The Beatitudes - Thomas Watson
Concerning persecution
Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
We are now
come to the last beatitude: `Blessed are they which are persecuted.` Our Lord
Christ would have us reckon the cost. `Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth
the cost, whether he have enough to finish it?'. {Lu
14:28} Religion will cost us the tears of repentance and the blood
of persecution. But we see here a great encouragement that may keep us from
fainting in the day of adversity. For the present, blessed; for the future,
crowned.
The words
fall into two general parts.
1. The
condition of the godly in this life: `They are persecuted'.
2. Their
reward after this life: `Theirs is the kingdom of heaven'.
I shall speak
chiefly of the first, and wind in the other in the applicatory. The observation
is that true godliness is usually attended with persecution. `We must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God'. {Ac
14:22} `The Jews stirred up the chief men of the city and raised
persecution against Paul...'. {Ac 13:50}
Luther makes it the very definition of a Christian, `Christianus
quasi crucianus.' Though Christ died to take away the
curse from us, yet not to take away the cross from us. Those stones which are
cut out for a building are first under the saw and hammer to be hewed and
squared. The godly are called `living stones'. {1Pe 2:5} And they must be hewn and
polished by the persecutor's hand that they may be fit for the heavenly
building. The saints have no charter of exemption from trials. Though they be
never so meek, merciful, pure in heart, their piety will not shield them from
sufferings. They must hang their harp on the willows and take the cross. The
way to heaven is by way of thorns and blood. Though it be full of roses in
regard of the comforts of the Holy Ghost, yet it is full of thorns in regard of
persecutions. Before Israel got to Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey,
they must go through a wilderness of serpents and a Red Sea. So the children of
God in their passage to the holy land must meet with fiery serpents and a red
sea of persecution. It is a saying of Ambrose, `There is no Abel but has his
Cain.' St Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus. {1Co
15:32} Set it down as a maxim, if you will follow Christ, you must
see the swords and staves. Put the cross in your creed. For the amplification
of this, there are several things we are to take cognisance
of.
1. What is
meant by persecution. 2 The several kinds of persecution. 3 Why there must be
persecution. 4 The chief persecutions are raised against the ministers of
Christ. 5 What that persecution is which makes a man blessed.
What is meant
by persecution? The Greek word `to persecute', signifies `to vex and molest',
sometimes `to prosecute another', to `arraign him at the bar', and `to pursue
him to the death'. A persecutor is a `pricking briar'; {Eze 28:24} therefore the church
is described to be a `lily among thorns' (Canticles 2: 2).
What are the
several kinds of persecution? There is a twofold persecution; a persecution of
the hand; a persecution of the tongue.
1. A
persecution of the hand. `Which of the prophets have not your fathers
persecuted?'. {Ac 7:52} `For thy sake we are killed all the day long'. {Ro
8:36 Ga 4:29} This I call a bloody
persecution, when the people of God are persecuted with fire and sword. So we
read of the ten persecutions in the time of Nero, Domitian, Trajan etc.; and of
the Marian persecution. England for five years drank a cup of blood and lately
Piedmont and the confines of Bohemia have been scourged to death with the rod
of the persecutor. God's Church has always, like Abraham's ram, been tied in a
bush of thorns.
2. The
persecution of the tongue, which is twofold.
(i) Reviling. This few think of or lay to heart, but it is
called in the text, persecution. `When men shall revile you and persecute you'.
This is tongue persecution. `His words were drawn swords'. {Ps
55:21} You may kill a man as well in his name as in his person. A
good name is as `precious ointment'. {Ec
7:1} A good conscience and a good name is like a gold ring
set with a rich diamond. Now to smite another by his name is by our Saviour
called persecution. Thus the primitive Christians endured the persecution of
the tongue. `They had trial of cruel mockings'. {Heb 11:36} David was `the song of the drunkards'. {Ps 69:12}
They would sit on their ale-bench and jeer at him. How frequently do the wicked
cast out the squibs of reproach at God's children: `These are the holy ones!'
Little do they think what they do. They are now doing Cain's work and Julian's.
They are persecuting.
(ii)
Slandering. So it is in the text: `When they shall persecute you and say all
manner of evil against you falsely'. Slandering is tongue persecution. Thus
Saint Paul was slandered in his doctrine. Report had it that he preached, `Men
might do evil that good might come of it'. {Ro
3:8} Thus Christ who cast out devils was charged to have a devil. {Joh 8:48} The primitive Christians
were falsely accused for killing their children and for incest. `They laid to
my charge things that I knew not' {Ps 35:11}
Let us take
heed of becoming persecutors. Some think there is no persecution but fire and
sword. Yes, there is persecution of the tongue. There are many of these
persecutors nowadays who by a devilish chemistry can turn gold into dung, the
precious names of God's saints into reproach and disgrace. There have been many
punished for clipping of coin. Of how much sorer punishment shall they be
thought worthy, who clip the names of God's people to make them weigh lighter!
Why there
must be persecution. I answer for two reasons.
1. In regard
of God: his decree and his design.
God's Decree:
`We are appointed `hereunto'. {1Th 3:3}
Whoever brings the suffering, God sends it. God bade Shimei curse. Shimei's
tongue was the arrow, but it was God that shot it.
God's Design.
God has a twofold design in the persecutions of his children.
(i) Trials. `Many shall be tried'. {Da
12:10} Persecution is the touchstone of sincerity. It discovers true
saints from hypocrites. Unsound hearts pretend fair in prosperity, but in time
of persecution fall away. {Mt 13:20,Mt 13:21} Hypocrites cannot sail in
stormy weather. They will follow Christ to MountOlivet,
but not to MountCalvary. Like green timber they
shrink in the scorching sun of persecution. If trouble arises, hypocrites will
rather make Demas their choice than Moses their choice. They will prefer thirty
pieces of silver before Christ. God will have persecutions in the world to make
a discovery of men. Suffering times are sifting times. `When I am tried I shall come forth as gold'. {Job
23:10} Job had a furnace-faith. A Christian of right breed (who is
born of God), whatever he loses, will `hold fast his integrity'. {Job 2:3} Christ's true disciples will
follow him upon the water.
(ii) Purity.
God lets his children be in the furnace that they may be `partakers of his
holiness'. {Heb 12:10} The cross is physic. It
purges out pride, impatience, love of the world. God washes his people in
bloody waters to get out their spots and make them look white. {Da 12:10} `I am black, but comely'
(Canticles 1: 5). The torrid zone of persecution made the spouse's skin black,
but her soul fair. See how differently afflictions work upon the wicked and
godly. They make the one worse, the other better. Take a cloth that is rotten.
If you scour and rub it, it frets and tears; but if you scour a piece of plate,
it looks brighter. When afflictions are upon the wicked, they fret against God
and tear themselves in impatience, but when the godly are scoured by these,
they look brighter.
There will be
persecutions in regard of the enemies of the church. These vultures
prey upon God's turtles. The church has two sorts of enemies.
Open enemies.
The wicked hate the godly. There is `enmity between the seed of the woman and
the seed of the serpent'. {Ge 3:15} As in nature there is an
antipathy between the vine and the bay-tree, the elephant and the dragon; and
as vultures have an antipathy against sweet smells; so in the wicked there is
an antipathy against the people of God. They hate the sweet perfumes of their
graces. It is true the saints have their infirmities, but the wicked do not
hate them for these, but for their holiness, and from this hatred arises open
violence. The thief hates the light, therefore would blow it out.
Secret
enemies, who pretend friendship but secretly raise persecutions against the
godly. Such are hypocrites and heretics. Saint Paul calls them `false
brethren'. {2Co 11:26} The church complains that
her own sons had vexed her (Canticles 1: 6). That is, those who had been bred
up in her bosom and pretended religion and sympathy, these false friends vexed
her. The church's enemies are them `of her own house'. Such as are open pretenders
but secret opposers of the faith are ever worst. A wen seems to be a part of
the body, but is indeed an enemy to it. It disfigures
and endangers it. They are the vilest and basest of men who hang forth Christ's
colours, yet fight against him.
The fourth particular is that the chief persecutions are raised against
the ministers. Our Lord Christ turns himself directly to the apostles whom he
was ready to commission and send abroad to preach: `Blessed are ye when men
shall persecute you' (verse 2Co 11:11).
`So persecuted they the prophets before you' (verse 2Co
11:12). `Take, my brethren, the prophets for an example of suffering
affliction'. {Jas 5:10} No sooner is any man a minister,
but he is a piece of a martyr. The ministers of Christ are his chosen vessels.
Now as the best vessel of gold and silver passes through the fire, so God's
chosen vessels pass often through the fire of persecution. All times are not
like the silver age wherein Constantine lived. He was an honourer
of the ministry. He would not sit down in the Council of Nicaea till the
bishops who were convened there came and besought him. He would say, if he saw
an infirmity in the clergy, that his royal purple would cover it. Ministers
must not always look for such shines of the prince's favour.
They must expect an alarum. Peter, a famous preacher,
knew how `to cast the net on the right side of the ship', and at one sermon he
converted three thousand souls. Yet neither the divinity of his doctrine nor
the sanctity of his life could exempt him from persecution. `When thou shalt be
old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest
not'. It alludes to his suffering death for Christ. He was (says Eusebius)
bound with chains and afterwards crucified at Jerusalem with his head
downwards. Saint Paul, a holy man, who is steeled with courage, and fired with
zeal, as soon as he entered into the ministry `bonds and persecutions did abide
him'. {Ac 9:16 Ac
20:23} He was made up of sufferings. `I am ready to be offered up'.
{2Ti 4:6} He alludes to the drink
offerings wherein the wine or blood used in sacrifice was poured out, thereby
intimating by what manner of death he should glorify God; not by being
sacrificed in the fire, but by pouring out his blood, which was when he was
beheaded. And that it might seem no strange thing for God's ministers to be
under the heat and rage of persecution, Stephen puts the question, `Which of
the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?'. {Ac
7:52} Ignatius was torn with wild beasts. Cyprian, Polycarp
martyred. Maximus, the emperor (as Eusebius relates), gave charge to his
officers to put none to death but the governors and pastors of the Church.
