for the massacre of so many thousands of innocent persons, against all sense and reason of state, merely to fulfil his lust. Had not this man honour enough put upon him to content his ambitious spirit? No ; there is a poor Jew at the king's gate will not make a bow to him as he goes by, and this so ruffles his proud temper that he has no joy of all his other greatness. Esther v. 13 : ' Yet all this availeth me nothing,' saith the poor-spirited wretch, ' so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.' A third sort are as much in bondage to their pleasures: they are said to 'live in pleasiu-e on earth,' James v. 5. Their life is bound up in their jileasures, as the rush grows in the mud, and the fish lives in the water ; they cannot live without their pleasures ; take them from their feasts and sports, and their hearts, with Nabal's, die like a stone in their bosoms. Now this frame of spirit we are speaking of breaks all these chains, and brings the Christian out of every house of bondage. It teaches him to like what fare God sends. If prosperity comes, he knows how to abound, so that if he be by a turn of .Providence thrown out of the saddle of his present enjoyment, his foot shall not hang in the stirrup, or his enslaved soul drag him after it with whining desires. No ; through grace, he is a free man, and can spare the company of an)' creature, so long as he may but have Christ's with him. Blessed Paul stands upon his liberty. ' All things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought inider the power of any,' 1 Cor. vi. 12. I know the place is meant of those indifferent things concerning which there was a present dispute ; but there is another sense in which all things here below were indif- ferent things to that holy man ; honour or dishonour, abundance or want, life or death. These were indifferent to Paul ; he would not come imder the power of any one of them all. It did not become a servant of Christ, he thought, to be so tender of his reputation, as to write himself undone, when he had not this or that ; not to be so in love with abundance, as not to be ready to welcome want; not to be endeared so to life, as to rim from the thoughts of death ; nor to be so weary of a suffering life, as to hasten death to come for his ease. Major aninnts dicendas est, qui <Brum nosam v'ttmn magis elegit ferre, quam fugere.—Aug.
Section III. — Thirdly, This readiness to suffer, as it ennobles with freedom, so it enables the Christian for service. It is a sin-e truth, so far and no more is the Christian fit to live serviceably, than he is prepared to suffer readily ; because there is no duty but hath the cross attending on it, and he that is oflended at the cross, will not be long pleased with the service that it brings. Prayer is the daily exercise of a saint ; this he cannot do as he should, except he can heartily say, ' Thy will be done ;' and who can do that in truth, unless ready to suft'er ? Praising God is a standing duty ; yea, ' in every thing we must give thanks,' 1 Thess. v.; but, what if affliction befall us, how shall we tune our hearts to that note, if not ready to suffer ? Can we bless God and murmur? praise God and repine? The minister's work is, to preach; woe to him if he do not; and if he do preach, he is sure to suffer. Paul had his orders for the one, and mittimus for the other together ; he was sent at the same time to preach the grace of God to the world, and to endure the wrath of the world for God ; so God told Ananias, that he should bear his name before the Gentiles, and suffer great things for his name's sake. Acts ix. 15, 19. And if the gospel did not please the ungrateful world out of Paul's mouth, who had such a rare art of sweetening it, it were strange that any who fall so far short of his gifts, to move in the pulpit, and of his grace to win upon the hearts of men when out, should (if they mean to be faithful) think to go without the wages which the world paid him for his pains — reproach, and contempt, if not downright blows of bloody persecution, as he met with. And is not this shoe needful for the preacher's foot, that is to walk among so many hissing serpents ? Who but a Paul, that had got over the fond love of life, and fear of a bloody death, would have been so willing to go into the very lion's den, and preach the gospel there, where he invited death in a manner to come mito him ? I mean at Rimie itself, the seat of cruel Nero. * So much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gosj^el to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,' Rom. i. 15, 16. In a word, it is the duty of every Christian to make a free profession of Christ. Now this cannot be done without hazard many times. And if the heart be not resolved in this
THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. 4Q9