* Paul rattles his chain which he did bear for the gospel's sake, and was as proud of it as a womau of her ornaments, saith Chrj-sostom.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 425
deal of pleasure in his sufferings for Christ : 2 Cor. xii. 10, ' Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu- tions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.' He did not only bear his sufferings 'patiently, but cheerfully also ; he often sings it sweetly out, * I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,' Col. iv. 3, 10 ; Rom. xvi. 7 ; Eph. vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. 16, &c. ; not I Paul an apostle, nor I Paul rapt up into the third heaven, nor I Paul that have more gifts, parts, and learning, than others ; but ' I Paul a prisoner,' to shew how much he- rejoiced in his bonds and sufferings for Christ. Chrysostom did not hold Paul so happy for his rapture into paradise as he did for his imprisonment for Christ.
Oh, the sweet looks, the sweet words, the sweet hints, the sweet in-comes, the sweet joggings, the sweet embraces, the sweet influences, the sweet discoveries, the sweet love-letters, the sweet love-tokens, and the sweet comforts that Christians experience in their sufferings for Christ ! In all their troubles and persecutions they may truly say, We have sweetmeats to eat, and waters of life to drink, and heavenly lioneycombs to suck that the world knows not of ; and, indeed, when should the torch be lighted but in a dark night ; and when should the fire be made but when the weather is cold ; and when should the cordial be given but when the patient is weak ; and when should the God of comfort, the God of all kinds of comfort, and the God of all degrees of comfort, comfort his people, but under their troubles and persecutions ; for then comfort is most proper, necessary, seasonable, and suitable, and then God will be sure to pour in the oil of joy into, their hearts ? 2 Cor. i. 3-5. But,
6. Sixthly, Consider, That there is a great truth in that old maxim, Nonpcena, sed causa facit martyrem ; It is not the punishment, hut the cause, that makes a martyr. Let every man look that his cause be good. It is not the blood, but the cause, that makes a martyr. It is no ways meet that I should engage to suffer in every cause. Every cause will no more bear a man out in suffering than every shoulder will bear every burden, or than every little river will bear every ship that is of the greatest burden. One man suffers as a murderer, another suffers as a thief, another suffers as an evil-doer, and another suffers as a busybody in other men's matters ; but all such sufferers are rather malefactors than Christ's martyrs. ' Let none of you suffer as a mur- derer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters,' 1 Pet. iv. 15, It is but one word in the original, aXKorpioe- 7riaK07ro<;, as bishops in another's diocese, as pryers into other men's matters, as pragmatical persons that meddle with other men's concern- ments, without cause or call. It is not suffering for evil-doino- but suffering for well-doing that carries the crown, 2 Tim. ii. 12. It is not just, but unjust suffering that hath the recompense of reward annexed to it, 1 Pet. iii. 14, and iv. 14. It is not sufferers for the evil of sin, nor sufferers of the evil of sin ; but sufferers of the evil of punishment, for the avoiding of the evil of sin, whose cause is good. When I consider the cause of my condemnation, said Mr Bradford, I cannot but lament that I do no more rejoice than I do ; for it is for God's verity and truth.i So that the condemnation is not a con-
' Mr Bradford, to all that profess the gospel in Lancashire.
426 A GENERAL EPISTLE
demnation of Bradford simply, but rather a condemnation of Christ and of his truth. Bradford is nothing but an instrument in which Christ and his doctrine is condemned. Christ and the thieves were in the same condemnation ; 8amson and the Philistines in the same destruction by the downfall of the house. Similis poena, dissimilis causa, saith Augustine. Martyrdom is a crown, as old age, if it be found in a way of righteousness. Though life be a poor little thing to lay down for that Christ that has done such great things for us, and that has suffered such grievous things, and that has prepared such glorious things for us ; yet, it is too precious to lay down in any cause but what is honourable, just, and good, Isa. liii. ; John xiv. Luther professed to Spalatiae that he rejoiced with all his heart, that God called him to suffer for so good a cause, acknowledging himself unworthy of such a favour. ^ It is the goodness of a man's cause that makes Imn divinely merry with the martyrs, and to sing in a prison with Paul and Silas, Col. ii. 24. When a man s cause is good he may call his sufferings the sufferings of Christ, and his scars and marks, o-Tt7/iaTa, brands and marks of the Lord Jesus, Gal. vi. 17. The Jews have been hated and persecuted for many ages ; first by the Komans, and since by all other nations, but not for any just or righteous cause, but for their impiety, obstinacy, and contempt of Christ and his gospel, and for kOling the prophets, and stoning them that were sent amongst them. Mat. xxii. 2-8, and xxiii. 30, 34, 37, 38. But gracious persons are endued, not only with reason, but also with spiritual understanding and divine wisdom, which makes them weU weigh what they do, and what they suffer. Sincere Christians advisedly endure what they endure for the faith's sake, ' So fight I, not as one that beateth the air,' 1 Cor. ix. 26 ; that is, not as a madman that fighteth with a shadow, not weighing what he doth, but as a man of understanding, that doth very well know that I have good cause to do what I do. Persecutors commonly judge suffering saints to be no better than sots, idiots, frantics, mad, &c., not knowing the goodness of the cause for which they suffer, nor the noble ends which they aim at in suffering, nor the blessed fruits that attend their sufferings.
But when may a man safely and groundedly conclude that his cause is good, or that he suffers for well-doing, or for a good cause, and as a Cliristian ? Now to this question I shall give these follow- ing answers : —
[1.] First, Wlie7i a man suffers for doing that tvhicJi Christ com- mands, then he suffers for well-doing, then he suffers as a Christian, and then his cause is good, 1 Pet. iv. 15, 16. You know there is no- thing in all the Scripture that God stands more upon than purity of religion, than piu-ity of worship, than purity of ordinances, in opposi- tion to all mixtures and corruptions whatsoever, James i. 27 ; Phil, iii. 3 ; John iv. 23, 24. 0 sirs ! the great God stands upon nothing more iu all the world than upon purity in his worship. There is no- thing that does so provoke and exasperate God against a people as mixtures in his worship and service. Mat. xxi. 12, 13; John ii. 15-17. And no wonder, for mixtures in his worship are expressly cross to his
1 Ep. ad Spalat., fol. 287.