sense of sin I would not so treat on this doctrine as many Libertines doe to lay aside all manner of humiliation for sin because some men are cast down too much they will not be cast-down at all for sin Use 1 Not to prosecute such a principle it is the way for to run into all manner of Licencious libertie and to be all upon the extremes Secondly labour to order the affections and passions of thy mind so that when soever you are humbled and in sorrow for sin you take heed that you doe not cast off sorrow for sin be sure that you have such a degree of humiliation for sin that it may make thee to lie at Christs feet and no lower Christ would have you to be so humble as to lie at his feet in the sight and sense of sin but the Divel would have you to be so low in your humiliations for sin as to lie in hell Jesus Christ would have thee to be sorrowful for sin that thou mightest recover out of sin but the Divel would have thee to lie so low in thy humiliations for sin that thou mightest never recover O take heed of such a sinful sorrow for sin doe not be humbled so much as the Divel and thy own evil heart would have thee and thus much for the third Question SERMON III. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God Question 4 THe fourth Question in order to be considered is this That seeing that Gods people may be cast down too much for sin and too much humbled under the sight and sense of corruptions Then what may be the reason that wicked and ungodly men are not cast down at all for sin and seeing that Godly men may be cast down for sin here too much and not cast off for sin hereafter and wicked men that shall be cast into hell for sin when they dye yet are not all cast down for sin while they live What reasons may be given for this Answer 1 Now for the resolution of this Question I shall lay down these Six particulars by way of answer The first Reason why wicked men though they shall be cast off yet they are not at all cast down for sin It ariseth from their ignorance of the dangerous and damnable Nature of sin they have a blind mind and a dumb conscience they see not such evil in sin as godly men doe Althouch wicked men know what sin is in general yet it is but a general notion of sin in the head and they have no particular and experimental and distinct notion of the evil and dangerous nature of sin upon their hearts and consciences and therefore it comes to passe that they are not cast down for sin But this general notion of sin casts them off and doth not cast them down and this is the reason that they doe not see sin to become exceeding sinful and they doe not take notice of the evil of sin the damning nature of sin according to that expression in Jer. 2. 23. How canst thou say I am not polluted I have not gone after Baalim see thy way in the valley know what thou hast done thou art a swift dromedary traversing her waies Here the Jews they were great in sin and did abound in wickednesse yet they were ready to say that they were not sinful at least they did not know that they were so it is for want of the knowledge of their waies the sinfulnesse of their doings that they are not cast down for sin Should a man meet a Lyon in the Wildernesse he would be afraid of that and the reason is because he knows that the Lyon is hurtful but if a man sees a Lyon painted on the wall he is not afraid of that because he knows that cannot hurt him So when men shall look upon sin but not look upon it as a Lyon in the wildernesse that will certainly destroy him if he avoid it not but to look upon sin as a Lyon painted on the wall that hath no power to doe them hurt they see sin but it is generally and notionally and not particularly and experimentally The second Reason is this it ariseth from a principle of presumption of pardoning grace and mercy when wicked men hear the thunderings and curses of the Law denounced against sin and sinners delivered by the Ministers of the Gospel to awaken them from the sleep of sin and security when they hear of the severity of Gods justice and that he is a sin-revenging God and that he will by no means clear the guilty but will render to every one according to his waies and works Now what doth a wicked man doe in this case doth this awaken his conscience to see the evil of sin no but he doth the quite contrary he then from a principle of presumption of pardoning grace and mercy in God blesseth himself in his own waies and he saith I shall have peace though I walk after the imaginations of my own evil heart as if they should say Let sin trouble them that will let it cast down them that will be cast down it shall never cast down me it shall never trouble me What shall sin trouble my conscience ' or disquiet my peace for or why shall I mourn and trouble my self about that which I need not that which others seem to break their hearts for it shall never break my sleep for I hope that it shall never damn my soul btt I hope though I do commit sin yet I hope God will pardon sin and though I am sinful yet I know God is merciful and thus they doe from a principle of presumption goe on in a way of sin without any trouble for it or casting down under the sight and sense of sin at all But then Thirdly The third Reason why wicked men are not cast down for sin at all it ariseth from that obdurateness from that hardnesse that is in their hearts and from that searedness in their consciences there are a generation of men that it may be said of them as concerning sin they are past feeling according to that expression of the Apostle Eph. 4. 19. Who being past feeling having given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness And as St. Paul said 1 Timothy 4 2. They have their consciences seared with a hot Iron When men have so accustomed themselves to sin that sin shall harden the heart and seare the conscience and then no marvel if they are not at all cast down for sin Then Fourthly Wicked men they are not cast down for sin at all it ariseth from this because that they do stifle the rebukes of conscience when it doth rebuke them and check their sin and cast them down for sin when men shall resolve that though
