parts, which were found (rara avis in terris) jointly in him. It was manifeft to all who were but a little acquaint with him that his modefty and humility was fuch, that in all his moft eminent appearan ces for God, he ftudied to difappear, left he fhould by ftanding up, be guilty of intercepting any part of that glory, which belongs to him a Tone, of whom are all things, and for whom are all things: neither was he at any iofs hereby; for thus he became great in the kingdom of God: his growing downward, in that high and gospel-adorning grace of humility, made him grow upward in favour with God and all good men ; and thus by denying himself, and feeking God alone, he both found what he fought, and got what he was not willing to take, nor would own as his due.

But, befides this true account I have given, why the world was deprived of fo useful and edifying a piece to this day; I think it should not pafs without a remark, that God in his good providence, hath reserved the publication thereof, for fuch a time as this, wherein it feems to promife a fingular advantage, beyond and above what was probably attainable at any other feafon: firft, as the fuffering people of God, who while they are deprived of these things in public, for the moft part, which comforted them over all their forrows, and while the fongs of the fanctuary (because the Philiftines have stopped moft of thofe wells, out of which they used to draw and drink with joy, that which was fweeter to the tafte than honey to the mouth, or they have thrown that into them, which hath not only made them lose their former relish and sweetness, but hath rendered them so bitter, that they are now become gall and wormwood) are turned into howling and bitter lamentation; while it is thus, I fay, with the people of God, that inftead of being made glad in his houfe of prayer, as formerly, they are fighing for the ceafing of thofe folemn affemblies: they may in their fad hours commune with this fufferer, who not being willing to eat his morfel alone, fpeaks to them good words, and comfortably he telleth you, beloved fufferers, what a heaven is to be had in Chrift's company, even when ye are put to bear the crofs, and to have fhame and fuffering for his fake, as your infeparable companion: neither is his difcourfe upon this fubject, an empty or idle fpeculation: nay, he fpeaks what he knoweth: the God for whofe caufe he fuffered comforted him in the like tribulation, and fo he is in cafe to comfort you by the comforts wherewith he himself was comforted of God. Next, as to thofe of the minifters of the gofpel, who by the violence of their adverfaries, are driven from their flocks (which to a godly minifter is the greatest of afflictions) fuch, I fay, may fee for ftrengthening of their hands, while they are put to contend with thofe that are too ftrong for them, how this noble witnefs, who fuffered for the fame caufe, carried, how he acquitted himself, and overcame: the archers fhot fore at him, but his bow abode in its ftrength; the arms of his hands were made fo ftrong by the hand of the mighty God of Jacob, that he was too hard for all that entered the lifts with him: and when they thought they had done fuficient, either to force him to a compliance, or to make him faint under the effects of their fury, by depriving him of his miniftry, which was dearer to him than his life, he was not by all this so much put to fuffering (to fpeak properly) as he was for a feafon, a little removed from the noise and distraction that is abroad in the world, to be alone with God. O bieffed folitude! Ofweet fociety! he was taken out of the clamour and confufion that is here below, up to the mount, where he was admitted to a near familiarity, and experienced the fweetness of that fellowship with God, which he had preached to others: tho' he was not taken from the earth, yet he was not only kept from the

