ham's heart, here lay his temptation. And so, it may be, my heart is upon my house, or upon my land, or upon my trade; and I cannot part with this: I can part with any thing else, but when it comes to this I am ready to say, The good Lord pardon me in this. Many say, I will not adventure to suffer any further for the name of Christ, than I can secure my trade, or my land, or relations; but when it comes to this, I cannot part with these; I must have my trade, &c. Here is a but comes in. Ananias and Sapphira they parted with a great deal, but it came to little, because they had a reserve. And so if we have our reserves with the Lord, our sufferings will come to little. So that observe that you give that up first to God that your hearts are most upon; for nothing is done in suffering till that be done.

If you would so order and manage your sufferings as they may turn to a good account, then let the load, and let the weight and the burden of all your sufferings be drawn upon the wheels of faith and love; those two wheels, of faith towards God and love towards man. Saith the apostle, "By faith Moses chose rather to suffer afflictions with the people. of God." How so? Why, "by faith he saw him that is invisible" and so trampled upon visible things. And by faith he had an eye to the recompence of reward; and so overlooked these things. And by faith he saw "greater wealth in the reproach of Christ than in all the treasures of Egypt." And so the three children, they suffered by faith, and it turned to a good account.

And as for love, you know what the apostle saith, "If I give my body to be burned, and want love, it profiteth me nothing." So, then, as ever you desire your sufferings may turn to a good account, let your faith towards God and your love towards man be exercised. And let these be the two great wheels that all your sufferings shall be drawn upon.

If you would order your sufferings so as they may turn to a good account, then labour to be serviceable in and by your sufferings. If ever God call you to a prison, labour to be as serviceable in and by your suffering as ever you can. Peter was in prison; What came of it? was there any converted? No. Why so? Peter slept. Aye but Paul and Silas they sang in the stocks, and they preached in the prison, and there is the jailor converted. They were serviceable in and by

their sufferings and it turned to a good account. And therefore if you would desire that your sufferings may turn to a good account, labour to be serviceable in and by your sufferings as God calls you into.

When you have done all and suffered all, then say and think in truth, that you are unprofitable servants, and let your eye be wholly to the sufferings of Christ. Offer your own sufferings upon the sufferings of Christ in reference to your acceptance. For though you may have an eye to the recompence of reward to encourage you to suffer, yet you are wholly to look to the sufferings of Christ in reference to your acceptance. And therefore when you have done all, think and say you are unprofitable. Two men went up to pray, and the one he was a pharisee, and the other a publican. The pharisee he comes and praises God he was not as the publican: I thank God I am not as this publican; I fast and pray, and I am not as this publican. Well, there comes the publican, and he smites himself upon the breast, and says, I am a poor sinner; oh, the Lord be merciful unto me a poor sinner. So, say I, two men go up to suffer, and there is one stands and vaunts, and saith, I thank the Lord I am not so cowardly and dastardly as these poor spirited men that dare do nothing; my flesh shall fry in the fire. But the other stands at a distance, and saith, Oh, I am a poor creature; I am afraid to suffer, and I am afraid I shall betray the cause of Christ. Now, I tell you, this poor trembling soul that is last shall be first, and he goes away rather justified.

If you would so order and manage your sufferings as they may turn to a good account, praise God over your suffering, and pray to God under your suffering. I put these two together-praise and pray. This is a certain thing, those sufferings shall turn to a good account that Christ blesses. How shall I know whether Christ will bless my sufferings? Why if I can bless God over my sufferings, God will bless my sufferings to me. And then, are you called at any time to suffer? go away rejoicing that you are counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.

Yet, notwithstanding, not only bless and praise God over your sufferings, but pray unto God under your sufferings. And what should you pray for? Pray unto the Lord that he would turn your sufferings unto a good account. There is an

old promise wrapt up in the apostle's prayer: "The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you," 1 Peter v. 10. So, then, have you suffered a while? you may go, then, to God, as to the God of all grace, and say, Lord, through thy providence I have now suffered a while; thou art the God of all grace, make me perfect, confirm me, stablish, strengthen and comfort me, and let all these sufferings turn to a good account. Thus praise God under your sufferings, and pray over your sufferings, and so shall you manage and order all your sufferings as that they shall turn to a good account.

