Famous is the story of the three Children: they were in a great strait when cast into the fiery Fur∣nace; Binde them hand and foot, and cast them into the Furnace: but when they were there they were unbound, Dan. 3. 25. saith Nebuchadnezzar, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? and lo I see foure men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. I have often told you, when three are cast into the fire for a good Conscience, God will make the fourth: therefore, I say, straits and sufferings for God are not worth the name of straits. David was often driven into straits, 1 Sam. 30. 6. he was sore distressed when his Town was burnt, and his Wives and Children taken captive by the Amale∣kites: I, but that was a distress of danger, not of sin: therefore he encourageth himself in the Lord his God. Iehosaphat was in a great strait, 2 Chron. 20. 12. We know not what to do, saith he: this was a strait of danger, not caused by his sin, and God quickly delivered him: but the strait that David was in, was caused by his sin, and that made it so bitter. I am loth to inlarge here: Saint Paul was in a great strait, Phil. 3. 23. but this was a blessed strait, an Evangelical strait, saith Saint Chrysostom, He knew not whether to die for his own sake, or to live for the Churches sake, were best; he was willing to adjourn his going to Heaven for the good of the people of God: Nay, christ was in a strait, Luke 12. 15, I have a Baptism to be baptized withal, 0