the lock we think may be there is some ward in the lock that is a little bent if that were mended it would do or the key is bent and rather then we wil throw it away we wil mend that may be I have bent some ward and a man wil reason al he can before he wil throw away the lock So when you have to deal with others that are of another opinion do not throw them away reason this way that way because there is much in ordering mens spirits in the communication of a truth unto them it is not alwaies the evidence of a truth that is sufficient to convince but the manner of presenting of the truth and that is the second reason of the difference of mens spirits Reason 3. The third reason is because that somtime the graces of men do not burne out so clearly and purely as they do at other times As in fire when you kindle a fire first there is a great deal of smoke and we see little brightness in the fire stay but a while and the smoak wil be consumed and the fire burne bright So in the graces of men and women sometime there is a great deal of corruption when grace is kindled at first a great deal of smother but grace continues and workes out that corruption and it burns more clearly So in the sun when it riseth in the morning it may be a great mist but when the sun is up a little while it consumes the mist and shines clearly So Children when they are young may be they have many il humors afterwards their natural strength consumes their humors and so they are more active and stirring so though the Godly have not that disposition of heart to do that for God they should yet when grace comes to burne more clearly they can do it Reason 4. Fourthly As grace is mixt at first so somtimes it is weak the parts and members not being consolidated and strengthened when an infant comes first into the world if you expose it to the cold it is not able to endure it which afterward it wil do when the Joynts are set and so young plants cannot endure that frost which they wil do afterwards And so Christians at first are as children carryed away with every wind of doctrine til afterward they come to be more strong and then they are fit for service As Christ would not have his disciples called to fasting and praying they were hard duties while they were weak he hath this expression no man puts new wine into old bottles nor sow a new peice of cloath into an old Garment for the bottles wil break and the garment wil rend in Math 9.16.17 The meaning is do not bring unsureable duties to mens spirits fasting and prayer is a duty but they are not strong enough for it yet noting when people grow strong they shal be fitter for duty service or suffering Reason 5. The fifth Reason is because somtimes our hearts are filled with more heavenly consolation then at other times that does refresh the souls of Gods people as with new wine that they can go forth as a Giant cal them to any duty and they can go through fire and water As for sin when a mans heart is warmed with sin and they have had delight and satisfaction in their sin come and speak what you wil against it and they can easily cast it off and so for duty when Gods people have been warmed by duty and their spirits are refreshed in Gods way with what resolution do they go and as that martyr Mr. Saunders sayd that which made the difference in him was because God was pleased to come in with such refreshments to his spirit that he felt the consolation of God not only upon his soul but flow into his body and that put a great deal of courage in him And in the stories that I have read of Scotland Mr. Knox reports of a young man of eighteen years of age that suffered martirdome under the Bishop of Glasgow and when he came to suffer he was mightily affraid and thought to have recanted and it pleased God that his spirit came in mightily to him at that time and he fell down on his knees and blest God Blessed Lord said he great is thy mercy to man kind and to me poor wretch that was like to forsake Christ my saviour and put my self into eternal damnation and now thou hast come with the consolation of Heaven and hast filled my heart and now I am freed from those fears that suppressed my soul let men do what they can I am ready And to God somtimes comes to fill the hearts of his people with mighty consolations and that makes a mighty difference Reason 6. The Sixth Reason is because sometimes the breathings of Gods spirit not only in consolation but in assistance comes more fully then at other times The spirit of God bloweth where it listeth and when it listeth John 3.8 Sometimes more fully somtimes more scantly Saies Christ in Math. 10.19 In that houre shal it be given you as Mr. Glover When he was in his dumps before yet when he was at the stake he cryed to his friend Austin he is come he is come And so it was with Sampson sometimes the miraculous work of Gods spirit came upon him and then he was strong and so in a spiritual way the spirit of God comes upon his people and then they are strong though they were weak before Isa 59.19 When the enemy shal come in like a flood the spirit of the Lord shal lift up a standard against him So when there comes a strong temptation like a flood that would bear him down then the spirit of the Lord shal lift up a standard and come in with abundance of assistance Reason 7. The seventh Reason is because somtimes a man sees his call to dutie to suffering a great deal more clear then at other times and that puts a great deal more strength As Moses now saw a further call to stand out against Pharoah and all his enemies and here is a great deal of deceit in the hearts of men when a man is loath to put himself to trouble he cannot be convinced of his call let us take heed of the deceit in this Question What shall we doe to take heed of the deceit in this Answer 1. When there is any work to doe either in doing or suffering hard things If you say I do not see the Lord call me Put it to your hearts againe and say deal truly and really with me doe you not see the Lords call Secondly observe this rule if so be you have put off service or suffering upon this ground do but examine whether you find upon this that your hearts be as stiring and lively in all other services as before Usually if men from sluggishness because they are loath to endure hardships shall put off the call of God their hearts wil fal more dead
but howsoever it ought to be the care of all Gods people to be obedient to authority in what they can And in the last place If authority should deal never so hardly with you take heed you have no thoughts of revenge but commit your cause to God and requite good for evil and pray for those that persecute you And these directions being premised you see how far you are to fear the wrath of the King and the displeasure of al that are in place above you CHAP. 6. The Point prosecuted more strictly BUt now we come to the point more strictly After you have observed these rules and made use of these directions you are to go on in your way resolutely and comfortably and cheerefully whatsoever falls out not to baulk your way at all in the least degree that God requires at your hands but to go on without feare The Scripture saith concerning a righteous man In Prov. 28.1 He is as bold as a Lion if a man know he is in the way of God he is to go on boldly like a Lion and in Prov. 30.30 not to turne out of his way for feare of any creature We find in scripture how the Godly are commended for their resoluteness and courage of spirit that they would not fear man and the creature As those three Prophets in 1 Kings 18.17.18 Elijah Elisha and Micaiah When Elijah met Ahab Saies he Art thou he that troublest Israel No saith he it is thou and thy fathers house And so Elisha when those three Kings came down to him the King of Israel and Jehosophat and the King of Edom saies he 2 Kings 3.14 Were it not that I regard the presence of of Jehoshaphat King of Judah I would not look towards thee nor see thee And so Micaiah when they would have had him prophesie good things sayes he 1 Kings 22.14 What the Lord sayth unto me that wil I speak I might give you many instances in Job and David of their courage not fearing the wrath of man Job hath a notable expression Job 31.34 Did I feare a multitude or did the contempt of families terrifie mee that I kept silence and went not out of the door he was not affraid though he lived amongst those that were vile and wicked And great courage you have in David in Psal 23. and others Though he walked in the shadow of death and whatsoever befel him he would not be affraid And so the Church of God sayth in Psal 46.2.3.4 verses Therefore we wil not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountaines be carried into the middest of the Sea Though the waters thereof roare and be troubled though the Mountaines shake with the swelling thereof There is a river the Streams whereof shal make glad the City of our God We enjoy the ordinances of God and we wil not fear though there are such tumults abroad in the world And so that which is said concerning Jeremiah in Chap. 15.12 Shall iron breake the Northern Iron and the steele though they were as Iron that reasoned a-against Jeremiah yet Jeremiah was to be as steel when Iron Strikes against Steel It doth not break it but brighten it and so al the opposition that Jeremiah had from all the great ones was but as the striking of Iron against Steel it did not break his spirit but brighten it And that of the three Children in Dan. 3.16 Shews the magnanimous spirit that they had We are not careful to answer thee in this matter And so that speech of Saint Paul Acts 21.13 What meane you to weep and break my heart for I am ready not to be bound only but to dy at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus And so many expressions we have of the Martyrs in the Primitive times Justin Martyr making his apologie for the Christians to Antonius Pius saith he we do not speak to dissemble to you but for our own right we can be hurt by no man you can kill us but not hurt us if you like mad men will observe the customs of men before the truths of God do then we wil not I do not name every speech of those servants of God as imitable because we do not know what spirits they were carried on with but to shew the strength of their spirits And so that of Ambrose speaking to the Emperor do not lift up thy self O Emperor if so be you would rule be subject to God And so Odosius that was a good man when he had been crossed with the people of Thessalonica he caused many of them to be murdered upon that Ambrose refused to give him the Sacrament though he came to the Temple door and desired it of him and fell down upon the ground yet Ambrose stood and resisted him till there was through repentance manifested to the Church And so Chrisostome The Emperess Eudoxia had taken by wrong the vineyard of another Chrisostome forbad her the Communion And likewise Basil he writ to Julian the Apostate Crâ—tainly if you understood what we writ you would not oppose that we writ But saith he when I consider the dignity and crown you have and the use you make of them I tremble for they are for your honor but they make you more dishonorable And Julian meeting Pagmelius saith he I thank God I see you and when he replyed you cannot see saith he I thank God I can not see you are an Apostate And that is a notable speech of Luther when he was to go to Worms to answer for his faith saith hee though al the tiles of the houses of worms were Devils yet I would go And so divers women that were weak in regard of their sex yet when faith came what abundance of courage had they And thus you see by many examples both out of scripture and likewise out of Ecclesiastical histories the magnanimous spirits of Beleevers That we are to do now is to open the point in these three particulars First to shew Wherein lieth the power of faith to help against the sinful feare of authority and of man or any other creature Secondly to shew The difference between audaciousness of spirit and that courage which proceeds from faith Thirdly Though we are not sinfully to fear man yet to shew how far we may lawfully fear him CHAP. 7. How Faith helpeth against the fear of man Opened in fifteen particulars First wherein lieth the power of faith to help aaginst the fear of man Much hath been said concerning the power of faith to help against sufferings but now we have divers things to say concerning the power of faith in helping against the feare of man First Wheresoever faith is it putts the Beleever into a very secure and safe condition making sure of the safety of the Soul and that the termes between God and it are good and by that meanes it delivers the soul from being transported by feare There is nothing can secure the soul that the termes between
