

ADVICE TO

SUFFERERS.

"WHEREFORE LET THEM THAT SUFFER ACCORDING

TO THE WILL OF GOD, COMMIT THE KEEPING OF

THEIR SOULS TO HIM IN WELL DOING, AS UNTO A

FAITHFUL CREATOR"—1 PETER 4:19.

This epistle was written to saints in affliction, specially those of

the circumcision, for whom this Peter was an apostle. And it

was written to them to counsel, and comfort them in their

affliction. To counsel them as to the cause, for which they were

in afflictions, and as to the right management of themselves,

and their cause, under their affliction. To comfort them also

both with respect to their present help from God, and also with

reference to the reward that (they faithfully continuing to the

end) should of God be bestowed upon them: all which we shall

have occasion, more distinctly, to handle in this following

discourse.

The text is a conclusion, drawn from the counsel and comfort

which the apostle had afore given them in their suffering state.

As who should say, my brethren, as you are now afflicted, so

sufferings are needful for you, and therefore profitable and

advantageous: wherefore be content to bear them. And that you

may indeed bear them with such Christian contentedness, and

patience as becomes you; commit the keeping of your souls to

your God as unto a faithful Creator. "Let them that suffer

according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls

to him [in well doing,] as unto a faithful Creator."

In this conclusion, therefore, we have three things very fit for

sufferers to concern themselves with. FIRST, A direction to a

duty of absolute necessity. SECOND, A description of the

persons, who are unto this, so necessary a duty, directed.

THIRD, An insinuation of the good effect that will certainly

follow to those that after a due manner shall take this blessed

advice.

The duty so absolutely necessary is, that sufferers "commit the

keeping of their souls to God." The sufferers here intended, are

those "that suffer according to the will of God." The good

insinuated, that will be the effect of our true doing of this, is,

we shall find God "a faithful Creator."

[FIRST—THE DUTY TO WHICH SUFFERERS ARE

DIRECTED.]

We will first begin with the duty, that sufferers are here directed

to, namely, the committing of their souls to God. "Let them -

commit the keeping of their souls to him, in well doing."

And I find two things in it that first call for explaining before I

proceed. 1. What we must here understand by "the soul." 2.

What by "committing" the soul to God.

1. For the first: "The soul," here, is to be taken for that most

excellent part of man, that dwelleth in the body; that immortal,

spiritual substance, that is, and will be capable of life, and

motion, of sense and reason; yea, that will abide a rational

being, when the body is returned to the dust as it was. This is

that great thing, that our Lord Jesus intends, when he bids his

disciples in a day of trial, fear him that can destroy both body

and soul in hell (Luke 12:5). That great thing, I say, that he

there cautions them to take care of. According to Peter here,

"Let them commit the keeping of their soul to him in well

doing."

2. Now to "commit" this soul to God, is to carry it to him, to lift

it to him, upon my bended knees, and to pray him for the Lord

Jesus Christ's sake, to take it into his holy care, and to let it be

under his keeping. Also, that he will please to deliver it from all

those snares that are laid for it, betwixt this and the next world,

and that he will see that it be forthcoming, safe and sound, at

the great and terrible judgment, notwithstanding so many have

engaged themselves against it. Thus David committed his soul

to God, when he said "Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him

down: deliver my soul, O Lord, from the wicked, which is thy

sword" (Psa 17:13). And again, "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver

me: O Lord, make hast to help me. Let them be ashamed and

confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it" (Psa

40:13,14).

Thus, I have shewed you what the soul is, and what it is to

commit the soul to God. This then is the duty that the apostle

here exhorteth the sufferers to, namely, to carry their soul to

God, and leave it with him while they engage for his name in

the world. Now from the apostle's exhortation to this great

duty, I will draw these following conclusions.

Conclusion First, That when persecution is raised against a

people, there is a design laid for the ruin of those people's

souls. This, I say, doth naturally follow from the exhortation.

Why else, need they to commit the keeping of their souls to

God. For by this word, "Unto God to keep them," is suggested;

there is that would destroy them, and that therefore persecution

is raised against them. I am not so uncharitable, as to think, that

persecuting men design this. 8But I verily believe that the devil

doth design this, when he stirs them up to so sorry a work. In

times of trial, says Peter, "your adversary the devil walketh

about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter

5:8).

Alas! men in their acts of this nature, have designs that are

lower, and of a more inferior rank. Some of them look no

higher than revenge upon the carcass; than the spoiling of their

neighbour of his estate, liberty, or life; than the greatening of

themselves in this world, by the ruins of those that they have

power to spoil. Their "possessors slay them, and hold

themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be

the Lord, for I am rich" (Zech 11:5).

Ay! But Satan will not be put off thus: it is not a bag of money,

or the punishing of the carcass of such a people, that will please

or satisfy him. It is the soul that he aims at; the ruin of the

precious soul that he hath bent himself to bring to pass. It is this

therefore that Peter here hath his heart concerned with. As, who

should say, My brethren, are you troubled and persecuted for

your faith? look to it, the hand of Satan is in this thing, and

whatever men drive at by doing as they do, the devil designs no

less than the damnation of your souls. Ware hawk, saith the

falconer, when the dogs are coming near her: especially if she

be too much minding of her belly, and too forgetful of what the

nature of the dog is. Beware Christian, take heed Christian; the

devil is desirous to have thee. And who could better give this

exhortation than could Peter himself. Who for not taking heed

as to this very thing, had like by the devil to have been

swallowed up alive: as is manifest to them that heedfully read,

and consider how far he was gone, when that persecution was

raised against his Master (Luke 22).

When a tyrant goes to dispossess a neighbouring prince of what

is lawfully his own: the men that he employeth at arms to

overcome, and get the land, they fight for half-crowns, and the

like, and are content with their wages: But the tyrant is for the

kingdom, nothing will serve him but the kingdom.9 This is the

case: Men when they persecute, are for the stuff, but the devil is

for the soul, nor will any thing less than that satisfy him. Let

him then that is a sufferer "commit the keeping of his soul to

God:" lest stuff, and soul, and all be lost at once.

Conclusion Second, A second conclusion that followeth upon

these words, is this: That sufferers, if they have not a care, may

be too negligent as to the securing of their souls with God, even

when persecution is upon them. For these words, as they are an

instruction, so they are an awakening instruction; they call as to

people in danger; as to people, not so aware of the danger; or as

unto a people that forget, too much, that their souls, and the ruin

of them, are sought after by Satan, when trouble attends them

for the gospel sake. As, who should say, when troubles are

upon you for the gospel's sake, then take heed that you forget

not to commit your souls to the keeping of God. We are

naturally apt with that good man Gideon, to be threshing out

our wheat, that we may hide it from the Midianites (Judg 6:11).

But we are not so naturally apt to be busying ourselves to

secure our souls with God. The reason is, for that we are more

flesh than spirit, and because the voice of the world makes a

bigger sound in our carnal mind, than the word of God doth.

Wherefore Peter, here, calls upon us as upon men of forgetful

minds, saying, Let them that suffer according to the will of

God, have a care of their souls, and take heed, that the fears of

the loss of a little of this world, do not make them forget the

fear of the losing of their souls. That sufferers are subject to

this, may appear by the stir and bustle that at such a time they

make to lock all up safe that the hand of man can reach,10 while

they are cold, chill, remiss, and too indifferent about the

committing of their soul to God to keep it. This is seen also, in

that many, in a time of trouble for their profession, will study

more to deceive themselves by a change of notions, by

labouring to persuade their consciences to admit them to walk

more at large, by hearkening to opinions that please and gratify

the flesh, by adhering to bad examples, and taking evil

counsels, than they will to make straight steps for their feet: and

to commit the keeping of their souls to God. What shall I say,

have there not been many, that so long as peace has lasted, have

been great swaggerers for religion, who yet so soon as the sun

has waxed warm, have flagged, have been discontented,

offended, and turned away from him that speaketh from

heaven? All which is because men are naturally apt to be more

concerned for their goods, carnal peace, and a temporal life,

than they are about securing of their souls with God. Wherefore

I say, these words are spoken to awaken us to the consideration

of soul-concerns, and how that should be safely lodged under

the care, protection, and mercy of God, by our committing of it

to him, for that purpose, by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Conclusion Third, Another conclusion that followeth upon this

exhortation, is this: That persecution doth, sometimes, so hotly

follow God's people, as to leave them nothing but a soul to care

for. They have had no house, no land, no money, no goods, no

life, no liberty, left them to care for. ALL IS GONE BUT

THE SOUL. Goods have been confiscated, liberty has been in

irons, the life condemned, the neck in a halter, or the body in

the fire. So then all, to such, has been gone, and they have had

nothing left them to care for, but their soul. "Let them commit

the keeping of their soul to God." This conclusion, I say, doth

naturally flow from the words. For that the apostle here doth

make mention only of the soul, as of that which is left, as of

that which yet remains to the sufferer of all that ever he had.

Thus they served Christ; they left him nothing but his soul to

care for. Thus they served Stephen; they left him nothing but

his soul to care for, and they both cared for that, "Father, into

thy hands I commend my spirit," said Jesus (Luke 23:46). And,

"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," said Stephen (Acts 7:59). As

for all other things, they were gone. They parted the very

clothes of Christ among themselves before his face, even while

he did hang pouring out his life before them, upon the tree.

"They parted my garments among them," said he, "and upon

my vesture did they cast lots" (Matt 27:35; Mark 15:24; John

19:24). This also has oftentimes been the condition of later

Christians, all has been gone, they have been stripped of all,

nothing has been left them but "soul" to care for. Job said that

he had escaped with the skin of his teeth; and that is but a little:

but he doth not escape with so much, that loses all that he has,

life and all, we now except the soul. But,

Conclusion Fourth, Another thing that followeth from the

words is this; namely, That when the devil and wicked men

have done what they could, in their persecuting of the godly;

they have yet had their souls at their own dispose. 11 They have

not been able to rob them of their souls, they are not able to hurt

their souls. The soul is not in their power to touch, without the

leave of God, and of him whose soul it is. "And fear not them,"

saith Christ, "which kill the body, but are not able to kill the

soul" (Matt 10:28). This, I say, lies clear also in the text; for the

exhortation supposes, that whatever the sufferers, there made

mention of, had lost, they had yet their souls at their own

dispose. Let them that suffer, even to the loss of goods, liberty,

or life, "commit the keeping of their souls to God." As, who

should say, though the enemy hath reached them to their all,

and stripped them of their all, yet I know, that their soul is not

among that all: For their soul is yet free from them, at liberty,

and may be disposed of, even as the sufferer will. Wherefore,

let him commit the keeping of his soul to God, lest he also

through his negligence or carelessness be also spoiled of that.

The sufferer, therefore, hath his soul at his own dispose, he may

give that away to God Almighty, in spite of all that the devil

and the world can do. He may, indeed, see men parting his land,

his household stuff, yea, his very raiment among themselves,

but they cannot so dispose of his soul.12 They "have no more

that they can do" (Luke 12:4).

Conclusion Fifth, Another conclusion that followeth from these

words is this, That a man, when he is a sufferer, is not able to

secure his own soul from the hand of hell by any other means,

but by the committing of the keeping thereof to God. Do you

suffer? Are you in affliction for your profession? Then keep not

your soul in your own hand, for fear of losing that with the rest.

For no man "can keep alive his own soul" (Psa 22:29). No, not

in the greatest calm; no, not when the lion is asleep: how then

should he do it at such a time, when the horrible blast of the

terrible ones shall beat against his wall. The consideration of

this was that that made holy Paul, who was a man upon whom

persecution continually attended, commit his soul to God (Acts

20:22-24; 2 Tim 1:12). God, as I shall shew you by and by, is

he, and he alone that is able to keep the soul, and deliver it from

danger. Man is naturally a self-deceiver, and therefore is not to

be trusted, any farther than as the watchful eye of God is over

him. But as to his soul, he is not to be trusted with that at all,

that must be wholly committed to God, left altogether with him;

laid at his feet, and he also must take the charge thereof, or else

it is gone, will be lost, and will perish for ever and ever.

Wherefore it is a dangerous thing for a man that is a sufferer, to

be a senseless man, as to the danger that his soul is in, and a

prayerless man, as to the committing of the keeping of it to

God. For he that is such, has yet his soul, and the keeping

thereof, in his own deceitful hand. And so has he also that stays

himself upon his friends, upon his knowledge, the promise of

men, or the mercy of his enemies, or that has set in his mind a

bound to himself, how far he will venture for religion, and

where he will stop. This is the man that makes not God his

trust, and that therefore will surely fall in the day of his

temptation. Satan, who now hunteth for the precious soul to

destroy it, has power, as well as policy, beyond what man can

think. He has power to blind, harden, and to make insensible,

the heart. He also can make truth in the eyes of the suffering

man, a poor, little, and insignificant thing. Judas had not

committed the keeping of his soul to God, but abode in himself,

and was left in his tabernacle: and you by and by see what a

worthy price he set upon himself, his Christ, and heaven, and

all. All to him was not now worth thirty pieces of silver.

And as he can make truth in thy esteem to be little, so he can

make sufferings great, and ten times more terrible, than he that

hath committed the keeping of his soul to God shall ever find

them. A jail shall look as black as hell, and the loss of a few

stools and chairs, as bad as the loss of so many bags of gold. 13

Death for the Saviour of the world, shall seem to be a thing

both unreasonable and intolerable. Such will choose to run the

hazard of the loss of a thousand souls, in the way of the world,

rather than the loss of one poor, sorry, transitory life for the

holy Word of God. But the reason, as I said, is, they have not

committed the keeping of their soul to God. For he that indeed

has committed the keeping of his soul to that great one, has

shaken his hands of all things here. Has bid adieu to the world,

to friends, and life: and waiteth upon God in a way of close

keeping to his truth, and walking in his ways, having counted

the cost, and been persuaded to take what cup God shall suffer

the world to give him for so doing.

Conclusion Sixth, Another conclusion that followeth from these

words, is, That God is very willing to take the charge and care

of the soul (that is committed unto him) of them that suffer for

his sake in the world. If this were not true, the exhortation

would not answer the end. What is intended by, "Let him

commit the keeping of his soul to God," but that the sufferer

should indeed leave that great care with him; but if God be not

willing to be concerned with such a charge, what bottom14 is

there for the exhortation? But the exhortation has this for its

bottom, therefore God is willing to take the charge and care of

the soul of him that suffereth for his name in this world. "The

Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that

trust in him shall be desolate" (Psa 34:22; 1 Sam 25:28,29).

None, not one that committeth his soul to God's keeping in a

way of well doing, but shall find him willing to be concerned

therewith.

Ay, this, saith the sufferer, if I could believe this, it would rid

me of all my fears. But I find myself engaged for God, for I

have made a profession of his name, and cannot arrive to this

belief that God is willing to take the charge and care of my

soul. Wherefore I fear, that if trials come so high, as that life, as

well as estate, must go, that both life, and estate, and soul, and

all will be lost at once.

Well, honest heart, these are thy fears, but let them fly away,

and consider the text again, "Let them that suffer according to

the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him, - as

unto a faithful Creator." These are God's words, Christ's

words, and the invitation of the Holy Ghost. When, therefore,

thou readest them, be persuaded that thou hearest the Father,

and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, all of them jointly and

severally speaking to thee and saying, Poor sinner, thou art

engaged for God in the world, thou art suffering for his Word:

leave thy soul with him as with one that is more willing to save

it, than thou art willing he should: act faith, trust God, believe

his Word, and go on in thy way of witness-bearing for him, and

thou shalt find all well, and according to the desire of thy heart

at last. True, Satan will make it his business to tempt thee to

doubt of this, that thy way be made yet more hard and difficult

to thee. For he knows that unbelief is a soul-perplexing sin, and

makes that which would otherwise be light, pleasant, and easy,

unutterably heavy and burdensome to the sufferer. Yea, this he

doth in hope to make thee at last, to cast away thy profession,

thy cause, thy faith, thy conscience, thy soul, and all. But hear

what the Holy Ghost saith again: "He shall spare the poor and

needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem

their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their

blood be in his sight" (Psa 72:13,14). These words also are

spoken for the comfort of sufferers, ver. 12. "For he shall

deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that

hath no helper." Wherefore, let them that are God's sufferers,

pluck up a good heart; let them not be afraid to trust God with

their souls, and with their eternal concerns. Let them cast all

their care upon God, for he careth for them (1 Peter 5:7).

But I am in the dark.

I answer, never stick at that. It is most bravely done, to trust

God with my soul in the dark, and to resolve to serve God for

nothing, rather than give out. Not to see, and yet to believe, and

to be a follower of the Lamb, and yet to be at uncertainty, what

we shall have at last, argues love, fear, faith, and an honest

mind, and gives the greatest sign of one that hath true sincerity

in his soul. It was this that made Job and Peter so famous, and

the want of it that took away much of the glory of the faith of

Thomas (Job 1:8-10,21; Matt 19:27; John 20:29). Wherefore

believe, verily, that God is ready, willing, yea, that he looks for,

and expects that thou who art a sufferer shouldest commit the

keeping of thy soul to him, as unto a faithful Creator.

Conclusion Seventh. Another conclusion that followeth from

these words is this, namely, That God is able, as well as willing,

to secure the souls of his suffering saints, and to save them from

the evil of all their trials, be they never so many, divers, or

terrible. "Let him commit the keeping of his soul to God," but

to what boot, if he be not able to keep it in his hand, and from

the power of him that seeks the soul to destroy it? But "my

Father which gave them me," saith Christ, "is greater than all;

and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand"

(John 10:29). So then there can be no sorrow, affliction, or

misery invented, by which the devil may so strongly prevail, as

thereby to pluck the soul out of the hand of him who has

received it, to keep it from falling, and perishing thereby. The

text therefore supposeth a sufficiency of power in God to

support, and a sufficiency of comfort and goodness to

embolden the soul to endure for him: let Satan break out, and

his instruments too, to the greatest degree of their rage and

cruelty.

1. There is in God a sufficiency of power to keep them that have

laid their soul at his foot to be preserved. And hence he is

called the soul-keeper, the soul-preserver, (Prov 24:12) "The

Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The

Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy

soul" (Psa 121:5-7). "The sun shall not smite thee": that is,

persecution shall not dry and wither thee away to nothing (Matt

13:6,21). But that notwithstanding, thou shalt be kept and

preserved, carried through and delivered from all evil. Let him

therefore commit the keeping of his soul to him, if he is in a

suffering condition, that would have it secured and found safe

and sound at last. For,

(1.) Then thine own natural weakness, and timorousness shall

not overcome thee.—For it shall not be too hard for God. God

can make the most soft spirited man as hard as an adamant,

harder than flint, yea harder than the northern steel. "Shall iron

break the northern iron and the steel?" (Jer 15:12). The sword

of him is [used] in vain that lays at a Christian, when he is in

the way of his duty to God: if God has taken to him the charge

and care of his soul, he can shoe him with brass, and make his

hoofs of iron (Deut 33:25). "He can strengthen the spoiled

against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the

fortress" (Amos 5:8; Eze 13:9).

He can turn thee into another man, and make thee that which

thou never wast. Timorous Peter, fearful Peter, he could make

as bold as a lion. He that at one time was afraid of a sorry girl,

he could make at another to stand boldly before the council

(Matt 26; Acts 4:13). There is nothing too hard for God. He can

say to them that are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not" (Isa

35:4). He can say, Let the weak say I am strong; by such a

word, by which he created the world (Zech 12:8).

(2.) Thine own natural darkness and ignorance shall not cause

thee to fall; thy want of wit he can supply.—He can say to the

fools, be wise; not only by way of correction, but also by way

of instruction too. He "hath chosen the foolish things of the

world to confound the wise; - yea, things which are despised, -

and things which are not, hath God chosen to bring to nought

things that are" (1 Cor 1:27,28). Wisdom and might are his: and

when, and where he will work, none can at all withstand him.

He can give thee the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the

knowledge of his Son (Eph 1:17). Yea, to do this, is that which

he challengeth, as that which is peculiar to himself. "Who hath

put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given

understanding to the heart?" (Job 38:36). And that he will do

this that he hath promised, yea, promised to do it to that degree,

as to make his, that shall be thus concerned for him, to top, and

overtop all men that shall them oppose. I, saith he, "will give

you a mouth and wisdom, that all your adversaries shall not be

able to gainsay nor resist" (Luke 21:15).

(3.) Thine own doubts and mistrusts about what he will do, and

about whither thou shalt go, when thou for him hast suffered

awhile, he can resolve, yea, dissolve, crush, and bring to

nothing.—He can make fear flee far away: and place heavenly

confidence in its room. He can bring invisible and eternal things

to the eye of thy soul, and make thee see that in those things in

which thine enemies shall see nothing, that thou shalt count

worth the loss of ten thousand lives to enjoy. He can pull such

things out of his bosom, and can put such things into thy mouth;

yea, can make thee choose to be gone, though through the

flames, than to stay here and die in silken sheets. Yea, he can

himself come near and bring his heaven and glory to thee. The

Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them that are but

reproached for the name of Christ (1 Peter 4:14). And what the

Spirit of glory is, and what is his resting upon his sufferers, is

quite beyond the knowledge of the world, and is but little felt

by saints at peace. They be they that are engaged, and that are

under the lash of Christ; they are they, I say, that have it and

that understand something of it.

When Moses went up the first time into the mount to God, the

people reproached him for staying with him so long, saying,

"As for this Moses, - we wot not what is become of him" (Exo

32:1). Well, the next time he went up thither, and came down,

the Spirit of glory was upon him; his face shone, though he wist

it not, to his honour, and their amazement (Exo 34:29-35). Also

while Stephen stood before the council to be accused, by

suborned men, "All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly

on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel" (Acts

6:15). Those that honour God, he will honour, yea, will put

some of his glory upon them, but they shall be honoured. There

is none can tell what God can do. He can make those things that

in themselves are most fearful and terrible to behold, the most

pleasant, delightful, and desirable things. He can make a jail

more beautiful than a palace; restraint, more sweet by far than

liberty. And "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the

treasures in Egypt" (Heb 11:26). It is said of Christ, That "for

the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising

the shame" (Heb 12:2). But,

2. As there is in God a sufficiency of power to uphold, so there

is in him also a sufficiency of comfort and goodness to

embolden us: I mean communicative comfort and goodness.

Variety of, and the terribleness that attends afflictions, call, not

only for the beholding of things, but also a laying hold of them

by faith and feeling; now this also is with God to the making of

HIS to sing in the night. Paul and Silas sang in prison, the

apostles went away from the council rejoicing, when they had

shamefully beaten them for their preaching in the temple (Acts

5). But whence came this but from an inward feeling by faith of

the love of God, and of Christ, which passeth knowledge?

Hence he says to those under afflictions, "Fear none of those

things which thou shalt suffer" (Rev 2:10). There are things to

be suffered, as well as places to suffer in; and there are things to

be let into the soul for its emboldening, as well as things to be

showed to it (Rom 5:5).

Now the things to be suffered are many, some of which are thus

counted up: "They were tortured, - had cruel mockings and

scourgings; - they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were slain

with the sword, - were tempted; - they wandered about in

sheep-skins, and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted,

tormented" (Heb 11:35-37). These are some of the things that

good men of old have suffered for their profession of the name

of Jesus Christ. All which they were enabled by him to bear, to

bear with patience; to bear with rejoicing; "knowing in

themselves that they had in heaven a better, and an enduring

substance" (Heb 10:32-34). And it is upon this account that

Paul doth call to mind the most dreadful of his afflictions,

which he suffered for the gospel sake with rejoicing; and that he

tells us that he was most glad, when he was in such infirmities.

Yea, it is upon this account that he boasteth, and vaunteth it

over death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present,

things to come, height, depth, and every other creature: for he

knew that there was enough in that love of God, which was set

on him through Christ, to preserve him, and to carry him

through all (2 Cor 12:9,10; Rom 8:37-39). That God has done

thus, a thousand instances might be given; and that God will

still do thus, for that we have his faithful promise (Isa 43:2; 1

Cor 10:13).

To the adversaries of the church these things have also

sometimes been shewed, to their amazement and confusion.

God shewed to the king of Babylon that he was with the three

children in the fiery furnace (Dan 3:24). God shewed to the

king of Babylon again, that he would be where HIS were,

though in the lion's den (6:24).

Also, in later days, whoso reads Mr. Fox's Acts and

Monuments, will also find several things to confirm this for

truth. God has power over all plagues, and therefore can either

heighten, or moderate and lessen them at pleasure. He has

power over fire, and can take away the intolerable heat thereof.

This those in the Marian days could also testify, namely, Hauks

and Bainham, and others, who could shout for joy, and clap

their hands in the very flames for joy. God has power over

hunger, and can moderate it, and cause that one meal's meat

shall go as far as forty were wont to do. This is witness in Elias,

when he went for his life to the mount of God, being fled from

the face of Jezebel (1 Kings 19:8). And what a good night's

lodging had Jacob when he fled from the face of his brother

Esau: when the earth was his couch, the stone15 his pillow, the

heavens his canopy, and the shades of the night his curtains16

(Gen 27:12-16).

I can do all things, said Paul, through Christ strengthening me.

And again, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in

necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. But

how can that be, since no affliction for the present seems

joyous? I answer, though they be not so in themselves, yet

Christ, by his presence, can make them so: for then his power

rests upon us. When I am weak, saith he, then I am strong; then

Christ doth in me mighty things: for my strength, saith Christ, is

made perfect in weakness; in affliction, for the gospel sake.

For when my people are afflicted and suffer great distress for

me, then they have my comforting, supporting, emboldening,

and upholding presence to relieve them: an instance of which

you have in the three children and in Daniel, made mention of

before. But what, think you, did these servants of the God of

Jacob feel, feel in their souls, of his power and comforting

presence when they, for his name, were suffering of the rage of

their enemies,—while, also, one, like the Son of God, was

walking in the fire with the three; and while Daniel sat and saw

that the hands of the angels were made muzzles for the lions'

mouths.

