A word in season to this present generation, or, A sober and serious discourse…

Fifthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his ¹People, in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, then this may serve to justify the Saints, and to encourage the Saints to write after this fair copy that Christ has set them: O visit them, O stand by them, O stick close to them, in all their troubles, distresses and dangers; let the same mind be in you one towards another as is in Christ towards you all: ²Are there any Jobs upon the dunghill? visit them; are there any Pauls in chains? find them out and be not ashamed of their chains: 2 Timoth. 1. 16. The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. Verse 17. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out diligently and found me. Verse 18. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well? [He oft refreshed me.] Greek, Poured cold water upon ³me. As that Angel did upon the wracked limbs of Theodorus the Martyr, mentioned by Socrates and Ruffinus in the days of Julian the Apostate; 'tis a Metaphor taken from those, who being almost overcome with heat are refreshed by cooling. (And was not ashamed of my chain.) Learned Antiquaries observe, that the Apostle at this time was not in prison with fetters, but in the custody of a Soldier, with whom he might go abroad, having a chain on his right arm, which was tied to the Soldiers left arm: Paul at this time was not in prison, much less a close Prisoner, for then Onesiphorus needed not to have made any great search to find him; but was a Prisoner at large, going up and down with his Keeper to dispatch his affairs, and therefore he speaks not of chains in the plural number, but of a chain in the singular, with which he was tied to the soldier that kept him. It no ways becomes the Saints to be ashamed of the bonds or chains, that may be found upon ⟨p. 151⟩the Ambassadors of Christ in an evil day. The primitive Christians were not ashamed of the Martyrs chains, but owned them in their chains, and stood by them in their chains, and frequently visited them in their chains, and freely and nobly relieved them, and refreshed them in their chains: And will you, will you be ashamed to visit the Saints in bonds?