walk as they may say these people that make conscience of their waies surely they did come for conscience sake Their ways are according to that they profess We have a notable expression of some that came from another country for religion and yet walked so offensively as the name of God suffered much by them that the heathen said These are the people of the Lord and are gone forth out of his land Ezekiel 36.20 we dare not say we are among heathens but when they were among heathens they prophaned my holy name says God and so many Fleeing from their own Country profane the name of God in another Country that give occasion to the people among whom they are Fled to say look here are some that are gone from their own Land that profess themselves to be the people of the Lord and to Flee for religion look what kind of people they are thus Gods name is profaned let us take heed that we give no such occasion to the people with whom we live to say these are the people of the Lord that are Fled for religion 3. We should be careful to behave our selves as those that are Fled for religion as exiled people to be mortified to the things of the world and to be content with any condition that God shal cal us unto shal we repine when we meet with any trouble that were an argument we had too too delicate spirits when we Flee from great danger and yet think we should meet with no trouble at all 4. When we are Fled we should labor to get our spirits into a contented frame and walk in subjection unto God and give God praise as if we were in the greatest prosperity that we could have been in in our own Country we should not have our hearts dulled with any inconveniency but keep up our spirits free in the service of God It is a notable expression we have of David if you compare two Psalms together Psal 57. with the 108. and the 57. Psal was when he Fled from Saul and was in the care but mark how Davids spirit was kept up he was not dulled and stupified as many are that come from delicate houses and are faine to live in Sellars and blind holes their hearts begin to rise Oh! the fresh aire and brave living that once they had David was so and yet his heart was kept up In the shadow of thy wings wil I make my refuge a poor dark hole he was in and he counted that dark hole the shadow of Gods wings againe I wil cry to God most high though I be brought low and meane I have an interest in this high God and wil cry to that high God unto God that performeth al things Had God performed al things for David God promised David the kingdome and David is brought into a poor hole to shift for his life and yet David sayes he wil cry unto God that performeth all things for him He shal send from Heaven and save me though I be in this blind place the God of heaven regards me and shal send from heaven to save me vers 5. Be thou exalted above the heavens let thy glory be above al the earths vers 7. My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise al this was when he was in the Cave if you compare this with Psal 108. which was a Psalm of thanksgiving and rejoycing that he made upon his deliverance and the same expression that David had within the cave the same expressions he had when God had fulfilled his promises and he was Blessing his name for his great deliverance noting thus much look what temper of heart we should have in the enjoyment of the greatest mercies we should labor to have that temper of heart in our submissions unto God when we are Fled from danger 5. Again let it be our care when we are delivered from the danger that we apprehended our selves to be in to keep our selves in the fervency of our hearts and spirits for God and in the fervency of our love unto God and his truth as we had in danger Many when they are in danger of their enemies and afraid of them their hearts are in a great deal of fervency and zeal for God and his truth and if they can get a few together to fast and pray or hear a Sermon repeated how do they rejoyce but when they are in safety their hearts are dead and Flat and if they meet together to pray or to commune about the word their spirits are not so fervent as before the Lord keep this from us 6. Again let us labor to do al the good we can to the place which we are Fled from by our prayers or any other way we can as the people of God when they were from their own country yet they would remember Jerusalem so ought we to do for we are much bound to God for it in regard of the good we have received in it 7. Lastly let us labor to make that hiding place that God provides for us to deliver us from danger to be but a preparing place for greater danger let us not think because we have avoided some danger and are in some safety that al is well but this should be our care that those places that are our hiding places to hide us from some danger should be our preparing places for greater dangers afterwards and thus using these directions we shal honor God in our Fleeing and shal not have cause to repent us And thus we have done with that argument the answering the case of conscience about Fleeing CHAP. 13. How the Heart may be taken off from the fear of man First it is against the solemn charge of God Secondly It is an Idolizing of the Creature Thirdly It becomes not the State and Spirit and profession of a Christian Fourthly It dishonors God and the Cause of God Fifthly It mightily heartens the enemies of Gods people Sixthly It is threatned as a great judgment of God upon a people Seventhly The evil effects of the sinful feare of man 1. It distracts our thoughts 2. Weakens the heart 3. Eates out the true feare of God 4. It indisposeth us to any service 5. Insnares a Christian 6. It causeth other desperate fears 7. Procures the judgment of God in our destruction A VVord of Exhortation How the heart may be taken off from the fear of man There are two things that yet remain in this point namely to labor to take off the heart from the fear of man or any danger by shewing the evil that there is in the sinful fearing of man or of any danger that may befal us Secondly by laying down some means to bring off the heart from creature fear First A Christian must take heed of sinful fear of man and not to fear any creature in an inordinate sinful way for there is much evil in it more than we are aware of 1. In
the First place It is that which is against so many solemn charges of God whereby he charges his people against this to take heed of it as a thing that would be exceeding displeasing in his eyes I scarce know any thing in scripture that God doth in a more solemn way charge his people to take heed of then this as that place In Deut. 20.3 Mark what several words God hath let not your hearts faint fear not do not tremble neither be terrified and so in Isa 41.13.14 Fear not I wil help thee fear not thou worme Jacob though thou thinkest thy self a worme fear not and so he goes on in that chapter useing many arguments and giving many cavaets against fear So in Matth. 10. in a few verses you have two or three several expressions against fear vers 26. Fear them not therefore in vers 28. Fear not them that kill the body and in vers 31. Fear ye not therefore this shews our natures are subject to sinful fear we are dul enough to the true fear of God but to the feare of man our natures are exceeding prone now that which is against so many solemn charges of God that must needs be a very great evil Secondly The fear of man and of the creature is an Idolizing the creature giving that to the creature which is due to God and as we set up the creature in the place of God by loving it desiring it trusting in it and rejoycing in it in an inordinate way so by fearing it yea fearing of it in a sinful way inordinately not in subordination to God is an Idolizing the creature in a special manner because the affection of fear is a mighty powerful affection and darws the Heart mightily after it and therefore God gives great charge that he himself should only be feared in Isaiah 8.13 Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread So that to fear the creature sinfully is contrary to the sanctifying of Gods name and against the special worship that God challengeth to himselfe and therefore in vers 12. He would take off their hearts from the fear of man and the fear of the creature Say ye not a confederacy to al them to whom this people shal say a confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid The fear of God is put for the whole worship of God for one to say I fear the Lord and worship the Lord is all one They are taught my fear by the precepts of men they are taught my worship Isaac was sayed to fear the name of God because the special worship that Isaac tendered to God was the fear of his name and if the fear of Gods name be such a special part of Gods worship for this to be Given to the creature not in a way of subordination to God that is a great evil Thirdly In the third place it is that which is exceeding unbeseeming the estate and spirit and profession of a Christian 1. It is unbeseeming the Estate of a Christian What is the estate of a Christian It is a raysed estate higher than the estate of the world but this makes their estates low for it subjects them to the Iusts and humors of men we need not fear what man can do when he walketh not by the rule and when he abuseth his power it is his lust and when we fear sinfully we subject our selves to the lusts of men and it is against the raised estate of a Christian to subject himself to the lust of any man in the world we must be subject unto the power of man according to Gods rule but be subject unto the lusts of no man though it were the greatest Monarch in the world The estate of a Christian is a rich and established estate but this fear makes it uncertaine as if he had nothing to rest upon The estate of a Christian hath many priveledges but this makes it seem as if there were no good to make up the least evil The estate of a Christian is such as all the attributes of God work for it the power and wisdom and mercy and truth of God But this sinful fear shews as if we had nothing to help us in our straights and distresses The estate of a Christian is such as must make account of a great deal of trouble in his way but this sinful fear shews as if we promised to our selves nothing but ease and contentment to the flesh The estate of a Christian is such as hath gone through a great many fears before other manner of fears than the Creature can cause the feare of the wrath of God and the stroake of Justice and the Curse of the Law but this sinful feare makes it seem as if we had never been acquainted with such fear It is unbeseeming the spirit of a Christian 2 Tim. 1.7 We have not received the spirit of fear that is unbeseeming a Christian The spirit of a Christian is a raised spirit this is a low spirit The spirit of a Christian is strong this is a weak effeminate spirit The spirit of a Christian is raised upon high principles this is from base principles The spirit of a Christian is an ingenious spirit this is a mean spirit discouraged upon every little danger The spirit of a Christian is ful of love this is ful of Jealousy The spirit of a Christian is a Clean spirit this is a polluted spirit conscious to it self of abundance of evil Thirdly It is unbeseeming the profession of a Christian a Christian doth make profession of special interest that he hath in God and in the Covenant of Grace and the promises of the Gospel and to be daunted with every little fear is quite cross to this And therefore that 's observable of Ezra Ezra 8.22 When he had made profession of Gods being with them he was ashamed to aske of the King a band of Souldiers he was ashamed to do any thing to shew that they feared the enemy and so when a Christian shal profess interest in God yet have such base sinful fear this is mightily against the profession of a true Christian Fourthly A sinful fear is that which much dishonors God and his Cause a great dishonor it is to God to have his people so affraid of every danger it is a dishonor to his power his truth his faithfulness and his care over his people It is a dishonor to God and so in that respect it is contrary to the sanctifying of Gods name and therefore you shal observe where the Lord chargeth his people with sinful fear he charges them also that they did not remember him Isa 57.11 Of whom hast thou been affraid or feared t hat thou hast lyed and hast not remembred me where there is sinful fear it takes off the heart from God as if there were no God in heaven to help a Christian Therefore it was Nehemiah in Nehemiah 6.8 Would not be affraid
