1. 'Tis a great mistake to think that the mee• strength of natural constitution can carry any one through such sufferings for Christ, or, that natural ⟨p. 119⟩tenderness and weakness Divinely assisted, cannot bear the heaviest burden that ever God laid upon the shoulders of any sufferer for Christ. Our suffering and bearing abilities are not from Nature but from Grace. We find men of strong bodies and resolute daring minds, have fainted in the time of trial. Dr. Pendleton in our own story was a man of a robust and massive body, and a resolute daring mind; yet when he came to the trial, he utterly fainted and fell off. On the other side, what poor feeble bodies have sustained the greatest torments! and out of weakness been made strong, Heb. 11. 34. The Virgin Eulalia of Emerita in Portugal was young and tender, but Twelve years old, and with much indulgence and tenderness brought up in an honourable family, being a person of considerable quality; yet how courageously did she sustain the most cruel Torments for Christ! when the Judge fawned upon her with this tempting language, Why wilt thou kill thy self, so young a flower, and so near those honourable Marriages and great Dowries thou mightest enjoy: Instead of returning a retracting or doubtful answer, Eulalia threw down the Idol, and spurned abroad with her feet the heap of incense prepared for the censers: And when the Executioner came to her, she entertained him with this language, Go to thou Hangman, burn, cut, mangle thou these earthly members; it is an easy matter to break a brittle substance, but the inward mind thou shalt not hurt.1 And when one joint was pulled from another, she said, Behold, what a pleasure it is for them O Christ, that remember thy triumphant victories, to attain unto these high dignities. So that our constitutional strength is not to be made the measure of ⟨p. 120⟩our passive fortitude: God can make the feeblest and tenderest person stand, when strong bodies and blustering, resolute, daring minds faint and fall.
1. 'Tis a great mistake to think that the mee• strength of natural constitution can carry any one through such sufferings for Christ, or, that natural ⟨p. 119⟩tenderness and weakness Divinely assisted, cannot bear the heaviest burden that ever God laid upon the shoulders of any sufferer for Christ. Our suffering and bearing abilities are not from Nature but from Grace. We find men of strong bodies and resolute daring minds, have fainted in the time of trial. Dr. Pendleton in our own story was a man of a robust and massie body, and a resolute daring mind; yet when he came to the trial, he utterly fainted and fell off. On the other side, what poor feeble bodies have sustained the greatest torments! and out of weakness been made strong, Heb. 11. 34. The Virgin Eulalia of Emerita in Portugal was young and tender, but Twelve years old, and with much indulgence and tenderness brought up in an honourable family, being a person of considerable quality; yet how couragiously did she sustain the most cruel Torments for Christ! when the Judge fawned upon her with this tempting language, Why wilt thou kill thy self, so young a flower, and so near those honourable Marriages and great Dowries thou mightest enjoy: Instead of returning a retracting or doubtful answer, Eulalia threw down the Idol, and spurnt abroad with her feet the heap of incense prepared for the censers: And when the Executioner came to her, she entertained him with this language, Go to thou Hangman, burn, cut, mangle thou these earthly members; it is an easie matter to break a brittle substance, but the inward mind thou shalt not hurt.1 And when one joynt was pulled from another, she said, Behold, what a pleasure it is for them O Christ, that remember thy triumphant victories, to attain unto these high dignities. So that our constitutional strength is not to be made the measure of ⟨p. 120⟩our passive fortitude: God can make the feeblest and tenderest person stand, when strong bodies and blustering, resolute, daring minds faint and fall.
- 1Acts and Mon. v. 1. p. 120.