not walk in the way of this people They speak peace when indeed they were in trouble Jer. 23. 13 14. verses And I have seen folly in the Prophets of Samaria they prophesied in Baal and caused my people to err I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing they have committed adultery and walk in lyes they strengthen also the hands of evil doers that none doth return from his wickedness they are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorah The ninth General cause They have a fulnesse of outward prosperity and blessing in the world it may be refer'd to soul trouble as well as to bodily trouble that prosperity in the world doth mightily keep off a man from having his soul trouble him under the guilt of sin Hos 12. 8. And Ephraim said Yet I am become rich I have found me put substance in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin They were a wicked people and yet their prosperity in an evil way did harden their hearts in a way of sin The instance of Pharaoh there was nothing in the world did more harden his heart then his prosperity God lifting him up to be a King did harden his heart when men are glutted with prosperity that they have not an open ear to the screaks of conscience 2 Chron. 33. 10. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken In prosperity he would not hearken to the checks of conscience till God laid him in fetters then he hearkened Lastly Men are not disquieted in soul for sin Why so Because of an inconsideratenesse of the omnipotency and all-seeing eye of God though men be not doctrinal Atheists to hold this opinion that God doth not see all things yet men are practical Atheists to live and continue so in an evil way as if God did not see them we read in Job 28. 13 14. And thou sayst How can the Lord know can he judge through the dark clouds Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of Heaven The Lord doth not see nor doth the holy one regard is there not a cloud between him and us the Psalmist hath a passage the wicked doth make a tush of sin tush say they The Lord regards it not What is the reason men make but a tush of sin why they do not think that God regards sin sin doth not trouble them and doth not disquiet them Because they think God doth not behold them they are inconsiderate of the omnipotency of God I shall now only give you a short use of what you have heard touching godly mens disquiet under the guilt of sin only this use Use It shall be by way of trial or examination you have heard much concerning that trouble and disquiet of soul that may be found in reprobates Now the Use shall be to put you upon trial how you may be satisfied in conscience that that disquiet of soul that is in you under the guilt of sin is an evangelical and a gracious trouble for sin and not such a trouble that doth arise from a natural conscience in wicked men and to satisfie you herein I shall name six particulars First Dost thou find this within thee that thy trouble of soul is more for the evil of the fact thou hast done then for the danger thou mayst incur My meaning is this when thou art troubled more for the sin then thou art troubled for the penalty of that sin thou hast incurr'd by the commission of it when thou art troubled for sin more because it robs God of his glory then because it will keep thee from glory this is an evangelical grace Secondly When thou art more troubled for the sin of nature then for the sins that break out in thy life when the sin of nature doth disquiet thee as well as the sins of thy practise We never find in all the Scripture that a wicked man hath any remorse of spirit at all for the sin of nature thou that canst say sins of nature trouble thee as well as sins of practise this is an argument of evangelical trouble of soul for sin David discovered grace herein when he made that penitential Psalm 51. for the sin of adultery with Bathsheba David doth not only bewail the unclean act but he bewails also the unclean nature Thirdly Thou mayst be satisfied if thou art as much disquieted in soul in the sight and apprehension of the power of sin as of the guilt of sin I am troubled not only that sin is so dangerous but also that sin is so strong within me Fourthly The disquiet for sin is evangelical when the measure and degree of thy trouble of mind for sin is subservient to and promoting of the end of trouble of mind the end of trouble of mind I told you was to imbitter sin and indeer Christ when thou hast so much of the measure and degree of trouble of mind as to imbitter sin to thee and to indeer Jesus Christ to thee this is the true evangelical humiliation that the Gospel calls for Fifthly Thou mayst be sure that it is an evangelical trouble of mind when thou art troubled for sin as well because it is against a good God as well as because it is against a just God a wicked man may be troubled for sin against a just God because justice will be avenged on sin and on the sinner but now a godly man saith God loads me with mercies thou that canst grieve and be troubled for sin this is evangelical they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days Hos 3. 