The reasons
why the storm of persecution has chiefly fallen upon the ministers are:
1. They have
their corruptions as well as others, and lest they should be lifted
up `through the abundance of revelation', God lets loose some `messenger
of Satan' to vex and persecute them. God sees they have need of the flail to
thresh off their husks. The fire God puts them into is not to consume but to
refine them.
2. The
ministers are Christ's ensign-bearers to carry his colours.
They are the captains of the Lord's host, therefore
they are the most shot at. `I am set for the defence
of the gospel'. {Php 1:17} The Greek word here used
alludes to a soldier that is set in the forefront of the battle and has all the
missiles flying about his ears. The minister's work is to preach against men's
sins which are as dear to them as their right eye, and they cannot endure this.
Every man's sin is his king to which he yields love and subjection. Now as
Pilate said, `Shall I crucify your king?' Men will not endure to have their
king-sin crucified. This then being the work of the ministry, to divide between
men and their lusts, to part these two old friends, no wonder it meets with so
much opposition. When Paul preached against Diana, all the city was in an
uproar. We preach against men's Dianas, those sins
which bring them in pleasure and profit. This causes an uproar.
3. From the
malice of Satan. The ministers of Christ come to destroy his kingdom, therefore
the old serpent will spit all his venom at them. If we tread upon the devil's
head, he will bite us by the heel. The devil sets up several forts and
garrisons in men's hearts; pride, ignorance, unbelief. Now the weapons of the
ministry beat down these strongholds. {2Co
10:4} Therefore Satan raises his militia, all the force and power of
hell against the ministry. The kingdom of Satan is a `kingdom of darkness', {Ac 26:18 Re
16:10} and God's ministers are called the `light of the world'. {Mt 5:14} They come to enlighten those
that sit in darkness. This enrages Satan. Therefore he labours
to eclipse the lights, to pull down the stars, that his kingdom of darkness may
prevail. The devil is called a lion. {1Pe
5:8} The souls of people are the lion's prey. The ministers' work is
to take away this prey from this lion. Therefore how will he roar upon them, and seek to destroy them!
(i) It shows us what a work the ministry is; though full of
dignity, yet full of danger. The persecution of the tongue is the most gentle persecution can be expected. It is not possible
(says Luther) to be a faithful preacher and not to meet with trials and
oppositions.
(ii) It shows
the corruption of men's nature since the fall. They are their own enemies. They
persecute those who come to do them most good. What is the work of the ministry
but to save men's souls? to pull them as `brands out of the fire'. Yet they are
angry at this. We do not hate the physician who brings such physic as makes us
sick, because it is to make us well; nor the surgeon who lances the flesh,
because it is in order to a cure. Why then should we quarrel with the minister?
What is our work but to bring men to heaven? `We are ambassadors for
Christ...'. {2Co 5:20} We would have a peace made
up between you and God; yet this is the folly of depraved nature, to requite
evil for good. Aristoxenus used to moisten his
flowers with wine, honey, and perfumes that they might not only smell more
fragrantly but put forth more vigorously. So should we do with our ministers.
Give them wine and honey. Encourage them in their work that they might act more
vigorously. But instead of this we give them gall and vinegar to drink. We hate
and persecute them. Most deal with their ministers as Israel did with Moses. He
prayed for them and wrought miracles for them, yet they were continually
quarrelling with him and sometimes ready to take away his life.
(iii) If the
fury of the world be against the ministers, then you that fear God had need
pray much for them. `Pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free
course, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.'. {2Th 3:1,2Th
3:2} People should pray for their ministers that God would give them
the `wisdom of the serpent', that they may not betray themselves to danger by
indiscretion; and the boldness of the lion, that they may not betray the truth
by fear.
The next
thing to be explained is what that suffering persecution is which makes a man
blessed.
1. I shall
show what that suffering is which will not make us blessed.
(i) That suffering is not reckoned for martyrdom, when we
pull a cross upon ourselves. There is little comfort in such suffering.
Augustine speaks of some in his time who were called Circumcellions,
who out of an itch rather than zeal of martyrdom, would run themselves into
sufferings. These were accessory to their own death, like King Saul who fell
upon his own sword. We are bound by all lawful means to preserve our own lives.
Jesus Christ did not suffer till he was called to it. Suspect that to be a
temptation which bids us cast ourselves down into sufferings. When men through
precipitance and rashness run themselves into trouble, it is a cross of their
own making and not of God's laying upon them.
(ii) That is
not to be accounted martyrdom when we suffer for our offences. `Let none of you
suffer as an evildoer'. {1Pe 4:15} `We indeed suffer justly'. {Lu 23:41} I am not of Cyprian's mind
that the thief on the cross suffered as a martyr. No, he suffered as an
evildoer! Christ indeed took pity on him and saved him. He died a saint, but
not a martyr. When men suffer by the hand of the magistrate for their
uncleanness, blasphemies etc., these do not suffer persecution, but execution.
They die not as martyrs, but as malefactors. They suffer evil for being evil.
(iii) That
suffering will not make men blessed, when they suffer, out of sinister
respects, to be cried up as head of a party, or to keep up a faction. The
apostle implies that a man may give his body to be burned,
yet go to hell. {1Co 13:3} Ambitious men may sacrifice
their lives to purchase fame. These are the devil's martyrs.
2. What that
suffering persecution is which will make us blessed, and
shall wear the crown of martyrdom.
(i) When we suffer in a good cause. So it is in the text.
`Blessed are they which suffer for righteousness' sake'. It is the cause that
makes a martyr. When we suffer for the truth and espouse the quarrel of
religion, this is to suffer for righteousness' sake. `For the hope of Israel I
am bound with this chain'. {Ac 28:20}
(ii) When we
suffer with a good conscience. A man may have a good cause and a bad
conscience. He may suffer for `righteousness' sake', yet he himself be
unrighteous. Saint Paul, as he had a just cause, so he had a pure conscience.
`I have lived in all good conscience to this day'. {Ac
23:1} Paul kept a good conscience to his dying day. It has made the
saints go as cheerfully to the stake as if they had been going to a crown. Look
to it that there be no flaw in conscience. A ship that is to sail upon the
waters must be preserved from leaking. When Christians are to sail on the
waters of persecution, let them take heed there be no leak of guilt in their
conscience. He who suffers (though it be in God's own cause) with a bad
conscience, suffers two hells; a hell of persecution, and an
hell of damnation.
(iii) When we
have a good call. `Ye shall be brought before kings...'. {Mt
10:18} There is no question but a man may
so far consult for his safety that if God by his providence open a door, he may
fly in time of persecution. {Mt 10:23}
But when he is brought before kings, and the case is such that either he must suffer or the truth must suffer, here is a clear call to
suffering, and this is reckoned for martyrdom.
(iv) When we
have good ends in our suffering, namely, that we may glorify God, set a seal to
the truth, and show our love to Christ. `Ye shall be brought before kings for
my sake'. {Mt 10:18} The primitive Christians
burned more in love than in fire. When we look at God in our sufferings and are
willing to make his crown flourish, though it be in our ashes, this is that
suffering which carries away the garland of glory.
(v) When we
suffer as Christians. `If any man suffer as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed'. {1Pe
4:16} To suffer as a Christian is to suffer with such a spirit as
becomes a Christian, which is:
When we
suffer with patience. `Take, my brethren, the prophets for an example of
suffering affliction and of patience'. {Jas
5:10} A Christian must not repine but say, `Shall I not drink the
cup' of martyrdom which my Father has given me? There should be such a spirit
of meekness in a Christian's suffering that it should be hard to say which is
greater, his persecution or his patience. When Job had lost all, he kept the
breastplate of innocence and the shield of patience. An impatient martyr is a
solecism.
To suffer as
Christians is when we suffer with courage. Courage is a Christian's armour of proof. It steels and animates him. The three
children or rather the three champions were of brave heroic spirits. They do
not say to the king, `We ought not to serve your gods', but `We will not'. {Da 3:18} Neither Nebuchadnezzar's
music nor his furnace could alter their resolution. Tertullian was called an
adamant for his invincible courage. Holy courage makes us (as one of the
fathers says) `have such faces of brass that we are not ashamed of the cross'.
This is to suffer as Christians, when we are meek yet resolute. The more the
fire is blown the more it flames. So it is with a brave-spirited Christian. The
more opposition he meets with the more zeal and courage flames forth. What a
spirit of gallantry was in Luther who said, writing to Melanchthon, `If it be
not the cause of God we are embarked in, let us desert it! If it be his cause
and will bear us out, why do we not stand to it?'
To suffer as
Christians is to suffer with cheerfulness. Patience is a bearing the cross;
cheerfulness is a taking up the cross. Christ suffered for us cheerfully. His
death was a freewill offering. {Lu 12:50}
He thirsted to drink of that cup of blood. Such must our sufferings be for Christ.
Cheerfulness perfumes martyrdom and makes it the sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God. Thus Moses suffered cheerfully. `Moses, when
he was come to years, chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season'. {Heb
11:24,Heb 11:25} Observe: `When he was come
to years': It was no childish act. It was not in his nonage, but when he was of
years of discretion. `He chose to suffer affliction,:
Suffering was not so much his task as his choice. The cross was not so much
imposed as embraced. This is to suffer as Christians, when we are volunteers;
we take up the cross cheerfully, nay, joyfully. `They departed from the
presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for his name'. {Ac 5:41} Or as it is more emphatic in
the original, `They rejoiced that they were so far graced as to be disgraced
for the name of Christ'. Tertullian says of the primitive Christians, that they
took more comfort in their sufferings than in their deliverance. And indeed
well may a Christian be joyful in suffering because it is a great favour when God honours a man to
be a witness to the truth. Christ's marks in Saint Paul's body were prints of
glory. The saints have worn their sufferings as ornaments. Ignatius' chains
were his jewels. Never have any princes been so famous for their victories as
the martyrs for their sufferings.