Pilates hand And so Nicodemus he was convinced that Christ was a great prophet of God and much Good might be got by him but he was affraid of the Jews and came to Christ by night afterward he went with Joseph to begg the body of Christ and appeared publickly for Christ and so Paul there was a time when he was let down in a basket for fear and he shifted for his life that way but afterwards what abundance of courage had he And so in after times many of the martyrs sometime what mighty feare was upon them and afterwards what strength and courage had they As Bilney thar blessed Martyr as Latimer speaks of him he was in greivous perplexity that those that came to apply any promises to him did as it were strick daggers to his heart afterwards he suffred a glorious martyrdome and had abundance of Courage as may be read in his story And so Saunders when Doctor Pendleton came to him to strengthen him says he will you that have put your hand to the plow now give in and you that have left Antichrist wil you now follow him Saunders could not but have much fear that he should forsake Christ but so it fell out that Pendleton fell off shamefully and Mr. Saunders suffered and had abundance of Comfort and Courage And so Mr. Glover when he was in prison after he was condemned he had much fear and a spirit of heaviness yea the morning that he was called out to the stake he was troubled with doubtings till he came to the sight of the stake and then he had abundance of courage and Joy These are the examples but now the reasons Reason 1. The first Reason of the Differences of the spirits of Gods Servants is from the different disposition that their hearts are in for their receiving of the truths of God at some time from that they are at othertimes that it is even to admiration sometimes to consider that such a truth that there is but a hint of it Given at one time shal have such power upon their hearts as shal mightily prevail with them they shal easily entertaine it and easily be convinced by it and overpowred with it at another time when there are strong arguments to bring the truth a great deal more powerfully and fully to the heart it vanisheh and comes to little we use to say Whatsoever we receive is received according to the disposition of the receiver what is the reason why people in the time of sickness are ready to heare of any truth and ready to be convinced of it and no wranglings and objections against it If God come in their prosperity and health with the same truthes they are nothing to them but wrangle and object against them and wil not yeild and be convinced The truth is the same but the difference is in the disposition of the receiver And so in regard of the temptation to sin sometime when a temptation to sin is presented the heart presently closes with it without examining at other times through Gods mercy when temptation comes it doth not so easily take but a mans heart wil stand out against it sometimes a mans heart is to the temptation as tinder to the fire every spark wil take hold at other times the heart is as the three children though they walke in firy temptations their hearts have not so much as the favour of them There are three things that do cause the difference in the disposition of heart for receiving a truth of God or receiving a temptation to sin First The abating of the strength of that which is opposite unto any truth or unto any temptation when as a truth comes to a man there is in every mans heart somthing opposite to that truth now if the strength of that which is opposite be abated that it doe not stir the truth prevailes whith a great deale of strength but if that which is opposite to a truth be working and stirring at such a time when they truth comes then though it comes a great deal more strongly it cannot prevaile And so if temptation comes and the principle that is opposite to that temptation be stirring at that time a man can prevaile against it but if a man have some principle of grace and that ly dead when the temptation comes then a great deal less temptation prevailes Secondly That which makes a difference in the dispositions of the spirits of men for receiving a truth or receiving a temptation is the stirring or activeness of those habits that are sutable to a truth or unto a temptation when there comes a truth presented to a man that cals for duties service or suffering if a man have principles sutable to the duty and these principles be now stirring then he can close with that truth and it prevailes powerfully And so for sin if a man have seeds and habits of sin and temptation come when these seeds and habits are stirring then he closeth with it presently Thirdly But the especial thing that makes the disposition of a man to receive a truth or a temptation different at one time from that it is at another is when self is engaged in a business As now take it in person or opinion Suppose there is such a man or woman that I am any way ingaged to and serve my turn in in any thing that is spoken for them or their commendation I am ready to imbrace it but suppose this man or woman do not serve my turn but the ingagement is broke then I beleeve the least evil that is spoken against them when as I would not have beleeved ten times as much before not that there is more in them then before but only the frame and disposition of my heart towards them is otherwise then before And so in opinion If a man hold an opinion upon which there follows some consequents that he did not see before after he hath held this opinon upon which such consequents will follow he seekes with all his might to maintaine it not because the consequents are true but because it is his opinion that he holds Come to a man that is ignorant which holds an opinion and tel him nakedly the consequents that will follow upon that opinion he holds without any reference to that opinion and he is mightily against them but come another time and seeke to draw those consequents from that opinion which he holds and he seek to maintaine them which he would not do but for that ingagement he hath unto that opinion but when a gracious heart finds this that al ingagements to men and the world and selfe are broken and he gives himself to be ingaged wholy in God al that was self before in his credit and liberty and estate and ease and comfort is put upon the name of God the praise of God the furthering the truth of God and his Gospel then any truth of God that comes to the soule at this time
it prevailes mightily because the heart is ingaged in God and his truth and indeed if so be we did understand aright we should see more of our own good to consist in God then in our selves and this is the ground and principle of self denial when as the soule shall come to see my good is more in God then in my selfe and therefore I will deny my good and comfort so far as it is in my selfe and I will seeke my good and comfort in God and indeed no men in the world seek themselves more then the Godly only the one seeks himself in himself and the other seeks himself in God the one is engaged to his self-ends and self-praise and the other makes himself only ingaged in God and when a man comes to be thus engaged in God then any truth prevails with a mighty strength more then before And this is the first reason which is a principal one that causeth the heart to be at a different condition at one time from that it is at another Reason 2. The second Reason is in regard of the differences of their presentations of a truth though when we are indisposed let the truths come never so powerfully it is all one but if the heart be fit in any reasonable manner to receive a truth there may be a great deal of difference in the manner of the representation of a truth somtimes the truth comes more cleerly and with more evidences more particularly more powerfully Somtimes it comes with greater evidence of the spirit of God then at other times there is not only a little gloss of a truth of God but the shine of it that a man cannot shut his eyes against it somtime the truth comes more particularly to the heart God doth not only present a truth in the general to him that this is a duty Christians must do but it shal come to the particular frame of the heart and shal meet with every objection and he shall find the secrets of his thoughts to be discovered and answered so that the truth shal come like a key that is fitted to a lock if you bring a key to the lock though it may be like the right key and as strong a key as the right is yet if it be not indeed the right if it miss but in one ward of the lock never so little you may spoil both the lock and the key but you cannot open the lock though you have never so much strength but come with a key suted to that lock and do but turn it and it opens presently So when it pleaseth God to come with his truth to our souls we were backward and we heard many truths but they did not meet with all our objections and therefore it was stopped with some one or other but afterward it pleased God so to dispose of things and to bring the truth so fully to the heart as it meets with every objection and then the heart quietly yeilds and therefore it is said God opened Lydias heart Paul preached to others and had much wringing with them and could not prevail but Saint Paul came to Lydia and he prevailed presently because God did so dispose of Lydias heart as it was fitted to the truth Saint Paul spoke of as many when they come to hear the word cannot but say the truth of God hath met with me in every particular and I have no secret object on in my heart but it is answered somtimes the truth comes more powerfully then at other times as in Isaiah 8.11 For the Lord spake thus to me with a Strong hand instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people God did not only tell the prophet his duty but he spake with a strong hand so when God comes sometimes he tels you what you ought to do but he doth not alwaies come with a strong hand as sometimes he doth Job 36.10 He openeth also their Eares to discipline and commandeth that they returne from iniquity does not God command men at al times to returne from their iniquities doth not god command men in prosperity to return from their Iniquities yes but in the time of affliction ordinarily the truth comes with more