5. I may apply that Fable that Plutarch hath in his Morals of the Sun and the mind contending which should make a Traveller put off his Cloak O Beloved storms and blustering tempests of God's wrath may make a wicked man leave sin and be troubled for sin but when the Son of God's love shall melt the heart and sweetly insinuate into thy soul and that make thee uncloath thy self of the rags of sin that is an argument of evangelical trouble Lastly It is an evangelical sorrow and trouble of soul for sin when thou canst be as truly troubled for sin committed when thou knowest it is pardoned as if thou hadst not known thy sin to be pardoned to be a troubled and a pardoned Christian it is evangelical trouble a pardoned sin shall fill thy heart with trouble when thou art of this temper that thou wilt bathe that sin in thy tears in a way of contrition which thou knowest to be bathed in Christ's blood in a way of remission thou hast a gracious temper of heart engraven upon thee SERMON XVI Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God I
who is in fault the messenger or the condemned man the parallel lies plain O how glad would the servants of Christ be that they might be alwaies pouring out the precious ointment of the Gospel oh how sweet a theme is the grace of God the love of Jesus Christ How sweet and delightfull would our Ministry be if we might alwaies walk among these sweet perfumes Doe ye think Ministers are delighted to heare the screeke and groans of soules when they are put to pain by sound and clear convictions Nay are they not rather astonished to converse every day with so many carcases that prick them cut them wound them burn them threaten doe what you will feel just nothing verily were it not out of faithfulness to God and souls they would not insist so much on such subjects Certainly as it is the glory of a Chirurgeon not to make wounds but heale them so it is the glory of Ministers to heale wounded consciences 3. A third thing observable is the sweet directions that here are scattered up and down how a Christian should behave himself in the vicissitudes of providence You are taught here your spirituall postures how to rise in thankfulnesse how to fall in humility when you must to your close when to your open order here is a straight rule by which you may measure your excesses and defects when you are too much when too little cast down for we are very prone either to over or to underdo it is so hard to hit upon the middle Here you may learn when you are active when you are passive in your own dejections It may be you may meet with some particulars twice but remember he that shoots the same arrow twice and both times hits the mark hath well shot Now concerning the other Treatise the Ministry of Angels as also that other of Gods Omnipresence they were not intended for a Philosophical but for a Christian auditory the former subject is high and there is room enough for speculation Too many in these daies have been wantonly busie to converse with Angels out of pride and curiosity but the good Angels wil not be spoken with upon those terms or if they do speak to be sure it will be no comfort to those persons for the Apostle by laying down a supposition hath given us a certainty that the Angels will speak no other doctrine then he did Therefore such spirits as are intruders into things not seen are vainly puft in their fleshly mind Col. 2. 18. how spiritual soever they seem to be As for that opinion that every man hath his particular Angel If any think it not sufficiently answered in this Treatise we shall add only this that when the maintainers of it are agreed among themselves about it whether every man have not two Angels a good and a bad Or if every man have but one whether that be a good one or a bad one If it be a bad one what comfort is there in that Doctrine If every man have a good one how can this stand with the text that limits their Ministery to the heirs of Salvation When these riddles are unfolded no question but a further answer will be given This Author doth practically handle that subject and with great sobriety To draw towards an end As God hath always in his Family some sick and weak children so he doth provide comforts and attendance for them For he will not leave them comfortlesse and certainly he will not leave them helpless Be of good comfort then there are more with us then against us While we have visible enemies warring against us we have invisible Angels taking our part And therefore the Psalmist after he had spoken of the Protection of Angels in the 34. Psal ver 7. he adds in the 8. v. O tast and see how good the Lord is Go therefore and chide thy self for thy unbelief for thy despondency of spirit Say to thy heart as David Why art thou cast down O my soul And as God to Jenah in another case Dost thou well in it Is it for Kings sons for God's children for those that have Angels to guard and serve them that have hidden Manna to walk so sadly and dejectly It is enough for those poor low spirits that dwel in the lower region of sense and reason to be dejected If these Treatises tend to thy comfort give God the glory Grace be with all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity Amen So pray The servants of thy soul and thy faith in the work of the Gospel Edm. Calamy William Whitaker Simeon Ash Mat. Poole William Taylor Jos Church A Table of the chief Heads contained in this Book A ASsurance why the Saints want it Page 56. means to regain it Page 93. Afflictions of the Church do afflict the godly p. 124. 