We suffer as
Christians when we suffer and pray. `Pray for them which despitefully use you'.
{Lu 6:28}
There are two
reasons why we should pray for our persecutors.
Because our
prayers may be a means to convert them. Stephen prayed for his persecutors:
`Lord, lay not this sin to their charge'. {Ac
7:60} And this prayer was effectual to some of their conversions.
Augustine says that the church of God was beholden to Stephen's prayer for all
that benefit which was reaped by Paul's ministry.
We should
pray for our persecutors because they do us good, though against their will.
They shall increase our reward. Every reproach shall add to our glory. Every
injury shall serve to make our crown heavier. As Gregory Nazianzen speaks in
one of his orations, Every stone which was thrown at
Stephen was a precious stone which enriched him and made him shine brighter in
the kingdom of heaven. Thus have I shown what that suffering is which makes us blessed, and shall wear the crown of martyrdom.
1. It shows
us what the nature of Christianity is, namely, sanctity joined with suffering.
A true saint carries Christ in his heart and the cross on his shoulders. `All
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution'. {2Ti 3:12} Christ and his cross are
never parted. It is too much for a Christian to have two heavens, one here and
another hereafter. Christ's kingdom on earth is the kingdom of the cross. What
is the meaning of the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the breastplate of
patience, but to imply that we must encounter sufferings? It is one of the
titles given to the church, `afflicted'. {Isa
54:11} Persecution is the legacy bequeathed by Christ to his people.
`In the world ye shall have tribulation'. {Joh
16:33} Christ's spouse is a lily among thorns. Christ's sheep must
expect to lose their golden fleece. This the flesh does not like to hear of.
Therefore Christ calls persecution `the cross'. {Mt
16:24} It is cross to flesh and blood; we are all for reigning.
`When wilt thou restore the kingdom again to Israel?'. {Ac
1:6} But the apostle tells of suffering before reigning. `If we
suffer, we shall also reign with him'. {2Ti
2:12} How loath is corrupt flesh to put its neck under Christ's
yoke, or stretch itself upon the cross! But religion gives no charter of
exemption from suffering. To have two heavens is more than Christ had. Was the
head crowned with thorns and do we think to be crowned with roses? `Think it
not strange concerning the fiery trial'. {1Pe
4:12} If we are God's gold, it is not strange to be cast into the
fire. Some there are that picture Erasmus half in heaven and half out. Methinks
it represents a Christian in this life. In regard of his inward consolation he
is half in heaven. In regard of his outward persecution he is half in hell.
2. See hence
that persecutions are not signs of God's anger or fruits of the curse, for
`blessed are they that are persecuted'. If they are blessed who die in the
Lord, are they not blessed who die for the Lord? We are very apt to judge them
hated and forsaken of God who are in a suffering condition. `If thou be the Son
of God, come down from the cross'. {Mt
27:40} The Jews made a question of it. They could hardly believe
Christ was the Son of God when he hung upon the cross. Would God let him be
reproached and forsaken if he were the Son of God? When the barbarians saw the
viper on Paul's hand, they thought he was a great sinner. `No doubt this man is
a murderer'. {Ac 28:4} So when we see the people of
God afflicted and the viper of persecution fastens upon them, we are apt to
say, These are greater sinners than others, and God
does not love them. This is for want of judgement. `Blessed are they who are
persecuted'. Persecutions are pledges of God's love, badges of honour. {Heb 12:7}
In the sharpest trial there is the sweetest comfort. God's fanning his wheat is
but to make it purer.
1. It
reproves such as would be thought good Christians but will not suffer
persecution for Christ's sake. Their care is not to take up the cross, but to
avoid the cross. `When persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is
offended'. {Mt 13:21} There are many professors
who speak Christ fair, but will suffer nothing for him. These may be compared
to the crystal which looks like pearl till it comes to the hammering, then it
breaks. Many, when they see the palm-branches and garments spread, cry
`Hosanna' to Christ, but if the swords and staves appear, then they slink away.
Bezal urged King Henry the Fourth (of France), then
of Navarre, to engage himself in the Protestant religion, but he told him he
would not launch out too far into the deep, so that, if a storm should arise,
he might retreat back to the shore. It is to be feared
there are some among us, who, if persecutions should come, would rather make
Demas his choice than Moses his choice, and would study rather to keep their
skin whole than their conscience pure. Erasmus highly extolled Luther's
doctrine, but when the Emperor threatened all that should favour
Luther's cause, he unworthily deserted it. Hypocrites will sooner renounce
their baptism than take up the cross. If ever we should show ourselves
Christians to purpose, we must with Peter throw ourselves upon the water to
come to Christ. He that refuses to suffer, let him read over that sad
scripture, `Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven'. {Mt 10:33}
2. It
reproves them who are the opposers and persecutors of the saints. How great is
their sin! They resist the Holy Ghost. `Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost;
which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?'. {Ac
7:51,Ac 7:52} Persecutors offer affront to
Christ in heaven. They tread his jewels in the dust, touch the apple of his
eye, pierce his sides. `Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me?'. {Ac 9:4} When the foot was trodden on,
the head cried out. As the sin is great, so the punishment shall be
proportionable. `They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast
given them blood to drink, for they are worthy'. {Re
16:6} Will not Christ avenge those who die in this quarrel? What is
the end of persecutors? Diocletian proclaimed that the Christian churches and
temples should be razed down, their Bibles burned. He would not permit any man
that was a Christian to hold an office. Some of the Christians he cast alive
into boiling lead. Others had their hands and lips cut off; only they had their
eyes left that they might behold the tragedy of their own miseries. What was
the end of this man? He ran mad and poisoned himself. Felix, captain to Emperor
Charles the Fifth, being at supper at Augsburg, vowed he would ride up to the
spurs in the blood of the Lutherans. A flux of blood came up that night into
his throat wherewith he was choked. It were easy to
tell how God's hand has so visibly gone out against persecutors that they might
read their sin in their punishment.
1. Let it
exhort Christians to think beforehand and make account of sufferings. This
reckoning beforehand can do us no hurt; it may do us much good.
(i) The fore-thoughts of suffering will make a Christian
very serious. The heart is apt to be feathery and frothy. The thoughts of
suffering persecution would consolidate it. Why am I thus light? Is this a
posture fit for persecution? Christians grow serious in the casting up their
spiritual accounts. They reckon what religion must cost them and may cost them.
It must cost them the blood of their sins. It may cost them the blood of their
lives.
(ii) The
fore-thoughts of persecution will be as sauce to season our delights, that we
do not surfeit upon them. How soon may there be an alarum
sounded? How soon may the clouds drop blood? The thoughts of this would take
off the heart from the immoderate love of the creature. Our Saviour at a great
feast breaks out into mention of his death. `She hath prepared this against my
burial'. {Mr 14:8}
So the fore-thoughts of a change would be an excellent antidote against a
surfeit.
(iii) The
fore-thoughts of sufferings would make them lighter when they come. The
suddenness of an evil adds to the sadness. This was ill news to the fool in the
gospel (who reckoned without his host). `This night shall thy soul be required
of thee'. {Lu 12:20} This will be an aggravation
of Babylon's miseries: `Her plagues shall come in one day'. {Re
18:8} Not that antichrist shall be destroyed in a day, but (' in a
day') that is, suddenly. The blow shall come unawares, when he does not think
of it. The reckoning beforehand of suffering alleviates and shakes off the edge
of it when it comes. Therefore Christ, to lighten the cross, still forewarns
his disciples of sufferings that they might not come unlooked for. {Joh 16:33 Ac
1:7}
(iv)
Fore-thoughts of persecution would put us in mind of getting our armour ready. It is dangerous as well as imprudent to have
all to seek when the trial comes, as if a soldier should have his weapons to
get when the enemy is in the field. Caesar, seeing a soldier whetting his sword
when he was just going to fight, cashiered him. He that reckons upon persecution
will be in a ready posture for it. He will have the shield of faith and the
sword of the Spirit ready, that he may not be surprised unawares.
Let us
prepare for persecution. A wise pilot in a calm will prepare for a storm. God
knows how soon persecution may come. There seems to be a cloud of blood hanging
over the nation.
How shall we
prepare for sufferings? Do three things.
1. Be persons
rightly qualified for suffering.
2. Avoid
those things which will hinder suffering.
3. Promote
all helps to suffering.
1. Labour to be persons rightly qualified for suffering. Be
righteous persons. That man who would suffer `for righteousness' sake' must
himself be righteous. I mean evangelically righteous. In
particular I call him righteous:
(i) who breathes after sanctity. {Ps
119:5} Though sin cleaves to his heart yet
his heart does not cleave to sin. Though sin has an alliance, yet no allowance.
`What I do I allow not!`. {Ro 7:15}
A good man hates the sin to which Satan most tempts and his heart most
inclines. {Ps 119:128}
(ii) A
righteous person is one who makes God's grace his centre.
The glory of God is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. He who is
divinely qualified is so zealously ambitious of God's glory that he does not
care what he loses, so God may be a gainer. He prefers the glory of God before
credit, estate, relations. It was the speech of Kiliaz,
that blessed martyr, `Had I all the gold in the world to dispose of, I would
give it to live with my relations (though in prison), yet Jesus Christ is
dearer to me than all.'
(iii) A
righteous person is one who values the jewel of a good conscience at an high rate. Good conscience is a saint's festival, his
music, his paradise, and he will rather hazard anything than violate his
conscience. They say of the Irish, if they have a good scimitar, a warlike
weapon, they had rather take a blow on their arm than their scimitar should be
hurt. To this I may compare a good conscience. A good man had rather sustain
hurt in his body or estate than his conscience should be hurt. He had rather
die than violate the virginity of his conscience. Such a man as this is
evangelically righteous, and if God call him to it he
is fit to suffer.
2. Avoid
those things which will hinder suffering.