evil that was then, and is now, in the world; but he enjoyed fuch a heaven under his heavy preffures, that if he being about his master's bufinefs, had not been prized by him, as preferable to his own confo lation, he would have been in hazard of forgetting the troubles of Zion, and fo faying, "It is good for me to be here: but he was fuch a fervant, as made it his meat and drink to do his Mafter's will; he had fo learned Chrift, as to prefer his concernments to his chief joy : and therefore, ye will find him often in thefe epiftles, feafting upon the confolations of God, with the tear in his eye; while he remembers Zion, and calls to mind the defolate condition of the flocks of Chrift, particularly his own, for whom nothing was prepared. He found in his folitude fuch a measure of prefence, as could hardly have been expected, out of the chamber of prefence, where there is fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore: he knew more in his happy retirement, of the exercife of them who are above (who being made kings unto God, have crowns upon their heads; and being made prefts alfo, facrifice thefe to the giver) than he could have learned, by revolving all the volumes that are written in many ages, amidst the greatest outward calm and tranquillity: this is the fummer fruit which grew out of the hard tree of the cross of Chrift that he was put to bear, which was fo fweet to his tafte, that it made him difdain the dainties of his adverfaries, and difrelish these four and unfavoury delights of the fons of men, which however they may at firft feem to have fome petty fweet in them, yet they quickly fet the teeth of the eater on edge, and are found bitter in the belly, and of a bad digeftion; thefe were the quiet fruits of righteoufnefs that his fervant reaped by his fufferings for Chrift, and that in fuch plenty, that out of his abundance, he fends fome bafkets of these fweet fruits abroad amongft his friends, both to bring up a good report upon his liberal Lord and Mafter, who allows on his followers, while they are pinched with penury of other comforts, full meafure, heaped up, running over, and fhaken together; and upon the cross of Chrift alfo, to the end it might appear, that this burden is fo far from imbittering the life of a fuffering faint, that by the contrary, as the fufferings of Chrift abound in him, fo his confolation alfo aboundeth by Jefus Chrift. The publication then, I fay, of thefe epiftles, feems in providence to be tryfted on purpose, with the fufferings of his fervants at this time, that we may be encouraged by his example, to a zealous faithfulness, and a cheerful fuffering, and and may wax bold by his bonds, under, and in which, he did experience much of the glorious liberty of the fons of God. How oft do we find him prefering his confinement to all the fublunary contentments of his perfecutors? Here did he feed upon thefe pure and unmixed delights, which put fuch gladness in the heart, as expels all the latent and lurking griefs that are there, and caufeth the foul, while furrounded with all outward trouble to fing, while they feed upon afhes, and fill their belly with the Eaft-wind, who feaft upon the tears of the people of God, and feem to have nothing else to interrupt their tranquillity, but how they may trouble the children of peace. It was under this reftraint, and in this houfe of his bondage, when being fhut up from, and fpoiled of all creature comforts, that he found the furpaffing fweetnefs of the confolations of God, which tafte beft when they are moft free of the mud, and mixture of other enjoyments; there it was where he found the truth of that faying of Auguftin, Tanto eft dulcedo celiftes gaudii, ut fi una guttula deffluerit in infornum, totam amaritudinem inferni abforberet: If one drop of heavenly joy thould fall into hell, it would fwallow up, or fweeten all the bitterness of that place of torment.' The love of God and the joy of the holy Gh

