IHAVE now done with that first head that was to be spoken to, as touching the law and testament; which we have said was to be understood of the will of God spoken of in the text: “Let them that suffer according to the will of God,” that is, according to his law and testament. Now we have showed what it is to suffer according to that; we come to another thing, namely: That by the will of God, we also understand his order and designment. For the will of God is active, to dispose of his people, as well as preceptive, to show unto us our duty. He then that suffers for righteousness’ sake, as he suffers for that which is good as to the matter of it, and as he suffers for that which is good, after that manner as becomes that truth for which he suffereth; so he that thus suffereth, suffereth by the order and designment of God. That, then, is the next thing that is to be spoken to, namely: — God is the great orderer of the battle that is managed in the world against antichrist. Hence that battle is called, “The battle of that great day of God Almighty” ( Revelation 16:14) It is not what enemies will, nor what they are resolved upon, but what God will, and what God appoints; that shall be done. This doctrine Christ teacheth when he saith, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” ( Luke 12:6,7).

He speaks in the verses before of killing, and bids them that they should not be afraid for that. “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” Then he leads them to the consideration of this, that the will of God governs, and disposes of his [people] to suffering; as well as declares to them for what, and how they should suffer, saying, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings,” etc.

Also in Isaiah 8:9,10 and in Isaiah 2:12,13, you have in sum the same thing inserted again. But we will not stay upon proof, but will proceed to demonstration hereof.

Pharaoh said he would, ay, that he would, but he could not touch so much as a thread or a rag of Israel, because the will of God was in that thing contrary to him. Saul said that he would have David, and to that end would search for him among the thousands of Judah; but David was designed for another purpose, and therefore Saul must go without him ( 1 Samuel 23:25) Rabshakeh said that he was come from Assyria to Jerusalem to make “Judah eat their own dung, and drink their own piss” ( Isaiah 36:12). But God said he should not shoot an arrow there. And it came to pass as God had said ( Isaiah 37:33; 2 Kings 18; <142801> Chronicles 28). Jeremiah and Baruch’s enemies would have killed them, but they could not, for God hid them. How many times had the Jews a mind to have destroyed Jesus Christ; but they could not touch a hair of his head until his hour was come.

Those also that bound themselves in a curse, that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul, were forced to be foresworn, for the will of God was not that Paul should die as yet ( Acts 23:12). This therefore should be well considered of God’s church, in the cloudy and dark day. “All his saints are in thy hand” ( Deuteronomy 33:3). It is not the way of God to let the enemies of God’s church do what they will; no, the Devil himself can devour but “whom he may” ( 1 Peter 5:8). And as no enemy can bring suffering upon a man when the will of God is otherwise, so no man can save himself out of their hands when God will deliver him up for his glory. It remaineth, then, that we be not much afraid of men, nor yet be foolishly bold; but that we wait upon our God in the way of righteousness, and the use of those means which his providence offereth to us for our safety; and that we conclude that our whole dispose, as to liberty or suffering, lieth in the will of God, and that we shall, or shall not suffer, even as it pleaseth him. For, First, God has appointedWHO shall suffer. Suffering comes not by chance, or by the will of man, but by the will and appointment of God. “Let no man,” said Paul, “be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto” ( 1 Thessalonians 3:3). We are apt to forget God when affliction comes, and to think it a strange thing that those that fear God should suffer indeed ( 1 Peter 4:12). But we should not, for we suffer by the will and appointment of God. Hence they under the altar were bid to rest for a while, even until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed — mark that — “should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled” ( Revelation 6:11).

Wherefore, suffering for righteousness and for righteousness’ sake, is by the will of God. God has appointed who shall suffer. That is the first. Second, As God has appointed who shall suffer, so he has appointed\parWHEN they shall suffer for his truth in the world. Sufferings for such and such a man are timed, as to when he shall be tried for his faith. Hence, when Paul was afraid, at Corinth, that the heathens would fall about his ears, the Lord spake to him by night in a vision, saying, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee” ( Acts 18:9,10).

His time of suffering was not yet come there. It is also said concerning Jesus Christ, that even then when “they sought to take him, no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come” ( John 7:30). The times, then, and the seasons, even for the sufferings of the people of God, are not in the hands of their enemies, but in the hand of God; as David said, “My times are in thy hand.” By the will of God, then, it is that such shall suffer at, but not until, that time. But, Third, As God has appointed who and when, so he has appointedWHERE this, that, or the other good man shall suffer. Moses and Elias, when they appeared on the holy mount, told Jesus of the sufferings which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place assigned for Christ to suffer at; also, there must the whole of his sufferings be accomplished ( Luke 9:30,31). The saints are sprinkled by the hand of God here and there, as salt is sprinkled upon meat to keep it from stinking. And as they are thus sprinkled, that they may season the earth; so, accordingly, where they must suffer is also appointed for the better confirming of the truth.

