12. He prefers the duty he owes to God, to the danger he fears from man
Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To prefer the duty he owes to God, to the danger he fears from man.
Christians, in all ages, have prized their services above their safety. The wicked flee, when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion. The fearful hare trembles at every cry; but the courageous lion is unmoved by the greatest clamours. Were believers to shrink back at every contrary wind that blows, they would never make their voyage to heaven.
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. Poor Job could hold nothing fast but his integrity: Grace kept his heart, when he could not keep his gold. Uprightness is so fair a complexion, as not to be subject to any alteration by the scorching beams of persecution. The laurel preserves its verdure amidst the severest blasts of winter. Times of trouble have often been times of triumph to a believer. Suffering seasons have generally been sifting seasons, in which the Christian has lost his chaff, and the hypocrite his courage.
Dangers have frequently made the worldling leave his duties. The scythe of persecution cuts down the tender grass of his devotion. Those who always refuse to carry the yoke of Christ upon their necks, will also refuse to carry the cross of Christ upon their backs. Nothing less than the enjoyment of God, who is altogether good, can permanently support us under the suffering of that which is evil. The flesh is an enemy to suffering; because suffering is an enemy to the flesh. The flesh may make a man an earthly courtier; but it will never make a man a Christian martyr.
Wicked men stumble at every straw in the way to heaven; but they climb over hills in the way to destruction. Hang heavy weights on rotten boughs, and they will suddenly break. If sinners take up religion in a fair day, they will eagerly lay it down in a foul one. The language of such is, 'Lord, we are willing to serve thee, but unwilling to suffer for thee. We will go to sea with thee, but on condition we have no storms. We have no objections to enter into the war; but upon this promise, that we have no blows.' Such would fain be wafted to the port of felicity, in such vessels as would not be tossed in the sea of calamity. They think too much of wearing a thorn, though it be borrowed from Christ's crown.
There are some who would sacrifice a stout heart to a stubborn will; and would rather die martyrs for sin, than servants to truth. How shall those stand for Christ, who never stood in Christ? True believers are more studious how to adorn the cross, than how to avoid the cross. They deem it better to be saved in troubled water, than to be drowned in a calm ocean.
Temporary professors are like hedge-hogs, which have two holes; one to the north, and another to the south: when the south wind fans them, they turn to the north; and when the north wind chills them, they turn to the south. Thus they lose their activity, to preserve their security.—That was a beggarly saying, which fell from a prince's lips,— 'I will sail no farther in the cause of Christ, than while I can preserve my retreat with safety to land.'
Man is a short-sighted creature; he is afraid to follow too far upon the heels of truth, lest it should lead him into danger. Weak grace may do for God, but it must be strong grace that will die for God. A true Christian will lay down his lusts at the command of Christ; and his life, for the cause of
Christ. The more a tree of righteousness is shaken by the wind, the more it is rooted in the ground. What, art thou a member of Christ, and afraid to be a martyr for Christ? If those be blessed who die in Christ, what must they be who die for Christ!
What, though the flesh do return to dust, so the spirit return to rest? What is the body of a man for a soul to live in, compared with the bosom of Abraham for a soul to lie in? Righteous Abel, the first soldier in the church militant, was the first saint in the church triumphant. He offered up a sacrifice when the altar was sprinkled with his own blood. As his body was the first that ever took possession of the earth; so his soul was the first that ever had a translation to heaven.
Should such a man as I flee? saith Nehemiah:—a man so much owned and honoured of God? It is better to die a conqueror in religion, than to live a coward in religion. Those who are willing to be combatants for God, shall also be more than conquerors through God. None are so truly courageous, as those who are truly religious. If a Christian live, he knows by whose might he stands; and if he die, he knows for whose sake he falls. Where there is no confidence in God, there will be no continuance with God. When the wind of faith ceases to fill the sails, the ship of obedience ceases to plough the seas. The taunts of Ishmael shall never make an Isaac disesteem his inheritance.
Reader, if a righteous cause bring you into sufferings, a righteous God will bring you out of sufferings. A Christian is as much indebted to
E 3 his enemies as to his friends. The malicious crucifixion of Christ wrought out the glorious exaltation of Christ. The worst that men can do against believers, is the best they can do for believers. The worst they can do them, is to send them out of the earth; and the best they can do for them, is to send them into heaven.
That was a Christian expression of one of the martyrs to his persecutors: "You take a life from me that I cannot keep, and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose; which is, as if you should rob me of counters, and furnish me with gold." He that is assured of a life that has no end, need not care how soon this life shall end.
Neither the persecuting hand of men, nor the chastising hand of God, relaxed ancient singular saints. All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. Believers resemble the moon, which emerges from her eclipse by keeping her motion; and ceases not to shine, because the dogs bark at her. Shall we cease to be professors, because others will not cease to be persecutors?
By the seed of the serpent the heel of the woman may be bruised; but by the seed of the woman the head of the serpent shall be broken. A Christian may enjoy a calm of inward peace, while he sustains the storms of outward trouble. If he enjoy the former, he may expect the latter; if he suffer the latter, he may expect the former. There is no spring without its fall; no summer without its winter.
"Many waters" (may drown the world, but) "cannot quench love." The water of affliction cannot extinguish the fire of affection. If the calling of religion cannot be peaceably maintained, formalists will quickly shut up their windows. They will rather tarry out of the land of Canaan, than swim to it through the Red Sea. A man will never sustain trouble for Jesus, till he find rest in Jesus.
Adventurous Peter could cry, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water. Love to Christ can walk on the water without drowning, and lie in the fire without burning. It is said of the serpent, "That it cares not to what danger it exposes its body, so it can but secure its head." Thus a Christian cares not to what danger he is liable, so Jesus is but honoured thereby.
Paul, who turned the world upside-down, could not be turned upside-down by the world. None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself; so that I might finish my course with joy. A saint is inwardly pious, when he is not outwardly prosperous. The sharper the medicine is, the sounder the patient is for its operation. The higher the flood swells on earth, the nearer the ark mounts to heaven.
God can strike straight strokes with crooked sticks; and make Satan's dross burnish his choice vessels. Christians are crucified by the world, that they might be crucified to the world. God makes it their enemy, that he might make them enemies to it. Religion is that phrenir, which has always flourished in its own ashes. While magistrates defend the truth with their sword, martyrs defend it with their blood. The loss of their heads hastens the reception of their crowns.
We should never land in triumph at the haven of rest, if we were not tossed upon the sea of trouble. If Joseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he had never been Egypt's governor. The iron chains about his feet ushered in the golden chains about his neck. Temporal losses are only gentle breezes; but eternal losses are insupportable storms.
Reader, tell me, is not Christ, with his cross, for a few years, better than Dives, with his dainties, for a few days? What comparison is there between the short-lived happiness of the wicked, attended with everlasting misery; and the short-lived misery of the righteous, attended with everlasting happiness?
4.