(i) The love of the world. God allows us the use of the
world. {1Ti 6:7,1Ti
6:8} But take heed of the love of it. He that is in love with the
world will be out of love with the cross. `Demas hath forsaken me, having loved
this present world'. {2Ti 4:10} He not only forsook Paul's
company but his doctrine. The love of the world chokes our zeal. A man wedded
to the world will for thirty pieces of silver betray Christ and a good cause.
Let the world be as a loose garment that you may throw off at pleasure. Before
a man can die for Christ he must be dead to the world.
Paul was crucified to the world. {Ga 6:14}
It will be an easy thing to die when we are dead before in our affections.
(ii) Carnal
fear. There is a twofold fear:
A filial
fear, when a man fears to displease God. When he fears he should not hold out,
this is a good fear. `Blessed is he that feareth always'. If Peter had feared
his own heart better, and said, `Lord Jesus, I fear I shall forsake thee; Lord
strengthen me'; doubtless Christ would have kept him from falling.
There is a
cowardly fear, when a man fears danger more than sin, when he is afraid to be
good; this fear is an enemy to suffering. God proclaimed that those who were
fearful should not go to the wars. {De
20:8} The fearful are unfit to fight in Christ's wars. A man
possessed with fear does not consult what is best, but what is safest. If he
may save his estate, he will snare his conscience. `In the fear of man there is
a snare'. {Pr 29:25}
Fear made Peter deny Christ, Abraham equivocate, David feign himself to be mad.
Fear will put men upon indirect courses, making them study rather compliance
than conscience. Fear makes sin appear little and suffering great. The fearful
man sees double. He looks upon the cross through his perspective twice as big
as it is. Fear argues sordidness of spirit. It will put one upon things most
ignoble and unworthy. A fearful man will vote against his conscience. Fear
enfeebles. It is like the cutting off Samson's locks. Fear melts away the courage.
`Their hearts melt because of you'. {Jos
2:9} And when a man's strength is gone he
is very unfit to carry Christ's cross. Fear is the root of apostasy. Spira's fear made him abjure and recant his religion. Fear
hurts one more than the adversary. It is not so much an enemy without the
castle as a traitor within endangers it. It is not so much sufferings without
as traitorous fear within which undoes a man. A fearful man is versed in no
posture so much as in retreating. Oh take heed of this! Be afraid of this fear.
`Fear not them that can kill the body'. {Lu
12:4} Persecutors can but kill the body which must shortly die. The
fearful are set in the forefront of them that shall go to hell. {Re 21:8} Let us get the fear of God
into our hearts. As one wedge drives out another, so the fear of God will drive
out all other base fear.
(iii) Take
heed of a facile spirit. A facile-spirited man will be turned any way with a
word. He will be wrought as wax. He is so tame that you may lead him whither
you will. `With fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple'. {Ro 16:18} A facile Christian is
malleable to anything. He is like wool that will take any dye. He is a weak
reed that will be blown any way with the breath of men. One day you may
persuade him to engage in a good cause, the next day to desert it. He is not
made of oak but of willow. He will bend every way. Oh take heed of a facile
spirit! It is not ingenuity but folly to suffer one's self to be abused. A good
Christian is like Mount Sion that cannot be moved. {Ps
125:1} He is like Fabricius of whom it was
said, a man might as well alter the course of the sun as turn him aside from doing
justice. A good Christian must be firm to his resolution. If he be not a fixed,
he will be a falling star.
(iv) Take
heed of listening to the voice of the flesh. St Paul `conferred not with flesh
and blood'. {Ga 1:16} The flesh will give bad
counsel. First King Saul consulted with the flesh and afterwards he consulted
with the devil. He sends to the witch of Endor. Oh, says the flesh, the cross
of Christ is heavy! There is a nail in the yoke which will tear, and fetch
blood. Be as a deaf adder stopping your ears to the charmings
of the flesh.
3. Promote
those things which will help to suffer.
(i) Inure yourselves to suffering. `As a good soldier of
Christ endure hardship'. {2Ti 2:3} Jacob made the stone his
pillow. {Ge 28:18} `It is good for a man that
he bear the yoke in his youth'. {La
3:27} The bearing of a lighter cross will fit for the bearing of an heavier. Learn to bear a reproach with patience and then
you will be fitter to bear an iron chain. Saint Paul died daily. He began with
lesser sufferings and so by degrees learned to be a martyr. As it is in sin, a
wicked man learns to be expert in sin by degrees. First
he commits a lesser sin, then a greater, then he arrives at custom in sin, then
he grows impudent in sin, then he glories in sin; {Php
3:19} so it is in suffering. First a Christian takes up the chips of
the cross, a disgrace, a prison, and then he carries the cross itself.
Alas how far
are they from suffering who indulge the flesh: `... that lie upon beds of ivory
and stretch themselves upon their couches'; {Am
6:4} a very unfit posture for suffering. That soldier is like to
make but poor work of it who is stretching himself upon his bed when he should
be in the field exercising his arms. What shall I say, says Jerome, to those
Christians who make it all their care to perfume their clothes, to crisp their
hair, to sparkle their diamonds, but if sufferings
come, and the way to heaven has any water in it, they will not endure to set
their feet upon it! Most people are too effeminate. They use themselves too
nicely and tenderly. Those 'silken Christians' (as Tertullian calls them) that
pamper the flesh, are unfit for the school of the cross. The naked breast and
bare shoulder is too soft and tender to carry Christ's
cross. Inure yourselves to hardship. Do not make your pillow too easy.
(ii) Be well
skilled in the knowledge of Christ. A man can never die for him he does not
know. `For which cause I suffer those things; for I
know whom I have believed'. {2Ti 1:12}
Blind men are always fearful. A blind Christian will be fearful of the cross.
Enrich yourselves with knowledge. Know Christ in his virtues, offices,
privileges. See the preciousness in Christ. `To you that believe he is
precious'. {1Pe 2:7} His name is precious; it is
as ointment poured forth. His blood is precious; it is as balm poured forth.
His love is precious; it is as wine poured forth. Jesus Christ is made up of
all sweets and delights. He himself is all that is desirable. He is light to
the eye, honey to the taste, joy to the heart. Get but the knowledge of Christ
and you will part with all for him. You will embrace him though it be in the
fire. An ignorant man can never be a martyr. He may set up an altar, but he
will never die for an unknown God.
(iii) Prize
every truth of God. The filings of gold are precious. The least ray of truth is
glorious. `Buy the truth and sell it not'. {Pr
23:23} Truth is the object of faith, {2Th
2:13} the seed of regeneration, {Jas
1:18} the spring of joy. {1Co
13:6} Truth crowns us with salvation. {1Ti
2:4} If ever you would suffer for the truth, prize it above all
things. He that does not prize truth above life will never lay down his life
for the truth. The blessed martyrs sealed to the truth with their blood. There
are two things God counts most dear to him, his glory and his truth. `I will',
says Bishop Jewel', `deny my bishopric; I will deny my name and credit, but the
truths of Christ I cannot deny.'
(iv) Keep a
good conscience. If there be any sin allowed in the soul, it will unfit for
suffering. A man that has a boil upon his shoulders cannot carry a heavy
burden. Guilt of conscience is like a boil. He that has this can never carry
the cross of Christ. If a ship be sound and well-rigged, it will sail upon the
water, but if it be full of holes and leaks, it will sink in the water. If
conscience be full of guilt (which is like a leak in the ship), it will not
sail in the bloody waters of persecution. An house
will not stand in a storm, the pillars of it being rotten. If a man's heart be
rotten, he will never stand in a storm of tribulation. How can a guilty person
suffer when for ought he knows he is like to go from
the fire at the stake to hell-fire! Let conscience be pure. `Holding the
mystery of the faith in a pure conscience'. {1Ti
3:9} A good conscience will abide the fiery trial. This made the
martyrs' flames beds of roses. Good conscience is a wall of brass. With the
Leviathan, `it laughs at the shaking of a spear'. {Job
41:29} Let one be in prison, good conscience is a bird that can sing
in this cage. Augustine calls it `the paradise of a good conscience'.
(v) Make the
Scripture familiar to you. {Ps 119:50}
The Scripture well digested by meditation will fit for suffering. The Scripture
is a Christian's palladium, his magazine and fort-royal. It may be compared to
the `tower of David on which there hang a thousand bucklers' (Canticles 4: 4).
From these breasts of Scripture divine strength flows into the soul. `Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly'. {Col
3:16} Jerome speaks of one who by frequent studying the Scripture
made his breast `the library of Christ'. The blessed Scripture as it is an honeycomb for comfort, so an armoury
for strength. First, the martyrs' `hearts did burn within them' {Lu 24:32} by reading the Scripture,
and then their bodies were fit to burn. The Scripture arms a Christian both
against temptation and persecution.
Against
temptation: Christ himself, when he was tempted by the devil ran to Scripture
for armour: `It is written'. Three times he wounds
the old serpent with his sword. Jerome says of Saint Paul, he could never have
gone through so many temptations but for his Scripture-armour.
Christians, are you tempted? Go to Scripture; gather a stone hence to fling in
the face of a Goliath-temptation. Are you tempted to pride? Read that
scripture, `God resisteth the proud'. {1Pe 5:5} Are you tempted to lust? Read
Jas 1:15, `When lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death'.
Against
persecution: When the flesh draws back the Scripture will recruit us. It will
put armour upon us and courage into us. `Fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold the devil shall cast some of you
into prison that you may be tried and you shall have
tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown
of life'. {Re 2:10} O, says the Christian, I am
not afraid to suffer. `Fear none of those things thou shalt suffer.' But why
should I suffer? I love God and is not this sufficient?
Nay, but God will try your love. It is `that ye may be tried'. God's gold is
best tried in the furnace. But this persecution is so long! No, it is but for
`ten days'. It may be lasting but not everlasting.