was fo abundantly fhed abroad in his heart, while he was in the furnace, that his crofs was not only made thereby light and eafy, and his life pleasant, but ye have him often faying (becaufe he found by thefe foretaftes what inconceivable confolation must be in the immediate vifion and full fruition of God) that if there were no other way to come at the poffeffion of that bleffednefs, he would not only chufe to fwim through a fea of outward troubles; but he would wade through the lake of fire and brimftone, to be poffeffed of God himfelf; and there is none who knew the gracious fobriety of this holy man, that will judge he complimented in faying fo; nay, there are none, who have found what a cool refreshing fhade and abundant confolation the foul finds, in the company of the Son of man, while they walk with him amidft the flames of the moft fcorching fiery trials; but they would think strange, if he fpake otherwife. Let us then be ashamed to fcar at the crofs, or at Chrift's company, because of it; fince it bears the man who bears it; let us refolve to take joyfully the lofs of all things, life itself not being excepted, in the fervice of such a master, who makes us gainers by our loffes, and then in a fpecial way makes up all our wants, according to his riches in glory, when we have forfaken all to follow him. Let us ftudy to carry in the fight of adver faries, as men who cannot be made miferable by affliction for if we be but indeed faithful to him, we are more happy at our worst, than we know; or rather we are only in fo far miferable, as we know not how happy we are: he who is admitted to know that he hath a place in the heart of God, needs but care little what he meet with from the hand of man: this may wipe all tears from his eyes, even while he fighs out that fad word, I am poor and needy, that he knoweth; and is in cafe to add that other, yet the Lord thinketh upon me, and doth earnestly remember me ftill. And by the way (though it is neither far out of my way nor thine, nor excentrick to my prefent purpose) let me fay, that if the question were moved, How it cometh to pafs, that he found fo much, and other worthy fufferers alfo before him, that these things feem almoft dreams, and incredible to us? Truely (without fpeaking any thing of the abfolute Sovereignty of God, who may do with his own what he will, and difpenfe as he pleafeth, both as to meafure and time) the reafon may feem to be very obvious: his, and their witnefs bearing for Jefus Chrift, did every way, and in all refpects exceed ours: they gave to God as Kings (tho' it was of his own they served him) their teftimonies, against the corruptions of their times, whether in king, or parliament, or church-men, had fo much of minifterial faithfulness, fo much of freedom, fo much of grave and gofpel-becoming boldness in them, fo much holy zeal, even for the leaft of the concernments of the kingdom of Chrift, (upon which we are loth to ftate our fufferings, or for the keeping whereof we are unwilling to hazard the lofs of any thing) that it was apparent, they loved him fo well, that they loved not their lives unto the death; and that Chrift could require nothing of them, as a fignification of their zeal for his interefts, which they were not at a point to part with, and were not ready to give away: and he upon the other hand, to make it appear, that they could not ferve the Lord for nothing, and to evidence his fpecial complacency in fuch a zealous frame of fpirit, did, not only extraordinarly fupport them under their trouble, fo that they did not fink, even when they feemed to others, to be preffed out of measure, and beyond ftrength; but did manifeft himself in a moft familiar manner unto them, fo that when they were almoft at this, That they had not whereupon to lay their Head, they had then free accefs, to lean it and lay it on his bofom: In

a word

a word, God did declare, that he thought nothing too great, nor too good for them, who gave themfelves away fo intirely to him; fo that if the queftion were afked at God, whence is it, that there is fo vaft a difference betwixt his dealing with the former witneffes, and thofe who now give fome kind of teftimony to his name? He could quickly filence and put to fhame the movers of that question, by fending us back, to fee what a difference there is, betwixt what thofe wor thies did and suffered for him; and what we have done, though under more obligations, at leaft fubjective, under more oaths, covenants, engagements, proteftations, and thefe often reiterate, than many of them were: he met them, as men who rejoiced and wrought righteoufnefs, and could neither be flattered nor frowned out of their fidelity and freedom, and he hides himself from us, as it were afhamed of fuch witneffes, whofe very teftimony is fo unworthy of fuch a Mafter, and fo far fhort of what it ought to be, as if indeed we were afhamed of him and his truth, or thought the torn and the lame a fufficient facrifice for him. It was not the main queftion of thefe men in a fuffering time, how much they might let go, and yet keep the fubftantials of religion, or how long they fhould be filent, out of fear, left they endea voured to acquit themfelves faithfully, they fhould both be reputed rash and imprudent, and provoke the magiftrate, by venting their needlefs jealoulies, to do what he intended not; they did not think it enough to give fome oblique intimation of their diflike, or half fignification of their deteftation of these courfes, whereby they conceived their Mafter's interefts wronged, his prerogative encroached upon, and the whole endangered; nay, nay, thefe men of God, who knew the times and what Ifrael had to do, thought fuch a carriage unworthy of the ambaffadors of Chrift, who are fet for the defence of the gospel, and upon the matter, but as a couching of affes under the burden; they would fooner have parted with their lives, than with one hoof of what belonged to their Mafter. They thought it more worthy of a watchman, to put all on their guard, upon the leaft appearance of the approach of an enemy, than fuffer themfelves to be thamefully furprifed in their fecurity; and they thought it more like the good foldiers of Jefus Chrift, to cover the ground where they ftood with their dead bodies, than as afraid or terrified by their adverfaries in any thing, to make a difhonourable retreat; he who would have put them from witnefling a good confeffion, when the danger of the work of God called them to cry aloud, and not to spare, behoved, not only to have threatned them (for that would not have done their bufinefs, they being men of fuch metal, as could have looked death out of countenance in its mott formidable fhape, and carried in the face of all oppofition, as thofe whom no affliction could make miferable) but to filence them perfectly, he behoved to have fent them into the other world, which could not be terrible to them, who had the certain expectation, that if fo difmiffed, they fhould take up their place amongst the fouls under the altar, flain for the word of God, and their teftimony that they held; and I may fay particularly, to the commendation of the grace of God, in this his faithful fervant (who having ferved his generation according to the will of God, is now fallen afleep) that to the obfervation of all, he never was afraid of the face of man, in appearing for the interefts of Chrift, neither knew he what it was to be filent, when he faw thefe in hazard; nay, he was fuch a fon of Levi, as knew neither friend nor brother in the matters of God; which bleffed difpofition did accompany him to his grave; for though fuch was the indulgence of his Mafter to fo faithfla fervant, that he would have him to die in peace (though he denied