commanding power then he sealeth instruction as in Job 33.16 when people came to hear the word they heard instructions to do such and such duties but those instructions did not come with command they were not sealed but in affliction God seals them if a man see a writing and see the hands of others to it it is somthing to perswade him to see others are of that opinion but when he sees the broad Seal to it then it comes with authority and so when men come and hear the word of God they think it is but our opinion and cast it off but in affliction those truths come with authority and have the seal of Heaven upon them and then they prevail you have other manner of thoughts of them then before that which Saint Paul spoke it was in power to the hearts of the people and they could not resist the spirit wherewith Stephen spake because he was ful of faith and power So sometimes God speaks with so much power as they cannot stand out we may see the different spirits of men by the different representation of a truth in our selves or in others somtime when God pleaseth to convince us and work upon us we admire it our selves did we not hear these things before what was it that kept me from being convinced I never was stirred before and now methinks there is such mighty power in them as I cannot stand against them what was the matter and so in others let there be two men that shal go upon the same principles and their ends shal be the same and both their hearts shal be upright and yet they cannot yeild to the same thing because the same thing is presented to the one one way and he sees it cleerly and the same thing is presented to another another way and he cannot see it And therefore it should teach us to have patience when we have to deal with such as do not see a thing clear As when we come to a lock that we have not the right key and we try and it wil not open we do not presently throw it away but we think it may be there is some dust in it we pick that out and try again if it do not open then we think may be we did not put in the key right too far or not far enough and if it do not open then we think may be we did not turn the right way we try again if it do not open then we think we did not turn strong enough we try again if it do not open then we think may be we have not the right key if I choose another key that would open it Then we try again if it do not open it we are loath to loose
keep me from temptation now do not cast me down now God hath promised In 1 Cor. 10.13 He wil not suffer his people to be tempted above their strength Somtime the Godly can say my heart is fixed speak Lord here I am to do thy will some times Gods people are able to endure any danger and then God brings his people to the tryal As the disciples after the holy ghost came upon them then they were called to suffer they never were put to such tryals before and when God grants mercy to his people this way it is a mercy indeed CHAP. 16. Another Vse to teach us not to be discouraged at this different temper of our Spirits but to be humbled for it Five Helps against discouraging thoughts Two objections USE 2. THe second use of this point is this If there be such a difference between the hearts of Gods people at some time from that they are at others hence is an incouragement to the servants of God to teach them though they do not feel their hearts always in the same temper and to have the same spirit to do good not to be discouraged it is true we should be humbled for want of having our hearts up at any time but be not discouraged because it is no other but what befals the most dear servants of God and though you do not find your hearts up always as at some time do not therefore conclude there is now no good at al in me for Gods people are ready and prepared for every good work and my heart is thus dul and heavy and dead and it wil never be otherwise with me I am afraid whensoever I shal be called to the service of God my heart wil be thus and I shal forsake God and betray the cause of God Do not reason thus to discourage your selves take heed of those determining thoughts to determine that your hearts wil be always so because they are so for the present there is a great deale of difference between the spirits of Gods people at some times and at other times and therefore there may be so in you For your help against these discouraging thoughts First Consider that you have union with a principle that is ful of al Grace though you do not feel the influence of it at all times alike you have union with a principle so ful that you have no cause to determine against your selves Secondly Know you have promises that are ful of Grace for the encouraging of Gods servants Promises that there may be drawn abundance of good from and therefore you cannot determine that it shall not be otherwise with you Thirdly know the glory of God is as deare and precious to him as your own souls are to you and therefore if so be the cause the honor of God depend upon it know God wil take care for his own honor you are afraid you should betray the cause of God because you find your hearts so down now and perhaps if they were so down then when God calls you to stand for his cause it might be so but what is it that troubles you you are afraid to bring guilt and misery upon your selves and dishonor God but know the glory of God is precious to him and being it is engaged in you that you should dishonor him being one of his he wil take care of you Fourthly Consider how God hath come in graciously to supply his people in the time of need he hath filled their spirits in the time of straights when he hath called them to any hard work and they have done that which they thought they should never have done as it is with wicked men you see some so vile and wicked as you could never have thought they should have been so the Godly though somâ—imes their hearts are down yet at other times they have such assistance and enlargement and fulness of the spirit as one would never have thought they should have had Fifthly God hath made a mighty difference in your estates from that they were before and therefore why should you not hope that God will make a difference between that we are now and that we may be hereafter If God have wrought the least degree of saving grace in you he hath made more difference between you and one that is in his natural condition than there is between you and the gloryfied Saints as I have noted before and if God have made such a great difference why should you disturbe your selves to think it wil never be other then it is now Sixthly nay I appeal to you have you never found your hearts up for God was there never a time that there was quickning and enlarging of your hearts for God that you have felt some comfortable fitness for service or suffering Object I cannot but say it hath been so with me but it is gone and down again there are none but have some flashings and stirrings and some good moods and mine may be no more for all I know grace is a constant thing and the heart is established with it and therefore though I feel my heart a little up sometimes yet they are but such flashings as any may have that have no grace Answ To that I answer There are some works of Grace that are steady and constant that do more immediately flow from the principles and being of Grace and there are other works of Grace that are more remote that are not so steady and constant 1. There are some that are steady and constant as these two things take Gods people and consider of them in any condition if they know but their own hearts they will find these two things First An approving of the life and power and the strictness of the waies of Godliness Secondly they wil find a savor of that which is spiritual either in Ordinances or in Gods People their hearts will savor them though their hearts be very much down yet these two things they find constant 2. But for the abilities to perform duties for abilities in service or suffering they do not lie so next the root of Grace they are but as the Leaves or the blossoms or the fruit now though the sap be constant at the root yet the blossoms leaves and fruit are not Object But you wil say Being there may be good moods in men take the worst of all though their hearts be naught sometime yet their hearts are up at other times and may not you instead of encouraging Gods Servants encourage the wicked they may think we hear there is a difference between Gods People they are not alwaies alike so it is with me somtimes I am distempered but at other times thanks be to God it is better with me and so instead of taking away discouragements from those that are weak there may be encouragement to the wicked and therefore where lies the difference between the good moods that some have that have no true Grace and the difference of
spirit in those that have true Grace To that I Answer First There may be a difference discerned by that which hath been said there is somthing is constant Whether is that which lay at the root of grace in you still there If you do not find those two things constant viz. An approving of the life and power and strictness of godliness and a savor of that which is spiritual either in Ordinances or in Gods People all your good moods in the world though your hearts be never so up wil not discover the truth of grace Secondly Those that have only some good moods at some time and no bottom of any true grace they in their good moods are not humbled for that which was failing in them before their hearts indeed are somtimes up and they bless themselves in that but now this doth not make them look back how it was heretofore with them and to be ashamed and humbled for the wretchedness and distempers of their hearts formerly but where the heart is up for God in those that have truth of grace when their hearts are most up then they make use of this to be abased and humbled in their own thoughts for the deadness and distemper that was in their hearts before the good moods of others rather puff them up than further any work of humiliation for any evil that was in them before they think these good moods now and being in a good temper shall satisfie God for their evil distempers that were in them before But it is not so with a gracious heart a gracious heart when it does get up it makes use of this work of God upon it to be ashamed and confounded in its self for those evil distempers that were in it before The more the heart is up the more discovery it hath of its own baseness and vileness and wretchedness which others when their hearts are up have not Thirdly Gods People when their hearts are up that doth bring gracious discoveries of God unto them and of those things that do wonderfully spirituallize their hearts others though they have their hearts up they only have some affections but in those good moods of theirs they have not those Heavenly discoveries of God so as to purge their hearts and spirituallize their hearts and make their hearts to be more heavenly as it doth the godly Fourthly Those that have only good moods and no truth of grace when they have their good moods they are not by them carried out of themselves to a principle beyond themselves but they rest in the workings that they feel in their hearts whereas a gracious heart when God raiseth his heart and puts it into a better frame this carries it out of it self to a principle beyond it self and it dare not rest in those stirrings and workings it finds for the present to think now I am safe and well because of them but by these it is carried beyond it self Fiftly Where there are only good moods and not the truth of the work of grace they do not work so seasonably and orderly as the breathings of Gods spirit in his servants do but the breathings of a gracious heart coming from the spirit of God it works seasonably and orderly in their hearts when there is a spiritual use of them in that hour shall it be given to you saies Christ the spirit shal come upon you when you have most use whereas in others their good moods work only according to outward occasions and as means come in but now at those times when they have most use of them they are furthest from them Sixtly Where the heart is right and truly godly and God comes and breaths in it more than formerly such a one wil watch over it self and wil not be secure after this but the other grow less watchful and more secure upon such moods Seventhly Those that are truly gracious though they do not find their hearts up alwaies alike yet when they find their hearts down they count it their sickness and their disease and it is the disquiet and trouble of their spirits whereas others that have only some moods they are not sensible of their hearts being down as their sickness and disease and the burden and trouble of their souls Lastly In those that have grace when their hearts are up at any time it is but a preparation for some further service others having but moods their hearts being up this is the period of all their godliness in which they rest but the godly when their hearts are up at some time more than at others it is but a preparation for further Service 1 Chron. 