I say, was it not worth being in the furnace and in the den to see

such things as these? O! the grace of God, and his Spirit and

power that is with them that suffer for him, if their hearts be

upright with him; if they are willing to be faithful to him; if

they have learned to say, here am I, whenever he calls them,

and whatever he calls them to. "Wherefore," when Peter saith,

"let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the

keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful

Creator." He concludes, that how outrageous, furious,

merciless, or cruel soever the enemy is, yet there, with him,

they shall find help and succour, relief and comfort; for God is

able to make such as do so, stand.

Conclusion Eighth. We will now come to touch upon that

which may more immediately be called the reason of this

exhortation; for, although all these things that have been

mentioned before may, or might be called reasons of the point,

yet there are those, in my judgment, that may be called reasons,

which are yet behind. As,

1. Because, when a man has, by faith and prayer, committed the

keeping of his soul to God, he has the advantage of that liberty

of soul to do and suffer for God that he cannot otherwise have.

He that has committed his soul to God to keep is rid of that

care, and is delivered from the fear of its perishing for ever.

When the Jews went to stone Stephen they laid their clothes

down at a distance from the place, at a young man's feet, whose

name was Saul, that they might not be a cumber or a trouble to

them, as to their intended work. So we, when we go about to

drive sin out of the world, in a way of suffering for God's truth

against it,17 we should lay down our souls at the feet of God to

care for, that we may not be cumbered with the care of them

ourselves; also, that our care of God's truth may not be

weakened by such sudden and strong doubts as will cause us

faintingly to say, But what will become of my soul? When Paul

had told his son Timothy that he had been before that lion Nero,

and that he was at present delivered out of his mouth, he adds,

And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will

preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom. He shall and will.

Here is a man at liberty, here are no cumbersome fears. But

how came the apostle by this confidence of his well-being and

of his share in another world? Why, "he had committed the

keeping of his soul to God," compare 2 Timothy 1:12 with

4:18. For to commit the keeping of the soul to God, if it be done

in faith and prayer, it leaves, or rather brings this holy boldness

and confidence into the soul.

Suppose a man in the country were necessitated to go to

London, and had a great charge of money to pay in there;

suppose, also, that the way thither was become exceeding

dangerous because of the highwaymen that continually abide

therein,—what now must this man do to go on his journey

cheerfully? Why, let him pay in his money to such an one in the

country as will be sure to return it for him at London safely.

Why, this is the case, thou art bound for heaven, but the way

thither is dangerous. It is beset everywhere with evil angels,

who would rob thee of thy soul, What now? Why, if thou

wouldest go cheerfully on in thy dangerous journey, commit

thy treasure, thy soul, to God to keep; and then thou mayest say,

with comfort, Well, that care is over: for whatever I meet with

in my way thither, my soul is safe enough: the thieves, if they

meet me, can not come at that; I know to whom I have

committed my soul, and I am persuaded that he will keep that to

my joy and everlasting comfort against the great day.18

This, therefore, is one reason why we should, that suffer for

Christ, commit the keeping of our souls to God; because a

doubt about the well-being of that will be a clog, a burden, and

an affliction to our spirit: yea, the greatest of afflictions, whilst

we are taking up our cross and bearing it after Christ. The joy

of the Lord is our strength, and the fear of perishing is that

which will be weakening to us in the way.

2. We should commit the keeping of our souls to God, because

the final conclusion that merciless men do sometimes make

with the servants of God is all on a sudden. They give no

warning before they strike. We shall not need here to call you to

mind about the massacres that were in Ireland, Paris, Piedmont,

and other places, where the godly, in the night before they were

well awake, had, some of them, their heart blood running on the

ground. The savage monsters crying out, Kill, kill, from one

end of a street or a place to the other. This was sudden; and he

that had not committed his soul to God to keep it was surely

very hard put to it now; but he that had done so was ready for

such sudden work. Sometimes, indeed, the axe, and halter, or

the faggot is shewed first; but sometimes, again, it is without

that warning. Up, said Saul to Doeg, the Edomite, and slay the

priests of the Lord (1 Sam 22:11,18,19). Here was sudden

work: fall on, said Saul, and Doeg fell upon them, "and slew on

that day four score and five persons that did wear a linen

ephod." "Nob, also, the city of the priests, smote he with the

edge of the sword, both men and women, children and

sucklings," &c. Here was but a word and a blow. Thinkest thou

not, who readest these lines, that all of these who had before

committed their soul to God to keep were the fittest folk to die?

"And immediately the king sent an executioner, and

commanded his head to be brought" (Mark 6:27). The story is

concerning Herod and John the Baptist: Herod's dancing girl

had begged John the Baptist's head, and nothing but his head

must serve her turn; well, girl, thou shalt have it. Have it? Ay,

but it will be long first. No; thou shalt have it now, just now,

immediately. "And immediately he sent an executioner, and

commanded his head to be brought."

Here is sudden work for sufferers; here is no intimation

beforehand. The executioner comes to John; now, whether he

was at dinner, or asleep, or whatever he was about, the bloody

man bolts in upon him, and the first word he salutes him with

is, Sir, strip, lay down your neck, for I am come to take away

your head. But hold, stay; wherefore? pray, let me commit my

soul to God. No, I must not stay; I am in haste: slap, says his

sword, and off falls the good man's head. This is sudden work;

work that stays for no man; work that must be done by and by;

immediately, or it is not worth a rush. I will, said she, that thou

give me, by and by, in a charger, the head of John the Baptist.

Yea, she came in haste, and hastily the commandment went

forth, and immediately his head was brought.

3. Unless a man commits the keeping of his soul to God, it is a

question whether he can hold out and stand his ground, and

wrestle with all temptations. "This is the victory, - even our

faith"; and "who is he that overcometh the world, but he that

believeth?" And what encouragement has a man to suffer for

Christ, whose heart cannot believe, and whose soul he cannot

commit to God to keep it? And our Lord Jesus intimates as

much when he saith, "Be thou faithful unto death and I will

give thee a crown of life." Wherefore saith he thus? but to

encourage those that suffer for his truth in the world, to commit

the keeping of their souls to him, and to believe that he hath

taken the charge and care of them. Paul's wisdom was, that he

was ready to die before his enemies were ready to kill him. "I

am now ready," saith he, "to be offered and the time of my

departure is at hand" (2 Tim 4:6).

This is, therefore, a thing of high concern; to wit, the

committing of the soul to God to keep it. It is, I say, of concern

to do it now, just now, quickly, whether thou art yet engaged or

no; for it is a good preparatory to, as well as profitable in, a

time of persecution: consider it, I say. The apostle Paul saith

that he and his companions were bold in their God, to profess

and stand to the word of God (1 Thess 2:2). But how could that

be if they had the salvation of their souls to seek, and that to be

sure they would have had, had they not committed the keeping

of their souls to him in well-doing?

Quest. But what is committing of the soul to God?

Answ. I have, in general, briefly spoken to that already, and

now, for thy further help, we will a little enlarge. Wherefore,

(1.) To commit is to deliver up to custody to be kept. Hence

prisoners, when sent to the jail, are said to be committed thither.

Thus Paul, "haling men and women, committing them to

prison" (Acts 8:3). And thus Joseph's master committed all his

prisoners to him, to his custody, to be kept there according to

the law (Gen 39:22).

(2.) To commit, is not only to deliver up to custody, but to give

in charge; that that which is committed be kept safe, and not

suffered to be lost (Luke 16:11). Thus Paul was committed to

prison, the jailor being charged to keep him safely (Acts 16:23).

(3.) To commit, is to leave the whole disposal, sometimes, of

that which is committed to those to whom such thing is

committed. Thus were the shields of the temple committed to

the guard (1 Kings 14:27) And Jeremiah to the hands of

Gedaliah (Jer 39:14).

And thus thou must commit thy soul to God and to his care and

keeping. It must be delivered up to his care and put under his

custody. Thou mayest also, though I would speak modestly,

give him a charge to take the care of it. "Concerning my sons

[and concerning my daughters] and concerning the work of my

hands, command ye me" (Isa 45:11). Thou must also leave all

the concerns of thy soul and of thy being an inheritor of the

next world wholly to the care of God. He that doth this in the

way that God has bid him is safe, though the sky should fall.

"The poor committeth himself unto thee, thou art the helper of

the fatherless" (Psa 10:14).

And for encouragement to do this, the Lord has bidden us, the

Lord has commanded us, the Lord expecteth that we should

thus do. Yea, thou art also bidden to commit thy way unto him

(Psa 37:5). Thy work unto him (Prov 16:3). Thy cause unto him

(Job 5:8). Thy soul to him, and he will take care of all. And if

we do this, as we should, God will not only take care of us and

of our souls in the general, but that our work and ways be so

ordered that we may not fail in either. "I have trusted," said

David, "in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide" (Psa 26:1).

Before I leave this, I will speak something of the way in which

this commitment of the soul to God must be; and that is, "in a

way of well-doing." Let them commit the keeping of their souls

to him "in well-doing"; or, in a way of well-doing. That is,

therefore, the course that a godly man should be found in, at, in,

and after he hath committed his soul to God to keep. And, as

the apostle says in another place, this is but a "reasonable

service" (Rom 12:1). For if God be so gracious as to take care

of my soul at my request, why should not I also be so gracious

as to be found in a way of well-doing at his bidding? Take care,

master, of me for meat and wages, and I will take care, master,

that thy work shall be faithfully done. This is honest, and thus

should Christians say to God: and he that heartily, in this, shall

mean as he saith, shall find that God's ways shall be strength

unto him.

A Christian is not to commit his soul unto God to keep, and so

to grow remiss, carnal, negligent, cold, and worldly; concluding

as if he had now bound God to save him, but sets himself at

liberty whether he will longer serve him in trying and

troublesome times or no. He must commit the keeping of his

soul to him "in well-doing." He may not now relinquish God's

cause, play the apostate, cast off the cross, and look for heaven

notwithstanding. He that doth thus will find himself mistaken,

and be made to know at last that God takes the care of no such

souls. "If any man draws back," saith he, "my soul shall have

no pleasure in him." Wherefore, he that committeth the keeping

of his soul to God must do it in that way which God has

prescribed to him, which is in a way of well-doing. Alas! alas!

there is never such a word in it; it must be done in a way of

"well-doing." You must think of this that would commit your

souls to God in suffering and troublesome times. You must do

it in well-doing.

"In well-doing," that is, in persevering in ways of godliness,

both with respect to morals and also instituted worship. Thou,

therefore, that wouldest have God take care of thy soul, as thou

believest, so thou must do well; that is, do good to the poor, to

thy neighbour, to all men, especially to the household of faith.

Benjamin must have a Benjamin's mess; and all others, as thou

art capable, must feel and find the fruit of thy godliness. Thou

must thus serve the Lord with much humility of mind, though

through many difficulties and much temptation.

Thou must also keep close to gospel worship, public and

private; doing of those things that thou hast warrant for from

the word, and leaving of that or those things for others that will

stick to them—that have no stamp of God upon them. Thou

must be found doing of all with all thy heart, and if thou

sufferest for so doing, thou must bear it patiently. For what

Peter saith to the women he spake to, may be applied to all

believers, "whose daughters ye are," saith he, meaning Sarah's,

"as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement"

(1 Peter 3:6).

So then, the man that has committed his soul to God to keep has

not at all disengaged himself from his duty, or took himself off

from a perseverance in that good work that, under a suffering

condition, he was bound to do before. No; his very committing

of his soul to God to keep it has laid an engagement upon him

to abide to God in that calling wherein he is called of God. To

commit my soul to God, supposes my sensibleness of hazard

and danger; but there is none [no danger] among men when the

offence of the cross is ceased. To commit my soul to God to

keep, concludes my resolution to go on in that good way of God

that is so dangerous to my soul, if God taketh not the charge

and care thereof. For he that saith in his heart, I will now

commit my soul to God, if he knows what he says, says thus: I

am for holding on in a way of bearing of my cross after Christ,

though I come to the same end for so doing as he came to

before me. This is committing the soul to him in well-doing.

Look to yourselves, therefore, whoever you are that talk of

leaving your souls with God, but do live loose, idle, profane,

and wicked lives. God will not take care of such men's souls;

they commit them not unto him as they should. They do but

flatter him with their lips and lie unto him with their tongue,

and think to deceive the Lord; but to no purpose. "He that

soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." It is he

that sows to the Spirit that shall "reap life everlasting" (Gal

6:7,8).

[SECOND—A DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSONS WHO

ARE DIRECTED TO COMMIT THE KEEPING OF THEIR

SOULS TO GOD.]

I shall now come to the second thing contained in the text,

namely, to give you a more distinct description of the men that

are thus bid to commit the keeping of their souls to God. And

they are thus described: they that "suffer according to the will

of God." "Let them that suffer according to the will of God

commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto

a faithful Creator."

Two things are here to be inquired into. FIRST, What the

apostle here means by the will of God. SECOND, What

suffering according to the will of God is.

FIRST, For the will of God, it is divers ways taken in the

scriptures; as, sometimes, for electing, justifying, sanctifying

acts of God; sometimes for faith, good life, and sometimes for

suffering for his name (Rom 9; Eph 1:11; John 7:17; 1 John

3:23; 1 Thess 4:3; Matt 7:21). But, by will of God here we

must, First, Understand HIS LAW AND TESTAMENT.

Second, HIS ORDER AND DESIGNMENT.

[THE WILL OF GOD MEANS HIS LAW AND

TESTAMENT.]

First, By his will I understand his law and testament. This is

called the revealed will of God, or that by which he has made

himself, and how he will be worshiped, known unto the

children of men. Now, I, understanding these words thus, must,

before I go further, make this distinction, to wit, that there is a

difference to be put betwixt them that suffer for the breach and

those that suffer for keeping of this law and testament; for

though both of them may suffer by the will of God, yet they are

not both concerned in this text. A malefactor that suffereth for

his evil deeds the due punishment thereof, suffereth, as other

texts declare, according to the will of God. But, I say, this text

doth not concern itself with them; for both this text and this

epistle is writ for the counsel and comfort of those that suffer

for keeping the law and testament of God; that suffer for well-

doing (1 Peter 3:13,14,17; 4:13,14).

The man then that is concerned in this advice is he that

suffereth from the hands of men for keeping of the word of

God; and this is he that has licence, leave, yea, a command to

commit the keeping of his soul to God in well-doing, as unto a

faithful Creator. We will a little enlarge upon this.

[What it is to suffer according to the will of God, or his law and

testament.]

He that keepeth the word of God is such an one that has regard

to both the matter and manner thereof. The matter is the truth,

the doctrine contained therein; the manner is that comely,

godly, humble, faithful way of doing it which becomes a man

that has to do with the law and testament of God; and both these

are contained in the text. For, first, here is the will of God to be

done; and then, secondly, to be done according to his will. "Let

them that suffer according to his will": which words, I say, take

in both matter and manner of doing. So then, the man that here

we have to do with, and to discourse of, is a man that, in the

sense now given, suffereth. That which makes a martyr, is

suffering for the word of God after a right manner; and that is,

when he suffereth, not only for righteousness, but for

righteousness' sake; not only for truth, but of love to truth; not

only for God's word, but according to it, to wit, in that holy,

humble, meek manner as the word of God requireth. A man

may give his body to be burned for God's truth, and yet be none

of God's martyrs (1 Cor 13:1-3). Yea, a man may suffer with a

great deal of patience, and yet be none of God's martyrs (1

Peter 2:20). The one, because he wanteth that grace that should

poise his heart, and make him right in the manner of doing; the

other, because he wanteth that word of the Holy One that alone

can make his cause good, as to matter. It is, therefore, matter

and manner that makes the martyr; and it is this man that is

intended in the text which is aforesaid described. So then, they

that suffer for the law and testament of God in that holy and

humble manner that the Word requires, they are they that, by

this Word of God, are commanded to commit the keeping of

their souls to God.

From this consideration, two things present themselves to our

sight. 1. That a man may be a Christian, and suffer, and yet not

suffer, in the sense last given, according to the will of God. 2.

There have been, and may yet be a people in the world that

have, and may suffer in the sense of the apostle here, according

to the will of God.

[1. A Christian may suffer, but not in the sense of the apostle,

according to the will of God.]

A few words to the first of these, namely, that a man may be a

Christian, and suffer, and yet not suffer, in the sense of the

apostle in the text, "according to the will of God." He may be a

Christian and yet not suffer as a Christian. He may want the

matter, or, he may want the manner, of suffering as a Christian.

This is evident from what this apostle suggests in several places

of this epistle. For,

Saith he, "If ye be buffeted for your faults" (1 Peter 2:20). This

supposeth that a Christian may so be; for he speaketh here to

the same people, unto whom he speaketh in the text, though he

putteth them not under the same circumstance, as suffering for

well-doing. If ye be buffeted for your faults, for what God's

word calls faults, what thank have you from God, or good men,

though you take it patiently?

So again, "For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer

for well-doing, than for evil-doing" (1 Peter 3:17). Here it is

plainly supposed that a Christian man may suffer for evil-doing,

yea, that the will of God may be, that he should suffer for evil-

doing. For God, if Christians do not well, will vindicate himself

by punishing of them for their doing ill. Yea, and will not count

them worthy, though they be his own, to be put among the

number of those that suffer for doing well.

Again, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief,

or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters" (1

Peter 4:15). These are cautions to Christians to persuade them

to take heed to themselves, their tongues and their actions, that

all be kept within the bounds of the Word. For it would be a

foolish thing to say, that these are cautions to persuade to take

heed of that, into which it is not possible one should fall. It is

possible for Christians to suffer for evil-doing, and therefore let

Christians beware; it is possible for Christians to be brought to

public justice for their faults, and therefore let Christians

beware. It is possible for Christians to suffer justly by the hand

of the magistrate, and therefore let Christians beware. This also

is insinuated in the text itself, and therefore let Christians

beware.

The causes of this are many, some of which I shall now briefly

touch upon.

(1.) Sin is in the best of men: and as long as it is so, without

great watchfulness, and humble walking with God, we may be

exposed to shame and suffering for it. What sin is it that a child

of God is not liable to commit, excepting that which is the sin

unpardonable? Nor have we a promise of being kept from any

other sin, but on condition that we do watch and pray (Matt

26:41).

(2.) It is possible for a Christian to have an erroneous

conscience in some things, yea, in such things as, if God by his

grace prevents not, may bring us to public justice and shame.

Abishai, though a good man, would have killed the king, and

that of conscience to God, and love to his master (1 Sam

26:7,8). And had David delivered him up to Saul for his

attempt, he had in all likelihood died as a traitor. Peter drew his

sword, and would have fought therewith, a thing for which he

was blamed of his Master, and bid with a threatening, to put it

up again (Matt 26:52). Besides, oppression makes a wise man

mad; and when a man is mad what evils will he not do?

Further, The devil, who is the great enemy of the Christians,

can send forth such spirits into the world as shall not only

disturb men, but nations, kings, and kingdoms, in raising

divisions, distractions and rebellions. And can so manage

matters that the looser sort of Christians19 may be also dipped

and concerned therein. In Absalom's conspiracy against his

father, there were two hundred men called out of Jerusalem to

follow him, "and they went in their simplicity, not knowing any

thing" (2 Sam 15:11). I thank God I know of no such men, nor

thing: but my judgment tells me, that if Christians may be

drawn into fornication, adultery, murder, theft, blasphemy or

the like, as they may; why should it be thought impossible for

them to be drawn in here. Wherefore I say again, watch and

pray, fear God, reverence his Word, approve of his

appointments, that you may be delivered from every evil work

and way.

I said afore that the will of God may be, that a Christian should

suffer as an evil-doer; but then it is because he keepeth not

within the bounds of that, which is also called the will of God.

The will of God is, that sin should be punished, though

committed by the Christians; punished according to the quality

of transgressions: and therefore it is that he hath ordained

magistrates. Magistrates, to punish sin, though it be the sin of

Christians. They are the ministers of God, revengers, to execute

wrath, the wrath of God upon them that do evil (Rom 13).

Wherefore, though the Christian as a Christian is the only man

at liberty, as called thereunto of God; yet his liberty is limited to

things that are good: he is not licensed thereby to indulge the

flesh. Holiness and liberty are joined together, yea our call to

liberty, is a call to holiness.20 Seek, and you shall find, that a

quiet and peaceable life, in our respective places, under the

government, is that which we should pray for, to wit, that we

may without molestation, if it were "the will of God," spend our

days in all godliness and honesty among our neighbours. See 1

Timothy 2:1-8; 1 Peter 2:13-17.

[First. Caution to Christians as Christians.] —I would improve

this a little, and first, to Christians as Christians: beware the

cautions, that are here presented to you, be not neglected by

you. The evils are burning hot, as hot as a red hot iron. It is the

greatest blemish that can be to a Christian, to suffer as an evil-

doer. To say nothing of the reproach that such do bring to the

name of Christ, their Lord; to his law, their rule; and to the

Christian profession, which should be their glory: the guilt and

shame that evil actions will load the conscience with at such a

time, can hardly be stood under. The man that suffereth as an

evil-doer, and yet weareth the name of a Christian, what

stumbling blocks doth he lay in the way of the ignorant in a

kingdom? The devil told them before, that a Christian was a

mischievous man; and to suffer for evil-doing, confirms them in

that belief.

Consider also the difficulties that surely such must meet with in

the last minutes of their life. For can it be imagined but that

such an one must have combats and conflicts at the last, who

carry in their consciences the guilt and condemnation that is due

to their deeds, to the place which magistrates have appointed

for them to receive the reward of their works at. Such an one

bereaves not only his own soul of peace, and his name of credit,

but himself of life, his friends of all cause of rejoicing, and

casteth reproach upon religion, as he is stepping out of the

world. What shall I say, Christians as Christians have other

things to do than to concern themselves in evil things, or to

meddle in other men's matters. Let us mind our own business,

and leave the magistrate to his work, office and calling among

men also.

I speak now to them that are not by the king called to that

employ. A Christian as such has enough to do at home, in his

heart, in his house, in his shop, and the like. But if thou must

needs be meddling, consider what place, office, calling or

relation, God has put thee in, and busy thyself by the rule of the

Word to a conscientious performance of that. Nor shalt thou

want dignity, though thou art but a private Christian. Every

Christian man is made a king by Christ (Rev 5:10). But then,

his dominion as such, doth reach no further than to himself. He

has not dominion over another's faith (2 Cor 1:24). His office is

to govern, and bridle, and keep under, himself; to watch over

himself, and to bring his body into subjection to the will of

God. The weapons that he has for this purpose are not carnal,

but spiritual, and mighty through God. Let him govern then, if

he will be a governor, his whole man by the Word. Let him

bring down, if he must be bringing down, his own high

imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the

knowledge of God. If he must be a warrior, let him levy war

against his own unruly passions, and let him fight against those

lusts that war against his soul21 (2 Cor 10:3-5; Gal 5:17; James

3:3-8; 1 Peter 2:11).

I say therefore, if thou wilt needs be a ruler, thou hast a tongue,

rule that; lusts, rule them; affections, govern them; yea, thou

hast excellent graces, manage them, cherish, strengthen and

replenish them according to the mind of that great one who has

bestowed such power to rule, upon thee. Mortify therefore your

members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,

inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,

which is idolatry (Col 3:5). Nor do I think that murmuring,

shrinking, wincing, complaining, and the like, when men,

governors, lay a yoke upon our necks, flow from any thing else,

but love to our flesh, and distrust of the faithfulness of God to

manage men, things, and actions for his church. The powers

that be are ordered as well as ordained of God. They are also

always in God's hand, as his rod or staff for the good and

benefit of his people. Wherefore we ought with all meekness

and humbleness of mind to accept of what our God by them

shall please to lay upon us (1 Peter 5:6).

By what I now say, I do not forbid groaning and crying to God

under affliction. I speak against striving to deliver ourselves

from the affliction. And since men are, as I said, the rod, staff

or sword in God's hand, we should apply ourselves unto him in

faith in a way of prayer, intercession, supplication and giving of

thanks for governors. For since they are sent of God, they must

needs come with some good in their hand for us, also our

prayers may make them more profitable to us. And this we

ought to do without wrath and doubting; for this is that which is

good, and acceptable unto God (1 Tim 2).

Besides, it is a sign that we forget ourselves when we complain

for the punishment of our sins. If we look into ourselves, and

ways, we shall see cause of more heavy stripes than yet God by

men has laid upon us. What sin has yet been suppressed by all

that has happened to us: if pride, covetousness, looseness,

treacherous dealing, schisms, and other things, redressed by all

the affliction that we have had? Yea, do we not grow worse and

worse? Wherefore then should we complain? Where is

repentance, reformation, and amendment of life amongst us?

Why, then, do we shrink and winch. For my part, I have

ofttimes stood amazed both at the mercy of God, and the favour

of the Prince towards us; and can give thanks to God for both:

and do make it my prayer to God for the king, and that God will

help me with meekness and patience to bear whatever shall

befall me for my professed subjection to Christ, by men.

We are bid, as I said afore, to give thanks to God for all men,

for kings, and for all that are in authority. Because, as I said,

there is no man with whom we have to do, we doing as we

should, but he bringeth some good thing to us, or doth some

good thing for us. We will now descend from them that are

supreme in authority, and will come to inferior men: and

suppose some of them to act beyond measure, cruelly. What?

Can no good thing come to us out of this? Do not even such

things as are most bitter to the flesh, tend to awaken Christians

to faith and prayer, to a sight of the emptiness of this world, and

the fadingness of the best it yields? Doth not God by these

things ofttimes call our sins to remembrance, and provoke us to

amendment of life? how then can we be offended at things by

which we reap so much good, and at things that God makes so

profitable for us?

Doth not God, ofttimes, even take occasions by the hardest of

things that come upon us, to visit our souls with the comforts of

his Spirit, to lead us into the glory of his word, and to cause us

to savour that love that he has had for us, even from before the

world began, till now. A nest of bees and honey did Samson

find, even in the belly of that lion that roared upon him. And is

all this no good? or can we be without such holy appointments

of God? Let these things be considered by us, and let us learn

like Christians to kiss the rod, and love it.

