offering of a more acceptable sacrifice do cost a righteous man his life, alas, what is that to the punishment that malignant, envious Cainites, or treacherous Judases must endure. What is the worst that man can do, or the most that God will here inflict, to the reprobates, endless, hellish torments? Oh, had you seen what they endure, or had you felt those pains but a day or hour, I can hardly think that you would ever after make so great a matter of the sufferings of a Christian here for Christ, or that you would fear such sufferings more than hell. It is disingenuous to repine at so gentle a rod, at the same time whilst millions are in the flames of hell, and when these sufferings tend to keep you thence. 5. Your sorrows shall not be so long as your following joys, if you be persevering, conquering believers. What is a sickness, or a scorn, or a prison, or banishment, or shame, or death, when it must end in the endless joys of heaven. Oh, do but believe these with a lively, sound, effectual faith, and you will make light of all the sufferings in the way, "Nihil crus sentit in nervo," saith Tertullian, "cum animus est in cœlo." (Heb. xi. 25, 26, &c.) The mind that is in heaven, and seeth him that is invisible, will easily bear the body's pains. Mistake not in your accounts, and you will reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom. viii. 18.) "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, doth work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.) Use 2. And if it be but for a now that you must have sorrows, how reasonable is it that those sorrows be moderated and mixed with joy? And how just are those commands, "Rejoice evermore. "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." (1 Thess. v. 16; Matt. v. 10-12.) "Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation." (Rom. xii. 12.) How rational was their joy, who being beaten and forbidden to preach, "departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ." (Acts v. 42.) "Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers in Christ's sufferings. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." (1 Pet. iv. 13, 14.) It is a shame to be dejected under a short and tolerable pain, which is so near to the eternal pleasure, and to suffer as if we believed not the end, and so to sorrow as men that are without hope. Doct. 4. Christ will again visit his sorrowful disciples. He removeth not from them with an intent to cast them off. When he hideth his face, he meaneth not to forsake them; when he taketh away any ordinances or mercies, he doth not give them a bill of divorce. When he seemeth to yield to the powers of darkness, he is not overcome, nor will he give up his kingdom or interest in the world. When he letteth the boar into his vineyard, it is not to make it utterly desolate, or turn it common to the barren wilderness: for, 1. He hath conquered the greatest enemies already, and, therefore, there remaineth none to conquer him. He hath triumphed over Satan, death, and hell; he hath conquered sin, and what is there left to depose him from his dominion? 2. He retaineth still his relation to his servants; whether he be corporally present or absent, he knoweth his own, and it is their care also that whether present or absent, they may be accepted of him. (2 Cor. v. 7-9.) He is their head while they are suffering on earth; and, therefore, he feeleth their sufferings and infirmities. (Heb. iv. 15.) And hence it is that he thus rebuketh a persecuting zealot, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Acts ix. 4.) 3. He hath not laid by the least measure of his love; hẹ loveth us in heaven as much as he did on earth: "Having loved his own which were in the world, to the end he loved them." (John xiii. 1.) And as Joseph's love could not long permit him to conceal himself from his brethren, but broke out the more violently after a short restraint, so that he fell on their necks and wept; so will not the more tender love of Christ permit him long to hide his face, or estrange himself from the people of his love, and when he returneth, it will be with redoubled expressions of endearment. 4. His covenant with his servants is still in force; his promises are sure, and shall never be broken, though the performance be not so speedy as we desire. "Know, therefore, that the Lord thy God he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face to destroy them; he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face." (Deut. vii. 9.) "He keepeth covenant and mercy with his servants that walk before him with all their heart." (1 Kings viii. 23; Dan. ix. 4; Neh. i. 5, and ix. 32.) And it is the promise of Christ when he departed from his servants, that "He will come again and take them to himself, that where he is, there they may be also. (John xiv. 3, and xii. 26.) 5. His own interest, and honour, and office, and preparations, do engage him to return to his disconsolate flock; his jewels and peculiar treasure are his interest. (Mal. iii. 17; 1 Peter ii. 9; Exodus xix. 5.) He that hath chosen but a little flock, (Luke xii. 32,) and confineth his interest and treasure into such a narrow compass, will not forsake that little flock, but secure them to his kingdom. He that hath made it his office to redeem and save them, and hath so dearly bought them, and gone so far in the work of their salvation, will lose none of all his cost and preparations; but for his people, and his blood, and his honour, and his Father's will, and love, will certainly finish what he hath undertaken. And, therefore, his withdrawings shall not be everlasting. 6. It is for their sakes that he withdraweth for a time; though the bitter part be for their sin, it is intended as medicinal for their benefit; sometimes he doth it to awake and humble them, and stir them up to seek him, and call after him; to show them what they have done in provoking him to withdraw and hide his face, that renewed repentance may prepare them for the comforts of his return. Sometimes he hath such work for them to do, which is not so agreeable to his presence; as fasting, and mourning, and confessing him in sufferings. (Matt. ix. 15.) And sometimes he hath comforts of another kind to give them in his seeming absence. "I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.” (John xvi. 7.) As there were comforts which the disciples were fittest for in Christ's bodily absence, so when he will take away his ordinances, or our prosperity or friends, there are comforts of another sort, in secret communion with him, and in suffering for him, which his people may expect; not that any can expect it, who on that pretence do reject these ordinances and mereies no more than the disciples could have expected the Comforter, if they had rejected the corporal presence of Christ; but God hath such supplies for those that mourn for his departure. his return. Use 1. Misunderstand not then the departings of your Lord. It is too bad to say with the evil servant, "My Lord delayeth his coming;" and worse to say he will never return. 1. He will return at his appointed day to judge the world; to justify his saints, whom the world condemned; to answer the desires, and satisfy all the expectations of believers; and to comfort, and everlastingly reward the faithful that have patiently waited And when he returneth with salvation, then shall we also return from our calamities, and shall discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that served God, and him that served him not. (Mal. iii. 18.) Undoubtedly our "Redeemer liveth, and shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though, after our skin, worms devour these bodies, yet in our flesh we shall we see God. (Job xix. 25, 26.) "Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." (Rev. i. 7.) Though unbelieving scoffers, shall say, "Where is the promise of his coming?" (2 Pet. iii. 4.) Yet believers consider, "That a day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years but as a day; and that the Lord is not slack of his promise, but longsuffering." (Ver. 8, 9.) "He will not leave us comfortless, but will come unto us." (John xiv. 18.) "The patient expectation of the just shall not be forgotten, nor in vain. (Psalm ix. 7, 8.) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengence on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe in that day." (2 Thess. i. 6—10.) 2. And he will return also to the seemingly forsaken flocks of his disciples; he hath his times of trial, when the shepherds being smitten, the sheep are scattered; and he hath his times of gathering the scattered ones again together, and "giving them pastors after his own heart, that shall feed them with knowledge and understanding." (Jer. iii. 14, 15.) And shall say, "What is the chaff unto the wheat." (Jer. xxiii. 28.) When we cry, "Wo is me for my hurt; my wound is grievous!" We must also say, "Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it; my : tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken; my children are gone forth of me, and they are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains; for the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord. O Lord correct me, but with judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." (Jer. x. 19-21, 24.) "Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness and being desolate it mourneth to me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart." (Jer. xii. 10, 11.) “But wo be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, against the pastors that feed my people; ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, and I will gather the remnant of my flock. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xxxiv.) "Wo to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flocks. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. Thus saith the Lord, Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hands, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth. Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And as for you, O my flock, Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats. Is it a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drank of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for my flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God unto them; Behold I, even I will judge between the fat cattle and the lean? Because ye have |