Safety in a Tempest: OR, The Way to Comfort IN SUFFERING TIMES.  
In Two Parts: 

I. A Brief History of the Sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, from His Incarnation to His Crucifixion.  
II. A Collection of the Sayings of Several Eminent Divines, Directing Christians how to Behave Themselves in, and Supporting Them under SUFFERING PROVIDENCES.    
LONDON: Printed for Edward Golding, and are to be Sold by most Bookse●lers. 1684.   

To those Reverend Ministers of the Gospel, whose Sayings are Collected together, in the Second Part of this Treatise.  
Beloved Brethren,  
IT is altogether needless that I should tell you, our great Benefactor, from whom we derive the Original both of our Being and Well-being, and receive all the Mercies we enjoy both as Men and as Christians, hath not only called us to do, but to suffer likewise. Nor is there any occasion for me to remember you, that our Blessed Redeemer hath left us an example for the one as well as for the other; I question not but your Understandings are sufficiently furnished with the knowledge thereof; but since you are at present silenced, and by the Command of Authority forbid to Preach, and hindered from the Performing the public Part of your Ministerial Work, I have presumed to collect some things out of what you have formerly written, for the benefit and support of those who are for the same Cause of Nonconformity involved in the same Sufferings with yourselves, that so you may speak to them even in your silence, and furnish them with Arguments to bear up their Souls from sinking in a day of Perplexity and Trouble. Your Preaching and their Hearing, is now become a Crimc, in the sense of the Law; but by this means you may Preach, and they may Hear, you may instruct them how, and they may safely learn to imitate the great Example of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in a patient and joyful bearing of the across, without murmuring or repining, & that too, without so much as the pretence of a Crime. For any number of Dissenters to meet together in a solemn manner, to Pray and Preach and hear Sermons, is now become dangerous; but blessed be God there is no Law as yet that forbids the Reading of those Books which are written by Dissenting Ministers.  
Suffering is an unpleasing, but no unusual thing to the Followers of Christ, for we find them in all ages scorned and derided, Persecuted and Afflicted, and accounted unworthy to live. And the Blessed Jesus himself informs us, That those who will be his Disciples must take up their across and follow him; Telling us, That the World will hate us, because, we are not of the World, and that we shall be Persecuted for his Sake, and cast out of the Synagogues. And the Apostle assures us, That through many Tribulations we must inherit the Kingdom.  
And indeed it is no wonder that Christians meet with Persecution and Trouble in the World, since our Lord himself, when he was on the earth, met with no better entertainment; they have been often charged with many horrid and malicious Crimes, so was our Saviour; they have been said to be enemies to the Church and State, so was he; they have been accused not to be Caesars Friends, so was he; nay, there is scarce any Crime how horrid and false soever, that has been charged upon Christians, but was first charged upon him; his very Miracles were affirmed to be the effect of magic, and his Mercy and Compassion to Sinners, interpnted a conniving at, and favouring of their wickedness. His Goodness in Healing the Sick, relieving the Possessed, and Restoring Limbs to the Lame, and Eyes to the Blind, was ungratefully rewarded with attempts to ston him, and frequent Consultations and Plots to bereave him of his Life. And indeed his whole Life from the Manger to the across was nothing else but a continued Series of Trouble and Misery. As soon as he was Born, Herod sought to kill him, and the Jews afterwards; Judas he Betrays him, the Chief Priests and Elders apprehended him. Some bind him, others led him bound to the High-Priests palace, there he is scorned and derided, Buffeted and Spit up●● and forced to linger out a whole nig●● in Pain and Torture. He is haled away to Pilate, Pilate sends him bound to Herod, Herod aend his Men of War set him at nought and deride him, and return him bound to Pilate: Pilate notwithstanding he knew him to be innocent, yet he first scourged him, and then condemned him to be Crucified, in order whereunto he was delivered into the hands of a company of Cruel Tormenters, who never left Torturing of him, till his Soul left his Body, and they saw him hang dead on the across. So that I hope none will wonder if Religion cost them dear, and expose them to to the scorn and derision, malice and hatred of the World.  
And it is worth our observation, that in all or most of the Persecutions which had been raised since Christ, there hath ever been many false and malicious Reports raised upon the Sufferers as if by being guilty of strange and horrid Crimes, they had justly deserved the severe usage wherewith they were treated. When Rome was burnt by Nero, it was maliciously reported that the Christians had done it, and thereupon a severe Persecution against all the Professors of Christianity immediately followed, and so in all the rest of the Ten Persecutions; If there was a Famine, the Christians procured it; if a Pestilence, the Christians were blamed as those whose wickedness pulled down the judgement upon them; if their Armies were beaten, the fault was presently laid at the Christians door, and the most violent Persecutions stirred up against them.  
Now to direct those in, and support them under their Sufferings, who either are or may be called thereunto, is the design of the ensuing Tract, which consists of two parts; First a brief Relation of the Sufferings of Jesus Christ, which as they are an Example for us to imitate, so they afford infinite encouragement to us in our Sufferings. The Second is a Collection of several of your Worthy Sayings concerning Persecution; carefully gathered from your several Works. And all of them serving either to encourage us under, or direct us how to improve our Sufferings, so as to be gainers by them, and prove the unjust and scandalous Reports of our Enemies, who affirm us to be a seditious and a disloyal people, false and malicious, by a patient and a quiet submitting to the across, and thereby leave a Testimony of our Innocency in the Consciences of our most inveterate Adversaries.  
And in the mean time presuming upon your pardon for thus intruding upon you, that which many of you will know to be your own so soon as you have perused it; I hearty wish that the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding, may so fill your hearts and minds, as to preserve you from being either disquieted or disheartened by your present Sufferings, and subscribe myself  
Yours in our Lord Jesus, W. H.   

The Names of those Reverend Divines, whose Sayings are Collected in the Second Part of this Following Treatise.  

Mr. Richard Baxter.  
Mr. edmond Calamy.  
Mr. Richard Allen.  
Mr. Joseph Allen.  
Mr. Joseph Carryl.  
Dr. own.  
Dr. Thomas Goodwin.  
Mr. John Flavel.  
Mr. James Nalton.  
Mr. Thomas Watson,  
Mr. James Janeway.  
Mr. William Jenkins.  
Dr. Jacob.  
Mr. Thomas Vincent.  
Mr. Nathaniel Vincent.  
Mr. isaac Ambrofe.  
Mr. Charnock.  
Mr. Jeremy Burroughs.  
Mr. Thomas Brooks.  
Mr. Thomas Newcomen.  
Mr. Heywood.  
Mr. Dod.  
Mr. William Gouge.  
Mr. Mead.  
Mr. How.  
Dr. Manton.  
Edward Polhill Esquire.    

Directions to the Book-Binder,  
Place the four last pages of the Sheet b, which come after the End of the first Part, after the Sheet F.   