What are ten days put in balance with eternity? But what am I the better if I
suffer? What comes of it? `I will (says God) give thee a crown of life'. Though
your body be martyred your soul shall be crowned. But I shall faint when trials
comer `My grace shall be sufficient'. {2Co
12:9} The weak Christian has omnipotence to underprop him.
(vi) Get a
suffering frame of heart.
What is that?
you say. I answer: A self-denying frame. `If any man will come after me let him
deny himself and take up his cross'. {Mt
16:24} Self-denial is the foundation of godliness, and if this be
not well-laid, the whole building will fall. If there be any lust in our souls
which we cannot deny, it will turn at length either to scandal or apostasy.
Self-denial is the thread which must run along through the whole work of
religion. The self-denying Christian will be the suffering Christian. `Let him
deny himself and take up his cross'.
For the
further explication of this, I shall do two things.
1. Show what
is meant by this word deny.
2. What is
meant by self.
1. What is
meant by deny? The word `to deny' signifies to lay aside, to put off, to
annihilate oneself. Beza renders it `let him renounce
himself'.
2. What is
meant by self? Self is taken four ways:
Worldly self,
Relative
self,
Natural self,
Carnal self.
A man must
deny worldly self, that is, his estate. `Behold we have forsaken all and
followed thee'. {Mt 19:27} The gold of Ophir must be
denied for the pearl of price. Let their money perish with them (said that
noble Marquess of Vico) who esteem all the gold and
silver in the world worth one hour's communion with Christ.
A man must
deny relative self, that is, his dearest relations, if God calls. If our
nearest alliance, father or mother, stand in our way and would hinder us from
doing our duty, we must either leap over them or tread upon them. `If any man
come to me and hate not father and mother and wife and children, etc., he
cannot be my disciple'. {Lu 14:26} Relations must not weigh
heavier than Christ.
A man must
deny natural self. He must be willing to become a sacrifice and make Christ's
crown flourish, though it be in his ashes. `They loved not their lives unto the
death'. {Lu 14:26 Re
12:11} Jesus Christ was dearer to them than their own heart's blood.
A man must
deny self self. This I take to be the chief sense of
the text. He must deny carnal ease. The flesh cries out for ease. It is loath
to put its neck under Christ's yoke or stretch itself upon the cross. The flesh
cries out, `There is a lion in the way'. {Pr
22:13} We must deny our self-ease. They that lean on the soft
pillow of sloth will hardly take up the cross. `Thou as a good soldier of
Christ endure hardness'. {2Ti 2:3} We must force a way to heaven
through sweat and blood. Caesar's soldiers fought with hunger and cold.
A man must
deny self-opinion. Every man by nature has an high
opinion of himself. He is drunk with spiritual pride, and a proud man is unfit
for suffering. He thinks himself too good to suffer. What (says he) I that am
of such a noble descent, such high parts, such repute and credit in the world,
shall I suffer? A proud man disdains the cross. Oh deny self-opinion! How did
Christ come to suffer? `He humbled himself and became obedient unto death'. {Php 2:8} Let the plumes of pride fall.
A man must
deny self-confidence. Peter's confidence undid him. `Though all men shall be
offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended; though I should die
with thee, yet will I not deny thee'. {Mt
26:33,Mt 26:35} How did this man presume
upon his own strength, as if he had more grace than all the apostles besides!
His denying Christ was for want of denying himself. Oh deny your own strength!
Samson's strength was in his locks. A Christian's strength lies in Christ. He
who trusts to himself shall be left to himself. He who goes out in his own
strength comes off to his own shame.
A man must
deny self-wisdom. We read of the `wisdom of the flesh'. {2Co
1:12} Self-wisdom is carnal policy. It is wisdom (says the flesh) to
keep out of suffering. It is wisdom not to declare against sin. It is wisdom to
find out subtle distinctions to avoid the cross. The wisdom of the flesh is to
save the flesh. Indeed there is a Christian prudence to be used. The serpent's
eye must be in the dove's head. Wisdom and innocence do well, but it is
dangerous to separate them. Cursed be that policy which teaches to avoid duty.
This wisdom is not from above but is devilish. {Jas
3:15} It is learned from the old serpent. This wisdom will turn to
folly at last. It is like a man who to save his gold throws himself overboard
into the water. So the politician to save his skin will damn his soul.
A man must
deny self-will. Saint Gregory calls the will the commander-in-chief of all the
faculties of the soul. Indeed, in innocence, Adam had rectitude of mind and
conformity of will. The will was like an instrument in tune. It was full of
harmony and tuned sweetly to God's will, but now the will is corrupt and like a
strong tide carries us violently to evil. The will has not only an
indisposition to good, but an opposition. `Ye have always resisted the Holy
Ghost'. {Ac 7:51} There is not a greater enemy
than the will. It is up in arms against God. {2Pe
2:10} The will loves sin and hates the cross. Now if ever we suffer
for God we must cross our own will. The will must be
martyred. A Christian must say, Not my will but thy
will be done.
A man must
deny self-reasonings. The fleshy part will be reasoning and disputing against
sufferings. `Why reason you these things in your hearts?'. {Mr 2:8} Such reasonings as
these will begin to arise in our hearts:
1.
Persecution is bitter.
Oh but it is
blessed! `Blessed is he that endureth temptation...'.
{Jas 1:12} The cross is heavy, but the
sharper the cross, the brighter the crown.
2. But it is
sad to part with estate and relations.
But Christ is
better than all. He is manna to strengthen; he is wine to comfort; he is
salvation to crown.
3. But
liberty is sweet.
This
restraint makes way for enlargement. `Thou hast enlarged me in distress'. {Ps 4:1} When the feet are bound with
irons, the heart may be sweetly dilated and enlarged.
Thus should
we put to silence those self-reasonings which are apt to arise in the heart
against sufferings.
This
self-denying frame of heart is very hard. This is `to pluck out the right eye'.
One says, a man has not so much to do in overcoming men and devils as in
overcoming himself. `Stronger is he who conquers himself than he who conquers
the strongest walled city'. Self is the idol, and how hard it is to sacrifice
this idol and to turn self-seeking into self-denial! But though it be difficult
it is essential to suffering. A Christian must first lay down self before he
can take up the cross.
Alas! how far
are they then from suffering that cannot deny themselves in the least things;
who in their diet or apparel, instead of martyring the flesh, pamper the flesh!
Instead of taking up the cross take up their cups! Is this self-denial, to let
loose the reins to the flesh? It is sure that they who cannot deny themselves,
if sufferings come, will deny Christ. Oh Christians, as ever you would be able
to carry Christ's cross, begin to deny yourselves. Consider:
Whatever you
deny for Christ, you shall find again in Christ. `Every one
that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or
children or lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall
inherit everlasting life'. {Mt 19:29}
Here is a very saving bargain. Is it not gain enough to have ten in the
hundred, nay above an hundred for one?
It is but
equity that you should deny yourselves for Christ. Did not Jesus Christ deny
himself for you? He denied his joy; he left his Father's house; he denied his honour; he endured the shame; {Heb
12:2} he denied his life; he poured out his blood as a sacrifice
upon the altar of the cross. {Col 1:20}
Did Christ deny himself for you, and will not you deny yourselves for him?
Self-denial
is the highest sign of a thoroughpaced Christian. Hypocrites may have great
knowledge and make large profession, but it is only the true-hearted saint that
can deny himself for Christ. I have read of an holy
man who was once tempted by Satan, to whom Satan said, Why do you take all
these pains? You watch and fast and abstain from sin. O man, what do you more
than I? Are you no drunkard, no adulterer? No more am I Do you watch? Let me
tell you, I never slept. Do you fast? I never eat. What do you more than I?
Why, says the good man, I will tell thee, Satan; I pray; I serve the Lord; nay,
more than all, I deny myself. Nay, then, says Satan, you go beyond me for I
exalt myself. And so he vanished. Self-denial is the best touchstone of
sincerity. By this you go beyond hypocrites.
To deny
yourselves is but what others have done before you. Moses was a self-denier. He
denied the honours and profits of the court. {Heb 11:24-26} Abraham denied his own
country at God's call. {Heb 11:8} Marcus Arethusus'
who lived in the time of Julian the Emperor endured great torments for
religion. If he would but have given an halfpenny
towards the rebuilding of the idol's temple, he might have been released, but
he would not do it, though the giving of an halfpenny might have saved his
life. Here was a self-denying saint.
There is a
time shortly coming, that if you do not deny the world for Christ, the world
will deny you. The world now denies satisfaction, and ere long it will deny
house-room. It will not suffer you so much as to breathe in it. It will turn
you out of possession; and, which is worse, not only the world will deny you,
but Christ will deny you. `Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is heaven'. {Mt
10:33}
(vii) Get
suffering graces; these three in particular:
Faith; Love;
Patience.
Suffering
grace is faith. `Above all, taking the shield of faith'. {Eph
6:16} The pretence of faith is one thing,
the use of faith another. The hypocrite makes faith a cloak, the martyr makes
it a shield. A shield is useful in time of danger; it defends the head; it
guards the vitals. Such a shield is faith. Faith is a furnace grace. `Though it
be tried with fire, it is found unto praise and honour'.
{1Pe 1:7} Faith, like Hercules' club,
beats down all oppositions. By faith we resist the devil. {1Pe
5:9} By faith we resist unto blood. {Heb
11:34} Faith is a victorious grace. The believer will make Christ's
crown flourish, though it be in his own ashes. An unbeliever is like Reuben:
`Unstable as water he shall not excel'. {Ge
49:4} A believer is like Joseph, who, though the archers shot at
him, `his bow abode in strength.' Cast a believer upon the waters of
affliction, he can follow Christ upon the water, and not sink. Cast him into
the fire, his zeal burns hotter than the flame. Cast him into prison, he is
enlarged in spirit. Paul and Silas had their prison songs. `Thou shalt tread
upon the lion and adder'. {Ps 91:13}
A Christian, armed with faith as a coat of mail, can tread upon those
persecutions which are fierce as the lion and sting as the adder. Get faith.
