HI. Again, God will have us get these things with violence, that ive may set a greater jmce on them when we have them. When we have things that are gotten by violence, that are gotten hardly. Oh we value them much ! Heaven is heaven then. Things that are hardly gotten and hardly kept are highly prized.
rV. Again, The excellency of the thing enforceth violence. It is fit that excellent things should have answerable affections. Now, it being a king- dom, and the kingdom of heaven, what affection is answerable but a violent, strong affection ?
V. Again, Together with the excellency, the necessity requires it ; for the kingdom of heaven it is a place of refuge as well as a kingdom to enrich us. There were cities of refuge among the Jews. When a man was fol- lowed by the avenger of blood, he would run as fast as he could to the city of refuge, and there he was safe. So when a guilty conscience pursues us, when there is a noise of fear in the heart, when God's judgments awaken us and hell is open, when a man apprehends his estate and is convinced what a one he is and what he deserves, of necessity he will fly to the city of refuge ; and where is that but in the ' kingdom of heaven,' in the church ? Happy is he that can but get in at the gate of this kingdom, there is no doubt of his going in further. But there must be a striving ' to enter in at the gate,' Luke xiii. 24. And then there he shall be hid in his sanctuary ; as the pursued doves get into their nests, and the conies * That is, one who performs the part of an enemy. — Ed.
302 VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS.
hide thorn in the rock, when they get that over their heads then they are safe. So a Christian, when he is pursued with conscience and with the temptations of Satan, he flics to his sanctuary. Do you wonder that a guilty man should flee to his sanctuary, and the pursued creatures to their hold and refuge ? In this respect ' the kingdom of heaven suflfereth violence.'
Herein it is compared to some great, rich city, that hath some great treasure and riches in it ; and it must he besieged and beleagured a long time, and those that can enter into it they are made for ever. Or it is like the entrance or gate of a city whei-e there is striving and thronging, and where besides enemies are, that if men strive not they are cut, and mangled, and killed. So it is in the state of this kingdom. When a man's eyes bo opened, he sees the devil and hell behind him, and either he must enter or be damned ; and being entered, it makes him rich and advanceth him for ever. So he is strongly moved to offer violence on both sides. If he look behind him thei'e is the kingdom of Satan, darkness and misery and damnation ; for as Pharaoh pursued the Israelites when they were gone out of his kingdom, so the devil pursues a man when he is broken out of his dominion : and then before him there is the kingdom of happiness and glory. The fear of that that follows them, and the hope of that that is set before them, both make them strive to enter into the gate of that city.
Use. What should this teach us ?
First, Let it he a rule of trial to know and jiidfje of our estate, whether we he entered into this gate of heaven or no. Our lives are very short, very uncertain ; let us consider if we be in the way to heaven. What striving, what struggling, what violence have we ever ofiered ? There arc a com- pany that regard not the means of salvation at all, either in private or public. Some come to the word and hear, but they do not hear it as the word of God, to be ruled by it, but as a discourse to delight themselves for the time ; to have matter to speak of and to censure, not with a spirit of obedience to be guided by it as the sceptre of the kingdom. What ' violence' is this, now and then to hear a sermon, now and then to read a chapter, now and then to utter a yawning prayer between sleeping and waking, perhaps when thou knqwest not what thyself sayest ? How then wouldst thou have God to regard it ? What violence is in the lives of most Christians ? what strength to enforce good actions ? How do they improve the means of salvation? Many means are wholly neglected. Some perhaps they use, that may stand with their convenience, now and then ; whereas there must be an universal care of all the means. There cannot one be neglected without the loss of grace, and there must be attendance on them with violence. There is none of the means can profit us without rousing and stirring up our spirits. We cannot hear nor pray without drawing up and raising up our souls. The flesh will stop the com- fortable performance of any action else, and Satan will kill them in the very birth if he can.