when there is greatest neede thereof that so our hearts may be forced to put up that petition of the Disciples to God Lord increase our faith Lord helpe us against our unbeleeving hearts c. By prayer and holy thoughts stirred up in the use of the meanes we shall feele divine strength infused and conveyed into our soules to trust The more care we ought to have to maintaine our trust in God because besides the hardnesse of it it is a radicall and fundamentall grace it is as it were the mother root and great veyne whence the exercise of all graces have their beginning and strength The decay of a plant though it appeares first from the withering of the twigs and branches yet it arises chiefly from a decay in the roote So the decay of grace may appeare to the view first in our company carryage and speeches c. but the primitive and originall ground of the same is weaknesse of faith in the heart therefore it should be our wisedome especially to looke to the feeding of the roote we must 1. looke that our principles and foundation be good and 2. build strongly upon them and 3. repaire our building every day as continuall breaches shall be made upon us either by corruptions and temptations from within or without And wee shall finde that the maine breaches of our lives arise either frō false principles or doubts or mindlesnesse of those that are true All sin is a turning of the soul from God to some other seeming good but this proceeds from a former turning of the soule from God by distrust As faith is the first returne of the soule to God so the first degree of departing from God is by infidelity and from thence comes a departure by other sins by which as sinne is of a winding nature our unbeliefe more increaseth and so the rent and breach betwixt our soules and God is made greater still which is that Sathan would have till at length by departing further and further from him wee come to have that peremptory sentence of everlasting departure pronounced against us so that our departure from God now is a degree to separation for ever from him Therefore it is Sathans maine care to come betweene God and the Soule that so unloosing us from God wee might more easily be drawne to other things and if he drawes us to other things it is but onely to unloose our hearts from God the more for hee well knowes whilest our soules cleave close to God there is no prevailing against us by any created policy or power It was the cursed policy of Balaam to advise Balak to draw the people from God by fornication that so GOD might be drawne from them the sinne of their base affections crept into the very spirits of their minde and drew them from God to Idolatry Bodily adultery makes way for spirituall An unbeleeving heart is an ill heart and a treacherous heart because it makes us to depart from God the living God c. Therefore wee should especially take heed of it as wee love our lives yea our best life which ariseth from the union of our soules with God None so opposed as a Christian and in a Christian nothing so opposed as his faith because it opposeth whatsoever opposes God both within and without us it captivates and brings under whatsoever rises up against GOD in the heart and sets it selfe against whatsoever makes head against the soule And because mistake is very dangerous and wee are prone to conceive that to trust in God is an easie matter therefore it is needfull that we should have a right conceit of this trust what it is and how it may be discerned lest we trust to an untrusty trust and to an unsteady stay We may by what hath been said before partly discerne the nature of it to be nothing else but an exercise of faith whereby looking to God in Christ through the promises wee take off our soules from all other supports and lay them upon God for deliverance and upholding in all ill present or future felt or feared and the obtaining of all good which GOD sees expedient for us Now that we may discerne the truth of our trust in God the better wee must know that true trust is willing to be tryed and searched and can say to God as David Now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee and as it is willing to come to tryall so it is able to endure tryall and to hold out in opposition as appeares in David If faith hath a promise it will rely and rest upon it say flesh and bloud what it can to the contrary true faith is as large as the promise and will take Gods part against whatsoever opposes it And as faith singles not out one part of divine truth to beleeve and rejects another so it relyes upon God for every good thing one as well as another the ground whereof is this The same love of God that intends us heaven intends us a supply of all necessaries that may bring us thither A child that beleeves his father will make him Heire doubts not but he will provide him food and nourishment and give him breeding sutable to his future condition It is a vaine pretence to beleeve that God will give us heaven and yet leave us to shift for our selves in the way Where trust is rightly planted it gives boldnesse to the soule in going to God for it is grounded upon the discovery of Gods love first to us and seeth a warrant from him for whatsoever it trusts him for though the things themselves be never so great yet they are no greater then God is willing to bestow againe trust is bold because it is grounded upon the worthinesse of a Mediator who hath made way to Gods favour for us and appeares now in