him not the honour of a martyr, dying under a fentence of confinement to his own houfe) plucking him out of the jaws of a bloody death, wherewith he was threatened, and which was intended for him, by them whofe indignation had almoft come to that height, as to fay upon the matter, Bring him hither upon the bed that we may kill him: for not being fatisfied with the teftimony of the phyficians, nor the magiftrates, nor the minifters of the place, certifying that he was not able to travel to Edinburgh (as by the fequel was too fadly confirmed) he was confin ed in his own houfe, when he was not able to go abroad, and put to fhame in that place, where he had defervedly gained the repute of one of the moft learned and fuccefsfully laborious doctors, that ever had filled that chair, and one of the most faithful and diligent minifters that ever watched over, or laboured amongst a people. Äh Scotland, Scotland, whither haft thou caufed thy fhame to go? If it had been an enemy who had fought to deal thus with thy feers and faithful prophets, it had become thee better, to have hid thefe by fifties in caves, from the fury of their enemies; or if thou couldest not have preferved the lives of fuch worthies, either to have died with them, or to have made it appear, that thou only lived to lament the lofs of a greater treasure, than if thou hadst loft all the gold of India and Ophir; but for thy own fword to devour thy own prophets, and that under the colour of law, what canft thou fay for this that will fatisfy? What apology canft thou make to God, for mifufing his prophets, and fhedding the blood of the juft in the midst of thee? What canft thou fay for fatisfying the nations, who have heard of the renown of these men, thefe precious fons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, who have been dafhed in pieces in the midft of thee, and dealt with, as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the Potter? Wilt thou not be fpeechlefs, and not have wherewith to anfwer him that reproveth and reproacheth thee? Canft thou look forward, and not blush to think, what fucceeding generations will say of thee? What wilt thou fay, when it fhall be afked, by one whom thou muft anfwer, what manner of men were thefe whofe blood thou didst fhed? (however thou haft reprefented them now as malefactors, that thou mighteft deal fo with them; yet then thou muft fay) all of them were as the fons of kings. Ah Scotland! Scotland! the most folemnly engaged to God, and the moft guilty and ungrate of all the nations under the heavens: doft thou not fear after all this, the cry of the fouls under the altar? Saying with a loud voice, how long, O Lord, holy and true doft thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Thou was once made ufe of as a carpenter, to fray the horns of them who did push the inheritance of the Lord; but now the fpirit of the horns hath entered into the carpenters: and doft thou think thyself fecure after all this! It is true, there is no vifible power or party upon earth, of whom thou haft much reafon to be afraid; but remember, that he who is higher than the higheft regardeth, who will make inquifition for the blood of his faints, which thou haft fhed, and his interefts; if thou wilt fear nothing elfe, let me recommend the Scythian fear unto thee, of whom it is reported, that they fear nothing, "but that the heavens fhould fall upon them;" alas! if thy enemy be above thee, how wilt thou guard thy head, or fecure thy heart, when he gives the blow, and recompenfes thy way upon thine own head? But if thou wilt still go on, and instead of fmiting on thy thigh, and faying, What have I done? harden thyfelf, and think to profper; I fhall defire grace to have fuch a frame of foul as to weep for thee in fecret. But to return to my purpose from which this fad meditation hath a little withdrawn me; though fuch, I fay, was the tenderness of his Mafter to this fervant, yet

when