CHAPTER -EXTORTION OF THE TEXT EXPLAINED “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful creator” — 1 Peter 4:19.

THIS epistle was written to saints in affliction, specially those of the circumcision, for whom this Peter was an apostle. And it was written to them to counsel, and comfort them in their affliction. To counsel them as to the cause, for which they were in afflictions, and as to the right management of themselves, and their cause, under their affliction. To comfort them also both with respect to their present help from God, and also with reference to the reward that (they faithfully continuing to the end) should of God be bestowed upon them: all which we shall have occasion, more distinctly, to handle in this following discourse.

The text is a conclusion, drawn from the counsel and comfort which the apostle had afore given them in their suffering state. As who should say, my brethren, as you are now afflicted, so sufferings are needful for you, and therefore profitable and advantageous: wherefore be content to bear them. And that you may indeed bear them with such Christian contentedness, and patience as becomes you; commit the keeping of your souls to your God as unto a faithful Creator. “Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him [in well doing,] as unto a faithful Creator.”

In this conclusion, therefore, we have three things very fit for sufferers to concern themselves with.

I. Adirection to aDUTY of absolute necessity.

II. A description of the persons, who are unto this, so necessary a duty, directed.

III. An insinuation of the good effect that will certainly follow to those that after a due manner shall take this blessed advice.

The duty so absolutely necessary is, that sufferers “commit the keeping of their souls to God.” The sufferers here intended, are those “that suffer according to the will of God.” The good insinuated, that will be the effect of our true doing of this, is, we shall find God “a faithful Creator.”

We will first begin with the duty, that sufferers are here directed to, namely, the committing of their souls to God. “Let them — commit the keeping of their souls to him, in well doing.”

And I find two things in it that first call for explaining before I proceed. 1.

What we must here understand by “the soul.” 2. What by “committing” the soul to God. 1. For the first: “The soul,” here, is to be taken for that most excellent part of man, that dwelleth in the body; that immortal, spiritual substance, that is, and will be capable of life, and motion, of sense and reason; yea, that will abide a rational being, when the body is returned to the dust as it was.

This is that great thing, that our Lord Jesus intends, when he bids his disciples in a day of trial, fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell ( Luke 12:5). That great thing, I say, that he there cautions them to take care of. According to Peter here, “Let them commit the keeping of their soul to him in well doing.” 2. Now to “commit” this soul to God, is to carry it to him, to lift it to him, upon my bended knees, and to pray him for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, to take it into his holy care, and to let it be under his keeping. Also, that he will please to deliver it from all those snares that are laid for it, betwixt this and the next world, and that he will see that it be forthcoming, safe and sound, at the great and terrible judgment, notwithstanding so many have engaged themselves against it. Thus David committed his soul to God, when he said “Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul, O Lord, from the wicked, which is thy sword” ( Psalm 17:13).

And again, “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make hast to help me.

Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it” ( Psalm 40:13,14).

Thus, I have showed you what the soul is, and what it is to commit the soul to God. This then is the duty that the apostle here exhorteth the sufferers to, namely, to carry their soul to God, and leave it with him while they engage for his name in the world.

Now from the apostle’s exhortation to this great duty, I will draw these following conclusions. First, That when persecution is raised against a people, there is a design laid for the ruin of those people’s souls . This, I say, doth naturally follow from the exhortation. Why else, need they to commit the keeping of their souls to God. For by this word, “Unto God to keep them,” is suggested; there is that would destroy them, and that therefore persecution is raised against them.

I am not so uncharitable, as to think, that persecuting men design this. But I verily believe that the devil doth design this, when he stirs them up to so sorry a work. In times of trial, says Peter, “your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” ( 1 Peter 5:8).

Alas! men in their acts of this nature, have designs that are lower, and of a more inferior rank. Some of them look no higher than revenge upon the carcass; than the spoiling of their neighbor of his estate, liberty, or life; than the greatening of themselves in this world, by the ruins of those that they have power to spoil. Their “possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich” ( Zechariah 11:5).

Ay! But Satan will not be put off thus: it is not a bag of money, or the punishing of the carcass of such a people, that will please or satisfy him.