I have thought, again, my brethren, since it is required of us that

we give thanks to God for all these men, it follows that we do

with quietness submit ourselves under what God shall do to us

by them. For it seems a paradox to me, to give thanks to God

for them, that yet I am not willing should abide in that place

that God has set them in for me. I will then love them, bless

them, pray for them, and do them good. I speak now of the men

that hurt me as was hinted afore. And I will do thus, because it

is good so to do, because they do me good by hurting of me,

because I am called to inherit a blessing, and because I would

be like my heavenly Father. "Therefore if mine enemy hunger,

let me feed him; if he thirst, let me give him drink"22 (Matt

5:43-48; 1 Peter 3:9; Rom 12:17-20). (1.) We must see good in

that, in which other men can see none. (2.) We must pass by

those injuries that other men would revenge. (3.) We must shew

we have grace, and that we are made to bear what other men are

not acquainted with. (4.) Many of our graces are kept alive by

those very things that are the death of other men's souls.

Where can the excellency of our patience, of our meekness, of

our long-suffering, of our love, and of our faith appear, if it be

not under trials, and in those things that run cross to our flesh?

The devil, they say, is good when he is pleased. But Christ and

his saints, when displeased.23

Let us therefore covet to imitate Christ and the scripture saints.

Let us shew out of a good conversation, our works with

meekness of wisdom. Let us take heed of admitting the least

thought in our minds of evil, against God, the king, or them that

are under him in employ, because, the cup, the king, all men,

and things are in the hand of God (Psa 75:8; Prov 8:15; 21:1;

Lam 3:37). And he can make them better to us, than if they

were as our flesh desireth they should.

I have often thought that the best Christians are found in the

worst of times: and I have thought again, that one reason why

we are no better, is because God purges us no more (John 15). I

know these things are against the grain of the flesh, but they are

not against the graces of the Spirit. Noah and Lot, who so holy

as they, in the day of their affliction? Noah and Lot, who so idle

as they in the day of their prosperity? I might have put in David

too, who, while he was afflicted, had ways of serving God that

were special; but when he was more enlarged, he had ways that

were not so good. Wherefore the first ways of David are the

ways that God has commended: but the rest of his ways, such as

had not pre-eminence (2 Chron 17:3).

We have need of all, and of more than all that has yet befallen

us: and are to thank God, since his word and patience have done

no more good to us, that he hath appointed men to make us

better.24 Wherefore for a conclusion, as we are to receive with

meekness the engrafted word of God, so also we are with

patience to bear what God, by man, shall lay upon us. O that

saying of God to them of old, "Why criest thou for thine

affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine

iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these

things unto thee" (Jer 30:15). We have need to consider of, and

to sit still and be quiet, and reverence the ordinance of God: I

mean affliction. And until we can in truth get hither in our

spirits, I neither look to find very right Christianity amongst us,

nor much of God among professors. When I think of Mordecai,

and Daniel, yea, and of David too, and of the behaviour of them

all with respect to the powers that they were under, I cannot but

think that a sweet, meek, quiet, loving, godly submission unto

men for the Lord's sake, is an excellent token of the grace of

God in us. But,

[Second Caution to Weak Christians.] —As I cannot but

condemn the actions of such Christians as have been touched

before, so I would caution weak Christians not to be offended

with true religion for the miscarriages of their fellows. There

are two things that are very apt to be an occasion of offence to

the weak: one is, when the cross attends religion; the other is,

when others that profess religion do suffer for evil-doing. To

both these I would say this:—

1. Though the cross, indeed, is grievous to the flesh, yet we

should with grace bear up under it, and not be offended at it.

2. And as to the second, though we should and ought to be

offended with such miscarriage; yet not with religion, because

of such miscarriage. Some, indeed, when they see these things,

take offence against religion itself; yea, perhaps, are glad of the

occasion, and so fall out with Jesus Christ, saying to him,

because of the evils that attend his ways, as the ten tribes said to

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon the king, "What portion have

we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; to

your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David," (1

Kings 12:16); and so go quite away from him, and cleave no

more unto him, to his people, or to his ways: but this is bad.

Shun, therefore, the evil ways of Christians, but cleave to the

way that is Christian: cast away that bad spirit that thou seest in

any, but hold fast to thy Head and Lord. Whither canst thou go?

the Lord Jesus has the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

Whither wilt thou go? there is not salvation in any other (Acts

4:12). Take heed, therefore, of picking a quarrel with Jesus

Christ, and with his ways, because of the evil-doings of some of

his followers. Judas sold him, Peter denied him, and many of

his disciples went back and did walk no more with him; but

neither himself nor his ways were the worse for that. Beware,

therefore, that thou truly distinguish between the good ways of

Jesus Christ and the evil ways of them that profess him; and

take not an occasion to throw away thy own soul down the

throat of hell, because others have vilely cast away their lives

by transgressing of the law of God. Nay, let other men's faults

make thee more wary; let other men's falls make thee look

better to thy goings: shun the rock that he that went before thee

did split his ship against; and cry to God to lead thee in a path

that is plain and good, because of thy observers.

Further, Let not opposite Christians rejoice when they see that

evil hath taken their brother by the heel. Hate the garment, the

thing that is bad, and by which the name, and fame, and life of

thy brother is so vilely cast away, thou shouldest; and take good

heed lest it also touch thee, but yet thou shouldest pity thy

brother, mourn for his hard hap, and grieve that a thing so much

unbecoming Christianity should be suffered to show the least

part of itself among any of those that profess the gospel.

Directions for the shunning of suffering for evil-doing, are they

that come next to hand.

Direction 1. Therefore, wouldest thou not suffer as an evil-doer,

then take heed of committing of evil. Evil courses bring to evil

ends; shun all appearance of evil, and ever follow that which is

good. And if ye be followers of that which is good, who will

harm you (1 Peter 3:13)? Or if there should be such enemies to

goodness in the world as to cause thee for that to suffer, thou

needest not be ashamed of thy suffering for well-doing, nor can

there be a good man, but he will dare to own and stand by thee

in it. Yea, thy sufferings for that will make thee happy, so that

thou canst by no means be a loser thereby.

Direction 2. Wouldest thou not suffer for evil-doing, then take

heed of the occasions of evil. Take heed of tempting company.

Beware of men, for they will deliver thee up. There have been

men in the world that have sought to make themselves out of

the ruins of other men. This did Judas, and some of the

Pharisees (Matt 10:17; Luke 20:19,20). Take heed to thy

mouth: "A fool's mouth calleth for strokes,—and his lips are

the snare of his soul" (Prov 18:7). Take heed of indulging, and

hearkening to the ease of the flesh, and of carnal reasonings, for

that will put thee upon wicked things.

Direction 3. Wouldest thou not suffer as an evil-doer, then take

heed of hearing of any thing spoken that is not according to

sound doctrine: thou must withdraw thyself from such in whom

thou perceivest not the words of knowledge. Let not talk against

governors, against powers, against men in authority be

admitted; keep thee far from an evil matter. My son, says

Solomon, fear thou the Lord, and the King, and meddle not

with those that are given to change.

Direction 4. Wouldest thou not suffer as an evil-doer, addict not

thyself to play with evil, 25 to joke and jest, and mock at men in

place and power. Gaal mocked at Abimelech, and said, Who is

Abimelech that we should serve him? But he paid for his

disdainful language at last (Judg 9). I have heard of an

innkeeper here in England, whose sign was the crown, and he

was a merry man. Now he had a boy, of whom he used to say,

when he was jovial among his guests, This boy is heir to the

crown, or this boy shall be heir to the crown; and if I mistake

not the story, for these words he lost his life.26 It is bad jesting

with great things, with things that are God's ordinance, as kings

and governors are. Yea, let them rather have that fear, that

honour, that reverence, that worship, that is due to their place,

their office, and dignity. How Paul gave honour and respect

unto those that were but deputy-kings and heathen magistrates,

will greatly appear, if you do but read his trials before them in

the book called, The Acts of the Apostles. And what a charge

both he and Peter have left behind them to the churches to do so

too, may be found to conviction, if we read their epistles.

Direction 5. Wouldest thou not suffer for evil-doing, then take

heed of being offended with magistrates, because by their state

acts they may cross thy inclinations. It is given to them to bear

the sword, and a command is to thee, if thy heart cannot

acquiesce with all things with meekness and patience, to suffer.

Discontent in the mind sometimes puts discontent into the

mouth; and discontent in the mouth doth sometimes also put a

halter about the neck. For as a man, by speaking a word in jest

may for that be hanged in earnest; so he that speaks in

discontent may die for it in sober sadness. Adonijah's

discontent put him upon doing that which cost him his life (1

Kings 2:13,23). Great peace have they that love thy law, and

nothing shall offend them; for they are subjected to the will and

foot of God.

Direction 6. But, above all, get thy conscience possessed yet

more with this, that the magistrate is God's ordinance, and is

ordered of God as such: that he is the minister of God to thee

for good, and that it is thy duty to fear him, and pray for him, to

give thanks to God for him, and to be subject to him as both

Paul and Peter admonish us; and that not only for wrath, but for

conscience sake (Rom 13:5). For all other arguments come

short of binding the soul, where this argument is wanting; until

we believe that of God we are bound thereto. I speak not these

things, as knowing any that are disaffected to the government;

for I love to be alone, if not with godly men, in things that are

convenient. But because I appear thus in public, and know not

into whose hands these lines may come, therefore thus I write. I

speak it also to show my loyalty to the king, and my love to my

fellow-subjects; and my desire that all Christians should walk in

ways of peach and truth.

[2. That Christians may, and have, suffered according to the

will of God.]

I come now to the second thing propounded to be spoken to, as

to suffering, which is this.—That there have been, and yet may

be, a people in the world that have, and may, suffer in the sense

of the apostle here, according to the will of God, or for

righteousness' sake.

That there have been such a people in the world, I think nobody

will deny, because many of the prophets, Christ, and his

apostles, thus suffered. Besides, since the Scriptures were

written, all nations can witness to this, whose histories tell at

large of the patience and goodness of the sufferers, and of the

cruelty of those that did destroy them. And that the thing will

yet happen, or come to pass again, both Scripture and reason

affirm.

First, Scripture. The text tells us, That God hath put enmity

betwixt the woman and her seed, and the serpent and his seed

(Gen 3:15). This enmity put, is so fixed that none can remove it

so, but that it still will remain in the world. These two seeds

have always had, and will have, that which is essentially

opposite to one another, and they are "the spirit of truth and the

spirit of error" (1 John 4:6), sin and righteousness (3:7,8), light

and darkness (1 Thess 5:5). Hence "an unjust man is an

abomination to the just; and he that is upright in the way is

abomination to the wicked" (Prov 29:27). So that unless you

could sanctify and regenerate all men, or cause that no more

wicked men should any where be in power for ever, you cannot

prevent but that sometimes still there must be sufferers for

righteousness' sake. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ

Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12).

Second, To prove this by reason is easy. The devil is not yet

shut up in the bottomless pit—Antichrist is yet alive. The

government in all kingdoms is not yet managed with such light,

and goodness of mind, as to let the saints serve God, as he has

said, whatever it is in some. And until then there will be in

some places, though for my part I cannot predict where, a

people that will yet suffer for well-doing, or for righteousness'

sake.

In order to a right handling of this matter, I shall divide this

head into these two parts—A. Show you what it is to suffer for

well-doing, or for righteousness. B. Show you what it is to

suffer for righteousness' sake. I put this distinction, because I

find that it is one thing to suffer for righteousness, and another

to suffer for righteousness' sake.

[A. What it is to suffer for righteousness.]

To begin with the first, namely, to show you what it is to suffer

for righteousness. Now that may be done either passively or

actively.

1. Passively, as when any suffer for righteousness without their

own will, or consent thereto. Thus, the little children at

Bethlehem suffered by the hands of bloody Herod, when they

died for, or in the room and stead of, Jesus Christ (Matt 2:16).

Every one of those children died for righteousness, if Christ is

righteousness; for they died upon his account, as being

supposed to be he himself. Thus also the children of Israel's

little ones, that were murdered with their parents, or otherwise,

because of the religion of them that begat and bare them, died

for righteousness. The same may be said concerning those of

them that suffered in the land of the Chaldeans upon the same

account. I might here also bring in those poor infants that in

Ireland, Piedmont, Paris, and other places, have had their

throats cut, and their brains dashed out against the walls, for

none other cause but for the religion of their fathers. Many,

many have suffered for righteousness after this manner. Their

will, nor consent, has been in the suffering, yet they have

suffered for religion, for righteousness. And as this hath been,

so it may be again; for if men may yet suffer for righteousness,

even so, for ought I know, even in this sense, may their children

also.

Now, although this is not the chief matter of my text, yet a few

words here may do no harm. The children that thus suffer,

though their own will and consent be not in what they undergo,

may yet, for all that, be accepted as an offering unto the Lord.

Their cause is good; it is for religion and righteousness. Their

hearts do not recoil against the cause for which they suffer; and

although they are children, God can deal with them as with

John the Baptist, cause them in a moment to leap for joy of

Christ; or else can save them by his grace, as he saveth other his

elect infants, and thus comprehend them, though they cannot

apprehend him; yea, why may they not only be saved, but in

some sense be called martyrs of Jesus Christ, and those that

have suffered for God's cause in the world? God comforted

Rachel concerning her children that Herod murdered in the

stead, and upon the account of Christ.27

He bids her refrain herself from tears, by this promise, that her

children should come again from the land of the enemy, from

death. And again, said he, Thy children shall come again to

their own border; which I think, if it be meant in a gospel sense,

must be to the heavenly inheritance. Compare Jeremiah 31:15-

17 with Matthew 2:18.28

And methinks this should be mentioned, not only for her and

their sakes, but to comfort all those that either have had, or yet

may have, their children thus suffer for righteousness. None of

these things, as shall be further showed anon, happen without

the determinate counsel of God. He has ordered the sufferings

of little children as well as that of persons more in years. And it

is easy to think that God can as well foresee which of his elect

shall suffer by violent hands in their infancy, as which of them

shall then die a natural death. He has saints small in age as well

as in esteem or otherwise and sometimes the least member of

the body suffereth violence, as well as the head or other chief

parts. And although I desire not to see these days again, yet

methinks it will please me to see those little ones that thus have

already suffered for Jesus, to stand in their white robes with the

elders of their people, before the throne, to sing unto the Lamb.

2. Actively. But to pass this, and to come to that which is more

directly intended to be spoken to, namely, to show you who

doth actively suffer for righteousness. And,

(1.) It is he that chooseth by his own will and consent to suffer

for it. All suffering that can be called active suffering, must be

by the consent of the will; and that is done when a man shall

have sin and suffering set before him, and shall choose

suffering rather than sin. He chose "rather to suffer affliction

with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a

season" (Heb 11:25). And again, They did not accept of

deliverance, that is, of base and unworthy terms, "that they

might obtain a better resurrection" (verse 35).

Indeed, no man can force a Christian to suffer as a Christian,

without his own consent. All Christians are sufferers of will and

consent. Hence it is said, they must take up their cross, by

which taking up, an act of their will is intended (Matt 10:38;

16:24). So again, "Take my yoke upon you," which also intends

an act of the will (11:29). This, therefore, is the first thing that I

would present you with. Not that an act of the will is enough to

declare a man a sufferer for righteousness, it standing alone; for

a man, through the strength of delusion, and the power of an

erroneous conscience, may be willing to suffer for the grossest

opinions in the world. But I bring it to show that actual

suffering for righteousness must also be by the consent of the

will—the mind of the man must be in it.

(2.) He that suffereth for righteousness thus, must also have a

good cause. A good cause is that which is essential to suffering

for righteousness. A good cause, what is that? Why, verily, it is

the truth of God, either in the whole of it, as contained in the

Scriptures of truth, or in the parts of it, as set before me to

believe, or do, by any part of that holy Word. This may be

called the matter for which one suffereth; or, as it is called in

another place, "the word of righteousness" (Heb 5:13). It may

also be called the form of sound doctrine, or the like. Because

without this Word, the matter and nature of God's truths cannot

be known. Pilate's question, "What is truth?" will still abide a

question, to those that have not, or regard not the Word, the rule

of righteousness (John 18:38). See then that thy cause be good,

thou that wouldest know what it is to suffer for righteousness;

step not an hair's breadth without the bounds of the Word of

truth; also take heed of misunderstanding, or of wringing out of

its place, any thing that is there. Let the words of the upright

stand upright, warp them not, to the end they may comply in

show with any crooked notion. And to prevent this, take these

three words as a guide, in this matter to thee. They show men

their sins, and how to close with a Saviour; they enjoin men to

be holy and humble; they command men to submit themselves

to authority. And whatever is cross to these, comes from

ignorance of, or from wresting, the rule of righteousness out of

its place.

But more particularly, the word of righteousness—thy cause,

within the bounds of which thou must keep, if thou wilt suffer

for righteousness, is to be divided into two parts. (1.) It

containeth a revelation of moral righteousness. (2.) It containeth

a revelation of evangelical righteousness. As for moral

righteousness, men seldom suffer; only, for that. Because that is

the righteousness of the world, and that, simply as such, that

sets itself up in every man's conscience, and has a testimony for

itself, even in the light of nature. Besides, there is nothing that

maketh head against that; but that which every man is ashamed,

by words to plead for, and that is immorality. And this is that

which Peter intends when he saith, "And if ye be followers of

that which is good, who will harm you?" (1 Peter 3:13). If ye be

followers of moral goodness. But if it should so happen, for the

case is rare, that any man should make you sufferers because

you love God, and do good to your neighbour, happy are ye.

Though I do not think that the apostle's conclusion terminates

there. But more of these things anon.

For let a man be a good neighbour in morals; let him feed the

hungry, clothe the naked, give freely out of his purse to the

poor, and do that which he would another should do to him; and

stop there, and not meddle with the name of Christ, and he shall

have but few enemies in the world. For it is not the law, but

Christ, that is the stumbling-block, and the rock of offence to

men (Isa 8:14,15; Rom 9:31-33).

Wherefore, there is in God's Word a revelation of another

righteousness—a righteousness which is not so visible to, yea,

and that suiteth not so with, the reason of man as that moral

righteousness doth. Wherefore this righteousness makes men

righteous in principle, and practise so, as is foreign to natural

men. Hence it is said to be foolishness to them (1 Cor 2:14).

And again, "Its praise is not of men" (Rom 2:29). This

righteousness is also revealed in the Scriptures, but the blind

cannot see it. It is the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart, and

is therefore called the fruits of the Spirit; and the grace, which

in the head and fullness of it, is only to be found in Christ (John

1:16; Col 1:19; 1 Tim 1:14). This righteousness being planted

in the heart, leads a man out by the Word of God, to seek for

another righteousness, as invisible to, and foreign from, the

natural man, as this. And that righteousness is that which

properly is the righteousness of Jesus Christ—a righteousness

that standeth in his obedience to his Father's law, as he was

considered a common or public person—a righteousness which

he brought into the world, not for himself, as considered in a

private capacity, but for those that shall by faith venture

themselves upon him, to obtain by him life eternal (Rom 5:19;

Phil 3:7-10).

Again, This closing by faith, with this righteousness thus found

in Christ, and being taken therewith, leads me yet to another

righteousness, which is instituted worship, appointed by Christ,

for all his followers to be conversant in; this worship is

grounded on positive precepts, and so on words of

righteousness, called Christ's words, Christ's sayings, &c.

Now, upon this bottom begins the difference betwixt the men of

God and the world. For, first, by this inward principle of

righteousness we come to see, and say, that men by nature are

not Christians, what privileges soever they may account

themselves partakers thereof. But whosoever is a Christian, of

God's making so, is begotten and born of God, and made a new

creature by the anointing received from the Holy One (James

1:18; John 3:3,5; 2 Cor 5:17,18; 1:21; 1 John 2:20,24,27). Now,

this these carnal men cannot endure to hear of; because it quite

excludes them, as such, from a share in the kingdom of heaven.

To this, again, the Christian stands and backs what he says by

the Word of God. Then the game begins, and the men of the

world are thoughtful how they may remove such troublesome

fellows out of the way. But because the Christians love their

neighbours, and will not let them thus easily die in their sins,

therefore they contend with them, both by reasonings, writings,

sermons, and books of gospel divinity; and stand to what they

say. The world, again, are angry with these sayings, sermons,

and books, for that by them they are concluded to be persons

that are without repentance, and the hope of eternal life. Here

again, the carnal world judges that these people are proud, self-

willed, pragmatical, contentious, self-conceited, and so

unsufferable people. The Christian yet goes on and stands to

what he has asserted. Then the poor world at their last shift

begins to turn, and overturn the gospel-man's sayings;

perverting, forcing, stretching, and dismembering of them; and

so making of them speak what was never thought, much less

intended by the believer.

Thus they served our Lord; for, not being able to down with29

his doctrine, they began to pervert his words, and to make, as

also they said afterwards of Luther's, some offensive, some

erroneous, some treasonable, and that both against God and

Caesar, and so they hanged him up, hoping there to put an end

to things. But this is but the beginning of things; for the

Christian man, by the word of the gospel, goes further with his

censure. For he also findeth fault with all that this man, by the

ability of nature, can do for the freeing himself from the law of

sin and death. He condemns him by the Word, because he is in

a state of nature, and he condemneth also whatever, while in

that state, he doth, as that which by no means can please God

(Rom 14:23; Heb 11:6). This now puts him more out; this is a

taking of his gods away from him. This is to strip him of his

raiment, such as it is, and to turn him naked into the presence of

God. This, I say, puts him out and out. These wild-brained

fellows, quote he, are never content, they find fault with us as to

our state; they find fault with us as to our works, our best

works. They blame us because we are sinners, and they find

fault with us, though we mend; they say, by nature we are no

Christians, and that our best doings will not make us such.

What would they have us do? Thus, therefore, they renew their

quarrel; but the Christian man cannot help it, unless he would

see them go to hell, and saying nothing. For the Word of God

doth as assuredly condemn man's righteousness, as it doth

condemn man's sin; it condemneth not man's righteousness

among men, for there it is good and profitable (Job 35:6-8), but

with God, to save the soul, it is no better than filthy rags (Isa

64:6). Nor will this Christian man suffer these carnal ones to

delude themselves with a change of terms; for the devil, who is

the great manager of carnal men in things that concern their

souls, and in the plea that they make for themselves, will help

them to tricks and shifts to evade the power of the Word of

God. Teaching them to call the beauties of nature grace, and the

acts of natural powers the exercise of the graces of the Spirit, he

will embolden them also to call man's righteousness the

righteousness of Christ, and that by which a sinner may be

justified in the sight of God from the law. These tricks the

Christian sees, and being faithful to God's truth, and desiring

the salvation of his neighbour, he laboureth to discover the

fallacy of, and to propound better terms for this poor creature to

embrace, and venture his soul upon; which terms are warranted

by the New Testament, a stranger to which the natural man is.

But, I say, the things which the Christian presseth, being so

foreign to nature, and lying so cross to man's best things, are

presently judged by the natural man to be fables or foolishness

(1 Cor 2:14). Wherefore here again, he takes another occasion

to maintain his strife, and contention against the righteous man;

raising of slanders upon him, and laying things to his charge

that he understandeth not; charging also his doctrine with many

grievous things. Namely, that he holdeth that man was made to

be damned; that man's righteousness is no better than sin; that a

man had as good to do ill as well; that we may believe, and do

what we list; that holiness pleaseth not God; and that sinning is

the way to cause grace to abound. Besides, say they, he

condemneth good motions, and all good beginnings of heart to

God-ward; he casteth away that good we have, and would have

us depend upon a justice to save us by, that we can by no means

approve of. And thus the quarrel is made yet wider between the

men of the world and Christian man. But there is not a stop put

here.

For it is possible for the carnal man to be beaten out of all his

arguments for himself and his own things, by the power and

force of the Word; and to be made to consent to what the

Christian has said as to the notion of the truth. I must not speak

this of all. But yet the breach doth still abide; for that yet there

appears to be no more with the man, but only the notion of

things. For though the notion of things are those that of God are

made the means of conveying of grace into the heart, yet grace

is not always with the notion of things; the Word ofttimes

standeth in man's understanding alone, and remaineth there, as

not being accompanied with such grace as can make it the

power of God to salvation. Now, when it is thus with the soul,

the danger is as great as ever, because there is a presumption

now begotten in the heart that the man is in a saved

condition,—a presumption, I say, instead of faith, which

puffeth up, instead of enabling the soul after a godly manner to

depend upon God for mercy through Christ. This is called the

word of them that are puffed up; the word only, because not

accompanied with saving grace (1 Cor 4:19; 8:1; 1 Thess 1:5).

This the Christian also sees, and says it is too weak to conduct

the soul to glory. And this, indeed, he says, because he would

not that his neighbour should come short home. But neither can

this be borne; but here again, the natural man with his notion of

things is offended; and takes pet against his friend, because he

tells him the truth, and would that he so should digest the truth,

that it may prove unto him eternal life. Wherefore he now

begins to fall out again, for as yet the enmity is not removed; he

therefore counts him an unmerciful man, one that condemneth

all to hell but himself; and as to his singularity in things, those

he counteth for dreams, for enthusiasms, for allegorical

whimsies, vain revelations, and the effects of an erroneous

judgment. For the Lord has put such darkness betwixt Egypt

and Israel, as will not suffer them to come together. But this is

not all.

For it is possible for these carnal men to be so much delighted

in the notion of things, as to addict themselves to some kind of

worship of Christ, whose notions of truth have by them been

received. And because their love is yet but carnal, and because

the flesh is swelling, and is pleased with pomp and

sumptuousness, therefore, to show how great an esteem such

have for Christ, whom they are now about to worship, they will

first count his testament, though good, a thing defective, and

not of fullness sufficient to give, in all particular things,

direction how they should, to their own content, perform their

glorious doctrine. For here and there, and in another place, cry

they, there is something wanting. Here, say they, is nothing said

of those places, vestures, gestures, shows, and outward

greatness that we think seemly to be found in and with those

that worship Jesus. Here wants sumptuous ceremonies, glorious

ornaments, new fashioned carriages, 30 all which are necessary

to adorn worship withal.