29.18 The hearts of the people were up and David blest God for it and saies he prepare their hearts unto thee unsound hearts would say now our hearts are up and we have offered thus freely are we but in a preparation Yet David praies to God to prepare their hearts as if all their heart and affection at that time was but a preparation to further duty and this is the difference between the good moods of the greatest Hypocrite that come to the highest pitch and the difference between the breathings of Gods Spirit and by these means only presented to you it may be some help to discern the difference between good moods at some time and the different breathing of Gods Spirit in his people CHAP. 17. Containing the Third Vse of Direction branched into four particulars 1 If couragious and fit for service give God the praise Four Reasons for it 2. Learn to rebuke unbelief 3. Labor to keep your hearts up The manner how that may be done in eight particulars 4. Improve this gracious working of God USE 3. THirdly If there be such difference between the hearts of Gods People at some times and at other times This is an Use of Direction to all the people of God that are acquainted with this difference of Gods breathing upon their hearts in these Four Particulars First When you find your hearts up more at some times than at other times give God the glory Secondly Learn to rebuke your Unbelief Thirdly Labor to keep your hearts up Fourthly Improve this great working of God First If so be you find your hearts more up at one time than at another as Gods People do find much difference and can say somtime let my Beloved come into his Garden give God the glory and praise of it for it is a great mercy For 1. It doth prevent and deliver you from abundance of danger you were in when your hearts were down if a temptation had come what abundance of danger had you been in now God hath prevented that danger 2. If your hearts were right when they were down then you powred out your complaints to God of the deadness of your hearts now if God be come in it is a fruit of your seeking God and of your humiliation before the Lord now that which comes in as a fruit of
humiliation and much seeking of God surely that should be the matter of our praises 3. This is a gracious visitation of God God comes in with this and here is the presence of God and therfore there is much cause of praise 4. It is an argument that God hath some especial service for you to do now those that are godly count this a great mercy for God to have any employment for them now that they have received an evidence to their souls that God intend to imploy them this is a great mercy Secondly Learn to check your Unbelief when your hearts were down you were ready to say it would never be otherwise now check your hearts and bring your hearts to this conclusion I will never think it in vain to seek God though I do not find him come in presently and I will learn though I may judg my self worthy that God should leave me yet I will never determine that God will not come in because I see Gods waies are not as my waies and Gods thoughts are not as my thoughts Oh take heed of judging the waies and thoughts of God according to your waies and thoughts Thirdly Is God come in and do you find that you have a spirit of courage and boldness more than before now you find God sweetly breathing upon you to put life into that dead and to raise that heavy heart of yours do you find God sweetly and comfortably enlivening your souls and putting the spirit of confidence in that unbeleeving heart of yours Labor to keep your hearts thus There is a great deal of difficulty when a thing is fallen down to get it up but when a thing is up if one be careful it is not difficult to keep it up It is a notable expression that David had when he found the hearts of the people got up in their willing Offering 1 Chron. 29.18 O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel our Fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people and prepare their hearts unto thee So let it be thy prayer and it is my prayer for thee Is thy heart up more than before Pray O God of Abraham Isaac and Israel keep this in the thoughts of the heart of this man or woman for ever be careful now to keep your hearts up so when you are well or otherwise if you should lose this through this negligence 1 It wil make you cal into question the truth of these gracious breathings yea you wil think it was but a meer flash such as Hypocrites may have yea not cal this into question only but to cal the truth of al into question this is that which makes men take the foundation of al because their hearts somtimes are raised and they through their negligence let them fall and lose that spiritual life and courage once they had and so bring abundance of sadness upon their hearts now as you would have an evidence of the truth of Gods work upon you and the truth of grace labor to keep up your hearts 2 Labor to keep up your hearts otherwise if they fal off again the waies of God wil come to be very tedious to you As a man that walks unevenly in regard of the unevenness of his leggs or the unevenness of the way he is quickly tired and so if a Christians way be up and down and there be not an evenness in his way he is quickly discouraged and a main means to help one to go on with freedom and courage in Gods waies is to go on in an even course 3 If so be you lose this you lose the beauty of your profession the beauty of the waies of Godliness consists much in the constancy and if your way be up and down there is no beauty in your conversation it takes away the convincing power of your way and conversation if others saw your hearts up and saw a constant evenness in your way this would mightily convince them that it is a work of Gods Spirit upon your hearts but somtimes your hearts are up and down again somtime you are patient and meek at other times you are passionate and fretting this doth not convince them that it is the work of Gods Spirit but only the stirring of a natural spirit 4 By this means you wil cause God to walk differently with you if you keep not up your hearts when God hath raised them though God be in a way of mercy you wil cause him to walk in a way of displeasure against you 5 Again When your hearts are up that is the thing that the Devil doth most watch to give you a trip in As when Daniel walked so strictly in al the matters of the Kingdom as they could find no fault in him they accused him in the matter of his God of his Religion so saies the Devil if I should tempt him to such and such sins I cannot prevail but there is such a way I may prevail and the Devil doth labor there most to trip you As he did with Christ in another case when you are on the top of the pinacle then he labors to throw you down It is true it is the work of God that hath brought you up to the pinacle but there the Devil doth labor to throw you down Quest You wil say How shall we come to keep up our hearts whenas our hearts are in a better frame than at some other times Answ First When your hearts are up labor to make use of that grace that raised your hearts improve it so as to make your hearts more holy and more upright A Tree if it sprout upward only and do not run down in the root proportionably it wil wither and die and so if grace do work only upward in abilities and performances of duties and joy and such things and do not proportionably work downward in the root it is like it will come to little and you will soon lose all Secondly Work that grace you find in your inward as wel as outward man Do not think it enough that you have stirrings of Grace to enable you to do duties but improve this grace for the working out of corruption consider the corruptions of your heart and now take the advantage to work them out Thirdly be sure you take nothing that is Gods due at this time that is if God have raised your hearts though the peace and joy of it be yours the Glory of it is Gods do not be fingering of that take heed of lifting up of your hearts in a way of pride it is enough your heart is lifted up in a way of grace and you must be content with that but many when God gives them a lift in a way of Grace they cannot be content with their part the peace and the joy but they lift up themselves in a way of pride and would have some of Gods part of the Glory and that spoils all Fourthly When you
are in the best condition prepare for the greatest suffering to lie down at Gods feet and this will keep the heart in a sweet frame many when they have got their hearts up for service they never think of suffering now they are in a safe condition and free from trouble and they bless themselves and when trouble falls upon them unexpectedly their hearts sinke and they think God is come against them in displeasure and if that raysing of spirit had been true God would have kept me from suffering such and such hard things thou art deceived in that a gracious heart that is wise when he is most enabled to do service he wil prepare for suffering Fifthly Take heed of depending upon the old stock do not rest on grace received but keep thy heart sensible of a need of a supply of grace many when they have been seeking of God and have in some measure got that they prayed for they think they have stock enough and they can trade prety well in the world but though we had a hundred times as much grace as we have and had not supply from Christ we should fail Sixthly Watch against the least declineing and account it a very great evil to decline and therefore be often calling of your selves to an account at such and such a time it was so with me how is it now is it now as it was then when people decline it is hard it is tedious to them to think of returning and therefore they decline and decline and loose all wherefore observe the beginning of your declinings and cal your selves to an account dayly that when you abate in the least degree you may reforme it Seventhly Do not content your selves with what you have but yet get higher and higher the heart must be in motion upward or downward therefore the way to get establishment is to be in a continual motion upwards as in 2 Pet. 3.17.18 Saies the Apostle beware least you also being led away by the eror of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness God hath brought you into a good temper take heed you do not fal from your steadfastness how shall we do grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ Labor to get higher Eightly Improve that you have well and that wil be the way to contrive that you have God justly takes it from you if you do not improve it It were a blessed