127. Afflictions on the outward man apt to disquiet the godly p. 141. B Back-sliders if they return must be deeply humbled p. 11. p. 14. p. 165. C Casting down God's children subject to it p. 6. What persons God doth most cast down p. 8. Why God casts down his own people p. 30. How God doth it p. 40. 41. Checking our own hearts a good means against fainting p. 45. Comforts against desertion when it is for sin p. 76. Comforts under affliction p. 146. D Dejections of spirit how to reason against them p. 46. Dejection when a sin p. 53 Desertion an act sometimes of soveraignty p. 61. and sometimes of justice p. 63 9 Comforts under desertion p. 68 Difference between trouble for sin in the godly and wicked 167. F Formality in duty p. 53. G Great sinners God uses to humble much p. 9. Grieving the spirit p. 9. L Love of God suspended by 8 things p. 89 P Promise made not to the measure but truth of humiliation p. 24. 37. 51. Pride of gifts p. 33. 90. Prosperity of the wicked a stumbling-block to the godly p. 101. No reason to be disquieted at it p. 102. Considerations against it p. 105. Prosperity not always a note of a good cause p. 112. 〈◊〉 Ends why God suffers the wicked to prosper p. 114. Why his own people want it p. 120. R Rules to keep from excessive sorrow for sin p. 36. Repentance begins at the bosome sin Rules to quiet the heart under outward afflictions p. 151. Rules for those that are greatly troubled p. 203. Rules to shew how the soul may be Evangelically troubled With rules of Comforts and Cautions 213. S Sorrow for sin when excessive 16. 17. Soliloquies p. 2. p. 43. Sympathy with suffering brethren and sinful disquiet how they differ p. 129. Sinful sorrow for the Church's Calamity how cured 132. Sorrow for personal sufferings when inordinate 156. T Trouble of heart for sin p. 161. Times when this trouble is most felt 162. V Unmercifulnesse p. 91. Use of tryal whether your trouble of soul for sin be right 200. W Wicked men why not troubled at sin p. 26. Worldlimindednesse
they shall be cast off for sin though they be cast into hell for sin yet they will not at all be cast down for sin and rather then they will cast off their sins by the dictates and the rebukes and checks of their consciences they will aggravate their sins and greaten their sins by stifling their consciences that it shall not doe its office And thus did Cain when he begins to be troubled for sin and conscience begins to rebuke him for the evils he had done what doth Cain doe now doth he let his conscience doe his office No he both heightens and greatens his sin and stifles his conscience Gen. 4. 13. My punishment is greater when I can bear or as it is in the Hebrew my iniquity is greater then may be forgiven And then he goeth to stifle his conscience ver 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the Land of Nod he went out from Gods presence and stifled his conscience by building of Cities And hence it comes to passe that men are not cast down for sin because they do stifle the rebukes and checks of conscience and so Divines do interpret that place in the 11th Verse of the Epistle of Jude Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and that was when conscience did rebuke and trouble him for killing his brother and spilling of his blood and after to stifle and still his conscience he went to building of Cities And thus O man thou that walkest in waies of wickedness and thy conscience shall rebuke thee for thy evil course in telling thee that thy conversation is not good nor upright shall tell thee that thy waies are unjust and sinful and yet thou through thy accustoming thy self in an evil course shalt stiflle the checks and rebukes of thy conscience and delight to goe on in a way of wickednesse this is an other great reason why wicked men are not cast down in this world for sin Fifthly A fifth Reason why wicked men are not cast down for sin in this world it is this because of the abuse of the long-suffering and patience of God you have a notable place for this in Eccles 8. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to doe evil Because God doth not punish wicked men for their wickedness speedily because a drunkard is not speedily punished for his drunkenness and because a swearer is not speedily punished for his swearing and because the adulterer is not speedily punished for his uncleanness c. therefore doe they fully set them selves to work wickedness When wicked men shall abuse the patience and long-suffering of God to presume the more to sin against him hence it comes to passe that they are not cast down for sin at all Sixthly A sixth Reason is this because of the slight thoughts that wicked men have of the Omnisciency of God though wicked men be not doctrinal Atheists to deny that God seeth all things they do but hold it as an opinion Yet most men are practical Atheists to live so loosly and wickedly and vainly as if God did not behold all things and know and see them in their sinful course You have an expression in Job 22. 