But now here again, the truly godly, as he comes to see the evil

of things, maketh his objections, and findeth fault, and counts

them unprofitable and vain (Isa 29; Matt 15; Mark 7). But they

again, seeing the things they have made are the very

excellencies of human invention, and things added as a

supplement to make up what, and wherein, as they think, that

man that was faithful over his own house as a son was

defective. They are resolved to stand upon their points, and not

to budge an inch from the things that are so laudable, so

necessary, so convenient, and so comely; the things that have

been judged good, by so many wise, learned, pious, holy,

reverend, and good men. Nay, if this were all, the godly would

make a good shift; but their zeal is so great for what they have

invented, and their spirits so hot to make others couch and bend

thereto, that none must be suffered to their power to live and

breathe, that refuseth to conform thereto.31 This has been proved

too true, both in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and other

places; and upon this account it is that persecution has been

kept alive so many hundred years in some places against the

church of God.

From what has been said as to these things, this I collect as the

sum—First, That man by nature is in a state of wrath and

condemnation (Eph 2:1-4; John 3:18). Secondly, That the

natural man, by all his natural abilities, is not able to recover

himself from this his condemned condition (John 6:44; Eph

1:19,20). Thirdly, That a man may have right notions of gospel

things, that hath no grace in his heart (1 Cor 13:2,3). Fourthly,

That to add human inventions to Christ's institutions, and to

make them of the same force and necessity, of the same

authority and efficacy, is nought; and not to be subjected to (Isa

29:13; Matt 15:8,9; Mark 7:6,7).

So then, he that saith these things, saith true; for the Scriptures

say the same. This, then, is a good cause to suffer for, if men

will that I shall suffer for saying so; because it is that which is

founded upon the Word of God; and the Word is the ground

and foundation of all true doctrine. Let him, then, that believeth

what is here discoursed, and that liveth soberly and peaceably

in this belief among his neighbours, stand by what he hath

received, and rejoice that he hath found the truth. And if any

shall afflict or trouble him for holding of these things, they

afflict or trouble him for holding to good things; and he

suffereth at their hands because his cause is good.

And such an one may with boldness, as to this, make his appeal

to the Bible, which is the foundation of his principles, and to

God the author of that foundation, if what he holds is not good.

He may say, "Lord, I have said, that man by nature is in a state

of condemnation, and they make me suffer for that. Lord, I have

asserted that man, by all his natural abilities, is not able to

recover himself from this his condemned state, and they make

me suffer for that. Lord, I have said that a natural man may

have right notions of the gospel, and yet be without the saving

grace thereof, and they make me suffer for that. Lord, I cannot

consent that human inventions and doctrines of men should be

joined with thy institution as matters of worship, and imposed

upon my conscience as such, and they make me suffer for that.

Lord, I own the government, pray for my superiors, live quietly

among my neighbours, give to all their dues, feed the hungry,

clothe the naked, relieve the afflicted, and show myself, by my

faith and life, to be a true Christian man, and yet my neighbours

will not let me alone. True, I cannot comply with all that some

men would have me comply with; no more did Daniel, no more

did Paul; and yet Daniel said, that he had to the king done no

hurt (Dan 6:22), and Paul said, 'neither against the law of the

Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I

offended anything at all'" (Acts 25:8).

For he that keeps within the compass of God's Word, hurts no

man, gives just offence to no man, though he complieth not

with all that are modes and ways of worship in the world. Nor

can this appeal be judged injurious, if it be not attended with

intercessions against them that hate us. But we will pass this,

and come to a second thing.

(3.) As he that suffereth for righteousness must have a good

cause, so he that suffereth for righteousness must have a good

call.

A man, though his cause be good, ought not by undue ways to

run himself into suffering for it; nature teaches the contrary, and

so doth the law of God. Suffering for a truth ought to be

cautiously took in hand, and as warily performed. I know that

there are some men that are more concerned here than some;

the preacher of the Word is by God's command made the more

obnoxious man, for he must come off with a woe, if he

preaches not the gospel (1 Cor 9:16). He, therefore, I say, doth

and ought more to expose himself than other Christians are

called to do. Yet it behoveth him also to beware, because that

Christ has said to him, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep, or

lambs, in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents,

and harmless as doves" (Matt 10:16; Luke 10:3). A man is not

bound by the law of his Lord, to put himself into the mouth of

his enemy. Christ withdrew himself; Paul escaped the

governor's hands, by being let down in a basket over the wall of

the city (2 Cor 11:32,33). And Christ hath said, If they

persecute you in one city, flee ye to another. If they will not let

me preach here, I will take up my Bible, and be gone. Perhaps

this is because I must preach in some other place. A minister

can quickly pack up, and carry his religion with him, and offer

what he knows of his God to another people32 (Acts 13:44-47).

Nor should a minister strive, I think, with the magistrate for

place, or time. But let him hearken to hear what God shall say

by such opposition. Perhaps the magistrate must drive thee out

of this place, because the soul is in another place that is to be

converted, or helped by thy sermon today. We must also in all

things, show ourselves to be such as by our profession we

would that men should believe we are, to wit, meek, gentle, not

strivers, but take our Lord and our brethren the prophets for our

examples.

But I will not here presume to give instructions to ministers; but

will speak a few words in the general about what I think may be

a sufficient call to a man to suffer for righteousness.

First, Every Christian man is bound by God's Word to hold to,

or stand by his profession, his profession of faith, and to join to

that profession an holy godly life; because the Apostle and

High priest of his profession is no less a one than Christ Jesus

(Heb 3:1; 10:23). This by Christ himself is expressed thus, Let

your light so shine (Matt 5:16). No man lighteth a candle to put

it under a bushel. Let your loins be girded about, and your

lights burning (Luke 12:35). And Paul bids the Philippians hold

forth the word of life (Phil 2:16).

And more particularly, by all this, this is intended, that we

should hide our faith in Christ from no man, but should rather

make a discover of it by a life that will do so; for our

profession, thus managed, is the badge, and the Lord's livery,

by which we are distinguished from other men.33 So then, if,

while I profess the truth of Christ, and so walk as to make my

profession of it more apparent, I be made a sufferer for it, my

call is good, and I may be bold in God and in my profession.

This, Peter intends when he saith, "But and if ye suffer for

righteousness" sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their

terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your

hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that

asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness

and fear (1 Peter 3:14,15). Here, then, is a call not to meddle

with the other, but to mind our own business; to walk in our

Christian profession, and to adorn it with all good works; and if

any man will meddle with me, and ask me a reason of the hope

that I have, to give it him with meekness and fear, whatever

follows thereupon. This, Peter should have done himself there,

where he denies his Master thrice.

The reason is, for that Christianity is so harmless a thing, that,

be it never so openly professed, it hurts no man. I believe that

Christ will save me; what hurt is this to my neighbour? I love

Christ because he will save me; what hurt is this to any? I will

for this worship Christ as he has bid me; what hurt is this to

anybody? I will also tell my neighbours what a loving one my

Christ is, and that he is willing to be good to them as he has

been good to me; and what hurt is this to the governor of a

kingdom? But and if any man will afflict me for this, my cause

is good, and also my call to stand full godly to my profession.

Secondly, There is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness,

even from the voice of necessity. That is, either when, by my

silence, the truth must fall to the ground; or when, by my

shrinking, the souls of other men are in danger. This, I say, is a

call to suffer even by the voice of necessity. The case may be

when God's ways may be trodden under foot; yea, his Word,

and ways, and name, and people, and all. Thus Goliath did do,

for several days together (1 Sam 17), and vaunted in his doing;

and there was not a man, no, not in Israel, that durst answer him

a word. And now was the spirit of David stirred in him, and he

would put his life in his hand, and give this man an answer; and

he saw there was reason for it—necessity gave him a call. Is

there not a cause, saith he, lies bleeding upon the ground, and

no man of heart or spirit to put a check to the bold blasphemer?

I will go fight with him; I will put my life in my hand; if I die, I

die.

Consider also what Daniel did when the law was gone out to

forbid, for thirty days, petitioning any god or man, save the

king only. At that time, also, not a man of Israel peeped (Dan

6:7). Now necessity walks about the streets, crying, Who is on

the Lord's side? Who, &c. And Daniel answers, I am, by

opening of his window, and praying, as at other times, three

times a day, with his face towards Jerusalem (verse 10). He

heard this voice of necessity, and put his life in his hand, and

complied with it, to the hazard of being torn in pieces by the

lions.

Much like this was that of the three children; for when that

golden image was set up, and worship commanded to be done

unto it, not one, that we read of, durst stand upright when the

time was come that bowing was the sign of worship. Only the

three children would not bow: it was necessary that some

should show that there was a God in heaven, and that divine

worship was due alone to him (Dan 3:10-12). But they run the

hazard of being turned to ashes, in a burning fiery furnace, for

so doing. But necessity has a loud voice, and shrill in the ears of

a tender conscience: this voice will awake jealousy and kindle a

burning fire within, for the name, and cause, and way, and

people, of the God of heaven.

Thirdly, There is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness by

the voice of providence. That is, when, by providence, I am cast

for my profession into the hands of the enemies of God and his

truth; then I am called to suffer for it what God shall please to

let them lay upon me. Only, for the making of my way more

clear in this matter, I will deliver what I have to say, with a

caution or two. 1. Thou must take heed that thy call be good to

this or that place, at which, by providence, thou art delivered

up. 2. Thou must also take heed that, when thou art there, thou

busiest thyself in nothing but that that good is. 3. Thou must

also take heed that thou stay there no longer than while thou

mayest do good or receive good there. 4. Thus far a man is in

the way of his duty, and therefore may conclude that the

providence of God, under which now he is, is such as has

mercy and salvation in the bowels of it, whatsoever is by it, at

the present, brought upon him.

Christ Jesus, our Lord, though his death was determined, and of

absolute necessity, and that chiefly for which he came into the

world, chose rather to be taken in the way of his duty than in

any other way or anywhere else. Wherefore, when the hour was

come, he takes with him some of his disciples, and goeth into a

garden, a solitary place, to pray; which done, he sets his

disciples to watch, and falleth himself to prayer. So he prays

once; he prays twice; he prays thrice: and he giveth also good

doctrine to his disciples. And now, behold, while he was here,

in the way of his duty, busying himself in prayer to God, and in

giving of good instruction to his followers, upon him comes

Judas and a multitude with swords and staves, and weapons, to

take him; to which providence he, in all meekness, submits, for

he knew that by it he had a call to suffer (Matt 26:36-47).

In this way, also, the apostles were called to suffer, even while

they were in the way of their duty. Yea, God bid them go into

the temple to preach, and there delivered them into the hands of

their enemies (Acts 4:1-3; 5:20-26).

Be we in the way of our duty, in the place and about the work

unto which we are called of God, whether that work be

religious or civil, we may, without fear, leave the issue of

things to God, who only doth wonderful things. And he who

lets not a sparrow fall to the ground without his providence,

will not suffer a hair of our head to perish but by his order

(Luke 12:6,7). And since he has engaged us in his work, as he

has if he has called us to it, we may expect that he will manage,

and also bear us out therein; either so as by giving of us a good

deliverance by way of restoration to our former liberty and

service for him, or so as to carry us well out of this world to

them that, under the altar, are crying, How long, holy and true:

nor shall we, when we come there, repent that we suffered for

him here. Oh! how little do saints, in a suffering condition,

think of the robes, the crowns, the harps, and the Son that shall

be given to them; and that they shall have when they come

upon mount Zion (Rev 6:11; 14:1-7).

Fourthly, There is sometimes a call to suffer for righteousness

by an immediate and powerful impulse of the Spirit of God

upon the heart. This, I say, is sometimes, and but sometimes;

for this is not God's ordinary way, nor are many of his servants

called after this manner to suffer for righteousness. Moses was

called thus to suffer when he went so often unto Pharaoh with

the message of God in his mouth. And "he endured, as seeing

him who is invisible" (Heb 11:25-27).

Paul was called thus to suffer, and he obeyed, and went, and

performed that work, according to the will of God. This kind of

call Paul calls a binding, or a being bound in the Spirit, because

the Holy Ghost had laid such a command upon him to do so,

that he could not, by any means, get from under the power of it.

"And now, behold," saith he, "I go bound in the Spirit unto

Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befal me there"

(Acts 20:22). For he that is under this call has, as I said, bonds

laid upon his spirit, which carry him to the place where his

testimony is to be borne for God; nor shall he, if he willingly

submits and goes, as Paul did, but have an extraordinary

presence of God with him, as he. And see what a presence he

had; for after the second assault was given him by the enemy,

even "the night following, the Lord stood by him, and said, Be

of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in

Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome" (Acts

23:11). Thus God meeteth his people in their service for him,

when he calls them aloud to do great service for him. The

power of such a call as this, I say, is great, and men of ordinary

spirits must needs give place thereto, and leave a man thus

bound to the God that thus has bound him. All the help such

can afford him is to follow him with our prayers, not to judge

him or grieve him, or lay stumbling-blocks before him. No;

they must not weep nor mourn for him, so as to make him

sorrowful (Acts 21:12-14).

His friends may suggest unto him what is like to attend his

present errand, as Agabus did by the Spirit to Paul when he

took his girdle and bound himself therewith, to show him how

his enemies should serve him whither he went. "Thus said the

Holy Ghost," said he, "so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the

man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands

of the Gentiles" (Acts 21). But if this call be indeed upon a

man, all sorrow is turned into joy before him; for he is ready,

not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name

of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13).

Instances, also, of later times might be given of a call

extraordinary to suffer for righteousness. For many, in the first

three hundred years' persecution, when nobody knew what they

were, would boldly come up to the face of their enemies and

tell what they were, and suffer for what they professed, the

death. I remember, also, the woman who, when her friends were

gone before to suffer, how she came running and panting after,

for fear she should not come thither time enough to suffer for

Jesus Christ.

But I will give you an instance of later times, even in the

beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, of an Hertfordshire man

that went as far as Rome to bear his testimony for God against

the wickedness of that place. This man, when he was arrived

there, and had told them wherefore he was come, they took and

condemned him to death, to wit, to be burned for an heretic.

Now he was to ride from the prison to the place of execution

upon an ass, with his face to the beast's tail, and was to be

stripped from the shoulders to the waist, that he might be

tormented all the way he went with burning torches continually

thrust to his sides; but he, nothing at all afraid, spake in his

exhortation to the people to fly from their sin and idolatry; he

would also catch hold of the torches and put them to his sides,

to show how little he esteemed the worst that they could do.

Also, when he was come to the place of execution, he suffered

there such cruelty, with so unconcerned a mind, and with such

burning zeal for God's truth, testified against them while he

could speak; that, all amazed, his enemies cried, he could not

have suffered as he did but by the help of the devil. His name I

have now forgot, but you will find it, with the story at large, in

the third volume of Acts and Monuments, at the 1022 page. 34

But we will pass this, and come to our second particular,

namely,

[B. What it is to suffer for righteousness' sake.]

To show when it may be said a man doth not only suffer for

righteousness, but also for righteousness' sake.

To suffer for righteousness' sake must be either with the

intention of the persecutor or else of the persecuted. The

persecutor, whatever the person's suffering is, if he afflicteth

this person for a supposed good that he thinketh he hath or

professeth, he make him suffer for righteousness' sake. So that,

in this sense, a man that hath no grace may not only suffer for

righteousness, but also for righteousness' sake. But this I intend

not, because the text is not concerned with it.

The thing, therefore, now intended to be spoken to, is this,

namely, when a man may be said to suffer what he suffereth

upon a religious account, of love to, or for the sake of, that

good that he finds in the truths of God, or because his heart is

joined and espoused to the good of the truths that he professeth;

not that there is any thing in any truth of God that is not good;

but a man may profess truth, not for the sake of the goodness

that is in it, but upon a remote account. Judas professed truth,

not of love to the truth, but of love to the bag, and to the money

that was put therein. Men may profess for a wife, for a trade, for

friendship, or because profession is at such a time or in such a

place, in fashion. I wish that there were no cause to say this.

Now there is not any of these that profess the truth for the

truth's sake, that profess the truth of love to it; nor shall they,

should they suffer as professors, never so long, never so much,

never so grievously, be counted of God among them that suffer

for righteousness' sake; that is, of unfeigned love to

righteousness. Wherefore, that I may show you who may be

said to suffer for righteousness' sake, I will propound and speak

to several things.

1. Then, he that suffereth in the apostle's sense, for well-doing,

or for righteousness' sake, sets his face against nothing but sin.

He resisteth unto blood, striving against sin. Sin is the object of

his indignation, because it is an enemy to God, and to his

righteous cause in the world (Heb 12:3,4). Sin, I say, is that

which such a man singleth out as his opposite, as his antagonist,

and that against which his heart is set. It is a rare thing to suffer

aright, and to have my spirit, in my suffering, bent only against

God's enemy—sin; sin in doctrine, sin in worship, sin in life,

sin in conversation. Now then, he that suffereth for

righteousness' sake has singled out sin to pursue it to death,

long before he comes to the cross. It is sin, alas, and his hatred

to it that have brought him into this condition. He fell out with

sin at home, in his own house, in his own heart, before he fell

out with sin in the world, or with sin in public worship. For he

that can let sin go free and uncontrolled at home within, let him

suffer while he will, he shall not suffer for righteousness' sake.

And the reason is, because a righteous soul, as the phrase is, 2

Peter 2:8, has the greatest antipathy against that sin that is most

ready to defile it, and that is, as David calls it, one's own

iniquity, or the sin that dwelleth in one's own flesh. I have kept

me, says he, from mine iniquity, from mine own sin. People

that are afraid of fire are concerned most with that that burneth

in their own chimney; they have the most watchful eye against

that that is like to burn down their own house first.

He also that suffereth for righteousness' sake, doth it also

because he would not that sin should cleave to the worship of

God; and, indeed, this is mostly the cause of the sufferings of

the godly. They will not have to do with that worship that hath

sinful traditions commixed with God's appointments, because

they know that God is jealous of his worship; and has given a

strict charge that all things be done according to the pattern

showed to us in the mount. He knows also that God will not be

with that worship, and those worshippers, that have not regard

to worship by the rule of the testament of Christ. He is also

against the sin that is apt to cleave to himself while he standeth

in the presence of God. I will wash mine hands in innocency, so

will I compass thine altar, O Lord. This man also chooses to be

in the practical parts of worship, if possible, for he knows that

to have to do about holy things sincerely is the way to be at the

remotest distance from sin. He chooses also to be with those

holy ones that are of the same mind with him against sin; for he

knows that two are better than one, and that a threefold cord is

not easily broken. Wherefore look to yourselves, you that do, or

may be called to suffer for religion: if you bend not yourselves

against sin, if to be revenged of sin be not the cause of your

suffering, you cannot be said to suffer for righteousness' sake.

Take heed, therefore, that something else be not an inducement

to thee to suffer. A man may suffer to save what he has: there is

credit also and an applause; there is shame to conform; there is

carnal stoutness of spirit; there is hatred of persecutors and

scorn to submit; there is fear of contempt and of the reproach of

the people, &c. These may be motives and arguments to a

suffering state, and may really be the ground of a man's being

in the jail; though he cries out in the meanwhile of popery, of

superstition, and idolatry, and of the errors that attend the

common modes of the religions of the world. I charge no man

as though I knew any such thing by any; but I suggest these

things as things that are possible, and mention them because I

would have sufferers have a care of themselves; and watch and

pray, because no man can be upright here that is not holy, that

cannot pray, and watch, and deny himself for the love that he

has to righteousness. I said it before, and will say it again, it is a

rare thing to be set in downrightness of heart against sin.

2. Is it for the sake of righteousness that thou sufferest? Then it

is because thou wouldest have righteousness promoted, set up,

and established in the world; also thou art afflicted at those

advantages that iniquity gets upon men, upon things, and

against thyself. "I beheld," said David, "the transgressors, and

was grieved; because men kept not thy word" (Psa 119:158).

And again, These are they that mourn for the abominations that

are done among men (Eze 9:4). There is a great deal of talk

about religion, a great deal of pleading for religion, namely, as

to the formalities of this and the other way.35 But to choose to

be religious, that I might be possessed with holiness, and to

choose that religion that is most apt to possess me with it, if I

suffer for this, I suffer for righteousness' sake. Wherefore say

thus to thy soul, thou that art like to suffer for righteousness,

How is it with the most inward parts of my soul? What is there?

What designs, desires, and reachings out are there? Why do I

pray? Why do I read? Why do I hear? Why do I haunt and

frequent places and ordinances appointed for worship? Is it

because I love holiness? would promote righteousness, because

I love to see godliness show itself in others, and because I

would feel more of the power of it in myself? If so, and if thou

sufferest for thy profession, thou sufferest, not only for

righteousness, but also for righteousness' sake.

Dost thou thus practise, because thou wouldest be taught to do

outward acts of righteousness, and because thou wouldest

provoke others to do so too? Dost thou show to others how thou

lovest righteousness, by taking opportunities to do

righteousness? How is it, dost thou show most mercy to thy

dog, 36 or to thine enemy, to thy swine, or to the poor? Whose

naked body hast thou clothed? Whose hungry belly hast thou

fed? Hast thou taken delight in being defrauded and beguiled?

Hast thou willingly sat down by the loss with quietness, and

been as if thou hadst not known, when thou hast been wronged,

defamed, abused, and all because thou wast not willing that

black-mouthed men should vilify and reproach religion upon

thy account (1 Cor 6:7)?

He that loveth righteousness will do thus, yea, and do it as unto

God, and of tenderness to the Word of God which he

professeth. And he that thinks to make seeing men believe, that

when he suffereth, he suffereth for righteousness' sake, and yet

is void in his life of moral goodness, and that has no heart to

suffer and bear, and put up, and pass by injuries in his

conversation among his enemies at home, is deceived.

There are some Scriptures that are as if they were out of date

among some professors, specially such as call for actual

holiness and acts of self-denial for God; but it will be found, at

the day of judgment, that they only are the peculiar people that

are "zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). God help us, it is

hard now to persuade professors to come up to negative

holiness, that is, to leave undone that which is bad; and yet this

of itself comes far short of ones being found in practical

goodness.

But this is the man that suffereth, when he suffereth for

righteousness' sake, that makes it his business, by all lawful

means, according to the capacity that God has put him in, to

promote, set up, and establish righteousness in the world; I say

this is the man that suffereth for righteousness' sake, that

suffereth for so doing; and I am sure that a life that is moral,

when joined to the profession of the faith of the things that are

of the Spirit of God, is absolutely necessary to the promoting of

righteousness in the world. Hence Peter tells them that suffer

for righteousness' sake, that they must have "a good

conscience"—a good conscience towards God, towards men,

towards friends, towards enemies (1 Peter 3:14-16; Acts 24:16;

23:1). They must have a good conscience in all things, being

willing, ready, desirous to live honestly, godly, and righteously

in this world, or else they cannot, though they may suffer for

the best doctrine under heaven, suffer for righteousness' sake

(Heb 13:18). Wherefore,

3. Is it for righteousness' sake that thou sufferest? then thy

design is the ruin of sin. This depends upon what was said

before; for he that strives against sin, that seeks to promote

righteousness, he designs the ruin of sin. "Be not," said Paul to

the suffering Romans, "overcome of evil, but overcome evil

with good" (Rom 12:21). To overcome evil with good is a hard

task. To rail it down, to cry it down, to pray kings, and

parliaments, and men in authority to put it down, this is easier

than to use my endeavour to overcome it with good, with doing

of good, as I said before.37 And sin must be overcome with

good at home, before thy good can get forth of doors38 to

overcome evil abroad.

Abraham overcame evil with good, when he quieted the

discontent of Lot and his herdsmen, with allowing of them to

feed their cattle in the best of what God had given him (Gen

13:7,8).

David overcame evil with good, when he saved the life of his

bloody enemy that was fallen into his hand; also when he

grieved that any hurt should come to them that sought nothing

so much as his destruction. "They rewarded me," saith he, "evil

for good, to the spoiling of my soul. But as for me, when they

were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with

fasting, I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or

brother; I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his

mother." This is to overcome evil with good (Psa 35:12-14).

Job saith concerning his enemy, that he did not rejoice when

evil found him; "neither have I," said he, "suffered my mouth to

sin by wishing a curse to his soul." He means he did the quite

contrary, and so overcame evil with good (Job 31:29,30).

Elisha overcame evil with good, when he received the men that

came for his life, and had them where he might feast, and

comfort them, and sent them home in peace to their master (2

Kings 6:19-23).

The New Testament also is full of this, both in exhortations and

examples, In exhortations where it is said, resist not evil, that is,

with evil, but overcome evil with good (Prov 24:29). "But

whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the

other also.—And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go

with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee; and from him that

would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.—Love your

enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate

you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and

persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which

is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil, and on

the good - on the just, and on the unjust" (Matt 5:39-45). "Bless

them that persecute you: bless and curse not" (Rom 12:14).

"Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but

contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called,

that ye should inherit a blessing" (1 Peter 3:9; Rom 12:14). This

is righteousness—these are righteous courses. And as these are

preceptively propounded, so they were as practically followed

by them that were eminently godly in the primitive church.

"We are fools for Christ's sake," said Paul, "we are despised,

we are hungry, thirsty, naked, and buffeted.—Being reviled, we

bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat:

we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of

all things unto this day" (1 Cor 4:10-13). This is overcoming of

evil with good, and he that has chosen to himself that religion

that teaches these things, and that loves that religion because it

so teacheth him; if he suffereth for it, he suffereth for

righteousness' sake.

4. He that suffereth for righteousness' sake, will carry

righteousness whithersoever he goes. Neither the enemy, nor

thy sufferings, shall be able to take righteousness from thee.