The Great Exemplar: OR, THE HISTORY OF THE SUFFERINGS OF Our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST.  
IN times of Trouble and Distress, nothing can possibly tend more to the bearing up our Spirits, and the supporting our Souls under them, then the serious reviewing, and the frequent Meditating on the Sufferings of our Great Redeemer the Lord Jesus, who is our Pattern and Great Example in Suffering as well as in all other things. Wherefore to help thee in thy Meditation upon this Subject, I have endeavoured to present thee with a short view of the variety of Troubles and Persecutions the Lord Jesus endured for thee.  
First Consider, That the Lord Jesus, notwithstanding he was the Eternal Darling of his Father, the Brightness of his Glory, and the Express Image of his Person, by whom and for whom all things were made; Yet for thy Sake he Condescended to Disrobe himself of all his Honour and Glory, be made Flesh, and equal himself with the Dust. The Ancient of Days became a Babe, and he who was before all time, and his goings forth were from Everlasting, consented to be Born in the fullness of time. The King of Kings became a Servant, and the Owner of all things was bereft of all Inheritance. He that was wont to Inhabit the Heavenly Palace, was now forced to take up his Lodging in a Stable. And he that said of the Earth, It is mine, and the fullness of it, found no Room for him in the Inn, but was excluded the company of men, and as if worthy of no higher Honour, compelled to accompany the Beasts, and lie in the same Manger where they feed. And although the Mystery of his Incarnation was such an amazing wonder, that it filled the Holy Angels with astonishment, yet ungrateful man, who was to reap the benefit thereof, passed it by as a thing not worth his notice, and instead of a Royal and Princely Entertainment, gave him a base and a contemptible Welcome; For he was Born at Bethlehem, a little City, in a poor mean Cottage, where he had no Cradle but the Manger, no Canopy, but the Rack where the Beasts feed, no Guard but his supposed Father, no Attendance but his Virgin Mother, no heralds but silly Shepherds; nor any of his Bed-Chamber but Oxen and other Beasts who were lodged in the same Stable with him. And although he was Born King of the Jews in the opinion of the Eastern Sages, Yet the Jews scornfully rejected him, and refused to acknowledge any King but Caesar. He was indeed by a Lineal descent King Davids Heir, and himself gave Crowns, to others, Crowns of Life and Glory, Victory and Triumph. Yet for his own Head no Diadem was prepared but one made of Thorns, nor Costly Robes but what was died in his own Blood:  
And as his Birth was mean and obscure, so was his Life full of Suffering and Pain, for he no sooner arrived at eight days old, but he submitted to the painful Ordinance of Circumcision; he that was above the Law, freely submitted to the Law, and although as the Sovereign of the Universe and the great Law-giver of Heaven and Earth, himself gave the Law, yet for our sakes he willingly endured the Penalty of it, to free us who had Transgressed it. And no sooner was he returned from Jerusalem but he was forced to forsake the place of his Nativity, and fly for the saving of his Life; for although his Birth was so obscure, and his Habitation so mean, yet it did not exclude him from the hatred and envy of those who would not let him enjoy even this with safety: before there was no room for him in the Inn, but there is now no Room for him in Bethlehem, nay no Room for him in Judea, wherefore he is forced to fly to egypt; for Herod by a cunning stratagem sought to destroy him, and cruelly resolved to embrew his hands in his Sacred Blood; nay, so great was his causeless envy, that for his sake he mercilessly Butchered many thousand Innocents, for no other Crime, but because the time and place of their Birth were somewhat near un●o his. After he came from egypt, he submitted himself to his Parents, was called the Carpenters Son, and assisted Joseph in that Mean and Laborious Trade.  
As an introduction to his Ministry, he submitted himself to be baptized by John, after which he was lead into the Wilderness, where he fasted forty dayes and forty nights, without either Meat or Drink, and willingly suffers himself to be Tempted of the Devil, who understanding that the Blessed Jesus was preparing for the subduing him, and the expi●ting that mischief which his malice and subtlety had effected, like a venomous Serpent swelled and even ready to burst with inward poison, he hasted with an Infernal Fury to assault him who was come to destroy him. And no sooner had he escaped this danger, but he presently fell into another; for having Preached Salvation to Capernaum and several parts of Galilee, he went likewise to Nazareth, the place where he was brought up, and entering into their Synagogue, and having opened the Book, he red to them out of the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah, a Lecture concerning himself, wherein he freely offered Riches to the Poor and the Indigent, Healing to the Broken and the Wounded, Deliverance to the Captive, the Recovering of Sight to the Blind, and Liberty to them that were Bound, Proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord to all those who would embrace it. But like a company of ungrateful Monsters, they all with one consent rose up, and having thrust him out of their City, they lead him to the Brow of the Hill whereon the City was built, that they might cast him down headlong; however his time being not yet come, he passed thorough the midst of them, and went his way.  
When he graciously admitted publicans and Sinners to come unto him, he was reproached for it by the Scribes and Pharisees, as if he favoured and approved of their Sin, and thereby encouraged them in their wickedness; Reproaching him likewise for not observing their Fasts, and for suffering his Disciples to pluck the Ears of Corn when they were hungry on the Sabbath-day. And presently after they consulted together how they might destroy him, for no other Crime, but his having mercifully Healed a man who had a withered hand.  
And when he cast out Devils from divers miserable and wretched Creatures, who were possessed, and Cured the Sick, the Lame, the Blind and the Dumb; they maliciously affirmed, he did it by magic Art, and that he was in League with beelzeebub the Prince of the Devils.  
Notwithstanding he Cured the Man among the Tombs who was possessed with an Unclean Spirit, yet such was the sordid baseness of the Gadareens, that they preferred their Swine before him, and accounted themselves happy in obtaining his Departure out of their Country. That Miraculous Work which should have drawn them to Christ, driven them from Christ. Those who kept the Swine ran with the news, and the whole Country came to meet him with a Tumultuous Clamour; the Multitude was like a Monstrous Beast with many heads, every one whereof had a several mouth, and every mouth a tongue, all of which were employed in one kind of work, viz. The entreating the Fountain of Mercy to depart from their City: every Head had a several Brain, and every Brain was filled with different thoughts, but howmuch soever they disagreed and jarred in their thoughts, yet in their words they were unanimous, and every one requested the same thing, there was not a Disagreeing Tongue among them, not one Gadareen found among all the number, that either persuaded his Fellows to cease their svit, or implored the Blessed Jesus not to grant their request.  
When he road to Jerusalem the Pharisees envied him the Honour of his Disciples Hosannahs, and when they cried, Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord, the Pharisees required that he should rebuk them; not only refusing to honor him themselves, but hating to see others do it also. And because when he arrived at Jerusalem, he entered into the Temple, and cast out them that bought and sold therein, and overthrew the money Changers Tables, telling them that it was written; His House was a House of Prayer, but they had made it a Den of thieves; they sought to destroy him, and altho' they were not able to accomplish it, yet two days after they were at it again contriving among themselves how they might take him by Craft and put him to Death at the Feast of the Passover and unleavened Bread; but they said, Not on the Feast-day, because they feared the people; though they f●ared not the wickedness, which they shortly after accomplished by the assistance of Judas, who was the basest and the most disingenious of all those who were without cause enemies to the Blessed Jesus. Their malicious heads were laid together in Caiaphas's Parlour, and at last came to this result that Force was not their way but subtlety and Treachery must accomplish that which often experience  told them would be vainly attempted by power but even this also they knew not how to perform until the subtle Serpent who fat President in that bloody Council, had provided them a fit instrument to accomplish their Hellish D●sign, though Judas professed himself Christs Disciple, yet Satan knew him to be his Vassal absolutely at his diposal; the only difficulty he made was the being paid for his Treason as somewhat unwilling to perform so treacherous an act without a reward, and therefore demanded what they would give him & he would deliver him to them. Perfidious Judas! I know not which astonishes me most, thy Treachery in Betraying thy Master, or thy folly in Bartering for him that was inestimable. What will you give me! Fool, what couldst thou have demanded that might any way have equalled the value of Him thou wert about to sell, or compensate the extraordinary service they supposed thou wouldest thereby do them? What will you give? alas, thou mightest more properly have said, What have you to give? what have you to dispose of, that may any way balance the loss of a Redeemer, or compensate the forfeiture of my Salvation? But Perfidious Wretch, the baseness of thy Spirit, appears no less in the smallness of thy reward, then in the greatness of thy Treason. Thirty-pence! miserable Wretch! Was that a price, thinkest thou, sufficient to pay for the Owner of the Universe, or compensate thy Crime in betraying to death the Lord and Giver of Life?  
But however, the Bargain is made, such as it is( a poor one God knows) and the price is paid, and away goes Judas to his Master, to observe his motion and carefully watch for an opportunity to Betray him. And notwithstanding this villainous practise, he looked as pleasantly upon his Master and his Fellow-Disciples, as he was wont to do at other times; he regarded not his guilt so long as and was paid for it, but pleased himself with the thoughts that he had provided for time, though he had neglected Eternity; and filled his Purse, though he had damned his Soul. No man more busy then he, to prepare for the Approaching Passover, nor was any of the Disciples more devout in the Celebration thereof. O the sottish hypocrisy and obdurate hardness of that impudent Traitor, who had formerly received so many proofs of his Masters Omniscience, and hardly a day had passed wherein he saw not that the most secret things, and even thoughts themselves were known unto him, and yet that vile wretch, notwithstanding he knew he had Plotted Treason against him, adventured however to appear before him, nor was he any whit abashed when his Lord plainly hinted his knowledge of the Conspiracy, saying, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall Betray me; one would have thought that his wickedness being thus discovered, he should have been ashamed, and have blushed, and casting his guilty eyes down, have turned away his troubled countenance at so galling an intimation; but an Infernal Resolution to perpetrate his Treason had hardened his Heart and steeled his Brow against any relenting impressions, otherwise the rest of the Disciples had not been at so great a loss to find out the traitor, nor so ready to suspect themselves. O the Fatal effects of a resolution to Sin! for neither a discovery of the Crime, nor yet the consequent Wo denounced by our Saviour against the Criminal, was able to deter Judas from his intended Treason; nay more, as if he resolved to out-brave his Masters accusations, & out-face his own Conscience, he impudently adventured to ask the same question as the rest of the Disciples had done before, viz. Master is it I? and received a positive answer ( Thou hast said) without blushing; nor did our Saviour s bidding him towards the conclusion of the Feast, what he did he should do q●ickly, create any disturbance in his unrelenting heart. But that which yet aggravated his Treason, and the sufferings of thy Saviour was the method he took to betray him, viz. Hail Master, and a kiss, whereby by as if all his former villainy had been too little, he once more abused the Sacred Ear of the Suffering Jesus, and defiled his Unspotted Cheeks with an impure kiss. It is Commanded in the second Psalm, That we kiss the Son least he be angry, but here the Son had reason to be extremely angry at this kiss, and account it it far more grievous then all the rest of his succeeding Torments.  
That he who was wont to receive the Salutation of Angels, should now be fawnd upon and embraced by the Agent of Devils, that Beauty should be touched by deformity, that the Son of the Eternal Majesty, should be ensnared by a Brat of beelzeebub, and the Prince of Peace should be Betrayed by a Son of Discord; that the Wonderful counsellor, who spake as never man spake, should be as it were undermined by the most Palpable Fool, this doth bespeak the most Horrid villainy of this Damnable Villain, & our Saviours free & willing submission to the Will of his Father, in order to accomplish the work of mans Redemption, to support his people in Sufferings after his Example, and to encourage them under the worst Conditions in which God is pleased to permit them to be.  
The Last Supper being over, our Saviour departs from the place where it was Celebrated, to the Garden, where he endured his Agony, which was infinitely more grievous and sorrowful then the Hymn he had lately sung was pleasant and joyful. All his Disciples were Partakers in the Joyful Hymn, but in the dolours of his Agony he had no companion, being left to tread the Winepress of his Fathers Wrath alone. As soon as he came into the Garden, he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Many sad thoughts he had formerly conceived of the greatness of his Redeeming work, which he silently passed over without mention, but now when his Sufferings increased, and a Sea of wrath like a Flood was poured into his Soul, his grief grew too great to be hide, and burst forth into that dolorous Complaint, My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death; nay, so astonishing & bitter was the Cup that he was to drink that the very thoughts of it filled his Innocent Soul with an inexpressible sorrow and pain, the Inward Anguish and Torment whereof made him sweat, and that sweat was the most violent and unnatural that ever was heard of in the world. First because it was abroad in the Chill air, lying prostrate on the Ground, and the season of the year so pinching, that even the hardier Souldiers were fain to have a fire within doors. Secondly, Because he sweat Blood and not Water, and not only so, but he sweat great drops of Blood, which trickled down to the Ground in great abundance. Thirdly, Because the physician sweats for the Patient; we had surfeited with the Forbidden Fruit, and our Jesus must both sweat and bleed for our Recovery. Here you might have seen, not one, but all the Veins of his Blessed Body open & bleeding at once. There you might have seen a wonder beyond all conception, for there you might have seen a sweat without labour, and streams of Blood issuing out of every part of his Body, and yet no violence offered.  
And as if his Sufferings were yet too little, his very Disciples help to increase them, for whilst he was thus sweeting and bleeding for them, they as regardless of his misery entertained themselves with reposing slumbers, which drew from him another passionate complaint; Could ye not Watch with me one hour? And thus every thing conspires to increase his Agony, and one misery treads on the Heels of an other, for now the Perfidious Traitor attended with the Chief Priest the Captains of the Temple, and the Elders appears at the Head of a Band of Ruffians, Armed with Swords and Staves for to take him; though he was false and unjust to his Master, he resolved however to be true to his Chapmen, and the Treacherous Villain, as if he resolved to be his first Tormentor, by mixing Hypocrisy with his Treason, darted Cruelty and murder through his very salutation and kiss. And since his own power was too hypocondriac, and not answerable to his malice, he charges those to whom he delivered him, that they should hold him fast, and they alas too cruel before, resolve now to bind him secure, and think no twist strong enough to hold the hands of him who never intended to resist.  
And can thy Heart without breaking contemplate the greatness of thy Saviours Sufferings? canst thou with dry eyes behold those hands that made the Universe tied together, and cruelly bruised with Knotty Cords? canst thou see him bound who came to set thee at liberty? or canst thou unconcernedly behold the Lord of Life and Glory basely and barbarously abused, and with scorn and contempt dragged through the Streets, and hawled before a furious, a proud and an insulting Prelate, first to Annas, and then Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from Herod back again to Pilate, and so to Golgotha.  
And having thus bound him secure, they presently drag him away to the High-Priests Palace, where he was no sooner arrived, but he was scornfully received by them; And arraigned at the Bar of old Annas, and the rest of the Prelates and Dignified Clergy.  
And to increase his Afflictions and make his Sufferings the greater, his own Disciples and his nearest Friends forsook him in this hour of Distress, those who were his constant Companions in times of Peace and Liberty, now forsook him in a day of Trouble. Not many hours before they wondered he should question their faithfulness in a constant owning of him, and cleaving to him, sollemnly promising never to forsake him, nor be offended because of him, every one protesting to stand by him to the very death; they all promised, but not one performed, yea even John, who had been loved and honoured above the rest, and Peter who had been the most Liberal in his Protestation of Constancy, fled among the rest, and leave their Master to the Mercy of the Merciless. He had formerly asked them upon the departure of some of his Followers; Will ye go also? they answered with a kind of indignation, Whether shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life; Notwithstanding which they now leave him, and run away, flee away, nay every one striving to save himself, & left their Blessed Master a Prey to his Enemies, like a Lamb in the midst of Raging and Devouring Wolves.  
From the House of Annas, he is lead to the palace of Caiaphas, where the Spiritual Court, which was sat there in expectation of him, received him with indignation and scorn, resolving now they had him in their hands, to satiate their Thirsty Souls with his Innocent Blood; but yet to guild over their deadly Spleen and murderous Resolution, a pretended Legal Process, must cover their Illegal and Bloody Proceedings; they knew he had committed no Crime, yet they resolved to pretend many, not doubting but for a good reward, they should find some proffligate Wretches, who would confidently swear what they had invented; yet such was the exactness and Purity of his Life, and the soundness and inoffensiveness of his Doctrine, that even malice and subornation itself, were not able to invent wherewith to slander him. Many of them willing to lend a hand to this dead of darkness, and gratify their suborners with an Oath, bear false witness against him. But although those Sons of Mischief and Cruelty, were exactly agreed to murder the Innocent Prisoner by their Flagitious Breath, yet such jarring and confusion filled their perjurious Lips, that not two were found among so vast a number who were able to tune their eager Tongues to swear the same falsehood, until their Subornors by making two of them to confer notes together, taught them to agree with themselves, though they disagreed with the Truth, they both swear the same though a false thing. The words indeed were spoken by our Saviour, but they were perverted by the Perj●red Witnesses, so that though thc words were true, yet their Evidence was notoriously false. Had those words been spoken by him as they were witnessed by them, yet they contained no Crime, neither was there so much as the very appearance of Blasphemy to be found therein, yet how vehement is Caiaphas for an answer, as if those words had sufficiently condemned to death the Lord of Life, and the Protestation of his Ability, to build the Temple in three days, had been High Treason against the God of the Temple. When he was before Annas his moderate answer was returned with a cruel and reproachful Buffet on the Cheeks, with that force and violence say some, that it struck out or loosened some of his Teeth, and made the Blood to gush out of his mouth and nostrils. To be thus smitten was not only pain to our Saviour, but it was matter of shane and infamy too. If he had been only an innocent and harmless man to be thus buffeted by a base mean and wretched Fellow, a man in Bonds to be thus beaten, when he was bound, it had been insufferable Cruelty, and sordid inhumanity, what was it then when the Lord was beaten by his Servant, the King by his Subject, the Highest by the basest, and the Creator by the Creature) And now his silence is no less offensive, then his speaking was before. And therefore what they could not effect by their Witnesses, the Crafty and malicious Prelate resolved to draw out of his own mouth, I adjure thee by the Living God, says he, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of the Living God. The design of this adjuration was only to ensnare him, for if he had held his peace, then they would have condemned him for a profane Disregarder of the Great and aweful Name of God; if he answered them, they catch him: however to show that he feared not the faces which he himself had formed, & to set us an everlasting Pattern to confess him before men, whatsoever danger the so doing may involve us in, he gave the haughty and insulting Prelate no cause to complain any longer of a silent Prisoner, for he affirmed more than he had demanded. Hereafter, saith he that is fairer then the Children of Men, Shall ye see the Son of Man, sitting on the Right-hand of Power, and coming in the Clouds of Heaven. Which bold and God-like answer one would have thought should have confounded the insulting Priest, and have struck him with an aweful trembling to hear that the Son of Man whom he saw stand there before him, was the Son of God, whom he was as unworthy as he was unable to behold. And that that Son of Man, and that Son of God, that God-Man whom he saw stand at his Bar like a despicable and wretched Prisoner, dejected and forsaken, he should ere long with horror and astonishment behold sitting in Majesty on the Throne of Heaven, & coming with an innumerable company of Angels in Flaming Fire, to that dreadful judgement wherein both he and all the rest of the Enemies and Persecutors of himself, and his people, shall receive a just condemnation to unspeakable and everlasting punishments. But this stubborn and hardened wretch, instead of trembling at this tremendous and astonishing declaration, made the basest and the vildest use of it that could have been invented. What need have we of witnesses?( saith he to his wicked and compact Crew) behold now ye have heard his Blasphemy, what think ye? who all of them knowing the mind of their unjust President, immediately answered and said, He is guilty of Death. Ah with what face could those Levites so unjustly condemn to death the Lord of Life, and Cruelly spill that Blood by which( if ever) they themselves must be washed from the horrid guilt of this more then savage and Barbarous murder. But alas what heed is to be taken of the judgement of men, since it is so wavering and indifferent, that a dram of prejudice, or the least grain of interest, easily turns the Scales? or why should we wonder, that the Followers of our Blessed Saviour should receive such hard measure from the same sort of men, since their Lord endured as much, and infinitcly worse before them?  
And now the Cruel Sentence being unjustly passed, the malice of his inveterate adversaries began to be vented against him with as much fury as if Hell itself, and all the Devils thereof had been let loose upon him. Some of them with their filthy and polluted Lips, loaded him with Reproaches and Slanders, whilst others defiled his Blessed Face with their nasty and impure spittle, the venomous froth of their implacable malice. Some of them with their cruel hands buffeted his Sacred Cheeks, plucked him by the Beard, & rent off Hair and flesh together, whilst others with insultation, triumph over his humble patience, and having first Hoodwinked him, cry to him with disdain and scorn, prophesy unto us thou Christ, who it was that smote thee. Thus the blessed Jesus was himself bound, that he might set us at liberty, and condemned, that we might be pardonned; he was buffeted and spit on, derided and scorned by obnoxious and Guilty Sinners, whom he came to save.  
But yet as if all his Sufferings hitherto had been too little, and he had not endured miseries and torments enough; his confident and boasting Disciple, who not long before protested that though all men should forsake him, yet he would not, and that though he should die with him, he would not deny him, now conspired with the rest of his Tormentors to increase his Sufferings, by disowning and denying him who was about to die for him; and as if a bare denial had been to small a slight to put upon so kind a Master; and too mean a Trifle to demonstrate the willing and resolute breach of so Solemn a Protestation, he added Swearing and Execration to his denial, Imprecating a Curse upon himself, if he did so much as know him, and this within the hearing and sight too, of him whom he did deny. Ah what an Addition of Trouble and Torment do you think must this needs be to hear himself thus denied! denied by one of his own Followers, one who had been honoured with the very first call to be his Disciple; and preferred before many others to be one of his Twelve Apostles. And that this denial should be in such Company, in the very face of his Injurious Enemies, and his unjust Judges, before whom he ought according to his own Promise and Solemn Protestation, to have confessed him, although he had immediately dyed for that acknowledgement; and that it should be in such a manner with Swearing and with Curses, and horrid Imprecations upon himself. The denial itself was grievous, but those Circumstances wherewith he was denied, still added to that Grief which was too great already. And yet behold a wonder of Mercy, the tender and the Compassionate Jesus in the midst of all those Sorrows and Indignities wherewith he was Surrounded, afforded a Gracious Look to his timorous ungrateful and Apostate Disciple; The Crowing of the Cock sounded louder in his Sacred Ears, then all the Clamour and Noise of his Raging Enemies; and he in Mercy remembered who had forgot himself, and of a Disciple, nay an Apostle, was become a Persecutor, nay, the greatest Persecutor and Tormentor of his Master, who accounted his denials and Oaths more terrible then the Buffetings and Blows he received from the Jews, which made him turn his face from them, to view this ungrateful Disciple, by whom he had most smarted: He was deeply wounded by his denial, and yet returned no other Revenge then a gentle and a Gracious Look, such a Look as was able to kill, and revive at once.  
And now having spent a whole Night in Lingering Torments among the Jews, in the Morning they led him away to Pilate, and delivered him over to the Gentiles, demanding of the Roman governor that he would condemn and execute him according to their Sentence. They had at that time no Power to put any man to Death, or execute for Capital Crimes, or at least to crucify was not in their Power, it being a Death not common among the Jews, but introduced and inflicted by the Romans; and their hatred to Christ was so inveterate, that an easy or an Honourable Death would not allay their Fury, or satisfy their Malice; It was only a Death that had Torment and Pain, shane and Ignominy in it, that would satisfy the Thirst of those insatiable bloodhounds. And indeed so visible was their Malice in this Prosecution, that it was easily discerned by the Roman governor, who presently conceived that they were in this violent Prosecution moved only by Envy and Prejudice, although they made use of all the Craft and subtlety imaginable, to prevent his Discovery thereof; for the Council went to Pilate in a Body to deliver up their Prisoner, into the hand of the secular Power, and to demand judgement against him, that so by their Number, the Sacredness of their place, and the greatness of their Authority, they might the more easily prevail with Pilate, to condemn him without the trouble of anew Examination, or searching with too much Scrutiny into the Merits of his Cause, hoping that he would conclude from their Presence, that since so many men of their Calling and Gravity, had unanimously agreed to find him guilty, he must undoubtedly be so, and that therefore he could do no less then ratify the Sentence by Condemning him to Death, and giving Order for his speedy Execution. However Pilate had somewhat more Justice and Humanity then the Jews, and demanded before he would pass Sentence, what Accusation they brought against him. To which those Malicious Rebels( who thought it enough that they had Condemned him, and that the Civil Magistrate ought to be their Executioner, imagining that since they had judged, the other was bound to kill) answered, If he were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him unto thee. As if they should have said, we affirm he is, dost thou Question it? we have judged him; what needs a new trial? Do you know who we are? or hast thou no Valluation for our Sacred Priesthood, or Respect for our extraordinary Sanctity; Had the basest and vilest among the vulgar complained to thee, thou couldst but have suspected the truth of their Accusation, and wilt thou be as severe with us. Our Gravity and Holiness expected not to be delayed. Are we so tender as to suspect thy very Walls, and refuse to come within thy Doors, for fear of being defiled; and canst thou imagine that upon a full hearing, Mature Deliberation, and an Exquisite Judicial Proceeding, we should have Sentenced this Malefactor to Death, had he not been Guilty? And since he is guilty, there needs no more from thee, but only thy command for his Execution.  
But Pilate easily looking thorough their fine pretences, and hating their bloody and inhuman suggestions; replied, Take ye him and judge him according to your Law. As if he should have said, Ye Hypocrites, do you pretend Sanctity and Holiness, and yet wickedly urge so bloody and injurious a Violence? If he be a Malefactor? as ye say, where is your proof? or if it be not proved against him, why should he be condemned? Do you think I will take your complaint for Evidence, or condemn a man unheard, because you say he is Guilty? No, I will not; and therefore since you have gon so far, I will have nothing to do with it, therefore take ye him, &c.  
Those inhuman Wretches being nettled with this short but sharp cutting answer, became the more fierce in their accusations of the Innocent Jesus, and the more importunate to have him condemned, and that they might prevail, they began to recapitulate his Crimes, charging him with perverting the people, and the Crime of Treason;( A Crime which hath almost in every age been charged upon those who were his Followers) for which say they he ought to dy; but it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. The mention of Treason makes Pilate startle, and brings him back again to the judgement Hall, although he had before resolved to have no more to do in that matter; where being sat, the Blessed Jesus is again Arraigned at his Bar, and yet after the strictest examination, and the exactest scrutiny, the Uprightness and Innocency of our Saviour appeared so bright and convincingly through all those false and malicious accusations wherewith it was clouded, that Pilate once more acquits him, and bringing him forth to his eager Persecutors, returned a could answer to their burning expectations, saying, I find in him no Fault at all: As if he should have said, I have examined him, and I find him not only clear and innocent of those Crimes whereof you accuse him, but of all others too.  
One would have thought that those Blood Thirsty Wretches should by this time have been confounded, and for very shane have let fall their svit, or at least have contented themselves with Pilates proposal of chastising him, which would have been very unjust, severe and unmerciful, to have chastised an innocent person; but alas, these Miscreants would not be put off so; Nothing would content them but his life. Pilates proposal was an extreme Cruelty, but yet it was tender mercy and compassion, if compared with theirs. For no Blood would satisfy them but that of his Heart, nor no way of spilling, but that which had the greatest mixture of pain and infamy, and had a Curse annexed thereto, to make it still the more bitter and displeasing. Every death is a Curse as it is the reward of Sin, but this was more accursed then the rest, for we find a Curse more particularly pronounced upon this, then any other kind of death, viz. Cursed be every one that hangeth on a three.  
Pilate however had yet a mind to save him, and therefore laid hold of a certain Custom, which was then crept in among the Jews; that at the feast of the Passover the governor was wont to release them a Prisoner in remembrance of their deliverance from Egyptian Bondage; and therefore proposed our Saviour to be released unto them; and that he might be sure to have him accepted, he proposed him with one Barrabas who was a malefactor, and so base and vile a Wretch that he verily thought as well he might, that Barrabas, would have been refused, and our Saviour Chosen with an unanimous consent, for this Barrabbas was a Thief, a murderer, a Seditionary, a most prodigious villain, who had by his profligate, and infamous Life, rendered himself odious and hateful to all Men; if he should have propounded him with some other innocent and harmless Prisoner, he feared the Election would be doubtful; but he verily thought, he had certainly delivered him, by naming him in competition with such an obnoxious and detestable Wretch. But alas theit Malice was beyond all example, and their hatred never to be parrallel'd, they were now grown shameless and impudent, as well as Bloody and Cruel, and they cried out not him but Barabas. Thus was the Innocent Jesus refused, and a guilty and an obnoxious Barabas preferred and chosen before him; he must be freed from a Prison, whilst the other remains in the Tormenters Hands. A man, nay one of the basest and vilest among men was pardonned, that the Eterternal Son of God, the Everlasting Darling of Heaven might be unjustly condemned. Barabas must be released that Jesus may be Crucified.  
And now the Jews having thus acted their Parts in abusing and tormenting a Suffering Jesus; The Gentiles next mount the Stage and begin to act theirs. For Pilate that Cruel and Unrighteous judge, although he knew as himself had declared, that Jesus was delivered to him for very envy, yet now like a cruel and merciless Pagan, he turns his proffered Chastisement into scourging, and such a scourging that not only galled and rent his Skin, but even made Furrows deep Furrows in his Flesh too; so that he who not many hours before had watered the Garden of Gethsemain with the dew of his Sanguine Sweat, doth now pour forth upon the Pavement of Pilates Hall, Whole showers of his Sacred Blood. O what a world of base reproaches, insolent indignities, and inexpressible Tortures did thy Saviour now suffer. The Scorns, Reproaches and Triumph now of his Adversaries had been Torment enough, but here pain helps to perfect the misery of him who for thy sake was now made perfectly miserable. For besides the Pain and Torment occasioned by the blows, the inflictors of his Stripes were a company of grim and barbarous Souldiers who had by custom enured themselves to be Cruel, out of whose Hearts pitty was expunged, and in whose faces were written the characters of death, whose very trade was to destroy, and who delighted in nothing so much as in killing.  
And as if it were not enough that his Blessed Body was stripped naked, and torn and rent with Bloody Stripes, he was also exposed to the mockage and sport of his insulting adversaries, for having disguised him in Purple Robes, wounded his Sacred Temples with a Thorney Diadem, spit upon his face, buffeted his Cheeks, and Sceptred his hand with a Reed, the Barbarous Souldiers, the insolent Prelates, and the Ignorant Rabble, basely derided him with bended knees, wry mouths, and feigned and scoffing Acclamations mixed with madness & fury. One would have thought that by this time their fury should have been spent, and their Malice satiated, but alas, it still increased, for when Pilate brought him forth thus disguised and bleeding, thus mangled and deformed, the very epitome of misery, and the most deplorable object that ever eye beholded, so that he thought the very sight of him would have commanded pity and commiseration from the most hardened and obdurate. To which purpose, and that they might know him in this disguise, he pointed to him with an Ecce homo; Behold the man, behold him, look well upon him ye merciless and insatiable Jews: Behold him in his shane and reproach, in his blood and in his wounds, and see how every part is torn and mortified, and tell me, if he be not now miserable enough; ye see his Cheeks are black and blew, and his eyes swollen with blows, his face is be slabered and defiled with Spittle, his Skin torn and his Flesh furrowed with Scourges, and his whole Body from Head to Foot, drenched and bathed in Blood, and would ye yet have more? Can you think he is able to bear, or are you so inhuman to infl ct more on him whom you behold so miserable already. Notwithstanding which, they still cried out, crucify him, Cruc●fie him. And finding that Pilate delayed it, and inclined to acquit him, they added, He is guilty of Treason, he speaketh against Caesar, and maketh himself a King, and if thou dost not condemn him, thou art not Caesars Friend; which although it were as malicious and as false as the rest, it prevailed with the wicked and unrighteous judge to pass sentence against him to be Crucified. Rather choosing in vain to attempt the washing off the Guilt of this Innocent Blood with a basin of water, then run the hazard of being suspected in his Loyalty: which having done, he condemned the Blessed Jesus to be Crucified, or as Saint Luke phrases it, He delivered him to their Will.  
And thy Saviour being thus condemned to dy; the unjust Sentence was followed with fresh and renewed scorns, and insultations and Shouts and Acclamations and Joy, and immediately preparations were made for his speedy Execution. First they plucked off those Robes wherewith he was Arrayed for mockage and derision, which occasioned incredible pain and torment, for being by this time as it were glued fast to his raw and mangled Body, when they were plucked off, Skin and Flesh, and all were pulled away together. And being thus stripped, he was once again Arrayed and lead to death in his own clothes, which was not done out of favour to the despised Prisoner, but to increase his pain, and render him the more remarkable; for by reason his blessed face was swelled and discoloured, daubed with Spittle, and besmeared with Blood, it was impossible he should have been known, but by his wonted Habit. And this part of the Tragedy being finished, they bring him out of the Judgment-Hall, bearing the Accursed three, upon which he was to hang, and bearing at once all the Indignities and Tortures that Earth and Hell were able to inflict, and all that Wrath and Curse which the Sins of the Whole World deserved) and hurired him towards Golgotha, the place of his Execution. The Streets through which he passed, being every where crowded with Spectators who waited to see this ruful and Deplorable Sight.  
There thou mightest have seen the Merciless Tormentors of thy innocent Saviour, although they had almost killed him already, yet now begin a fresh, as if they had done nothing before, and constrain his weakened and fainting Nature to perform new tasks of pain, they thought it not enough to murder him, unless they also made him bear the Instrument of his Death, and carry the across on which they would crucify him, that so he might at once both see and feel his Death even before it came, and be a helping Agent in his own passion; He could scarce stand, yet they force him to go; He could scarce carry himself, and yet they compel him to bear his across. One kicks him with his foot, another strikes him with his staff, some draw him hastily forward, whilst others voided of all Compassion spur on his unpityed Weariness with Angry and insulting Commands.  
There mightest thou have seen thy Compassionate and merciful Saviour, who came to redeem thee from Slavery and Servitude, stand in the true state and form of a Servant. All his former Sufferrings, though Barbarous and Painful, were yet free, but what he now endured as it was in itself more base and servile, so was it more imperiously and Tyrannically enforced. And yet it was more enforced upon him by his own Infinite Love and Compassion to those vile and miserable Wretches for whom he dyed, then by the Power and Malice of his insulting Enemies.  
When once those Bloodsuckers had got our Saviour without the Gates of Jerusalem, they grew so eager to satiate their thirst with his blood, that they were impatient of all delay, they had sported and delighted themselves with the pain of his Lingering Passage, and yet accounting the Perpetration of his murder to contain in it a far greater Satisfaction, they lightened part of his burden, that so they might hurry him with the greater speed to his Death. And to do him yet the greater Despite, and show the last effect of their Luxuriant Malice, and make the unthinking Multitude believe he was really Guilty, and that all the sad Pomp of this Bloody Execution was occasioned by nothing else but a Real Zeal of Justice, two Notorious Malefactors formerly adjudged to the Gib●it must Accompany him to, and in his Death; they were lead to Death without being scourged, or receiving any of the other abuses wherewith he was Tormented, that so they might appear to be the least Guilty, and he seem the greatest Criminal. And having thus dragged him to the place of Execution, they could afford him no Cordial to revive his faint and Languishing Spirits, but Vinegar and gull. And now again do those Mercyless and Barbarous Souldiers whose very Looks were killing, once more lay their rude and boisterous hands upon him, and having first torn off his Gore-glued Cloath,( which cleaving fast to his flayed and mangled Back and Sides, must needs occasion incredible Pain) and stripped him naked, they laid him on the fatal three, Racking and straining his Tender and Sacred Body on the across till you might have  told all his Bones, and having Tentered his Arms and Legs beyond their natural reach, they cruelly fastened them with Cords, until they had with strong Iron Nails driven up to the head through his blessed hand, and the most tender and sensible part of his Feet, nailed him firmly and painfully to the across. And then lifting of it up and setting it in its place, the vehemency of the concussion rent and stretched his joints and Sinews till they cracked again. And as he thus hung distended and tortured on the across, his own weight tormented him, whilst his whole Body restend upon and had no other support but this afflictive and dolorous hold.  
There mightst thou have seen thy tender and compassionate Saviour hanging between Heaven and Earth, naked, bleeding, forlorn and despicable, the very spectacle of miseries, and the scorn of Earth and Hell. There thou mightst have seen thy Infinite and Omnipotent Creator oppressed and despised by his Creatures. The God of Glory and the Majesty of Heaven and Earth overwhelmed with shane and confusion. There thou mightst have seen him who is the Fountain of Life, and gave original and being to every Creature, expiring in a painful and lingering death; and he who was God blessed for ever, making himself a curse, that thou mightest be blessed. He who was Beauty itself, and gave Form and comeliness to every Creature, without any visible Form or comeliness, to commend him to the desires of those who beholded him, but he was despised and rejected of men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; all those who saw him, hide as it were their faces from him, he was despised, and they esteemed him not; He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, he was strike, smitten of God and afflicted; Yet he was wounded for our Transgressions, he was bruised for our Iniquities, the Chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his Stripes we are healed. We like Sheep had gone astray, we had turned every one to his own way, and the Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, and yet he opened not his month: He was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a Sheep before her Sheerers is Dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from Prison and from judgement, and cut off out of the Land of the Living; for the Transgression of his people was he strike. He made his Grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief, when he made his Soul an offering for Sin, Isa. 53.  
And did the Blessed Jesus suffer all this for thee, and canst thou or wilt thou think much to suffer a little for him? did he thus willingly die to save thee, and wilt not thou if he require it, willingly die to be with him? especially if thou considerest, that notwithstanding the pain and torments of his Body, which he willingly underwent for thee, were so excessive, yet the Sufferings of his Soul, the nature and extent whereof I am no way able to describe, was vastly, nay infinitely greater; so that there was no more agreement between the external Sufferings of his Body, and the internal Sufferings of his Soul, then if you should compare the smallest grain of Sand with the highest Mountain, a Gloworm to the Sun, or an Attom to the Universe. For although he made not a local descent into Hell, yet he endured as great, nay infinitely greater Torments then the Damned in Hell, for there every one bears only the punishment of their own Sins, but he endured the Punishments of all our sins, even all that Wrath and Curse which was Merited by all the sins of the Many Thousands and Millions of those who are and shall be saved. They are always suffering, but he suffered all at once upon his Soul. They are always suffering, but can never satisfy, because they are not able to bear an infinite weight of Wrath and Divine Vengeance, and thereby make satisfaction to an Infinite Justice, which they had wronged and injured, but he bore an Infinite Weight of Wrath, and Indignation, and thereby rendered a complete and full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all those hallelujahs and injuries which thou and I have done, and for which thou and I must otherwise have been ever suffering, but could never have satisfied.  
FINIS.   

