lowing verse, and the hope of that reward he hath promised; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ, Col. iii, 24. No less than the inheritance! So then such servants as these are sons and heirs of God, coheirs with Christ. Thus he that is a servant may be in a far more excellent state than his master. The servant may hope for and aim at a kingdom, while the master is embracing a dunghill. And such a one will think highly of God's free grace, and the looking ever to that inheritance makes him go cheerfully through all pains and troubles here, as light and momentary, and not worth the naming in comparison of that glory that shall be revealed. In the mean time, the best and most easy condition of the sons of God cannot satisfy them, nor stay their sighs and groans, waiting and longing for the day of their full redemption.

Now this is the great rule, not only for servants, but for all the servants of God in what estate soever, to set the Lord always before them, and to study with St. Paul, to have a conscience void of offence towards God and man; to apply constantly to their actions and their inward thoughts, the command of God; to walk by that rule abroad, and at home in their houses, and in the several ways of their calling; and for the conscience they have towards God, to do and suffer his will cheerfully in every thing, being content that he should choose their condition and their trials for them; only desirous to be assured, that he hath chosen them for his own, and given them a right to the glorious liberty of the sons of God; still endeavouring to walk in that way which leads to it, overlooking this moment and all things in it, accounting it a very indifferent matter what is their outward state here, provided they may be happy in eternity. Whether we be high or low here, bond or free, it imports little, seeing that all these differences will be so quickly at an end, and there shall not be so much as any track or footstep of them left. With particular men, it is so in their graves; you may distinguish the greater from the less by their tombs, but by their dust you cannot: and with the whole world it shall be so in the end. All monuments and palaces, as well as cottages, shall be made fire. The elements shall

melt with fervent heat, and the earth, and all the works therein, shall be burnt up.

Ver. 21. For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps;

22. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth;

23. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

THE rules that God hath set men to live by are universally just, and there is universal obligation upon all men to obey them; but as they are particularly addressed to his own people they are particularly bound to yield obedience, and have many peculiar persuasives to it, not extending to others, which are therefore usually represented to them and pressed upon them in the holy scriptures. Thus the preface of the law runs to Israel; besides that I am Jehovah, and have supreme power to give men laws, it is added, I am thy God, especially thy deliverer from slavery and bondage, and so have a peculiar right to thy obedience. Thus the apostle here urgeth this point in hand, of inoffensiveness and patience, particularly in Christian servants, but so as it fits every Christian in his station, For even hereunto, says he, were ye called. Whatsoever others do, though they think it 100 straight a rule, yet you are tied to it by your own calling and profession as Christians. And this is evidently the highest and clearest reason that can be, and of greatest power with a Christian, namely, the example of Jesus Christ himself; Because Christ also suffered for us, &c. So it is all but one entire argument, namely, that they ought thus to behave themselves, because it is the very thing they are called to, as their conformity to Jesus Christ, whose they profess to be, yea, with whom, as Christians, they profess themselves to be one.

Hereunto were ye called. This is a thing that ought

to be ever before our eyes, to consider the nature and end of our calling and to endeavour to act suitably to it; to think in every occurrence, What doth the calling of a Christian require of me in this? But the truth is, most of us do not mind this. You that are profane, were you called by the gospel to serve the world and your lusts? Were you called to swearing, and rioting, and voluptuousness? Hear you not the apostle testifying the contrary, in express terms, that God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness? You that are of proud contentious spirits, do you act suitably to this holy calling? No, for we are called to peace, says the same apostle.

