Gold is a metal so invincible and unconquerable, that no fire can
consume it: it may burn it indeed, and melt it; the dross indeed
doth consume and give way to the power of the fire, but the gold
remains and holds its ground, yea, it gets ground even of the
furnace and fire itself; for the more it is burned and melted, the
more it recovers its color, and the more it shakes off its dross and
dishonor.
Just thus it is with the people of God, and hath been so even from
the beginning: the more men oppressed them, the more they grew. His
church has been now for many hundred years in the king of Babylon's
furnace; all which time she hath most gloriously endured and
withstood the heat; and at last, when the fire hath done its worst
against her, behold, there comes out a city of gold. Wherefore, let
her be bold to say, even before she comes out of the fire, "When I
am tried, I shall come forth as gold."
So long as the church endured hardship and affliction, she was
greatly preserved from revolts and backslidings; but after she had
turned her face from the sun, and had found the plain of Shinar,
Genesis 11, that is, the fleshly delights that the pleasures and
profits and honors of this world afford, she, forgetting the word
and order of God, was content to dwell in the land of Babel.
As the sins of God's people brought them into captivity, so their
sins can hold them there; yea, and when the time comes that grace
must fetch them out, yet the oxen that draw this cart may stumble,
and the way, through roughness, may shake it sorely. However, heaven
rules and overrules: and by one means and another, as the captivity
of Israel did seem to linger, so it came out at the time appointed,
in the way that best pleased God, that most profited them, and that
most confounded those that were their implacable enemies. This
therefore should instruct those that yet dwell where the "woman"
sitteth, to quietness and patience.
To quietness; for God rules and has the disposal of things. Besides,
it is a kind of arraigning of his wisdom, to be discontent at that
which at present is upon the wheel. Above all, it displeases him
that any should seek, or go about to revenge their own injuries, or
to work their own deliverances; for that is the work of God: nor is
he weak, nor has he missed the opportunity; nor does he sleep, but
waketh, and waiteth to be gracious.
This also should teach them to be patient, and put them upon bearing
what at present they may undergo, patiently Let them wait upon God;
patiently let them wait upon men, and patiently let them bear the
fruits of their own transgressions; which though they should be none
other but a deferring of the mercy wished for, is enough to try, and
crack, and break their patience, if a continual supply and a daily
increase thereof be not given by the God of heaven.
And before I conclude this, let me add one word more, to wit, to
exhort them to look that they may see what God at present may be
doing among the Babylonians.
When God had his people into Babylon of old, he presented them with
such varieties there as he never showed them in their own country.
And is there nothing now to be seen by them that are not yet
delivered from that oppression, that may give them occasion to stay
themselves and wonder? What, is preservation nothing? What, is
baffling and befooling the enemies of God's church nothing? In the
Maryan [Footnote: Upon the accession of Mary to the throne of
England, the sanguinary laws against heretics were revived, and
those shocking scenes of cruelty followed which have fixed upon this
princess the epithet of Bloody Queen Mary. Her gloomy bigotry caused
that two hundred and seventy-seven persons should be committed to
the flames, including prelates, private clergymen, laymen of all
ranks, women, and even children.
Among the number were archbishop Cranmer, bishops Ridley. Latimer,
and Hooper, John Rogers, John Bradford, and John Philpot.
Bishops Latimer and Ridley were burnt together. When they came to
the stake, Dr. Ridley embraced Latimer fervently, and bade him be of
good heart; he then knelt by the stake, and after earnestly praying
together, they had a short private conversation. A lighted fagot was
laid at Dr. Ridley's feet, which caused the other to say, "Be of
good cheer, Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day, by God's
grace, light up such a candle in England, as I trust will never be
put out." When Dr. Ridley saw the flame approaching him, he
exclaimed, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Latimer
ceased not to say, "O Father of heaven, receive my soul."
Sanders, another martyr, was offered a pardon; but he rejected it,
and embraced the stake, saying, "Welcome the cross of Christ!
welcome, everlasting life!" Fox's Book of Martyrs and Hume's Hist.
Eng] days here at home, there were such sweet songs sung in the
fire, such sweet notes answering them from prison, and such
providences, like coals of burning fire, still dropping here and
there upon the heads of those that hated God, that it might, and
douhtless did, make those that did wisely consider of God's doings,
think God was yet near in behalf of his despised and afflicted
people.
Deep things are seen by them that are upon the waters. "They that go
down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these
see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep." Indeed it
oft falls out that the church sees more of God in affliction, than
when she is at rest and ease; when she is tumbled to and fro with
waters, then she sees the works of God and his wonders in the deep.
And this makes persecution so pleasant a thing; this makes "the ark
go upon the face of the waters." She sees more in this her state,
than in all the treasures of Egypt.
Nothing is more natural to the church, while in a wilderness
condition, than such cups and draughts as the cup of the Lord's
fury, the cup of trembling, the cup of astonishment.
