Surely, in this case, thou hast many grounds of comfort that an- other wants; for thy sin being but an infirmity, (1.) It is that which is common to all saints, Psal. ciii. 11, 12, 13, 14. (2.) God hath mercy and pardons for such sins as these, else woe to the holiest soul, Psal. cxxx. 3, 4. Solomon, upcm this ground, pleads for mercy for them that prepared their hearts, 2 Clu'on. xxx. 18, 19. And God hath laid in sweet grounds of encouragement for such souls, Numb. XV. 27, 28. Heb. v. 2. How tenderly doth Christ deal with his dis- ciples under this kind of sin, Matth. xxvi. 41. and though they for- sook him for a time, yet he received them again ; though they fled from him, yet they all returnexl again and appeared boldly for Christ afterwards, and sealed their confession of him with their blood. And that which recovered them again was this, that their fall and depar- ture was contrary to the resolution, and standing frame, and bent of their hearts ; for they resolved all to cleave to him to the death, Mat. xxvi. 35. whereas those that engaged in a profession of him inconsi- derately, and never resolved, nor prepared for the worst, /ell oflPfrom him, and never returned any more, John vi. 66. So then, upon the whole, you cannot but grant, that it is a very blessed and excellent thing, to prepare thus for the greatest suffering that can befal us for Christ. We come next to shew wherein it hes.
Evincing the necessity of a sound and real work of grace ^ipon the heart, to Jit a man for suffering for Christ.
xIAVING shewed you that God doth sometimes put his dearest people upon very hard services for him, and what an excellent thing it is to prepare ourselves to obey the call of God to them : In the next place I come to shew you, wherein t\\\s pre2)aration, or readi- ness for suffering consists, and how many things conciu' and contri- bute their assistance to this work.
Now there \?> a two^o\d preparation ov readiness ^ov s,u^enwg\ the one is habitual, the other actual : That habifuah'cadiness is nothing else but the inclination of a soul to suffer any thing for Christ : which inclination ariseth from the principles of grace infused into the soul : But then as fire, though it have a natural inclination to ascend, yet may be violently depressed and hindered, that it cannot ascend actual- ly, so may it be in this case ; and therefore, before a man can be fit- ted for sufferings as Paul was, there must, to this habitual, be super- added an actucd readiness, which is notliing else but the rousing of grace out of the sleepy and dull habits, and avrakening it to its work
26 PREPARAtlONS FOU SUFFEIIIXGS ; ORj
in a time of need : as the lion is said to lash himself with his tail, to rouse up his courage before he fight. The former is a remote power, the latter a. proxim and immediate power. I must handle the for- mer in this chapter, and you are to know that it consutetlt in a sound and real work of grace or conversion wrought upon the soul; without which I shall make it evidently appear to you, that no man can be fit or ready to suffer as a Christian.
Whatever stock of natural courage, moral principles, or common gifts of the Spirit be lodged in any man's breast, yet all this (with- out special grace) can never fit him to sufler for Christ. And had not this work been really and soundly wrought upon the heart of this blessed man, as indeed it was, Acts ix. 3, 4, 5. he had quickly fainted under his sufferings : and so will every soul sooner or later do, that suffers not upon the same principles that he did.
1. For first, No man can suffer for Christ until he be able to deny himself See Matth. xvi. 24. Self-denial goes in order of nature be- fore sufferings. Beloved, in a suffering hour the interest of Christ and self meet like two men upon a narrow bridge, one must of neces- sity go back, or the other cannot pass on : If you cannot now deny self you must deny Christ. The yoke and dominion of self must be cast off, or else Christ's yoke and burden cannot be taken on.
It is confessed self may not only consist with, but be a motive to some kind of sufferings : Ambition and applause may carry a man far this way : pride is a salamander that it seems can live in the flames of martyrdom, 1 Cor. xiii. 3. But to be a servant to self and a true sufferer for Christ is incompatible. Self may make you the deviVs martyrs, but grace only can make you Chrisfs martyrs. So that let a man be seemingly carried for a while with never so high a tide of zeal for Christ, yet if self be the spring that feeds, those self-ends, like so many little ditches joined to the brink of a river, will so suck and draw away the water into themselves, that the lofty stream will sink and come to nothing ere it have ran far : So then, of necessity, self must be dethroned in the hearts of Christ's suffering servants.
But now it is real grace only that disposes self, and subjects its inte- rest to Chrisfs; for sanctification is nothing else but the dethroning of exalted self, and the setting up of Chrisfs interest above it in the soul. This is it that alters the property of ail a man hath, and super- scribes them with a new title. Holiness to the Lord, Isa. xxiii. J 8. Zech. xiv. 20, 21. Thenceforth a man looks at himself as none of his own, but past into another's right, 1 Cor. vi. 19 ; and that he must neither live, nor act idtimately for himself, but for Christ, Rom. xiv. 7. Heb. xiii. 7, 3. Phil. i. 20. He is no more as 2i proprietor, but a steward of all he hath ; and so holds upon these terms, to lay it out as may best serve his Master's ends and glory.
All that he is or hath, is by grace subordinated to Christ ; and if ox\Qe subordinated, then no more opposcdxo\\im, subordinatanon pug- nant. This is it that makes him say, I care not what becomes of me or
THE EEST WORK IN THE WORST TIMES. 27
SO Christ may be glorified, " Let Christ be magnified in my body " whether it be by hfe or death," Phil. i. 20. -^ ^'
By conversion Christ enters the soul, as an army doth an enemy's garrison by storm, and when he is possessed of it by grace, he presently divides the whole spoil of self be- '" '*• ^* ^• twixt himself and his church. This is the first thing that evinces tho necessity of a work of grace to prepare the heart lor sufferings.