The Christian sufferer supported, or, A discourse concerning the grounds of Christian fortitude shewing at once that the sufferings of good men are not inconsistent with God's special providence : as also the several supports which our religion affords them under their sufferings, and particularly against the fear of a violent death / by Richard Kidder ...

CHAP. II. (Book 2)

HAving cleared the good Pro∣vidence of God, and shewed that the sufferings of good men are very consistent with his particular care and government, I shall

Secondly, Shew you the great reasonableness of the Laws of

Christ, by which we are oblige to suffer for righteousness sake, no only reproach, and the loss of o•••• worldly goods, but even life it self▪ Our Saviours Precept is plain 〈◊〉〈◊〉 this matter. * 1.1 If any man come to m•• (says Christ) and hate not his Fa∣ther and Mother, and Wife and Chil∣dren, and Brethren and Sisters, ye•• and his own life also, he cannot be 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Disciple. The meaning of the•••• words is plainly this, that we ca•• not be the true Disciples of Chri•••• if we do not prefer his command before Father and Mother, &•• and our very life it self. To hat•• these things is to love them less tha•• we do our Saviour, as appear•••• from a parallel place. * 1.2 It is but f•••• we should choose to dye rath•••• than deny our Saviour, and re∣nounce our Religion. And we a•••• frequently commanded by ou•• Lord to deny our selves, * 1.3 to take up his Cross, to follow him: And we are assured that he that loseth his life for his sake shall find it. O••

the other hand we are excluded from the hopes of mercy in ano∣ther life if we do now deny our Saviour before men. If we suffer, * 1.4 * 1.5 * 1.6 we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. It is our interest as much as it is our du∣ty to part with life it self in the confession of the truth. * 1.7 Fear not them (says our Saviour) which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. And in another place he tells us; * 1.8 He that loveth his life shall lose it: And he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eter∣nal.

Now certain it is that our Lord is no hard Master, and that all his Laws are very righteous and good: Our Blessed Saviour promiseth us rest if we will become his fol∣lowers, and assures us, * 1.9 that his yoke is easie, and his burden light. He that undertakes the Laws of Christ, and sincerely sets himself

to obey them, will never have any cause to complain of his Master, or his Work. They that find fault with the Laws of Christ are those that do not understand them aright, or never did seriously apply them∣selves to the practice of them. That we should choose to die ra∣ther than break his Laws, and re∣nounce his Religion, is indeed one of the hardest Laws of Christ: But yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it. And to that purpose shall com∣mend to your serious considerati∣on the following particulars.

First, Let us consider whose Law this is, and we shall find that the Author of the Law does great∣ly recommend it to us: How hard soever it may otherwise seem, yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, that conside∣ration is of great moment to re∣concile us to it. We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord, and dear Redeemer lays upon us: For

we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us; He hath given us great proof that he loved us, when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man, but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God.

Let us stay a while upon this consideration, and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus, and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake. If our hearts be cold and chill, if we find them dampt and sinking, let us then me∣ditate of our Lords love, and that will be of great use to inflame them, and give them spirit. Does Je∣sus say, that we must not fear them that kill the body, that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples. Good is that word of our Dearest Lord, will the pious Soul say: Death shall be welcome when ever it comes, and it will be not only

our duty to die when our Lord would have us, but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us. Alas, this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us. He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father; He was happy and glorious, and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Hea∣ven to Earth, from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world. He that was the brightness of his Fa∣thers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh, and with our infirmities. He, that upheld all things by the word of his power, was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin, to be wrapt up in swad∣ling cloaths, to lie in a Stable, to be subject to his Creatures, to be tempted by the Devil, to be hun∣gred and thirsty, to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree, that he

might save lost Mankind. He was at these pains for the helpless, and for sinners, for Caitiffs and Rebels, for them who had dishonoured his Father, and ruined themselves. Here is a love without a Parallel, a love that passeth knowledge, a love that is stronger than death, and that surpasseth the love of wo∣men. Here are all the dimensions of love; here is height and depth, a length and breadth: Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors. Greater love than this hath no man, that he should lay down his life for his Friend. This is the highest flight of friendship, and we have but few examples of it. Our Lords kindness rose higher by far: He died for the ungodly, for the weak, and them that were without all hope.

Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to

die for him? It is an easie task that lies upon us, to love him that hath first loved us, and to die for him that died for us; This is very rea∣sonable, and a most gentle com∣mand, to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us. We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters; Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country. There are those would dare to die for a good man, or for a faithful friend: My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives, or my fellow Crea∣tures. I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love.