heaven to maintain it towards us Yet this boldnesse is with humility which carryes the soule out of it selfe and that boldnesse which the soule by trust hath with God is from God himself it hath nothing to alleadge from it selfe but its owne emptinesse and Gods fulnesse it s owne sinfulnesse and Gods mercy it s owne humble obedience and Gods command hence it is that the true beleevers heart is not lifted up nor swells with selfe confidence as trust comes in that goes out trust is never planted and growes but in an humble and low soule trust is a holy motion of the soule to God and motion arises from want those and those only seek out abroad that want succour at home Plants move not from place to place because they finde nourishment where they stand but living creatures seeke abroad for their food and for that end have a power of mooving from place to place and this is the reason why trust is expressed by going to God Hereupon trust is a dependant grace answerable to our dependant condition
devices turned upon their owne heads will more torment them In this case it will much comfort to goe into the Sanctuary for there wee shall be able to say Yet God is good to 〈◊〉 God hath an Arke for his there is no condition so ill but there is Balme in Gilead comfort in Israel The depths â—…f misery are never beyond the depths of mercy God oft for this very end strips his Church of all helpes below that it may onely rely upon him and that it may appeare that the Church is ruled by an higher power then it is opposed by And then is the time when we may exâ—…ct great deliverances of the Church when there is a great faith in the great God From all that hath beene said wee see that the only way to quiet the soul is to lay a charge upon it to trust God â—…d that unquietnesse and impatiency me symtomes and discoveries of an unâ—… leeving heart CHAP. XXVI Of divine reasons in a beleever Of his minding to praise God more then to bee delivered TO goe on I shall yet praise him In these words David expresseth the reasons and grounds of his trust namely from the interest hee had in God by experience and speciall covenant wherein in generall we may observe that those who truly trust in God labour to back their faith with sound arguments faith is an understanding grace it knowes whom it trusts and for what and upon what grounds it trusts Reason of it selfe cannot finde what we should beleeve yet when God hath discovered the same faith tells us there is great reason to beleeve it faith useth reason though not as a ground yet as a sanctified instrument to finde out Gods grounds that it may rely upon them He beleeves best that knowes best why hee should beleeve Confidence and love and other affections of the soule though they have no reason grafted in them yet thus farre they are reasonable as that they are in a wise man raised up guided and laid downe with reason or else men were neither to be blamed nor praised for ordering their affections a right whereas not only civill vertue but grace it selfe is especially conversant in ruling the affections by sanctified reason The soule guides the will and affections otherwise then it doth the outward members of the body It swayes the affections of confidence love joy c. as a Prince doth his wiser subjects and as Counsellors doe a well ordered State 〈◊〉 ministring reasons to them but the â—…le governes the outward members by command as a master doth a slave â—…his will is enough The hand and foot â—…ve upon command without regarding any reason but wee will not trust 〈◊〉 rejoyce in God without reason or a 〈◊〉 of reason at the least Sinne it selfe never wanted a reason 〈◊〉 as it is but we call it unreasonable â—…use it hath no good reason for it for reason being a beame of God cannot strengthen any worke of darknesse God having made man an understanding creature guides him by a way sutable to such a condition and that is the reason why God in mercy yeelds so far to us in his word as to give us so many reasons of our affiance in him What is encouragement and comfort but a demonstration to us of greater reasons to raise us up then there are to cast us downe Davids reasons here are drawne partly from some promise of deliverance and partly from Gods nature and dealing with him whom as he had formerly found an healing a saving God so he expects to finde him still and partly from the covenant of grace hee is my God The chiefe of his reasons are fetched from God what he is in himselfe and what hee is and will be to his children and what to him in particular though godly men have reasons for their trst yet those reasons be divine and spirituall as faith it selfe is for as naturally as beames come from the Sunne and branches from the roote even so by divine discourse one truth issueth from another And as the beames and the Sunne as the roote and branches are all of one nature so the grounds of comfortable truths and reasons taken from those grounds are both of same divinity and authority though in time of temptation discourse is oft so troubled that it cannot see how one truth riseth from another this is one priviledge of heaven that our knowledge there shall not be so much discoursive proving one thing by another as definitive seeing things in their grounds with a more present view the soule being then raised and enlarged to a present conceiving of things and there being no flesh and blood in us to raise objections that must be satisfied with reasoning Sometimes in a