The particular things that Christians are here said to be called to are, suffering, as their lot, and patience, as their duty, even under the most unjust and undeserved sufferings. And both these are as large as the sphere of this calling. Not only servants and others of a mean condition, who, lying low, are the more subject to rigors and injuries, but generally, all who are called to godliness are likewise called to sufferings; 2 Tim. iii, 12. All that will follow Christ must do it in his livery; they must take up their cross. This is a very harsh and unpleasing article of the gospel to a carnal mind, but the scriptures conceal it not. Men are not led blindfold into sufferings, and drawn into a hidden snare by the gospel's invitations: they are told it very often, that they may not pretend a surprisal, nor have any just plea for starting back again. So our Saviour tells his disciples, why he was so express and plain with them in this, These things have I told you, that ye be not offended: as if he had said, I have showed you the ruggedness of your way, that you may not stumble at it, taking it to be a smooth plain one. But then where this is spoken of, it is usually allayed with the mention of those comforts that accompany these sufferings, or of that glory which follows them. The doctrine of the apostles, which was so verified in their own persons, was this, that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God; an unpleasant way indeed, if you look no further, but a kingdom at the end of it, and that the kingdom of God, will transfuse plea

sure into the most painful step in it all. It seems a sad condition that falls to the share of godly men in this world, to be eminent in sorrows and troubles; Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but that which follows weighs them abundantly down in consolation, that the Lord himself is engaged in their afflictions, both for their deliverance out of them in due time, and, in the mean time, for their support and preservation under them: The Lord delivers them out of them all, and, till he does that, he keepeth all their bones. Thus, John xvi, 33, the disciples are forewarned what to expect at the world's hands, as they were divers times before in that same sermon; but it is a sweet testament, take it altogether; In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace. And seeing he hath jointly bequeathed these two to his followers, were it not great folly to renounce such a bargain, and to let go that peace for fear of this trouble? The trouble is but in the world, but the peace is in him, who weighs down thousands of worlds.

So then they do exceedingly mistake and misreckon, who would reconcile Christ and the world, who would have the church of Christ, or at least themselves, enjoy both kinds of peace together; would willingly have peace in Christ, but are very loath to part with the world's peace. They would be Christians, but they are very ill satisfied when they hear of any thing but ease and prosperity in that estate, and willingly forget the tenor of the gospel in this; and so, when times of trouble and sufferings come, their minds are as new and uncouth to it, as if they had not been told of it before-hand.

But God's thoughts are not as ours: those whom he calls to a kingdom, he calls to sufferings as the way to it. He will have the heirs of heaven know, that they are not at home on earth, and that this is not their rest. He will not have them with the deceived world, fancy a happiness here, and, seek a happy life in the region of death. The reproaches and wrongs that encounter them, shall elevate their minds often to that land of peace and rest where righteousness dwells. The hard taskmasters shall make them weary

of Egypt, which otherwise possibly they would comply too well with; shall dispose them for deliverance and make it welcome, which, it may be, they might but coldly desire, if they were better used.

He knows what he does, who secretly serves his own good purposes by men's evil ones; and by the plowers that make long furrows on the back of his church, he makes it a fruitful field to himself. Therefore it is great folly and unadvisedness, to take up a prejudice against his way, to think it might be better as we would model it, and to complain of the order of things; whereas we should complain of disordered minds; but we had rather have all altered and changed for us, the very course of Providence, than seek the change of our own perverse hearts. But the right temper of a Christian is, to be willingly carried along with the stream of divine providence, and not at all to stir a hand, no, nor a thought, to row against that mighty current and not only is he carried with it upon necessity, because there is no steering against it, but cheerfully and voluntarily; not because he must, but because he would.

And this is the other thing to which Christians are jointly called; as to suffering, so to calmness of mind and patience in suffering, although their suffering be most unjust; yea, this is truly a part of that duty they are called to, to maintain that integrity and inoffensiveness of life that may make their sufferings at men's hands, always unjust. The entire duty here is innocence and patience; doing willingly no wrong to others, and yet cheerfully suffering wrong when done to themselves. If either of the two be wanting, their suffering does not credit their profession, but dishonors it. If they be patient under deserved suffering, their guiltiness darkens their patience; and if their sufferings be undeserved, yea, and the cause of them honorable, yet impatience under them stains both their sufferings and their cause, and seems in part to justify the very injustice that is used against them: but when innocence and patience meet together in suffering, there sufferings are in their perfect lustre. These are they who honor religion and shame the enemies of it. It was the concurrence of these