our strength, as men, lieth Paul was instructed (Phil.

not rightly discern of evils, we grieve for them: in reason; as Christians, in spiritual discourse. iv. 10); and that made him walk with such an equal mind in unequal conditions. Solomon saith, "A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength" (Prov. xxiv. 5); and he saith afterwards, "If thou faintest in affliction, thy strength is but small" (verse 10); that is, thou hast but little prudence or knowledge. There lieth the weakness of our spirits: children are scared with every trifle. Did we know what God is, and whereto his dealings tend, we should not faint. Well then, labour for a right discerning. To help you, consider, 1st, General knowledge will not serve the turn. The heathens had rò yvwσov, excellent notions concerning God in the general" (Rom. i. 19); but they were "vain in their imaginations" (verse 21), Ev Tois diaλoyiouous, in their practical inferences; when they were to bring down their knowledge to particular cases and experiences. They had a great deal of knowledge in general truths, but no prudence to apply them to particular exigencies and cases. Many can discourse well in the general, as Seneca, when he had the rich gardens,* could persuade to patience, but fainted when himself came to suffer. So Eliphaz chargeth it upon Job, that he was able to instruct and strengthen others, "But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled" (Job iv. 4, 5). Therefore it must not only be a knowledge, but a prudence to make application of general truths, that in particula rcases we may not be disturbed and discomposed. 2dly, Our knowledge must be drawn out in actual thoughts and spiritual discourse. This bringeth in seasonable succour and relief to the soul, and therein lieth our strength. Observe it, and you shall always find, that the Spirit worketh by seasonable thoughts. Christ had taught the apostles a great many comforts, and then he promiseth, "The Comforter shall come, kaì ávaμvýσɛ, and he shall bring all things to your remembrance which I shall say to you" (John xiv. 26). That is the proper office of the Comforter, to come in with powerful and seasonable thoughts, to the relief of the soul. The apostle ascribeth their fainting to "forgetting the consolation" (Heb. xii. 5). Nay, observe it generally throughout the word, our strength in duties or afflictions is made to lie in our distinct and actual thoughts. Would we mortify corruptions, it is done by a present acting of the thoughts, or by spiritual discourse. Therefore the apostle saith, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him " (Rom. vi. 6). So would we bear afflictions cheerfully, "Ye took it joyfully, knowing that you have a better and more enduring substance" (Heb. x. 34); "Knowing that tribulation worketh experience" (Rom. v. 3). And so in many other places of Scripture we find, that the Spirit helpeth us by awakening and stirring up proper thoughts and discourses in the mind. 3dly, Those thoughts which usually beget patience are such as these:-1. That evils do not come by chance, or the mere fury of instruments, but from God. So holy Job, "The arrows of the Almighty are within me" (Job vi. 4). Mark, "the arrows of the Almighty," though Satan had a great hand in them; as you may see Job ii. 7: God's arrows, though shot out of Satan's bow. And then, 2. That where we see any thing of God, we owe nothing but reverence and submission; for he is too strong to be resisted, too just to be questioned, and too good to be suspected. But more of this in the fifth chapter.

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*Senecæ prædivitis hortos. Juvenal.

II. From that [dokimov, the trial] The use and ordination of persecution to the people of God is trial. God maketh use of the worst instruments, as fine gold is cast into the fire, the most devouring element: innocency is best tried by iniquity.* But why doth God try us? Not for his own sake, for he is omniscient; but either, 1st, For our sakes, that we may know ourselves. In trials we discern the sincerity of grace, and the weakness and liveliness of it; and so are less strangers to our own hearts. Sincerity is discovered. A gilded potsherd may shine till it cometh to scouring. In trying times God heateth the furnace so hot that dross is quite wasted. Every interest is crossed, and then hirelings become changelings. Therefore, that we may know our sincerity, God useth severe ways of trial. Sometimes we discover our own weakness. We find that faith weak in danger, which we thought to be strong out of danger; as the blade in the stony ground was green, and made a fair show, till the height of summer. Peter thought his faith impregnable, till that sad trial in the high priest's hall (Mat. xxvi. 69). In pinching weather, weak persons feel the aches and bruises of their joints. Sometimes we discern the liveliness of grace. Stars shine in the night that lie hid in the day. It is said, "Here is the patience and faith of the saints" (Rev. xiii. 10); that is, the time when these graces are exercised, and discovered in their height and glory. Spices are most fragrant when burnt and bruised; so have saving graces their chiefest fragrancy in hard times. The pillar that conducted the Iraelites appeared as a cloud by day, but as a fire by night. The excellency of faith is beclouded, till it be put upon a thorough trial. Thus for ourselves, that we may know either the sincerity, or the weakness, or the liveliness, of the grace that is wrought in us. 2dly, Or for the world's sake; and so, 1. For the present to convince them by our constancy, that they may be confirmed in the faith, if weak and staggering; or converted, if altogether uncalled. It was a notable saying of Luther, Ecclesia totum mundum convertit sanguine et oratione, "The church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer." We are proved, and religion is proved, when we are called to sufferings. Paul's bonds made for the furtherance of the Gospel. Many of the brethren waxed confident in my bonds, and are much more bold to speak the word without fear" (Phil. i. 12, 13). In prosperous times religion is usually stained with the scandals of those that profess it, and then God bringeth on great trials to honour and clear the renown of it again to the world; and usually these prevail. Justin Martyr was converted by the constancy of the Christians (Niceph., lib. iii., cap. 26). Nay, he himself confesseth it. When he saw the Christians so willingly choose death, he reasoned thus within himself, Surely these men must be honest, and there is somewhat eminent in their principles. So I remember the author of the Council of Trent saith, concerning Anne du Burgh, a Senator of Paris, who was burnt for Protestantism, that the death and constancy of a man so conspicuous, did make many curious to know what religion that was for which he had courageously endured punishment; and so the number was much increased. 2. We are tried with a respect to the day of judgment. "That the trial of your faith may be found to praise and honour in the day of * Probatio innocentiæ nostræ est iniquitas vestra. Tertul. in Apol. Justin. Mart. in Apol. 2, circa finem. See Hist, of the Council of Trent, p. 418, 2d ed.