It is the soul that he aims at; the ruin of the precious soul that he hath bent himself to bring to pass. It is this therefore that Peter here hath his heart concerned with. As, who should say, My brethren, are you troubled and persecuted for your faith? look to it, the hand of Satan is in this thing, and whatever men drive at by doing as they do, the devil designs no less than the damnation of your souls. Ware hawk, saith the falconer, when the dogs are coming near her: especially if she be too much minding of her belly, and too forgetful of what the nature of the dog is. Beware Christian, take heed Christian; the devil is desirous to have thee.

And who could better give this exhortation than could Peter himself. Who for not taking heed as to this very thing, had like by the devil to have been swallowed up alive: as is manifest to them that heedfully read, and consider how far he was gone, when that persecution was raised against his Master ( Luke 22).

When a tyrant goes to dispossess a neighboring prince of what is lawfully his own: the men that he employeth at arms to overcome, and get the land, they fight for half-crowns, and the like, and are content with their wages:

But the tyrant is for the kingdom, nothing will serve him but the kingdom.

F9 This is the case: Men when they persecute, are for the stuff, but the devil is for the soul, nor will any thing less than that satisfy him. Let him then that is a sufferer “commit the keeping of his soul to God:” lest stuff, and soul, and all be lost at once. Secondly, A second conclusion that followeth upon these words, is this:

That sufferers, if they have not a care, may be too negligent as to the securing of their souls with God, even when persecution is upon them . For these words, as they are an instruction, so they are an awakening instruction; they call as to people in danger; as to people, not so aware of the danger; or as unto a people that forget, too much, that their souls, and the ruin of them, are sought after by Satan, when trouble attends them for the gospel sake. As, who should say, when troubles are upon you for the gospel’s sake, then take heed that you forget not to commit your souls to the keeping of God. We are naturally apt with that good man Gideon, to be threshing out our wheat, that we may hide it from the Midianites ( Judges 6:11). But we are not so naturally apt to be busying ourselves to secure our souls with God. The reason is, for that we are more flesh than spirit, and because the voice of the world makes a bigger sound in our carnal mind, than the word of God doth. Wherefore Peter, here, calls upon us as upon men of forgetful minds, saying, Let them that suffer according to the will of God, have a care of their souls, and take heed, that the fears of the loss of a little of this world, do not make them forget the fear of the losing of their souls. That sufferers are subject to this , may appear by the stir and bustle that at such a time they make to lock all up safe that the hand of man can reach, F10 while they are cold, chill, remiss, and too indifferent about the committing of their soul to God to keep it. This is seen also, in that many, in a time of trouble for their profession, will study more to deceive themselves by a change of notions, by laboring to persuade their consciences to admit them to walk more at large, by hearkening to opinions that please and gratify the flesh, by adhering to bad examples, and taking evil counsels, than they will to make straight steps for their feet: and to commit the keeping of their souls to God. What shall I say, have there not been many, that so long as peace has lasted, have been great swaggerers for religion, who yet so soon as the sun has waxed warm, have flagged, have been discontented, offended, and turned away from him that speaketh from heaven? All which is because men are naturally apt to be more concerned for their goods, carnal peace, and a temporal life, than they are about securing of their souls with God.

Wherefore I say, these words are spoken to awaken us to the consideration of soul-concerns, and how that should be safely lodged under the care, protection, and mercy of God, by our committing of it to him, for that purpose, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Thirdly, Another conclusion that followeth upon this exhortation, is this: That persecution doth, sometimes, so hotly follow God’s people, as to leave them nothing but a soul to care for . They have had no house, no land, no money, no goods, no life, no liberty, left them to care for.ALL IS GONE BUT THE SOUL. Goods have been confiscated, liberty has been in irons, the life condemned, the neck in a halter, or the body in the fire. So then all, to such, has been gone, and they have had nothing left them to care for, but their soul. “Let them commit the keeping of their soul to God.” This conclusion, I say, doth naturally flow from the words. For that the apostle here doth make mention only of the soul, as of that which is left, as of that which yet remains to the sufferer of all that ever he had. Thus they served Christ; they left him nothing but his soul to care for. Thus they served Stephen; they left him nothing but his soul to care for, and they both cared for that, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” ( Luke 23:46). said Jesus And, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” said Stephen ( Acts 7:59). As for all other things, they were gone. They parted the very clothes of Christ among themselves before his face, even while he did hang pouring out his life before them, upon the tree. “They parted my garments among them,” said he, “and upon my vesture did they cast lots” ( Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; John 19:24). This also has oftentimes been the condition of later Christians, all has been gone, they have been stripped of all, nothing has been left them but “soul” to care for.