But how comes
faith to be such armour of proof? I answer,
Six manner of
ways.
(1) Faith
unites the soul to Christ, and that blessed Head sends forth spirits into the
members. `I can do all things through Christ...'. {Php
4:13} Faith is a grace that lives all upon the borrow. As when we
want water, we go to the well and fetch it; when we want gold, we go to the
mine; so faith goes to Christ and fetches his strength into the soul, whereby
it is enabled both to do and suffer. Hence it is that faith is such a
wonderworking grace.
(2) Faith
works in the heart a contempt of the world. Faith gives a true map of the
world. {Ec 2:11}
Faith shows the world in its night-dress, having all its jewels pulled off.
Faith makes the world appear in an eclipse. The believer sees more eclipses
than the astronomer. Faith shows the soul better things than the world. It
gives a sight of Christ and glory. It gives a prospect of heaven. As the
mariner in a dark night climbs up to the top of the mast and cries out, `I see
a star', so faith climbs up above sense and reason into heaven and sees Christ,
that bright and morning star; and the soul, having once viewed his superlative
excellencies, becomes crucified to the world. Oh, says the Christian, shall not
I suffer the loss of all these things that I may enjoy Jesus Christ!
(3) Faith
gets strength from the promise. Faith lives in a promise. Take the fish out of
the water and it dies. Take faith out of a promise and it cannot live. The
promises are breasts of consolation. The child by sucking the breast gets
strength; so does faith by sucking the breast of a promise. When a garrison is
besieged and is ready almost to yield to the enemy, auxiliary forces are sent
in to relieve it. So when faith begins to be weak and is ready to faint in the
day of battle, then the promises muster their forces together, and all come in
for faith's relief and now it is able to hold out in
the fiery trial.
(4) Faith
gives the soul a right notion of suffering. Faith draws the true picture of
sufferings. What is suffering? Faith says, it is but the suffering of the body,
that body which must shortly by the course of nature drop into the dust.
Persecution can but take away my life. An ague or
fever may do as much. Now faith giving the soul a right notion of sufferings
and taking (as it were) a just measure of them, enables a Christian to
prostrate his life at the feet of Christ.
(5) Faith
reconciles providences and promises. As it was on St Paul's voyage, providence
seemed to be against him. There was a crosswind arose called Euroclydon, {Ac 27:14}
but God had given him a promise that he would save his life, and the lives of
all that sailed with him in the ship (verse Ac
27:24). Therefore when the wind blew never so contrary, Paul
believed it would at last blow him to the haven. So when sense says, Here is a cross providence, sufferings come, I shall be
undone, then faith says `all things shall work for good to them that love God'.
{Ro 8:28} This providence, though
bloody, shall fulfil the promise. Affliction shall work for my good. It shall
heal my corruption and save my soul. Thus faith, making the wind and tide go
together, the wind of a providence with the tide of the promise, enables a
Christian to suffer persecution.
(6) Faith
picks sweetness out of the cross. Faith shows the soul God reconciled and sin
pardoned; and then how sweet is every suffering! The bee gathers the sweetest
honey from the bitterest herb. `A bitter medicine often gives strength to the
weary'. So faith from the sharpest trials gathers the sweetest comforts. Faith
looks upon suffering as God's love-token. Afflictions (says Nazianzen) are
sharp arrows, but they are shot from the hand of a loving Father. Faith can
taste honey at the end of the rod. Faith fetches joy out of suffering. {Joh 16:20} Faith gets an honeycomb in the belly of the lion; it finds a jewel
under the cross; and thus you see how faith comes to be such armour of proof. `Above all, taking the shield of faith'. A
believer having cast his anchor in heaven cannot sink in the waters of
persecution.
2. Suffering
grace is love. Get hearts fired with love to the Lord Jesus. Love is a grace
both active and passive.
(1) Love is
active. It lays a law of constraint upon the soul; `The love of Christ
constrains us'. {2Co
5:14} Love is the wing of the soul that sets it flying and the
weight of the soul that sets it going. Love never thinks it can do enough for
Christ. As he who loves the world never thinks he can take enough pains for it,
love is never weary. It is not tired unless with its own slowness.
(2) Love is
passive; it enables to suffer. A man that loves his friend will suffer anything
for him rather than he shall be wronged. The Curtii
laid down their lives for the Romans because they loved them. Love made our
dear Lord suffer for us. As the pelican out of her love to her young ones, when
they are bitten with serpents, feeds them with her own blood to recover them
again, so when we had been bitten by the old serpent, that Christ might recover
us he fed us with his own blood. Jacob's love to Rachel made him almost hazard
his life for her. `Many waters cannot quench love' (Canticles 8: 7). No, not
the waters of persecution. `Love is strong as death' (Canticles 8: 6). Death
makes its way through the greatest oppositions. So love will make its way to
Christ through the prison and the furnace.
But all
pretend love to Christ. How shall we know that we have such a love to him as
will make us suffer? I answer: True love is a love of friendship, which is
genuine and ingenuous when we love Christ for himself. There is a mercenary and
meretricious love, when we love divine objects for something else. A man may
love the queen of truth for the jewel at her ear, because she brings
preferment. A man may love Christ for his `head of gold' (Canticles 2Co 5:11), because he enriches with
glory. But true love is when we love Christ for his loveliness, namely, that
infinite and superlative beauty which shines in him, as Augustine says, `We
love Jesus on account of Jesus'; that is, as a man loves sweet wine for itself.
True love is
a love of desire, when we desire to be united to Christ as the fountain of
happiness. Love desires union. The soul that loves Christ is ambitious of death
because this dissolution tends to union. Death slips one knot and ties another.
True love is
a love of benevolence, when so far as we are able we endeavour to lift up Christ's name in the world. As the
wise men brought him `gold and frankincense', {Mt
2:11} so we bring him our tribute of service and are willing that he
should rise though it be by our fall. In short, that love which is kindled from
heaven makes us give Christ the pre-eminence of our affection. `I would cause
thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate' (Canticles 8: 2).
It the spouse has a cup which is more juicy and spiced
Christ shall drink off that. Indeed we can never love Christ too much. We may
love gold in the excess, but not Christ. The angels do not love Christ to his
worth. Now when love is boiled up to this height, it will enable us to suffer.
`Love is strong as death'. The martyrs first burned in love, and then in fire.
3. The third
suffering grace is patience. Patience is a grace made and cut out for
suffering. Patience is a sweet submission to the will of God, whereby we are
content to bear anything that he is pleased to lay upon us. Patience makes a
Christian invincible. It is like the anvil that bears all strokes. We cannot be
men without patience. Passion unmans a man. It puts him beside the use of
reason. We cannot be martyrs without patience. Patience makes us endure. {Jas 5:10} We read of a beast `like
unto a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear and the dragon gave him
his power...'. {Re 13:2} This beast is to be
understood of the antichristian power. Antichrist may be compared to a leopard
for subtlety and fierceness, and on his head was the name of blaspheming (verse
Re 13:1), which agrees with that
description of the man of sin, `He sitteth in the
temple of God showing himself that he is God'; {2Th
2:4} and the `dragon gave him power' (verse 2Th
2:2), that is the devil, and `it was given to him to make war with
the saints'. {Re 13:7} Well, how come the saints to
bear the heat of this fiery trial? (verse Re
13:10): `Here is the patience of the saints.' Patience overcomes by
suffering. A Christian without patience is like a soldier without arms. Faith
keeps the heart up from sinking. Patience keeps the heart down from murmuring.
Patience is not provoked by injuries. It is sensible but not peevish. Patience
looks to the end of sufferings. This is the motto: `God will guarantee the end
also.' As the watchman waits for the dawning of the morning, so the patient
Christian suffers and waits till the day of glory begins to dawn upon him.
Faith says, God will come, and patience says, I will stay his leisure. These
are those suffering graces which are a Christian's armour
of proof.
(viii)
Treasure up suffering promises. The promises are faith's bladders to keep it
from sinking. They are the breast-milk a Christian lives
on in time of sufferings. They are honey at the end of the rod. Hoard up the
promises.
God has made
promises of direction that he will give us a spirit of wisdom in that hour,
teaching us what to say. `I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your
adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist'. {Lu
21:15} You shall not need study. God will put an answer into your
mouth. This many of God's sufferers can set their seal to. The Lord has on a
sudden darted such words into their mouths as their enemies could easier
censure than contradict.
God has made
promises of protection. `No man shall set on thee to hurt thee'. {Ac 18:10} How safe was Paul when he
had omnipotence itself to screen off danger! And `there shall not an hair of your head perish'. {Lu
21:18} Persecutors are lions, but chained lions.
God has made
promises of his special presence with his saints in suffering. `I will be with
him in trouble'. {Ps 91:15} If we have such a friend to
visit us in prison, we shall do well enough. Though we change our place we
shall not change our keeper. `I will be with him.' God will hold our head and
heart when we are fainting! What if we have more afflictions than others, if we
have more of God's company! God's honour is dear to
him. It would not be for his honour to bring his
children into sufferings and leave them there. He will be with them to animate
and support them, yea, when new troubles arise; `He shall deliver thee in six troubles'. {Job 5:19}
The Lord has
made promises of deliverance. `I will deliver him and honour
him'. {Ps 91:15} God will open a back door
for his people to escape out of sufferings. `He will with the temptation make a
way to escape'. {1Co 10:13} Thus he did to Peter. {Ac 12:7-10} Peter's prayers had
opened heaven, and God's angel opens the prison. God can either prevent a snare
or break it. `To God the Lord belong the issues from death'. {Ps
68:20} He who can strengthen our faith can break our fetters. The
Lord sometimes makes enemies the instruments of breaking those snares which
themselves have laid. {Es 8:8}
In the case
of martyrdom God has made promises of consolation. `Your sorrow shall be turned
into joy'. {Joh 16:20} There is the water turned
into wine. `Be of good cheer, Paul'. {Ac
23:11} In time of persecution God broaches the wine of consolation.