Righteousness must be thy chamber mate, thy bed companion,

thy walking mate: it is that without which thou wilt be so

uncouth, as if thou couldest not live (Psa 26: 25:21).

Paul in his sufferings would have righteousness with him, for it

must be as it were his armour-bearer; yea, his very armour itself

(2 Cor 6:7). It is an excellent saying of Job, "I put on

righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe

and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the

lame; I was a father to the poor," &c. (Job 29:11-16). "Princes,"

said David also, "did sit and speak against me, but thy servant

did meditate in thy statues" (Psa 119:23). A man that loves

righteousness doth as Abraham did with his Sarah, carry it

every where with him, though he goes, because of that, in

danger of his life. Righteousness! It is the only intimate that a

Christian has. It is that by which he takes his measures, that

with which he consults, with respect to what he doth, or is to

do, in the world. "Thy testimonies," said David also, "are my

delight, and my counsellors." The men of my counsel, in the

margin (Psa 119:24).

David! He was the man of affliction; the suffering man in his

day; but in all places where he came, he had righteousness, the

law and godly practice with him. It was his counsellor, as he

was a man, a saint, a king. I dare say, for the man that suffers

righteousness to be rent away from him by the violence and

rage of men, and that casts it away, as David did Saul's armour,

that he may secure himself; he has no great love for

righteousness, nor to the cross for righteousness' sake. "My

righteousness I hold fast," said Job, "and will not let it go: my

heart shall not reproach me so long as I live" (Job 27:6). What?

part with righteousness! A righteous Lord! A righteous Word!

A righteous profession! A righteous life! to sleep in a whole

skin: the Lord forbid it me, and all that he has counted worthy

to be called by his name. Let us carry it with us from the bed to

the cross, and then it shall carry us from thence to the crown.

Let it be our companion to prison and death, then shall we show

that we are lovers of righteousness, and that we choose to suffer

for righteousness' sake.

5. Dost thou suffer for righteousness' sake? why then, thy

righteousness is not diminished, but rather increased by thy

sufferings. Righteousness thriveth best in affliction, the more

afflicted, the more holy man; the more persecuted, the more

shining man (Acts 6:15). The prison is the furnace, thy graces

are the silver and the gold; wherefore, as the silver and the gold

are refined by the fire, and so made more to show their native

brightness, so the Christian that hath, and that loveth

righteousness, and that suffereth for its sake, is by his sufferings

refined and made more righteous, and made more Christian,

more godly (Zech 13:9). Some, indeed, when they come there,

prove lead, iron, tin, and at the best, but the dross of silver; and

so are fit for nothing, but there to be left and consumed, and to

bear the badge, if ever they come from thence, of reprobate

silver from the mouth and sentence of their neighbours (Eze

22:18-22; Jer 6:28-30). But when I, says Job, am tried, "I shall

come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

When Saul had cast one javelin at David, it made him walk

wisely in all his ways. But when he added to his first fury, plots

to take away his life, then David behaved himself yet more

wisely (1 Sam 18:10-30). The hotter the rage and fury of men

are against righteous ways, the more those that love

righteousness grow therein. For they are concerned for it, not to

hide it, but to make it spangle; not to extinguish it, but to

greaten it, and to show the excellency of it in all its features,

and in all its comely proportion. Now such an one will make

straight steps for his feet, "let that which is lame be turned out

of the way" (Heb 12:13). Now he shows to all men what faith

is, by charity, by self-denial, by meekness, by gentleness, by

long-suffering, by patience, by love to enemies, and by doing

good to them that hate us; now he walketh upon his high places.

Yea, will not now admit that so slovenly a conversation should

come within his doors, as did use to haunt his house in former

times. Now it is Christmas,39 now it is suffering time, now we

must keep holy day every day. The reason is, for that a man,

when he suffereth for Christ, is set upon a hill, upon a stage, as

in a theatre, to play a part for God in the world. And you know

when men are to play their parts upon a stage, they count

themselves, if possible, more bound to circumspection; and that

for the credit of their master, the credit of their art, and the

credit of themselves. For then the eyes of every body are fixed,

they gape and stare upon them (Psa 22:17). And a trip here is as

bad as a fall in another place. Also now God himself looks on.

Yea, he laugheth, as being pleased to see a good behaviour

attending the trial of the innocent.

(1.) He that suffereth for righteousness' sake suffereth for his

goodness, and he is now to labour by works and ways to

convince the world that he suffereth as such an one. (2.) He that

suffereth for righteousness' sake has many that are weak to

strengthen by his sweet carriages under the cross, wherefore he

had need to exceed in virtue. (3.) He also is by well-doing to

put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, he had need be

curious and circumspect in all his actions. (4.) He is to come in,

and to be a judge, and to condemn, by his faith and patience in

his sufferings, the world, with his Lord and fellows, at the

appearing of Jesus Christ; he had need be holy himself. This,

therefore, is the fit sign of suffering for righteousness' sake (1

Cor 6:1-5; Heb 11:7; 2 Thess 1:5,6; 1 Peter 4:3-5).

6. He that suffereth, not only for righteousness, but also for

righteousness' sake, will not exchange his cause, though for it

in a jail, for all the ease and pleasure in the world. They that

suffered for righteousness' sake of old, were tempted before

they were sawn asunder (Heb 11). Tempted, that is, allured, to

come out of their present sufferings, and leave their faith and

profession in irons behind them. Tempted with promises of

promotion, of ease, of friendship, of favour with men. As the

Devil said to Christ, so persecutors of old did use to make great

promises to sufferers, if they would fall down and worship. But

his is alone as if they should say, Butcher, make away with

your righteousness,40 and a good conscience, and you shall find

the friendship of the world. For there is no way to kill a man's

righteousness but by his own consent. This, Job's wife knew

full well, hence she tempted him to lay violent hands upon his

own integrity (Job 2:9).

The Devil, nor men of the world can kill thy righteousness or

love to it, but by thy own hand; or separate that and thee

asunder, without thine own act. Nor will he that doth indeed

suffer for the sake of it, or of love he bears thereto, be tempted

to exchange it for the goods of all the world. It is a sad sight to

see a man that has been suffering for righteousness, restored to

his former estate, while the righteousness for which he suffered,

remains under locks and irons, and is exposed to the scorn,

contempt, reproach of the world, and trodden under the foot of

men.41 "It is better," said Paul, "for me to die, than that any man

should make my glorying void." And it had been a hundred

times better for that man, if he had never known the way of

righteousness, than after he has known it, to turn from the holy

commandment delivered unto him.

The striving is, in persecution, for righteousness; to wit,

whether it shall be set up, or pulled down. The sufferer, he is

for setting up, and the persecutors are for pulling down. Thus

they strive for the mastery. Now, if a man stands by his

righteousness, and holds fast his good profession, then is

righteousness set up; nor can it, so long, be pulled down.

Hence, so long a man is said to overcome; and overcome he

doth, though he be killed for his profession. But if he starts

back, gives place, submits, recants, or denieth any longer to

own that good thing that he professed, and exposed himself to

suffering for; then he betrays his cause, his profession, his

conscience, his righteousness, his soul, and all; for he has

delivered up his profession to be murdered before his face: A

righteous man falling down before the wicked, is as a troubled

fountain, and a corrupt spring (Prov 25:26). But this, I hope,

will not he do that loveth righteousness, and that suffereth for

righteousness' sake. I do not say but that a man may slip here,

with Peter, Origen, Hierom, Cranmer, Baynham, Ormis,42 and

other good folk; but be he one of the right kind, a lover of

righteousness indeed, he will return, and take revenge upon

himself in a godly way, for so ungodly a fact.

7. He that suffereth not only for righteousness, but also for

righteousness sake, is not so wedded to his own notions as to

slight or overlook the good that is in his neighbour. But

righteousness he loves wherever he finds it, though it be in him

that smiteth him (Psa 141:5). Yea, he will own and

acknowledge it for the only thing that is of beauty and glory in

the world. With the excellent in the earth is all such a man's

delight. Wherefore I put a difference betwixt suffering for an

opinion and suffering for righteousness; as I put a difference

between suffering for righteousness and suffering for

righteousness' sake.

If righteousness, if the stamp of God, if divine authority, is not

found upon that thing which I hold, let men never suffer for it

under the notion of righteousness. If sin, if superstition, if

idolatry, if derogation from the wisdom of Christ, and the

authority and perfection of his Word, be not found in, nor

joined to that thing that I disown in worship, let me never open

my mouth against it. I had rather fall in with, and be an

associate of a righteous man that has no true grace, than with a

professor that has no righteousness. It is said of the young man,

though he went away from Christ, that he looked upon him and

loved him (Mark 10:17-22). But it is not said that ever he loved

Judas. I know that the righteousness for which a good man

suffereth, is not then embraced of the world, for that at such a

time it is under a cloud. But yet there is righteousness also in

the world, and wherever I see it, it is of a high esteem with me.

David acknowledged some of his enemies to be more righteous

than he acknowledged some of his servants to be (2 Sam 4:9-

11; 3:31-35). It is a brave thing to have righteousness, as

righteousness, to be the top-piece in mine affections. The

reason why Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above

his fellows, was, because he loved righteousness, and hated

iniquity more than they (Heb. 1:9). Love to righteousness flows

from golden graces, and is that, and that only, that can make a

man capable of suffering, in our sense, for righteousness' sake.

8. He that suffereth not only for righteousness, but also for

righteousness' sake, will take care that his sufferings be so

managed with graciousness of words and actions, that it may

live when he is dead; yea, and it will please him too, if

righteousness flourishes, though by his loss. Hence it is that

Paul said, he rejoiced in his suffering, Colossians 1:24; namely,

because others got good thereby. And that he said, "Yea, and if

I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy,

and rejoice with you all" (Phil 2:17). But why rejoice in this?

Why, because though his sufferings were to the distressing of

his flesh, yet they were to the refreshing, comfort, and stability

of others. This was it also that made him jostle with the false

brethren among the churches; to wit, "that the truth of the

gospel might continue with them" (Gal 2:5).

When a man shall run the hazard of the ruin of what he has, and

is, for righteousness, for the good and benefit of the church of

God; that man, he managing himself by the rule, if he suffers

for so doing, suffers not only for righteousness, but also for

righteousness' sake. "I endure all things," said Paul, "for the

elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in

Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Tim 2:10). Here was love,

you will say, to persons; and I will say also, to things; to all the

righteousnesses of God that are revealed in the world, that all

the elect might enjoy them to their eternal comfort and glory,

by Christ Jesus. For "whether we be afflicted," says he, "it is

for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the

enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or

whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and

salvation" (2 Cor 1:6).

The end of a man and his design, if that be to promote

righteousness, he using lawful means to accomplish it, is

greatly accepted of God by Christ; and it is a sign he is a lover

of righteousness; and that if he suffereth for so doing, he

suffereth not for well-doing, only as to matter of fact, but also

for his love to the good thing done, and for its sake.

I have now done with that first head that was to be spoken to, as

touching the law and testament; which we have said was to be

understood of the will of God spoken of in the text: "Let them

that suffer according to the will of God," that is, according to

his law and testament. Now we have showed what it is to suffer

according to that; we come to another thing, namely:—

[THE WILL OF GOD MEANS HIS ORDER AND

DESIGNMENT.]

Second, That by the will of God, we also understand his order

and designment. For the will of God is active, to dispose of his

people, as well as preceptive, to show unto us our duty. He then

that suffers for righteousness' sake, as he suffers for that which

is good as to the matter of it, and as he suffers for that which is

good, after that manner as becomes that truth for which he

suffereth; so he that thus suffereth, suffereth by the order and

designment of God. That, then, is the next thing that is to be

spoken to, namely:—

God is the great orderer of the battle that is managed in the

world against antichrist. Hence that battle is called, "The battle

of that great day of God Almighty" (Rev 16:14). It is not what

enemies will, nor what they are resolved upon, but what God

will, and what God appoints; that shall be done. This doctrine

Christ teacheth when he saith, "Are not five sparrows sold for

two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But

even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not

therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke

12:6,7). He speaks in the verses before of killing, and bids them

that they should not be afraid for that. "Be not afraid of them

that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which

after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto

you, Fear him." Then he leads them to the consideration of this,

that the will of God governs, and disposes of his [people] to

suffering; as well as declares to them for what, and how they

should suffer, saying, "Are not five sparrows sold for two

farthings," &c.

Also in Isaiah 8:9,10 and in Isaiah 2:12,13, you have in sum the

same thing inserted again. But we will not stay upon proof, but

will proceed to demonstration hereof.

Pharaoh said he would, ay, that he would, but he could not

touch so much as a thread or a rag of Israel, because the will of

God was in that thing contrary to him. Saul said that he would

have David, and to that end would search for him among the

thousands of Judah; but David was designed for another

purpose, and therefore Saul must go without him (1 Sam 23:25)

Rabshakeh said that he was come from Assyria to Jerusalem to

make "Judah eat their own dung, and drink their own piss" (Isa

36:12). But God said he should not shoot an arrow there. And it

came to pass as God had said (Isa 37:33; 2 Kings 18; 2 Chron

28). Jeremiah and Baruch's enemies would have killed them,

but they could not, for God hid them. How many times had the

Jews a mind to have destroyed Jesus Christ; but they could not

touch a hair of his head until his hour was come.

Those also that bound themselves in a curse, that they would

neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul, were forced to

be foresworn, for the will of God was not that Paul should die

as yet (Acts 23:12). This therefore should be well considered of

God's church, in the cloudy and dark day. "All his saints are in

thy hand" (Deut 33:3). It is not the way of God to let the

enemies of God's church do what they will; no, the Devil

himself can devour but "whom he may" (1 Peter 5:8). And as

no enemy can bring suffering upon a man when the will of God

is otherwise, so no man can save himself out of their hands

when God will deliver him up for his glory. It remaineth, then,

that we be not much afraid of men, nor yet be foolishly bold;

but that we wait upon our God in the way of righteousness, and

the use of those means which his providence offereth to us for

our safety; and that we conclude that our whole dispose, as to

liberty or suffering, lieth in the will of God, and that we shall,

or shall not suffer, even as it pleaseth him. For,

First, God has appointed WHO shall suffer. Suffering comes

not by chance, or by the will of man, but by the will and

appointment of God. "Let no man," said Paul, "be moved by

these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed

thereunto" (1 Thess 3:3). We are apt to forget God when

affliction comes, and to think it a strange thing that those that

fear God should suffer indeed (1 Peter 4:12). But we should

not, for we suffer by the will and appointment of God. Hence

they under the altar were bid to rest for a while, even until their

fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed—

mark that—"should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled"

(Rev 6:11). Wherefore, suffering for righteousness and for

righteousness' sake, is by the will of God. God has appointed

who shall suffer. That is the first.

Second, As God has appointed who shall suffer, so he has

appointed WHEN they shall suffer for his truth in the world.

Sufferings for such and such a man are timed, as to when he

shall be tried for his faith. Hence, when Paul was afraid, at

Corinth, that the heathens would fall about his ears, the Lord

spake to him by night in a vision, saying, "Be not afraid, but

speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man

shall set on thee to hurt thee" (Acts 18:9,10). His time of

suffering was not yet come there. It is also said concerning

Jesus Christ, that even then when "they sought to take him, no

man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come"

(John 7:30). The times, then, and the seasons, even for the

sufferings of the people of God, are not in the hands of their

enemies, but in the hand of God; as David said, "My times are

in thy hand." By the will of God, then, it is that such shall suffer

at, but not until, that time. But,

Third, As God has appointed who and when, so he has

appointed WHERE this, that, or the other good man shall

suffer. Moses and Elias, when they appeared on the holy mount,

told Jesus of the sufferings which he should accomplish at

Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place assigned for Christ to suffer

at; also, there must the whole of his sufferings be accomplished

(Luke 9:30,31). The saints are sprinkled by the hand of God

here and there, as salt is sprinkled upon meat to keep it from

stinking. And as they are thus sprinkled, that they may season

the earth; so, accordingly, where they must suffer is also

appointed for the better confirming of the truth. Christ said, it

could not be that a prophet should "perish out of Jerusalem"

(Luke 13:33). But why could it not be that they should perish

other where? Were there no enemies but in Jerusalem? Were

there no good men but at Jerusalem? No, no; that was not the

reason. The reason was, for that God had appointed that they

should suffer there. So then, who, when, and where, is at the

will of God, and they, accordingly, are ordered by that will.

Fourth, As God has appointed who, when, and where, so he has

also appointed WHAT KIND of sufferings this or that saint

shall undergo, at this place and at such a time. God said that he

would show Paul beforehand how great things he should suffer

for his sake (Acts 9:16). And it is said that Christ did signify to

Peter beforehand "by what death he should glorify God" (John

21:19). When Herod had beheaded John the Baptist, and when

the Jews had crucified Christ, it is said that they had but

fulfilled what was "written of them" (Mark 9:13; Acts 13:29).

Our sufferings, as to the nature of them, are all writ down in

God's book; and though the writing seem as unknown

characters to us, yet God understands them very well. Some of

them they shall kill and crucify, and some of them they shall

scourge in their synagogue, "and persecute them from city to

city" (Matt 23:34). Shall God, think you, say, some of them

they shall serve thus, and some of them they shall do so to; and

yet not allot which some to this, and which to that, and which to

the other trial?

Doubtless our sufferings fall by the will of God unto us, as they

fell of old upon the people of Jerusalem. It was appointed by

God who of them should die of hunger, who with sword, who

should go into captivity, and who should be eaten up of beasts

(Jer 15:2,3). So is the case here, namely, as God has appointed

who, when, where, and the like, so he has, also, what manner of

sufferings this or that good man shall undergo for his name. Let

it then be concluded, that hitherto it appears, that the sufferings

of saints are ordered and disposed by the will of God. But,

Fifth, As all this is determined by the will of God, so it is also

appointed FOR WHAT TRUTH this or that saint shall suffer

this or that kind of affliction. Every saint has his course, his

work, and his testimony, as is allotted him of God (Mark

13:34). John had a course, a testimony to fulfil for God (Acts

13:25), and so had holy Paul (2 Tim 4:6,7), and so has every

saint: also, he that is to suffer has his truth appointed him to

suffer for. Christ had a truth peculiar to himself to bear witness

to in a way of suffering (Mark 14:61,62). John had a truth

peculiar to himself to bear witness to in a way of suffering

(Mark 6:17,18). Stephen had also a truth, divers from them

both, to which he bare a holy testimony, and for which he

bravely died (Acts 7:51-53).

If you read the book of Acts and Monuments, you may see a

goodly variety as to this; and yet in all a curious harmony.

Some are there said to suffer for the Godhead, some for the

manhood, some for the ordinances of Christ, and some laid

down their lives for the brethren. And thus far we see that he

that suffers for righteousness' sake, suffers, in this sense,

according to the will of God.

Sixth, As it is appointed who, when, where, what kind, and for

what truth, by the will of God, this and that saint should suffer;

so also it is appointed BY WHOSE HAND this or that man

shall suffer for this or that truth. It was appointed that Moses

and Israel should suffer by the hand of Pharaoh. And for this

very purpose, said God, have I raised thee up, that is, to be a

persecutor, and to reap the fruits thereof (Exo 9:16). It was also

determined that Christ should suffer by the hand of Herod and

Pontius Pilate; "For of a truth," said they, "against thy holy

child Jesus - both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles,

and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do

whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be

done" (Acts 4:27).

These are great instances, from which we may gather how all

these things are ordered from thence down hitherto. For if a

sparrow falls not to the ground without God, she shall not be

killed without God; not by he knows not who. And if a

Christian man is better than many sparrows, it follows, that God

concerns himself more with, for, and about him than with, for,

or about many sparrows. It follows, therefore, in right reason,

that as the person who is appointed to be the sufferer, so the

persons who are appointed to be the rod and sword thereby to

afflict withal. Thus far, therefore, the will of God is it that

ordereth and disposeth of us and of our sufferings.

Seventh, As all these pass through the hand of God, and come

not to us but by his will, so HOW as also LONG is really

determined as any of them all. It is not in man, but God, to set

the time how long the rod of the wicked shall rest upon the lot

of the righteous. Abraham must be informed of this.

"Abraham," says God, "know of a surety that thy seed shall be

a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and

they shall afflict them four hundred years" (Gen 15:13). So the

thraldom of Israel in Babylon was not only in the general

appointed, but the time prefixed, how long (Jer 25:11,12;

29:10). The time of the beast's reign and of the witnesses

walking in sackcloth are punctually fixed, and that beyond

which they cannot go (Rev 11, 12, 13).

I know these are generals, and respect the church in the bulk of

it, and not particular persons. But, as was hinted afore, we must

argue from the greater to the lesser, that is, from four hundred

years to ten days, from ten days to three, and so from the church

in general to each particular member, and to the time and nature

of their sufferings (Rev 2:10; Hosea 6:2; Acts 23:11).

And thus, in a word or two, I have finished the first two parts of

the text, and showed you what there is in Peter's counsel and

advice; and showed you also, to whom his advice is given: in

which last, as you see, I have showed you both what the will of

God is, and what to suffer according to it. And particularly, I

have, in a few words, handled this last, to show you that our

sufferings are ordered and disposed by him, that you might

always, when you come into trouble for his name, not stagger

nor be at a loss, but be stayed, composed, and settled in your

minds, and say, "The will of the Lord be done" (Acts 21:14). I

will also say unto you this by the way, that the will of God doth

greatly work, even to order and dispose of the spirits of

Christians, in order to willingness, disposedness, readiness, and

resignation of ourselves to the mind of God. For with respect to

this were those words last recited spoken. Paul saw that he had

a call to go up to Jerusalem, there to bear his testimony for

Christ and his gospel; but those unto whom he made know his

purpose entreated him, with much earnestness, not to go up

thither, for that, as they believed, it would endanger his life. But

he answereth, What, mean ye to weep, and to break my heart?

for I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at

Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would

not be persuaded, says Luke, we ceased, saying, "The will of

the Lord be done."

From what has been thus discoursed, many things will follow;

as,

1. That the rod, as well as the child, is God's; persecutors, as

well as the persecuted, are his, and he has his own designs upon

both. He has raised them up, and he has ordered them for

himself, and for that work that he has for them to do. Hence

Habakkuk, speaking of the church's enemies, saith, "Thou hast

ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast

established them for correction" (Hab 1:12). And, therefore,

they are in other places called the rod of God's anger; his staff

(Isa 10:5), his hand; his sword (Psa 17:13,14).

Indeed, to be thus disposed of, is a sad lot; the lot is not fallen

to them in pleasant places, they have not the goodly heritage;

but the judgments of God are a great deep. The thing formed

may not say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me

thus? To be appointed, to be ordained, to be established to be a

persecutor, and a troubler of God's church—O tremendous

judgment! O amazing anger!

Three things the people of God should learn from hence.

(1.) Learn to pity and bewail the condition of the enemy; I

know thou canst not alter the counsel of God; appointed they

are, established they are for their work, and do it they must and

shall. But yet it becomes them that see their state, and that their

day is coming, to pity and bewail their condition, yea, and to

pray for them too; for who knows whether it is determined that

they should remain implacable to the end, as Herod; or whether

they may through grace obtain repentance of their doings, with

Saul. And I say again, if thy prayer should have a casting hand

in the conversion of any of them, it would be sweet to thy

thoughts when the scene is over.

(2.) Never grudge them their present advantages. "Fret not

thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the

workers of iniquity" (Prov 24:19). Fret not, though they spoil

thy resting-place. It is God that has bidden them do it, to try thy

faith and patience thereby. Wish them no ill with what they get

of thine; it is their wages for their work, and it will appear to

them ere long that they have earned it dearly. Their time is to

rejoice but as in a moment, in what thus is gotten by them; and

then they, not repenting, are to perish for ever, like their own

dung (Job 20:5-7). Poor man, thou that hast thy time to be

afflicted by them, that thy golden graces may shine the more,

thou art in the fire, and they blow the bellows. But wouldest

thou change places with them? Wouldest thou sit upon their

place of ease? Dost thou desire to be with them (Prov 24:1)? O

rest thyself contented; in thy patience possess thy soul, and pity

and bewail them in the condition in which they are.

(3.) Bless God that thy lot did fall on the other side, namely, to

be one that should know the truth, profess it, suffer for it, and

have grace to bear thee up thereunder, to God's glory, and thy

eternal comfort. This honour have not all his saints; all are not

counted worthy thus to suffer shame for his name. Do this, I

say, though they get all, and leave thee nothing but the shirt on

thy back, the skin on thy bones, or an hole in the ground to be

put in (Heb 11:23-26).

2. Labour to be patient under this mighty hand of God, and be

not hasty to say, When will the rod be laid aside? mind thou thy

duty, which is to let patience have its perfect work. And bear

the indignation of the Lord, because thou hast sinned against

him, until he please to awake, to arise, and to execute judgment

for thee (Micah 7:9). But to pass this.

Are things thus ordered? then this should teach us that there is a

cause.

The rod is not gathered without a cause; the rod is fore-

determined, because the sin of God's people is foreseen, and

ofttimes the nature of the sin, and the anger of the Father, is

seen in the fashion of the rod. The rod of my anger, saith God.

A bitter and hasty nation must be brought against Jerusalem; an

enemy fierce and cruel must be brought against the land of

Israel. Their sins called for such a rod, for their iniquities were

grievous (Hab 1:6).

This should teach us with all earnestness to be sorry for our

sins, and to do what we can to prevent these things, by falling

upon our face in a way of prayer before God. If we would

shorten such days, when they come upon us, let us be lovers of

righteousness, and get more of the righteousness of faith, and of

compliance with the whole will of God into our hearts. Then I

say, the days shall be shortened, or we fare as well, because the

more harmless and innocent we are, and suffer, the greater will

our wages, our reward, and glory be, when pay-day shall come;

and what if we wait a little for that?

