To be Rich or Poor do but little differ in his eyes; To be high or low is all one to him, considering these things as accommodations of the flesh; though still he valueth any condition according to the respect it hath to God; and so that is the best condition to him that best accommodateth and advantageth him for Gods service. He taketh the fleshes Interest to be none of his Interest; and therefore that which only concerneth the flesh concerneth not him. And therefore he looketh in this regard upon an high estate or a low, as Nothing to him. Let God dispose of him as he please; that's Gods work and not his. He hath learned in whatever estate he is, therewith to be content: [He knows how to be abased, and he knows how to abound; every where and in all things he is instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need,] Phil. 4. 11, 12. If you applaud and honour him, he takes it but as if you breathed on him; at the best it is but a sweeter kind of breath: And if you vilify, and reproach, and unjustly condemn him, he takes it for no great hurt. For [with him it is a very small thing to be judged of man, and at mans bar; for he that judgeth him is the Lord,] 1 Cor. 4. 3, 4. Nay what if I said that if you imprison him, threaten him, torment him, yea put him to death, he doth not much regard it, nor make any great matter of it; so far as he is Crucified to the world. How joyfully could Paul and Silas sing in the stocks, when their bodies were sore with scourging? Act. 16. What a rapture of joyful praises did the Apostles break forth into, when they were threatened by the Priests and Elders ⟨p. 39⟩Acts 4. 21, 24. I will add but two more instances, Dan. 3. The three Jews that were threatened with a furnace of fire, are accused for not regarding the King, vers. 12. and their own answer is, vers. 16, 17. [We are not careful to answer thee in this matter: If it be so, the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy Gods.] And sure they that would not accept of deliverance when they were tortured, Heb. 11. 35. did set little by it, in comparison of that better Resurrection which they hoped for. As Christ said of Satan, The Prince of this world hath nothing in me, John 14. 30.
To be Rich or Poor do but little differ in his eyes; To be high or low is all one to him, considering these things as accomodations of the flesh; though still he valueth any condition according to the respect it hath to God; and so that is the best condition to him that best accommodateth and advantageth him for Gods service. He taketh the fleshes Interest to be none of his Interest; and therefore that which only concerneth the flesh concerneth not him. And therefore he looketh in this regard upon an high estate or a low, as Nothing to him. Let God dispose of him as he please; that's Gods work and not his. He hath learned in whatever estate he is, therewith to be content: [He knows how to be abased, and he knows how to abound; every where and in all things he is instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need,] Phil. 4. 11, 12. If you applaud and honour him, he takes it but as if you breathed on him; at the best it is but a sweeter kind of breath: And if you vilifie, and reproach, and unjustly condemn him, he takes it for no great hurt. For [with him it is a very small thing to be judged of man, and at mans barr; for he that judgeth him is the Lord,] 1 Cor. 4. 3, 4. Nay what if I said that if you imprison him, threaten him, torment him, yea put him to death, he doth not much regard it, nor make any great matter of it; so far as he is Crucified to the world. How joyfully could Paul and Silas sing in the stocks, when their bodies were sore with scourging? Act. 16. What a rapture of joyful praises did the Apostles break forth into, when they were threatned by the Priests and Elders ⟨p. 39⟩Acts 4. 21, 24. I will add but two more instances, Dan. 3. The three Jews that were threatned with a furnace of fire, are accused for not regarding the King, vers. 12. and their own answer is, vers. 16, 17. [We are not careful to answer thee in this matter: If it be so, the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy Gods.] And sure they that would not accept of deliverance when they were tortured, Heb. 11. 35. did set little by it, in comparison of that better Resurrection which they hoped for. As Christ said of Satan, The Prince of this world hath nothing in me,