Hence she is said to be clothed in sackcloth, to mourn, to weep, to
cry out, and to be in pain as a woman in travail. Since the church
in the wilderness has been so persecuted, so distressed, so
oppressed, and made the seat of so much war, so much blood, and so
many murders of her children within her, can it be imagined that she
drank of more of these cups? Yes, yes, she has drunk the red wine at
the Lord's hand, even the cup of blood, of fury, of trembling, and
of astonishment; witness her own cries, sighs, tears, and
tremblings, with the cries of the widows, children, and orphans
within her.
But all these cups are of pure gold. They are of God's ordaining,
appointing, filling; and also sanctified by him for good to those of
his that drink them. Hence Moses chose rather to drink a brimmer of
these, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
The sourness, bitterness, and wormwood of them, therefore, is only
to the flesh, that loveth neither God, nor Christ, nor grace. The
afflictions, therefore, that the church in the wilderness hath met
with, these cups of gold, are of more worth than are all the
treasures of Egypt; they are needful and profitable, and
praiseworthy also, and tend to the augmenting of our glory when the
next world shall come.
Besides, they are signs, tokens, and golden-marks of love, and
jewels that set off the beauty of the church in the sight of God the
more. They are also a means by which men are proved to be sound,
honest, faithful, and true lovers of God; to be those whose graces
are not counterfeit, feigned, or unsound, but true, and such as will
be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ.
And this has been the cause that the men of our church in the
wilderness have gloried in tribulation, taking pleasure in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for
Christ's sake. Yea, this is the reason why they have bade one
another rejoice, when they fell into divers temptations, saying,
"Happy is the man that endureth temptations;" and, "Behold, we count
them happy that endure." And again, "If ye be reproached for the
name of Christ, happy are ye."
These, therefore, are vessels of pure gold, though they contain such
bitter draughts, at which we make so many wry faces before we can
get them down.
Do you think that a Christian, having even this cup in his hand to
drink, would change it for a draught of that which is in the hand of
the woman that sits on the back of the scarlet-colored beast? No,
verily; for he knows that her sweet is poison; and that his bitter
is to purge his soul, body, life, and religion, of death.
God sends his love-tokens to his church two ways; sometimes by her
friends, sometimes by her enemies. When they come by the hand of a
friend, as by a minister, a brother, or by the Holy Ghost, then they
come smoothly, sweetly, and are taken, and go down like honey. But
when these love-tokens come to them by the hand of an enemy, then
they are handed to them roughly. Pharaoh handed love-tokens to them
roughly; the king of Babylon handed these love-tokens to them
roughly. They bring them of malice; God sends them of love. They
bring them and give them to us, hoping they will be our death; they
give them therefore with many a foul curse; but God blesses them
still.
Nor is this cup so bitter but that our Lord himself drank deep of
it, before it was handed to his church. He did, as loving mothers
do, drink thereof himself, to show us it is not poison, also to
encourage us to drink it for his sake, and for our endless health.
Therefore the cup is called Christ's cup: "Are ye able to drink of
the cup that I drink of? Ye shall indeed drink of my cup." Here you
see they are joined in a communion in this cup of affliction.
But these are not all the cups that belong to the church in the
wilderness. There is also a cup, out of which, at times, is drunk
what is exceeding sweet. It is called the cup of consolation, the
cup of salvation; a cup in which God himself is, as David said, "The
Lord is the portion of my cup."
This cup, they that are in the church in the wilderness have usually
for an after-draught to that bitter one that went before. Thus, as
tender mothers give their children plums or sugar to sweeten their
palate after they have drunk a bitter potion, so God gives his
children the cups of salvation and consolation after they have
suffered awhile: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so
our consolation aboundeth by Christ."
Some of these cups are filled until they run over; as David said his
did, when the valley of the shadow of death was before him: "Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."
This is that which the apostle calls "exceeding"--that which is
beyond measure. "I am," says he, "filled with comfort; I am
exceeding joyful in all our tribulation."
Now he has one answering the other: "Thou hast made summer and
winter; thou hast made the warm beams of thy sun answerable to the
cold of the dark night." This may yet be signified by the building
of this house, this type of the church in the wilderness, in so
pleasant a place as the forest of Lebanon was. Lebanon! Lebanon was
one of the sweetest places in all the land of Canaan. Therefore we
read of the fruit of Lebanon, of the streams from Lebanon; the
scent, the smell, the glory of Lebanon; and also of the wine and
flowers of Lebanon.
Lebanon! That was one thing that wrought with Moses to desire that
he might go over Jordan, that he might see that goodly mountain, and
Lebanon. The glory and excellent beauty of the church Christ also
setteth forth by comparing her to Lebanon: "Thy lips, O my spouse,
drop as a honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the
smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon."
I know there are extravagant opinions in the world about the kingdom
of Christ, as if it consisted in temporal glory in part; and as if
he would take it to him by carnal weapons, and so maintain it in its
greatness and grandeur. But I confess myself an alien to these
notions, and believe and profess quite the contrary, and look for
the coming of Christ to judgment personally; and betwixt this and
that, for his coming in Spirit and in the power of his word; to
destroy antichrist, to inform kings, and so to give quietness to his
church on earth: which shall assuredly be accomplished when the
reign of the beast, the false prophet, and the man of sin is out.