Job said that he had escaped with the skin of his teeth; and that is but a little: but he doth not escape with so much, that loses all that he has, life and all, we now except the soul. But, Fourthly, Another thing that followeth from the words is this; namely, That when the devil and wicked men have done what they could, in their persecuting of the godly; they have yet had their souls at their own dispose.

F11 They have not been able to rob them of their souls, they are not able to hurt their souls. The soul is not in their power to touch, without the leave of God, and of him whose soul it is. “And fear not them,” saith Christ, “which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” ( Matthew 10:28).

This, I say, lies clear also in the text; for the exhortation supposes, that whatever the sufferers, there made mention of, had lost, they had yet their souls at their own dispose. Let them that suffer, even to the loss of goods, liberty, or life, “commit the keeping of their souls to God.” As, who should say, though the enemy hath reached them to their all, and stripped them of their all, yet I know, that their soul is not among that all: For their soul is yet free from them, at liberty, and may be disposed of, even as the sufferer will. Wherefore, let him commit the keeping of his soul to God, lest he also through his negligence or carelessness be also spoiled of that.

The sufferer, therefore, hath his soul at his own dispose, he may give that away to God Almighty, in spite of all that the devil and the world can do.

He may, indeed, see men parting his land, his household stuff, yea, his very raiment among themselves, but they cannot so dispose of his soul. F12 They “have no more that they can do” ( Luke 12:4). Fifthly, Another conclusion that followeth from these words is this, That a man, when he is a sufferer, is not able to secure his own soul from the hand of hell by any other means, but by the committing of the keeping thereof to God . Do you suffer? Are you in affliction for your profession?

Then keep not your soul in your own hand, for fear of losing that with the rest. For no man “can keep alive his own soul” ( Psalm 22:29). No, not in the greatest calm; no, not when the lion is asleep: how then should he do it at such a time, when the horrible blast of the terrible ones shall beat against his wall. The consideration of this was that that made holy Paul, who was a man upon whom persecution continually attended, commit his soul to God ( Acts 20:22-24; 2 Timothy 1:12). God, as I shall hew you by and by, is he, and he alone that is able to keep the soul, and deliver it from danger. Man is naturally a self-deceiver, and therefore is not to be trusted, any farther than as the watchful eye of God is over him. But as to his soul, he is not to be trusted with that at all, that must be wholly committed to God, left altogether with him; laid at his feet, and he also must take the charge thereof, or else it is gone, will be lost, and will perish for ever and ever. Wherefore it is a dangerous thing for a man that is a sufferer, to be a senseless man, as to the danger that his soul is in, and a prayerless man, as to the committing of the keeping of it to God. For he that is such, has yet his soul, and the keeping thereof, in his own deceitful hand. And so has he also that stays himself upon his friends, upon his knowledge, the promise of men, or the mercy of his enemies, or that has set in his mind a bound to himself, how far he will venture for religion, and where he will stop. This is the man that makes not God his trust, and that therefore will surely fall in the day of his temptation. Satan, who now hunteth for the precious soul to destroy it, has power, as well as policy, beyond what man can think. He has power to blind, harden, and to make insensible, the heart. He also can make truth in the eyes of the suffering man, a poor, little, and insignificant thing. Judas had not committed the keeping of his soul to God, but abode in himself, and was left in his tabernacle: and you by and by see what a worthy price he set upon himself, his Christ, and heaven, and all. All to him was not now worth thirty pieces of silver.