Precious Cordial Comforts FOR Persecuted SAINTS.  

Mr. Richard Baxter.  
MR. Richard Baxter, That holy and Heavenly man of God, speaking concerning the rest, that the Saints shall have in Heaven from all their Afflictions, hath these sweet and comfortable words.  
As we shall rest from Temptations, so also from all Abuses and Pesecutions which we suffer at the hands of Wicked men. We shall be scorned, derided, Imprisoned, butchered by them no more;  
The Prayer of the Souls under the Altar will then be answered, and God will avenge their blood on those that dwell on the Earth. This is the time for Crowning with Thorns, Buffeting, spitting on; That is the time for crowning with Glory: Now the Law is decreed on, that whosoever will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecutions; Then they that suffered with him, shall be glorified with him. Now, we must be hated of all men for Christs Names sake, and the Gospel; then will Christ be admired in his Saints that were thus hated. Now, because we are not of the World, but Christ hath taken us out of the World, therefore doth the World hate us; Then because we are not of the World, but taken out of their Calamity, therefore will the World admire us. Now, as they hated Christ they will also hate us; Then as they will honour Christ, so will they also honour us. We are here as the scorn and off-scouring of all things, as men set up for a gazing Stock to Angels and men, even for signs and Wonders too, amongst Professing Christians; They put us out of their Synagogues, and cast out our name as evil, and separate us from their Company. But we shall then be as much gazed at for our Glory, and they will be shut out of the Church of the Saints, and separated from us, whether they will or no. They now think it strange, that we run not with them to all excess of riot, speaking evil of us, 1 Pet. 4.4. They w●ll then think more strange, that they ran not with us in the d●spised ways of God; and speak evil of themselves: and more vehemently befool themselves for their carelessness, than ever they did us for our Heavenliness. A poor Christian can scarce go along the streets now, but every one is pointing the finger in scorn, but then they would be glad of the Crumbs of his Happiness.  
The rich man would scarce have believed him, that would have  told him, that he should beg for Water from the tip of Lazarus finger. Here is a great change! We can scarce now pray in our Families, or sing praises, but our voice is a Vexation to them. How must it needs torment them then, to see us praising and rejoicing, while they are howling and lamenting? How full have their Prisons often been, and how bitter their rage? How have they scattered their carcases on the earth, and delighted themselves in the blood of Saints? How glad would they have been, if they could have brought them to ruin, and blotted out their name from under Heaven? How have they prepared like Haman▪ their Gallows? and if God had not gain-said it, the Execution would have been answerable; but he that sitteth in Heaven did laugh them to scorn, the Lord had them in Derision. O how full were their hearts of blood, and their hands of Cruelty! So that the next Generations that knew them not, will scarce believe the fury of their Predecessors Rage. Blessed be the Guardian of the Saints, who hath not suffered the prevalency of that Wrath, which would have over-done the Gunpowder Treason, the Turkish Slavery, the Spanish Inquisition, and the French Massacres. But the Lord of Hosts hath often brought them down, and his Power and Justice hath abated their Fury, and raised to his name everlasting Trophies, and set up many a Monument for Remembrance, which God forbid should be forgotten. So let all thine incurable Enemies perish O Lord. When the Lord maketh Inquisition for blood, he will remember the precious blood, which they have  shed: and the earth shall not cover it any more.  
The jesuits hopes are, that they shall yet again have a prevailing day. If they should, we know where their rage will stop. They shall pursue but as Ph●raoh to their own Destruction: And where they fall, we shall pass over safely and escape them for ever, for our Lord hath  told them that whither he goes, they cannot come. When their Flood of Persecution is dried up, and the Church called out of the Wilderness, and the New Jerusalem come down from Heaven, and Mercy and Justice are fully glorified, then shall we feel their fury no more, There is no cruel mockings and Scou●gings, no Bonds or Imprisonments no stoning or sawing asunder, tempting or slaying with the Sword, wandring in Sheep-skins or Goat-skins, in Deserts and Mountains, Dens or Caves of the Earth; no more being destitute, afflicted, tormented, we leave all this behind us, When once we enter the City of our rest; The Names of Lollards, Hugonots, Puritans, Roundheads are not there used; the Inquisition of Spain is there condemned; the Statute of the six Articles is there repealed, and the Law de Haereticis Comburendis more justly executed; the Date of the Interim is then expired; unrighteous silencing and Suspending are then more then suspended no Censures to loss ●f Members, or Imprisonment. Christ is not there clothed in a Gorgeous rob, and blindfolded, nor do they smite him and s●y red who struck thee: Nor is Truth clo thed with the Robes of Error, and smitten for that which it most directly contradicteth; nor a Schismatik wounded, and a Saint bleeding: Nor our friends smite us wh●le they t●ke us for their E emies; there is none of this blind mad work there.  
Dear Brethren, you that can attempt no work of God without Resistance, and find you must either lose the love of the World, or else the love of God and your E●ern●l Salvation; Consider in Heaven you shall have no discouraging company, nor any, but who will further your work, and gladly join heart and voice with you in your Everlasting joy and praises. Till then poss●ss your Souls in Patience, bind all Repro●ches as a Crown to your heads; esteem them greater riches than the Worlds Treasures: Account it m●tter of joy, when you fall into Tribulation. You have seen that our God is able to deliver us; but this is nothing to our final deliverance; He will recompense Tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you th●t are troubled, Rest with Christ. See to this Brethren, that none of you suffer as an evil doer, as a resister of the Commands of Lawful authority, as ingrateful to those that have been Instruments of our good, as evil Speakers against Dignities, as Opposers of the Discipline and Ordinances of Christ, as scornful Revilers of your Christi●n B●●thren, as Reproachers of a Labo●ious, judicious, consci●n●ious Ministry, &c. But if any of you suffer for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of God and of Glory resteth upon you; and if any of you begin to shrink and draw back because of Opposition, and are Ashamed either of your work or your Master, let such a one know to his face, that he is but a base spirited Cowardly wretch, and cursedly underv●lueth the S●ints rest, and foolishly overvalueth the things below, and Christ will renounce him and be ashamed of him before his Father and the Angels of Heaven. But for those that have held fast their Integrity, and gone through good report and evil report, and undergone the Violence of unreasonable men, let them hear the word of the Lord; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified; they had good words, and goodly Pretences; but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed, Isa. 66.5. Your Redeemer is strong, the Lord of Hosts is his Name, he shall thoroughly pled your cause, that he may give Rest to his People and Disquietness to their Enemies, Jer. 50.34.   

Mr. edmond Calamy.  
MR. edmond Calamy, though upon another Text, yet to the same purpose, speaks thus;  
If you are Persecuted for Christs sake, Meditate on Matth. 5.10. Blessed are they which are Persecuted for Righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 1 Pet. 4.12, 13, 14. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice in as much as you are Partakers of Christs Sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you? on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. Psal. 94.12. Blessed is the man that thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy Law. The promises are the Anchor of Hope; Hope is called the Anchor of the Soul sure and steadfast, Heb. 6.9. But the Promises are the Anchor of Hope, since Hope is grounded on a Scripture promise.  
The Old Testament Saints would not accept deliverance upon sinful terms, because they hoped for a better Resurrection, Heb. 11. A Distressed Christian will object and say, Though the Promises are rare Cordials, and shall all of them be certainly fulfilled, yet God is oftentimes long in fulfilling them, and while God is fulfilling his Promise I may perish in my affliction.  
Answ. It cannot be denied that God is oftentimes long in fulfilling his Promises; he promised, That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head. Gen. 3.15. But it was four thousand years before the P●omise was actually accomplished. He promiseth to avenge his Elect of all their enemies, to do it speedily. Luke 18.7. And the Souls under the Altar cry, How long L●rd, Holy and True? when wilt thou avenge our Blood? Rev. 6.10. But this is not yet fulfilled. Nay, I must add, that God is not onely a long time performing his Promises, but sometimes instead of performing of them he seems to the eye of Flesh and Blood to walk contrary to them. Sometimes the Providences of God run across to his Promises. God promised to make David King; Instead of this he is Persecuted by Saul, as a Partridge upon the Mountains; he is driven to that extremity, that he begins to doubt of Gods Promise, and to say, that one day he should dy by the hand of Saul. God promised to Joseph, that the Sun, Moon, and Stars should worship him, and that his Sheaf should be lifted up above the Sheaf of his Brethren; but he finds the quiter contrary, his Brethren seek to sl●y him, sell him into Egypt, and there he is put into Prison as one quiter forsaken of God. But yet notwithstanding all this, that though the way of God in performing his Promises be very Mysterious and Secret, yet at last he will perform every Iota and Title of them. Thus David was at last made King of Israel, and Joseph Lord of Egypt, and his Brethren came all to worship him.  
Quest. How must we carry and behave ourselves at such times, when Providences seem to run across unto Gods Promises.  
Ans. At such times there are three things required of us, 1st. It is our duty to wait patiently and believingly till Providences and Promises meet together Isa. 8, 16. The Prophet there speaks of a Glorious Promise, and adds, that a true Saint will wait Gods time, which is the fittest and best time, he will patiently expect, till God fulfil his promise. He will do as the Martyr did, who might have escaped privately out of Prison, and was tempted to it by his friends; but answered, he would not go out of Prison when his enemies would have him, for they would make him tarry longer than he should; nor yet when his friends would have him, for they would have him tarry a lesser time then he should; but he would come out when God would have him. Gods time is the best, and they are soon enough delivered, who are delivered in Gods way and at Gods time. This then is thy great duty( O Christian) to wait patiently and believingly, and not to seek by unlawful ways to be rid of thy miseries, as David did by going to the Philistines; and as many in Queen Maries days did, by yielding to the Popish Superstitions. To help you to wait Gods leisure, holding Faith and a good Conscience, you have many rare and precious Promises made to these that wait upon him. 1. You have four Attributes in God to support you, his Faithfulness, Almightiness, Infinite Goodness, and Wisdom He is faithful, and not one title of his Word shall fail; he is Almighty, and able to do whatsoever he hath promised; he is infinitely Wise, to know the best time and season, and infinitely good and loving to his Children, and doth not willingly afflict them, but will make hast to help them. 2. It is our duty to live upon promises, while Providences seem to run across to promises. This is the meaning of H●bac. 2.4. The Just shall live by Faith. When they have nothing else they can live on, when sense and reason tell them they are undone, then shall they live by Faith on the promises, and not onely live patiently, but comfortably and joyfully, as the same Prophet, Hab. 3 17. Though the Fig three did not blossom, though there was not a Grape in the Vine, nor Corn in the field, yet he would rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his Salvation. This life did Paul live when the Ship in which he was, was ready to be drowned, when there was neither Sunlight, nor Star-light, yet he was exceeding cheerful, because God had promised to preserve him, and those with him. By living the life of Faith, God is much honoured and the Soul much refreshed. 3. Prayer, that will reconcile Gods promises and Gods dispensations, and cause them to meet & to kiss one another: For as the Promises are the ground of Prayers, so Prayers are the divine ways and means of obtaining the promises. Though God hath made many glorious and precious promises to his Children: Yet he performs them to those that by Prayer seek them at his hands. When Nathan  told David what great things God had promised to him, he went into Gods house to pray for them, 2 Sam. 7. The Prophet Isa. mentioneth a glorious promise, Isa. 43.25. But he adds Put me in remembrance vers. 20. Thus Ezekiel 36. 37. I w●ll yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel; and therefore when you red the promises of the Bible, remember whatsoever God makes a promise, you must make a Prayer; and that Prayer will hasten the fulfilling of the Promises. You must Pray because the Vision is for an appointed time, though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come, Hab 2.2. Thus did Daniel when he understood the time approached, he Prayed, Dan. 9.2, 3. Thus did David, Psal. 56.9, 10. & 57.1, 2. Thus must you do. Patience, Faith and Prayer, are three duties which God more especially requires of us in these days, wherein Gods Providences seem to run quiter across unto his Promises. The Lord give us Grace to practise them.   

