B36604:267
Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity,…
Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of our readiness for sufferings are evinced and prescribed; our call to suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many professors bewailed. By John Flavel minister of Christ in Devon.Preparation for sufferings. Or The best work in the worst times Wherein the necessity, excellency, and means of our readiness for sufferings are evinced and prescribed; our call to suffering cleared, and the great unreadiness of many profesours bewailed. By John Flavel minister of Christ in Devon.
London: printed for Robert Boulter, 1681
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
5. A Prison hath been hanselled and perfumed by the best and holiest of men in all Ages, 1 Kings 22.27. Jer. 32, 2. Mat. 4.12. Acts 5.18. Acts 26.10. God hath made it a settled School of Discipline to them.
5. A Prison hath been hanfel'd and perfumed by the best and holiest of men in all Ages, 1 Kings 22.27. Jer. 32, 2. Mat. 4.12. Acts 5.18. Acts 26.10. God hath made it a setled School of Discipline to them.
6. Should you, to avoid a Prison, commit a sin, instead of being Man's Prisoner, you shall be clapped up by God: for he hath a Prison for your Souls even in this World, Psal. 142.7. and this is ten thousand times more dreadful, than any Dungeon in the World. Oh it's a dark Prison! not a Cranny to let in one Beam of Gods Countenance upon your poor Souls. What a sad exchange have you made then?
6. Should you, to avoid a Prison, commit a sin, instead of being Man's Prisoner, you shall be clapt up by God: for he hath a Prison for your Souls even in this World, Psal. 142.7. and this is ten thousand times more dreadful, than any Dungeon in the World. Oh it's a dark Prison! not a Cranny to let in one Beam of Gods Countenance upon your poor Souls. What a sad exchange have you made then?
7. Consider what a ground of Comfort GOD hath laid in that Word, Rev. 2.10. to obviate the Fears and Terrors incident to us in such a condition: God hath limited Satan and his Instruments, both for time, number, and all circumstances of the trial.
7. Consider what a ground of Comfort GOD hath laid in that Word, Rev. 2.10. to obviate the Fears and Terrours incident to us in such a condition: God hath limited Satan and his Instruments, both for time, number, and all circumstances of the trial.
8. Lastly, You do not know what a Mercy may be in it: It may be a time of retirement from the World, and the Clamours and Distractions that are abroad. These days of Imprisonment may be your Holy-days; as a Prisoner of Christ once called them.
4. Get an Heart mortified to the excessive and inordinate love of life: This, I confess, is the highest and hardest point of Self-denial, because it wraps up all other Self Interests in it. But yet consider,
First, Though life be very dear, yet Jesus Christ is ten thousand times dearer than thy Life: If thou be a Saint, he is the Life of thy Life, and the length of thy days; and in comparison of him, and his glory, Saints should, and have despised and slighted their Lives, Luke. 14.26. Rev. 12.11.
Secondly, Die you must; and if by shrinking from Christ, you should protract a miserable Life for a few days longer, in the mean time losing that which is better that life, Psal. 63.3. Mat. 10.39. Oh when you lie upon your Death-bed, you will wish, that you had obeyed Gods Call, and so have departed in peace.
Thirdly, If you have cordially covenanted with Christ (as all sincere Believers have done) then have you yielded up your lives to him, to be disposed for his glory, Rom 14.7. So that look, as Christ both lived and died for you; so, ought you to live as Christ: And all the excellency you see in life, consists in that reference and subserviency it hath to his glory. I say then, if you have understandingly and cordially transacted in a Covenant-way with him, your care will not be, so much how to shun Death, as by what Death you may most glorify God, John 21.19. And certainly, you can never ⟨p. 99⟩lay them down upon a more honourable or comfortable account than in his cause, and for his sake. It was a great trouble to Luther, that he carried his blood to his Grave.
Thirdly, If you have cordially covenanted with Christ (as all sincere Believers have done) then have you yielded up your lives to him, to be disposed for his glory, Rom 14.7. So that look, as Christ both lived and died for you; so, ought you to live as Christ: And all the excellency you see in life, consists in that reference and subserviency it hath to his glory. I say then, if you have understandingly and cordially transacted in a Covenant-way with him, your care will not be, so much how to shun Death, as by what Death you may most glorifie God, John 21.19. And certainly, you can never ⟨p. 99⟩lay them down upon a more honourable or comfortable account than in his cause, and for his sake. It was a great trouble to Luther, that he carried his bloud to his Grave.
Fourthly, To die for Christ, is one of the highest Testifications of your Love to Christ, that you are capable of, Joh. 13.37. Yea, 'tis such a Testification of your Love to the Lord Jesus, as Angels are not capable of making.
Fifthly, Why should you decline even a violent death for Christ, when as the bitterness of death is past, and there is no Hell following the pale Horse? It cannot separate you from Christ, Rom. 8.38.
Sixthly, Think what a death Christ suffered for you: in which the fullness of the Wrath both of God and Man met together, so that he was fore amazed; yet with desire, did he desire it for your sakes.
Sixthly, Think what a death Christ suffered for you: in which the fulness of the Wrath both of God and Man met together, so that he was fore amazed; yet with desire, did he desire it for your sakes.
7. Lastly, Think what a life you shall have with Christ, as soon as this is delivered up to, and for him, 2 Tim. 2.12. It is but wink, and you shall see God.
7. Lastly, Think what a life you shall have with Christ, as soon as this is deliver'd up to, and for him, 2 Tim. 2.12. It is but wink, and you shall see God.
Oh that these things might provoke you to follow on, and ply the Work of Mortification.
CHAP. XI.
Wherein is opened the singular advantage that suffering Saints have, by their skill, and in-sight into the Methods and Mysteries of Sathan's Temptations; some of those Wiles of Satan opened; and Rules for the avoiding of the danger briefly prescribed.
Wherein is opened the singular advantage that suffering Saints have, by their skill, and in-sight into the Methods and Mysteries of Sathans Temptations; some of those Wiles of Sathan opened; and Rules for the avoiding of the danger briefly prescribed.
THE hazards and dangers of Christians, in times of Persecution, arise not so much from their Sufferings, as from the Temptations that always attend and are by Satan planted upon their Sufferings: for the most part, Sufferings and Temptations go together, Heb. 11.37. And therefore, it behoves such as are, or expect to be called to Sufferings, to dive into the Mysteries of Temptations, and be well acquainted with the Enemies Designs upon them. So was Paul, and so he supposes all others to be, that engage in the same Cause; We are not ignorant of his Devices, 2 Cor. 2.11. There is a manifold advantage redounding to suffering Saints thereby.
THE hazards and dangers of Christians, in times of Perfecution, arise not so much from their Sufferings, as from the Temptations that always attend and are by Satan planted upon their Sufferings: for the most part, Sufferings and Temptations go together, Heb. 11.37. And therefore, it behoves such as are, or expect to be called to Sufferings, to dive into the Mysteries of Temptations, and be well acquainted with the Enemies Designs upon them. So was Paul, and so he supposes all others to be, that ingage in the same Cause; We are not ignorant of his Devices, 2 Cor. 2.11. There is a manifold advantage redounding to suffering Saints thereby.