"

SERMON III.

THE WAY TO OBTAIN A SURE AND GREAT REWARD.

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”Matt. xix. 28.

In this scripture we have our Saviour's answer unto Peter's question propounded at verse 27, "Behold, Lord, (saith Peter,) we have forsaken all, and followed thee: what shall we have therefore?" Our Saviour answers in the following verses, and his answer is partly comfortable and partly cautional. The cautional part I have spoken to among some of you, from verse 30, "But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." The comfortable part I spake unto the last Lord's day in another meeting. And being now desired to speak the same things unto you, considering that they are of present and universal concernment. I shall do it as briefly and plainly as I can.

The comfortable part of Christ's answer, you have in ver. 28, 29, wherein our Saviour Christ doth shew what great

reward those shall have that do suffer, or leave any worldly interest for him, and for his name sake. Which reward doth either relate unto the apostles or unto others.

It relateth unto the apostles in verse 28, "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration," that is, in the preaching of the gospel. Preaching of the gospel is a regenerating work. The preaching of the law is convincing work; the preaching of the gospel is regenerating work. "Ye which have followed me in the regeneration," in the great work of preaching the gospel, the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." That is their reward, peculiar and proper unto them.

"when

The reward which is more large, extending unto all, verse 29, and "every one," not every one of you shall be rewarded that are mine apostles; but, "every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my name sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life." From whence then I took up this observation; and you may observe from the whole thus much:

That whosoever shall leave any worldly interest for Christ, and for his name sake, shall be sure to be well rewarded.

He shall be well rewarded, for he shall have an hundredfold in this life, and everlasting life in the world to come. And he shall be sure to be well rewarded, for he hath put a verily upon it: "Verily I say unto you: and every one that hath forsaken houses," &c. So then the doctrine is clear, That whosoever shall leave or forsake any worldly interest for Christ, and for his name sake, shall be sure to be well rewarded.

For the clearing of this, First, We must inquire what it is to leave any worldly interest for Christ, and for his name sake.

Secondly, What the reward is that such shall have that do so, and wherein it consists. And,

Thirdly, What assurance we may have of such a reward. And first of all, If you do inquire what it is to leave anything for Christ, forsake any worldly interest for Christ?

I answer, That a man may leave and forsake a worldly interest for Christ two ways:

Either by his own will, or the wills of others.

We do leave and forsake a worldly interest by our own wills, when we do voluntarily and freely deprive ourselves of our commodity or satisfaction for Christ; as the apostles left their ships and nets to follow Christ.

We do leave or forsake a worldly interest by the wills of others, when through their oppression or persecution, we are deprived of our own commodity and satisfaction for Christ: and that is called suffering.

Our Saviour Christ here hath respect to both, and in both these respects it is true, That whosoever doth leave any worldly interest for Christ, and his name sake, shall be sure to be well rewarded.

But then still to clear it:

What is it to leave any worldly interest for the name of Christ?

The name of Christ is that whereby Christ is made known unto us; as the name of a man, is that whereby a man is made known unto us. A man is make known unto us by his name; so Christ is made known unto us by his name. That whereby Christ is made known unto us, that is his name.

Now Christ is made known unto us by his Spirit and by the gospel.

By his Spirit he is made known unto us. For as God the Father is made known unto us by Christ his Son, so Christ is made known unto us by the Spirit: "He shall take of mine and shew it unto you," saith Christ. And upon this account therefore, when a man doth suffer any thing for the Spirit, or for any working of the Holy Ghost upon his heart or soul, then he is said to suffer for the name of Christ. And upon this score it was that John the Baptist was accounted a martyr of Christ, and enrolled among the martyrs of Christ. John the Baptist, if you look into the story, did not suffer for any gospel truth: John the Baptist suffered for this, that he reprehended Herod's adulterous courses: true, but the Spirit of Christ put him upon it; and therefore being stirred up thereunto by the Spirit of Christ, he is said to suffer upon the account of Christ. So that, I say, the Spirit of Christ is that whereby Christ is made known unto us; and when a man doth therefore suffer for any work of the