Mr. Joseph Allen.  
MR. Joseph Allen, In a heavenly and Soul refreshing Letter to a Minister in Prison, writes thus:  
It was but a little after my release from my own Confinement, but I heard of yours, and now writ unto you as one that hath taken an higher degree than ever, and more truly honourable, being commenced Prisoner of Christ. It is our real glory to be thoroughly conformed to Jesus Christ, not onely in his Sanctity, but in his Sufferings. Paul counted all things but dung for this, that he might win Christ, and know the Fellowship of his Sufferings, and be made conformable unto his death. I doubt not but your Consolations in Christ do much more than superabound in all your Tribulations for him. Yet let me add this cordial, That now you have a whole shoal of Promises come into you, which you had not before, I mean all the Promises to Suffering Saints, in which they have not an immediate but onely a remoter right, unless in a Suffering State: and he hath gotten well that hath gotten such a number of exceeding great and precious Promises. If the men of the world do so rejoice, when such or such an estate is fallen unto them, how much more should you that have such a Treasure of Promises fallen unto you? This I can tell you, that the Promises of God were never so sweet in this world to me, as in and since my Imprisoned State. O the bottonles Riches of the Covenant of Grace! It shames me that I have let such a treasure ly by so long, and have made so little use of it. Never did my Soul know the Heaven of a Believers life, till I learnt to live a life of praise, and by more frequent consideration to set home the Riches of the Divine Promises, to which I trust through Grace I am made an Heir. Nay ours and our peoples conversat●ons preach this, that there is a reality in what God hath promised, that Heaven is worth the venturing for; That the Sufferings of this present time are much inferior to the glory which shall be revealed in us.  
Sir, it is but a very little time that Prisons shall hold us, or that we shall dwell in Dirty Flesh. porphyry tells us of Plotinus that he was ashamed to see himself in the Body, to see the Divine and Immortal Soul in a Prison of Flesh, for so they held the Body to be. But the worst shackles are those of Sin; well, they must shortly off all together. Sure our Lord is gone to prepare a place for us, yea and he will come again, and receive us to himself, that where he is, there we may be also. We know beforehand we shall then be uppermost. Our Lord hath shewed us where our place shall be, even at his own right-hand, and what he will say to us, Come ye Blessed, &c. Surely we shall stand in his judgement; he hath promised, to stand our Friend.  
Let us look for that joyful day; as sure as there is a God that day will come, and then it will go well with us. What if Bonds abide us for a season? This is nothing but what our Lord hath  told us, The world shall rejoice but ye shall weep and lament, you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turn-into joy. Oh how reviving are his words, I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh away from you. With what joy should we do and suffer for God, who have his truth in pawn that we shall be crwoned in Heaven.  
Verily they are wonderful preparations that are making for us, the Lord prepares a place and make us to be Partakers. It was the highest commendation, that ever that worthy R. Baxter received, which fell from the Pen of his scoffing adversary. Tilenus, who saith of him, Totum Puritanismum Totus Spirat.   

Mr Richard Allen.  
MR. Richard Allen, Speaking to the Encouragement of Gods People to hold on in the way of Godliness, hath th●se comfortable sayings:  
Not only your Brethren, the S●ints and Angels, who are all praying for your peace, and seeking your good, but your Enemies also, the Dragon with all his Armies, are at work for you. All the councils of this World a 〈◇〉 ●●ly sitting upon the very matter; God hath called them together for this purpose, the Pope with all his Conclave, the jesuits, Priests, Monks and friars with all their Covents; yea the Devil with all his Conclave of Hell, are all at work for the good of Saints. Its true they mean not, nor intend any such thing, their Designs are against you; they count they are working for themselves, as 'tis said concerning the Assyrian, Isa. 10 6, 7. God sent him forth upon a design of his own, to execute his council in the punishing of Hypocrites, to purge out the Chaff from the Wheat; Neverth●less he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; The Assyrian minds not what Gods design is, but follows his own design, fights for himself; but Gods design is still carried on by him, though he think not of it. Our Lord beats the Devil with his own adjoins, by those very means purging his Saints by which he endeavours to pollute them, making those very Persecutions by which he labours to force them from Holiness, to fix them in it; a fawning-world does them more mischief then a fuming Devil, by that the Devil hath cast up his Cards, he will find himself a loser by all his rage. Christians comfort your hearts, those floods that are cast forth against you shall wash you the whiter, and make you more meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light; your Purgatory prepares you for your Paradise. Sinners, whatever your mind be in Persecuting the Saints, you shall never debauch them by it; if that be your aim, you mistake your course; the living Spark which God hath kindled in them, will not be blown out, but blown up by your puffing at it; the dirt you cast upon them doth scour them the brighter; you take the best course you can to keep them closer to the Lord and his way; The warm Sun will more hazard the loss of their garments than the blustering wind; the Spirit of the Lord within them will be too hard for Hell with all its black regiment, and will not only secure them, but advance them yet higher by all their Assaults. These Stars shine the brightest when the night is darkest; when you have done your worst, it will be the better with them. Though they will not thank you, yet they will thank God for what they have suffered by you, your faces are too foul to draw them into your love, and yet not fierce enough to drive them into your fear.  
Satan try thy utmost strength and skill, and if thou losest not by thine own play at last, if thou findest not the people of God gotten nearer heaven by thy attempts of plucking them down to hell, then let thy lies be believed before the everlasting Gospel. Christians make me not ashamed in this same confident boasting of you: the honour of Gods truth and faithfulness lies at stake. He hath said, By this shall their iniquity be purged, and this shall be the fruit to take away their Sin. God hath said, All things shall Work for good to them, they shall not be the worse but the better for all that befalls them; they shall love me and my holy ways the more, they shall cleave unto me the closer, they shall be more pure and more tender, by all they suffer for righteousness sake; they shall love conscience, and their integrity and faithfulness to it never the worse, for that it hath cost them so dear, but shall prise it the more, and be the more wary and tender how they pollute and turn aside from it. God hath adventured deep upon you, make not him a liar; the devil and his instruments will be ready to say concerning you, as once he did to the Lord concerning his servant Job, Put them into our power, let us have the handling of them while, and thou shalt quickly see what Truth there is in them; they'l curse thee to thy face, they'l deny thee to thy face; they'l be ashamed of their God and their Godliness. Let God be true, Christians, and the Devil a liar. Let the World and their black Prince see that they cannot make you miserable, because they cannot make you sinners as themselves. Be able to say, Though all this be come upon us, our heart is not turned back from thee, neither have we declined from thy ways.   

Mr. Joseph Caryl.  
MR. Joseph Caryl saith, When God doth justly use wicked men to punish or Correct his people, they do their own will, and they have their own way; but God hath his way t●o: he over-rules them to effect his business at that time; at it is said of the King of Assyria, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, I will sand him against an hypocritical Nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him charge: how be it, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart thinks so, Isa. 10. He hath purposes of his own. So, they that are agitated by Satan, and provoked by him, they think not so, they think not they are doing the will and work, the dirty drudgery of the Devil, but the truth is they do it all the while. As it is said in the Revelation, The Devil shall cast some of you into prison; it was not the Devil in person, it was the Devil in his seconds or Servants. And these men little thought that they did the Devils service at that time; if one should have come and  told them You are now doing the Devils work and undertaking a piece of Service for him, you are so many Instruments and agents for Hell; they would not have believed it. But the truth is it was the Devils work. It is a fearful thing to persecute or oppress the people of God. Such in s●rving their own lusts, are indeed the right hand of Satan, the Devils hirelings.   

Dr. John own.  
DR. John own, that Pious and Learned Divine, comforting the godly with the assured hope that God will pled their cause against their Enemies, says thus:  
judgement shall at length overtake them, and God will revenge on them the Sins and Provocations, especially the Persecutions and Blood, of them that went before them, and led them into their apostasy. So when he shall come to destroy Mystical Babylon, or the Antichristian Church-state, it is said, That in her was found the Blood of the Prophets, and of Saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth, Rev. 18.24. Even the Blood of Saints, that was  shed by Pagan Rome, shall be avenged on Antichristian Rome, after she hath espoused the cause, and walked in the way of the other, justifying in her own practise, what they had done. Yet is there a day of patience continued unto this Idolatrous Persecuting Church, partly that they may fill up the measure of their Iniquities, and partly that God may by the word and means of Grace gather out all his people from amongst them according unto his Calls, Rev. 8.14. And our slowness in coming forth from them is probably one means of prolonging the day of her desolation. And now the Lord Jesus Christ seems to say unto his people, what the Angel said unto Lot, when he lead him out of Sodom, Make hast to escape, for he could not do any thing till he was escaped, Gen: 19.22. And I hope the time is approaching, wherein he will deal with his people, as the Angel did with Lot, verse 16. They are apt to linger and know not how to leave the outward accommodation of the Babylonish State, nor clear themselves of innumerable prejudices received therein. But he being merciful unto them, will at length lay hold on them by the word of his Power.   

Mr. John Flavell.  
MR. John Flav●l, speaking to the comfort and support of the godly under some troubles, does thus encourage them.  
When the Church, like the Ship in which Christ and his Disciples were, is oppressed, and ready to perish in the Waves of Persecution, then good souls are ready to sink and be shipwrakt too upon the Billows of their own fear. I confess most men rather need a Spur then Reins in this case, and yet some sit down as overweighed with the sense of the Churches troubles. The loss of the Ark cost old Eli his life; The sad pasture Jerusalem lay in, made good Nehemiahs countenance change in the midst of all the pleasures and accommodations of the Court, Neh. 2.2. Ah this goes close to honest hearts But though God allow, yea command the most awakened apprehensions of those Calamities, and in such a day call to mourning and weeping, girding with Sackcloth, Isa: 22.12. and severely threatens the insensible, Amos 6.1. Yet it doth not please him to see you sit despairing as Elijah under the Juniper-tree, 1 Kings 19.4. Ah! Lord God take away my life also. No; Mourners ye may and ought to be, and complain to God you may, but to complain against God you must not. I grant it is hard for him that prefereth Sion to his chief joy, to keep his heart that it sink not below the due sense of its troubles; and yet this may be done by the use of such heart-establishing directions as these.  
Settle this Truth in your Hearts, That no trouble befalls Sion, but it is by the permission of Sions God; and he permits nothing, out of which he will not bring much good to his people at last. There is as truly a principle of quietness in the permitting as in the commanding power of God. See David, in 2 Sam. 16.10. It may he God hath bidden him; and in Christ, John 19.11. Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above, it should much calm our spirits, that it is the Will of God to suffer it; and had he not suffered it, it could never have been as it is. This very consideration quieted Job, Eli, David, Hezekiah; that the Lord did it, was enough to them: If the Lord will have Sion ploughed as a field, and her stones lie in the dust; If it be his pleasure that Antichrist shall rage longer, and wear out the Saints of the Most High: If it be his will that a day of trouble, & of treading down and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts, shall be upon the valley of visions, that the wicked shall devour the man that is more righteous than he, what are we that we should contest with God? Fit it is that we should be resigned up to his Will.  
The God that Created us should dispose of us as he pleaseth. But then if we pursue this argument further, by considering that Gods Permissions do all meet at last in the real good of his people, these may much more compose our spirits. Do the enemies carry away the good Figs, even the best among the people into Captivity? This looks like a sad providence: But yet, God sends them thither for their good, Jer. 24.5. Doth God take the Assyrian as a staff in his hand to beat his people with? Those blows are smart, and make them cry; but the end of his so doing is, That he may accomplish his whole work upon Mount Sion, Isa. 19.12. If God can bring much good out of Sin, much more out of temporal Afflictions, and it is as evid●nt that he will, as that he can do so. The motions of Providence are all judicious, the Wheels are full of eyes it is sufficient that the Aff●irs of Sion are in a good hand. 2. Ponder this heart-supporting truth in refere●c● to Sions Trouble, that how many Troubles soever ar● upon her, yet her King is in her.  
What? hath the Lord forsaken his Churches? hath he s●ld them in●o the enemies hand? doth he not regard what evil bef●ls them? tha● our hearts sink at this r●te? Is it not too shameful and underv●luing of the Great God, and too much magnifying of impotent man, to fear and tremble at Creatures, whilst God is in the midst of us. 2. The Churches Enemies are many and mighty, let that be granted; yet that argument with which Caleb and Joshua striven to raise their own hearts, is of as much force now as it was then: The Lord is with us, Num. 14.9. The Historian tells us that when Antigonas overheard his Souldiers reckoning how many their Enemies were, and discouraging one another; he suddenly steps in among them with this question, And how many, said he, do you reckon me for? Discouraged Souls, how m●ny do you reckon the Lord for? Is he not an overmatch for all his Enemies? Is not one Almighty more than many Migh●ies? 3. Ponder the great advantages attending the People of God in an afflicted condition.  
If a low and an afflicted state in the World be best for the Church, then your dejections are not onely irrational but ungrateful: Indeed if you estimate the happiness of the Church by its worldly Ease splendour and Prosperity, then such times will seem bad for it; But if you reckon its glory to consist in its Humility, Faith Patience, and Heavenly-Mindedness no condition in the world abounds with such advantages for these as an afflicted condition doth. The power of Godliness did never thrive better than in affliction, and never ran lower than in times of Prosperity; When we are left a poor and an afflicted people, then we learn to trust in the name of the Lord. 4. Take heed that you observe the many precious mercies, which the people of God enjoy amid all their trouble. What say you to Pardon of Sin? Interest in Christ? The Covenant of Promise? And Eternity of Happiness in the Presence of God after a few day are over? O that a people under such mercies as these should drop under temporal affliction. You are it may be cast back in your estates, but thereby furthered in Spirituals? Remember the Church hath Riches laid out of the reach of its Enemies: they make you poor, but not miserable.  
What though an Abel be killed in Love, and Cain survives in Hatred? A bloody Dionysius dy in his bed, and a good Josiah fall in Battle: For electing love hath distingu●shed though common Providence did not; and whilst Prosperity and Impunity slay the Wicked, even-slaying and adversity shall benefit and save the Righteous. 5. Believe that howsoever the Church be plunged under the waters of adversity, it shall assuredly rise again. As sure as Christ arose the third day, notwithstanding the Seal and Watch that was upon him: so sure the Church shall arise out of all her troubles, and lift up its victorious head above all its Enemies; The Bush may be in a flamme, but shall never be consumed; and that because of the good will of him that dwelleth in the Bush. 6. Record the famous instances of Gods care and tenderness over his people in former straits. Christ hath not suffered it to perish yet. For above th●se 1600. years the Christian Church hath lived in affliction, and yet it is not consumed: Many Billows of Persecution hath gone over it, and yet it is not drowned; Hamans and Achitophels have plotted its ruin yet still it hath been supported under or delivered out of all its Troubles? And is it not as dear to God as ever! Is not he as able to save it now as formerly? 7. Try whether you can draw some comfort out of your very Trouble.  
Surely this Trouble is a good argument of your integrity; Union is the ground of sympathising. If you had not some rich adventure in that Ship, you would not tremble as you do, when it is in danger, Isa. 57.18.   

Mr. Thomas Watson.  
MR. Thomas Watson, To animate and encourage those 〈◇〉 are under Persecution, does thus bespeak them:  
Art thou under Sufferings? Thou hast an Opportunity to show the valour and constancy of thy Mind; some of Gods Saints would have accounted it a great favour, to have been honoured with Marytrdom. One said, I am in Prison t●ll I am in Prison; thou countest that a trouble, which others would have worn as an ensign of their Glory, even those who have gone only upon moral Principles, have shown much constancy and contentment in their Sufferings.  
Curtius being bravely mounted, and in armor, threw himself into a Gulf, that the C●ty Rome, according to the Oracle, might be delivered from the Pestilence; and we having a Divine Oracle, that they who kill the body, cannot hurt the Soul, should rather suffer for the Truth, than the Truth suffer for us. The Decii among the Romans vowed themselves to death that their Legions and Souldiers might be crwoned with the Honour of Victory. O what should we be content to suffer, to make the Truth Victorious! We who are Christians having made a Vow to Christ in Baptism, and so oft renewed it in the blessed Sacrament, should with much Contentation rather choose to Suffer, than to violate our Sacred Oath.  
Thus the blessed Martyrs, with what cheerfulness did they yield up their Souls to God? And when the fire was set to their bodies, yet their Spirits were not fired at all with Passion and discontent. Though others hurt the Body, let them not hurt the Mind through Discontent; show by your heroic Courage, that you are above those Troubles, which you cannot be without.   

Mr. James Nalton.  
MR. James Nalton, endeavouring to fore-warn, and so to fore-arm the People of God for Sufferings, gives them this Admonition and Consolation.  
God hath sore and shaking trials to exercise his Church withal. Through many Afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, and they that will live Godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer Persecution in one kind or other, in one measure or other; God sees shaking is needful to awaken us; to shake us out of our Security, and to purify and refine us, The hand of God hath been heavy upon the Protestant Churches of Piedmont and Poland. Oh the dreadful things that they have suffered! Why should we expect Exemption? are we better then they? be fore-warned, that you may be fore-armed; lay in Provision for the day of trial, lay in a stock of Faith and Patience and Self denial; gird on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand. The Troubles and trials of Gods Church, and Chosen, though they may be sharp, yet they shall be Short, Nero's Tribulation was but ten days, Rev. 2.10. For a small Moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee; in a little Wrath I hide my face from thee for a moment, but with Everlasting Kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer, Isa. 54.78. Therefore it serves exceedingly for the ●ncouragement of the Godly. Set against your present Affliction, the glory that it brings after, and against light Afflictions, a Weight of glory.   