clearer state of the soule faith hath not so much use of reasons but upon neere and sweet communion with God and by reason of some likenesse betweene the soule that hath a divine nature stamped upon it and God it presently without any long discourse runneth to God as it were by a supernaturall instinct as by a naturall instinct a childe runneth to his Father in any distresse Yea and from that common light of nature which discovereth there is a God even naturall men in extremities will runne to God and God as the Author of nature will sometimes heare them as he doth the yong Ravens that cry unto him but comfortably and with assurance onely those have a familiar recourse unto him that have a sanctified sutable disposition unto God as being well acquainted with him Sometimes againe faith is put to it to use reasons to strengthen it selfe and therefore the soule studieth arguments to help it selfe by either from inward store laid up in the soule or else it hearkeneth and yeelds to reasons suggested by others and there is no gracious heart but hath a frame sutable and agreeable to any holy and comfortable truth that shall be brought and enforced upon it there is something in his spirit that answers what ever comes from the spirit of God though perhaps it never heard of it before yet it presently claimes kindred of it as comming from the same blessed Spring the â—…ly Spirit and therefore a gracious heart sooner takes comfort then another as being prepared to close with it The reasons here brought by David are not so much arguments to convince his judgement as motives and inducements to encline his will to trust in God for trusting being a holy relying upon God carieth especially the will to him now the will is led with the goodnesse of things as the understanding is led with truth the heart must be sweetned with consideration of love and mercy in him whom we trust as well as convinced of his ability to doe us good the cords that draw the heart to trust are the cords of love and the cords of love are especially the love of him to us whom we love and therefore the most prevailing reasons that
for God delights to have his will of those that are wedded to their owne wils as in Pharaob No men more subject to discontentments then those who would have all things after their owne way Againe one maine ground is False reasoning and errour in our discourse as that wee have no grace when wee feele none feeling is not alwayes a fit rule to judge our states by that God hath rejected us because we are crossed in outward things when as this issues from Gods wisdome and love How many imagine their failings to be fallings and their fallings to be fallings away Infirmities to be Presumptions every sinne against Conscience to be the sinne against the Holy Ghostâ—… unto which misapprehensions weake and dark spirits are subject And Satan as a cunning Rhetorician here inlargeth the fancy to apprehend things bigger then they are Satan abuseth confident spirits another contrary way to apprehend great sinnes as little and little as none Some also thinke that they have no grace because they have not so much as growen Christians whereas there bee severall ages in Christ. Some againe are so desirous and inlarged after what they have not that they minde not what they have Men may be rich though they have not millions and be not Emperors Likewise some are much troubled because they proceed by a false method and order in judging of their estates They will begin with Election which is the highest step of the ladder whereas they should begin from 〈◊〉 work of grace wrought within theiâ—… hearts from Gods calling them by hiâ—… spirit and their answer to his call and so raise themselves upwards to know their Election by their answer to God calling Give all diligence saith Peter to make your calling and election sure your election by your calling God descends downe unto us from election to calling and so to sanctification wee must ascend to him beginning where he ends Otherwise it is as great folly as in removing of a pile of wood to begin at the lowest first and so besides the needlesse trouble to be in danger to have the rest fall upon our heads Which besides ignorance argues pride appearing in this that they would bring God to their conceits and be at an end of their worke before they beginne This great secret of Gods eternall love to us in Christ is hidden in his breast and doth not appeare to us un till in the use of meanes God by his spirit discovereth the same unto us The spirit letteth into the soule so much life and sense of Gods love in particular to us as draweth the soule to Christ from whom it draweth so much vertue as changeth the frame of it and quickneth it to duty which duties are not grounds of our state in grace but issues springing from a good state before and thus farre they helpe us in judging of our condition that thougâ—… they bee not to bee rested in yet aâ—… streames they lead us to the spring head of grace from whence they arise And of signes some be more apt to deceive us as being not so certaine as delight and joy in hearing the word as appeareth in the third ground some are more constant and certaine as love to those that are truly good and to all such and because they are such c. these as they are wrought by the spirit so the same spirit giveth evidence to the soule of the truth of them and leadeth us to faith from whence they come and faith leads us to the discovery of Gods love