thing if our hearts might be kept up constantly our lives would be comfortable to our selves and wonderfully comfortable to others we should cause the people of God to rejoyce in us otherwise it takes away the comfort that Gods people might have in us though we be up at sometimes there is a great deal of crosness at other times There is a notable expression for this of Saint Paul to the Philippians 1 Phil. 3.4 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you Sometime a Minister of God may thank God upon the remembrance of such and such workings upon the hearts of his people but never to think of them but to thank God this is a great matter Alwaies in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy Sometime a Minister can make his request with joy for his people but at other times it is with sorrow but people should labor so to walk as that a Minister may make request with joy for them And so we pass to the last thing Fourthly If God have raised your hearts improve it we have but a little time and we have not many opportunities and therefore we had not need lose any time then it is not often we have abilities to do for God and therefore when we have them we should improve them As a Scholler that hath a weak Body and is not alwaies fitted for study if he find himself fitted at any time he is loth to lose one hour of his study then So with a Merchant or Marriner that lay long for a wind when it does come he is greedy of that opportunity so we are fain to lie long for a wind we see our duty and are convinced of it but we want the breathings and assistance of Gods Spirit and wait for a wind if God do come in seasonably we had need improve it if we had improved al those times that were sit what abundance might we have got by this time When we are fit for outward imployment we may do more in one hour than we could have done in ten hours before at other times they do but bungle and trouble themselves and little good comes of it but when they are fit for work and the work goes off well what encouragement is it And so if we had taken all advantages that we found in our hearts since we came to the knowledg of Gods waies what abundance might we have done Indeed in comparison of that which God is worthy of though we had spent al our lives in his service it would have been but little but in comparison of that we have done it might have been abundance Quest But you wil say How shall we improve this time Answ First When God is come into you look back to former neglects in your running with God in the time of unfitness Many times you have said I am unfit for duty and therefore you have left it undone which you ought not to have done Now if God have put your hearts into a fitness labor to make up your former neglects in your running with God If a man decay in his Estate and break through negligence and he be set up again it is expected he should make up former neglects and so doth God expect of us Secondly Set upon those duties that you never could do before Thirdly Gather up al the experiences of God towards you at this time if you have had more manifestations of Gods presence with you than before treasure them up Fourthly When God doth grant unto you peace and joy make use of all the peace and comfort you have for the furtherance of the work of your grace and that is a mighty improvement of that which God doth give you do not only improve your grace but that which comes in Many that have comfort and peace rest in that as the fruit of al the good they do as their reward but they do not look at that as a means of further service Fiftly Improve this work of God upon your hearts by watching al opportunities let time now be precious unto you let there none be lost Sixtly Labor for that Christian skil to make up the graces of God every way according as God calls for the use of them There are divers uses of Gods graces somtime for life and comfort at other times for defence somtimes to draw in at other times to let out as Isa 2.4 They shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning books they should have peace and their
instruments should be of another fashion But in Joel 3.10 it is otherwise They shal beat their plow-shares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears So apply it to grace somtime grace is to bring life and nourishment to the soul at other times it is to bring in grace As Faith somtime it is to close with Christ and bring nourishment from him at other times Faith is to be a Shield Many Christians look upon the work of grace to bring life and strength to themselves but have not skil to make use of grace as a shield So Hope somtimes it is to prop the soul at other times it is to be a Helmet So we should labor to understand the use of graces according to the several imployments that God calls for somtime one way somtime another And this is the Third Use CHAP. 18. A fourth Vse To be restless till we get our selves into a good frame USE 4. A Fourth Use is this If it be so that Gods people are in such a different frame of spirit somtime they are afraid and their hearts are down at other times they have a spirit of courage and fitness for any service that God wil have them to do This should teach us when our hearts are down and not in that fitness we desire to be restless till we get our selves in a good frame Somtime the Godly have their hearts in a good frame and therefore it is possible to be had and we should never be in rest til we had got it Quest But how shall we get up our hearts when they are not in a frame fit for service Answ First Be sensible of the evil of an unserviceable heart so as to be humbled before God for the want of it and be more sensible of the evil of that than sensible of the evil of want of peace and comfort Many when they find their hearts down and not in that degree fit for service that they desire they are troubled for it but the reason is because their hearts being down there arise doubts of their condition and their peace is hindred and they cannot have comfort in it but they are not so much troubled because they are unserviceable and want hearts fitted for duty and that is the reason why their hearts are kept down Now this should be our care to be more sensible of the unserviceableness of our hearts than of the unpeaceableness of our hearts Secondly Observe which way the strength of your spirit is let out and labor to recal your hearts from that as thus If the strength of a mans spirit be not for God it is let out to somwhat else it is alwaies working some way or other if it be not let out to some one particular object it is scattered and divided into divers objects Now if your strength be not let out for God call your hearts to an account where is the strength of my heart which way runs it If it can be discerned which way the strength of your heart is let out whether to any creature or any lust that should be your care to get it off Thirdly When you come to present your selves before God in his Ordinances come with hearts panting after strength as when you come to the Word Prayer or Sacraments bethink your selves beforehand I come before the Lord that I may get this dull heart of mine quickned in such and such a particular I find my heart unserviceable in such a particular Now my heart presents it self before God and pants after God to be fitted for service in such a particular it is much may be done when we come to the presence of God panting for help from God in such particulars Fourthly Observe the beginnings of Gods coming into your hearts and acknowledg them and improve them and follow them many times God is coming into the heart and because God comes not in fully as much as they would at first they take no notice of the beginnings of the work of God to imbrace them and improve them There are a great many sparks have fallen upon your hearts if they had been gathered together they might have been a flame by this time but because God did not come in with a flame all together they did not regard that you said what can a spark do upon my heart if you had improved that little you might have had more by this time Fiftly Labor to recall all those soul quickning Truths that ever you have felt working upon your hearts there was a time my heart was more lively I can remember since God did come in with his truth and work mightily upon my heart labor to recal those truths and set them fresh before your hearts with as much power as possibly you can and keep your hearts in view of them continually and by meditation chafe them into your hearts though the flesh be benummed yet if it be rubbed and exercised there will come strength and so those soul quickning Truths that you have found before have quickned your hearts if you present them afresh before the heart and chafe them by meditation they wil get some strength and life into the heart Lastly Look into the present condition you are in and exercise the duties sutable to your present condition CHAP. 19 A Fifth Vse To see the misery of being alwaies unfit for service A Sixt Vse To teach us to long for Heaven USE 5. BUt now in the next place If Gods people find such a difference between themselves that at somtimes it is far otherwise with them than at other times Hence then what a miserable thing is it to be alwaies down and alwaies unfit for service This is a thing that does not usually befal the people of God though somtimes their hearts are down in comparison of other times yet to be alwaies down and unserviceable this do not use to be the condition of the Servants of God this is a sad miserable condition to be so as if you never felt the power of God upon your hearts never felt the Spirit of God breathing upon you never felt the grace of God stirring upon you you come and hear the Word and those Truths that are soul-quickning warming Truths that stir others and their hearts lie lumpish as a Log that lies in a flash of water seven yeers together and is never stirred by them Like unto a vessel in a House that is cast aside and lies moulding and rotting that is never imployed nor fitted for any service are these Vessels of Honor In 2 Tim. 2.21 the Scripture speaks of Vessels that are in a great house that are Vessels of honor and he describes them that they are purged and fitted for the masters use and prepared for every good work Now if a vessel lie alwaies moulding and rotting and never used this is for the fire and not for use So those hearts that are alwaies moulding and rotting and never fit for service they may fear they are