Mr. William Jenkyn.  
MR. William Jenkyn, Speaking concerning the Nature, of Error and Idolatry, how that it inclines men to cruelty; amongst many other things hath these Words.  
They who are corrupt in their Judgement, go in the way of Cruelty. And after he had mentioned the Cruelty of heretics and Idolaters from the very beginning of the World, at length he comes down to the Savage Cruelty, and Barbarous Inhumanity of the Papists, of whom he thus speaks:  
But if ever the Spirit of C●in breathed in any since his time, or if ever any wrote after Cain's Copy in Letters of blood, certainly they have been those of the Papacy. How deservedly may their head and Father the Pope be called a Cain in chief; and he is called the Son of Perdition, as being not only appointed to Perdition, but the Author of Pe●d●ti●n and Destruction. How evidently is his Anti-christian cruelty s●t forth by being drunk with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus, Rev. 17.6. 1. Papal Cru●l●y spareth not, pitieth not any degrees, Sex, Age, Condition of men opposing their religion. Alphonsus Diazius,( another Cain) barbarously killed his own Brother John Diazius, because he was a Protestant: With what inhuman Cruelty have Protest●nts been compelled to discover for Slaughter, their dearest Relations, Pare●ts Ch●ldr●●●, Brethren, Wives, to carry Faggots to burn their godly and painful Pastors! and( which might surpass belief among Hea●hens) Children have been constrained to set fire to their own Parents. And Thaunus r●ports that a certain Woman having fled to a place to shun the rage of her Enemies, being drawn out of it by them; was in the si●ht of h r Husband shamefully defi●ed, and ●hen was forced by some of them; who ord●red her hand, to give her Husband his deaths wound with a drawn Sword. H●rrid was that Spectacle of the Child, which sprung out of the Womb of a woman burnt at Gernsey, which being saved out of the fire, was by the bloody Executioner cast in again, because it was a young heretic. A Child of eight years old, was by them scourged to death for Religion, and a Boy under twelve years old condemned for the six Articles: Yea, Popish Cruelty forbears not either to bury quick( as one Marion was condemned to be buried alive) or to unbury the dead, by violating of their Graves, digging out the Bodies, and burning them; thus they dealt with the Bodies of Bucer, Fagius, Wickl●ff, &c. How frequently hath Papal Power made Kings and Princes, Wolves and tigers, one against another! And sent forth Cut-throats and Villains with pardons, to Stab and poison the Kings and Potentates of the Earth! Their lives( they hold) may be taken away, if the Pope hold them Excommunicate. Emanuel Sa affirms it lawful for one to kill a King, if the Pope have sentenced him to death, though he is Lawful Prince: But Mariana gives direction ●ow it may be done with the best Convenience; he thinks poison to be the best Way, but that it be cast upon the Saddles, Garments, Chairs of the Prince. And he further tells us, that if they who kill such Kings shall escape, they ought to be Received as Noble Worthies; but if it fall out otherwise, that they lose their lives in the Undertaking, that then they are a sweet smelling Sacrifice to God and man, and that their Names shall be Illustrious to all Posterity. This book of Mariana was approved by the jesuits. Its not Lawful( saith Bellarmine) for Christians to tolerate an Heretical King, if he Labours to draw his Subjects to his Heresy; and when the Pope hath passed Sentence upon a King, then after this public Sentence, they generally affirm it Lawful for any to kill a King. So Bellarmine, Gregory, Tolet, Swarez, Molina, Lessius, &c. Nor 2. doth Popish Cruelty less discover itself in the Numbers, than in the Ranks and Degrees of those whom they destroy for Religion. These Popish Cains, destroy Multitudes of Abels. Infamous is the Cruelty of that Savage Minerius, the Popes Champion, against the Merindolians; he destroyed twenty and two Towns, and murdered the Inhabitants, whether they resisted or not; and when the men of Merindol stying from 's Army left behind them their tender Wives and Children, this Popish blood-hound practised all villainy and Cruelty upon them. The Town of Cabriers being yielded into his hands, he hewed thirty men in pieces; put forty feeble Women( some with Child) into a Barn full of Straw, caused it to be set on fire at the four Corners, and such who got out he caused to be cut in pieces. In this one Town were thus mercilessly murdered above a Thousand Protestants. In two Towns of Calabria, eight hundred Protestants were murdered, Fourscore whereof had their Throats cut one by one, yet so as that every one was left but half dead by the Executioner. In the French M●ssacre in thirty days, thirty thousand were slain; And principally this bloody Disposition of Cain discovers itself in the cruel and Savage manner of murdering; Minerius( aforementioned) cut off the Paps of the poor Mothers of Sucking Children, and the Children looking from their dead Mothers were starved to death. It hath been their practise to hold men in death so long as they could; inflicting( as it were) a Thousand deaths in one, and making them so to die, as to perceive themselves to die. Joannes de Roma used this torment to force the Lutherans to accuse themselves; he filled boots with boyIing grease, and put them upon the Legs of those whom he suspected; and tying them backward to a form with their Legs hanging down over a soft Fire, he examined them. Nor is the fiery Cruelty of those who embrace false Doctrines, any strange thing. The Erroneous in their judgement may be left of God to apprehended so much truth, and weight, and worth in their errors, that even that thing( Conscience, I mean) which by its Light and Tenderness hinders others from Sin, by discovering it to them, and troubling them for it, may, being depraved by error, put people upon sinful injuriousness to others, and to think that they do God the best Service, when they they are most cruel to his best Servants.  
To conclude, The Wisdom of God is in nothing more manifested than in overthrowing Error by the weight of its own Cruelty and Rage; and in making Professors of Truth multiply by Dying, and to over come by being overcome.  
The Professors of Truth then have as little cause to be secure, as the Patrons of error have of being cruel. Never did the Light shine but the Wicked barked at it, if righteous Abel was murdered when there was but one Cain, what may he expect when C●i●● do so abound in Wrath and Numbers! M●rtyr●om came into the World early: The first man that d●ed, dried ●or Religion, and how careful should Christians be, that they leave not the Truth of God for fear of the Wrath of men? itis better to die fighting for it, than flying from it. How much sorer an Enemy is the great God, than a silly worm!  
This may be a word of Comfort as well as Caution to all persecuted Abels. Cains do not so much strike at them, as at the truth in them, and professed by them. God will vindicate his own cause. Though the enemies are read with blood of Truths Champions, yet their great Captain will one day appear, in Garments made r●d with the blood of their Enemies, whom he will tread in the Winepress of his Wrath; and the blood of every Abel cries with a loud voice for Vengeance, which will never give rest to the righteous Judge, till all those that are not willing to become the friends of his Truth, become his foot-stool for rising up against it.   

Mr. J●mes Janeway.  
MR. James Janeway, That worthy Minister amongst his motives to encourage to acquaintance with God, he gives this for one, that God hath a sympathy with his people in their Afflictions.  
He is( saith he) a sympathising friend, it goes to his heart, when any injuries are done to any of his; when his friends are wronged, it toucheth him to the quick. He is tender of them, as the Apple of his eye, Isa. 63.6. In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the Angel of his Presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed, and he bare them and carried them all the days of old. How oft do you red of strange pity in the Book of Judges, when they had by their own folly more than once brought themselves into Calamity? How do his Bowels yern over them? And when any of his are grovelling under trials, how many Cordials are prepared for them? If you should ask pharaoh, he would tell you that it is a dangerous thing to wrong Gods friends: Why else doth God lay about him with so much indignation, when they are oppressed. Yea for their sakes he rebukes Kings, saying, Do my Prophets no harm; if they do it, be it on their Peril. How did he bear the afflictions of his people Israel in Egypt?  
Did he stand still as if he were unconcerned? Did he shut his eyes and not see? Or did he stop his ears to their cries? No, no, he sees, he sees the Sufferings of his in Egypt. And that both his enemies & friends too, shall know, the one to their comfort, the other to their cost, Exod. 3.7. How doth he awaken for their help, and gird on his Sword upon his thigh, and march out with Fury? How doth he cloath himself with vengeance as with a rob, and brandish his glittering Sword, & sheathe it in the heart of his & their enemies. Wherefore is it that God hath so many controversies with Edom, Ammon, and Amaleck? Why doth he muster up his forces with violence against Babylon? Whose quarrel doth he engage in? What was the ground of that war? If you red over all the Indictments before this great Judge, you will find this a common one, their hatred of his people.  
Another motive to acquaintance with God, which he gives in the same place is this: That God is a present friend, and he enlargeth upon it thus: How oft have the Children of God been clapped up in a Dungeon, not onely from the light, but from the knowledge of their dear acquaintance? But now God is such a friend, who cannot, who will not be kept out from his by Walls of Brass or Bars of Iron, he will find-out his friends, and be with them in spite of all the powers of Hell. O how reviving are his Visits? What Cordials doth he bring along with him? This is that which makes the people of God so very che●rful; was that a Prison or Heaven, where those Martyrs were singing Hallelujahs? When they were loaded with reproaches, and Irons, and Chains, counted the troubles of the Nation, mad men, heretics? The case is clear; the sight of this friend made them think their Chains Gold, and their Prisons liberty, Isa. 43.1, 2. O Israel I have redeemed thee,( said God) when thou p●ssest thorough the Fire I will be with thee. Who was with the three Children in the fiery furnace? with Daniel in the Lions Den? was it not this friend that I am speaking of?  
Christ sympathizeth with his Suff●ring Saints; in all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them. Christians, suffer when and where you will, Christ suffers then and there with you Had Persecutors eyes, they would see this, and they would be afraid of this. If we perish, Christ perisheth with us, could Luther say. Suffering Saints, Christ so loves you as that he suffers with you; are you in Dungeons? Christ is there too. Are you with Job on the dunghill? Christ there sits by you; every drop of Blood you  shed, goes to the heart of Jesus Christ. The Baptism of afflictions wherewith you are Baptized is Christs; Surely he rather suffers in you, than you for him, or if you will say you suffer for him, yet know he sympathizeth with you in those Sufferings.  
5. Christ ordereth all the Sufferings of his Saints for quality, quantity and duration. 1. For quality, Christ orders to some mockings, Bonds, Imprisonments; to others stoning, sawing, killing with the Sword. Christ tells Peter by what death he should glorify him. 2. For quality Thou tellest my wanderings; he means his wanderings, whilst he was persecuted; such wanderings as the Apostle means, They wandered about in Sheeps-skins and Goat-skins, being destituto, afflicted, and tormented. David must not wander a step more then Christ would. Nor do Saints weep a Tear, nor bleed a drop, bear a stripe more, than Christ Numbers out. 3. for Duration, he orders that too; Ye shall have Tribulation ten days. The Gentiles did tread the holy City under foot forty two month●, the Witnesses lie in the Streets three days and a half, So many days, months, years, Christ orders all.  
6. Christ often gives to Saints glorious Visions in their Sufferings: was it not thus with John and Stephen? and how many Martyrs have spoken of such Spiritual Visions, Visits, incomes, which they have had in Prisons, the like of which they never found or felt at other times? We have our Rings, Jewels, Chains, Net works to our children if they be in pains, which we lock up in closerts and in Cabinets at other times. Christ gives Cabinet comforts and discoveries to his Members in Prisons and Dungeons, of which many have had sweet and gracious experiences.  
7. Christ rewards all the Sufferings of his Saints: To you that have continued with me in my Temptation, I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, Luke 22.29, 30. For our affliction which is for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory. 2 Cor. 4.16. Blessed is the man that endureth Temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life. terrors are trading with God for Glory said Gardius. And Persecutors are my Fathers Goldsmiths( said Barnard) who are working to add Pearls to the Crowns of Saints. Christians; comfort yourselves with these words.   

Dr. Thomas Goodwin.  
DR. Thomas Goodwin, Speaking of Gods Speaking peace to his People: hath these Words of Encouragement concerning the Church in a Distressed and afflicted Condition.  
Is the Church, saith he, in Distress? he can redeem it with a word. A word spoken to Cyprus his Heart did set them in their own Land again; so you have it expressed, Isa. 44 26, 27, 28. God hath said to the Cities of Judah, &c. You see his manner of doing it, it is a word speaking; He says to Jerusalem, Be built; and though there be great Impediments in the way, he will say to the deep, be dry, that his People may pass over; he dried up a whole Nation, a Sea of People, namely the Babylonians, to make way for this Deliverance. And when they are conquered, and Cyrus, a new King comes to have the Sway of things, God speaks to his heart also; That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd; and causeth him to say to Jerusalem, Be thou built. Therefore go to him, and trust in him in all the Distresses of the Church, as the Church also did, Psalm. 44.4. Thou art my King, command deliverances; a Mandamus from God doth it, and will do it at any time. One Reason hereof he gives is this:  
1. If we consider( saith he) who this God is, that is to speak peace, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, he is the Lord, and therefore able to speak what pleaseth him; he is peculiarly the God of Peace, and therefore willing to speak peace. Now, when it is said, he is the God of Peace, and the God of Comfort, the meaning is, he is full of it, infinitely full of it, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks: Thoughts of Peace and Love to his, do boil within him, as hatred or Malice doth in a Malicious man towards his Enemy, So as he cannot forbear expressing it towards him; that as David says his thoughts did burn within him, and at last break forth; So in God, I know the thoughts that I think towards you,( says he to them of the Captivity,) Jer. 29.11. They are thoughts of peace. And 2. Besides that these his thoughts of Peace are taken up of himself, so his Son also hath bespoke peace for us; and therefore God will speak it. Even as Joseph though he spake roughly a while to his Brethren, yet could not in the end contain, Gen. 15.1. So nor God. A second reason he gives is this.  
Secondly,( saith he) let us consider, who they are to whom he is to speak it, they are his people as the Text hath it. They are his people, that is the reason given, 1 Sam. 12.22. He will not cast off his people, as Esa. 63.8, 9. When they rebelled he was wrath, yet he said, surely, they are my people, so was I their Saviour, and although some differences may arise betwixt God and them, there is a natural 〈◇〉 in the Lord, that moves him in the end to speak peace to them: as the Dumb Son of Craesus when he saw his father like to be killed, though he had never spake before, yet then out of an impetus of spirit, the strings of his Tongue were unloosed, and he cried out to the murderer, kill not King Craesus; so when the Enemies of his Church is ready to devour his people, and Satan is ready to swallow his Children up in despair, then Gods Bowels work within him, and he can hold no longer, but crys, save my Child, save my Church. Is Ephraim my pleasant Child, says God, Jer. 31.20. well, though I spake against him, yet my Bowels are stirred for him. I will surely have mercy upon him.   

Mr. Isaac Ambrose.  
MR. Isaac Ambrose in that part of his discourse concerning the Sufferings of the Godly, wherein he exhorts them, both to be thankful for their Sufferings, and rejoice in their Sufferings, and he bespeaks them thus.  
Be thankful to God for Afflictions. 1 Pet. 14. If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye, for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on you. As Noahs Dove hovered over the Water and found no place where she could rest her foot on, until she returned into the Ark; So doth the Spirit of God as it were hover over the Souls of men, it wanteth rest, and when it sees a Soul suffer for the Truth, there it lights, the Spirit of God and of Glory resteth upon you. And thus having exhorted them to thankfulness for Sufferings he subjoins an Exhortation to Joyfulness in Sufferings.  
Let us with joy draw Waters out of the Wells of Salvation. Let us comfort ourselves in our Suffering Condition, Methinks I hear some Suffering Saint sigh and say, Lam. 1.2. I weep sore in the night, and my Tears are on my Cheeks, all my friends have dealt Treacherously with me. I stand for Christ, but none stands by me, I own him, but none owns me. Bleeding Christian bear up, though men forsake thee yet Christ will own thee, though men as swallow-shallow friends do leave thee in the winter of affliction, yet Christ as a constant friend abides: it is thy glory that thou sufferest for Christ, rejoice as Paul did in thy sufferings. Know this for thy comfort, that thou that sufferest with him, shall also reign with him: in the mean while what sweetness dost thou feel from Christ, it is thy privilege, and surely thou mayest, I hope thou dost expect more than ordinary sweetness from thy Saviour. Seest thou not Heaven clear over thee? doth not Christ led thee gently? the Cup in thy hand, though it taste bitter to the Flesh, doth not the spirit make it sweet? whats that in the bottom of thy bloody Cup? is it not love. Are not thy draughts of sufferings sweeter and sweeter? what glory is that, which rests upon thee? is not Christ with thee in the Fire? and doth not he pass with thee through the water? in this thy storm of wind, and rain doth not the Sun shine? Ah could I have his presence, I should slight Persecutions did I but enjoy the least of his love, I could tr●umph in the flamme of their wrath. But ah, alas wo. Hark soul, Christ cannot be long away, he comes leaping over the Mountains, see how the Clouds flee away: Surely the Sun will shine presently, he cannot be long away, thy very Sin shall not, therefore thy Sufferings cannot separate between him and thee; Why sayest thou O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hide from the Lord, hast thou not heard? hast thou not known the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth? he fainteth not, he giveth power to the faint, Isa. 11.27, 28. Sing ye Sufferers, rejoice ye Prisoners of hope, the Lord whom you look for, and long after he is with you he cannot be absent from you. Christ is in your Prisons( though it may be you are not ware of it) however cast not away your confidence, for he that shall come will come 'tis spoken to Sufferers, Heb. 10.35. Consider of these particulars.  
1. Christ is especially present with his Suffering Saints, thus run the Promises. Fear not O Israel, when thou passest through the water, I will be with thee, when thou passest through the Fire thou shall not be burned, Isa. 43.1, 2. O what sweet promises, what Flagons of Wine are these to comfort the distressed Soul! As caesar said to the trembling mariners, be not afraid, for you carry caesar. So I may say to poor Persecuted, Afflicted Christians, for he that is your King is in you; and with you. Upon this ground David comforted his Soul; Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy Staff and thy Rod they comfort me. When Paul was bereaved of his sight, then( as some conceive) he was wrapped into the third Heaven, and heard those words from Christ. When Stephen was at the Bar, and the shower of Stones was ready to fall down upon his head, then he saw Heaven itself open, and the Son of Man standing at the Right-hand of God. When the three Children were in the Furnace, Christ was there to make the fourth, I saw four men loose walking in the midst of the Fire, and th Form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Dan. 3.25.  
2. Christ is not onely present but supportingly present with his in their Sufferings. Thou art with me saith David, thy Rod and thy S●●ff they comfort me. Though all men forsook Paul when he was to answer before Nero, notwithstanding, said Paul, the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me.  
3. Christ gives his S●ints cordials suitable to their Sufferings, they shall put y●u out of the Synagogues saith Christ, and kill you, first that he said they should put you out of the Synagogues, now suitable to this, Christ  told them that he went to prepare Mansions for them in his Fathers house, 2. they shall kill you( said he) suitable to this Christ tells them that their lives should be as sure as his, Because I live ye shall live also.  
4. Christ sympathizeth   

Doctor Jacomb.  
DOctor Jacomb speaking concerning pleasing of God, by way of application hath these comfortable expressions.  
You may suffer, saith he,( speaking to those that endeavour to please God) but when you suffer, the Father will not leave you. Pleasing of God doth not secure a man from suffering from men: Nay, sometimes it rather exposes a man to suffer from men, but now though it doth not prevent Suffering, yet it takes away the sting and venom of Suffering, it makes it to be like Samsons lion, when it was slain he found honey in the Belly of it; Oh! the Presence of God in the time of Affliction is exceeding precious, it turns gull into honey, thorns into Roses.  
If God be with you all will be well. If God comes when the across cometh, the weight of it shall not hurt you: What is a Prison when God is there? My friends so long as God doth not leave you it will be well; therefore do not fear, be not dejected or discouraged, Isa. 4 3.1, 2. Fear not, O Jacob, why so, When thou passest thorough the water, I will be with thee, it is not a Prison, but a Palace where God is; they that do the things that please God, God will never leave them: O bless his Holy Name.   

