tOrPIRóIED CÉIRI$TIAN, 519 the devil having more power on his own ground than on Christ's. But it is the love of Christ, and the belief of the reward, and the humble neglect of the mortified 'flesh, and the contempt of the con- quered world, that maketh the Christian suffer with so much joy; for he seeth that the Judge is at the door, and what torments the wicked are preparing for themselves ; and that as certainly as there is a God that, governeth the world, and that in righteousness, so certainly are his eyes upon the righteousand his face is' set against them that do evil, (1 Pet. iii. 12.) and though "sinners do evil a hundred times," and escape unpunished till their days be prolong- ed, yet vengeance will overtake them In due time,. and it shall be well with them that fear the Lord; and that he keepeth all the tears of hiS servants till the reckoning day. And if "judgment begin at thehouse of God, and the righteous be saved through so much suffering and labor, what, then, shall be their end, that obey not the gospel? and where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. Eccles. viii. 12. Prov. xi., 31. xüi. 6. Psal. lvi. 8. Deut. xxxi?. 35. James v. 9. 2. And the .weak Christian is one that will forsake all for the sake of Christ, and suffer with him that he may glorified with him; and will take his treasure in heaven for all; Luke xiv. 26. 33. xviii. 22. But he'doth it not with that easiness, and alacrity, and jby, as the confirmed Christian doth, He hearkens more to the flesh, which saith, ''Favor thyself.' Suffering is much more grievous to him ; and sometimes he is wavering before he can bring himself fully to resolve, and let go all ; Matt. xvi. 22. 3. But the seeming Christian looketh not for much suffering: he reads of it in the gospel, but he saw no probability of it, andnever believed that he should, be called to it in any notable degree: he thought it probable that he might well escape it, and therefore, though he agreed verbally to take Christ for better and worse, and to followhim through sufferings, he thought he would never put, him to it. And indeed his heart is secretly resolved, that he will never be undone in the world for Christ. -Some .reparable loss he may undergo, but he will not let go life and all: He will still be religious,, and hope for heaven ; but he will make himself believe (and others ifhe can) that the truth lieth on the safer side, and not on the suffering side ; and that it is 'but for their own .conceits, . and scrupulosity, that othermen suffer who go beyond him ; and that many good men are of his opinion, and therefore he may be good also in the same opinion, (though he would never have been of that opinion, if it had not been necessary to his escaping of suffer- ings ;) what flourish soever he maketh for a time, "when persecu- tion ariseth, he is offended and withereth ; Matt. xiii. 21.26. Un- less he be so deeply engaged among the suffering party, that he
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