These things are sent to better God's people, and to make them

white, to refine them as silver, and to purge them as gold, and

to cause that they that bear some fruit, may bring forth more:

we are afflicted, that we may grow (John 15:2). It is also the

will of God, that they that go to heaven should go thither hardly

or with difficulty. The righteous shall scarcely be saved. That

is, they shall, but yet with great difficulty, that it may be the

sweeter.

Now that which makes the way to heaven so strait, so narrow,

so hard, is the rod, the sword, the persecutor, that lies in the

way, that marks where our haunt is, that mars our path, digs a

pit, and that sets a net, a snare for us in the way (1 Sam 23:22;

Job 30:12-14; Psa 9:15; 31:4; 35:7; 119:110; 140:5; 142:3).

This, I say, is that which puts us to it, but it is to try, as I said,

our graces, and to make heaven the sweeter to us. To come

frighted and hard pursued thither, will make the safety there the

more with exceeding gladness to be embraced. And I say, get

thy heart yet more possessed with the power of godliness; that

the love of righteousness may be yet more with thee. For this

blessedness, this happiness, he shall be sure of, that suffereth

for righteousness' sake.

3. Since the rod is God's as well as the child, let us not look

upon our troubles as if they came from, and were managed only

by hell. It is true, a persecutor has a black mark upon him, but

yet the Scriptures say that all the ways of the persecutor are

God's (Dan 5:23). Wherefore as we should, so again we should

not, be afraid of men: we should be afraid of them, because they

will hurt us; but we should not be afraid of them, as if they were

let loose to do to us, and with us, what they will. God's bridle is

upon them, God's hook is in their nose: yea, and God has

determined the bounds of their rage, and if he lets them drive

his church into the sea of troubles, it shall be but up to the neck,

and so far it may go, and not be drowned (2 Kings 19:28; Isa

37:29; 8:7,8). I say the Lord has hold of them, and orders them;

nor do they at any time come out against his people but by his

licence and commission how far to go, and where to stop.

And now for two or three objections:—

1. Object. But may we not fly in a time of persecution? Your

pressing upon us, that persecution is ordered and managed by

God, makes us afraid to fly.

Answ. First, having regard to what was said afore about a call to

suffer; thou mayest do in this even as it is in thy heart. If it is in

thy heart to fly, fly: if it be in thy heart to stand, stand. Any

thing but a denial of the truth. He that flies, has warrant to do

so; he that stands, has warrant to do so. Yea, the same man may

both fly and stand, as the call and working of God with his

heart may be. Moses fled (Exo 2:15), Moses stood (Heb 11:27).

David fled (1 Sam 19:12), David stood (24:8). Jeremiah fled

(Jer 37:11,12), Jeremiah stood (38:17). Christ withdrew himself

(Luke 9:10), Christ stood (John 18:1-8). Paul fled (2 Cor

11:33), Paul stood (Acts 20:22,23).

There are therefore few rules in this case. The man himself is

best able to judge concerning his present strength, and what

weight this or that argument has upon his heart to stand or fly. I

should be loath to impose upon any man in these things; only, if

thou fliest, take two or three cautions with thee:—

(1.) Do not fly out of a slavish fear, but rather because flying is

an ordinance of God, opening a door for the escape of some,

which door is opened by God's providence, and the escape

countenanced by God's Word (Matt 10:23).

(2.) When thou art fled, do as much good as thou canst in all

quarters where thou comest, for therefore the door was opened

to thee, and thou bid to make thy escape (Acts 8:1-5).

(3.) Do not think thyself secure when thou art fled; it was

providence that opened the door, and the Word that did bid thee

escape: but whither, and wherefore, that thou knowest not yet.

Uriah the prophet fled into Egypt, because there dwelt men that

were to take him, that he might be brought again to Jerusalem

to die there (Jer 26:21).

(4.) Shouldest thou fly from where thou art, and be taken in

another place; the most that can be made of it—thy taking the

opportunity to fly, as was propounded at first—can be but this,

thou wast willing to commit thyself to God in the way of his

providence, as other good men have done, and thy being now

apprehended has made thy call clear to suffer here or there, the

which before thou wert in the dark about.

(5.) If, therefore, when thou hast fled, thou art taken, be not

offended at God or man: not at God, for thou art his servant, thy

life and thy all are his; not at man, for he is but God's rod, and

is ordained, in this, to do thee good. Hast thou escaped? Laugh.

Art thou taken? Laugh. I mean, be pleased which way soever

things shall go, for that the scales are still in God's hand.

(6.) But fly not, in flying, from religion; fly not, in flying, for

the sake of a trade; fly not, in flying, that thou mayest have ease

for the flesh: this is wicked, and will yield neither peace nor

profit to thy soul; neither now, nor at death, nor at the day of

judgment.

2. Object. But if I fly, some will blame me: what must I do

now?

Answ. And so many others if thou standest; fly not, therefore, as

was said afore, out of a slavish fear; stand not, of a bravado. Do

what thou dost in the fear of God, guiding thyself by his Word

and providence; and as for this or that man's judgment, refer

thy case to the judgment of God.

3. Object. But if I be taken and suffer, my cause is like to be

clothed with scandals, slanders, reproaches, and all manner of

false, and evil speakings; what must I do?

Answ. Saul charged David with rebellion (1 Sam 22:8,13).

Amos was charged with conspiring against the king (Amos

7:10). Daniel was charged with despising the king; and so also

were the three children (Dan 6:13; 3:12). Jesus Christ himself

was accused of perverting the nation, of forbidding to give

tribute to Caesar, and of saying that himself was Christ a king

(Luke 23:2). These things therefore have been. But,

(1.) Canst thou, after a due examination of thyself, say that as to

these things thou art innocent and clear? I say, will thy

conscience justify thee here? Hast thou made it thy business to

give unto God the things that are God's, and unto Caesar the

things that are his, according as God has commanded? If so,

matter not what men shall say, nor with what lies and

reproaches they slander thee, but for these things count thyself

happy. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you - and shall

say all manner of evil against you falsely (lying) for my sake

(saith Christ). Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your

reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which

were before you (Matt 5:11,12). Comfort thyself therefore in

the innocency of thy soul, and say, I am counted a rebel, and yet

am loyal; I am counted a deceiver, and yet am true (1 Sam 24:8-

12, 2 Cor 6:8). Also refer thy cause to the day of judgment; for

if thou canst rejoice at the thoughts that thou shalt be cleared of

all slanders and evil speakings then, that will bear up thy heart

as to what thou mayest suffer now. The answer of a good

conscience will carry a man through hell to heaven. Count these

slanders part of thy sufferings, and those for which God will

give thee a reward, because thou art innocent, and for that they

are laid upon thee for thy profession's sake. But if thou be

guilty, look to thyself; I am no comforter of such.

[THIRD, THE GOOD EFFECT OF COMMITTING THE

SOUL TO GOD'S KEEPING.]

I come now to speak to the third and last part of the text,

namely, of the good effect that will certainly follow to those

that, after a due manner, shall take the advice afore given. "Let

them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the

keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful

Creator."

Two things from the last clause of the text lie yet before us.

And they are they by which will be shown what good effect

will follow to those that suffer according to the will of God, and

that commit their souls to his keeping. 1. Such will find him to

themselves a Creator. 2. They will find him a faithful Creator.

"Let them commit the keeping of their souls to him, as unto a

faithful Creator."

In this phrase, a Faithful Creator, behold the wisdom of the

Holy Ghost, how fitly and to the purpose he speaketh. King is a

great title, and God is sometimes called a King; but he is not set

forth by this title here, but by the title of a Creator; for it is not

always in the power of a king to succour and relieve his

subjects, that are suffering for his crown and dignity. Father is a

sweet title—a title that carrieth in it an intimation of a great deal

of bowels and compassion, and God is often set forth also by

this title in the holy Scriptures. But so he is not here, but rather

as a Creator. For a father, a compassionate father, cannot

always help, succour, or relieve his children, though he knows

they are under affliction! Oh! but a Creator can. Wherefore, I

say, he is set forth here under the title of Creator.

FIRST, A Creator! nothing can die under a Creator's hands. A

Creator can sustain all. A Creator can, as a Creator, do what he

pleases. "The Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends

of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary" (Isa 40:28).

The cause of God, for which his people suffer, had been dead

and buried a thousand years ago, had it not been in the hand of

a Creator. The people that have stood by his cause had been out

of both as to persons, name, and remembrance, had they not

been in the hand of a Creator. Who could have hoped, when

Israel was going in, even into the mouth of the Red Sea, that

ever his cause, or that people, should have revived again. A

huge host of the Egyptians were behind them, and nothing but

death before and on every hand of them; but they lived, they

flourished, they outlived their enemies, for they were in the

hand of a Creator.

Who could have hoped that Israel should have returned again

from the land, from the hand, and from under the tyranny of the

king of Babylon? They could not deliver themselves from going

thither, they could not preserve themselves from being

diminished when they came there, their power was gone, they

were in captivity, their distance from home was far, their

enemies possessed their land, their city of defence was ruined,

and their houses burned down to the ground; and yet they came

home again: there is nothing impossible to a Creator.

Who could have thought that the three children could have lived

in a fiery furnace? that Daniel could have been safe among the

lions? that Jonah could have come home to his country, when

he was in the whale's belly? or that our Lord should have risen

again from the dead? But what is impossible to a Creator?

This, therefore, is a rare consideration for those to let their

hearts be acquainted with that suffer according to the will of

God, and that have committed the keeping of their souls to him

in well-doing. They have a Creator to maintain and uphold their

cause, a Creator to oppose its opposers. And hence it is said, all

that burden themselves with Jerusalem "shall be cut in pieces,

though all the people of the earth be gathered together against

it" (Zech 12:3).

SECOND, A Creator! A Creator can not only support a dying

cause, but also fainting spirits. For as he fainteth not, nor is

weary, so "he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have

no might he increaseth strength" (Isa 40:29). He is the God of

the spirits of all flesh, and has the life of the spirit of his people

in his own hand. Spirits have their being from him; he is the

Father of spirits. Spirits are made strong by him, nor can any

crush that spirit that God the Creator will uphold.

Is it not a thing amazing to see one poor inconsiderable man, in

a spirit of faith and patience, overcome all the threatenings,

cruelties, afflictions, and sorrows, that a whole world can lay

upon him? None can quail43 him, none can crush him, none can

bend down his spirit. None can make him to forsake what he

has received of God—a commandment to hold fast. His holy,

harmless, and profitable notions, because they are spiced with

grace, yield to him more comfort, joy, and peace, and do kindle

in his soul so goodly a fire of love to, and zeal for God, that all

the waters of the world shall never be able to quench.

Ay, say some, that is because his is headstrong, obstinate, and

one that will hear no reason. No, say I, but it is because his

spirit is in the hand, under the conduct and preservation, of a

Creator. A Creator can make spirits, uphold spirits, and make

one spirit stronger to stand, than are all the spirits of the world

to cast down. To stand, I say, in a way of patient enduring in

well-doing, against all that hell can do to suppress.

THIRD, A Creator! A Creator can bring down the spirits that

oppose, and make them weak and unstable as water. The Lord,

the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,

fainteth not, nor is weary; there is no searching of his

understanding. He gives power to the faint, and to those that

have no might, he increaseth strength; now mark, even the

young shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly

fall. A Creator can dash the spirits of the enemies with fear.

God can put them in fear, and make them know that they are

men and not God, and that their horses are flesh and not spirit.

When the enemy came to take Jesus Christ, their spirits fainted,

their hearts died in them; they went backwards, and fell to the

ground. They had hard work to strengthen their spirits to a

sufficiency of boldness and courage, though they brought

halberts, and staves, and swords, and weapons with them, to

take a naked44 man (John 18:3-7).

And although this is that which is not so visible to the world as

some other things are, yet I believe that God treads down the

spirits of men in a day when they afflict his people, oftener than

we are aware of, or than they are willing to confess. How was

the hostile spirit of Esau trod down of God, when he came out

to meet his poor naked brother, with no less than four hundred

armed men? He fainted before his brother, and instead of

killing, kissed him (Gen 33:4). How was the bloody spirit of

Saul trod down, when David met him at the mouth of the cave,

and also at the hill Hachilah (1 Sam 24; 26)? God is a Creator,

and as a Creator, is a spirit maker, a spirit reviver, a spirit

destroyer; he can destroy body and soul in hell (Luke 12:5).

FOURTH, A Creator! As a Creator, he is over all arts,

inventions, and crafts of men that are set on work to destroy

God's people, whether they be soldiers, excellent orators, or

any other whatsoever; we will single out one—the smith, that

roaring fellow, who with his coals and his bellows makes a

continual noise. "I have created the smith," said God, "that

bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an

instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to

destroy" (Isa 54:16). The smith, what is he? I answer, an idol

maker, a promoter of false worship, and one that makes

instruments of cruelty, therewith to help to suppress the true

[worship] (Isa 41:7; 44:12; 46:6).

"I have created the smith," saith God, "that bloweth the coals in

the fire." The idol inventor, the idol maker, the supporter of idol

worship, he is my creature, saith God, to teach that he has

power to reach him, and to command his sword to approach

him at his pleasure, notwithstanding his roaring with his

bellows, and his coals in the fire. So then, he cannot do what he

will in the fire, nor with his idol when he has made it; the

instrument, also that he makes for the defence of his idol, and

for the suppressing of God's true worship, shall not do the thing

for the which it is designed by him. And so the very next verse

saith: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and

every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt

condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and

their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord" (Isa 54:17). And

the text saith moreover, I have created the waster to destroy.

The waster, what is that? Why, the smith makes an idol, and

God has made the rust; the smith makes a sword, and God has

made the rust. The rust eats them up, the moth shall eat them

up, the fire shall devour them. "The wicked," saith the Psalmist,

"have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast

down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright

conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and

their bows shall be broken" (Psa 37:14,15).

All this can God do, because he is a Creator, and none but God

can do it. Wherefore by this peculiar title of Creator, the apostle

prepareth support for suffering saints, and also shows what a

good conclusion is like to be made with them that suffer for

righteousness' sake, according to his will; and that commit the

keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful

Creator.

FIFTH, A Creator! A Creator can make such provision for a

suffering people, in all respects, as shall answer all their wants.

Have they lost their peace with the world? Have they no more

peace with this world? Why, a Creator can make, create peace,

can create peace, peace; peace with God, and peace with his

conscience; and that is better than all the peace that can be

found elsewhere in the world (Isa 57:19). Have they lost a good

frame of heart? Do they want a right frame of spirit? Why,

though this is to be had no where in the world, yet a Creator can

help them to it (Psa 51:10). Have they lost their spiritual

defence? Do they lie too open to their spiritual foes? Why, this

a Creator can help. "And the Lord will create upon every

dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a

cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by

night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence." (Isa 4:5)

This is the work of the Spirit; for though the Spirit itself be

uncreated, yet all the holy works of it in the heart are verily

works of creation. Our new man is a creation; our graces are a

creation; our joys and comforts are a creation45 (2 Cor 5:17,18;

Eph 4:24; Isa 65:17-19). Now a creation none can destroy but a

Creator; wherefore here is comfort. But again, God hath created

us in Christ Jesus; that is another thing. The sun is created in

the heavens; the stars are created in the heavens; the moon is

created in the heavens. Who can reach them, touch them,

destroy them, but the Creator? Why, this is the case of the saint;

because he has to do with a Creator, he is fastened to Christ;

yea, is in him by an act of creation (Eph 2:10), so that unless

Christ and the creation of the Holy Ghost can be destroyed, he

is safe that is suffering according to the will of God, and that

hath committed the keeping of his soul to him in well-doing, as

unto a faithful Creator.

And this I would have you consider moreover; the man that

suffereth according to the will of God, committeth not such a

soul to this Creator as dwells in carnal men—a naked soul, a

graceless soul, a soul that has nothing in it but sin; but he

commits a converted soul, a regenerate soul, a soul adorned,

beautified, and sanctified, with the jewels, and bracelets,

earrings, and perfumes of the blessed Spirit of grace.

And I say again, this is the work of a Creator, and a Creator can

maintain it in its gallantry,

FOOTNOTE? "Gallantry"; splendour of appearance, grandeur,

nobleness.—Ed.

and he will do so, but he will put forth acts of creating power

for it every day.

SIXTH, A Creator! He that can create can turn and alter any

thing, to what himself would have it. He that made "the seven

stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the

morning" (Amos 5:8), he can "make the wilderness a pool of

water, and the dry land springs of water" (Isa 41:18). Our most

afflicted and desolate conditions, he can make as a little haven

unto us; he can make us sing in the wilderness, and can give us

our vineyards from thence (Hosea 2:14,15). He can make Paul

sing in the stocks, and good Rowland Taylor dance as he goeth

to the burning stake. Jails, and mocks, and scourgings, and

flouts and imprisonments, and hunger, and nakedness, and

peril, and sword, and dens, and caves, and rocks, and

mountains, God can so sweeten with the honey of his Word,

and make so famous for situation by the glory of his presence,

and so rich and fruitful by the communications of the Holy

Ghost, and so easy by the spreading of his feathers over us, that

we shall not be able to say, that in all the world a more

commodious place, or comfortable condition, can be found.

Some have know this, and have been rather ready to covet to be

here, than to shun and fly from it, as a most unsavoury

condition. 46

All these things, I say, God doth as a Creator. He hath created

antipathies, and he can make antipathies close, and have favour

one for another. The lion and the calf, the wolf and the lamb,

the little boy and the cockatrice's den he can reconcile, and

make to be at agreement. So, sufferings and the saint; the prison

and the saint; losses, crosses, and afflictions, and the saint: he

can make to lie down sweetly together.

SEVENTH, A Creator! A Creator can make up all that thou

hast or shalt lose for the sake of thy profession by the hands of

the children of men, be they friends, relations, a world, life, or

what you can conceive of.

1. Hast thou lost thy friend for the sake of thy profession? Is the

whole world set against thee for thy love to God, to Christ, his

cause, and righteousness? Why, a Creator can make up all.

Here, therefore, is the advantage that he hath that suffereth for

righteousness' sake. Jonathan, the very son of bloody Saul,

when David had lost the help of all his own relations, he must

fall in with him, stick to him, and love him as he loved his own

soul (1 Sam 18:1-3). Obadiah, Ahab's steward, when the saints

were driven even under ground by the rage of Jezebel the

queen, he is appointed of God to feed them in caves and holes

of the earth (1 Kings 18:13). Yea, the very raven complied with

the will of a Creator to bring the prophet bread and flesh in the

morning, and bread and flesh at night (17:6). When Jeremiah

the prophet was rejected of all, yea, the church that then was,

could not help him; he was cast into the dungeon, and sunk to a

great depth there in the mire. God the Creator, who ruleth the

spirits of all men, stirred up the heart of Ebed-melech the

Ethiopian both to petition for his liberty, and to put him out of

the dungeon by the help of thirty men (Jer 38:7-13). These now,

as Christ says, were both fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and

as a loving wife or child (Matt 19:29).

2. Hast thou, for the sake of thy faith and profession thereof,

lost thy part in the world? Why, a Creator can make thee houses

as he did for the midwives of Egypt (Exo 1:20,21), and can

build thee a sure house as he did for David his servant, who

ventured all for the love that they had to the fear of God and his

way (2 Sam 7). David was thrust out of Saul's house, and

driven from his own, and God opened the heart of Achisch the

king of Gath to receive him, and to give him Ziklag. David,

when under the tyranny of Saul, knew not what to do with his

father and his mother, who were persecuted for his sake, but a

Creator inclined the heart of the king of Moab to receive them

to house and harbour (1 Sam 27:5; 22:3,4).

3. Is thy life at stake—is that like to go for thy profession, for

thy harmless profession of the gospel? Why, God the Creator is

Lord of life, and to God the Lord belong the issues from death.

So then, he can, if he will, hold thy breath in thy nostrils, in

spite of all the world; or if he shall suffer them to take away this

for his glory, he can give thee another ten times as good for thy

comfort. "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth

his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John

12:25).

4. Is thy body to be disfigured, dismembered, starved, hanged,

or burned for the faith and profession of the gospel? Why, a

Creator can either prevent it, or, suffering it, can restore it the

very same to thee again, with great and manifold advantage. He

that made thee to be now what thou art, can make thee to be

what thou never yet wast. It doth not yet appear what we shall

be, further than only by general words (1 John 3:2; Phil 3:21).

EIGHTH, A Creator! Peter sets him before us here as a

Creator, because he would have us live upon him as such; as

well as upon his grace, love, and mercy. In Job's day this was

bewailed, that none or but a few said, "Where is God my

maker, who giveth songs in the night?" (Job 35:10).

Creator, as was hinted before, is one of God's peculiar titles. It

is not given to him above five or six times in all the Book of

God; and usually, when given him, it is either to show his

greatness, or else to convince us that of duty we ought to

depend upon him; and not to faint, if he be on our side, for or

under any adversity, according as we are bidden in the text:

"Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the

keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful

creator." Shall God display his glory before us under the

character and title of a Creator, and shall we yet fear man? Shall

he do this to us when we are under a suffering condition, and

that on purpose that we might commit our souls to him in well-

doing, and be quiet, and shall we take no notice of this? "Who

art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die,

and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and

forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the

heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth?" &c. (Isa

51:12,13).

Had God concealed himself, as to his being a Creator, yet since

he presenteth himself unto us by his Word under so many

excellent titles as are given to no other God besides, methinks it

should make us bold in our God; but when, for our relief, he

shall add to all other that he verily is a Creator, this should

make us rest in hope indeed.

Every nation will have confidence for their own gods, though

but gods that are made with hands—though but the work of the

smith and carpenter; and shall not we trust in the name of the

Lord our God, who is not only a God, but a Creator and former

of all things (Micah 4:5), consequently, the only living and true

God, and one that alone can sustain us? We therefore are to be

greatly blamed if we overlook the ground, such ground of

support and comfort as presenteth itself unto us under the title

of a Creator; but then most of all, if, when we have heard,

believed, and known that our God is such, we shall yet be afraid

of a man that shall die, and forget the Lord our maker. We, I

say, have heard, seen, known, and believed, that our God is the

Creator. The heavens declare his glory, and the firmament

showeth his handy-work, and thus he has showed unto us "his

eternal power and Godhead" (Rom 1:20).

Behold, then, thou fearful worm, Jacob, the heavens, the sun,

the moon, the stars; behold the earth, the sea, the air, the fire,

and vapours. Behold, all living things, from leviathan and

behemoth to the least that creepeth in the earth and waters. Yea,

behold thyself, thy soul, thy body, thy fashion, thy building, and

consider; thy God hath made even all these things, and hath

given to thee this being; yea, and all this also he made of that

which doth not appear (Heb 11:1-3). This is that which thou art

called to the consideration of by Peter, in the text; when he

letteth fall from his apostolical meditation that thy God is the

Creator, and commandeth that thou, in thy suffering for him

according to his will, shouldest commit the keeping of thy soul

to him as unto a faithful Creator.

He that has the art thus to do, and that can do it in his straits,

shall never be trodden down. His God, his faith; his faith, his

God, are able to make him stand. For such a man will thus

conclude, that since the Creator of all is with him, what but

creatures are there to be against him? So, then, what is the axe,

that it should boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or

the saw, that it should magnify itself against him that shaketh

it? as if the rod should shake itself against him that lifteth it up;

or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were not wood (Isa

10:15). Read also Isaiah 40:12-31, and then speak, if God as

Creator is not a sure confidence to all the ends of the earth that

trust in, and wait upon him. As Creator, he hath formed and

upholdeth all things; yea, his hands have formed the crooked

serpent, wherefore he also is at his bay (Job 26:13). And thou

hast made the dragon in the sea; and therefore it follows that he

can cut and wound him (Isa 51:9), and give him for meat to the

fowls, and to the beasts inheriting the wilderness (Psa

74:13,14), if he will seek to swallow up and destroy the church

and people of God (Eze 29:3,4).

NINTH, A Creator is God! the God unto whom they that suffer

according to his will are to commit the keeping of their souls—

the Creator. And doth he take charge of them as a Creator?

Then this should teach us to be far off from being dismayed, as

the heathens are, at his tokens; for our God, the Lord, is the true

God, the living God, the King of eternity (Jer 10:1,2,10). We

should tremblingly glory and rejoice when we see him in the

world, though upon those that are the most terrible of his

dispensations. God the Creator will sometimes mount himself

and ride through the earth in such majesty and glory, that he

will make all to stand in the tent doors to behold him. O how he

rode in his chariots of salvation when he went to save his

people out of the land of Egypt! How he shook the nations!

Then "his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of

his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns

coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at

his feet. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove

asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were

scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting."

Then said the prophet, "I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction:

and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was the

Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the

rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon

thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?" (Hab 3:3-8).

So David: "The earth shook and trembled," said he; "the

foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because

he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and

fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He

bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was

under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he

did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret

place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick

clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him his

thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The Lord also

thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail

stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and

scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited

them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the

foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O

Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils" (Psa 18:7-15).

These are glorious things, though shaking dispensations. God is

worthy to be seen in his dispensations as well as in his Word,

though the nations tremble at his presence. "Oh that thou

wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down,"

saith the prophet, "that the mountains might flow down at thy

presence!" (Isa 64:1). We know God, and he is our God, our

own God; of whom or of what should we be afraid? (Psa 46).

When God roars out of Zion, and utters his voice from

Jerusalem, when the heavens and the earth do shake, the Lord

shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children

of Israel (Joel 3:16).

Every man stayeth up, or letteth his spirit fail, according to

what he knoweth concerning the nature of a thing. He that

knows the sea, knows the waves will toss themselves: he that

knows a lion, will not much wonder to see his paw, or to hear

the voice of his roaring. And shall we that know our God be

stricken with a panic fear, when he cometh out of his holy place

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity? We

should stand like those that are next to angels, and tell the blind

world who it is that is thus mounted upon his steed, and that

hath the clouds for the dust of his feet, and that thus rideth upon

the wings of the wind: we should say unto them, "This God is

our God for ever and ever, and he shall be our guide even unto

death."

