14-6 ~elf-tl£nt'al. Chap s.Sect.\S._ --------------------------- ----------------- 6. Refill: wherein we can flelhly impediments ; for the flelh will be ready bJ"'Il means to hinder us from offering this facnfice {o God. As 1. by dill:in{tions. Is a • Gal 6. 12. man refolved to hold his ell:atc, liberty, life, come on what will ? fuch a one never wants a dill:indion to mock God withal ; So the 1 eachers of circumcifion at Galatia, As many M defire to maks a faire Jh~w in the flejlJ, thcfc conftraine you to be ciro:mc:fcd, one~y left they JhoJ<ld fujfer perfecuuon for the cro!fe of Chrijl. _They did not fee, but to avoid perfecution thcymight preach ctrcumctGon,bemg they dtd it pro abtmd~nti,t4tuela; not to overthrow the faith of Chrill: crucified, but for their fecurity. Such difl:in{tions many ufe at thefe times. 2. By perfwafions. Thus carnal reafo{l pleads the cafe, gi7Jc a little to the tmzc, (a7Je thyfclf and thme. Or thus: What, are yots the only qutck– Ji-ghted men, wifcr than a Church, than a Suztc? May there not, will there not a lmv com: out in a moment, whereby you may be defranchiz..ed or exiled, or banijhed, or burned ? But to anfwer thefe reafonings,remember Chrill:s anfwerto Peter,Gct thee behind me SatM, M•:rb. 1 6, 'l· for tiJOI< fa7Joltrej/not the things of God, but of men. A certain perfon perfwading an otherto recant the truth, told him that he fpake to him out of love. 0 yes (faid the Martyr) I c:onfejfe ir, but there is fomething inyou that is mine encmie, meaning the jlej11. And it is faid ofMafter Hoopcr, that when a box was brought,and laid before him upon a ll:ool with his pardon from the Q£een in it, if he would recant ; he being now at the fiake, at the very fight of it cryed out, ifyott lo7Je my fo!tle, a1>a} with it, a>vay with it. 3. By terrours. Thus when the Spirit of God had fuggefted unto Spira to fuffer, or if he doubted of the iiTue to go away, though never fo far, rather than deny the Lord oflifc, prefently the flelh begun in this manner, Be well ad"Jifed fond man, confider reafons on both (ides, ~nd then Judge.----Dojl thott notf orefee what mifery this rajlme!fa wt!l bring upon thee .' Thott ]halt lofe thy fubjlance, thou jhatt undcrgoe the moj/ cxqttijtia torments that malice can dc7Jife, thou ]halt be coumcd art hcrctic/z. 'fall, and thou jhalt d)'' jiJamcf~tlly. What think_;fl thou of the j/ink_;ng dungeon, the bloody axe, the burning fag– got.' ---Wiltthot< bring thy friends into danger? tholthajlbegottcnchildrcn, n-i:t thou now"" their t.hroats ? It concernes us in this cafe to outwit the flclh, if it tell us of prifons, let us tell it how much more terrible is the prifon ofhell; if it prefcnt to us' the condemnation of tribunals, do we prefcnt to it that great condemnation of the great tribunal; if it threaten us with difpleafure of friends, prcfent to it the difplcafurc of God, and of glorified Spirits. Van. u. 36, Heb. I I• 35• to the end. All. 8.3. AlJS ]2. I· 1 Cor. •S- >9· 7· Confider,and pcrufe the .Acts and Monuments oflhc Church in the Clfe of Martyrdom<, Others fufferings cannot but beget fomc refolntions in us. And herein if we begin with the beginning of the world ; As foon as we hear of any wQl'k of Rdigion, we hear ofthe perfecution of .Abel. Noahs Arke on the waters was a type of the con– dition of the Church of Chrill: in afllietions; What hard things did .Abraham, and the rell: of the Patriarchs endure in their generations ? Hill:orics tell us that !faiah was fawen afunder with a woodden faw ; Jercmy was put into a dungeon, flicking in the myre (as fome ftories fay) even up to the ears, and after was ftoned to death; Ez.ek_;el was fiain in Babylon; Micah was thrown down from a ll:ccp place, and his neck broke; .Amos was fmitten with a club, and fo brained. The ftorie of the perfecutions of the .''vfachabccs, prophefted Dqn. 11. 36- and recorded by thcApoftle Hcb. 1 I. 35'· is ex– ceeding lamentable; The text fayes that they were torwred,mocked,fr-o~<rged,imprifonad, ftoned,Jawen a(und<r, jlaine with the (word, wandrcd 11p and do1vn in Jheep-sk_;ns, andgOAt– skim~ being deflitutc~ affliEted, tormented, they wandred in defarts, and moJmtainr, And dens, and ca7Jcs ;,. the Earth. And for the Chriftian Church we know what Chrill himfclf the great leader of his people fuffered: When Stephcn, the firll: -Chri!lian Martyr, was /toned, Dorothemwitnelfeth that two thoufand of others which believed in Chrill: were put to death the fame day. That many fuffcrcd in thofe very times is plain to me from thefe very Texts, .And Saul made ha7Jck!; ofthe Ch1trch. --rnd Herod 7Jexad the Church.---- Elfe what jiMll they do which are baptiz.edfor the dead, if the dead rife not at all ? why then arc they baptiz.cd for the dead ? This place is difficult, and many interpretations are given of it ; but this I prefer as moll: agreeable to the fcope of the Apo!tlc; E!Je what jiHdl they do (what !hall become of them, in what mife· rabic condition were they?) who arc baptiz.ed (with their .own blood, not onlyfuf· feting grievous torments, but even death it fclf;) for the dead ( for the caufc and quarrels of the dead, for the faith of them that now are dead, and in fpe~ial for maintaining this very Article of the rcfurreetion of the dead ?) The force of thiS argu· mentis very evident,and it well agrccth with the argumen't of the Apoftle that enfuerh, why
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