13 14. And thou saiest How doth God know or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what knows God can be judge through the dark clouds Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not It is as much as if they had said God doth not know and God doth not see their wicked and sinful waies as though the clouds were a covering between God and them that he could not see their evil waies and this was the cause why their sins troubled them not And thus I have done with the Fourth Question why wicked men are not cast down for sin at all The fifth Question is this Now seeing wicked men are not cast down for sin at all and yet shall be cast down into hell and that for these Reasons laid down Then what may be the reason that Godly men who shall never be cast off never be cast down into hell yet they may be cast down for sin in the sight and sense of it Now in the answering of this Question I shall lay down these Seven Reasons Reason 1 The First is drawn from the nature of sin and the justice of God considering of them together Now what is the the nature of sin now this is the nature of sin Sin it is in its own nature a resting and a striving and contending against God and striving to cast God down and to set it self up It is the nature of sin to pull God out of heaven from his Throne and to place it selfe there Now God will in justice strive and contend against sin shew himself to be too strong for sin sinners and to cast them down you may see that this is the nature of sin in Job 15. 25 26. For he stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty He runneth upon him even on his neck upon the thick bosses of his bucklers Here Eliphaz describes a sinner in his wicked waies as a souldier comes against his enemie he strengheneth himself against him and he runs upon him with all his might that so he might overcome So doth a wicked man he strengthens himself and runneth against God as it were with all his might if it were possible to overcome cast him from his Throne where he is and therefore it is just with God to condemn sin and to humble the sinner The sinner would cast Gods law behind his back but it is the nature of sin to cast God behind his back now God will in justice cast away a sinner by condemnation or lay the sinner low by humiliation Secondly God doth cast down sinners under the sight and sense of sin that so the children of God might cast away sin with the more indignation and therefore God doth cast him down the more by the way of humiliation When a man shall take a knife in his hand and he fall with his knife in his hand and thereby cut himselfe with it away he presently flings the knife from him Now it is so in the waies of sin and wickedness when you take sin into your hands when you go into any unwarrantable course when you fall into sin you take knives into your hands and in falling so into sin you cut your selves God makes that knife of sin to cut your heart to cut your conscience and you wound your souls and seeing sin doth as knives wound you in your falling therein you should with the more indignation cast it from you You read in Isa 30. 19 22. of sorrow for sin The people shall dwell in Zion they shall weep no more he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of
down his life for me voluntarily and meritoriously and laid himself down very low to be my Saviour therefore why O my soul shouldst thou be cast down excessively for sin It is true O my soul if thou hadst been to die and to have purchased thy own redemption to have been thy own Saviour and if the waight and the extreme burden of thy sins had been to be laid upon thy own shoulders and if thou hadst been to have made perfect satisfaction to divine justice in thy own person if thou hadst been obliged to have kept the whole Law perfectly and if thou hadst been for to make a full recompence for the wrong and evil that thou hast done and thou wast to offer the fruit of thy body for the sin of thy soul yet this would not doe nor procure the least satifaction nor make the least compensation and recompence for the evil thou hast done Now if this were thy case to be thy own mediator and thy own intercessor and to have thy blood spilt for thy sins if this was thy case thou hadst cause to be excessively cast down for sin A finite creature can never make satisfaction to infinite justice Could I give a thousand Rams ten thousand Rivers of Oyl yet I could not make an attonement or give a sufficient ransome for my redemption But it is far otherwise the quite contrary is thy portion not thy case Here O my soul is thy case which may abundantly administer thee comfort the blood the precious blood of Jesus Christ is laid down for sin that thou maist not excessively be cast down for sin and thou maist draw abundance of comfort satisfaction from this consideration First Consider with thy self O my soul Jesus Christ did not shed his precious blood for himself but for me he did like a good shepherd lay down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 15. Secondly Consider that God the Father did accept of the laying down of his life in this behalf Joh. 10 17. The Father loves him because he laid down his life Thirdly Consider and reason with thy self O my soul What though there are great arguments to greaten sin and to heighten sin so there are many great arguments to greaten the mercy of God in Christ Are thy sins great the mercies of God are greater Doe thy sins deserve great punishments even eternal death the death of Jesus Christ and the merit of Christ are of infinite value to merit life even eternal life Are thy sins the sins of a man I but the satisfactions of Jesus Christ are the satisfactions of a God do thy sins merit the frowns of God O but Christs death doth merit and purchase the favour of God In a word as Christs Person doth excell thy person so doth his obedience infinitely exceed thy disobedience therefore said the Apostle Paul Rom. 5. 