But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us, is this, That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did. He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth. It is fit we should do it, and he led us the way. He hath recommended this

Precept to us not only by his Do∣ctrine, but by his Example also. Indeed, our Lord was silent when he was reproached, and inconsi∣stently accused, but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ, * 1.10 the Son of God or not. He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate, and tells him, To this end was I born, * 1.11 and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud, and does not put his Followers upon that which he de∣clined himself.

This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law: And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done. Every where we judge this very reasonable: The Souldier thinks himself obli∣ged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger. And the

Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself. The Disci∣ple is not above his Master, nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by.

2. Let us consider the command it self, and that is, that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord, and forfeit our hopes of a better life. This may at first sight seem a very hard say∣ing, but when we draw near, and consider it well, we shall find it a very reasonable Law, and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said, when he tells us, that his yoke is easie, and his burden light.

The truth is, we disquiet our selves in vain, and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary, so is a great part of our misery also. We make a false judgment of

things, and set a very unequal rate and price upon them. And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death. For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought, so we judge death to be a greater evil than in∣deed it is. I desire that you would (under this general head) consider well the following parti∣culars. And,

1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment; It is no high Prerogative and un∣valuable peculiar. For the smal∣lest Mite or Ante, the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we. When Marcellinus was sick, all that were about him flattered him, and said that which they thought would please him most; Every man gave him that Counsel that they thought would be to him the most grateful. But there came to him an honest Stoick, that dealt sincere∣ly with him. He told him, that he need not much afflict himself as

if some great matter were before him: * 1.12 It is (says he) no great thing to live; All thy Servants live, and every Animal does it: It is a great thing to die well, wisely, and un∣dauntedly. Life considered abstract∣ly is of no great price, and there are many Creatures that have it which we do not greatly value up∣on that score. And when our Lord requires us to give up our life, he does not command any great thing of us in doing that. Life it self is at best but a manner or circum∣stance of being, and there are those Creatures which have it, whose condition is yet very mean and low. Life alone does not import any happiness at all: Instead of that, it often serves to make them who have it sensible of their misery.

2. That supposing life more va∣luable than it is, yet it is but a ve∣ry little of it we lose when we part with it by the hands of violence. It is indeed of very great moment

how we live, of very little how long. He that takes our life away does rob us of very little. And when God calls for it, we have no cause to murmur and complain. We generally take false measures here, and there is nothing in which we more frequently miscount than we do in this matter. And hence it is that we judge so much amiss of our Saviours Laws. For what is this life that we put so great a price upon? What it is at the most? I reckon that what we have spent of it is not at all, and what is to come is not yet. That which is past is gone irrecoverably, and that which is to come is not yet at all; so that all we have, and all that we can be said to lose is the present mo∣ment. In all things else we cannot properly be said to be deprived of what we had lost before, * 1.13 or to lose what we never had. No man can be deprived of more than what he hath in actual possession. We live the present moment only: For

all the rest, we either have lived it, or it is uncertain whether we shall or not. This is all then that we lose, and indeed all that we can enjoy at once, the present moment. So that one of the Ancients said very truly, That he that died very old, and he that died very young los•• but one and the same thing: * 1.14 For said he, the present time is that only which any man can be deprived of Agreeably hereunto the Apostle speaks when he calls the suffering•• of this life, * 1.15 the sufferings of this present time. It is but a moment that we suffer, for it is but a moment that we live at once. It is true in∣deed, we flatter our selves with a long time that we have to live, but we cannot promise our selves that which is to come; and we cannot with any propriety of Speech be said to lose that which we never had.

3. That supposing we might have lived longer, had we not been cut off by the hands of violence,

yet is this a very inconsiderable ••oss; Our Saviour is no hard Ma∣ster if he call us hence in our youth and full strength, and suffer us to fall under the hands of violence. What does all this amount to? We do but die a little sooner, and after another way. And sure we have little love for our Lord and our Religion if we think much to do this.