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Christ's appearing" (1 Pet. i. 7). God will justify faith before all the world; and the crown of patience is set upon a believer's head in that solemn day of Christ. You see the reasons why God trieth.

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Well then, it teacheth us to bear afflictions with constancy and patience: God trieth us by these things. For your comfort consider four things. 1st, God's aim in your afflictions is not destruction, but trial; as gold is put into the furnace to be fined, not consumed. Wicked men's misery is an evil, and an only evil (Ezek. vii. 5). In their cup there is no mixture, and their plagues are not to fan but to destroy. But to godly men miseries have another property and habitude. They shall fall to try, and to purge, and to make white" (Dan. xi. 35); that is, in times of many persecutions, as was that of Antiochus, the figure of Antichrist. 2dly, The time of trial is appointed. "They shall fall to try, and to purge, and to make white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for a time appointed" (Dan. xi. 35). You are not in the furnace by chance, or at the will of your enemies the time is appointed, set by God. 3dly, God sitteth by the furnace, prying and looking after his metal. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Mal. iii. 3). It notes his constant and assiduous care that the fire be not too hot, that nothing be spilt and lost. It is a notable expression that of Isaiah, "For my praise will I refrain; I have refined thee, but not as silver" (xlviii. 9, 10); that is, not so throughly. Silver or gold is kept in the fire till the dross be wholly wrought out of it. If we should be fined as silver, when should we come out of the furnace? Therefore God saith, he will choose us in the furnace, though much dross still remain. 4thly, Consider this trial is not only to approve, but to improve; we are tried as gold, refined when tried. So "That the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth" (1 Pet. i. 7); or more clearly, "When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job xxiii. 10). The drossy and scorious part or matter is severed, and the corruptions that cleave close to us are purged and eaten out.

III. From that [ Your faith] The chief grace which is tried in persecution is faith. So "That the trial of your faith being more precious," &c. (1 Pet. i. 7). Of all graces Satan hath a spite at faith, and of all graces God delighteth that the perfection of it should be discovered. Faith is tried, partly because it is the radical grace that keepeth in the life of a Christian. "The just shall live by faith" (Habak. ii. 4). We work by love, but live by faith. Partly, because this is the grace most exercised, sometimes in keeping the soul from using ill means and unlawful courses: "He that believeth, doth not make haste" (Isai. xxviii. 16), that is, to help himself before God will. It is believing that maketh the soul stand to its proof and trial. (6 By faith those that were tortured would not accept deliverance" (Heb. xi. 35); that is, which was offered to them upon ill terms, of refusing God and his service. Sometimes it is exercised in bringing the soul to live upon Gospel comforts, in the absence or want of worldly; and to make a Christian to fetch water out of the rock, when there is none in the fountain. Many occasions there are to exercise faith: partly because it is the grace most oppugned and assaulted. All other graces march under the conduct of faith; and therefore Satan's cunning is to fight, not against small or great, but to make the brunt and weight of his opposition to fall upon this grace.

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Nay, God himself seemeth an enemy, and it is faith's work to believe him near, when to sense he is gone and withdrawn. Well then, You that have faith, or pretend to it, must look for trials. not crowned till they are exercised. Never any yet went to heaven without combats and conflicts. Faith must be tried before it be "found to praise and honour." It is very notable, that wherever God bestoweth the assurance of his favour, there presently followeth some trial, " After ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions" (Heb. x. 32). Some are cast upon troubles for religion soon after their first conversion; as these, as soon as illuminated. When Christ himself had received a testimony from heaven, presently Satan tempteth him. "This is my beloved Son;" and presently he cometh, with an, "If thou be the Son of God." After solemn assurance, he would fain make you question your adoption. So, "It came

to pass that after these things God did tempt Abraham" (Gen. xxii. 1). What things were those? Solemn intercourses between him and God, and express assurance from heaven, that the Lord would be his God, and the God of his seed. When the castle is victualled, then look for a siege.