Our God! the Creator! He can turn men to destruction, and say,

Return, ye children of men. When our God shows himself, it is

worth the while to see the sight, though it costs us all that we

have to behold it. Some men will bless and admire every

rascally juggler that can but make again that which they only

seem to mar, or do something that seems to outgo reason; yea,

though they make thunderings and noise in the place where

they are, as though the devil himself were there. Shall saints,

then, like slaves, be afraid of their God, the Creator; of their

own God, when he rendeth the heavens, and comes down?

When God comes into the world to do great things, he must

come like himself—like him that is a Creator: wherefore the

heavens and the earth must move at his presence, to signify that

they acknowledge him as such, and pay him that homage that is

due to him as their God and great Creator.

We that are Christians have been trained up by his Son in his

school this many a day, and have been told what a God our

Father is, what an arm he has, and with what a voice he can

thunder; how he can deck himself with majesty and excellency,

and array himself with beauty and glory; how he can cast

abroad the rage of his wrath, and behold every one that is

proud, and abase him (Job 40:9-11). Have we not talked of

what he did at the Red Sea, and in the land of Ham many years

ago, and have we forgot him now? Have we not vaunted and

boasted of our God both in church, pulpit, and books; and spake

to the praise of them that, instead of stones, attempted to drive

antichrist out of the world with their lives and their blood; and

are we afraid of our God? He was God, a Creator, then; and is

he not God now? and will he not be as good to us as to them

that have gone before us? or would we limit him to appear in

such ways as only smile upon our flesh; and have him stay, and

not show himself in his heart-shaking dispensations until we are

dead and gone? What if we must go now to heaven, and what if

he is thus come down to fetch us to himself? If we have been

wise as serpents, and innocent as doves—if we can say, Neither

against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor

against Caesar, have we offended anything at all, of what

should we be afraid? Let heaven and earth come together, I dare

say they will not hurt us.

Our Lord Jesus, when dilating upon some of the great and

necessary works of our Creator, puts check beforehand to all

uncomely fears; to such fears as become not the faith and

profession of a Christian. "Brother," saith he, "shall deliver up

the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children

shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to

death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."

What follows? (verse 28), "Fear them not"; and again, in verse

31, "Fear ye not" (Matt 10:21,22).

So again (Matt 24): "Nation shall rise against nation - there

shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, &c. They shall

deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you.—Many shall

be offended, and shall betray one another.—And many false

prophets shall arise, and deceive many." And yet for all this we

are bid not to be afraid, for all these things, with all other are

ordered, limited, enlarged and straitened, bounded and butted

by the will, and hand, and power of that God unto whom Peter

bids us commit the keeping of our souls, as unto a faithful

Creator (verse 7-11; Mark 13:5-9). To wait for God in the way

of his judgments doth well become a Christian.

To believe he loves us when he shows himself terrible to us, is

also very much becoming of us. Wherefore has he given us

grace? Is it that we should live by sense? Wherefore has he

sometimes visited us? Is it that our hearts might be estranged

from him, and that we still should love the world? And I say

again, wherefore has he so plainly told us of his greatness, and

of what he can do? Is it not that we might be still when the

world is disturbed; and that we might hope for good things to

come out of such providences that, to sense, look as if

themselves would eat up and devour all?

Let us wait upon God, walk with God, believe in God, and

commit ourselves, our soul, our body, to God, to be kept. Yea,

let us be content to be at the disposal of God, and rejoice to see

him act according to all his wondrous works. For this is a

posture highly becoming them that say of God he is their

Father, and that have committed the keeping of their souls to

him as unto a Creator. A comely thing it is for the soul that

feareth God, to love and reverence him in all his appearances.

We should be like the spaniel dog, even lie at the foot of our

God, as he at the foot of his master; yea, and should be glad,

could we but see his face, though he treads us down with his

feet.

Ay, says one son, so I could, if I thought this high God would

regard me, and take notice of my laying of my soul at his foot,

while I suffer for his Word and truth in the world. Why, do but

see now how the Holy Ghost, for our help, doth hedge up that

way in at which unbelief would come, that there might, as to

this, be no room left for doubting. For as he calleth the God

unto whom we are bid to commit the keeping of our soul, a

Creator, so he saith that he is A CREATOR THAT IS

FAITHFUL. "Let them commit the keeping of their souls unto

him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator"—a Creator that

will concern himself with the soul committed to his trust, and

that will be faithful to it, according to all that he has promised.

This, therefore, of God's faithfulness being added to his might

and power, is in itself a ground of great support to those that

have in a way of well-doing committed themselves, their souls,

to him to keep. A Creator; what is it that a Creator cannot do? A

faithful Creator; what is it that one that is faithful will not do,

that is, when he is engaged? And now he is engaged, because

thou hast committed thy soul to him to keep, and because he

has bid thee do so. Let them commit the keeping of their soul to

him, as unto a faithful Creator. I have sometimes seen an

unfaithful man engaged, when a thing has been committed to

him to keep. A man that is a thief, a cheater, a defrauder, will

yet be faithful to him that will commit a charge to him to keep.

And the reason is, because, though he can steal, cheat, defraud,

without being taken notice of; yet he must be seen and known,

if he be false in that which is committed to him to keep. I know

the comparison is odious, yet such have been made by a holier

mouth than mine, and as the case may be, they may be aptest of

all to illustrate that which a man is about to explain. Hark what

the unjust judge saith, says the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 18).

To commit thy soul to God is to trust him with it; to commit thy

soul to God is to engage him to look to it. And if he should not

be faithful now, he will not be so in any case. For himself has

bidden thee do it; he has also promised to keep it, as has been

already showed in the former part of this discourse. Besides, he

is here said to be faithful—to be a faithful Creator. He

challenges this of faithfulness to himself alone: "Yea, let God

be true, but every man a liar" (Rom 3:4). This, therefore, doth

still help to encourage them that would be faithful to him, to

commit the keeping of our soul to him. A faithful man will

encourage one much; how much more should the faithfulness of

God encourage us?

Here, therefore, we have a closing word indeed; a word to wrap

up the text with that is as full of good as the sun is of light.

What can be fitter spoken? What can be added? What now is

wanting to the help of him that has committed his soul to God

to keep it while he is suffering according to his will in the

world? He is engaged, as I said, by that act; thou hast

committed thy soul to him to keep; he is engaged by his own

Word; he has bidden thee commit thy soul to him to keep. He is

engaged by his declaring of himself to be faithful; for that has

encouraged thee to commit thy soul to him to keep. Besides, he

has promised to do it; he has sworn to do it.

"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could

swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely

blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

And so, after he had patiently endured, (as thou must do,) he

obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the great: and an

oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein

God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise

the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by

two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to

lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for

refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we

have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and

which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner

is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High-priest for ever after

the order of Melchisedec" (Heb 6:13-20).

Thus you see what ground we have who suffer according to the

will of God, and that have committed the keeping of our souls

to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Here, therefore,

I might make a stop and conclude as to this advice; but now we

are in, we will proceed a little further, and will fall upon three

or four more particulars.

First, then, He will be faithful to us in this: He will keep us

from those allurements of the world that a suffering saint is

subject to. They that suffer have other kinds of temptations

upon this account than other Christians have. The liberty of

others, while they are in bonds, is a temptation to them. The

peace of others, while they are in trouble, is a temptation to

them. The enjoyments of others, while their houses are empty

and their goods taken away, while their own water is sold unto

them, and while they are buying their own wood, is a great

temptation to them (Lam 5:4). And this temptation, were it not

that we have to do with a God that is faithful, would assuredly

be a great snare unto them. But "God is faithful, who will not

suffer you to be tempted," as to this, "above that ye are able" (1

Cor 10:13).

Nay, a suffering man has not only these things lying before him

as a temptation, but perhaps the wife of the bosom lies at him,

saying, O do not cast thyself away; if thou takest this course,

what shall I do? Thou has said thou lovest me; now make it

manifest by granting this my small request. Do not still remain

in thine integrity. Next to this come the children, all which are

like to come to poverty, to beggary, to be undone for want of

wherewithal to feed, and clothe, and provide for them for time

to come. Now also come kindred, and relations, and

acquaintance; some chide, some cry, some argue, some

threaten, some promise, some flatter, and some do all, to befool

him for so unadvised an act as to cast away himself, and to

bring his wife and children to beggary for such a thing as

religion. These are sore temptations.47

Next to those come the terrors of men, the gripes of the laws,

the shadow of death, and no man can tell what. All which are

sufficient to pull a man from the gates of life, were he there, if

the faithful Creator stands not to him. "But God is faithful, who

will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will

with the temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able

to bear it."—"But God is faithful." It saith not, that thou art: but

"God is faithful"—to his Son, to whom he has given thee; to his

promise, the which he has given thee; to his cause, to which he

has called thee; and to thy soul, the which thou hast committed

to his trust, and the which he also has taken the charge of, as he

is a faithful Creator.

"And will not suffer thee to be tempted." How, not tempted?

No; not above what thou art able. He that tempts thee doth not

at all consider thy strength, so as to stop when he sees thou art

weak; he would have thee overthrown, for therefore it is that he

tempteth thee. But God will not suffer that, because he is

faithful, and because thou hast committed the keeping of thy

soul unto him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

"Not tempted above that ye are able." He saith not, above that

ye are well able. Indeed, thy strength shall be proportioned to

the temptation, but thou mayest have none over and above to

spare; thou shalt not have a bigger load than God will give thee

shoulders to bear. Christ did bear his burden, but it made him

cry out, and sweat as it were great drops of blood, to carry it.

Bear thy burden thou shalt, and not be destroyed by it; but

perhaps thou mayest sometimes roar under it by reason of the

disquietness of thy heart. "But he will with the temptation make

a way of escape." "With the temptation," not without it; thou

must be tempted, and must escape too. "With the temptation."

As sure as Satan is licensed, so sure he is limited; and when

Satan has ended all the temptation, he shall depart from thee

(Luke 4:13). "He will with the temptation"—by such a

managing of it as shall beak its own neck. God can admit Satan

to tempt, and make the Christian wise to manage the temptation

for his own escape.

"Make a way." It may be thou seest no way of escape. It may be

there is no way—no way in all the world, to escape. Well; but

God can make a way. When Israel was hemmed in at the Red

Sea, there was as then no way—no way in all the world, to

escape. O! but God made a way, and a pathway too, and that

through the mighty waters (Exo 15:8,16; Psa 106:9; 78:13). He

will make a way with the temptation, or "will with the

temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear

it." These are the words of the Holy Ghost, who is God; and

they are spoken, yea, committed to record for this very purpose,

that those that are under affliction might commit the keeping of

their soul to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. That

is the first.

Second, He will also be faithful to us as to this: He will give us

a competent measure of wisdom, that in our suffering condition

we may in all things be made able to manage our state with

discretion. We are perhaps weak of natural abilities, parts of

utterance, or the like; and our adversaries are learned, eloquent,

and ripe of parts. Thou hast the disadvantage on thy side, and

they have what the world can afford to encourage them; thou art

weak of spirit, they are bold and strong. The great and the

mighty are with thy enemies, but on thy side there is no

comforter (Eccl 4:1).

Why now here is, as to this, and to what else can it be objected,

the faithfulness of God engaged. First, in a general promise; I

will not fail thee, nor forsake thee (Heb 13:5,6). Secondly, we

have an invitation to come to this faithful God for wisdom to

assist and help. For after he had said, "My brethren, count it all

joy when ye fall into divers temptations - and let patience have

her perfect work"; he adds, "If any man lack wisdom, let him

ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not,

and it shall be given him" (James 1:2-5). Here is more than an

invitation, here is a promise—it shall be given him; and all to

show us what a faithful Creator we have committed our souls

unto. Doth any lack wisdom to know how to carry it in a time

of trial: let them ask it of God—of the God that is wisdom

itself; let him ask it of God, the liberal giver, who giveth to all

men all that they have, and upbraideth not for their

unworthiness.

Nor doth the Holy Ghost stop here, but enlarges himself in a

more particular way to those that suffer according to the text,

saying, "But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or

what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour

what ye shall speak" (Matt 10:19).

I have often been amazed in my mind at this text, for how could

Jesus Christ have said such a word if he had not been able to

perform it? This text, therefore, declares him to be God. It is

also a proof of faithfulness to those that suffer for him.

For it is as if he should say, Try me and trust me; if I stand not

by you in a day of distress, never believe me more;—you,

suffering according to the will of God, and committing your

souls to him in well-doing; "I will give you a mouth and

wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay

or resist," for so he has it in Luke 21:15. Here is no

consideration of what capacity the people might be of, that were

to be persecuted; but what matters what they are? if fools, it is

no matter; if wise, it helpeth nothing. A mouth and wisdom is to

be given; that of itself shall do. And this is according to that

other scripture mentioned afore, where it saith, "No weapon

that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that

shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn" (Isa

54:17). Although it may happen in this, as in the former

temptation, the devil and his agents may give the saints, in their

pleading for the truth, their bellies full both of cross answers,

equivocations, sophistications, wrong glosses and erroneous

interpretations; but truth shall prevail, shall turn the scale, and

bear away the victory.

Third, He will also be faithful to us in this: we shall not want

spiritual support to help us to bear up under our particular parts

of suffering. I do not say that thou shalt be comforted all the

while; but I say he will be to thee so faithful as to comfort thee

under those thodes,48 gusts, blasts, or battering storms that beat

against thy wall (Isa 32:2).

Look then what present degrees or aggravating appearances are

in thy afflictions; to such a degree shalt thou at times be

supported. For as surely as ever the Spirit of God moved

Samson at times in the camp of Dan, when he lay against the

Philistines; so will the Spirit of God move in and upon thee to

comfort and to strengthen thee, whilst thou sufferest for his

name in the world. As our afflictions abound for Christ, so shall

our consolations abound by him (2 Cor 1:5). I have observed

that God lays this, that he useth to comfort his people in a time

of sufferings, as an aggravation of sin upon them that did use to

shuck49 and shrink under sufferings. "I," saith he, "even I, am

he that comforteth you; who art thou that thou shouldest be

afraid of a man that shall die" (Isa 51:12)?

"God," says the wise man, "hath set the one over against the

other," the day of adversity and the day of prosperity, "to the

end that man should find nothing after him" to complain of

(Eccl 7:14). For as certainly as there is a time to mourn, so

certainly there is a time to rejoice: set, I say, for them that suffer

for God's cause according to God's will (Eccl 3:4).

There are several degrees of suffering for righteousness; there is

the scourge of the tongue, the ruin of an estate, the loss of

liberty, a jail, a gibbet, a stake, a dagger. Now, answerable to

these are the comforts of the Holy Ghost prepared, like to like,

part proportioned to part, only the consolations are said to

abound (2 Cor 1).

But the lighter the sufferings are, the more difficult it is to judge

of the comforts of the Spirit of God, for it is common for a man

to be comfortable under sufferings when he suffereth but little,

and knows also that his enemy can touch his flesh, his estate, or

the like, but little: I say, it is common for such a man to be

comfortable in his sufferings, from the consideration that his

enemies can touch him no further. And this may be the joy of

the flesh—the result of reason, and may be very much, if not

altogether, without a mixture of the joy of the Holy Ghost

therewith. The more deep, therefore, and the more dreadful the

sufferings are, the more clearly are seen the comforts of the

Spirit, when a man has comfort where the flesh is dead, stirreth

not, and can do nothing. When a man can be comfortable at the

loss of all—when he is under the sentence of death, or at the

place of execution—when a man's cause, a man's conscience,

the promise, and the Holy Ghost, have all one comfortable

voice, and do all, together with their trumpets, make one sound

in the soul; then the comforts are good, of the right kinds, of

God and his Spirit.

I told you before that there are several degrees of sufferings;

wherefore it is not to be expected that he that suffers but little

should partake of the comforts that are prepared for them that

suffer much. He that has only the scourge of the tongue, knows

not what are the comforts that are prepared for him that meets

with the scourge of the whip. And how should a man know

what manner of comforts the Holy Ghost doth use to give at the

jail and the gibbet, when himself, for righteousness, never was

there?

But whether this or the other Christian knows it, God has his

consolations for his suffering people; and those, too, such as are

proportioned to the nature or degree of their sufferings; the

which shall assuredly be made appear to them that shall after a

godly manner stick to his truth, and trust him with their souls.

Joseph was cast into prison; but God was with him. John was

banished into the isle called Patmos, for the Word of God; but

what revelations of God had he there! even such as he was a

stranger to all his life before: this, therefore, is to be well

heeded. For it is a demonstration of the faithfulness of God to

those that, suffering according to his will, do commit the

keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful

Creator.

Fourth, He will also be faithful to us in this: He will not let the

sharpness, nor keenness, nor venom of the arrows of the

enemies of his people, reach so far as to destroy both body and

soul at once; but he will preserve them, when what can be done

is done, to his eternal kingdom and glory, is a marvellous thing;

but it must be so, because God has called them to it. Therefore,

after Peter had told them that the devil their adversary sought to

devour them, and had bidden them resist him, steadfast in the

faith, he saith, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us

unto his eternal [kingdom and] glory by Christ Jesus, after that

ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen,

settle you" (1 Peter 5:10).

The truth is, persecution of the godly was, of God, never

intended for their destruction, but for their glory, and to make

them shine the more when they are beyond this valley of the

shadow of death. Indeed, we ofttimes, when we are persecuted,

do feel the terrors of our adversaries in our minds. But it is not

because they can shoot them thither, nor because they of

themselves have power to reach so far, but we, like fools, by

our ignorance and unbelief, do admit them thither.

No suffering, nor inflicter of suffering, can reach the peace of

the sufferer without his own consent. This is provision of God's

making; yea, and if through our folly their terror is admitted to

touch us, yet since we are not our own, but are bought with a

price, we are not so at our own dispose, but that God will have

the butting and bounding of their rage, as also a power to

uphold and support our spirits. When I said my foot slipped, thy

mercy, O Lord, help me up. And the reason why, by God's

ordinance, the spirit is not to be touched in suffering, is,

because that is it that is to sustain the infirmity of the sufferer;

therefore God will have the spirit of his servants kept sound,

and in good health (Prov 18:14; Isa 57:16).

The room, therefore, and the ground that the enemy has to play

upon, is the body and outward substance of the people of God,

but the spirit is reserved, for the reason hinted before, and also

that it might be capable of maintaining of communion with

God. And how else could they obey that command that bids

them rejoice in tribulation, and glorify God in the fires? as it is

(Rom 12; Isa 24:15).

But, I say, if they have not power to touch, much less to destroy

body and soul for ever. The body is God's, and he gives that to

them to destroy; the spirit is God's, and he keeps that to

himself, to show that he has both power to do with us what he

pleases, and that he will recover our body also out of their hand;

for if the spirit lives, so must the body, when men have done

what they can therewith. This is the argument of our Lord Jesus

Christ himself (Luke 20:37,38). Therefore the faithfulness of

God not only is, but also will be seen, by them that dare trust

him, till the next world, to his glory and their eternal comfort.

We will now conclude with a short word by way of USE. You

see how I have opened the text, and what hath naturally

followed thereupon; from the whole of which may be

gathered:—

Use First, That the people of God are a suffering people—a

people subject to trouble for their faith and profession. The

reason is, besides what hath been said already, because the

power of truth is in their hearts, and shows itself in their lives—

a thing which the devil and the world can by no means abide.

He that is born after the flesh persecuteth him that is born after

the Spirit (Gal 4:29). For they cannot agree in religion; the

godly are so devout and the other are so profane, that they

cannot do. Not but that God's people, as they are commanded,

are willing to let them alone; but the other they cannot bear that

they should serve God as they have said (Matt 15:14), and

hence ariseth persecution. The world also would have the

religion of the godly to be counted false—a thing that the others

can by no means endure, but will stand by and maintain, yet in

all peaceable manner, their own ways before them, whatever it

costs.

The Christian and the carnal professor are like those two harlots

that you read of in the book of Kings, who strove for the living

child, whose it should be, whose contest could not be decided

until it came to the sword of the king (1 Kings 3). O, but when

the sword was drawn, under a show as if the living child must

now be cut in two, then the true mother was known from the

false; for her bowels yearned upon her son (verse 26,27). The

world, what show soever they have for religion, and however

they urge it, that the truth is with them, have no yearning of

bowels for it. Let it be neither mine nor thine, said she, but

divide it; but the woman whose the living child was, had not a

heart to say so. Religion may lie and die in a ditch for all those

that are given to their sins; nor doth their zeal appear, except

when they are gripping of the godly for his faith towards God.

Bowels, yearning of bowels over God's condemned religion, is

only found in the souls of those who own God has made it.

Use Second, Is it so? Are God's people a suffering people?

Then this should inform them that will be religious, to prepare

themselves for what is like to attend them for their religion. To

prepare, I say, not with carnal weapons, but with the graces of

the Spirit of God; that will help them with meekness and

patience to endure. Sit down then, I say, and count up the cost,

before for religion thou engagest too far; lest thou take upon

thee to meddle with that which thou wilt not know what to do

with in the end (Prov 25:8; Luke 14:25-30).

Many there be that are faulty here; they have taken upon them

to profess, not considering what they have taken in hand may

cost them. Wherefore, when troubles come indeed, then they

start and cry. This they like not, because they looked not for it;

and if this be the way to heaven, let who will go on in it for

them. Thus they take offence, and leave Christ's cause and

people to shift for themselves in the world (Matt 13:20,21).

Use Third, But let God's people think never the worse of

religion, because of the coarse entertainment it meeteth with in

the world. It is better to choose God and affliction than the

world, and sin, and carnal peace. It is necessary that we should

suffer, because that we have sinned. And if God will have us

suffer a little while here for his Word, instead of suffering for

our sins in hell, let us be content, and count it a mercy with

thankfulness.

"The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction: they shall be

brought forth to the day of wrath" (Job 21:30). How kindly,

therefore, doth God deal with us, when he chooses to afflict us

but for a little, that with everlasting kindness he may have

mercy upon us (Isa 54:7,8). And "it is better, if the will of God

be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing" (1 Peter

3:17).

Use Fourth, Look not, therefore, upon the sufferings of God's

people for their religion, to be tokens of God's great anger. It is,

to be sure, as our heavenly Father orders it, rather a token of his

love; for suffering for the gospel, and for the sincere profession

of it, is indeed a dignity put upon us—a dignity that all men are

not counted worthy of. Count it, therefore, a favour that God

has bestowed upon thee his truth, and graces to enable thee to

profess it, though thou be made to suffer for it (Acts 5:41).

Thou mightest have been a sufferer for thy sins in hell, but thou

art not; but contrariwise art, perhaps, suffering for conscience to

God; this is a dignity. For that thou dost thus by virtue of a

heavenly gift, on the behalf of Christ, for the gospel's sake, and

according to the will of God. This is a dignity that a persecutor

shall not be counted worthy of, until he first convert to Christ

(Phil 1:29).

Use Fifth, Take thy affliction with meekness and patience,

though thou endurest grief wrongfully. "For this is

thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief,

suffering wrongfully" (1 Peter 2:19). Lay thy hand, then, upon

thy mouth, and speak not a word of ill against him that doth

thee wrong; leave thy cause and thy enemy to God; yea, rather

pray that his sin may not be laid to his charge; wherefore, as I

said before, now show thyself a good man, by loving, pitying,

praying for, and by doing good, as thou art commanded, to

them that despitefully use thee (Matt 5:44). I know thy flesh

will be apt to huff, and to be angry, and to wish, would thou

mightest revenge thyself. But this is base, carnal, sensual,

devilish; cast, therefore, such thoughts from thee, as thoughts

that are not fit for a Christian's breast, and betake thee to those

weapons that are not carnal. For the artillery of a Christian is

the Word, faith, and prayer; and in our patience we must

possess our souls (2 Cor 10:5; Luke 21:16-19).

Use Sixth, Be much in the consideration of the all-sufficiency of

thy Father, whose cause thou hast espoused, whose Word thou

hast chosen for thy heritage, and whose paths thou delightest to

walk in. I say, be much in considering how all the world is

sustained by him, and that all life and breath is in his hand, to

continue or diminish as he pleases. Think with thyself also how

able he is to rescue thee from all affliction, or to uphold thee in

it with a quiet mind. Go to him continually, as to a fountain of

life that is open for the supply of the needy. Remember also, if

he comes not at thy call, and comforteth thee not so soon as

thou desirest, it is not of want of love or compassion to thy soul,

but to try thy graces, and to show to the fallen angels that thou

wilt serve God for nought, rather than give out. Also, if it

seemeth to thee, as if God took no care of thee to help thee, but

that he hath rather turned thee over to the ungodly; count this

also as a sign that he delights to see thee hold fast his name,

though thou art laid under the greatest of disadvantages. "If the

scourge slay suddenly, [that is more than it hath done to thee,]

he will laugh at the trial of the innocent" (Job 9:23).

It is a great delight to our God to see his people hold fast their

integrity, and not to deny his name, when under such cloudy

dispensations and discouraging circumstances. And

considerations that thy thus doing is pleasing in his sight

through Christ, will be a support unto thee. God sees thee,

though thou canst not now see him, and he observeth now thy

way, though darkness is round about him; and when he hath

tried thee, thou shalt come forth like gold.

Use Seventh, Take heed of setting of thyself a bound and period

to thy sufferings, unless that period be the grave. Say not to thy

afflicters, Hitherto, and no further, and here shall your proud

waves be stayed. I say, take heed of doing thus, for fear God

should let them go beyond thee. For a man is not prepared to

suffer, further than he thinketh the enemy may be permitted to

go. Hence Christ sets their bounds at the loss of life, and no

nearer. So then, so far as they go beyond thee, so far they will

find thee unprovided, and so not fortified for a reception of their

onset with that Christian gallantry which becomes thee.

