THE saint's hiding-place IN THE EVIL DAY. 405
for betraying the blessed cause and truth of Christ ? How can we expect God should own us another day, when we will not own him in his cause, and his members, to stand for them now ? Think on that speech of our Saviour, ' Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, or of my words in this adul- terous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he Cometh in the glory of his Father,' Mark viii. 38.
Therefore, avoid not any suffering hj sin. See how blessed St Paul carried himself in this case. ' The Lord,' saith he, ' hath delivered me, and will deliver me,' 2 Tim. iv. 18. From what ? from death ? No ;from every evil ivork. What ! will God keep him from evil sufferings ? No ; for immediately after he was put to death. \Vhat then ? Why ! he will pre- serve me from every evil work, that is, from every sinful act, which may hurt the cause of Christ, or blemish my profession. This was it Paul chiefly regarded ; not whether he will preserve me from death or trouble, I leave that to him; but this I hope and trust to, that he will preserve me from every evil work to his heavenly kingdom. Thus should it be with every Christian in the cause of religion, or in a cause of justice, &c. ; for there is not any good cause but it is worth our lives to stand in, if we be called to it. It is necessary we should be just ; it is not so necessary we should live (b). A Christian's main care is how to do well; and if he can go on in that course, he is a happy man.
Obj. But I cannot do well, but I shall suffer ill.
Ans. Labour, therefore, to carry thyself well in suffering evil, not only in the general, but even in particular, towards those persons that do thee wrong ; endeavour to requite their evil with good. There is a great measm-e of self-denial required to be a Christian, especially in matter of revenge, ' to pray for them that curse us, to do good to them that persecute us,' &c., and so ' heap coals of fire upon our enemies' heads,' Prov. xxv. 22, Rom. xii. 20. How is that ? There are —
1. Coals of conversion.
2. Coals of confusion.
How in siifferinrf ice heap coals of fire. You know coals do either melt or consume. If they belong to God, we shall heap coals of fire to convert them, and make them better by our holy carriage in suffering. If they be wicked, graceless wretches, we shall heap coals of fii'e to consume them ; for it will aggravate their just damnation when they do ill to those that deserve well of them.
Ohj. Some will say, Christianity is a strange condition, that enforceth such things upon men, that are so contrary to nature.
Ans. It is so, indeed, for we must be new-moulded before ever we can come to heaven. We must put off our whole self; and he is gone a great way in religion, that hath brought his heart to this pass. None ever over- came himself in these matters out of reUgious respects, but he found a good issue at last. It is a sweet evidence of the state of grace, none better, when a man can love his veiy enemies, and those that have done him most wrong ; it is an argument that such a man hath something above natui-e in him. What is above nature, if this be not, for a man to overcome himself in this sweet appetite of revenge ? Revenge is most natural to a man ; it is as sugar, as the heathen saith ; and for a man to overcome himself in that, it argues the power of grace and godliness in such a one.
As Christianity is an excellent estate, an admirable advancing of a man to a higher condition, so it must not seem strange for those that are Chris- tians to be raised to a higher pitch of soul than other men. See how our
406 THE saint's hiding-place in the EVIIi DAY.
Saviour dealt in this particular, ' Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,' Luke xxiii. 34 ; and so likewise Stephen, being led by the same Spirit of Christ, desired God ' not to lay this sin to their charge,' Acts vii. 60 ; and so all the martyrs in the first state of the church, when the blood of Christ was warm, and the remembrance of Christ was fresh, were wont to pray for their enemies, committing their souls to God in well doing.
27(6 excellent victory of suffering. I beseech you let us labour by all means possible to bring our hearts hereunto. If anything overcome, this will do it, to suffer well. The church of God is a company of men that gain and overcome by suffering in doing good. Thus the dove overcomes the eagle, the sheep overcomes the wolf, the lamb overcomes the lion, &c. It hath been so from the beginning of the world. Meek Christians, by sufiering quietly, have at length overcome those that arc malicious, and have gained even their very enemies to the love of the truth. What shall we think, then, of the greatest part of the world, who never think of suffer- ing, which is the first lesson in Christianity, but study their ease and con- tentment, accounting the blessed martyrs too prodigal of their blood, &c. ?