were shew unto God his bond though God binds him self yet he wil not come in and help till the creature come and shew his bond and upon the sight and pleading of the bond with God God is pleased to come in with help God is much taken and delighted with this when any of his servants in difficulty shall come and plead his promises The turning of promises into praier and as it were the distilling of faith into prayer is a thing mighty prevailing with God As there are some Physicall things that have great operations but unless they be distilled or taken in such and such things they will not work but then they will work So Faith when it is distilled and turned in praier and mingled with praier and taken down in that then it works If a Physitian should come and say how did you take such a thing and you say I swallowed it down he wil say you should have taken it in such and such a thing and then it would have wrought so you beleeve God will help you but have you distilled your Faith into praier and taken it therein pleading with God to fulfill his word that is a great means to do great things 9. Faith must refuse no means if there be any means that God doth lay in your way take them thankefully use them faithfully diligently carefully as if there were nothing but means and when you have used them depend upon God above means as if there were no other means Idleness and presumption are quite contrary to faith and therefore be faithful in the use of means As it is observed God saies he brought the people into Canaan by his mighty power and outstretched Arme yet there was a great many valiant Souldiers and a mighty power of the people so that notwithstanding all means Faith knows how to give God the glory of his outstretched arme knowing that all second causes work by the power of the First 10. Let us take heed that what we undertake to do we do it not with a slavish spirit meerly haled unto it but look upon every duty as a work of the Gospel that that people do meerly in a compulsive way out of a slavish spirit they will never go through it but by Faith we are to look upon all duties as works of the Gospel not as works of the Covenant of works but as works of the Covenant of grace therefore that is observable concerning Zerubbabel In Zach 4. Where God saies mountains shall be made plaine before Zerubbabel difficulties shall be taken away how at vers 7. At the laying of the corner stones they shall crie Grace Grace magnifying the Grace of God looking higher at the Garace of God then at all the strength that Zerubbabel had and so being carried on in a spiritual way crying Grace Grace that was a means to carry them through difficulties and to make them as plains for when you go about any great work when you lay the first stone in that work crie Grace Grace this is a work that I must expect the free Grace of God in for assistance for acceptance and for blessing and for the carrying me through all the more you magnify the grace of God in any work the more you will be enabled to go through that work Eleventhly You must not be discouraged by miscarriages that have been before You have set upon a work and you have carried your selfe so in it as you have miscarried and you think I have so miscarried and sinned against God as I must never expect Gods help If I had never miscarried in that work I might have had hope but now having so miscarried in that work there is little hope do not reason by former miscarriages If we now set our hearts right to the work and come and ask wisdom to be carried through it though we have miscarried twenty times before God will not upbraid us nor say what doe you come to ask wisdom to do that work when as you have set upon that work before and have spoiled it through the pride and sluggishness of your hearts therefore now away be humbled for miscarriages before but be not discouraged by any miscarriages in that work or in any other yea though we have begun the work and miscarried at first yet be not discouraged many works have miscarried at first and yet have come to a glorious issue at last especially if miscarriages be through weakness as Jacob though he was strook lame and the sinew of his thigh shrunk in wrastling with the Angel yet he prevailed so though there may be failings that our sinews may be shrunk up and we be lame in our work yet there may be a prevailing at last and therefore do not hinder your Faith by being discouraged with former miscarriages 12. Againe take heed of the disturbance of passion in the performance of your work that which is done in a way of passion and frowardness and anger is seldom well done if you have a servant that will allwaies be busie and doing of somewhat but do it in an anger you had better he should do nothing they are the quiet and meek spirits that can carry a work sweetly and prosperously on So in any work that God sets us about let us go about it with quiet spirits your strength shall be to sit stil Isa 50.7 Saies the Lord so the great strength of our hearts in the performance of any work is to stand still and be quiet Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 Not the stillness that is opposed to endeavor but that stilness that is opposed to disquietness and tumultuousness of our unruly affections you would faine have the salvation of the Lord and help in such and such a work why did you not stand stil you are not in case to have the salvation of the Lord so long as you are in such a disturbance many miscarry in a work this way as many foolishly ignorant people that are in a boat when the boat tosses they run up and down in the boat and will not be quiet and so are drowned whereas if there be any skilful in the boat they say do but sit still and you are safe enough but they think they cannot be too hasty to help themselves and so run up and down and turne the boat over them so are unruly passions of men in their hearts when they are in any work and apprehend any danger their passions are up and they think there is a necessity for them to be stirring and it is in an unruly way and so they overturne themselves I beseech you observe it in Moses Moses he was to do the great work in carrying the people from Egypt and he was of a very quiet spirit a great way but he was to go on in the work and though he was the weakest man upon the earth yet the very thing that did over throw Moses in the work at last that made him
to miscarry for his own part was the disturbance of his passion when he came to strike the rock to get water for the people for not sanctifying the name of God but did it in a passion that was the thing that made him miscarry as in Psalm 106.32.33 They angred him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes So you may be have done some works so as you have found God strengthning of you at length you come to a work where may be there is more difficulty then before and there being more difficulty your hearts are disquieted take heed you miscarry not now it is a special thing to carry on a hard work well to go on with quietness disquiet and passion do much hinder as it was the case of the people of Israel in the beginning of Exodus When Moses came they could not harken to him because of the anguish of heart and the greatness of their bondage So to apply it spiritually you are sensible of some griâ—vous bondage under some corruptions and you have much anguish of spirit that you cannot overcome such and such corruptions but take heed you be not so disturbed in your hearts as your being in anguish under that bondage hinder you from hearkning to the Lord in his word and conceiving the mind and will of God a right and knowing how to order your selves in a right way it was so with them and truly this is just the case of many people because they are sensible of the bondage they are in under their corruptions they are so troubled and their hearts are in such a toile and tumult that they cannot hearken to any thing that should guide themselves in this work 13. Another rule for the ordering of your Faith to help you through difficult works is to observe the dependances that one work hath upon another many see a work God would have them to do and they presently set upon that and do not observe what dependance this hath upon somwhat else and so miscarry Suppose a Mariner or some other should have a work to go and pull such a cable such a rope he goes to the place that is in view to pull that rope but may be there is some other line that holdes it in some other place and they may pull their hearts out and never pull the thing they would So many are striving and laboring and tugging in many duties but there is some secret holdfast that they observe not that those duties have dependance upon and they can never bring their work to pass As one complaines of the difficulty of getting a heart to go to God in prayer God knows I have been in prayer have striven with my soul with al my might as in the presence of God for to get up my heart you strive and tug at this and may be you think of some promise and exercise faith too but there is some corruption that seems to be a great way off from this that this hath dependance upon which makes this difficult and you should set your faith on work to deliver your selves from that and then it will come off better as now may be you have been striving to get your hearts up to God in prayer and if you look well to it it may be the frowardness and petrishness and passion of your hearts in your families with servants or wife or husband is that which keeps down your heart when you come into Gods presence you should first have set your faith on work to have cured that and if you had cured that you might have got up your hearts many slip over many corruptions and look at duties a great way off and they strive and take pains but if they had true Christian wisdome they should look what difficulty and hinderance lay between them and that dutie and they should labor to take away that And so for faith we cannot beleeve in God and in the promises may be there lay a sluggish heart in your particular calling it may be so far off though you think there be but little dependance of Faith in that And so in affliction you would faine have your hearts be patient may be there laie a dead lumpishness of heart and drowsiness of spirit and therefore look narrowly to corruption though never so far off and set thy heart in general against all one as well as another 14 Againe take need of listening to temptation when as you are about any hard work there will come abundance of temptation what you go through this work those that have been stronger then you have miscarried it is a mighty hard work and you are a poor creature If it be the work of the Lord go to it with a naked upright heart If I miscarry so it is and do not mind temptations A very observable place it is of Nehemiah in Nehemi 6.3 When he was about the great work of God the adversaries sent as if they would parly with them and it was for nothing but to hinder his work but mark what he saies I am doing a great work so that I cannot come why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you so do you say to temptation temptation would faine have you come reason the case but say I am about the worke of the Lord why should the work cease and I spend my time and strength about reasoning with you 15. Another rule for the putting on of your faith may be this when you are doing any great work God calls you to do Take heed of perverse reasonings as thus When God calls me to do any service I should reason if I were able to do thus and thus I could beleeve but who can beleeve when they have such a heart so unable to do any thing and so unable to overcome any corruption What a perverse reasoning is this If I could do this I could beleeve you should reason I must beleeve that I may do this as If one should say if I could do any work I hope I should have strength you must have strength to do your work or if I were at my journies end I could go you must go to be at your journies end If I were over Sea I could venture into a Ship you must venture into a Ship that you may come over Sea And so if I could do such a thing I could beleeve how should strength come in but by beleeving Wilt stay beleeving till thou canst get strength it is as much as if one should say I wil stay going into a Ship til I get over Sea his going into the Ship is a means to get over Sea and so beleeving is the way to get strength and therefore do not reason from thy want of strength to hinder faith but rather reason from thy want of strength to further faith 16. Again when you go about any work that is difficult take heed of any disorderly