And as he can make truth in thy esteem to be little, so he can make sufferings great, and ten times more terrible, than he that hath committed the keeping of his soul to God shall ever find them. A jail shall look as black as hell, and the loss of a few stools and chairs, as bad as the loss of so many bags of gold. F13 Death for the Savior of the world, shall seem to be a thing both unreasonable and intolerable. Such will choose to run the hazard of the loss of a thousand souls, in the way of the world, rather than the loss of one poor, sorry, transitory life for the holy Word of God. But the reason, as I said, is, they have not committed the keeping of their soul to God. For he that indeed has committed the keeping of his soul to that great one, has shaken his hands of all things here. Has bid adieu to the world, to friends, and life: and waiteth upon God in a way of close keeping to his truth, and walking in his ways, having counted the cost, and been persuaded to take what cup God shall suffer the world to give him for so doing. Sixthly, Another conclusion that followeth from these words, is, That God is very willing to take the charge and care of the soul (that is committed unto him) of them that suffer for his sake in the world . If this were not true, the exhortation would not answer the end. What is intended by, “Let him commit the keeping of his soul to God,” but that the sufferer should indeed leave that great care with him; but if God be not willing to be concerned with such a charge, what bottom F14 is there for the exhortation? But the exhortation has this for its bottom, therefore God is willing to take the charge and care of the soul of him that suffereth for his name in this world. “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate” ( Psalm 34:22; 1 Samuel 25:28,29).

None, not one that committeth his soul to God’s keeping in a way of well doing, but shall find him willing to be concerned therewith.

Ay, this, saith the sufferer, if I could believe this, it would rid me of all my fears. But I find myself engaged for God, for I have made a profession of his name, and cannot arrive to this belief that God is willing to take the charge and care of my soul. Wherefore I fear, that if trials come so high, as that life, as well as estate, must go, that both life, and estate, and soul, and all will be lost at once.

Well, honest heart, these are thy fears, but let them fly away, and consider the text again, “Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him, — as unto a faithful Creator.” These are God’s words, Christ’s words, and the invitation of the Holy Ghost.

When, therefore, thou readest them, be persuaded that thou hearest the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, all of them jointly and severally speaking to thee and saying, Poor sinner, thou art engaged for God in the world, thou art suffering for his Word: leave thy soul with him as with one that is more willing to save it, than thou art willing he should: act faith, trust God, believe his Word, and go on in thy way of witness-bearing for him, and thou shalt find all well, and according to the desire of thy heart at last. True, Satan will make it his business to tempt thee to doubt of this, that thy way be made yet more hard and difficult to thee. For he knows that unbelief is a soul-perplexing sin, and makes that which would otherwise be light, pleasant, and easy, unutterably heavy and burdensome to the sufferer. Yea, this he doth in hope to make thee at last, to cast away thy profession, thy cause, thy faith, thy conscience, thy soul, and all. But hear what the Holy Ghost saith again: “He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight” ( Psalm 72:13,14). These words also are spoken for the comfort of sufferers, Psalm 72:12. “For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.” Wherefore, let them that are God’s sufferers, pluck up a good heart; let them not be afraid to trust God with their souls, and with their eternal concerns. Let them cast all their care upon God, for he careth for them ( 1 Peter 5:7).

But I am in the dark.

