5. Fifthly, Let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ wo7'k us all into a gracious luillingness to embrace sufferings for his sake, and clieer- fully and resolutely to take up his cross and follow him, Mat. xvi. 24. Did Christ suffer, who knew no sin ; and shall wq think it strange to suffer, who know nothing but sin ? Shall he lie sweltering under his Father's wrath, and shall we cry out of men s anger ? Was he crowned with thorns, and must we be crowned with rose-buds ? ^ Was his whole
5 John vi. 5, 6, 37; Rev. xiii. 14; Mat. ix. 12; Isa. ix. 6; Heb. ii. 10; Acts v. 31, and vii. 37, 38; Heb. ii. 17, 18, and iv. 15, 16 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2; Isa- ix. 6, 7; John xx. 17 ; Isa. xxviii. 16; Rev. xxii. 16; Eph. i. 22, 2-3.
^ Godfrey of Bouillon, first king of Jerusalem, refused to be cro^vned with a crown of
OF THE GKEAT SUFFERINGS OF CHEIST. 211
life, from the cradle to the cross, made up of nothing but sorrows and sufferings ; and must our lives, from the cradle to the grave, be filled up with nothing but pleasures and delights ? Was he despised, and must we be admired ? Was he debased, and must we be exalted ? Was he poor, and must we be rich ? Was he low, and must we be high ? Did he drink of a bitter cup, a bloody cup ; and will no cups serve our turns but cups of consolation ? Let us not think anything too much to do for Christ, nor anything too great to suffer for Christ, nor anything too dear to part with for such a Christ, such a Saviour, that thought nothing too much to do, or too grievous to suffer, that so he might accomplish the work of our redemption. He left heaven for us ; and shall not we let go this world for him ? He left his Father's bosom for us, John i. 18 ; and shall not we leave the bosoms of our dearest rela- tions for him? Ps. xlv. 10, 11 ; Mat. x. 37. He underwent all sorts of sufferings for us, let us as readily encounter with all sorts of suffer- ings for him. Paul was so inured to sufferings for Christ, that he could rejoice in his sufferings, he gloried most in his chains, and he looked upon his scars, buffetings, scourgings, stonings for Christ, as his greatest triumphs, 2 Cor. xii. 10, and xi. 23-28. And how ambi- tious were the primitive Christians of martyrdom in the cause of Christ : and of late, in the times of the Marian persecution, how many hundreds cheerfully and willingly laid down their lives — mounting Elijah-like to heaven in fiery chariots ! And oh, how will Christ own and honour such Christians at last, as have not set on others, but exposed them- selves to hazards, losses, and sufferings for his sake ! Eev. iii. 21, as those brave souls, who loved not their lives unto the death, Eev. xii. 11 ; that is, they despised their lives in comparison of Christ ; they exposed their bodies to horrible and painful deaths, their temporal estates to the spoil, and their persons to all manner of shame and con- tempt, for the cause of Christ, Heb. xi. 33-39, and x. 34. In the days of that bloody persecutor Dioclesian, the Christians shewed as glorious power in the faith of martyrdom as in the faith of miracles, the valour of the patients, and the savageness of the persecutors, striv- ing together ; till both, exceeding nature and belief, bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers,! In all ages and generations, they that have been born after the flesh have persecuted them that have been born after the Spirit, Gal. iv. 29 ; and the seed of the ser- pent have been still a-multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the woman. Would any man take the church's picture, saith Luther, then let him paint a poor silly maid, sitting in a wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, Avolves, boars, and bears, and with all man- ner of other cruel hurtful beasts ; and in the midst of a great many furious men, assaulting her every moment and minute. And why should we wonder at this, when we consider that the whole life of Christ was filled up with all sorts and kinds of sufferings ? Oh, where is that brave spirit that has been upon the saints of old ? Blessed Bradford looked upon his sufferings for Christ as an evidence to him that he was in the right way. ' It is better for me to be a martyr
gold, saying that it became not a Christian to wear a crown of gold, where Christ, for our salvation, had worn a crown of thorns. ^ Certatim gloriosa in certamina rucbatur, &c. — Sidpicius.
212 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
than a monarch; said Ignatius when he was to suffer, i Happy is that soul and to be equalled with angels, who is willing to suffer if t were possible, as great things for Christ, as Christ hathmffered for it saith Jerome ^Suffermgs are the ensigns of heavenly nobility saith Calvin Modestus, lieutenant to Julian the emperor, said to Julkn While they suffer they deride us, saith he, and the to;meiits are more fearful to them that stand by than to the tormented. Lu her rerrts of Vmcentms that he laughed at those that slew him, say ng thaUo Christians tor ures and death were but sports, and he gloried when he went upon hot burning coals, as if he trod upon roses.^ It was a not! able saying of a French martyr, when the rope was about his fellow £nl Snlf /'^1f " '^T' ^l^ ?^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^ «f that noble o deT.' TfT/ri t ' fu' ""^''^^^ ^"'" ^^^ '^' g^^Pel' a^d was as proud of it as a woman of her ornaments, saith Chrysostoi: Do your worst do your worst, said Justin Martyr to his perLutors ; but th s Tw U teU you, that you may put all that you are like to gain by the barl n into your eye and weep it out again! Basil will tell you that tSost cruel martyrdom is but a trick to escape death, to paSom lif e toT^^^
Z^^Ti^rt''"" '':,.'':'' ' day's^-ourneybeLeen tlcro^sa^d paradise. Their names that are written in red letters of blood in the churchs calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's raster in
s but'shor '^'ATJi^ ^r'^"'^"^- ^""'^^^ *^^ ^-« beVtter '^et ft
an eterna^^^^^^ f^ ' '^'"^^/^V^T '^^^ "^ ^^^^^^'^ persecution! and an eternal calm follows. Methmks, said one, I tread upon pearls
Itv inVd ofT ^'' ^T'^^^'f'' ^^^ I ''^' - -°- P-' than if
an 'rV^saiKtW °' ^"^f/f ^' It^ ^^ ^^°^^« ^^ ^''- ' ^^^ heartily angry, saith Luther, with those that speak of my sufferin-s which If compared to that which Christ suffered for me are not once to be
fTcS ZTIC2 '% .^^^ ^'^''y rejoiceri' hisTffeling: lor ^.nrist , and therefore oftentimea sings it out : 'I Paul a nriwnpr ' as you may me by the scriptures in the margin 2 not ' I Pauf ai
ove to Christ in S'ff?-™, "Pk!" ^^'^^^-^ '^^'^™° ; ""d ^^ ^hews his love to Mirist m suffermg for him. During the cruel nersecutions nf
riacil'o r "^^""l' *•"= ^^^^^^ &ith°was spreaTtWugh aU