thing as this: judge it but a small thing to be judged of man, to have your names caft out as evil: let not fcoffs and reproaches be fuch terrible things to you. It is, without doubt, a great trial; elfe the holy Ghoft had not added a peculiar epithet to it, which is not given to any other of the sufferings of the faints: not cruel tortures, nor cruel ftonings, burnings, flaying with the fword; but cruel mockings, Heb. xi. 36. Yet learn to be dead to, and unaffected with thefe things; fet the reproach ing world as light, and as low as it fets you: Defpife the fbame, as your mafter Chrift did, Heb. xii. 2. And to promote mortification in this, take thefe helps.

1. Confider this is no new or ftrange thing that hath happened to you: the holieft of men have past through the like, if not worse trials, Heb. x. 33. Pfal. xliv. 14. Reproaches have been the lot of the best men. They called Athanafius, Sathanafius; Cyprianus, Coprianus, a gatherer of dung; bleffed Paul, a peftilent fellow; Dr. Story threw a faggot at fweet Mr. Denlie's face, as he was finging a pfalm in the midst of the flames, faying, I have spoiled a good old fong.

2. It may be religion hath been reproached and fcoffed at for your fakes; and if fo, think it not much to be reproached for religion's fake.

3. It is much better to be reproached by men for discharging duty, than by your own confciences for the neglect of it; if all be quiet within, never be moved at the noife and clamour with. out: If you have a good roof over your head, be not troubled though the winds and ftorms blufter abroad, 1 Pet. iv. 14. Take heed what you do, and be heedless what the world fays.

4. Always remember, that you neither ftand nor fall at the world's judgment, and therefore have the lefs reafon to be troubled at it, 1 Cor. iv. 3. If your condition were to be caft to eternity by it, it were fomewhat.

5. There is a worth and excellency in the reproaches of Christ, as bad as they feem; and fuch an excellency, as is not to be matched by any earthly enjoyment, Heb xi. 26. The reproaches of Chrift are of more worth than the treasures of Egypt, tho' Egypt then was the magazine of the world for treafures. The apofiles counted them their honours, Acts v. 41. When Ludovicus Marfacus, a knight of France, faw those that were to fuffer with him in the chains, and that they put none upon him, because of the nobility of his birth, he faid to the executioner, Gur me non quoque torqui donas, et illuftris illius ordinis militem non creas? Why do ye not honour me with a chain too, and create me a knight of that noble order ?'

A

6. Laftly, Should fcoffs and reproaches fcare you from Christ and duty; then, though you fhould efcape the reproaches of men, yet fhall you fall under the everlasting contempt of God, angels, and good men. Therefore, "Fear ye "not the reproaches of men that shall die, nor be afraid of their "revilings, for the moth fhall eat them up like a garment, " and the worm fhall eat them like wool, but my righte "oufnefs fhall be for ever, and my falvation from generation to generation," Ifa. li. 7, 8.

3. Mortify your inordinate affections of liberty, pleasure, and delicate living. O let not a prifon feem fo formidable to you. It is true, as Chrift told Peter, in John xxi. 18. "When "thou waft young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither "thou wouldft; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch "forth thy hands, and another fhall gird thee, and carry thee "whither thou wouldst not." You have now your liberty

to go whither you will, and it is a precious mercy if well improved; the birds of the air (as one faith) had rather be in the woods at liberty, though lean and hungry, than in a golden cage with the richest fare. But yet, if God will call you to deny this alfo for Chrift, fee that you be ready to be bound as Paul was, and receive the chain and bonds of Chrift with thankfgiving: To which end, confider,

1. That the affliction, in fuch cafes of restraint, is more from within, than from without you. There is no place but may be delectable to you, if your heart be heavenly, and the prefence of God be engaged with you. What a fweet night had Jacob at Bethel! Paul and Silas in the ftocks! See that precious letter of Pomponius Algerius.

Tranftulit in cœlum Chrifti præfentia clauftrum ;

Quid faciet cœlo? quæ cœlum jam creat antro.

It is your own unbelief and impatiency, that gives you more trouble than the condition.

2. No keeper can keep the comforter from you, if you be the Lord's prifoners, Acts xvi. If they could bar out the Spirit from you, it would be a difmal place indeed: But ordinarily, there the faints have their cleareft vifions of God, and sweetest prefence of the Spirit. You are the Lord's freemen, whilst men's prifoners: All the world cannot diveft you of the state of liberty Chrift hath purchased for you, John viii. 36.

* If the presence of Chrift once changed a prison into a kind of heaven, what will it do in heaven itfelf, which even here doth make a dungeon like heaven?

3. Though a prison looks fad and dismal, yet it is not hell: Oh blefs God for that, that is a fad prison indeed! Beloved, men have their prifons, and God hath his God's prifon is a terrible prifon indeed, thousands are now there in chains, 1 Pet. iii. 19. and there you deserved to have been fent long ago: If God exchange an hell for a prison, have you any caufe to complain?

4. How obdurate and cruel foever men are to you, yet the Lord Jefus is kind and tender-hearted to his prisoners; he puts the kindneffes that any fhew them upon his own account, Matth. xxv. 36. "He looks down from heaven to hear the fighings and groanings of his prifoners," Pfal. cii. 20. He will tenderly fympathize with you in all your prison-straits and troubles.

