NINTH EVIDENCE.

Love for Ministers.

ABOVE all other Saints, I have a most dear and reverent regard for all God's true ministers, and faithful ambassadors; not merely because they are Christians, but because they are sent of God to execute their holy functions for the gathering together of God's people, and because I have received from them, to my eternal comfort, the glad tidings of life and peace. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation:" "An expression, says the classical Bishop Lowth, highly poetical; for, how welcome is his arrival! how agreeable are the tidings which he brings !"

The ground of this Evidence is "He that receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward."

TENTH EVIDENCE.

Forgiveness of Injuries.

I CAN love even those who have proved my bitter enemies. When God hath allayed my tumultuous passions, I have so quietly endured the wrongs and revilings of my adversaries, that, to the peace of my heart, I have forborne, when I could easily have been revenged by bringing shame or misery upon them. Nay, I have even pitied and prayed for them in their distresses, and do unfeignedly desire their conversion; and if I were once assured of this, I hope I should rejoice in them and their society, as heartily as in those in which I now delight. Did I but once see the beginnings of true repentance in them, I could forgive them as really as if they had never injured me at all.

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Forgiveness of Injuries.

It has indeed been a great stumbling block in my way, to be so loaded with reproaches, so scandalized with backbitings and whisperings. It was this which made Jeremiah and David so uneasy, and of which poor Job so pitifully complained. But in the midst of all my sorrows and sufferings, God hath sweetly quieted and calmed my spirit with the following considerations :

1. I know that all my wrongs and unworthy usage, all the injuries and indignities that have been, or ever shall be offered to me, are ordered and disposed by the merciful providence of God, and that for my spiritual and everlasting good. It was this consideration which caused good old Eli, seriously and feelingly to say, when he heard the awful threatenings of God, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good. And this consideration hath also sweetly composed the hastiness and bitterness of my corrupt nature, whenever I have been wrongfully abused; so that, instead of indulging anger and rage, I have laid my hand upon my mouth, and have said unto God, "I am dumb, I open not my mouth, because thou doest it." This hath been the practice of all the saints. How patiently did David endure the railing of Shimei! "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so How kindly did Joseph forgive the unkindness and cruelty of his brethren! "I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life."With what resignation does Job submit to the wrongs and villany of the Chaldeans and Sabeans! "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Yea,

Forgiveness of Injuries.

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how did the Lord Jesus Christ himself," who is God blessed forever," look beyond the Pharisees, the Priests, Judas, and the soldiers, to the will of his Father !""The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?"

2. I have considered the wonderful forbearance of the mighty Lord of Heaven and earth, who is able, with a word, to cast all the creatures in the world into Hell. Oh! how great is his patience against the vast, heinous, and numberless provocations of his own most indebted creatures; who, as so many desperate traitors, continually live in open rebellion against so great a majesty! Oh! that lesson, which proceeded out of the gracious mouth of our Lord, hath deeply affected me whenever I have read it-"Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart!"

3. The sweet experience of God's very merciful and patient dealing with me hath softened my heart with a compassionate sense of others weakness, and a forwardness to forgive them. For I was once a graceless, peevish, stubborn, perverse, and crabbed creature, and yet was loaden with rich and great mercies which I never asked. I was intreated and besought, with all love and long suffering, to come into God's outstretched arms of mercy, when I lay in my many scarlet and crimson sins, and there was no eye to pity me. And I am still an abuser of mercies, and an undervaluer of rich favours. Oh! then, if God hath forgiven me ten thousand talents, shall not I forgive my brother an hundred pence?

4. When men of the world have slighted, contemned, and abused me, I have still found God to favour me. And He takes notice of all the wrongs that are done to his people, and will surely call the ungodly to a reckoning for all their reproaches. He considers the injuries done to his people as done to himself: and this is his language to their persecutors-" Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou me ?”

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Forgiveness of Injuries.

5. God will bring forth my righteousness and innocence at the last. And though they be now covered with a cloud of obscurity, and I be overborne by suborned witnesses and partial judges; yet one day, in the hearing of all the world, shall my judgment be as clear as the noon-day In the mean time I know there is a hiding-place with God from the strife of tongues.

6. This hath been a comfort to me, that though I have been reproached and abused by the wicked, yet I have been highly respected by the godly, and very far above my deserts. As I have gone through evil report, so also have I gone through good report. I have had honour as well as dishonour, which hath been a sufficient recompence to me.

7. Why should I be troubled at these trifling matters? I never yet resisted unto blood, as they in the days of old; and God hath therefore dealt very favourably with me. I have suffered no other lash from malevolent detractors but that of the tongue.

8. When I have seriously considered how the Author and Finisher of my faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, was exposed to indignities, and yet, "for the joy that was set before him," that he "endured the cross, despising the shame," I have been silenced. What should the servant complain of, when his Lord and Master is accused of performing his miracles by Beelzebub, the prince of the Devils?

9. I have read and considered that this hath been the lot of all the Saints. How often have I looked into the book of God, and seen that my betters more eminent saints than I, have been more grossly abused! There have I read that David was slandered by many. Jeremiah complains that his countrymen consulted how they might devise devices against him, and how they might smite him with the tongue. False witnesses were suborned against Stephen, and that a

Improvement from Afflictions.

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bout religion. How many grievous complaints were laid against Paul! Yea, it hath been the condition of all the Apostles and principal saints to be "made the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things unto this day."

10. Since I have the Spirit of God within me, why should I be solicitous and uneasy about what the world thinks of me? My patience, in the midst of their rage is a happy sign that the Spirit of God, who is a spirit of glory, is leading me to a better life. I have professed myself to be a pilgrim in this world, and why then should I return again to the place from whence I set out, on account of the strange treatment I met with ?

The grounds of this Evidence are-" Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven."

I FIND that my great and sore afflictions have brought me nearer to my God; so that I can say with David Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word: It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes."

I have inquired seriously into the cause of my afflictions, and have sought why God should thus deal with me? My afflictions have led me to turn the cur