16. c. But the free gift is of many offences unto justification Here the Apostle intimates that though there is great guilt in sin yet there is greater mercy and merits in Christ for as by Adam there came sin and death so by Jesus Christ there came righteousness and life for as the wages of sin is death so the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. There is not so much guilt in sin as there is merit in Christ there is not so much guilt in sin to condemn as there is merit in Jesus Christ to save Therefore why shouldest thou be cast down O my soul Jesus Christ hath laid down his life for me and in laying down his life he hath made full satisfaction for sin unto his Father and though there are required more tears for sin by way of humiliation yet there wanteth no more blood for sin by way of satisfaction therefore be not thou excessively cast down for sin Thirdly Reason thus with thy own soul that thou maist not be too excessively cast down for sin O my soul consider excessive casting down may hinder thy soul from holy endeavours in suppressing and mortifying of sin It is the policy and subtilty of the Devil to draw men to run into extreams sometimes the Devil draweth men to possess them so with the reigning power of sin as that they shall never so much as think of the guilt of sin and sometimes to possess them so with the power of sin as not to be able so much as to look at the pardon of sin I may say to thee as God to Joshua chap. 7. 10. Get thee up why liest thou on thy face it was fit Joshua should be cast down at the disaster but not be taken off from pursuing the enemy Therefore reason and say O my soul it doth not become thee to be cast down excessively under the guilt of sin but to lift up thy self against it by resting upon God Fourthly Reason thus with thy soul O my soul consider are not these dejections of minde are not these excessive castings down for sin exceeding great disparagement to Gods free grace and mercy and to Christs merits if a man that is a thirsty shall come to the Sea the mighty Ocean to seek water and when he comes there to be cast down with the thoughts that all the water in the Sea cannot quench his thirst this would render the Sea to be but an empty thing so thou to be troubled and to be exceedingly and excessively cast down for sin and to think that the mercy in God and the merits of Christ cannot comfort and bear up thy dejected soul this doth exceedingly disparage the mighty Ocean of Gods mercies and Christs merits for thee to think that thy sins do out-vye mercy and out-strip free grace In the time of the Law the Mercy-seat did wholly cover the Ark where the Law was kept to shew that if a man doth violate not only one command but every command of the Law yet all that might be covered over with mercy and notwithstanding the violation of the Law they had a Mercy-Seat to go to though we do violate all the Law all the commands of God yet this Law is covered all over with mercy the mercy of God is far above thy dejections The red Sea did dround Pharaoh and all his Host with as much ease as it could dround one man so can the red Sea of Christs blood drown every sin though they were mountains of transgressions as well as the least sin In Psal 25. 11. For thy Name sake O Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great it is a word in the Hebrew emphaticall we reade it for it is great but it may be rèad though it be great for the sake of thy Name O Lord pardon thou my iniquities because they or although they are multiplied or therefore thou wilt pardon them because they are great Fifthly Reason thus with thy soul why wilt thou cast thy self down O my soul especially considering that the casting down of the soul doth cast down
have light but you cannot see the light of the little stars so clearly as the light of the greatest so though there is truth of grace in the weak as wel as thestrongest acts yet if thy graces be weak in the exercise of them thy comforts and evidences will be also weak and hardly discerned and hardly seen Peace be multiplyed to you said the Apostle if you do not multiply your graces God will not multiply your peace if you do withdraw the exercise of your grace God will withdraw the comforts of your grace You cannot see small things so easily as you see great things he that will see a small needle a hair a mote had need have good eyes so ye cannot see small weak grace so easily as ye may see strong and great acts of grace therefore their comforts are small many men cannot see their graces and their evidences because they are like motes and hairs if you do not abound in the exercise of grace you will not be able to see the evidence of grace and injoy the comforts of your grace You know when a man is in a sound you do not know whether the man is dead or alive because his breath is not perceived and his pulse not beating so when your graces are weak and your graces little when you do not live in the exercise of grace you cannot see the evidences of grace Fourthly The suspension of his love and favour it ariseth from the laziness and carelessness and heedlessness in the performance of holy duties There is nothing in the world that is a greater bane of your graces