5. A prifon hath been handfelled and perfumed by the best and holiest of men in all ages, 1 Kings xxii. 27. Jer. xxxii. 2. Matth. iv. 12. Acts v. 18. and xxvi. 10. God hath made it a fettled school of discipline to them.

6. Should you, to avoid a prifon, commit a fin, inftead of being man's prifoner, you fhall be clapt up by God, for he hath a prison for your fouls even in this world, Pfal. cxlii. 7. And this is ten thousand times more dreadful, than any dungeon in the world. Oh it is a dark prifon! nothing to let in the leaft beam of God's countenance upon your poor fouls. What a fad exchange have you made then?

7. Confider what a ground of comfort God hath laid in that word, Rev. ii. 10. to obviate the fears and terrors incident to us in fuch a condition: God hath limited Satan and his in ftruments, both for time, number, and all circumstances of the trial.

8. Lastly, You do not know what a mercy may be in it: It may be a time of retirement from the world, and the cla mours and distractions that are abroad. Thefe days of impri fonment may be your holy-days; as a prifoner of Chrift once

called them.

4. Get an heart' mortified to the exceffive and inordinate love of life: This, I confefs, is the highest and hardeft point of self-denial, because it wraps up all other felf-interests in it. But yet confider,

First, Though life be very dear, yet Jefus Chrift is ten thou fand times dearer than thy life: If thou be a faint, he is the life of thy life, and the length of thy days; and in comparison of him, and his glory, faints fhould, and have defpifed and flighted their lives, Luke xiv. 26. Rev. xii. 11.

Secondly, Die you muft: and if by fhrinking from Chrift, you should protract a miferable life for a few days longer, in the mean time lofing that which is better than life, Pfal. Ixiii. 3. Matth. x. 39. Oh! when you lie upon your death-bed, you will wish that you had obeyed God's call, and fo have departed in peace.

Thirdly, If you have cordially covenanted with Chrift, (as all fincere believers have done), then you have yielded up your lives to him, to be difpofed of for his glory, Rom. xiv. 7. So that, look as Chrift both lived and died for you; fo ought you to live as Chrift: And all the excellency you fee in life, confists in that reference and subserviency it hath to his glory. I fay then, if you have understandingly and cordially transacted in a covenant-way with him, your care will not be fo much how to fhun death, as by what death you may moft glorify God, John xxi. 19. And certainly, you can never lay them down upon a more honourable or comfortable account than in his cause, and for his fake. It was a great trouble to Luther, that he carried his blood to his grave.

Fourthly, To die for Chrift, is one of the highest testifications of your love to Chrift, that you are capable of, John xiii. 37. Yea, it is fuch a teftification of your love to the Lord Jesus, as angels are not capable of making.

Fifthly, Why fhould you decline even a violent death for Chrift, when as the bitterness of death is paft, and there is no hell following the pale horse? It cannot feparate you from Chrift, Rom. viii. 38.

Sixthly, Think what a death Chrift fuffered for you: In which the fulness of the wrath both of God and man met together, fo that he was fore amazed; yet with defire, did he defire it for your fakes.

7. Laftly, Think what a life you fhall have with Chrift, as foon as this is delivered up to, and for him, 2 Tim. ii. 12. It is but wink, and you fhall fee God.

Oh that these things might provoke you to follow on, and ply the work of mortification.

CHA P. XI.

Wherein is opened the fingular advantage that fuffering faints have by their skill and infight into the methods and myfteries of Satan's temptations; fome of thofe wiles of Satan opened, and rules for the avoiding of the danger briefly prefcribed.

TH

HE hazards and dangers of Chriftians in times of perfecution, arise not fo much from their fufferings, as from the temptations that always attend, and are by Satan planted upon their fufferings: for the most part, fufferings and temptations go together, Heb. xi. 37. And therefore it behoves fuch as are, or expect to be, called to fufferings, to dive into the mysteries of temptations, and be well acquainted with the enemy's defigns upon them. So was Paul, and fo he fuppofes all others to be, that engage in the fame cause: "We are not ignorant of his devices," Cor. ii. 11. There is a manifold advantage redounding to suffering faints thereby.

1. He that is well acquainted with the methods of temptation, will be better able to defcry the first approaches and beginnings of it, and a temptation discovered, is more than half conquered. It is a fpecial artifice of Satan, to fhuffle in his temptations as undifcernably as may be into the foul; for he knows, that "in vain is the net fpread in the fight of any "bird," Prov. i. 17. And therefore he ordinarily makes a fuffering feafon to be a tempting feafon; because fufferings, like fire to iron, make it impreffive and operable, they do or dinarily put the foul into an hurry and diftraction, and fo gives him an advantage to tempt the foul with lefs fufpicion, and greater fuccefs. But now, a fkilful Chriftian, that is acquainted with his wiles, will difcern when he begins to enter into temptation; as Chrift's expreffion is, Luke xxii. 46. And fo check the temptation in its first rife, when it is weakeft; and moft easily broken. Doubtlefs one reafon why fo many fall by temptation, is, because it is got within them, and hath prevailed far, before it be discovered to be a temptation.

2 He that is well acquainted with Satan's methods of tempting, will not only difcern it fooner than another; but allo knows his work and duty, and how to manage the conflict with it, which is a great inatter. There are many poor fouls that labour under ftrong temptations, and know not what to