_Direct._ VII. Love better the holy image of God upon your souls, and then you will be glad of the great helps to holiness which sufferings do afford. Who findeth not that adversity is more safe and profitable to the soul than prosperity? especially that adversity which Christ is engaged to bless to his servants, as being undergone for him? Rom. x. 3-5, "We glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed." God "chasteneth us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness: now no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby," Heb. xii. 10, 11. Moses "esteemed the very reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: and therefore rather chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," Heb. xi. 25, 26. It is but "now for a season, and if need be, that we are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of our faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. Who is it that knoweth himself, that feeleth not a need of some afflictions? to awake us from our drowsiness, and quicken us from our dullness, and refine us from our dross, and wean us from the world, and help us to mortify the flesh, and save us from the deceits of sin?
_Direct._ VIII. Remember that sufferings are the ordinary way to heaven. Love heaven better, and your sufferings will seem lighter, and your fear of them will be less.[350] Christ hath resolved on it, that "if any one come to him, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be his disciple: and whoever doth not bear his cross and follow him, cannot be his disciple: and whoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be his disciple," Luke xiv. 26, 27, 33. "In the world we shall have tribulation, but peace in him," John xvi. 33. "Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God," Acts xiv. 22. "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us," Rom. viii. 17, 18. "Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God," 1 Tim. iv. 10. In preaching the gospel, Paul saith, he "suffered as an evil-doer even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound," 2 Tim. ii. 9. "I suffer these things," saith he, "nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day," 2 Tim. i. 12. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," 2 Tim. iii. 12. Our patience in sufferings is the joy of our friends, and therefore they are not too much to be feared. 2 Thess. i. 4, 5, "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer."[351] Therefore take the conclusion of all from God, Rev. ii. 10, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried: and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Phil. i. 28-30, "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God: for to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." And shall we fear so great a gift?