I answer, never stick at that. It is most bravely done, to trust God with my soul in the dark, and to resolve to serve God for nothing, rather than give out. Not to see, and yet to believe, and to be a follower of the Lamb, and yet to be at uncertainty, what we shall have at last, argues love, fear, faith, and an honest mind, and gives the greatest sign of one that hath true sincerity in his soul. It was this that made Job and Peter so famous, and the want of it that took away much of the glory of the faith of Thomas ( Job 1:8-10,21; Matthew 19:27; John 20:29). Wherefore believe, verily, that God is ready, willing, yea, that he looks for, and expects that thou who art a sufferer shouldest commit the keeping of thy soul to him, as unto a faithful Creator. Seventhly . Another conclusion that followeth from these words is this, namely, That God is able, as well as willing, to secure the souls of his suffering saints, and to save them from the evil of all their trials, be they never so many, divers, or terrible . “Let him commit the keeping of his soul to God,” but to what boot, if he be not able to keep it in his hand, and from the power of him that seeks the soul to destroy it? But “my Father which gave them me,” saith Christ, “is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” ( John 10:29). So then there can be no sorrow, affliction, or misery invented, by which the devil may so strongly prevail, as thereby to pluck the soul out of the hand of him who has received it, to keep it from falling, and perishing thereby. The text therefore supposeth a sufficiency of power in God to support, and a sufficiency of comfort and goodness to embolden the soul to endure for him: let Satan break out, and his instruments too, to the greatest degree of their rage and cruelty. 1. There is in God a sufficiency of power to keep them that have laid their soul at his foot to be preserved. And hence he is called the soul-keeper, the soul-preserver, ( Proverbs 24:12) “The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul” ( <19C105> Psalm 121:5-7). “The sun shall not smite thee”: that is, persecution shall not dry and wither thee away to nothing ( Matthew 13:6,21). But that notwithstanding, thou shalt be kept and preserved, carried through and delivered from all evil. Let him therefore commit the keeping of his soul to him, if he is in a suffering condition, that would have it secured and found safe and sound at last. For, (1.) Then thine own natural weakness, and timorousness shall not overcome thee. — For it shall not be too hard for God. God can make the most soft spirited man as hard as an adamant, harder than flint, yea harder than the northern steel. “Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?” ( Jeremiah 15:12).

The sword of him is [used] in vain that lays at a Christian, when he is in the way of his duty to God: if God has taken to him the charge and care of his soul, he can shoe him with brass, and make his hoofs of iron ( Deuteronomy 33:25). “He can strengthen the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress”( Amos 5:8; Ezekiel 13:9).

He can turn thee into another man, and make thee that which thou never wast. Timorous Peter, fearful Peter, he could make as bold as a lion. He that at one time was afraid of a sorry girl, he could make at another to stand boldly before the council ( Matthew 26; Acts 4:13). There is nothing too hard for God. He can say to them that are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not” ( Isaiah 35:4). He can say, Let the weak say I am strong; by such a word, by which he created the world ( Zechariah 12:8). (2.) Thine own natural darkness and ignorance shall not cause thee to fall; thy want of wit he can supply. — He can say to the fools, be wise; not only by way of correction, but also by way of instruction too. He “hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; — yea, things which are despised, — and things which are not, hath God chosen to bring to nought things that are” ( 1 Corinthians 1:27,28). Wisdom and might are his: and when, and where he will work, none can at all withstand him. He can give thee the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of his Son ( Ephesians 1:17). Yea, to do this, is that which he challengeth, as that which is peculiar to himself. “Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?” ( Job 38:36). And that he will do this that he hath promised, yea, promised to do it to that degree, as to make his, that shall be thus concerned for him, to top, and overtop all men that shall them oppose. I, saith he, “will give you a mouth and wisdom, that all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist” ( Luke 21:15). (3.) Thine own doubts and mistrusts about what he will do, and about whither thou shalt go, when thou for him hast suffered awhile, he can resolve, yea, dissolve, crush, and bring to nothing. — He can make fear flee far away: and place heavenly confidence in its room. He can bring invisible and eternal things to the eye of thy soul, and make thee see that in those things in which thine enemies shall see nothing, that thou shalt count worth the loss of ten thousand lives to enjoy. He can pull such things out of his bosom, and can put such things into thy mouth; yea, can make thee choose to be gone, though through the flames, than to stay here and die in silken sheets. Yea, he can himself come near and bring his heaven and glory to thee. The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them that are but reproached for the name of Christ ( Peter 4:14). And what the Spirit of glory is, and what is his resting upon his sufferers, is quite beyond the knowledge of the world, and is but little felt by saints at peace. They be they that are engaged, and that are under the lash of Christ; they are they, I say, that have it and that understand something of it.

When Moses went up the first time into the mount to God, the people reproached him for staying with him so long, saying, “As for this Moses, — we wot not what is become of him” ( Exodus 32:1).

Well, the next time he went up thither, and came down, the Spirit of glory was upon him; his face shone, though he wist it not, to his honor, and their amazement ( Exodus 34:29-35). Also while Stephen stood before the council to be accused, by suborned men, “All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” ( Acts 6:15).

