2. Observe, after trials and reformations there come trials and pro- bations, that after we have submitted to the ways of God, we may lionour them with sufferings. The ten persecutions were after Christ had set up the ordinances of the gospel. The Marian and bloody days were after King Edward's reformation. God will have every truth honoured in its season. When the witnesses had finished the testi- mony of their prophecy, after a short time tliey were slain, Eev. xi.
3. Observe, when reformations stick in the birth, God will promote them by troubles ; he taketh his own fan into his hand : Mat. iii. 12, ' Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor.' When men cannot or will not effect it, God will purge his floor, and cleanse the church from profane mixtures. Christ came with his whip to cleanse the temple, John ii. 15. Grosthead prophesied that the church sliould not be reformed, but ore gladii cruentandi. God usually tendereth a reformation to the world witli a judgment in his liand ; and if the reformation be obstructed, the j udgment will proceed : Ezek. xxiv. 12, 13, ' She hath weaned herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her ; her scum shall be in the fire. In thy filthiness is lewdness ; because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest up(jn thee.' When the pot is put over the fire, if the scum remaineth still, he overturneth all.
4. Observe, when there are great difterences among God's own people, the end is bitter. We warp in the sunshine. The dog is let loose that the sheep may run together. A piece of wax, when it is broken, put it together never so often, it will not close ; but put it into the candle, and the ends stick close together. Eidley and Hooper could agree in a prison. A little before Dioclesian's persecution, the church was rent and torn by intestine broils, pastor against pastor, and people against people. Ease begets pride and wantonness, and that maketli way for contention. God may solder you in your own blood, and effect union by making you objects of the same hatred and persecution. Nazianzen was wont to call the enemies of the church,
VeR. 14.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 369
Kovov<i 1 SiaWaKTa^. The turbulent enemies many times prove the best reconcilers, and the wolves bring the sheep together.
5. Observe, libertines and fanatical persons, when they increase in ]-)Ower and numbers, become cruel : Jude 11, ' Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain.' The Donatists are of detestable and accursed memory, because of their insolent cruelties : Hosea v. 5, ' The revolters are profound to make slaughter.' Men that have cast off the holy faith, after some profession, the Lord keep us from their tender mercies ! The Arians grew bloody. Want of truth is usually made up by a supply of rage. Lees and dregs are usually very tart and sour.
6. Observe, when religion hath received wounds in the house of her friends, and occasion is given to the world by scandals to think evil of the ways of God, God taketh his scourge in his hand, and the devil hath an advantage, he stirreth the malignant world against the chil- di'en of God ; as a sect of monsters, the gnostics, by their impure and libidinous courses, made Christianity odious, and then the heathens rose up against them as pests of mankind. Satan is a liar, but never his lies carry more pretence.
7. Observe, when there is a decay of the power of godliness and for- mality and contempt of the word take place, which are the usual effects of prosperity. As soon as we come out of miseries, we run into disorders ; therefore God is wont to return us into our old chains and captivity, that we may wanton it no more : Hosea v. 15, ' I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face : in their affliction they will seek me early,' I will try them by adversity, I will try what my rod will do to better my people. As also to discover hypocrites. When the ways of God are in fashion, many pretend for him ; and so religion is turned into a fashion and empty pretence. Salvian observeth that the church, like a river, loseth in depth what it gaineth in breadth ; as a woman that hath borne many children is with every birth the weaker ; as a large body is less active. Carnal men coming under a profession of religion weaken the power of it.
8. Observe, when professors grow worldly, this awakeneth the world's rage and God's rod. The men of the world take mammon for their God, and the conveniences of this life for their portion. Now when the children of God put in for a share, and are all for worldly hopes and worldly interests, it stirreth up their sleepy enmity ; they cannot endure to be discountenanced : Luke xvi. 8, ' The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.' This is their generation and sphere ; as a people take it ill to be beaten and foiled in their own land : They are active to recover their interest, and are full of watchful malice. God is very jealous of mammon ; and when the world gets into the church, God's rod whippeth it out again. By the world God will show us the vanity of our aspiring projects. When vessels grow musty, they are not fit for use. I find the spirit of the world breathing in most christians, who are proling for worldly greatness, as if they served the god of this world. Some transform their christian hopes into a worldly hope, and look for a sudden com- ing of Christ in carnal pomp, and dream of greatness and dominion.