^ As David laid a charge upon his soldiers, (2 Sam. xviii. 5,) that by no means they should hurt his son Absalom ; so God laid a prohibition upon the enemies and perse- cutors of his people, that they should not touch them, that they should not in the least hurt or harm them.
266 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
reach a Christian's soul, they can never diminish a Christian's trea- sure ; they reach the shell, not the kernel, the case, not the jewel, the lumber, not the goods, the outhouse, not the palace, the ribbon in the hat, not the gold in the purse. The most fiery trials and persecu- tions can never deprive a Christian of the special presence of God, nor of the light of his countenance, nor of the testimony of a good con- science, nor of the joys of the Spirit, nor of the pardon of sin, nor of fellowship with Christ, nor of the exercise of grace, nor of the hopes of glory, Ps. xxiii. 4; 2 Cor. i. 8, 9, 12; and therefore certainly they can't hurt a Christian, they can't wrong a Christian in his greatest and chief est concernments. 0 Christian, let persecutors do their worst, they can't reach thy soul, thy God, thy comfort, thy crown, thy para- dise, &c. ; and therefore let no man be kept off from pursuing after holiness because of afflictions or persecutions, seeing none of these can reach a Christian's great concernments. When the emperor Valens threatened to confiscate Basil's goods, and to torment him, and to banish him or kill him, Basil makes this noble reply : He needs not fear confiscation of goods that hath nothing to lose, nor banishment, to whom heaven only is a country, nor torments, when his body may be dashed with one blow, nor death, which is the only way to set him at liberty. The emperor, hearing of him thus undauntedly to speak, told him that he was mad, to whom he replied, Opto me, in cetemum sic delirare — I wish that I may be for ever thus mad. Basil knew that no torments nor sufferings could hurt him or harm him, and therefore he bravely triumphs over them. They may kill me, said Socrates of his enemies, but they cannot hurt me. So may a saint say, They may kill my body, but they cannot hurt my soul ; they may take away my natural life, but they cannot take away my spiritual life, for that is hid with Christ in God, Col. iii. 3; they may take away this and that outward comfort, but they cannot take away my Christ ; they may take away my costly ornaments, but they cannot take away that robe of righteousness that Christ has put upon me ; they may take away my earthly crown, but they cannot take away that crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous judge has laid up for all that love his appearing, 2 Tim. iv. 8. Methinks, said one of the martyrs, [Vincentius,] I tread upon pearls, when he trod upon hot burning coals ; and I feel, said he, no more pain than if I lay in a bed of down, and yet he lay in flames of fire. I have read of Nero, that he had a shirt made of a salamander's skin, so that if he walked through the fire in it, it would keep him from burning, it would keep him from being hurt or harmed by the fire. Our Lord Jesus Christ is this sala- mander's skin, that will keep the saints from burning, yea, from being hurt or harmed by the most fiery afflictions and persecutions that can befall them in this world. But,
4. Fourthly, I answer. That the condition of persecutors, of all conditions under heaven, is the most sad and deplorable condition ; and this will appear by the consideration of these five things :
[1.] First, By the prayers and indictments that the saints have jfyref erred against them in the highest court of Justice, I mean in the parliament of heaven: Ps. xxxv. 3-9, i ' Draw out the spear, and stop
1 Ps. Ixix. 22, 29 ; Neh. iv. 3-5, turn to it.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 267
the way against them that persecute me : say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul : let them be turned back and brought to confusion that de- vise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind ; and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery,' or darkness and slipperiness ; ' and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares ; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall' i So in that 83d Psalm David sighs out his sad complaints against his persecutors, from verse 2d to verse the 9th ; and from verse the 9th to verse the 18th he prays against them. Turn to it ; it is a text that is worthy of your most serious meditation : Ps. cxix. 84, ' How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me ? ' Jer. xv. 15, ' 0 Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors ; take me not away in thy long- suffering : know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke : ' chap. xvii. 18, ' Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded ; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed ; bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction,* or break them with a double breach : Lam. iii. 61, seq., ' Thou hast heard their reproach, 0 Lord, and all their imaginations against me. The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their music,' or I am their song. ' Kender unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in anger, from under the heavens of the Lord : ' 2 Tim. iv. 1 4, ' Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil ; the Lord reward him according to his works.' Thus you see how the hearts of the saints have been drawn out against their persecutors. Prayers are the arms that in times of persecution the saints have still had recourse to. The Romans being in great distress were put so hard to it, that they were fain to take the weapons out of the temples of their gods to fight with their enemies, and so they overcame them ; so when the people of God have been hard put to it, by reason of afflictions and persecutions, the weapons that they have fled to has been prayers and tears, and with these they have overcome their persecutors, as is evident in the three children in Daniel, and many others, &c. I3ut,