made knowne to us inhearing the word opened The same spirit openeth the truth to us and our understandings to conceive of it and our hearts to cloze with it by faith not only as a truth but as a truth belonging to us Now this faith is manifested either by it selfe reflecting upon it selfe the light of faith discovering both it selfe and other things or by the cause of it or by the effect or by all Faith is oft more knowne to us in the fruit of it then in it selfe as in plants the fruits are more apparant then the sappe and roote But the most setled knowledge is from the cause as when I know I beleeve because in hearing Gods gracious promises opened and offered unto me the spirit of God caryeth my soule to cleave to them as mine owne portion Yet the most familiar way of knowledge of our estates is from the effects to gather the cause the cause being oftentimes more remote and spirituall the effects more obvious and visible All the vigour and beauty in nature which we see comes from a secret influence from the heavens which we see not In a cleare morning we may see the beames of the Sun shining upon the top of hils and houses before wee can see the Sun it selfe Things in the working of them doe issue from the cause by whose force they had their being but our knowing of things ariseth from the effect where the cause endeth wee know God must love us before wee can love him and yet we oft first know that we love him the love of God is the cause why wee love our brother and yet we know we love our brother whom we see more clearly then God whom we doe not see It is a spirituall peevishnesse that keepes men in a perplexed condition that they neglect these helps to judge of their estates by whereas God takes liberty to help us sometime to a discovery of our estate by the effects sometimes by the cause c. And it is a sin to set light by any work of the spirit and the comfort we might have by it and therefore we may well adde this aâ—… one cause of disquietnesse in many that they grieve the spirit by quarrelling against themselves and the work of the spirit in them Another cause of disquiet is thâ—… men by a naturall kinde of Popery feâ—… for their comfort too much in sanctification neglecting justification relyinâ—… too much upon their own performances Saint Paul was of another minde accounting all but dung and drosse compared to the righteousnesse of Christ. This is that garment wherewith being deeked we please our husband and wherein we get the blessing This giveth satisfaction to the conscience as satisfying God himselfe being performed by God the Sonne and approved therefore by God the Father Hereupon the soule is quieted and faith holdeth out this as a shield against the displeasure of God and temptations of Satan why did the Apostles in their Prefaces joyne grace and peace together but that we should seek for our peace in the free grace and favour of God in Christ. No wonder why Papists maintaine doubting who hold salvation by workes because Satan joyning together with our consciences will alwayes finde some flaw even in our best performances Hereupon the doubting and misgiving soule comes to make this absurd demand as Who shall ascend to heaven which is all one
conceits of things and then we cannot be very much cast downe with any thing befalls us here Therefore when any thing is presented to our soules which wee see is ready to worke upon us wee should aske of our selves upon what ground wee entertaine such a conceit whether we shall have the same judgement after we have yeelded to it as now wee have and whether wee will have the same judgement of it in sicknesse and death and at the day of reckoning as we have for the present That which is of it selfe evill is alwayes so at one time as well as another if the time will come when wee shall thinke those things to be vaine which now we are so eagerly set upon as if there were some great good in them Why should wee not thinke so of them now when as the reforming of our judgement may doe us good rather then to be led on with a pleasing error untill that time wherein the sight of our error will fill our hearts with horror and shame without hope of ever changing our condition Here therefore is a speciall use of these Soliloquies to awake the soule and to stirre up reason cast asleepe by Sathans charmes that so scattering the clouds through which things seeme otherwise then they are wee may discerne and judge of things according to their true and constant nature Demand of thy soule Shall I alwayes bee of this minde Will not the time come when this will prove bitternesse in the end Shall I redeeme a short contentment with lasting sorrow Is my judge of my minde Will not a time come when all things shall appeare as they are Is this according to the rule c To conclude therfore whereas there be divers principles of mens actions as 1. naturall inclination inclining us to some courses more then others 2. custome which is another nature in us 3. imagination apprehending things upon shallow grounds from whence springs affectation whereby wee desire glory in things above our own strength and measure and make shew of that the truth whereof is wanting in us 4. true judgement discerning the true reasons of things 5. Faith which is a spirituall principle planted in the soule apprehending things above reason and raising us up to conceive of all things as GOD hath discovered them Now a sound Christian should not bee lightly led with those first common grounds of naturall inclination custome opinion c. but by judgement inlightned advanced and guided by faith And wee must take heed we suffer not things to passe suddenly from imagination to affection without asking advice of our judgement and faith in the way whose office is to weigh things in Gods ballance and therupon to accept or refuse them CAP. XIV Of help by others Of true comforters and their graces Method Ill successe §. 