Mr. Nathaniel Vincent.  
MR. Nathaniel Vincent in a Sermon he Preached after his enlargement, amongst many other weighty and material things discourseth on these two heads, 1. that it hath been a very usual thing for Ministers to be Imprisoned. 2. That if they are Prisoners it should be for Christ, and not for evil doing. Concerning the first of these he speaks thus: Jeremiah the Prophet was Imprisoned, Jer. 32.2. He that was more than a Prophet John the Baptist had the same measure. 'Tis said, that Herod to his other evil deeds added this above all, that he shut up John in Prison. The Apostles also were laid hands on, by the Chief Priest and those that were with him, and put into the Common Prison, Acts 5.18. Because they wrought Cures upon the Bodies, and Preached Salvation to the Souls of men. And amongst other reasons why God suffers his Servants to be Imprisoned, he gives this for one:  
To raise in the peoples hearts an esteem of Ministry and Ordinances; that the contempt of Godly Ministers has been a great Sin, for which God hath had a Controversy with England, cannot but be granted: F●r this Sin is plainly written in the Severities which are Executed against them, by which they have been driven into Corners. God suffered such things to come to pass, that his Ministers may in love be the more highly esteemed▪ the light of the Gospel is by many chiefly desired when there is an eclipse of that light. When you want spiritual privileges, their worth is better apprehended: therefore the Lord suffers a scarcity; that the appetite of Souls being recovered, a Famine of the word may be prevented. When you have been for a season without Ordinances, oh then they will be prized, Psal. 27.4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, &c. and upon the second head, to wit, that if they are Imprisoned it should be for Christ and not for evil doing, he gives this for a reason.  
If Ministers are Prisoners of Christ, he will be sure to visit them. As his withdrawings are doleful, so his visits are exceeding refreshing; Though the place be a Den, a Cave, a Dungeon; the presence of the Lord can transfigure it, as it were, so that they shall say, it is good for us to be here. If Christ come and speak peace by his spirit, and as he did to his Apostle Paul, say, be of good cheer; If he say my Brother, or my Sister, know this to thine everlasting consolation, That my Father is thy Father, that my God is thy God, John 20.17. Presently the Soul will cry out, and that with sufficient reasons, Kings and Emperours I envy not your high estate; your Crowns and sceptres. I despise them all in comparison of the comfort and pleasure wherewith my Bonds are sweetened. And pressing this point by way of exhortation; he expresseth himself thus.  
Let me exhort you to cleave to the Lord, whatever it shall cost you. Thus Barnabas exhorted the Saints at Antioch, that they would cleave unto the Lord with purpose of heart. Your Souls will be secured; an Inheritance thatis incorruptable, undefiled and fad●th not away is promised. Let this therefore be the thought of thy heart; Liberty is desirable, but Christ is more desirable; Relations are dear and so is a good name but Christ is dearer, life is sweet, but Christ is sweeter. But I must needs mention a third point which he handles in that same discourse, which is this, that it is no disgrace but a honour and Glory to be imprisoned for Christ: two of his reasons also I will here set down for the encouragement of sufferers for Christ. The first is: The Glory of Christ, for whom they suffer, he is called the Lord of Glory. 1 Cor. 2.8. as to his divine nature he is Styled the brightness of his Fathers Glory, and the express image of his person. Heb. 1.3. and consider him as God man, he is highly exalted, and hath a name given him above every name, to which every knee must bow: that is, to his power and authority one way or other shall be subject. Now such a glorious Lord doth ennoble sufferings that are undergone for him: 2 The Spirit of Glory resting upon them. 1 Pet. 4.14. If ye be reproached for righteousness sake happy are ye, for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you. The Holy Spirit is here called the Spirit of Glory, because he assures of that Glory which is promised to a persevering believer; because he gives in that grace, which is Glory begun; and because he enables to such an Holy magnanimity, and braveness of carriage as is beautiful and glorious in the eyes of beholders, and often times marvelous to enemies themselves. The same Author in a discourse upon the second Chapter of Rev. vers. 10. speaks thus: The tribulation of believers( saith he) will not last always; after ten days that is a short time. Ye shall have tribulation ten dayes. The Holy Ghost reckons by days. Ten days is put for a few days. The arguments to confirm this Doctrine are these. 1. One shall be drawn from the desire of Christ the head to have his members with him, therefore they shall not long be absent from him; & when they are with him no troubles at all shall be their companions. Christ in the days of his flesh prayed thus. Joh. 17.24. Father I will that these also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the World. Christ is now gone to his Father and he hath prepared mansions for the Saints, and those mansions shall not be long empty; believers groan to be clothed upon with their house from Heaven to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. The Lord Jesus desires and prays for their company. Surely before long those who are so mutually desirous of each other will come together:  
A second argument shall be drawn from the shortness of the triumph of the Saints adversaries God will quickly cut asunder the cords of the wicked, that plow upon Sions back and make long their furrows. I have seen saith David the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay three; yet he passed away and lo, he was not, yea I sought him, but he could not be found; his great power which he abuses to oppress and trouble the Saints and himself too shall quickly pass away cruelty doth ripen them apace for vengeance.  
3. A third argument shall be drawn from the shortness of the Saints continuance in the vale of tears. The thoughts of death may be refreshing to the Saints. Death is their last enemy; after Death no enemy can molest them.  
4. A fourth argument shall be drawn from the Saints immediate entrance into rest upon their dissolution. The Apostle joins being dissolved, and being with Christ together, and speaking of believers in the general, he says. 2 Cor. 5.1. for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. The Spirits of just men immediately upon their Separation are made perfect, perfectly free from sin and misery, which while united to the body they were loaded with. Then by way of application: Is the tribulation of the Saints short? then let not Patience be weary. The benefit of affliction and the nearness of your rest should induce you to suffer with cheerfulness. Is the tribulation of the Saints short? then see the difference between the Saints and sinners. What is it to have tribulation ten days, and then to triumph in the presence of God and of the Lamb for ever? another Doctrine of encouragement to those, that remain faithful unto the death and fall not away from Christ for any tribulations or afflictions that they undergo in the World for his names sake, is this: Upon those that continue faithful unto death; Christ will certainly bestow a crown of life and immortality upon you. If the eye were more open, and strong sighted how would this crown glister and Shine? what a vehement inducement would it prove to perseverance? and in the application of this point thus he speaks: Let this crown of life he made use of to fence thee against the Devils temptations. When the Devil tells thee of ease and gain and pleasure, which sin will afford, reply, come O thou lying and deceitful Spirit, put thy ease, and gain, and pleasure into one balance of the Sanctuary, and I will put the crown of life and Glory into the other, and what is sinful ease to the Saints rest? or the gain of Gold to the Saints Glory? or pleasures of sin for a moment to eternal rejoicing? Let this crown of life make you long for your Lords appearing. Oh cry unto him that the wheels of his chariot may make greater hast. Long for the time when the Heavens shall break a sunder, and the fairest of ten thousand shall show his face through the clouds, and sit upon his great white throne to judge the World in righteousness: And Oh what a Spectacle will it be to behold the head and all the members together.   

Mr. Thomas Vincent.  
MR. Thomas Vincent that very able and zealous and yet meek and humble-Spirited servant of Christ, lately deceased, Brother to him that is yet alive in his discourse concerning Christs appearing in judgement, he represents to the eye of faith Christ as already come to judgement, and araigning the several ranks and degrees of malefactors, and amongst others these two, the Scoffers at Religion and the persecutors of the people of God: he brings in Christ as present in judgement speaking to them thus.  
First. Come forth all ye Scoffers at Religion, and the zealous professors thereof; who taught and spake of religion, as if it had been a cunningly devised fable, and of Holy and humble Christians, as if they were mean Spirited, foolish and contemptible people, and have used the name of a Saint in derision, and proverb of reproach. Have you the same mind now that religion was but a fancy? is your Resurrection and my appearance but a fancy? is your punishment eternal in Hell like to be but a fancy? Had you not a sure ground and bottom for your faith in the Scriptures? could you h●ve desired more reasonable evidence of things done before your age? could you laugh at Scripture threatenings; and can you l●ugh now you are come to execution? could y●u contemn Gospel promises; and are they so contemptible now in your eyes; when now you see the accomplishment of them before you? against whom was it that you opened so wide a Mouth? whom was it that you did fl●ut and scorn? what? my Disciples, Because they were meek and humble, and did not take the pleasures of sin with you, and were strict in their profession and conversation? What think you of them now? were they so mean Spirited and contemptible? Were they so foolish, which made so wise a choice? did they well or ill in staying till this time for their happiness? look on the persons now whom you have scorned and thought unworthy of your company; was it so ridiculous a thing to be a Saint as you imagined? was not shining with them in Glory at all desirable? would not you be glad to be numbered amongst them now? Why do you not laugh and fleer at the Saints now? ye fools and blind Sots do you know what you scoffed at? Could you see no excellency in holiness; and the divine nature, in my image, which was engraven upon them? Did ever any man of understanding laugh at the light of the Sun? They were lights in the dark World where they lived; what, mock at holiness? hereby you mocked at God himself, who is infinitely glorious in this attribute, and hereby distinguished from all his Creatures; vile wretches! take them Devils, bind them hand and foot. Then he immediately brings in Christ araigning persecutors and speaking to them in this manner:  
Come forth all ye persecutors of my Disciples; was it not enough for you to mock them; but must you persecute them too? was it not enough to persecute them with the tongue, but must you persecute them with the hand? what could you betray them like Judas for a piece of money, or out of malice, which was worse? Could you disturb them in their Service and Worship of me when they were praying for your conversion and Salvation? Could you seek the ruin of such as were the best friends of your Souls? Could you hale and drag them to prison, who endeavoured to keep you out of the prison of Hell! when you never received injury from them; Could you be so injurious to them? Do you know whom ye persecuted? It was me, it was me whom ye persecuted when ye persecuted my Disciples; it was me, whom ye wound throed their sides; it was me you betrayed in betraying them; it was me ye imprisoned in imprisoning them; it was me ye spurned at in lifting up the heel against them; and did you ever think to prosper in this way? You, you have been above all other persons upon the earth my professed enemies, and most like your Father the Devil; come ye Wretches gird up your loins l●ke men; gather your forces together; put on strength and courage if you have any; and lift up your hand if you dare against me; do you find strength to fail you now, and your forces too weak to make resistance? And were you so foolish as to engage in battle, where you might have known, you should certainly be conquered at the last? Doth your courage fail you upon the sight of the Captain? and should you not have been afraid to hurt my anointed ones, my listed Souldiers? you served the Devil and fought under his banner against me and mine, and can he deliver you now out of mine hand? can he defend you against my rage and fury? or would he do it, if it lay in his power? had you ever more spite and malice against my people, then the Devil hath against you, in setting you about persecution work? Did not he design your ruin hereby? Did not he think on this day, and on purpose drew you to this sin, that you might be the more horribly tormented? And doth not he with his angels wait now for you, that they may drag you unto torments. Take them Devils, bind them hand and foot. Thus he flasheth lightning in the faces of the persecutors of the people of God, and foretells them their doom with a great deal of power and divine Authority.  
But as he was a Boanerges, a Son of Thunder in denouncing of vengeance against cruel persecutors so he was a Barnabas a Son of consolation to Afflicted Persecuted Saints: therefore I will add a word of encouragement which he speaks to Saints in the conclusion of that same discourse: for unto those terrible Thunder claps of threatenings and Denunciations of Wo and Vengeance against the Enemies of God, he sweetly subjoins this Word of encouragement to Suffering and Cross-bearing Christians.  
Rejoice Believers, and take comfort, though you are scorned by some, and accounted as the off-scouring of the earth you are reproached and vilified by men here, but all your reproaches, especially those which you have born for the sake of Jesus Christ, shall be wreathed into a Crown, and make you the more glorious in heaven, there you shall not be disgraced, but shall shine like so many Stars or Suns in the Kingdom of your Father.   

Mr. Charnock.  
MR. Charnock, That Late Eminent Minister, in discoursing of the Providence of God towards his people, how that he hath usually brought them very low before he hath delivered them, hath many comfortable words which are very applicable to the present afflicted condition of the Church of God.  
The Israelites( saith he) were not saved, till they were put between the Sea, Hills and Forts, that their destruction was inevitable unless Heaven relieved them, pharaoh resolved to have his will, and God resolved to have his; but he let him come with his whole force and open mouth at the Israelites Backs, and then makes the waters his Sepulchre, Psal. 12.5. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now will I arise saith the Lord, I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. Now this is the time I watched for, as fittest for my own glory and their safety. Then God overthroweth his enemies, wh●n they seem to have got the Goal with the Ball at their foot. And God doth hereby glorify himself, that is a season when Gods mercy will be prized, his power admired, his wisdom adored, his Justice cleared, 1. God glorifies his power, the greater the malice against the Church, the weaker the Churches ability to help her self, the more is the power of God magnified in their deliverance.  
Had not the Disciples been in a great Storm, ready to be cast away, and Christ asleep, they had not seen such visible marks of the extensiveness of their Masters power. Had God brought Israel out of egypt in the time of the Kings, that were friends to them from a kindly remembrance of Joseph, there had been no Character of a Divine Power, though there had been of a Divine Truth apparent in the case; but he set apart that time for their deliverance when he was to contest with mighty opposition from the whole Body of the Egyptian Nation, who had forgot Joseph, their great Benefactor. When the Jews thrust Christ out of Nazareth, lead him to the brow of the Hill, and where ready ro cast him down, then & not till then he frees himself out of their hands. As Christ dealt thus for himself, so he deals for his Church in all Ages.  
2. God glorifies his Wisdom. The Physitians skill is best evidenced in Mastering a desperate Disease. He raises the trophies of his wisdom upon the subtle devices of his enemies.  
3. God glorifies his mercy; Had God stopped pharaoh at his first march, by raising some mutiny in his Army, his mercy to his people as well as his power against his Enemies had not been so conspicuous: The more desperate dangers are, the fitter Subject for the advancement of Gods Kindness.  
4. God glorifies his Justice. There is a measure of wickedness which God stays for, which must needs be an object of his Justice, Psal. 2.3, 5. Then shall he speak to them in his wrath and vex them &c. When they did cast away his Bands and cords from them, verse 2. When the grapes of wickedness are thus fully ripe, then is Gods time for the honour of his Justice to cast them into the Winepress of his wrath. And after he declares that those deliverances as they make for the manifestation of the glory of God, so also for the advantage of his people, amongst other advantages he mentions these two one of which is this:  
Hereby( saith he) God doth encourage and give an argument for Prayer. The time of the Tempest was the time of the Disciples praying to Christ. The Spirit of Prayer upon the Church is a presage of their adversaries ruin. When God sought to destroy the enemies of Jerusalem he poured upon them a spirit of grace and suppiication, Zach. 12.9. 2 By this means he fits them for a holy reception of the mercy intended; humility like the Plow Fits for receiving the Seed of Mercy.   

Mr. Newcomen.  
MR. Newcomen speaking concerning the deposition of himself and many other worthy Ministers, speaks thus.  
I would, saith he, advice you and entreat you, that we may all of us lay to heart, this present dispensation of God towards us, and the Nation in this respect, that we may be sensible of it. I remember when I was young and my famous Predecessor, Mr. Rogers, was taken off from his Ministry in this kind, though but for a few weeks, these Parts were wonderfully sensible of that Providence, and laid it to heart; and were much in Humiliation and in Prayer; and I think I may say, they received an answer again within some weeks. Now Brethren though he was worth some hundreds of us; yet now it is not the laying by of one man, but if multitudes, fifty in one place, and threescore in another; and fourscore in another, and this is not by a single Bishop, but by an Act of Parliament, which makes the Wound the wider, and the more uncapable of cure; shall so many Burning Lights be quenched together? So many Wells of the water of Life be stopped up together? and you not lay it to heart? I beseech you consider and be sensible.  
2. In the deepest and saddest sense you have of this Providence of God; watch over your own Spirits, that you lay the blame of it no where so much as upon yourselves. Blame none so much for this as yourselves. Some blame the times and charge it on their iniquities; others are apt to blame us Ministers. Might my advice take place with this people, I w●uld desire that every one of us might lay the blame no where so much as on ourselves, for certainly we have procured these things to ourselves, I find our Predecessors the Martyrs when by a Law Religion was changed in the Nation, and Idolatry set up, they laid the blame not on the Law makers, but on themselves, and their own hears. One of them saith all this is come upon us because we did not love the Gospel●, we were gospelers in lip, but not in life; much more doth it become us, whose S●fferings are far less, to blame ourselves more, then we blame any others.  
My third advice is this, and I beseech you take it in love, for it is out of love that it is given you; if you should perceive at this time a difference in opinion and practise among us, that are the Ministers of the Gospel in this Nation; standing and sticking at things that others can digest, and do; and others doing things, that some of their Brethren cannot come up unto. Be not offended, thus it hath always been from the beginning, it is no new thing. Thus it was in King Edwards days.  
If there be any of Gods Servants that are Learned Holy and Faithful, that do now for the enjoyment of their Ministry, yield a Conformity to all that is enjoined, I doubt not but many of them are grieved, and we who cannot come up to this, are grieved that we cannot come up to it. It hath been all along a merciful Providence of God, that when some of his Servants could not satisfy their Consceiences, and come up to the things that have been imposed upon them, wit hout injring their Consciences, yet others have had a greater freedom given them that they could yield, and if it had not been so, what would have become of the people of God. Therefore in those things aclowledge there may be some Providence of God for good to you in it.  
4. My fourth advice I shall deliver to you is ihat of the Holy man and Martyr of God, Mr. Bradford in his Letter to the City of London, saith he, let us hearty bewail our sins and repent of our evils, let us amend the evil of our lives, let us every one be diligent in Prayer, and attend with reverence on the reading and hearing of Gods Holy Word, let us reprove the works of darkn●ss, let us fly from Idolatry, and which is the particular I would indeed commend unto you. Obey the Magistrate, and them that are set over us in the Lord, in all things, that are not against the Word; and when they command any thing contrary to the Word; let us answer, it is meet to obey God rather than men. However saith he, resist not the Magistrate, but commit your cause unto God, be patient; rise not against Authority, but wait on God, till he please to cause the light to arise and shine again upon you. This is my fourth advice.  
5. red the Word of God, and take helps for the right understanderstanding of what you red. The Book of Annotations is a great help to enlighten you to understand the Scriptures. red that part of the Book of Martyrs which contains the History of Queen Maries days; they will inform you, of the great Controversies that are between us and the Papists, and they will inform you, what you shall answer; the reading how cheerfully they went to Prison and to the Stake, will embolden you against the fears & Sufferings of death: and the reading of their Letters will be a great means to edify and build you up. Another advice he gives is this, red the Word in your Families, and Catechize your Families, and see that they may understand them, another advice is this. Put on that holy resolution of Joshua, Whatsoever others do I and my house shall serve the Lord: Do you and your house sanctify the Lords-day and keep it Holy. So do; and the Bl●ssing of God shall be on you all the Week. And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you inheritance among all them that are sanctified.   

