fuffer for the People; No, his Brethren in Chrift had alfo their Share of Sufferings. And were they daunted or disinay'd at them? No, they were not only Patient, but Joy. Rom. v ful in their Tribulations; nay, and Gloried 2, 3. in Tribulations alfo, Rejoycing in Hope of the Glory of God. Good Men, that are refolutely Upright, and Fixt and True to their own Confciences, ftand Firm and Strong upon a good Bottom, and have more Real Comfort and Satisfaction in the greatest Sufferings for Conscience Sake, than those that for Love of this prefent World, A&t against their Consciences, though they were to gain the whole World by it. The Church Hiftorian Euf. 1. 5. tells us, in an Account he gives us of one of the great Perfecutions, "That They that "faithfully ftuck to their Principles, and em"brac'd Martyrdom, appeared Chearful, and "with a Kind of Majefty of Countenance, "were Graceful in their Chains; whilst They

that, to avoid Torture, had renounc'd the "Faith, and denied themselves to be Chri"ftians, were Tortur'd in their own Confciences, and hung down their Heads with " so much Dejection of Spirit, that they "were easily distinguish'd by their very Countenances, and laugh'd at and reproach'd "for it by the Heathens themselves.

A Good Cause and a Good Confcience will make Men chearful even in the Dungeon. Or even in Times of Publick Cala

mity, in Times of War or Peftilence, when Others are in the utmost Confternation, and at their Wits End, not knowing what to do, nor which Way to turn themselves for Help, Then Blessed and Happy is the Man that has the God of Jacob for his Help, and whofe Hope is in the Lord his God: That has an Intereft in God, and can put his Trust and Confidence in him; For he that has the Lord for his God, the Mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth, (who has an inexhauftible Storehouse to fupply him in all his Wants, and an Almighty Arm to protect him in all his Dangers,) is secure of having all go well and happily with him: As he need fear no Evil, fo he can want no Manner of Thing that is Good. Such a Man can even at fuch a Time poffefs his Soul in Patience, and quietly compofe himself, with perfect Submiffion to God's Will, under all the Dif penfations of Providence; being fure that nothing fhall happen to him, but what God fees Good for him.

The true Ifrael of God, that have God for their God, have fome Light and Com. fort, in the Darkest and most Dismal Day of Trouble; as the Ifraelites of Old, (the Standing Type of all the true Servants of God for ever,) had Light in their Dwel lings, whilft the Egyptians about them were all in Plagues, and Thick Darkness and Diftraction.

And

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And even in Times of Publick Peace and Quietness, the Wicked have not that Inward Peace, that true folid Peace and Satisfaction, thatthe Perfect and Upright Man has in his own Breaft. The Wicked (fays Ifa. lvii. the Prophet Ifaiah) are like the Troubled 20. Sea when it cannot reft; whofe Waters caft up Mire and Dirt: There is no Peace faith my God to the Wicked. And what can fo Foul and Polluted a Heart caft up, but mere Mire and Dirt? Or what Peace can there be in a Heart full of all Iniquity? What Peace can there be, where Debaucheries and Impieties, and all Manner of Sins and Wickedneffes have been fo many? Or what Peace can there be, where the Soul is nothing but Disorder and Confufion; Like a Foreft of Wild Beafts, overrun with Lufts and Paffions as Wild and Lawless, and as Furious, and Outragious, and Ungovernable as They, ravaging at their Pleafure? When a Man is always in a Tumult within, harafs'd and hurry'd about, feveral Ways, with Extravagant Appetites and Imperious Vices; with Vain Wishes, Unfatisfy'd and Impatient Defires, and eager Purfuits, wherewith the Diftracted Sinner is Everlaftingly entangled; And at Cooler Intervals, overcaft with many guilty Apprehenfions and Mifgivings of Mind?

But the Man that is Regular in his Life, and Moderate in his Expectations, and Reafonable

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fonable in his Defires, and can Govern himfelf and his Paffions, has nothing of This to Pro. xiv. Diftract or Difturb him. The Backflider in Heart (fays Solomon,) fhall be filled with his own Ways, he fhall have Trouble enough from his Own Sins; But a Good Man fhall be fatisfy'd from himself; he fhall have full Satisfaction from his own Mind, from the Clearness of his Conscience, and the Senfe of his own Integrity: And a Satisfaction it is, greater than can be exprefs'd, that the Good Man has from the Approbation of his own Conscience, and that Inward Peace of Mind that results from it. There is a fecret Joy and Pleasure in the Discharge of a Good Conscience, infinitely exceeding all the Pleafures that are to be found in Sin: When a Man can Comfortably fit down and Reflect within himself, that he has faithfully done his Duty to God and Man, and does fincerely endeavour to walk in all his Commandments with a perfect and Upright Heart, and is therefore at Peace with God, and at Peace with Himself; he is Calm within, and Easy to himself; and it is a Constant Source of Joy to him, to think, however the World goes with him, that he lives in Favour with God, and has Affurance of his Grace and Bleffing. Such a Man is got above the World and defies it, whether it flatter or frown upon him. The Man that has Peace within, and whofe Hope is in the Lord

Lord his God, having fixt his Heart Above, where true Joys are to be found, whatsoever State he is in at prefent, can live very Contentedly upon the Comfortable Prospect, and fure Hopes of that Future Bleffedness, reTerved in Heaven for him; and can therewith bear up his Mind, Steddy and Unfhaken, under the Dangers and Storms of this World, whatever they be. God (fays the Pfalmift,) is our Refuge, and Strength; whereupon he immediately concludes, therefore will we not fear tho' the Earth Pf. xlvi. be removed, and tho' the Mountains be carried into the Midft of the Sea.

And any one upon the fame Grounds of Confidence in God, may argue himself into the fame Courage and Conftancy. For He that has God for his Hope, and can put his Trust in him, can in the Worft Condition that can befal him, adminifter Comfort to himself." What though I am Defam'd "or Opprefs'd? What though I am under "Affliction or Trouble? Tho' my Friends "have been falfe to me, or my Health fails

me, and many Crofs Accidents of Life "feem to Confpire and Arm themselves against me? What is all This Trouble "here Below, to one who has an Intereft "Above? A Sure Friend in the Court of "Heaven, where Chrift fitteth at the Right

Hand of God, to be my Advocate with "the Father? What are all Worldly Wants B b

❝ or

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