Christ said, it could not be that a prophet should “perish out of Jerusalem” ( Luke 13:33). But why could it not be that they should perish other where? Were there no enemies but in Jerusalem? Were there no good men but at Jerusalem? No, no; that was not the reason. The reason was, for that God had appointed that they should suffer there. So then, who, when, and where, is at the will of God, and they, accordingly, are ordered by that will. Fourth, As God has appointed who, when, and where, so he has also appointedWHAT KIND of sufferings this or that saint shall undergo, at this place and at such a time. God said that he would show Paul beforehand how great things he should suffer for his sake ( Acts 9:16). And it is said that Christ did signify to Peter beforehand “by what death he should glorify God” ( John 21:19).

When Herod had beheaded John the Baptist, and when the Jews had crucified Christ, it is said that they had but fulfilled what was “written of them” ( Mark 9:13; Acts 13:29). Our sufferings, as to the nature of them, are all writ down in God’s book; and though the writing seem as unknown characters to us, yet God understands them very well. Some of them they shall kill and crucify, and some of them they shall scourge in their synagogue, “and persecute them from city to city” ( Matthew 23:34). Shall God, think you, say, some of them they shall serve thus, and some of them they shall do so to; and yet not allot which some to this, and which to that, and which to the other trial?

Doubtless our sufferings fall by the will of God unto us, as they fell of old upon the people of Jerusalem. It was appointed by God who of them should die of hunger, who with sword, who should go into captivity, and who should be eaten up of beasts ( Jeremiah 15:2,3). So is the case here, namely, as God has appointed who, when, where, and the like, so he has, also, what manner of sufferings this or that good man shall undergo for his name. Let it then be concluded, that hitherto it appears, that the sufferings of saints are ordered and disposed by the will of God. But, Fifth, As all this is determined by the will of God, so it is also appointed\parFOR WHAT TRUTH this or that saint shall suffer this or that kind of affliction. Every saint has his course, his work, and his testimony, as is allotted him of God ( Mark 13:34). John had a course, a testimony to fulfil for God ( Acts 13:25), and so had holy Paul ( 2 Timothy 4:6,7), and so has every saint: also, he that is to suffer has his truth appointed him to suffer for . Christ had a truth peculiar to himself to bear witness to in a way of suffering ( Mark 14:61,62). John had a truth peculiar to himself to bear witness to in a way of suffering ( Mark 6:17,18). Stephen had also a truth, divers from them both, to which he bare a holy testimony, and for which he bravely died ( Acts 7:51-53).

If you read the book of Acts and Monuments, you may see a goodly variety as to this; and yet in all a curious harmony. Some are there said to suffer for the Godhead, some for the manhood, some for the ordinances of Christ, and some laid down their lives for the brethren. And thus far we see that he that suffers for righteousness’ sake, suffers, in this sense, according to the will of God. Sixth, As it is appointed who, when, where, what kind, and for what truth, by the will of God, this and that saint should suffer; so also it is appointedBY WHOSE HAND this or that man shall suffer for this or that truth. It was appointed that Moses and Israel should suffer by the hand of Pharaoh. And for this very purpose, said God, have I raised thee up, that is, to be a persecutor, and to reap the fruits thereof ( Exodus 9:16). It was also determined that Christ should suffer by the hand of Herod and Pontius Pilate; “For of a truth,” said they, “against thy holy child Jesus — both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” ( Acts 4:27).

These are great instances, from which we may gather how all these things are ordered from thence down hitherto. For if a sparrow falls not to the ground without God, she shall not be killed without God; not by he knows not who. And if a Christian man is better than many sparrows, it follows, that God concerns himself more with, for, and about him than with, for, or about many sparrows. It follows, therefore, in right reason, that as the person who is appointed to be the sufferer, so the persons who are appointed to be the rod and sword thereby to afflict withal. Thus far, therefore, the will of God is it that ordereth and disposeth of us and of our sufferings. Seventh, As all these pass through the hand of God, and come not to us but by his will, soHOW as alsoLONG is really determined as any of them all. It is not in man, but God, to set the time how long the rod of the wicked shall rest upon the lot of the righteous. Abraham must be informed of this. “Abraham,” says God, “know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” ( Genesis 15:13).

So the thraldom of Israel in Babylon was not only in the general appointed, but the time prefixed, how long ( Jeremiah 25:11,12; Jeremiah 29:10). The time of the beast’s reign and of the witnesses walking in sackcloth are punctually fixed, and that beyond which they cannot go ( Revelation 11, Revelation 12, Revelation 13).