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Ends
that
God
hathin
fuf ering
his
Saints
to
be
perfecutedá
lency in
the exercife of thefe
graces,
then
there
is in
the
en-
joyment of
all
the
comforts
that
I
had
before in the
:evorld,
if
thou
cant} fay
fo,
bletled art thou, flefh
ant
blood bath
not re-
vealed thefe
things
unto
thee,
eky
heart is according
to
the
'very heart
of
God,
who
art
taught in
fuch a
thing
as
this is,and
therefore
when thou
(halt
Puffer
from
the
hands of
God
himfelf,
yet if it
be
to
exercife grace thou
art
no
looter
;'
and
if
thou
thah
puffer
never
Inch
fore and grievous
afflictions
from
the
hands
of
men, yet
if
thou findeff this effedt
of
all
thy
fuffer-
ings,that
God
doth thereby draw forth
the
exercife
of
thy gra-
ces:
Certainly,-thou art
bleffed
in
this,
and
this
is
Gods end
that he doth
aime
at,in permitting
his
people-to be
under
.per
-
fecutions.
And then
a
third
end,
and
that's
of
very
great
ufe
to
confi-
der
of,
it
is
for
difcovery of
thehearts
of
men,
if
there
were
nó
fuffering,
for
his
name fake,
there
would be
little
difcovery
between the hypocrite,
and
between the
found
pro.
feffor
;
I
remember
I have
read
of Pamettritte a Heathen,faith he to the
Bifi-op of Rome,Let
me
be
made
a
Billoop,and
I'le bea Chrifian,
(feeing
the
honour
of
the
Bifhop)letme
but
-have
that
and
I'le
be
a
Chriflian
as
well
as
any
:
If
there
were nothing but
pro=
fperity
in
the
profefflon
of
Chrifis
Kingdom,
how would
the
truth
and fincerity
of
mens
hearts appeare, and
howwould
the
hypocrifie
of
others appeare. Fiery
tryalls makes
great
fepara-
tien: and
indeed
it
is
ro
make
a
difcovery
of
our
own
hearts
to
-our
felves, before
the
time of
fuf
ering we
do not
know our
own
hearts,
what droffineffe
there
is
in
them, but
when fuffer-
ing
comes
,
we may difcover much
droffinetfe
of our
own
hearts
:
--
And
to
difcover
us
to others to. In
the
z
Luke
35.
(peaking
of
the
fufferings
that
fhould follow
upon
the
profefli-
on of
the Gofpel, he
tels
the Virgin
Mary,7hat
a
fvord
fhonld
pierce
through her foul,
that
the thoughts of many hearts maybe
difcovered.
When
as
there
is fuch
hard things following
upon
the
prQfeffion
of
theGofpel,
as
if
a
fword
did
pierce
through
the
foul,
then the
thoughts of
many.
hearts (hall
be difcovered,
God
intends
to
difcover the thoughts
of
mens hearts
by
per-
fecution:Formal profeffors are
as
withered haves
upon a-tree,
now