Let this teach men not to think that the church is cursed of God,
because she is put in a wilderness state. Alas, that is but to train
her up in a way of solitariness, to make her Canaan the more welcome
to her. Rest is sweet to a laboring man.
Yea, this condition is the first step to heaven; yea, it is a
preparation to that kingdom. God's ways are not as man's: "I have
chosen thee," saith he, "in the furnace of affliction." When Israel
came out of Egypt, they were led of God into the wilderness. But
why? That he might have them to a land that he had espied for them,
that he might bring them to a city of habitation.
The world know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of our God.
Do you think that saints that dwell in the world, and that have more
of the mind of God than the world, could so rejoice in God, in the
cross, in tribulations and distresses, were they not assured that
through many tribulations is the very road to heaven?
Let this then encourage the saints to hope, and to rejoice in hope
of the glory of God, notwithstanding present tribulations. This is
our seed-time, our winter: afflictions are to try us of what mettle
we are made; yea, and to shake off worm-eaten fruit, and such as are
rotten a core.
Troubles for Christ's sake are but like the prick of an awl in the
tip of the ear, in order to hang a jewel there.
Let this also put the saints upon patience. When we know that a
trial will have an end, we are encouraged to exercise patience. I
have a bad master, but I have only a year to serve under him, and
that makes me serve him with patience. I have but a mile to go in
this dirty way, and then I shall have my path pleasant and green,
and this makes me tread the dirty way with patience.
I am now in my rags; but by that a quarter of a year is come and
gone, two hundred [Footnote: That is, pounds: a large income in the
England Bunyan's day.] a year comes into my hand; wherefore I will
wait and exercise patience. Thus might I multiply comparisons.
Be patient, then, my brethren. But how long? "To the coming of the
Lord." But when will that be? "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh."
How unseen the strength of the church under persecution is of all
that are without her. Alas, they think that she will be run down
with a push; or, as they said, "What do these feeble Jews? Will they
fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a
day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which
are burnt? Alas, if a fox go up, he will even break down their stone
wall."
But do you think these men saw the strength of the Jews? No, no;
their pillars were within, and so were shadowed from their eyes.
David himself could not tell what judgment to make of the way of the
world against the people of God, until he went into the sanctuary of
God.
How then can the world judge of the condition of the saints? Alas,
had they known the church's strength, surely they would not have so
furiously assaulted her. But what have they got by all they have
done, either, against the Head or body of the church?
She has yet being in the world, and will have, shall have, though
all the nations on earth should gather themselves together against
her. Nor is it the cutting off of many that will make her cease to
flourish. Alas, were she not sometimes pruned and trimmed, her
boughs would stand too thick. Those therefore that are taken away
with God's pruning-hooks, are removed that the under branches may
grow the better.
No man needs be afraid to let Jesus Christ be chief in the world: he
envies nobody; he designs the hurt of none: his kingdom is not of
this world, nor doth he covet temporal matters: let but his wife,
his church, alone, to enjoy her purchased privileges, and all shall
be well; which privileges of hers, since they are soul-concerns,
make no infringement upon any man's liberties. Let but faith and
holiness walk the streets without control, and you may be as happy
as the world can make you. I speak now to them that contend with
him.
But if seasonable counsel will not go down, if hardness of heart and
blindness of mind and so perishing from the way shall overtake you,
it is but what you of old have been cautioned of: "Be wise now,
therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve
the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest
he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
The very name of Jesus is the very tower of the Christian church,
and that by which she frights the world, not designedly, but through
their misunderstanding; for neither she nor her Jesus is for doing
them any hurt. However, this is that which renders her yet, in their
eye, terrible as an army with banners.
Always when antichrist made his inroads upon the church in the
wilderness, to slay, to cut off, and to kill, yet some of the
pillars stood; they were not all burnt in the fire, nor cut down.
They said indeed, "Come, let us cut them off from being a nation,
that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." But what
then? There is a difference betwixt saying and doing; the bush was
not therefore consumed because it was set on fire; the church shall
not be consumed, although she be afflicted.
And the reason is, because God has his reserve: therefore if Abel
falls by the hand of Cain, Seth is put in his place; if Moses is
taken away, Joshua shall succeed him; and if the devil break the
neck of Judas, Matthias is at hand to take his office. God has a
succession of pillars in his house; he has to himself a reserve.
They therefore brought out Faithful, to do with him according to
their law; and first they scourged him, then they buffeted him, then
they lanced his flesh with knives; after they had stoned him with
stones, they pricked him with their swords; and last of all, they
burned him to ashes at the stake. Thus came Faithful to his end. Now
I saw in my dream that Christian went not forth alone, for there was
one whose name was Hopeful--being so made by the beholding of
Christian and Faithful in their words and behavior in their
sufferings at the fair--who joined himself unto him; and entering
into a brotherly covenant, told him that he would be his companion.
Thus one died to bear testimony to the truth, and another rises out
of his ashes, to be a companion with Christian in his pilgrimage.
"And she bare a son, and called his name Seth; for God, saith she,
hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."
Gen. 4. When Seth comes, then the ground is made good again; then a
living saint is found to stand, and maintain that truth which but
now his brother bled for.