3 24. 2he ,support of Good Men, Vol. I. 7. Provided in the laft Place, and above all, that we be Iincere in our Reli- gion, and endeavour to be univerfally good, and holy in all manner of Converfa- lion, and to abound in all the fruits of righteoufnefs, whichare by jefus Chr to the praife and glory ofGod. This is the largeflSente of well-doing, and the moll ne- ceffary of all the rat, toprepare us for Sufferings,and to give usCourage and Con - ftancy under them ; and likewife to engage the Providence of God to a tender care of us, and Concernment for us, if he (hall fee it fit to bring us into a State ofSuffering. But if we live in open Contempt and Violation of God's Laws, if we make no Confcience of our ways and A&ions, we cannot poflibly have any well grounded Trull and Confidence in God, for he hates all the workers of iniquity, and his Providence fits it felf againfl them for evil. Bad Men drawmany Mif- chiefs and Inconvenienciesupon themfelves, as the Natural Confequences of their A&ions; but betides this, the Vengeance of God haunts and purfues Evil- doers, and his jufl Providencemany times involves them in many Difficulties and Dan- gers, betides and beyond the Natural Courfe of things : Vpon the wicked (lays David) he will rainfnares : So that as ever we expe& the comfortable Effe&s of the Divine Care and Providence, we mutt live in a dutiful Obedience to God's Holy Will and Laws. Bad Men may make a Profeffionof the true Religion, and may in Come fort believe ir, tho' they do not live according to it ; and yet perhaps for all this, out of a meer Generofity and Obfl:inacy ofMind, theycannot bear to be threatned and terrified out of the Profeffion of the Truth ; and will endure a great deal of Trouble and Inconveniencies, before they will renounce it knowing them- felves to be fo far in the Right, that they [land for the Truth, and hoping per- haps thereby to make fome amends for their bad Pra&ice. But when all is done, nothing gives a Man true Courage and Refolution, like the Teftimony of our own Hearts, concerning our own Sincerity, and the Confcience of well-doing. And on the contrary, he that bath not the Refolution and Patience to mortifie his Luft, and to reflrainhis Appetites, and to fubdue his irregular Pallions, for the fake of God andReligion, will not eafily bring himfelf to fubmit to great Sufferings upon that Account. There is confiderable Difficulty in the Pra&ice of Religion, and the refolute Courfeof a Holy Life; but furely it is much eafier to live as Religion requires we fhould do, than to lay down our Lives for it ; and (as I have told you upon another occafion) he that cannot prevail with himfelf to live like a Saint, will much more hardly be perfwaded to die a Martyr. I pro- ceed to the Third Point, namely, what ground of Comfort and Encouragement the Confideration of God under the Notion of a faithful Creator, does afford to us under all our Sufferings for a good Confcience and a good Caufe. Let them that fuffer according to the will ofGod, commit the /seeping of their Souls to him, in well- doing, as unto a faithful Creator. And in this I (hall be very brief. And this is a firm ground of Comfort and Encouragement to us, under all our Sufferings for God, to confider him as the Author of our Beings, or as it is exprefl in the Text, as afaithful Creator ; one that is not fickle and inconflant in his Affe&ion and Kindnefs to hisCreatures ; but is true to his owls Defign, and will not abandon and forfake the Work of his own Hands: So great a Be- nefit as that of our Beings, freely conferr'd upon us, is but an earneft of God's further Kindnefs to us, and future care of us ; if by our ill Carriage towards him, we do not render our (elves unworthy and incapable of it : That we are God's Creatures, is a Demonftration that he bath a Kindnefs for us; if he had not, he would never have made us ; as it is excellently faid in the Wifdom of Solomon, Chap. r r. 23, 24. Thou haft mercy upon all, for thou lovefi all the things that are, and abhorreft nothing which thou hall made : For never wouldefl thou have made any thing, if thou hadfl hated it. And ver. 2.6. Thou fparefl all, for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of Souls. Towhom then may we with fomuch Confidence commit our felves, as to him who freely gave us our Being ? From whom may we expe& fo tender a Re- gard
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