them to chew them no marvel then though they spit them out and do not swallow them they should swallow them down and not chew them And so when God gives us any bitter pills we must not alwaies be chewing of them in our thoughts but free the command of God and so go on in our work and labor to swallow difficulties as much as we can we have a notable place for this purpose in Psal 86.4 5. Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul for thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto al them that cal upon thee Thus we apply it the cause why many go so drooping in their way and have no joy and comfort in any of their waies is because they look downward in the dark if a man were in the bottom of a deep pit and alwaies looks downward he could never see light if he would see light he must look upward to the Sun so mark the way of David Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul If David had let his heart alwaies fall downward he would never had joy in his way but when he would have joy he lift up his heart so if there be any work that is difficult and your hearts are troubled would you have that which should rejoyce you lift up your soules to God in those incouraging waies that he presents to you For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy Here is a way to get mercy he lifts up his soul and looked upon God as good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy I appeale to you when did you lift up your soules and look up to God as plenteous in mercy you alwaies looked downward in the bottome of the pit and see the blackness of Gods justice ready to seize upon you but you should lift up your soul to God and look to the sun we should not alwaies be poring upon those things that are difficult but see those things that are incouraging 22. Do not make use of difficulties in your way to reason against your work or to make you out of love with your work but to reason against your hearts indeed it is an hard work but it is through my wretched sluggish heart and because I do not make use of the means and abilities that God affords me many that have less means and helps then I can go through harder works then I and so labor to reason against your own hearts and not the work many when they feel the work hard reason against the work the Lord knows I strive and do what I can but I have so many letts and hinderances God does not come in with his Grace to help me and I can do nothing without God How comes it to pass nothing is done because the work is hard or because you do not use what power God gives to do it withall now the safest way is rather to reason against your selves that you have not done what you can but you rather put off al the guilt from your selves and justify your selves and that is all the reason why nothing is done it is because the work is hard and you have so many hinderances and that God hath not given you his power but if you look into your own hearts you will find another reason it is not so much the hardness of the work as the ill disposition of your hearts and that should be your care not to reason against the work because it is difficult but against your hearts And to conclude all this is all I say we should labor to harden our selves by our Faith against all difficulties As unbeleefe is a hardning sin one way So faith is a hardning grace another way unbelief hardens in that which is evil and faith hardens in that which is good Acts 19.9 But when divers were hardned and beleeved not They were hardned because they did not beleeve and faith hath the contrary effect and wil do as much in that which is good as unbelief can do in that which is evil As unbelief wil make a man or woman so hard as to be as Iron to that which is good so Faith wil make a man as Iron to that which is evil and therefore the Prophet Jeremiah is compared to Iron and Steel Jer. 15.12 Shall Iron break the northern Iron and the Steel God hath revealed himself to him gratiously and he was hardned by it now of all graces especially Faith doth make the heart as Iron for God as unbelief doth make the heart as Iron to stand out against God And therefore is the exhortation of the Apostle 2 Peter 1.5 Ad to your Faith vertue the word Virtus comes from strength because every vertue puts forth strength so it is as much as if he should say ad to your faith strength put it forth strongly that it may help you against strong difficulties with a war-like power vertue hath a power to oppose enemies and so ad to your faith vertue And if we do so know it will be a very honorable thing it is an honor to God honor to us for us to go through difficult things it is honor to God as Davids men that endured so much that broke through an host for to get him water it was an honor to him and so for us to do difficult things for God it is an honor to God and it is honorable to us non so honorable as those that have gone through difficult works it will make them honorable to others as some observe from that place in 8. Cant. 3. If shee be a wal we will build upon her a palace of Silver If shee be a wal to stand out against opposition and temptation we wil build upon her a palace of Silver she shal be made honorable and glorious and so every Christian if your heart be as a wall to stand out against opposition and difficulty and hinderances in the way of God you shall have a pallace of Silver built upon you you shal be honorable in the eyes of God and all his Saints And going through difficulty is a mighty strengthening to grace and the more difficulty any go through the more Grace is strengthened As it is a rule of any thing that opposeth another if it do not overcome it it strengthens it as fire and water if you cast so much water into fire as the fire can overcome it the fire gathernig strength to overcome the water that opposes it burns the better So in all oppositions So in sin If that a man comes to be opposed in his sinful way by the word if the word do not overcome his lust his lust grows stronger And so in grace if any lust or sin or temptation or any thing do come and oppose grace or any gracious act and if they do not overcome grace but grace overcome them
thing that Gods heart is upon as the highest thing that he wil do is upon those that are sensible of their spiritual bondage of this spiritual Egypt to deliver them And though thou art not sure he wil do it for thee yet this is a great incouragement Object But though he may do it for others yet I am so vile that though I have seen my sin I have stil gone on therefore he wil not do it for me Answ 2. Wherefore know in the second place that the great designe that God hath in this work is not only to manifest his power but to set out before men and Angels to all eternity the Riches and Glory of his free Grace And therefore those objections of thy unworthinss may be taken away for thou maiest see God doth not intend to goe on with thee in a way of retribution or distributive Justice if thou dost so and so and so he wil do so and so for thee but he goes this way to work that his great designe is to magnify his free Grace And whosoever he does deliver it is for this end to shew to men and Angels what the power of his infinite free Grace is able to do and this is a great Incouragement 3. Further Jesus Christ hath already removed all differences that are between God the Father and thy soul the difficulties which make such a mighty vast dismal distance between God and thy soul is the wrath of God and the justice of God and the curse of the Law Now it hath been the work of Christ to take away all these difficulties So that when thou lookest up and seest thy sin against an infinite God that is infinitely holy and infinitely just and seest the curse of the Law against thee thou thinkest these are great difficulties how is it possible for me to get over these know it is the work of Christ that great Savior of the world to remove those difficulties and if he had not undertook it it had been impossible for any soul to come to God But he hath done it and therefore thou hast liberty to come to God if thou hast but an heart to venture upon his free Grace if thou saiest how can I know that Christ hath removed these difficulties for me It s the work of Faith that gives thee an interest And therefore do not stay for any thing else If thou doest but venture upon Faith thou needest not take care as those Women did who shall roule away the stone Who shall remove the difficulties of the curse of the Law who shall pacifie the wrath of God that is burning against me for my sin If thou doest beleeve Christ hath done it Fourthly Christ hath not only removed the difficulties between God the Father and thy soul but there are many gracious promises in the Gospel for the removing of all difficulties in thy soul that thou hast as much right to lay claime to as any one in the world that ever was delivered by Christ Whatsoever ground any had to claime these promises before the applying of them thou hast the same ground the great hinderance that is in thee is an hard heart a stout stubborne spirit marke what is said that there shall be a way prepared for the Lord Make his way strait every high Mountain shal be brought low every valley shal be filled up every crooked way shall be made strait every rough way shall be made plaine Luke 3.4.5.6 Now who hath right to laie hold on these promises this applying of them doth give interest doest thou find thy heart proud and canst not pul it down saies the Lord every high mountaine shal be cast down dost thou say I have an unbeleeving heart I know not how to beleeve Gods word but my heart sinks down in unbeliefe that is as a valley dejected Every vally shal be filled up I have a perverse crooked heart every croked way shall be made strait I have a rough knotty heart every rough heart Every rough way shall be made plaine So that Christ hath not only made things cleer between God and thee but in thy own Soul Object But he doth not make it clear for all Answ Thou hast as much ground to beleeve as any had before they did beleeve I will take away thy strong Heart saith God This is revealed to all and therefore thou art to make use of them And whosoever did get good by them they could not see any interest they had to them more then thou canst see USE 3. A Third use is this If Faith be that which does deliver from this spiritual Egypt Then those that are delivered let them see what hath brought them out and magnifie the work of God let them stand and admire the Grace of God in delivering them from al difficulties and in carrying them through that were so poor and weak as they were know it was not thy endeavor but the work of Faith and the work of God in thee Faith workes by a power out of us and not by our own power And God delivers the Soul from this spiritual Egypt by Faith Because he would have the Glory of it Therefore now if it have been a work of Faith let this Exhortation prevail with you Labor to exercise your Faith in going through the Wilderness to Canaan There was a time you were in bondage under sin and Satan and the Law And now thou art delivered from the Law and brought to Grace Is it Faith hath done it Let this Faith be imployed to carry thee on through the wilderness unto Canaan And all the Rules that I will give unto you shall be from the People of Israels going through the wilderness unto Canaan when they were delivered from Egypt Direction 1. First They were not to stir but upon Gods Direction when the cloud and the pillar of fire went before them So in thy way keep close to the Direction of God Let thy Faith stick close to the word and not to the Direction of thine own Heart Direction 2. Secondly When they were delivered this was a great Evil their Murmuring because of the hardships they met withal take heed thou beest not guilty of this Let not thy heart run out too far to murmur against the waies of God when you meet with any hardships being God with his outstretched Arm and his mighty hand hath delivered thee God forbid thou shouldest be murmuring upon every difficulty Direction 3. Thirdly Take heed you do not limit the Holy One of Israel God was Angry with them because they limited the Holy One of Israel Psalm 78.19 Can God prepare a table in the Wilderness say they So many when they are in the way to Heaven and they find any difficulty can God help such a one as I say they Take heed of limiting God do not propound Limits to to what God can do No nor to what God wil do Direction 4. Fourthly Take heed of slighting any thing that God