For suppose we might have lived longer yet, that is not much which we lose. Perhaps a few years or months, and what does it signifie? What proportion does this hold to Eternity? Or of what moment is it if you consider the boundless love of God and our blessed Saviour? A long life is no infalli∣ble token of Gods favour under the Gospel. This was indeed a blessing under the Law of Moses. But we are now received into a better Covenant. We know it was otherwise before the Law of Mo∣ses was given. Enoch, that walked

with God, and that pleased him lived the shortest life of any of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noa•• And many times so it is, * 1.16 that he di•• in his youth whom God loves. I hath been esteemed a favour to b•• removed hence betimes. We mu•••• die, and if we are sure of that, i•• is of small moment when we di•• And therefore when we die fo•• our Religion, we do not lose mu•••• for the sake of it; For we must all die: We are but deprived of tha•• which we knew before would e•••• long be taken from us. If our house had not been pulled or fired down, yet in a little while it would have fallen of it self. He that kills me does not by doing so make me mortal, * 1.17 he found me so. We have no cause to fear death when we know we cannot escape it. When we are killed, it is life, not immortality which we are depri∣ved of. Let us not phansie that our Lord requires any great matter of us, when he com∣mands

us to lay down our life for his sake. We must have died if he had never made this Law, and it is a small matter which he re∣quires of us when he would have us die for him. * 1.18 When one told Socrates that the Athenians had de∣creed his death: He told him that Nature had decreed theirs also. His death was hastened by them, it was determined by a superiour Power. We have no cause to complain, but great cause to bless God, that since we must die, he is pleased to call upon us to do it in a righteous cause. We are very foolish and fond, if we now mur∣mur and complain.

I know very well that we are affrighted with the pain of a vio∣lent and unnatural death; And perhaps the shame and reproach of it is also irksom to us.

For its reproach and shame it is the most trifling pretence imagina∣nable. And I can hardly think that a wise man upon second thoughts

can be moved with so vain a consi∣deration as this. The truth of it is, there is not any shadow in this pretence. For to die for our Re∣ligion, whatever our death be, is not more our duty than it is our priviledge, and our honour. The first Christians judged thus. They rejoy∣ced in this, that they were esteem∣ed worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. It is no reproach to suffer any death in a good cause. He that dies for his Country is not by any wise man reproached because he was found dead in a ditch. It is the Crime, not the kind of death, that makes death dishonourable. He falls well, whatever hand pull him down, that falls in a good cause. Our Lord died upon a Cross. His was a painful, and the most shameful death. It was the punish∣ment of Slaves, and the most infamous Criminals. Now it is said of our Lord, * 1.19 that he endured the Cross despising the shame. The pain was very afflictive to his flesh,

but yet such was his love that he endured that: But then his death was as shameful as his Enemies could have devised, but the shame our Lord despised. * 1.20 And sure if our Lord did this for us, well may we do it for him. Well may we glory in that Cross which our Lord hath born.

But then for the pain of a vio∣lent death we shall not need much to disquiet our selves; we affright our selves without cause, and we do disquiet our selves in vain. We think of Racks and Wheels, of fire and faggot when we think of our Enemies, from whom we expect no mercy. But it is certain, that we often torment our selves with evils that shall never overtake us: But yet we will suppose that we meet with great pain: What then? This pain will be tolerable, or not: If it be tolerable, we may endure it; if not, we shall not be long troubled with it. That will end, or we shall. We cannot last long under extreme pain.

Besides, it is not unlikely but a disease may put us to sharper and longer pains than a Tyrant will ever do. A Calenture may be more troublesom to us than fire and fag∣got, and the flames of a Fever may scorch us more severely than other flames: And they that have felt the extremity of the Gout and Stone will easily grant that it is a favour to die by the Sword of a Tyrant. * 1.21 We do not know but we may be tortured on our Beds; and what great matter is it whether we be exercised upon a Bed, or upon a Wheel. It is very likely that a Tyrant will sooner release us than a disease. What needest thou care (says the heathen Philosopher) what way thou goest into another World? They are alike. But yet if thou art willing to know the truth, that is the shortest which a Tyrant sends. Never was any Tyrant six months in killing any man: A Fe∣ver hath often detained men a whole year. What is it then that we fear?

Is it the Sword of an Enemy? But are we sure we shall die an easier death? Perhaps this Sword may may rescue us from greater pains and miseries. * 1.22 When once I had learnt (says the same Philosopher) that he that is born must also die. I am indifferent whether I die by a Fe∣ver, or the fall of a Tile, or I be killed by a Souldier: But if I must compare, I know that a Souldier will destroy me with the least pain. It is very inconsiderable, since we must die, after what manner we do it. And if there be any difference, per∣haps this way of dying by a Ty∣rant may be the gentler.