Mr. Thomas Brooks.  
MR. Thomas Brooks, In Answer to that query, what should be the reason, that men make such opposition against the Gospel: Makes this reply.  
Mens hatred and opposition against the Gospel, because it doth discover their hidden works of darkness they hate the light lest their deeds should be reproved: the Gospel brings their deeds of darkness to light and this stirs up a Spirit of hatred and opposition against the Gospel. Another reason is this: because the Gospel puts men upon hard service, upon very difficult Work, pulling out a right eye, cutting off a right hand, offering up an Isaac. throwing over board a Jonas, parting with bosom lusts and darling sins. Herod heard John gladly, till he came to touch his Herodias, and them off goes his head. Joh. 6 This is hard faying, and ftom that time they walked no more with him another reason is the differing and distinguishing Work that the Gospel makes amongst, it softens one, and hardens another that sits next unto him, enlightens one, and strikes the other blind, it wins on one and enrageth another. The same Sun hath different effects on the objects on which it shines. The Gospel puts a difference between the precious and the vile.  
Another reason is from Satan. Satan knows that the very tendency of the Gospel is to shake his Kingdom about his ears. Satan and Antichrist know that their Kingdom must down by the power and light of the Gospel: and therefore Satan and men of an Antichristian Spirit, do all they can to oppose and show their hatred, against the everlasting Gospel. And this makes them to be in such a rage against the Gospel. And unto another query which is this; whether God will remove the Gospel from England, or no: he gives this answer.  
It is the fear of many, but I humbly suppose, No: Whatsoever darkness may be upon it, yet that God will not remove it; and if you please, I will offer a few things, that signify something as to my own satisfaction; and it may be so to you.  
1. The rooting that it hath got in the hearts of sinners and Saints, in the judgement, affections, consciences both of Sinners and Saints: certainly it hath got so deep a root in the hearts of many thousands of Saints and Sinners, that it shall not be in the power of Hell to raze it out.  
2. The Glorious anointings that are to be found upon many thousands of Gods servants in this nation, to preach the everlasting Gospel, and who would be glad to preach it, keeping God and a good Conscience. God hath not laid in this treasure that it should be turned into an heap of confusion.  
3. The ineffectualness of all former attempts and designs to destroy the Gospel. You know what endeavours of old have been to darken this Sun, to put out the light of Heaven in the Marian days, and other days since; and yet it hath not been in prisons, racks, flames, pillories, nor any thing else to extinguish it. And then.  
4. All designs and attempts to extinguish the everlasting Gospel, have turned to the advancement, flourishing, and speading of the Gospel.  
5. God never took away the Gospel from a people, till the body of that people have thrust the everlasting Gospel from them; when indeed they have been so bold as to thrust away the everlasting Gospel from them; God hath been severe unto them: but till the body of a people have thrust away the everlasting-Gospel, God hath not taken it away from them. 2 Chron. 36.15. God sent his messengers early and late; they abused, slighted, and scorned them till there was no remedy. So in the 35. of Jeremiah, from the first to the twelfth; it is a famous text for this so in the thirteenth Chapter of the acts and the 45, 46, and 47 verses; because you have thought yourselves unworthy of Salvation, we turn to the Gentiles till the Jews come to thrust away the everlasting Gospel the Lord continued it unto them.  
6. The spreading of the everlasting Gospel, is the special means appointed by God for the destruction of Antichrist: First he is consumed by the Spirit of his mouth, then destroyed by the brightness of his coming.  
7. Are there not multitudes of the Children of believers that fall under many promises? and will not God make good his engagement to them?  
8. The wonderful affections and tenderness, that God hath wrought in his Children to the Gospel: What meltings and mournings, and what a Spirit of prayer hath God put upon his people?  
9. There are many young tender plants and buds of Grace; such in whom the Spirit of God hath stirred a longing after the great concernments of Eternity. When it is nearest day the sky is dark●st. There may be an hour of darkness that may be upon the Gospel; and yet there may be a Sun shining day, ready to tread on the he●ls of it. And in that same discourse amongst many other words of advice to his people, he gives this excellent counsel: Never put off your consciences with any plea, or with any argument, that you dare not stand by in the great day of your account. Another word of Heavenly advice is this look as well to the bright side of Providence as the dark side of Providence. If you look on the dark side of Providence to J●s ph, how terrible and amazing was it? but if you look on the bright side, his four score years reign; how glorious was it? if you look on the dark side of Providence to David much will arise to startle you; but if you look to the bright▪ side his forty years reign in Glory how amiable? was it.   

Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs.  
MR. Jeremiah Burroughs, Speaking upon that point of Doctrine, to wit, that Gods People though dear to God, yet usually have been in an afflicted Estate, amongst many other things which he sweetly enlargeth upon, hath these Expressions which I have gleaned and put together here; for the comfort and Encouragement of many that are Oppressed and Persecuted for Conscience sake.  
Where we have the great promise of the Gospel, the largest of any in the Gospel for the Encouragement of those who are willing to part with any thing that comes, in Competition with Christ, even there Persecution is annexed: for so the words are, Mark 10.29, 30. There is no man that hath l ft house or Brethren, or Sisters, or Father, or Mother, or Wife, or Children, or Lands for my sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this Life; Houses, and Brethren, and Sisters, and Mothers, and Children and Lands, with Persecutions, and in the World to come Eternal Life. Persecutions come in amongst all these great things, that are there promised. When God appeared to Moses, he appeared to him in a burning bush, to set out the afflicted Estate of his People.  
If the People of God may have a herald to give Arms to them as some other Professions, the best would be such as Hooper that holy Martyr had, when he was made Bishop of Worcester, a Lamb in a flaming bush; with rays of the Sun from Heaven shining on it; A Lamb for meekness in a bush burning amongst wicked men, who are as brambles, and Thorns, burning with Malice, and yet the sweet Influence of Heaven, and comfortable light of Heaven let out upon it. When Ignatius came to the wild Beasts, to be devoured of them, and his bones crushed between their Teeth; Now, says he, I begin to be a Christian.  
Blessed Mr. Bradford Writing to the Town of Walden, to encourage them to suffer, saith, That that Christian hath not Learned his A. B. C. in Christianity, who hath not Learned the Lesson of the across, A Christian is a Cross-bearer, saith Luther, Christianus est Crucianus, 2 Tim. 3.12. All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution. Every one must expect it, although it is true God calls not all to the like sufferings, yet he exempts none from some degree or other, let him be as wise and as discreet as he will, yet if Godly he shall not escape Christ was the best Preacher that ever was, he lived the most inoffensively that ever any did, and yet, while he was preaching, the Pharisees blew their Noses at him in Scorn and Derision; for so the Word signifies in the Original, Ex emucterizon Luke. 16.14. Saint Paul was accounted a babbler, a Pestilent Fellow, his Sermons were accounted Factious and Seditious, as soon as Saint Paul was manifested to be a chosen Vessel for the Honour of God, it was shewed unto him, What things he should suffer for the name of Christ, as if that were a necessary Concomitant to the Profession of Godliness. Look into the whole book of God, and consider the History of the lives of Gods People in all Ages, both in Scripture and in other Records, and you will find them usually in a poor afflicted Condition. Noahs Ark on the Waters was a Type of the Church in Afflictions. What hard things did Abraham, and the rest of the patriarches endure in their Generations? How sore was the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt? Their passage through the read Sea, and the dismal Wilderness in Canaan, was a Type of the afflicted Condition of Gods people in after Ages, thro' which they were to pass to Heaven: How was David hunted as a Partridge in the Wilderness? What hard usage did the blessed Prophets of the Lord find? Eliah was Persecuted and must fly for his life, while four hundred false Prophets were fed at Jezebels Table. History tells us that Isaiah was sawn asunder with a Wooden Saw; M●cah was thrown down a steep place, and his Neck broken; Amos was smitten with a Club and so brained; the Story of the Persecution of the Maccabees recorded by the Apostle. Heb. 11.36, 37, 39. Is exceeding lamentable the Text says, That they were tortured, that they had the trial of cruel Mockings, and Scourgings, of Bonds, of Imprisonments; They were stoned, were sawn asunder, slain with the Sword, wandered up and down in Sheeps-skins, and Goats-skins, being destitute afflicted and tormented, They wandered in Deserts, in Dens and Caves, and mountains. And after, the Christian Church.  
You know what Christ himself suffered, What Contradictions? Contempts? Miseries? Scorns? Scourges? cursed cruel shameful Death? Stephen the first Christian Martyr was stoned. All the Apostles suffered violent deaths, John only excepted, who yet as the Scripture testifieth was banished into Patmos, and as some Histories, that he was by Domitian thrown into a Tun of Scalding led, yet as they say, delivered by a Miracle. Peter was Crucified with his heels upward. Andrew was crucified by Egeas King of Edessa. James was slain by the Sword of Herod as we find, Act. 12. Phillip was crucified and stoned to death at Hierapolis a City in Phrygia; Bartholomew after divers Persecutions, was beaten down with staves as he was preaching in a City of armoniac, and then crucified; and after his Skin flayed off, and beheaded, Thomas was slain with a dart at Calamina in India; Matthew was run through with a Sword, or as some writ, slain with a sphere; James the Son of Alpheus who was called the just man, was set upon the pinnacle of the Temple, and thrown down, and yet having some life left in him, he was brained with a Fullers Club; Lebbeus was slain by Agbarus King of Edessa. Simon the Canaanite was crucified in Egypt or as others say, he and judas was slain in a Tumult of the People. Those ten fearful Persecutions in the primitive times, from the time of Domitius Nero to Constantine, doth set out fully unto us the truth of this Argument for three hundred years together, the Name of a Christian was death, except now and then the Churches had some little breathings. Brightman speaking of the Stories of those times, says, that every page., and Leaf, is as it were all read coloured in blood. Vicentius reports that at Aqileia, the Emperour allowed every man that would to kill the Christians.  
The Policy, wit, Strength of Invention were exercise● for devising miserable Torment and exquesite Tortures; as Plates of Iron burning hot, laid upon their naked flesh; Pinsers read hot, pulling off the Flesh from the bones, bodkins, pricking and thrusting all over their bodies; Casting into lime kilms, and into cauldrons of Scalding led; whippings until all their flesh almost was torn off their bodys, and their bones and bowels appeared, and then laid flat upon sharp shells and knives; their skins were flayed of alive, and their raw flesh was rubbed with Salt and Vinegar: their bodys were beaten all over with clubs, until their bones and joints were beat asunder; They were laid upon gridirons, roasted, and basted with Salt and Vinegar; one Member was pulled from another; by fastening them to boughs of trees, they rent their bodys a pieces. They were tossed upon the horns of Bulls with their bowels hanging out; they were cast among the dogs to be devoured; they were put under the Ice naked into Rivers; they were tortured on the rack, on the Wheel, and on the gibbet with flaming fire under them? They made it their sports to see them devoured by Wild Beasts; and in the night, instead of torches, they burnt the bodys of the Saints, to give them light for their pastimes.  
I red of one Sanctus, upon whom when such intolerable tortures were inflicted, as the persecutors thought surely they should have heard some words of Blasphemy coming from him, yet they could hear nothing from him but this: sum Christianus, I am a Christian, at which they being mad, they clapped on plates of brass read hot, to the most tender parts of his body, wherewith although his Spirit shrunk not, but still continued constant, yet his body was so drawn together that it lost the proper shape of a man; and after he lying in prison a while they brought him forth again to the common Scaffold in face of the people, and put him to all kind of torments they could device, as though he had been put to none before, as scourgings tearings by wild Beasts; his body being thus torn they brought an iron chair read hot with fire, and set him in it, and and so fried and scorched him as upon a grid-iron: Thus he being made a whole day a spectacle to the people, they could hear nothing from him but his first confession Christianus sum, I am a Christian. The example of Romanus, who was of Noble birth, but more noble in his Martyrdom is very famous; he was first whipped with knaps of led at the ends of the cords; he desired them not to spare him for his nobility saying, that not the blood of his progenitors but his Christian profession made him noble▪ then they lanced him with knives, until the bones appeared white, his face was buffeted, his eye-lids torn with their nails, his hair pulled from his face; the Captain being astonished at his constancy, commanded them to cease from tortures; he was after brought forth, & scourged again upon his old sores; they plucked out his tongue by the roots: The Captain being yet more Astonished, to see him continue constant, commanded him to be brought into prison; and there to be strangled. The example of Vincentius is as remarkable as any; he was first racked, all his joints being stretched out of their place; then his body was indented with grievous and deadly wounds; then they tortured his flesh, by taking upon it with Iron combs sharply filled; and then they laid his body upon a grace of Iron, opening his flesh with Iron hooks, they preached it with fiery plates, sprinkling it with hot burning salt; then they drew him into a Dungeon, where the floor was spread with the sharpest shells that could be gotten, and so left him without all succour.  
Thus both Scripture and Histories of all times hold forth unto us the truth of this point, that the estate of Gods people is an afflicted state, they cry aloud unto us that through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.  
Then coming to show what use the people of God should make of this Doctrine amongst many other very profitable applications, he makes this inference, if this be the usual estate of Gods people let us learn then to prepare for afflictions before they come; although we have escaped many years, yet we may be called to such an estate at last. Polycarpus escaped till he was fourscore and six years old, and then he was called to Martyrdom. Ten Persecutions in the Primitive times, the Christians in England escaped all the nine, although the Gospel not many years after Christ was professed in England, yet the tenth Persecution fell heavy upon them.  
Then upon this same head of discourse he gave several rules of direction how to prepare for Sufferings, two or three whereof for the benefit of the Reader I will here set down, one is this.  
Be careful to preserve your inward peace, your peace with God, and your own Conscience. If vapours be not in the earth, and stir not there, they are not all the Storms and Tempests abroad that can make an earthquake; but if vapours be within, and work there, an Earthquake is caused. So where there is peace within all troubles and oppositions that are without cannot hurt the Soul. Having peace with God we glory in Tribulations, Rom. 5.1, 2, 3. We are not onely patient under them, but glory in them; how were the spirits of those Blessed Martyrs we red and hear so much of, strengthened with this blessed peace of the Gospel. Another of those directions is this.  
Lay up provision for an evil day, first Treasure up consolations that God affords you upon occasion in performance of Holy Duties, in exercise of Graces, in use of Ordinances.  
Secondly, Treasure up experiences of Gods ways towards you and his dealings with you in former streights.  
Thirdly, Treasure up Sou●-●upporting Soul-reviving, Soul-comforting Promises, and that of several kinds, suitable to several afflictions, for thou knowest not what kind of afflictions thou mayest meet with. A third direction he gives is this.  
Labour to strengthen yoor Graces: it is strong grace that is Suffering grace.   

Mr. O. Heywood.  
MR. O Heywood encouraging the godly against the abuses they meet with from the wicked, says thus.  
There are some so desperate in rejecting Gods favour, that they reject all that have it, the more God expresseth his love, the more they express their hatred, as Israel did mock Isaac, or as the patriarches their Fathers Darling Joseph, there is a spirit of envy that swells against such as are higher in Gods Books, than themselves in the hearts of wicked men; What envy wrought in the hearts of the Pharisees against our Saviour, because he said he was the Son of God? What Bedlam rage possessed the frantic Jews, against Stephen, when he said he saw the Heavens opened? They cried with a loud voice, stopped their ears, run upon him like mad men. The like do malignant villains against the Saints at this day, if they hear any speak, though with words of Truth and Soberness, of their experiences, interest in God, communion with him, evidences of his special favour, &c. Alas because these sottish swine relish not these things,( though it be in Scripture Language, and according to the Warrant of the Word, yet) they are ready to mock them, and call them in scorn Holy Brethren, Holy Sisters, but indeed a pack of Hypocrites that are worse than others.  
Thus sober Christians are branded as Fools, Fanaticks, Enthusiasts. But alas, these wretched miserants know not how to distinguish between an empty ostentation of shows of holiness, and a sober profession of the power of godliness and so speak evil of the things they know not and split themselves upon the Rock of Persecution, both as their sin and punishment.  
Oh that these men would be wise and not smite Ch●ist through the loins of his Members. Think with thyself, man when thou art abusing Professors, such an one is either an Hypocrite or a Saint, if he be indeed no Hypocrite, but a real Saint( as for ought I know, he is) oh what a fearful case am I in, that am fighting against God!   

Mr. Dod.  
MR. Dod saith, In case of Persecutions and other Sufferings, Gods people should seriously consider these four things:  
1. God wills them, and sends them.  
Now Gods will is a perfect Rule of Righteousness; and what God doth is so well done, that it could not be better done.  
2. There is need of them, or else we should not have them.  
3. Their number, measure, and continuance is determined by God; they are but a moment, and endure but a few days Rev. 2.10. not too heavy, too many, or too long, as the Devil would have them; nor too few, nor too short, or too light, as our corrupt natures would have them.  
4. Their end is a weight of Glory, and the Crown that attends them, everlasting, 2 Cor. 4.17.   

Mr. William Gouge.  
MR. William Gouge speaking concerning the Apostles being an Ambassador in Chains for the Gospel, hath this observation upon it: It is the cause that maketh Persecution a matter of honour and rejoicing; then he propounds a Question, and immediately subjoins the Answer.  
Quest. What may be the cause of that Persecution which causeth Blessedness?  
Answ. In general Righteousness; and that either in abstaining from evil, or in performing our bound Duty.  
Joseph suffered Imprisonment for refusing to commit folly with his Mistress. Moses choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin. On the other side, Daniel was cast into the lions Den, for praying unto God. And Christ was Persecuted for doing works of Mercy; more particularly the Gospel which is here set down. The Apostles were Persecuted for Preaching the Gospel. Now because the Gospel is the Doctrine of Christ, they which suffer for Preaching or Professing it, are said to suffer for Christs sake, and for the name of Christ: they which renounce it, are said to deny Christ Jesus.  
They which look to have true comfort in their Suffering, must especially look unto the cause, and thoroughly examine it, whether it be indeed of that kind that by Gods Word we may warrantably, yea, and ought necessary to suffer for. Saint Peter implieth that there be many causes, for which many do suffer, wherein he would not have Christians to suffer.  
If the cause be just and good, with courage stand unto it; let not reviling and disgraceful speeches, let not loss of Goods, of Friends, Imprisonment, Rack, Torture, Sword, Halter, Fire, or any thing else make thee start from thy Saviour to deny him, but for thy comfort and encouragement look to the end; if we suffer we shall also Reign with Christ, 2 Tim 2.12.   