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You that are under trials, look to your faith. Christ knew what was most likely to be assailed, and therefore telleth Peter, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke xxii. 32). When faith faileth, we faint; therefore we should make it our chief work to maintain faith. Chiefly look after two things: 1st, Hold fast your assurance in the midst of the saddest trials in the furnace call God father. "I will bring them through the fire, and they shall be refined as silver and gold is tried; and they shall say, the Lord is my God" (Zech. xiii. ult.). Let not any hard dealing make you mistake your Father's affection. One special point of faith, under the cross, is the faith of our adoption: "The exhortation speaketh to you as children: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord" (Heb. xii. 5). It is the apostle's own note, that the afflicted are styled by the name of sons. Christ had a bitter cup; but, saith he, my Father hath put it into my hands: "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink of it?" (John xviii. 11.) It is a bitter cup, but he is still my Father. 2dly, The next work of faith is, to keep your hopes fresh and lively. Believers always counter-balance the temptation with their hopes. There is no grief or loss so great, but faith knoweth how to despise it in the hope of reward: therefore the apostle describeth faith to be, ὑπόςασις των ἐλπιζομένων, “the substance of things hoped for" (Heb. xi. 1); because it giveth a reality and present being to things absent and to come, opposing hope to the temptation, and making the thing hoped for as really to exist in the heart of the believer, as if it were already enjoyed. Well then, let faith put your hopes in one balance, when the Devil hath put the world, with the terrors and profits of it, in the other, and say, as Paul, Aoyisopai, “I reckon (or compute) that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. viii. 18). All this is nothing to our hopes: what is this to glory to come?

IV. From that [karépyalɛrαı, worketh or perfecteth,] Many trials cause patience; that is, by the blessing of God upon them. Habits are strengthened by frequent acts. The more you act grace the stronger, and often trials put us upon frequent exercise. The apostle saith, " Chastening yieldeth the

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quiet fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby” (Heb. xii. 11. The fruit of patience is not found after one affliction or two, but after we are exercised and acquainted with them. The yoke, after a while, beginneth to be well settled, and by much bearing, we learn to bear with quietness; for use perfecteth, as we see those parts of the body are most solid that are most in action,* and trees often shaken are deeply rooted. Well then, 1st, It showeth how careful you should be to exercise yourselves under every cross. By that means you come to get habits of grace and patience. Neglect causeth decay; and God withdraweth his hand from such as are idle. In spirituals, as well as temporals, "diligence maketh rich" (Prov. x. 5). 2dly, It showeth, that, if we murmur, or miscarry in any providence, the fault is in our own hearts, not in our condition. Many blame Providence, and say they cannot do otherwise, their troubles are so great and sharp. Oh consider, trials, yea many trials, where sanctified, work patience; that which you think would cause you to murmur, is a means to make you patient. The reason is in the unmortifiedness of your affections, not in the misery of your condition. By the apostle's rule, the greater the trial, the greater the patience; for the trial worketh patience. There is no condition in the world, but giveth occasion for the exercise of grace.

V. From that [Patience,] The apostle comforteth them with this argument, that they should gain patience; as if that would make amends for all the smart of their sufferings. The note is, that it is an excellent exchange to part with outward comforts for inward graces. Fiery trials are nothing, if you gain patience: sickness with patience, is better than health; loss with patience, is better than gain. If earthly affections were more mortified, we should value inward enjoyments, and experiences of God, more than we do. Paul saith, "I will glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Cor. xii. 9): misery and calamities should be welcome, because they give him further experiences of Christ. Certainly, nothing maketh afflictions burthensome to us, but our own carnal affections.

VI. From the same, we may observe more particularly, that patience is a grace of an excellent use and value. We cannot be Christians without it; we cannot be men without it. Not Christians; for it is not only the ornament, but the conservatory of other graces. How else should we persist in well-doing, when we meet with grievous crosses? Therefore the apostle Peter biddeth us to "add to faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, temperance; to temperance, patience" (2 Pet. i. 5, 6); where are all the requisites of true godliness. It is grounded in faith, directed by knowledge; defended on the right hand by temperance, against the allurements of the world; on the left, by patience, against the hardships of the world. You see we cannot be Christians without it: so also not men. Christ saith," In patience possess your souls" (Luke xxi. 19). A man is a man, and doth enjoy himself, and his life, by patience: otherwise, we shall but create needless troubles and disquiets to ourselves, and so be, as it were, dispossessed of our own lives and souls; that is, lose the comfort and the quiet of them.

*Ferendo discimus perferre: solidissima pars est corporis, quam frequens usus agitavit. Seneca.