4. That the life which we part with, when we die for our Reli∣ligion, is not worth the keeping upon those terms, upon which alone we have the liberty to pre∣serve it. Life, I grant, is a very valuable thing; Especially the life of a man: But let us consider a while what that is that makes it so: It is not because it gives us the

opportunity of eating and drink∣ing, and sporting our selves in the World. This is the life of a Brute, and not the life of a man, much less of a worshipper of God. But our life is desirable as it relates to a better life, and it serves the pur∣poses of Eternity. They are the causes or ends of life which make it desirable. So long as they continue, life is not only a blessing, but a most unspeakable one. The great ends of life are the service of God, and doing good to one another, in order to a future glory and immor∣tality. It is here we lay a foun∣dation for a future bliss and happi∣ness. This life is the Stage on which we act our parts well: This is the state of trial, and this life is very valuable considered with its reference and subordina∣tion to that glory which we expect hereafter. We know there is a reward for the righteous, and out of respect to that it is that we strive to abound in all the fruits of

righteousness, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Whiles our life serves so great an end it is worth the preserving, but without this it is nothing worth. For bare∣ly to live is not the happiness and perfection of a man. If then it come to this, that we must lose our life, or prostitute our Consciences, and deny the faith, our life is not worth the keeping upon these hard terms. For when the end of life is gone, what is life it self but a burden and reproach to him that hath it?

In other things we judge thus. We value things by their end and usefulness. And when they are rendred unfit for their end, we value them not any longer. Who regards any thing any farther than as it answers its end? Who regards an unfruitful and dry Vine or Fig-tree; Who values adulte∣rate Coin, or useless Beasts? It is the end and usefulness of things that sets a rate and price upon

them. We reject those things that are useless as we do Salt that hath lost its savour.

But nothing is more vile and contemptible than our life when it is deprived of its end. A man that hath Shipwracked his Faith, and prostituted his Conscience to save his goods and his life is of all Creatures in this lower world the most deplorably miserable. He lives indeed, but he is an uneasie burden to himself, and a cumber to the Earth. He lives, but his life is nothing worth when he is be∣reft of his integrity, and hath for∣feited his future hopes. Life is not worth any mans keeping upon such terms as these are. * 1.23 Socrates told the Athenians, that if they would offer him his life upon condition that he should no longer Philoso∣phize, he would thank them in∣deed, but not accept of life upon those terms; And adds, that he would rather obey God than them. Hence it was that the first Chri∣stians

would rather die than do that which was evil. And some of the honester Heathens did thus also. * 1.24 Priscus Helvidius was a Senator of Rome, and considered the duty of his place. The Emperour sent to him, and forbid him to come into the Senate: Priscus told him, It was in his power to remove him from be∣ing a Senator, till that was done he would go into the Senate: Then the Emperour commanded him, if went into the Senate, to hold his peace: But Priscus told him, that he would speak what he thought was just and right.: But Priscus added, If you say you will kill me, when did I affirm that I was immor∣tal? Do you your part, I will do mine: It is your part to kill: It is mine to die undauntedly. It is your part to banish, it is mine to go away without grief. Our life is worth preserving, but not with the loss of our integrity. It is its end and its relation to a future state that gives it value.

3. Let us consider the ground or rea∣son of this command of our Lord. The truth is our Lords will in this case ought to be ground enough to us. It should be enough that our Lord hath said it; it will not become us to dispute our Saviours Law. But yet our Saviour deals with us with great condescension, he does not govern us after an ar∣bitrary manner. His Laws are founded upon Justice, and do carry with them a great conviction that they are just and reasonable. And as it is thus every where else, so it is in the matter that lies before us. Our Lord requires us to part with our lives, but it is upon a good account that he requires it. And we cannot but judge this very reasonable when it is considered, that, when our Lord requires this, he does it only then when by our obedience we are assured to avoid a greater evil than what we suffer, and to attain a greater good than we forego.

By our obedience to this Law we are sure to avoid a greater evil than that is which we suffer. And this will be evident if we will but take the pains to consider what it is we suffer; and what evils we avoid by it. For our suffering it can amount to no more than the loss of this present life: This is the utmost that we can suffer. No force or malice can reach any farther than this comes to. Let us make the most of it, it will not be much we lose. And whatever evil the loss of this life is, yet it holds no pro∣portion at all to the evils, which by this means we avoid; And they are these two:

1. We avoid the horrors and clamours of an accusing Consci∣ence. Say that we decline our suffe∣ring, and deny our Religion; that to avoid death we wrong our Consci∣ence: Do not think your trouble is now at an end when you have ta∣ken this course, and that you shall live pleasant days for the future.

