3. It is so far required that they are not spared, but often called to suffer the greatest trials. All that belong to Christ are bound to suffer great things for him ; nay, they are to forsake all they have : Luke xiv
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33, ' So likewise, whosoever he be of j'ou that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.' Now though God spare his people till they be confirmed, and driveth as the little ones are able to bear, yet trials are suited to the grace we might have had dejure, though de facto we have it not : Heb. x. 32, 'After ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions ; ' Mat. xiii. 5, 6, ' Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth : and when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had not root, they withered away,' which is explained : ver. 20, 21, ' He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it : yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while ; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.'
4. It is so far required that your punishment is more grievous. Potentes ^patenter cruciahuntur — Great men shall be mightily destroyed. Rich men, and of great power and abilities, have the hotter hell. Greater mercies the, greater sin, and the greater shall be the judgment.
5. Eighteousness doth consist in a proportion. And it holdeth good both for our duty and God's judgment ; for our duty that we should be fruitful, according to our means, opportunities, and helps ; and for God's judgment, for it is said, God ' will lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet,' Isa. xxviii. 17 ; observes an exact pro- portion. Precise justice shall be to the wicked. The only exception is the iirieiKeLa, the lenity of the gospel.
[1.] That a man who "hath been unfruitful heretofore do change his course, and for the future live unto God. For the gospel admitteth of repentance, and grants a pardon to the negligent or unfaithful, if they will be faithful afterward, and break off their sins by after righteousness, diligence, and fidelity. The gospel looketh forward to the time to come : Rom. vi. 6, ' That henceforth we should not serve sin ; ' 1 Peter iv. 2, 3, ' That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God ; for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.' It respecteth not what penitent believers have been before their conversion and turning to God. Many have been long serving their base lusts and vile aftections, eminent in wickedness ; but they should double their diligence for the future. AVe should be the more diligent and serious to restore to the Lord his honour : 1 Cor. xv. 10, ' I laboured more abundantly than they all.' He saitli there he was eKrpwfjba, ' one born out of due time,' ver. 8, and that ' he persecuted the church of God,' ver. 9.
[2.] Where a man is faithful for the main, though he be culpably defective in not making such exact returns according to his precepts, yet he is not rejected, for the gospel pardoneth manifold failings and escapes : Ps. cxxx. 3, 4, ' If thou, Lord, shonldest mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand ? but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.' But the negligent christian, that is right for the main, meeteth with many troubles in this life, and in the life to come loseth some degrees of glory : 2 Cor. ix. 6, ' He that soweth sparingly
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shall reap sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bounti- fully/ God rewardeth in proportion to the several degrees of our charity and fidelity,
[3.] xibility is considered, and that is a return of much when we do our best. Look, as there may be a summer's day in winter, and a win- ter's day in summer, for the proportion, so much may be little, and little much, according to the estate or ability of the giver : Luke xxi. 4, ' All these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God, but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.' Though she had scarce enough for herself, yet out of that little she had been liberal. Some do twice as much good with a little as others with a great deal, for love will not be backward. Mark there, Christ sits by the treasury to observe what returns several persons made ; he approveth the two mites of the widow before the larger offerings of the rich pharisees. So the apostle saith of the poor saints of Macedonia, 2 Cor. viii. 2, ' Their deep poverty abounded to the liches of their liberality ; because in the depth of their poverty they expressed a great bounty to others, though they gave less than the church of Corinth.