Cordials are kept for fainting. Philip the Landgrave of
Hesse, professed that he himself experienced the divine consolations of
the martyrs. Stephen 'saw the heavens opened'. {Ac
7:56} Glover, that blessed martyr, cried out at the stake in an holy rapture, `He is come, He is come', meaning the
Comforter.
Promises of
compensation. God will abundantly recompense all our sufferings, `in this life an hundred-fold, and in the world to come `life
everlasting'. {Mt 19:29} Augustine calls this the
best and greatest usury. Our losses for Christ are gainful. `He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it'. {Mt 10:39}
(ix) Set
before your eyes suffering examples. Look upon others as patterns to imitate.
`Take my brethren the prophets for an example of suffering affliction'. {Jas 5:10} Examples have more influence
upon us than precepts. The one instruct, the other
animate. As they show elephants the blood of grapes and mulberries to make them
fight the better, so the Holy Ghost shows us the blood of saints and martyrs to
infuse a spirit of zeal and courage into us. Micaiah was in the prison; Jeremiah
in the dungeon; Isaiah was sawn asunder. The primitive Christians, though their
flesh boiled, roasted, dismembered, yet like the adamant they remained
invincible. Such was their zeal and patience in suffering that their
persecutors stood amazed and were more weary in
tormenting than they were in enduring. When John Huss was brought to be burned,
they put upon his head a triple crown of paper printed with red devils, which
when he saw, says he, `My Lord Jesus Christ wore a crown of thorns for me, why
then shall I not wear this crown, how ignominious soever?'
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, when he came before the proconsul was bidden to
deny Christ and swear by the Emperor; he replied: `I have served Christ these
eighty-six years and he has not once hurt me, and shall I deny him now?'
Saunders that blessed martyr, said, `Welcome the cross of Christ; my Saviour
began to me in a bitter cup and shall not I pledge him? You Baynham,
you papist that look for miracles, I feel no more pain in the fire than if I
were in a bed of down.' Another of the martyrs said, `The ringing of my chain
has been sweet music in my ears. O what a comforter (says he) is a good
conscience!' Another martyr, kissing the stake, said, `I shall not lose my life
but change it for a better. Instead of coals I shall have pearls!' Another,
when the chain was fastening to him, said, `Blessed be God for this wedding
girdle!' These suffering examples we should lay up. God is still the same God.
He has as much love in his heart to pity us and as much strength in his arm to
help us. Let us think with ourselves what courage the very heathens have shown
in their sufferings. Julius Caesar was a man of an
heroic spirit. When he was foretold of a conspiracy against him in the
senate-house, he answered he had rather die than fear. Mutius
Scaevola having his hand held over the fire till the
flesh fried and his sinews began to shrink, yet he bore it with an undaunted
spirit. Quintus Curtius reports of Lysimachus, a
brave captain, that being adjudged to be cast naked to a lion, when the lion
came roaring upon him, Lysimachus wrapped his shirt about his arm and thrust it
into the lion's mouth and taking hold of his tongue killed the lion. Did nature
infuse such a spirit of courage and gallantry into heathens! How should grace
much more into Christians! Let us be of St Paul's mind: `Not counting my life
dear, so that I might finish my course with joy'. {Ac
20:24}
(x) Let us
lay in suffering considerations. A wise Christian is considerative.
Consider whom
we suffer for. It is for Christ, and we cannot suffer for a better friend.
There is many a man will suffer shame and death for his lusts. He will suffer
disgrace for a drunken lust. He will suffer death for a revengeful lust. Shall
others die for their lusts and shall not we die for Christ? Will a man suffer
for that lust which damns him, and shall not we suffer for that Christ which
saves us? Oh remember we espouse God's own quarrel and he will not suffer us to
be losers. If no man shall `kindle a fire on God's altar for nought', {Mal 1:10}
then surely no man shall sacrifice himself for God in the fire for nought.
It is a great
honour to suffer persecution. Ambrose, speaking in
the encomium of his sister said, `I will say this of her, she was a martyr'. It
is a great honour to be singled out to bear witness
to the truth. `They departed from the council rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name'. {Ac
5:41} It is a title that has been given to kings, `Defender of the
faith'. A martyr is in a special manner, a `defender of the faith'. Kings are
defenders of the faith by their swords, martyrs by their blood. Gregory
Nazianzen calls Athanasius `the bulwark of truth'. It is a credit to appear for
God. Martyrs are not only Christ's followers, but his ensign-bearers. The
Romans had their Camilli and Fabricii,
brave warriors which graced the field. God calls out none but his champions to
fight his battles. We read that Abraham called forth his trained soldiers, {Ge 14:14} such as were more expert
and valiant. What an honour is it to be one of
Christ's trained band! The disciples dreamed of a temporal reign. {Ac 1:6} Christ tells them (verse Ac 1:8), `Ye shall be witnesses unto
me in Jerusalem'. To bear witness by their sufferings to the truth of Christ's
divinity and passion was a greater honour to the
disciples than to have had a temporal reign upon earth. A bloody cross is more honourable than a purple robe. Persecution is called the
'fiery trial'. {1Pe 4:12} God has two fires, one where
he puts his gold, and another where he puts his dross. The fire where he puts
his dross is hellfire. The fire where he puts his gold is the fire of
persecution. God honours his gold when he puts it
into the fire. `A spirit of glory rests upon you'. {1Pe
1:7 1Pe 4:14} Persecution, as it is a
badge of our Order, so an ensign of our glory. What greater honour
can be put upon a mortal man than to stand up in the cause of God? And not only
to die in the Lord but to die for the Lord? Ignatius called his fetters his
spiritual pearls. St Paul gloried more in his iron chain than if it had been a
gold chain. {Ac 28:20}
Consider what
Jesus Christ endured for us. Calvin says that Christ's whole life was a series
of sufferings. Christian, what is your suffering? Are you poor? So was Christ.
`Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath
not where to lay his head'. {Mt 8:20}
Are you surrounded with enemies? So was Christ. `Against thy holy child Jesus
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles...were
gathered together'. {Ac 4:27} Do our enemies lay claim to
religion? So did his. `The chief priests took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury because it is
the price of blood'. {Mt 27:6} Godly persecutors! Are you
reproached? So was Christ. `They bowed the knee before him, and mocked him,
saying, `Hail, King of the Jews'. {Mt 27:29}
Are you slandered? So was Christ. `He casteth out
devils through the prince of devils'. {Mt 9:34} Are you ignominiously used?
So was Christ. `Some began to spit upon him'. {Mr 14:65} Are you betrayed by
friends? So was Christ. `Judas, betrayest thou the
Son of Man with a kiss?'. {Lu 22:48}
Is your estate sequestered? And do the wicked cast lots for it? So Christ was
dealt with. `They parted his garments, casting lots'. {Mt
27:35} Do we suffer unjustly? So did Christ. His very judge
acquitted him. `Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find
no fault in this man'. {Lu 23:4} Are you barbarously dragged
and haled away to suffering? So was Christ. `When
they had bound him (though he came to loose
them) they led him away'. {Mt 27:2}
Do you suffer death? So did Christ. `When they were come to Calvary, there they
crucified him'. {Lu 23:33} They gave him gall and
vinegar to drink, the one deciphering the bitterness, the other the sharpness
of his death. Christ underwent not only the blood of the cross but the curse of
the cross. {Ga 3:13} He had an agony in his soul.
`My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death'. {Mt
26:38} The soul of Christ was overcast with a cloud of God's
displeasure. The Greek Church speaking of the sufferings of Christ, calls them
`unknown sufferings'. Did the Lord Jesus endure all
this for us, and shall not we suffer persecution for his name? Say, as holy
Ignatius, `I am willing to die for Christ, for Christ my love was crucified'.
Our cup is nothing to the cup which Christ drank. His cup was mixed with the
wrath of God, and if he bore God's wrath for us, well may we bear man's wrath
of him.
Great is the honour we bring to Christ and the gospel by suffering. It
was an honour to Caesar that he had such soldiers as
were able to fight with hunger and cold and endure hardship in their marches.
It is an honour to Christ that he has such listed
under him as will leave all for him. It proclaims him to be a good Master when
his servants will wear his livery though it be sullied with disgrace and lined
with blood. Paul's iron chain made the gospel wear a golden chain. Tertullian
says of the saints in his time that they took their sufferings more kindly than if they had had deliverance. Oh, what a
glory was this to the truth, when they durst embrace it in the flame! And as
the saints, sufferings adorn the gospel, so they propagate it. Basil says, the
zeal and constancy of the martyrs in the primitive times made some of the
heathens to be Christianised. `The Church is founded
in blood and by blood it increases'. The showers of
blood have ever made the church fruitful. Paul's being bound made the truth
more enlarged. {Php 1:13} The gospel has always
flourished in the ashes of martyrs.
Consider who
it is that we have engaged ourselves to in baptism. There we took our
press-money. We solemnly vowed that we would be true to Christ's interest and
fight it out under his banner to the death. And how often have we in the
blessed supper taken the oath of allegiance to Jesus Christ that we would be
his liege-servants and that death should not part us! Now if when being called
to it, we refuse to suffer persecution for his name, Christ will bring our
baptism as an indictment against us. Christ is called `the Captain of our
salvation'. {Heb 2:10} We have listed ourselves by
name under this Captain. Now if, for fear, we shall fly from our colours, it is perjury in the highest degree, and how shall
we be able to look Christ in the face another day? That oath which is not kept
inviolably shall be punished infallibly. Where does the `flying roll' of curses
light, but in the house of him that 'sweareth
falsely'? {Zec 5:4}
Our
sufferings are light. This `light affliction...' {2Co
4:17} 1 It is heavy to flesh and blood, but it is light to faith.
