or to the motive of the Text to follow that which is Good from the Security it will bring us. And yet after all, 3. Good Men have not suffer'd more under Perfecution, than their Enemies have done under the juft Judgment of God; which is a Confideration the rather to be mention'd, because St. Peter very warmly profecuteth it in the next Chapter of this Epiftle, where after he had required them to rejoyce in the Happiness of Suffering for the Name of Chrift, he tells them plainly, Verfes 17, 18. For the Time is come, fays he, that Judgment must begin ot the Houfe of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the End be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the Righte ous Scarcely be faved, where fhall the Un godly and the Sinner appear? In which Words St. Peter doth not mean Eternal but Temporal Salvation: And what he fore-told did accordingly come to pafs; for as for the Jews, who were the firft Enemies of the Christian Church, let any Man compare the Sufferings of the Chriftian Church under them with the dreadful Deftruction of Jerufalem, when the Chriftians were all efcaped out of it, and he fhall confefs that St. Peter was a Prophet: And after the Difperfion of the Jews, let any Man vers'd H h 3 ཐོ in 1 in the Writings of thofe Times, whether of Heathens or Chriftians, compare the Sufferings of the Chriftians under the Empire with thofe Calamities that wasted the Heathens, the Plagues, the Famines, the Irruptions of barbarous Nations, the intestine Broils and Wars, which did not touch the Christians in comparison to what their Enemies endured, and he fhall confefs that St. Peter's Prophecy was fulfill'd in thofe Times alfo; farther I fhall not go. But the Condition of this World, I may fay, hath always afforded Ground enough for that Rule of St. Peter in this Chapter, Verfe 17, It is better if the Will of God be fo, that je fuffer for Well-doing, than for Evil-doing. Since to fpeak the truth, it has not been fo much the greatnefs of the Sufferings of Righte ous Men, that has made them more confpicuous and remarkable in the Eyes of Men, than the Sufferings of their Enemies have been, but the Excellency of the Caufe for which, and the Excellency of the Spirit with which they fuffer'd. And this fhall fuffice for the Second Argument to prove, That where the Virtue and Piety of Good Men do not take a way the Will from others to hurt them, it yet doth in a great meafure take away from them the Power, and that by putting them them under the efpecial Providence of God, as well as the Protection of the Civil Government; and under this Head I was to anfwer the Objection that arifeth from the Cafe of Perfecution, which would fo naturally fpring in any Man's Mind, that if I had not confider'd it, I had done my Work but by the halves: And I am fure if this Difficulty be removed, it remains true, that Good Men are reasonably fecure by Humane Government, and by Providence from being harm'd by other Men, even when their Innocence and Virtue doth not take away the Will to hurt them, because it deprives them of the Power fo to do, more than any other Advantages whatsoever, The 3d Argument was, from The Incapacity of ill Men to harm the Righteous in their beft and greatest Interefts, because they cannot fpoil them of a good Mind, and a good Confcience, and of the Favour of God, and of the Hope and Expectation of Eternal Life ; for which reafon our Saviour bids us not to fear them that can kill the Body, and can then go no farther, but to fear him that can deftroy Body and Soul in Hell: That is, to be afraid of offending him, and lofing his Favour, who alone can difpofe of our Everlafting State, the Bleffedness Hh 4 where Σ whereof doth infinitely Outweigh all the tranfitory Pleasures of this World; and if we Believe and Live accordingly, they will also be Outweigh'd thereby in our Efteem and Affection; and then who can harm us if we' be followers of that which is good? Who, unless he could exclude us from the Comforts of Religion, and from the Kingdom of Heaven? To deal truly, I cannot pofitively say, that St. Peter meant this kind of Security from Harm in the Words of the Text; for there is fo much Reason, as appears from what I have faid in thefe Difcourfes, for a Man to promise himself Security from outward Harm, if he will follow that which is good, that if the Text be reftrained to That, it will be made good by that Interpretation : But the Words themselves will bear a farther Meaning, and a Meaning too which is most certainly a Truth, That no Man can harm a righteous Perfon without his own Confent in Things that are of greatest Concern to him, viz. of a Spiritual and Everlasting Concernment; And this Meaning they will bear the better, becaufe although the Virtues of a good Man's Mind, and the Expectation of Future Bleffedness, are not the Happinefs of this World, yet they give a Man the greatest Satisfaction, and make + him |