Observe Paul; he died daily, he was always delivered unto

death, he despaired of life; and this is the way to be prepared for

any calamity. When a man thinks he has only to prepare for an

assault by footmen, how shall he contend with horses? Or if he

looks no further than to horses, what will he do at the swellings

of Jordan (Jer 12:5)? Wherefore, set thine enemies no bounds:

say not, They shall not pursue me to the death; have the

sentence of death in thyself. For though they may but tick and

toy with thee at first, their sword may reach thy heart-blood at

last. The cat at play with the mouse is sometimes a fit emblem

of the way of the wicked with the children of God. Wherefore,

as I said, be always dying; die daily: he that is not only ready to

be bound, but to die, is fit to encounter any amazement.

Use Eighth, If thine enemies would, or do, put thee under a

cloud, if they wrap thee up in a bear's skin, and then set the

dogs upon thee, marvel not at the matter; this was Joseph's,

David's, Christ's, Stephen's portion, only be thou innocent; say

nothing, do nothing that should render thee faulty; yea, say and

do always that that should render thee a good neighbour, a good

Christian, and a faithful subject. This is the way to help thee to

make with boldness thy appeals to God; this is the way to

embolden thy face against the faces of thine enemies; this is the

way to keep thy conscience quiet and peaceable within thee;

and this is the way to provoke God to appear for thy rescue, or

to revenge thy blood when thou art gone.

And do this because it is thy duty—we must fear God and

honour the king—and because this is the way to make the rock

of thy enemies hard: few men have that boldness as to say, This

I do against you, because you profess Christ. When they

persecuted the Lord himself, they said to him, "For a good work

we stone thee not" (John 10:33). Religion that is pure is a hot

thing, and it usually burns the fingers of those that fight against

it; wherefore it is not common for men to oppose religion under

its own naked complexion: wherefore the Jews sought to fasten

other matters upon Christ to kill him for them; though the great

spite they had against him was for his doctrine and miracles. It

was for envy to that that they set themselves against him, and

that made them invent to charge him with rebellion and treason

(Matt 27:18; Luke 23:2).

Use Ninth, Wherefore it becomes all godly men to study to be

quiet, to mind their own business, and as much as in them lies,

to be at peace with all men; to owe no man any thing but love.

Pray, therefore, for all that are in authority; pray for the peace

of the country in which thou dwellest; keep company with holy,

and quiet, and peaceable men. Seek by all good ways the

promotion of godliness, put up injuries, be good to the poor, do

good against evil, be patient towards all men; for "these things

are good and profitable unto men" (Titus 3:8).

Be not inclining to injure men behind their backs, speak evil of

no man, reproach not the governor nor his actions, as he is set

over thee; all his ways are God's, either for thy help or the trial

of thy graces. Wherefore he needs thy prayers, not thy revilings;

thy peaceable deportment, and not a troublesome life. I know

that none of these things can save thee from being devoured by

the mouth of the sons of Belial (1 Kings 21:12,13). Only, what I

say is duty, is profitable, is commendable, is necessary; and that

which will, when the devil has done his worst, render thee

lovely to thy friends, terrible to thine enemies, serviceable in

thy place as a Christian, and will crown the remembrance of thy

name, to them that survive thee, with a blessing; "The memory

of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot"

(Prov 10:7).

Use Tenth, I will conclude, then, with a word to those

professors, if there be any such, that are of an unquiet and

troublesome spirit. Friends, I may say to you, as our Lord said

once to his disciples, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are

of." To wish the destruction of your enemies doth not become

you. If ye be born to, and are called, that you may inherit a

blessing, pray be free of your blessing: "Bless, and curse not."

If you believe that the God whom you serve is supreme

governor, and is also wise enough to manage affairs in the

world for his church, pray keep fingers off, and refrain from

doing evil. If the counsel of Gamaliel was good when given to

the enemies of God's people, why not fit to be given to

Christians themselves? Therefore refrain from these men, and

let them alone. If the work that these men do is that which God

will promote and set up for ever, then you cannot disannul it; if

not, God has appointed the time of its fall.

A Christian! and of a troublesome spirit; for-shame, forbear;

show, out of a good conversation, thy works, with meekness of

wisdom; and here let me present thee with three or four things.

1. Consider, That though Cain was a very murderer, yet God

forbade any man's meddling with him, under a penalty of

revenging his so doing upon his own head sevenfold. "And the

Lord said unto him, Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain,

vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold" (Gen 4:15). But

why not meddle with Cain, since he was a murderer? The

reason is, because he persecuted his brother for righteousness'

sake, and so espoused a quarrel against God; for he that

persecutes another for righteousness' sake sets himself against

God, fights against God, and seeks to overthrow him. Now,

such an one the Christian must let alone and stand off from, that

God may have his full blow at him in his time.50 Wherefore he

saith to his saints, and to all that are forward to revenge

themselves, Give place, stand back, let me come, leave such an

one to be handled by me. "Dearly beloved, avenge not

yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written,

Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom 12:19).

Wherefore the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him

should slay him. You must not, indeed, you must not avenge

yourselves of your enemies. Yea, though it was lawful once so

to do, it is not lawful now. Ye have heard that it hath been said

to them of old time, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate

thine enemy; but I say, said our Lord, Love them, bless them,

do good to them, and pray for them that hate you (Matt

5:43,44).

2. Consider, Revenge is of the flesh,—I mean this our revenge

of ourselves; and it proceeds from anger, wrath, impatience

under the cross, unwillingness to suffer, from too much love to

carnal ease, to estates, to enjoyments, to relations, and the like.

It also flows from a fearful, cowardly spirit; there is nothing of

greatness in it, except it be greatness of untowardness. I know

there may, for all this, be pretences to justice, to righteousness,

to the liberty of the gospel, the suppressing of wickedness, and

the promoting of holiness; but these can be but pretences, or, at

best, but the fruits of a preposterous zeal. For since, as has been

often said in this treatise, the Lord hath forbidden us to do so, it

cannot be imagined that he should yet animate any to such a

thing by the Holy Ghost and the effects of the graces thereof.

Let them, then, if any such be, that are thus minded, be counted

the narrow-spirited, carnal, fleshly, angry, waspish-spirited

professors—the professors that know more of the Jewish than

of the Christian religion, and that love rather to countenance the

motions, passions, and gross motions of and angry mind, that

with meekness to comply with the will of a heavenly Father.

Thou art bid to be like unto him, and also thou art showed

wherein (Matt 5:45-48).

There is a man hates God, blasphemes his name, despises his

being; yea, says there is no God. And yet the God that he

carrieth it thus towards doth give him his breakfast, dinner, and

supper; clothes him well, and when night comes, has him to

bed, gives him good rest, blesses his field, his corn, his cattle,

his children, and raises him to high estate. 51 Yea, and this our

God doth not only once or twice, but until these transgressors

become old; his patience is thus extended, years after years, that

we might learn of him to do well.

3. Consider, A professor! and unquiet and troublesome,

discontented, and seeking to be revenged of thy persecutors;

where is, or what kind of grace hast thou got? I dare say, they,

even these in which thou thus actest, are none of the graces of

the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-

suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;

against such there is no law; but wrath, strife, seditions, traitors,

and inventors of evil things are reckoned with the worst of sins,

and sinners, and are plainly called the works of the flesh (Rom

1:29-31; 2 Tim 3:3,4; Gal 5:19-21).

But I say, where is thy love to thine enemy? where is thy joy

under the cross? where is thy peace when thine anger has put

thee upon being unquiet? Where is thy long-suffering? for, as

thou actest, not ought but thy waspishness can be seen. Where,

also, is thy sweet, meek, and gentle spirit? and is goodness seen

in thy seeking the life or the damage of thy enemy? Away,

away; thy graces, if thou hast any, are by these, thy passions, so

jostled up into corners, and so pent for want of room and liberty

to show themselves, that, by the Word of God, thou canst not be

known to be of the right kind, what a noise soever thou makest.

A Christian, when he sees trouble coming upon him, should not

fly in the face of the instrument that brings it, but in the face of

the cause of its coming. Now the cause is thyself, thy base self,

thy sinful self, and thy unworthy carriages towards God under

all the mercy, patience, and long-suffering that God has

bestowed upon thee, and exercised towards thee. Here thou

mayest quarrel and be revenged, and spare not, so thou take

vengeance in a right way, and then thou wilt do so when thou

takest it by godly sorrow (2 Cor 7:10,11).

A Christian, then, should bewail his own doings, his own

unworthy doings, by which he has provoked God to bring a

cloud upon him, and to cover him with it in anger. A Christian

should say, This is my wickedness, when a persecutor touches

him; yea, he should say it, and then shut up his mouth, and bear

the indignation of the Lord, because he has sinned against him.

"Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee;

this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth

unto thine heart" (Jer 4:18).

4. Consider, What conviction of thy goodness can the actions

that flow from such a spirit give unto observers? None at all;

yea, a spirit of unquietness under sufferings, and that seeketh to

be revenged of those that do, for thy faith and the profession

thereof, persecute thee, is so far off of giving conviction to

beholders that thou art right, that it plainly tells them that thou

art wrong. Even Julian the apostate, when he had cast away

whatever he could of Christ, had this remaining with him—that

a Christian ought to take with patience what affliction fell upon

him for his Master's sake; and would hit them in the teeth with

an unbecoming behavior, that complained or that sought redress

of them that had abused them for their faith and godly

profession. What will men say if you shrink and winch, and

take your sufferings unquietly, but that if you yourselves were

uppermost, you would persecute also? Much more have they

ground to say so, when you will fight lying on your backs. Be

quiet, then, and if thine enemy strike thee on one check, turn to

him the other; and if he also revile and curse thee, down upon

thy knees and pray for him. This is the way to convince thy

observers that thou art a godly man. Father, forgive them, for

they know not what they do, was one of those things that

convinced the centurion that Jesus was a righteous man; for he

stood by the cross to watch and see how Jesus carried it in these

his sufferings, as well as to see execution done (Matt 27:54;

Luke 23:34-47).

5. Consider, A professor, unquiet and turbulent under

sufferings, and seeking his own revenge, cannot be a victor over

what he should, nor a keeper of God's commandments.

(1.) How can he be a victor over himself that is led up and

down by the nose by his own passions? There is no man a

Christian victor but he that conquers himself, but he that beats

down and keeps under this body, his lusts, his passions, in the

first place. Is he that is led away with divers lusts a victor? Is he

that is a servant to corruption a victor? And if he that is

captivated by his anger, wrath, passion, discontent, prejudice,

&c., be not led away by them, I am under a mistake. So then, to

quarrel with superiors, or with any that are troublesome to thee

for thy faith and thy profession, bespeaks thee over-mastered

and captive, rather than a master and a conqueror.

(2.) The same may be said upon the second head. He keepeth

not the commandments of God; for those teach him other

things, as I have also showed. The great gospel commands

terminate in self-denial; but if self-revenge is self-denial, I am

besides the Book. Christ, in the book of the Revelation, sets

him that keeps the commandments of God a great way off from

him that taketh and smiteth with the sword: "He that killeth

with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the

patience and the faith of the saints" (Rev 13:10). That is, in that

they forbear to do thus, and quietly suffer under those that thus

take it and afflict the godly with it. Again, "Here is the patience

of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God

and the faith of Jesus" (14:12). A patient continuing in well-

doing; and if suffering for righteousness be well-doing, then a

patient continuing in that, as in other things, is the way to keep

God's commandments (Rom 2:7).

So that, I say, he keepeth not God's commandments that is

angry with his enemies, and that seeks to be revenged of him

that doth him ill. You know the subject I am upon. "The wrath

of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (James 1:20).

Wherefore, professors, beware, and take heed to your spirits,

and see that you let not out yourselves under your sufferings in

such extravagancies of spirit against your enemies as is no way

seemly nor convenient.

6. Consider, Men that are unquiet and discontented, and that

seek revenge upon them that persecute them for their

profession, do, by so doing, also put themselves upon the brink

of those ruins that others are further from. These men are like

the fly that cannot let the candle alone until she hath burned

herself in the flame. Magistrates and men in power have

fortified themselves from being attacked with turbulent and

unruly spirits by many and wholesome laws. And, indeed,

should they not do so, one or other, perhaps, would be quickly

tempted to seek to disturb them in the due exercise of their

authority. Now the angry man, he is the fly that must be

tripping and running himself upon the point of these laws; his

angry spirit puts him upon quarrelling with his superiors, and

his quarrelling brings him, by words spoke in heat, within the

reach of the net, and that, with the help of a few more, brings

his neck to the halter. Nor is this, whatever men think, but by

the just judgment of God. "Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the

power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall

receive to themselves damnation" (Rom 13:2; Esth 2:21-23).

Wherefore, let the angry man take heed; let the discontented

man take heed. He that has a profession, and has not grace to

know, in this matter, to manage it, is like to bring his profession

to shame. Wherefore, I say, let such take heed; and the graces

afore mentioned, and the due exercise of them, are they and that

which can keep us out of all such dangers.

7. Consider, And what comfort can such a man have who has,

by his discontent and unruly carriages, brought himself, in this

manner, to his end; he has brought himself to shame, his

profession to shame, his friends to shame, and his name to

contempt and scorn. Bad men rejoice at his fall; good men

cannot own him, weak men stumble at him; besides, his cause

will not bear him out; his heart will be clogged with guilt;

innocency and boldness will take wings and fly from him.

Though he talketh of religion upon the stage52 or ladder, that

will blush to hear its name mentioned by them that suffer for

evil-doing. Wherefore, my brethren, my friends, my enemies,

and all men, what religion, profession, or opinion soever you

hold, fear God, honour the king, and do that duty to both which

is required of you by the Word and law of Christ, and then, to

say no more, you shall not suffer by the power for evil-doing.

FOOTNOTES:

1Not equipages to ride, but dainty formalities.—Ed.

2"A good and harmless conscience"; not as the procuring cause

of confidence in God's tender care of us, but as the strong

evidence of our election and regeneration.—Ed.

3 "Bravery"; magnificence or excellence. "Like a stately ship,

with all her bravery on, and tackle trim, sails filled," &c.—

Samson Agonistes.—Ed.

4 "Bodily pains"; bodily industry or painstaking.—Ed.

5 "Winch"; to wince or kick with impatience. "Shuck"; to shrug

up the shoulders, expressive of dislike or aversion.—Ed.

6 "Much"; in a great degree.

7 "Will they, nill they"; nillan, a Saxon word, meaning "not

will" or contrary to the will—whether with or against their will.

"Need hath no law; will I, or nill I, it must be done."—Damon

and Pathias, 1571.

"If now to man and wife to will and nill The self-same thing, a

note of concord be, I know no couple better can agree."—Ben

Johnson.—Ed.

8 How little do persecutors imagine that they are mere tools for

the devil to work with, whether they are harassing Christians by

taking their goods, or are hunting down their liberties or lives.

All works together for good to the Christian, but for unutterable

woe to the persecutor. God give them repentance.—Ed.

9 Wicked men sell themselves to do the devil's work. How

degrading to the dignity of man! Enlisting under a foreign

prince to destroy their own nation, and in so doing to destroy

themselves. For an account of the atrocities and horrors of this

war, read the history of the Waldenses.—Ed.

10 This frequently happened. In Bedford, Nic. Hawkins attended

a meeting, and was fined two pounds; but when the harpies

went to take away his goods, finding that "they had been

removed beforehand, and his house visited with the small pox,

the officers declined entering."—Persecution in Bedford, 1670,

p. 6.—Ed.

11 "Dispose"; power, disposal. "All that is mine, I leave at thy

dispose."—Shakespeare.—Ed.

12 In Ireland, whole provinces were desolated, both by

Protestants and Papists, with a ferocity scarcely credible. In

England, the state awfully tormented its pious Christian

subjects, to whom their Lord's words must have been peculiarly

consoling: "Fear not them which kill the body." Did they

suffer? How holy were their enjoyments!—Ed.

13 An awful instance occurred soon after the publication of this

"Advice." John Child, a Baptist minister, one of Bunyan's

friends, to escape persecution, conformed, and became terrified

with awful compunction of conscience. His cries were fearful:

"I shall go to hell"; "I am broken in judgment"; "I am as it were

in a flame." In a fit of desperation he destroyed himself on the

15th October, 1684.—Ed.

14 "What bottom"; what ground or foundation.—Ed.

15 This identical stone is said to be in the chair on which our

monarchs are crowned in Westminster Abbey.—Ed.

16 In so unbounded, eternal and magnificent a mansion, well

might he exclaim, "This is none other but the house of God, and

this is the gate of heaven." Where God meets us with his special

presence, we ought to meet him with the most humble

reverence; remembering his justice and holiness, and our own

meanness and vileness.—Ed.

17 The only way of driving sin out of the world is to make

known the Saviour. Reader, can you solve Mr. Bunyan's riddle?

When fierce persecution rages—when the saints are tormented

with burning, hanging, and imprisonment—then, like Stephen,

to fix our eyes upon Jesus, and the gates of heaven open to

receive us, submitting with patience to the will of God. This is

the way to drive out sin.—Ed.

18 How indescribably blessed is the Christian. It is true that he

has to perform his pilgrimage through an enemy's country,

beset with snares, pit-falls, and temptations; but in all his

buffetings and storms of sorrow, his soul is safe; God is a wall

of fire round about it, and the glory in the midst of it. He will

guide us by his counsel, and then receive us to his glory.—Ed.

19 "Looser sort of Christians"; among Christians there are

gradations of character. Some are fixed upon the Saviour, and

can say, "For me to live is Christ." Such decision ensures safety

and happiness; while the looser sort are subject to many

sorrows and continual danger. May we press on towards the

mark. "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief."—Ed.

20 This truth ought to be imprinted on every heart. As the

absence of darkness is light, so liberty from the thraldom of sin,

and from the slavery of Satan, essentially induces holiness of

life. Thus holiness and liberty are joined together.—Ed.

21 The whole of this beautiful passage is worthy our careful

study and prayerful obedience. Are we ambitious to govern: be

it our honour to rule our own spirits and tongues. Are we for

war? let it be levied upon our unruly passions. This is laudable

ambition. This is honourable war, producing the peace and

happiness of man. This is real glory to God and man, the very

opposite to those horrors of desolation which gives joy among

the devils of hell—the burning cities, the garments rolled in

blood, the shrieks of the wounded, and the sickening miseries

of the widows and orphans of the slain.—Ed.

22 If this was our conduct, how soon should we get rid of our

enemies: "for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his

head." Who would risk such punishment a second time?—Ed.

23 This old proverb is a very striking illustration of the words of

Paul: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with

good."—Ed.

24 The saint must be "made meet for the inheritance." If he

neglects the means given in the Word, his Father, in mercy,

"will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of

the children of men" (2 Sam 7:14).—Ed.

25 "But if you give sin entrance at the door, It's sting will in,

and may come out not more." Bunyan's Caution.

26 An equally cruel scene took place in the presence of Stow,

the historian, in the reign of Elizabeth. The bailiff of Romford

coming to London, was asked by the curate of Aldgate the

news: he replied, "Many men be up in Essex," [Qu. not in

bed?]. For this he was hung the next morning in front of Mr.

Stow's house. How grateful ought we to be that such

sanguinary laws have fled, with the dark mists of error and

cruelty, before the spreading light of the gospel.—Ed.

27 They shed their blood for Him who afterwards shed his blood

for them. These were the infantry of the noble army of martyrs.

If these infants were thus baptized with blood, though their

own, into the church triumphant, it could be said that what they

got in heaven abundantly compensated for what they lost on

earth.—Henry.

28 Nearly all Protestants agree as to the salvation of infants

dying in their infancy—Toplady and the Calvinists on the

ground of their being in the covenant of grace; others because

they had not personally transgressed; supposing that the

sufferings and death of the body is the penalty of original sin.

Holy Scripture appears to settle this question very satisfactorily,

by requiring childlike docility as a preparation for the Spirit's

working. The language of the Saviour is, "Suffer little children

to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the

kingdom of God" (Luke 18:16). "Such" as die in infancy—

"such" adults as, with childlike simplicity, search the

Scriptures, and fly for refuge to the Saviour. "It is NOT the will

of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones

should perish" (Matt 18:14). "It were better for him that a

milstone were hanged about his neck, and be cast into the sea,

than that he should offend one of these little ones" (Luke

17:2).—Ed.

29 "To down with"; to receive, to swallow. "Probably it will

hardly down with any body at first hearing."—Locke.—Ed.

30 "New-fashioned carriages"; not equipages to ride in, but

dainty formalities. "Nor in my carriage a feigned niceness

shown."—Dryden. "Trades in the carriage of a holy saint."—

Shakespeare.—Ed.

31 Bunyan, when sent to prison, was thus threatened: "If you do

not go to church, or transport yourself, you must stretch by the

neck for it." This led to those painful reflections: "If I should

make a scrabbling shift to clamber up the ladder, yet I should,

either with quaking or other symptoms of faintings, give

occasion to the enemy to reproach the way of God and his

people for their timorousness."—Grace Abounding, No. 334.—

Ed.

32 This is a truly Bunyanish mode of expression —clear,

comprehensive, quaint; but so striking as to make an indelible

impression.—Ed.

33 A life of faith and holiness is the Christian's badge and

livery. No particular costume, that may conceal a carnal heart—

not a baptismal profession, that may be made by a hypocrite;

but it is "the hidden man of the heart," evidenced by a "meek

and quiet spirit - in all holy conversations and godliness." This

is the Christian's badge and livery, by which he becomes "a

living epistle, known and read of all men."—Ed.

34 These awful cruelties were practised upon Richard Atkins, in

July, 1581. He went to Rome to reprove the people of idolatry.

In St. Peter's Church, he knocked the chalice out of the priest's

hand, and spilt the wine; he then endeavoured to seize the host,

but was prevented. For these mad pranks he suffered savage

torments.—Fox, edit. 1631, vol. 3, p. 1022.—Ed.

35 Every Christian must be decided in his own conscience as to

the formalities of religion; but he who prefers talking of forms

and ceremonies to communion in the substance, is in a

melancholy state.—Ed.

36 What a severe reproach it is to human nature, to see a lovely

child in rags and shoeless, running the streets, exposed to the

pitiless weather, while a splendid equipage passes, in which a

lady holds up her lapdog at the window to give it an airing!! Is

not this a greater crime than sends many a poor wretch to the

treadmill?—Ed.

37 Revenge naturally rises in the mind of man under a sense of

injury. To return good for evil is one of the effects of the new

birth. But while this is done, it is also our duty to petition kings

and parliaments to remove evils.—Ed.

38 "Forth of doors"; out of doors, public.—Ed.

39 "Now it is Christmas"; instead of keeping one day in the year

to commemorate the nativity of Christ in excessive feasting,

every day must be kept holy, in the recollection both of the

birth and death of the Saviour. All eyes are upon the young

convert, watching for his halting; therefore, let every day be

holy.—Ed.

40 A striking expression. If a man's righteousness be killed, it

must be by his own will. He must be the butcher to kill

himself.—Ed.

41 It is indeed sad to see professors, for the sake of paltry pelf,

or to escape from persecution, denying the Lord Jesus. It

subjects religion to scorn and contempt, and doubles the

sorrows and sufferings of real Christians. Bunyan expresses

himself here in a most admirable manner.—Ed.

42 Bunyan's familiarity with these illustrious men was obtained

by reading Fox's Acts and Monuments, when in prison.—Ed.

43 "Quail"; to overpower. Well might the abettors of Antichrist

wonder at the Christian's support under the most cruel tortures.

While "looking unto Jesus" and the bright visions of eternal

glory, like Stephen, he can pray of his enemies, and tranquilly

fall asleep while undergoing the most frightful sufferings.—Ed.

44 "A naked man"; unarmed, or defenceless.

"Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal I serv'd my king,

he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies."

Shakespeare's Wolsey.—Ed.

45 How impossible is it for a natural man to understand this new

creation—a new heart, a new birth. How different is

regeneration to water-baptism. How awful the delusion to be

mistaken in this, the foundation of all hope of a blessed

immortality. "Create in me a clean heart, O God!" How

consoling the fact: "Now a creation none can destroy but a

Creator!" and "changes not, therefore we are not consumed."—

Ed.

46 "O happie he who doth possesse

Christ for his fellow-prisoner, who doth gladde

With heavenly sunbeames jails that are most sad."

Written on the prison walls of the Tower of London by William

Prynne.—Ed.

47 "Sore temptations" poor Bunyan found them. When dragged

from his home to prison, he speaks of his poor blind daughter in

language of impassioned solicitude: "Poor child, thought I,

what sorrow art thou like to have for thy portion in this world!

Thou must be beaten, must beg, suffer hunger, cold, nakedness,

and a thousand calamities, though I cannot now endure the

wind shall blow upon thee! Oh! the hardships I thought my

blind one might go under would break my heart to pieces."—

"The parting with my wife and poor children hath oft been to

me in this place as the pulling my flesh from my bones."—

Grace Abounding, 327, 328.—Ed.

48 "Thodes"; whirlwinds. This word does not occur in any

English dictionary or glossary. It gave me much trouble, and a

walk of seven miles, to discover its meaning. It is the Saxon for

noise, whirlwind, turbulence. This provincial word was

probably derived from some Saxon tribe that settled in

Bedfordshire.—Ed.

49 "To shuck"; to shake violently—from which is the noun, "a

pea-shuck," the shell from which peas have been shaken.—Ed.

50 How correct, but how dismal a picture is here drawn of the

persecutor! God has wise and holy ends in protecting and

prolonging the lives even of very wicked men. "Slay them not,

lest my people forget; scatter them by thy power." Compare

Ecclessiastes 8:10. Pity the persecutor—pray for him; but if he

repent not, stand off; "God will have his full blow at him in his

time," and crush him down into misery and despair.—Ed.

51 Like a multitude of passages in Bunyan's writings, this

passage is exceedingly striking. It illustrates our Lord's words

in Matthew 5:44,45: "Love your enemies - that ye may be the

children of your Father which is in heaven."—Ed.

52 "Stage"; upon which many a Nonconformist stood with his

head in the pillory. "Ladder" to the gallows, upon which

victims suffered death by hanging.—Ed.