and comforts then this is if you do deny God in your obedience God in justice will deny you in your peace and comforts he that will not work shall not eat As it is true in worldly things so it is also true in spiritual things if you do not your duties towards God God will suspend the comforts of your graces from you if you do your duty toward God you shall eat of the promised Land if you will not let the Spirit of God work and operate in you in its sanctifying work God will not let you enjoy in your souls the comforting work of his Spirit You know what Solomon saith that the slugard shall have poverty enough so you that are spiritual slugards not to do your duties towards God you shall be sure to have spiritual poverty enough in your soul for want of comfort Remember that expression of Christ in that parable in the Gospel that its the faithfull servant that must enter into the joy of his Lord if thou wilt not be faithful in thy duty thou canst not expect to be filled with inward joy Grace saith Baxter is never apparent and sensible in the soul but when it is in action the want of action must needs cause want of assurance though duties merit not comfort yet they usually rise and fall with our diligence in duty I may illustrate this by a familiar comparison there is you know fire in the flint but the fire is not seen in the flint I but strike the flint and the steel together and then you may see the fire so there may be grace in the soul of a man as fire in the flint but untill the spirit of God comes and strikes upon the soul as a flint to the steel until the spirit of God worketh with the spirit of man in duty there is no grace seen and so the soul comes to lye under the dismal workings of soul under the sense and want of the assurance of Gods love Fifthly It ariseth from this because that they do look more after comfort then they do after grace and this is the cause why they want more comfort then they need to want they look more after marks and signs that may tell them what they are then after precepts which tell them what they should do When Christians shall be more enquiring after priviledges more then to inquire after their duty it is just with God to keep their comfort from them When Christians shall labour more to know that they are justified then to know and use the means to be justified to labour more to know that they are in a state of grace rather then to use those means that are prescribed to get grace this may be a means why God keepeth them from the comforts of the Spirit And thus I have given you the first cause why Gods people are cast down under the apprehensions of the suspensions of the favour of God to the soul The second cause why the people of God are cast down under the want of the favour of God it may be from God himself God may keep thee from the enjoying of his love and favour and that 1. From an act of his Soveraignty Assurance is given out of the goodnesse of his Will and withdrawn to shew the absolutenesse and liberty of his Will For May not God do what he will with his own people God he hath by his power made the day and made the night for God doth not only give dayes of comfort and consolation to his people but also he gives nights of desertion as they are acts of Gods power and soveraignty over his people to shew that if it be the will and pleasure of God he can take away the day of comfort and withdraw and suspend his love and favour from the souls of his people so also if he will he can by act of his soveraignty give us assurance and give in comfort to the souls of his people God may do what he please and none may say Wherefore dost thou so 2. So God doth it to manifest his wisdom and goodnesse to his people for by his withdrawing and suspending comfort and hiding his face 1. he hereby doth by this means keep his people from being glutted with comforts and joy and delights should God continue the light of his countenance alwayes to them should God fill their hearts with full assurance of grace and full assurance of faith alwayes to let forth the beams of his glorious love into their souls they would be subject to be glutted and subject to slight comfort and to take little notice of those loving kindnesses of God and of those divine favours bestowed upon them therefore God in wisdom seeth it fitting sometimes to suspend those favours and sometimes to withdraw that love and favour and comforts and joyes from them that they may prize it more and retain it better when they enjoy it 2. God may withdraw his love and favour from the souls of his people out of an act of wisdom that thereby he may let his people see and consider that there is more evil really in sin then ever there did appear seeming good in the commission of sin a man will commit sin that thereby he may obtain some seeming good as to please the lust of the eye or to the obtaining of some other desirable seeming good but
