Page:Saints' duty in evil times (1).pdf/10

10 hand for you; and as King, to sway a sceptre in your souls to rule you according to his own law, and to cast down, and to cast out every thing exalting itself against his kingdom within you.

O take heed to this, ye who regard not his will, ye who give him nor a throne in your hearts; without this, ye cannot ‘enter into these chambers:’ and assure yourselves, if he were reigning in you, ye would care more, and contend more for his kingdom without you, and in the world. Take heed to this, ye who care not tho’ a tyrant possess his throne, and as it were, spoil him of his princely robes: take heed to this, ye who stand not to hold down his kingdom, by upholding of his enemies. Thirdly, Ye must (if ye would enter into these chambers) close with all the inconveniencies that follow him, his cross must be taken up, Luke ix. 23, 24. ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: But whosever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.’ Whatever he calls you unto must be embraced: your heart must subscribe to the reasonableness and desireableness of every one of these inconveniencies, but let us change their names and call them conveniences and Christian advantages, and so we may; for they are of special good use to Christians; these are a part of the discipline of Christ’s school, and some say this is David’s meaning, Psal. cxvi. 13. where he,says, ‘I will take the cup of salvation.’ That is, as they say, the cup of affliction, as that whereby the Lord works the salvation of his people; and so indeed the cup of affliction may be called the cup of salvation. Now that is the way ye must enter.

Use. O come away, let us hear what ye say to it. Are ye willing to enter this way? Think upon it. This is the way ye must enter, and in our telling of it,