1. BVt because we are subject to favour and flatter our selves it is wisedome to take the benefit of a second selfe that is a well chosen friend living or dead books I meane which wil speak truly without flattery of our estates A friend is made for the time of Adversity and two are better than one for by this meanes our troubles are divided and so more easily borne The very presence of a true hearted friend yeelds often ease to our griefe Of all friends those that by office are to speake a word to a weary soule are most to be regarded as speaking to us in Christs stead Oftentimes especially in our owne case wee are blinded and benighted with passion and then the judgement of a friend is clearer Living friends have a three-fold priviledge 1 their advice is sutable and fit to our present occasion they can meet with our grievance so cannot bookes so wel 2 what comes from a living friend comes lively as helped by his spirit 3 in regard of our selves what they say is apprehended with more ease and lesse plodding and bent of minde There is scarce any thing wherein we see God more in favour towards us then in our friends and their seasonable speeches our hearts being naturally very false and willingly deceived God often gives us up to be mislead by men not according to his but our owne naughty hearts As men are such are their Counsellors for such they will have and such God lets them have Men whose wills are stronger then their wits who are wedded to their owne wayes are more pleased to heare that which complies with their inclinations then a harsh trueth which crosses them this presages ruine because they are not counsellable wherefore GOD suffers them to bee ledde through a fooles paradise to a true prison as men that will neither heare themselves nor others who would doe them good against their wills It was a signe God would destroy Elies sonnes when they would heare no counsell God fills such men with their owne wayes Men in great place often in the abundance of all things else want the benefit of a true friend because under pretence of service of them men carry their owne ends as they flatter themselves so they are flattered by others and so robbed of the true judgement of themselves Of all spirituall judgements this is the heaviest for men to be given up to such a measure of selfewillnesse and to refuse spirituall balâ—… to heale them usually such perish without remedy because to be wilfully miserable is to bee doubly miserable for it addes to our misery that wee brought it willingly upon our selves It is a course that will have a blessing attending it for friends to joine in league one to watch over another and observe each others wayes It is an usuall course for Christians to joyne together in other holy duties as hearing receiving of the Sacrament prayer c. but this fruit of holy communion which ariseth from a mutuall observing one another is much wanting whence it is that so many droope so many are so unchearfull in the wayes of God and lie groaning under the burden of many cares and are battered with so many temptations c. because they are left onely to their owne spirits What an unworthy thing is it that wee should pity a beast overloaden and yet take no pity of a brother whereas there is no living member of Christ but hath spirituall love infused into him and some ability to comfort others Dead stones in an Arch uphold one another and shall not living It is the worke of an Angell to comfort nay it is the office of the Holy Ghost to be a Comforter not onely immediately but by breathing comfort into our hearts together with the comfortable words of others thus one friend becomes an Angell nay a God to another and there is a sweet fight of God in the face of a friend for though the comfort given by Gods Messengers bee ordinarily most effectuall as the blessing of Parents who are in Gods roome is more effectuall than the
his very enemies the accomplishers of his owne will and so to bring about that which they oppose most Hence it is that we beleeve under hope against hope But wee must know Gods manner of guiding things is without prejudice of the proper working of the things themselves hee guideth them sweetly according to the instincts hee hath put into them for 1. He furnishes creatures with a vertue and power to worke and likewise with a manner of working sutable to their owne nature as it is proper for a man when he workes to worke with freedome and other creatures by naturall instinct c. 2. God maintaineth both the power and manner of working and perfecteth and accomplisheth the same by acting of it being neerer to us in all wee doe then we are to our selves 3. He applies and stirres up our abilities and actions to this or that particular as he seeth best 4. Hee suspends or removes the hinderances of all actions and so powerfully wisely and sweetly orders them to his owne ends When any evill is intended God either puts bars and letts to the execution of it or else limiteth and boundeth the same both in regard of time and measure