Mr. Mead.  
MR. Mead making answer to several objections against ●●rly submission to the yoke of Ch●i●●, he gives this answer to the difficulti●s that are to be underwent in the ways of God.  
Hath not the service of Sin its difficulties too, yea greater than any that are imposed by the yoke of Christ? Where one man hath sacrificed his All to Religion, there's many have sacrificed their All to their Lusts; how many have Drunkenness and Gluttony undone? How many have been brought to beggary by Pride and Excess? Besides whatever a man loseth for God and Religion, God hath engaged to make it up again, Mat. 19.29. But if a man wastes all upon the service of his Lusts, who makes up that again? The wast will make guilt great, and his account grievous. Doth Religion at any time expose a man to Sufferings, to corporal Pains and Death? So doth Lust much more. O how great are the pains of Hatred, the torments of Envy? that one Lust of Uncleanness, what pains and miseries hath it exposed men unto? And where one dyes a Martyr for Cbrist, thousands dy M●rtyrs to their Lust, having their days sh●rtned by excess of S●●, besides the endless torments that follow after. And then he answers another objection that hath often been a stumbling to many in their desires of early seeking after God; to wit, the persecution of the Tongue, the Scoffs and Scorns that attend the taking up the yoke of Christ & the serious Profession of Christianity. One while they are Puritans and Precisians, another while Fanaticks varying the Phrase according to the mode of the times.  
Answ. 1. This is no new thing; have there not been in all ages some new tongues set on fire of Hell, from Ishmaels day till now? The Devil hath never been without his instruments to throw dirt in the face of Religion, and of the servants of God who profess and own it. Was not the Apostle Paul branded for a heretic, Acts 24.14. a base fellow, Acts 17.18. a Pestilent Fellow, a mover of sedition, a Sectary, nay, a Ringleader of the Sectaries, Acts 24.5. And yet one of the best men that ever lived in the World. Our Lord Ch●ist himself was not free from the reproach of wicked tongues; He was called an Enemy to the Government, a friend of publicans and Sinners, a Glutton, a Wine-bibber, a Blasphemer. And why do they deal thus by Christ, but to lessen the number of his Followers? It is the Devils cunning to keep Religion and its Followers under censure and reproach, that young ones may condemn that out of ignorance, which upon knowledge they could not but love and profess. The Devil doth by Religion, as the Heathens did of old by its Professors and Followers, who wrapped them up in the Skins of wild Beasts, and then threw them to be torn in pieces and devoured. He burdnes Religion with scandals and prejudices, so makes many hate it, who would otherways love and embrace it.  
2. Hath not the Holy Ghost warned and instructed us in this before-hand, that there should be a scoffing Generation, 2 Pet. 3.3. There shall come in the last days Scoffers. But why doth he say in the lats days shall come Scoffers? not because the foregoing days were free from this evil, for they have been in all ages: But the last days shall be more infected with them; that is,  
First, They shall be more numerous in the last days then ever before; all ages have had them, but the last days shall abound with them; and it is so, for never was the number of Scoffers at Religion so great as at this day.  
Secondly, They shall be more notorious in the last days then ever before, this age hath out done all the former in the degrees of this Sin; that is, with greater impudence of Fact, and more circumstances of guilt. Formerly it was done covertly, but now openly, in all companies, upon all occasions, in all places, not onely in Taverns and Play-houses, but in Presses and Pulpits.  
There are three sorts of persons that are great enemies to Religion, and the Last Days shall abound with them, and they are furious Persecutors, subtle Deceivers, and profane Scoffers.  
3. Who are they that thus make a scoff and jeer of Religion and its Followers? Are they men of Wisdom and Understanding? Men of Conscience and virtue? No such thing; but they are under one of these two Characters, they are either persons of great ignorance or great brutishness, men of blind minds, or debauched Consciences.  
First men of blind minds, such as are ignorant of Religion, either of the power of its Precepts, or of the sweetness of its Comforts. Did men know what Religion is, they would reverence it, and not scoff at it. But the God of this world hath blinded their minds, 2 Cor. 4.4. And who valves the judgement of a blind man? Therefore none should be discouraged from owning Religion for the scoffs of such as know nothing of it.  
Secondly, They are Sensualists, men swayed by brutish Appetite, swilling Sots, Debauchees, beastly Buffoons, men of profligate Lives and Consciences, who never had the least savour of the things of Religion; And are those competent Judges of the sweetness of the Heavenly Life? They understand the most taking healths, the genteelest Oaths, things suitable to their huffing humour; but as for the ways of God, they are far above out of their sight, Psal. 10.5. and therefore as brute Beasts made to be destroyed, they speak evil of the things which they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own Corruption, 2 Pet. 2.12.  
4. Consider why they do scoff at Religion and at them who profess and practise it.  
First, why do they scoff at Religion but because it would restrain their Lusts, and obstruct the sinful course they are bent upon. There shall come in the Last days Scoffers, walking after their own Lusts, 2 Pet. 3.3 Mark, it is for the sake of their Lusts that Religion is scorned and hated.  
Secondly, why do they scoff at them, that profess and own Religion? They mock at them for taking God for their Chief Good, for seeking his Love and Favour, for minding and endeavouring to save an Immortal Soul, for labouring to avoid the Wrath of God, and the miseries of Hell, and to secure an Everlasting Happiness; for this is the great work and business of Religion. They that scoff at men for being Religious, may as well scoff at the Seaman for using a Pilot to keep the Ship from Rocks and Sands, or at a blind man for walking with a Guide, that he may not fall into the Pit, or at the sick man for seeking a Cure, 〈◇〉 life is in danger.  
5. It is not you but God whom they hate and scorn; It is his Name and Honour they wound through your Sides: Were you a swinish Drunkard, an unclean Brute, a proud Huff, an hectoring Atheist, a Dammee as themselves, they would hug and embrace you. So that the hatred and enmity is evidently against the Image and Life of God in you, and therefore against God himself. If ye were of the World, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you, Joh. 15.19.  
6. Set the respect of God against the scorns of the World. What though the world hates, so long as God loves? Let them reproach thee, yet the Holy God honours thee. If any man serve me, him will my Father honour, Joh. 12.26.  
7. These Scoffs and Reproaches that you undergo upon the account of Christ and Religion here, shall add to your Crown, and greaten your Glory in the Last Day: every degree of Suffering for Christ now, shall then have its reward. He that hath promised to requited your well-doing to a Cup of could water, hath also promised to recompense your Sufferings to the least scoff or jeer. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, Mat. 5.11, 12.  
8. You that are ashamed to own Christ and his ways, and to put on his yoke, because of the scoffs and jeers of an ungodly world, I pray think seriously on that word of Christ, Mark. 8.38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful Generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels.   

Mr. How.  
MR. How Exhorting Christians unto patience under the present Pressures of Affliction in this Mortal Life, upon the consideration of the endless glory they shall enjoy in the Life to come. Amongst other things of great weight and worth, hath these expressions.  
I reckon( saith the Apostle) that the Sufferings of this present time, are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us. Thus saith he, I reckon, it is my stated settled judgement, when I have reasoned the matter with myself, weighed it well, considered the case, balanced the advantages & disadvantages, This is the result that the Sufferings of this present time are of no value: It can therefore be no unreasonable imposition, that shall oblige us to the exercise of patience under such Sufferings, in the expectation of so transcendent glory. For consider first, these Sufferings are but from men,( for the Sufferings of which the Apostle here speaks, are such as wherein we suffer together with Christ) but this glory is from God.  
Again, these Sufferings reach no further than the Bone and the Flesh; ( Fear not them that kill the Body) but this glory reaches to the Soul. How little doth a Clod of Earth suffer, in comparison of what an Immortal Spirit may enjoy.  
And further, there is much mixture in our present Sufferings. There are as it were R●yes of Glory interlaced with their present afflictions; but there will be nothing of affliction mingled with their future Glory.  
Yea, and these Sufferings are but Temporary, this Glory Eternal. What heart is big enough to comprehend the full sense of these words? 2 Cor. 17. Our Light Affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory. Light Afflictions, weighty Glory; exceeding weight; affliction for a moment, eternal weight of glory. It were high time for us to give over the Christian Profession, if we do not really account, that its reward and hope do surmount its Reproach and Trouble, or do think its across more weighty than its Crown. Are Tribulation and Patience more ungrateful to our ears, then Heaven and Glory are acceptable? Or is the world become so stable, that a state less favourable to the Christian Profession cannot revolve upon us? It were good however to put such a case by way of supposition to ourselves; For every sincere Christian is in affection and preparation of his mind a Martyr. 'Tis easy suffering indeed, in Idea and Contemplation, but something may be collected from the observation, how we can relish and comport with such thoughts. 'Tis a Training in order to fight, which is done upon a very remote supposition that such occasions may possibly fall out. And a few pages after in that same discourse, speaking concerning a mans being called forth to dy for the Profession of Christianity; Thus he expresseth himself.  
If God call a man forth to be his Champion and Witness, to lay down his life in a truly worthy cause, the call of his Providence should be as the sound of a Trumpet to a truly marshal spirit, it should fill his Soul with a joyful courage and sense of honour, and be complied with cheerfully, with that apprehension and resentment, that a stout soldier would have of his Generals putting him upon some very hazardous piece of Service; he would say, My General hath not deserved ill of me, but it appears he judged well of me. It should be counted joy to fall into such trials, when they become our Lot by a Providential disposition, not by a rash Precipitation of ourselves.   

Dr. Manton.  
Dr. Manton upon these words of the sixth verse of the fifth chapter of James hath these observations.  
Ye have condemned and killed the Just] God taketh notice of the injuries done to his people under the form of a legal Procedure, Psa. 94.24. Shall the Throne of wickedness have fellowship with thee, that frameth mischief by a Law? God taketh it more heinously when public Authority, which is the defence of Innocency, is made the pretence of Oppression.  
Secondly, Any concurrence to the destruction of the Innocent, bringeth us under the guilt of their Blood, and sins committed by our instigation, become ours by just imputation; Christ was put to death by Authority of the Roman Empire, and executed by the Roman Souldiers, yet 'tis charged upon the Jews, because done by their instigation and contrivance, Acts 2.23.  
Thirdly, when Oppression goeth as far as Blood, God will surely take vengeance; he maketh inquisition for Blood, Psal. 9. The Blood of an ordinary man crieth for vengeance, much more the Blood of Saints, which is precious in Gods eyes.   

BUt besides those which I have already mentioned, there is another Eminent Author, Edw. Pollhill Esqr. who hath written an excellent Treatise, concerning preparation for Suffering; which is a Fragrant Garden of Celestial Pleasures, and Heavenly Delights, out of which I have gathered some Spiritual Flowers very sweet and savoury to those that have a favour of the things of God. In his Preface to that Discourse, he hath these Golden Sentences, worthy to be written in Letters of Gold, with the point of a Diamond: It is the Ordinance of God, That through Tribulation we should enter into his Kingdom: This hath been the way of the Saints in all Ages. The Cloud of Witnesses have walked in it to Heaven, Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation, was made perfect through Sufferings, and therefore Christians, who are to follow him whithersoever he goeth, must provide for the across, especially at such a time as this; Now not only the common lot of Christianity, but the dark aspect of the times, bids us prepare for Sufferings: Charity is could, Differences are hot, Moderation vanishes, Enmity every where appears, Popery lifts up itself in the World, Protestants help on the design, by destroying each other. Sin is gone up with a great cry to Heaven, Black Clouds of Wrath hang over our heads for it, the decays of holy love threaten a removal of our Candlestick, Lukewarmness in Religion, shows that we are fit to be spewed out of Gods Mouth: Every one that hath eyes in his head may see the tendency of such things as these. And therefore Christians have more than an ordinary obligation on them to provide for the across; and nothing less then a stock of holy graces, can put them into a posture for it  
But now I come to the Treatise itself, of the sweetness whereof I will give you a taste, which I suppose will relish so well unto some, that it will stir them up to red the whole Book, that they may feed plentifully on the Royal Dainties that are contained therein.  
The Church, saith he, is Heir to the across: Its Sufferings began from the Blood of Abel, and hath continued ever since, Israel Gods peculiar people was first oppressed in egypt, under cruel Bondage. Then vexed in Canaan by the Neighbour Nations round about them; afterwards carried Captive into Babylon, and at last trod under foot by Antiochus Epiphanes. The Christian Church was first Persecuted by the Pagan Emperours, then torn in pieces by Arrians and other heretics, afterwards over-run with goths and vandals; and at last trod down by Mahomet and Antichrist. All along it hath been in a suffering condition, and it is no wonder if it suffer on till it come to rest in Heaven.  
God Orders the Sufferings of the Church for his own Glory and his Peoples good: He Orders them for his own Glory: Providence is admirable in perserving a Suffering Church. The Ark floats upon the Waters and drowns not; the Bush burns, and is not consumed; the lily is among Thorns, and withers not; the Saints are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. Strength comes forth out of weakness, light arises out of darkness; the Bones though sometimes dry and hopless, like the witnesses, are slain and revive again. Pressures multiply the Church, and Sufferings propagate it. And what a sight is this? Who should grudge at those Sufferings, in which so much of God appears? Again he Orders them for his Peoples good. The furnace will melt out their dross, every flamme of Persecution will lift them up nearer Heaven; their Graces will come forth as Gold out of the fire in their pure lustre; The rod will blossom, and bring forth peaceable fruits of righteousness; the Holy Spirit will come down upon them, in larger effusions of Grace and comfort. And what things are these! Certainly those Sufferings are not needless, that have so excellent an issue.  
Then he Subjoyness these Words. Things abroad and at home admonish us; Abroad the Protestant Religion runs very low; Idolatry grows in the World, and where that goes before, Cruelty follows after: The fiery furnace waits upon the Idol; the Scarlet Whore full of Fornications will drink the blood of Saints. The false Worshippers will persecute the True; the sighs and groans of the poor Souls in France, do alarm all that have any sense of piety or humanity; At home our Sins are grown up to Heaven; Oaths, Blasphemies, Perjuries, Hellish Plots, Uncleannesses, Excesses, Atheisms, Contempt of Ordinances, Deadness and Formality in Religion, Unthankfulness and Unfaithfulness to God, are found among us: The Cloud of Guilt which hangs over our Heads is ready to come down in storms of Wrath upon us. Sword and Plague and Fire have already pursued us, and because we Sin on with a stiff neck, hard Heart, and Impudent Face, more Judgments may be expected.  
And then a little after he proceeds thus: Two things are of great use to Christians; the one is to discern the signs of the times. He that looks without and sees the state of things there, and then turns to Scripture, and there sees the issues that wait upon such States, may discern the signs of the times. The luxury of the old World was a Sign of the Deluge.  
The Persecution of the Prophets was a Sign of Jerusalems desolation. When Ephesus declined, and left its first love, the Candelstick was removing: When Laodicea was luke warm, God was ready to spew them out of his mouth: and so it is in other things; such and such a state of things will have such and such an issue. The discerning of this will make Christians time their Dutys, and do every thing in the True Season of it, which is no less profitable than Beautiful.  
The other thing is to be ready for all the will of God to have Graces aptly Answering to Providence; such holy Joy as may tune the Heart in Prosperity, and such humble Submission as may frame the heart to Adversity: This is that blessed temper that bids every thing welcome that comes in the will of God.  
If we observe the Signs of our times, we may easily discern Judgments a coming, and therefore nothing can be more necessary than to prepare for Sufferings. God hath a controversy with us, and seems to speak by his Providence, as he did to Israel by his Prophet: Prepare to meet thy God. Sit down then, O Christians, and consider how to do it, and think with yourselves with what penitential tears, Wrestling, Supplications, real Reformations and holy Resignations you will meet with him. Jesus Christ the Captain of your Salvation seems now to ask you by his Providence, as the Roman general did his Souldiers, Are ye ready? Reflect upon you selves, and consider; are you ready to keep the Word of Christs Patience, to take up his across and follow him? Though the across be not yet upon your backs yet you must carry it in your Hearts.  
Preparation is necessary to Suffering; the greater the thing is, the more necessary is the Preparation: Suffering is a great thing, in such a case as this we had need put on all our spiritual armor; not this or that piece only, but all of it; and not only to put it on but to gird it on, and all will be little enough to make us stand in the evil day. Again, the more excellent a thing is, the more requisite the Preparation, Suffering for Christ is the excellency of a Christian, the top and compliment of all his Graces; Faith cannot rise higher; Love cannot show itself better than in this: No Profession of Christianity is so high, nor imitation of Christ so full, as that which is made in Blood; how should we prepare our Souls, and gird up the loins of our minds, that we may be capable of that which is the highest stature of a Christian in this world, and the nearest capacity to a better!  
This preparation is of very great moment to Christians; upon their having and not having of it, depends their happiness or misery.  
He that is prepared for Sufferings, come what will come is a happy man; if Sufferings do not come, he is yet a Martyr in mind and purpose. God sees the suffering frame that is in him, his willing mind is accepted, as much as if his Blood were actually  shed; and being ready to die for Christ, he is ready to live with him in heaven. If Sufferings come he is provided for them. Saint Paul was ready to be bound and die for the name of Jesus. Policarpe when threatened with various deaths, made this reply, Quid Tardas? why dost thou delay? Inflict what thou wilt the Prepared Christian is ready for all the Will of God, which is an happiness, that no Suffering can interrupt. The very Pagan Emperours did observe the primitive Martyrs to be Victors in Death. It is said of the Martyr Vincentius, that according to his name, he overcame in Words, and overcame in punishments, overcame in Confession, and overcame in Tribulation, overcame in Fire, and overcame in Water, overcame in Living, and overcame in Dying. The prepared Christian is a Vincent a conqueror of the World. Nay, he is more than a Conqueror, he overcomes by Suffering, and Lives by Death. And as the Emperour Antoninus Verus said of the primitive Christians, he carries God about with him in Conscience, and where God is, there must be happiness in the most afflicted Condition. The whole Sacred Trinity are present with him. The everlasting Father will strengthen him, the Son will walk with him in the fiery Furnace, the Holy Spirit will come to him with all his Cordials. Stephen was never so full of it, as when he was stoned. The Martyr Felicitas professed to her Persecutor, that she had the Holy Spirit in her. The prepared Christian hath a Spirit of Power in infirmities, a Spirit of Glory in reproaches, a Spirit of Comfort in distresses. There are no such rich anointings as those that wait upon the across of Christ: At other times a Christian hath some measures of the Spirit; But then he hath such large effusions of it that no Sufferings can make him miserable. The Clouds without cannot break the Serenity in his Conscience; The noise of a troublesone World cannot interrupt that Divine Peace which keeps his Heart; no Malice of Man can hinder the sheddings of Gods love into him. No wants or exigencies can deprive him of the hidden Manna, promised to the Overcomer; He is happy even in a vale of tears.  
[ Then speaking concerning how a Christian may be prepared for Sufferings, he hath these Words:]  
A Christian that would be prepared for Sufferings must secure unto himself three things, a good Cause, a good Heart, and a good God. The First will make Suffering Honourable, the Second will make us Meet for it, the Third will give assistance and Comfort in it.  
1. The Christian must secure to himself a good Cause. If we must Suffer, let it be for that Conscience which is a continual Feast, for that Righteousness, which is in conjunction with Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost: Let it be for that Jesus who Suffered for us; For that God who Crowns momentary Sufferings with eternal Glory.  
2. We must secure good Hearts. Now two things are requisite to make a good Heart. It must be purged from Sin, and again it must be furnished with Principles of Grace.  
First, It must be purged from Sin: From the Guilt and Power of it. They that are partakers of Christs Sufferings in Martyrdom, had need First partake of them for Remission. Again it must be purged from the Power of Sin: The Power of Sin must be broken, that a Man may be ready to take up the across.  
Further, The Heart, that it may be good, must not only be purged from Sin, but Furnished with Principles of Grace. Such as Holy Knowledge, Faith, Love, Fear, Zeal, Hope, Patience, Obedience, Humility, that it may be ready for Suffering. Such a Man may say at the Fiery trial as Jerom of Prague did, when the Wood was laid to him, salue Festa Dies, welcome thou Joyful Day of Suffering for Christ.  
3. We must secure a good God to be with us in our Suffering; a good Cause cannot bear us up, without a good Heart, nor can a good Heart stand without a good God to support it.  
If God should with draw, Faith would fail, Hope would whither, and all Graces would vanish as the beams do upon the absence of the Sun. The Gracious presence of God is necessary to us at all times, especially in times of Suffering: Josephs prison would have been very dismal, if God had not been there. The presence of God( saith a worthy Divine) will turn a Prison into a palace, a Fiery Furnace into a Gallery of Pleasure, and the Stocks into a music School. Let us therefore labour to secure this presence with us.   
FINIS.