Those that honor God, he will honor, yea, will put some of his glory upon them, but they shall be honored. There is none can tell what God can do.

He can make those things that in themselves are most fearful and terrible to behold, the most pleasant, delightful, and desirable things. He can make a jail more beautiful than a palace; restraint, more sweet by far than liberty. And “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” ( Hebrews 11:26).

It is said of Christ, That “for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame” ( Hebrews 12:2).

But, 2. As there is in God a sufficiency of power to uphold, so there is in him also a sufficiency of comfort and goodness to embolden us: I mean communicative comfort and goodness. Variety of, and the terribleness that attends afflictions, call, not only for the beholding of things, but also a laying hold of them by faith and feeling; now this also is with God to the making ofHIS to sing in the night. Paul and Silas sang in prison, the apostles went away from the council rejoicing, when they had shamefully beaten them for their preaching in the temple ( Acts 5). But whence came this but from an inward feeling by faith of the love of God, and of Christ, which passeth knowledge? Hence he says to those under afflictions, “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer” ( Revelation 2:10).

There are things to be suffered, as well as places to suffer in; and there are things to be let into the soul for its emboldening, as well as things to be showed to it ( Romans 5:5).

Now the things to be suffered are many, some of which are thus counted up: “They were tortured, — had cruel mockings and scourgings; — they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were slain with the sword, — were tempted; — they wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented” ( Hebrews 11:35-37). These are some of the things that good men of old have suffered for their profession of the name of Jesus Christ. All which they were enabled by him to bear, to bear with patience; to bear with rejoicing; “knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better, and an enduring substance” ( Hebrews 10:32-34).

And it is upon this account that Paul doth call to mind the most dreadful of his afflictions, which he suffered for the gospel sake with rejoicing; and that he tells us that he was most glad, when he was in such infirmities.

Yea, it is upon this account that he boasteth, and vaunteth it over death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth, and every other creature: for he knew that there was enough in that love of God, which was set on him through Christ, to preserve him, and to carry him through all ( 2 Corinthians 12:9,10; Romans 8:37-39). That God has done thus, a thousand instances might be given; and that God will still do thus, for that we have his faithful promise ( Isaiah 43:2; Corinthians 10:13).

To the adversaries of the church these things have also sometimes been showed, to their amazement and confusion. God showed to the king of Babylon that he was with the three children in the fiery furnace ( Daniel 3:24). God showed to the king of Babylon again, that he would be whereHIS were, though in the lion’s den ( Daniel 6:24).

Also, in later days, whoso reads Mr. Fox’s Acts and Monuments, will also find several things to confirm this for truth. God has power over all plagues, and therefore can either heighten, or moderate and lessen them at pleasure. He has power over fire, and can take away the intolerable heat thereof. This those in the Marian days could also testify, namely, Hauks and Bainham, and others, who could shout for joy, and clap their hands in the very flames for joy. God has power over hunger, and can moderate it, and cause that one meal’s meat shall go as far as forty were wont to do.

This is witness in Elias, when he went for his life to the mount of God, being fled from the face of Jezebel ( 1 Kings 19:8). And what a good night’s lodging had Jacob when he fled from the face of his brother Esau: when the earth was his couch, the stone F15 his pillow, the heavens his canopy, and the shades of the night his curtains F16 ( Genesis 28:12-16).

I can do all things, said Paul, through Christ strengthening me. And again, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. But how can that be, since no affliction for the present seems joyous? I answer, though they be not so in themselves, yet Christ, by his presence, can make them so: for then his power rests upon us. When I am weak, saith he, then I am strong; then Christ doth in me mighty things: for my strength, saith Christ, is made perfect in weakness; in affliction, for the gospel sake.

For when my people are afflicted and suffer great distress for me, then they have my comforting, supporting, emboldening, and upholding presence to relieve them: an instance of which you have in the three children and in Daniel, made mention of before. But what, think you, did these servants of the God of Jacob feel, feel in their souls, of his power and comforting presence when they, for his name, were suffering of the rage of their enemies, — while, also, one, like the Son of God, was walking in the fire with the three; and while Daniel sat and saw that the hands of the angels were made muzzles for the lions’ mouths.