Affliction is light in a threefold respect:
1. It is
light in comparison of sin. He that feels sin heavy feels suffering light. Sin
made Paul cry out, `O wretched man that I am!`. {Ro
7:24} He does not cry out of his iron chain but of his sin. The
greater noise drowns the lesser. When the sea roars the rivers are silent. He
that is taken up about his sins, and sees how he has provoked God, thinks the
yoke of affliction light. {Mic 7:9}
2. Affliction
is light in comparison of hell. What is persecution to damnation? What is the
fire of martyrdom to the fire of the damned? It is no more than the pricking of
a pin to a death's wound. `Who knoweth he power of thine anger'? {Ps
90:11} Christ himself could not have borne that anger had he not
been more than a man.
3. Affliction
is light in comparison of glory. The weight of glory makes persecution light.
If, says Chrysostom, the torments of all the men in the world could be laid
upon one man, it were not worth one hour's being in
heaven. And if persecution be light we should in a
manner set light by it. Let us neither faint through unbelief, nor fret through
impatience.
Our
sufferings are short: `After ye have suffered awhile'; {1Pe
5:10} or as it is in the Greek, `a little'. Our sufferings may be
lasting, not everlasting. Affliction is compared to a `cup'. {La
4:21} The wicked drink of a sea of wrath which has no bottom. It
will never be emptied. But it is only a cup of martyrdom, and God will say,
`Let this cup pass away'. `The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of
the righteous'. {Ps 125:3} The rod may be there, it
shall not rest. Christ calls his sufferings `an hour'. {Lu
22:53} Can we not suffer one hour? Persecution is sharp, but short.
Though it has a sting to torment, yet it has a wing to fly. `Sorrow shall fly
away'. {Isa 35:10} It is but awhile when the
saints shall have a writ of ease granted them. They shall weep no more, suffer
no more. They shall be taken off the torturing wrack and laid in Christ's
bosom. The people of God shall not always be in the iron furnace; a year of
Jubilee will come. The water of persecution like a land-flood will soon be
dried up.
While we
suffer for Christ we suffer with Christ: `If we suffer with him...'. {Ro 8:17} Jesus Christ bears part of
the suffering with us. Oh, says the Christian, I shall never be able to hold
out. But remember you suffer with Christ. He helps you to suffer. As our blest
Saviour said: `I am not alone; the Father is with me'; {Joh
16:32} so a believer may say, `I am not alone, my Christ is with
me'. He bears the heaviest end of the cross. `My grace is sufficient for thee'.
{2Co 12:9} `Underneath are the
everlasting arms'. {De
33:27} If Christ put the yoke of persecution over us, he will put
his arms under us. The Lord Jesus will not only crown us when we conquer, but
he will enable us to conquer. When the dragon fights against the godly, Christ
is that Michael which stands up for them and helps them to overcome. {Da 12:1}
He that
refuses to suffer persecution shall never be free from suffering:
Internal
sufferings. He that will not suffer for conscience shall suffer in conscience.
Thus Francis Spira, after he had for fear abjured
that doctrine which once he professed, was in great
terror of mind and became a very anatomy. He professed he felt the very pains
of the damned in his soul. He who was afraid of the stake was set upon the
wrack of conscience.
External
sufferings: Pendleton refused to suffer for Christ; not long after, his house
was on fire and he was burned in it. He who would not burn for Christ was
afterwards made to burn for his sins.
Eternal
sufferings: `Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire'. {Jude 1:7}
These present
sufferings cannot hinder a man from being blessed. `Blessed are they that are
persecuted...' We think, `Blessed are they that are rich'; nay, but `Blessed
are they that are persecuted'. `Blessed is the man that endures temptation...'.
{Jas 1:12} `If ye suffer for
righteousness, sake, happy are ye'. {1Pe
3:14}
Persecution
cannot hinder us from being blessed. I shall prove this by four demonstrations:
They are
blessed who have God for their God. `Happy is that people whose God is the
Lord'. {Ps 144:15} But persecution cannot
hinder us from having God for our God. `Our God is able to
deliver us'. {Da 3:17} Though persecuted, yet they
could say, `our God'. Therefore persecution cannot hinder us from being
blessed.
They are
blessed whom God loves, but persecution cannot hinder the love of God. `Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall persecution?'. {Ro 8:35} The goldsmith loves his gold
as well when it is in the fire as when it is in his bag. God loves his children
as well in adversity, as in prosperity. `As many as I love I rebuke'. {Re 3:19} God visits his children in
prison. `Be of good cheer, Paul'. {Ac 23:11}
God sweetens their sufferings. `As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so
our consolation also aboundeth'. {2Co
1:5} As the mother, having given her child a bitter pill, gives it
afterwards a lump of sugar; persecution is a bitter pill
but God gives the comforts of his Spirit to sweeten it. If persecution cannot
hinder God's love, then it cannot hinder us from being blessed.
They are
blessed for whom Christ prays; but such as are persecuted have Christ praying
for them. `Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me'; {Joh 17:11} which prayer, though made
for all believers, yet especially for his apostles which he foretold should be
martyrs. {Joh 16:2} Now if persecution cannot
hinder Christ's prayer for us, then it cannot impede or obstruct our
blessedness.
They are
blessed that have sin purged out; but persecution purges out sin. {Isa 27:9 Heb
12:11} Persecution is a corrosive to eat out the proud flesh. It is
a fan to winnow us, a fire to refine us. Persecution is the physic God applies
to his children to carry away their ill humours. That
surely which purges out sin cannot hinder blessedness.
(xi) The
great suffering consideration is the glorious reward which follows sufferings:
`Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' The hope of reward, says Saint Basil, is
very powerful and moving. Moses had an eye at the `recompense of reward', {Heb 11:26} yea, Christ himself. {Heb 12:2} Many have done great things
for hope of a temporal reward. Camillus when his country was oppressed by the Gauls, ventured his life for his country, to purchase fame
and honour. If men will hazard their lives for a
little temporal honour, what should we do for the
reward of glory? A merchant, says Chrysostom, does not mind a few storms at
sea, but he thinks of the emolument and gain when the ship comes fraught home.
So a Christian should not be over-solicitous about his present sufferings, but think of the rich reward when he shall
arrive at the heavenly port. `Great is your reward in heaven' (verse Heb 12:12). The cross is a golden
ladder by which we climb up to heaven. A Christian may lose his life, but not
his reward. He may lose his head, but not his crown. If he that gives `a cup of
cold water, shall not lose his reward, then much less he that gives a draught
of warm blood. The rewards of glory may sweeten all the waters of Marah. It
should be a spur to martyrdom.
Not that we
can merit this reward by our sufferings. `I will give thee a crown of life'. {Re 2:10} The reward is the legacy
which free grace bequeaths. Alas, what proportion is there between a drop of
blood and a weight of glory? Christ himself, as he was man only (setting aside
his Godhead), did not merit by his sufferings, for Christ, as he was man only,
was a creature. Now a creature cannot merit from the Creator. Christ's
sufferings, as he was man only, were finite, therefore could not merit infinite
glory. Indeed, as he was God, his sufferings were meritorious; but consider him
purely as man, they were not. This I urge against the Papists. If Christ's
sufferings, as he was man only (though as man he was above the angels), could
not merit, then what man upon earth, what prophet or martyr is able to merit
anything by his sufferings?
But though we
have no reward `ex merito', by merit, we shall have
it `ex gratia', by grace. So it is in the text, `Great is your reward in
heaven'. The thoughts of this reward should animate Christians. Look upon the
crown, and faint if you can. The reward is as far above your thoughts as it is
beyond your deserts. A man that is to wade through a deep water, fixes his eyes
upon the firm land before him. While Christians are wading through the deep
waters of persecution they should fix the eyes of
their faith on the land of promise. `Great is your reward in heaven'. They that
bear the cross patiently shall wear the crown triumphantly.
Christ's
suffering saints shall have greater degrees in glory. {Mt
19:28} God has his highest seats, yea, his thrones for his martyrs.
It is true, he that has the least degree of glory, a doorkeeper in heaven, will
have enough; but as Joseph gave to Benjamin a double mess above the rest of his
brethren, so God will give to his sufferers a double portion of glory. Some
orbs in heaven are higher, some stars brighter. God's martyrs shall shine
brighter in the heavenly horizon.
Oh, often
look upon `the recompense of the reward'. Not all the silks of Persia, the
spices of Arabia, the gold of Ophir, can be compared to this glorious reward.
How should the thoughts of this whet and steel us with courage in our
sufferings! When they threatened Basil with banishment, he comforted himself
with this, that he should be either under heaven or in heaven. It was the hope
of this reward which so animated those primitive martyrs, who, when there was
incense put into their hands and there was no more required of them for the
saving of their lives but to sprinkle a little of that incense upon the altar
in honour of the idol, they would rather die than do
it. This glorious reward in heaven is called a reigning with Christ. `If we
suffer, we shall also reign with him': first martyrs, then kings. Julian honoured all those who were slain in his battles. So does
the Lord Jesus. After the saints' crucifixion, follows their coronation. `They
shall reign'. The wicked first reign and then suffer. The godly first suffer
and then reign. The saints shall have a happy reign. It shall be both peaceable
and durable. Who would not swim through blood to this crown? Who would not
suffer joyfully? Christ says, `Be exceeding glad' (verse Mt
19:12). The Greek word signifies `to leap for joy'. Christians
should have their spirits elevated and exhilarated when they contemplate the
weight of glory.
If you would
be able to suffer, pray much. Beg of God to clothe you with a spirit of zeal
and magnanimity. `To you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake'. {Php
1:29} It is a gift of God to be able to suffer. Pray for this gift.
Do not think you can be able of yourselves to lay down life and liberty for
Christ. Peter was overconfident of himself. `I will lay down my life for thy
sake'. {Joh 13:37} But Peter's strength undid
him. Peter had habitual grace, but he lacked auxiliary grace. Christians need
fresh gales from heaven. Pray for the Spirit to animate you in your sufferings.
As the fire hardens the potter's vessel which is at first weak and limber, so
the fire of the Spirit hardens men against sufferings. Pray that God will make
you like the anvil that you may bear the strokes of persecutors with invincible
patience.