This is but as if a man did flee from a Lion, * 1.25 and a Bear met him; Or went into the house and leaned his hand on the Wall, and a Serpent bit him: Alas poor man, thou dost but run from one evil into another, and, which is the saddest, from the least into the greatest: From bodily pain, into the horrors of a guilty mind. And sure I am there is no compare between the one and the other. There is no sorrow like that of a wounded Spirit. Others may be avoided, or they may be cured, they may be diverted, and they have been born: But a woun∣ded spirit who can bear? This is an evil from within, a perpetual dis∣quiet at home. The other evils are but foreign, and from without. There is no plague like that of the heart. All other strokes they do but batter the out-works, this throws down the main Fort. Grea∣ter madness cannot be than to wrong our Consciences that we may save our lives; To wound our

Souls that we may keep our Skin intire. This is to regard the Gar∣ment more than we do what it co∣vers. What is it that bewitches us? Can we meet with any evil in this world to be compared with the guilt and horrors of our own minds? Will any thing comfort us when our own minds upbraid us? Will any thing be able to hold us up when our hearts sink within us? Surely, all other sorrows are very trifling things to this one sorrow of a guilty and unawakened mind. For we find that it is this that makes our other sorrows sharp and poi∣nant; it is this that gives them a keen edge, and makes them pierce deep. Guilt renders even our out∣ward Crosses and sorrows double. It is this that presses and weighs us down under our other burdens. We run into a greater evil than we run from, when to escape a suffe∣ring we commit a sin. We do but divert the blow from our body, and receive the deadly stroke up∣on

our souls. For sure I am that Fire and Faggot, Wheels and Gib∣bets, all the Instruments of cruelty and death are very gentle Evils to the horrors and lashes of a guilty and accusing Conscience. But then,

2. We avoid by this means an eternal and unspeakable misery: The flames of Hell, I mean, which opens its mouth to receive those profane sinners that choose that everlasting burning before the suf∣ferings of this present life. What proportion is there now between a Temporal and an Eternal death? Between the sorrows of this pre∣sent time and those everlasting sor∣rows; Is there any burning to be compared to that fire which never goes out? Any Dungeon or Prison fit to be compared with those chains of darkness? Does not that worm that never dies speak infinite more terror than any Cr•••••••• or Gib∣bet, any pain or torment here be∣low? Can we conceive what it is

to die eternally? Is there any evil like unto this? Is any sentence so formidable as that of Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his An∣gels? * 1.26 Certainly the parting of the soul from the body is but a small thing to the parting of the soul from God the fountain of its being and happiness. We look upon death as formidable which strips us of our worldly properties, divides us from this body, and from this world, but what is it then to be eternally separated from our God? To depart from God, to depart with a Curse, to depart into ever∣lasting fire, to depart into the portion of Devils and apostate Fiends is more than can be expres∣sed in time.

My God, my God why dost thou part from me! Was such a grief as cannot be.

The Son of God cried out when he was for a while deprived of a

sense of Gods favour, when he was in that agony which he under∣went upon our score. But who can tell, nay, who can think how sad this will be, when God will be merciful to a man no more? When we die for our Religion, it is that we may not die eternally. When we lose our life here, it is that we may not die the second death. Having premised these things, I shall now proceed to lay before you the helps and assistances that our Reli∣gion does afford us against the se∣verest trials that we shall meet with in our Christian Course and Warfare.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Luk. 14.26. with Mat. 10.37.
• * 1.2

  Luk. 9.23.
• * 1.3

  Mar. 8.34.
• * 1.4

  Mat. 10.39.
• * 1.5

  Ver. 33.
• * 1.6

  2 Tim. 2.12.
• * 1.7

  Mat. 10.28.
• * 1.8

  Joh. 12.25.
• * 1.9

  Mat. 11.29, 30.
• * 1.10

  Mat. 26.63, 64.
• * 1.11

  Joh. 18.17.
• * 1.12

  Non est res magna vi∣vere, omnes servi tui vivunt, omnia ani∣malia, &c. Sen. Ep. 77.
• * 1.13

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Mar. Ant. l. 3. c. 8.
• * 1.14

  Id. l. 2. c. 12.
• * 1.15

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Rom. 8.18.
• * 1.16

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.17

  Si mortem possemus evadere, meritò mo∣ri timere∣mus. Cypr. l. 4. Ep. 6.
• * 1.18

  Dlogen. Laertius. Socrat.
• * 1.19

  Heb. 12.2.
• * 1.20

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. M. An∣tonin. l. 7. 2.23.
• * 1.21

  Quid re∣fert in Equuleum an in le∣ctulum tor∣quendus ascenderis? Petrarch. Arrian. Epictet. l. 2. c. 6.
• * 1.22

  Arrian. l. 4. c. 7.
• * 1.23

  Plat. Ap. Socr.
• * 1.24

  Arrian. Epictet. l. 1. c. 8.
• * 1.25

  Amos 5.19.
• * 1.26

  Mat. 25.41.