so that our enemies either shall not doe the evill at all or else not so long a time or not in such a height of mischiefe as their malice would cary them to The rod of the wicked may light upon the backe of the righteous but it shall not rest there God knowes how to take our enemies off sometimes by changing or stopping their wills by offering considerations of some good or ill danger or profit to them sometimes by taking away and weakning all their strength or else by opposing an equall or greater strength against it All the strength our enemies have rests in God who if hee denies concourse and influence the arme of their power as Ieroboams when he stretcht it out against the Prophet shrinkes up presently God is not onely the cause of things and actions but the cause likewise of the cessation of them why they fall not out at all God is the cause why things are not as well as why they are The cause why men favour us not or when they doe favour us want present wisdome and ability to help us is from Gods withdrawing the concurrence of his light and strength from them If a skilfull Physitian doth us no good it is because it pleaseth God to hide the right way of curing at that time from him Which should move us to see God in all that befalls us who hath sufficient reason as to doe what he doth so not to doe what hee doth not to hinder as well as to give way The God of spirits hath an influence into the spirits of men into the principles and springs of all actions Otherwise he could not so certainely foretell things to come God had a worke in Absaloms heart in that he refused the best counsell there is nothing independant of him who is the mover of all things and himselfe unmoveable Nothing so high that is above his providence Nothing so low that is beneath it Nothing so large but is bounded by it Nothing so confused but God can order it Nothing so bad but he can draw good out of it Nothing so wisely plotted but God can disappoint it as Achitophells counsell Nothing so simply and unpolitiquely caried but hee can give a prevailing issue unto it Nothing so freely caried in regard of the next cause but God can make it necessary in regard of the event Nothing so naturall but he can suspend in regard of operation as heavy bodies from sinking fire from burning c. It cannot but bring strong security to the soule to know that in all variety of changes and intercourse of good and bad events God and Our God hath such a disposing hand Whatsoever befalls us all serves to bring Gods electing love and our glorification together Gods providence serveth his purpose to save us All sufferings all blessings all ordinanoes all graces all common gifts nay our very falls yea Sathan himselfe with all his instruments as over-mastered and ruled by God have this injunction upon them to further Gods good intendment to us and a prohibition to doe us no harme Augustus taxed the world for civill ends but Gods providence used this as a meanes for Christ to bee borne at Bethieem Ahashueresh could not sleepe and thereupon calls for the Chronicles the reading of which occasioned the Iewes delivery God oft disposeth little occasions to great purposes And by those very wayes whereby proud men have gone about to withstand Gods counsells they have fulfilled them as we see in the story of Ioseph and Moses in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them CAP. XVII Of Graces to be exercised in respect of divine Providence VVEE are under a providence that is above our own which should bee a ground unto us of exercising those graces that tend to settle the soule in all events As 1. Hence to lay our hand upon our mouthes and command the soule an holy silence not daring to yeeld to the least rising of our hearts against God I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because thou didst it saith David Thus Aaron when hee had lost his two sonnes both at once and that by fire and by fire from heaven which caried an evidence of Gods great displeasure with it yet held his peace In this silence and hope is our strength Flesh and blood is proane to expostulate with God and to question his dealing as we see in Gedeon Ieremie Asaph Habacuck and others If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us but after some strugling betweene the flesh and the spirit the conclusion will be yet howsoever matters goe God is good to Israel Where a fearefull spirit and a melancholy temper a weake judgement and a scrupulous and raw conscience meete in one there Sathan and his together with mens owne hearts which like Sophisters are continually cavilling against themselves breed much disquiet and makes the life uncomfortable Such therefore should have a speciall care as to grow in knowledge so to sticke close to sure and certaine grounds and bring their consciences to the rule Darknesse causeth feares The more light the more confidence When we yeeld up our selves to God we should resolve upon quietnesse and if the heart stirres presently use this check of David Why art thou disquieted Gods wayes seeme oft to us full of contradictions because his course is to bring things to passe by contrary meanes There is a mystery not onely in Gods decree concerning mans eternal estate but likewise in his providence as why he should deale unequally with men otherwise equall His judgements are a great depth which we cannot fadome but they will swallow up our thoughts and understandings God oft wraps himselfe in a cloude and