God he lets them see and find by the with-holding of his love and favour and the light of his countenance that there is more real evil in the losse of Gods countenance then ever there did appear seeming good in the committing of sin and in the pleasure of it 3 God may suspend his favour as an act of wisdom to hide pride from men and self-conceitednesse that they may not be proud of their own gifts and graces of the strength and degrees of their graces Job 33. 17 He doth withhold from man his purpose or as in the margent his works hide pride from man why so because a man may be proud in the works that he doth be full of high vain conceiâ—s of himself therefore God doth hide his works that he may hide pride from him this is an act of wisdom goodnes in God 4. God doth it that thereby he might make his people to be more afraid of sinning against him lest the comforts be again eclipsed for I must reason thus before I commit any sin that if I do this I break the righteous Law of God and if I do break his Law God will break my heart and break my peace and shall I make no care of committing a sin against God seeing by the committing thereof I must lie under the sense of Gods wrath 5. Then God doth it to let a man know and find that assurance is not essential to holinesse although the people of God have grace and do believe and have sins pardoned yet the sense of this pardon and the sense of this faith and the assurance of this grace is not essential though there cannot be peace but there must be grace yet it may be where there is not peace there may be a root where there is no faith yet there cannot be fruit but there must be root God will have men know the sense of faith and repentance is a gift of meer liberality 6. God doth it to let men see the difference between heaven and earth God reserves the best to the last God doth not think it fit that men should have constant joy in this unconstant world nor full joy in this empty earth nor lasting joy in this transitory world but he doth reserve that until his people come to heaven should the people of God while they live in this world have the fulnesse of joy and constant comfort they would be ready to slight and never look after that place where is fulnesse of joy they would never desire to be in heaven but therefore God is pleased to mix sorrow with comfort and suspend and hide his face to that end that his people might look after heaven and to let them see the difference between heaven and earth and thus you see that second reason why God doth suspend his favour from his people which is drawn from the wisdom of God Reason 3 The third reason as God may suspend his love and favour from his own soveraignty and from his own wisdom so thirdly he may do it from an act of his justice and lay them under the apprehensions of his wrath God will punish his own people for sin with the suspension of his love and favour Although he will not punish them with hell and in hell yet he will and may punish them with the sense of hell and lay them under the sense of wrath And I shall lay down some particulars how God by an act of justice doth punish his own people for sin with the sense of the want of assurance First God doth punish his people for the sin of grieving his Spirit if you do trouble and grieve Gods Spirit he will grieve trouble your spirits if you send Gods Spirit sad to heaven God will put sadnesse into your spirits upon earth and if you be comforted how can you expect to receive any comfort when you send him away sad that should rejoice your souls therefore when God hath withdrawn his countenance then conclude thou hast grieved his spirit Secondly God may withdraw his love and punish his people for the sin for the carelessenesse and slightnesse that his people have of God and of his fear as children are apt to grow saucy and presumptously malepert and irreverent till the father frown and majeistick austerity takes down their saucinesse so Gods people are like wanton children apt to slight God and his fear and therefore he sees it fitting that we should see his frowns as well as his smiles he will punish his people with the losse of his favour for their sin as well as smile upon them in the light of his countenance God will sometimes brow-beat his own children that they may see the wrinkles of his brows to speak after the manner of men Too much familiarity breeds contempt the Persian Kings shunned familiarity and were seldom seen that they might be more honoured Thirdly God doth it to punish that rigidnesse unmercifulnesse and uncharitablenesse that men have towards others that are troubled in their minds there are many Christians that have obtained the assurance of Gods favour the assurance of their salvation they do look upon others that are filled with fear and trouble of mind and that lye under temptation they look upon them at a great distance and carry no more love and bowels towards them then they do to those that have no grace at all now God for to cure this distemper he doth suspend his favour and withdraw the light of his countenance and let them to lie under doubts and fears that they may learn to pitty those that are cast down and not to be so uncharitable to them not to censure them not to break those bruised reeds Reason 3 I now come to the third reason why Gods people are dejected and lie under the apprehensions of the want of Gods love and favour to their souls it ariseth from the devil it may arise from him and that both from his malice and his subtilty the devil because he cannot make the children of God to dash their souls in pieces upon the rocks of presumption therefore he labours to make them to drownd their souls in the gulf of desperation because he cannot hinder a child of God from going into his masters joy in another world he labors to hinder their masters joy from comming into them in this world the devil he will rather play at small game then at no game at all seeing he cannot keep them from going into heaven it self he will keep heaven from entring into them because he cannot keep you from the having of grace he will keep you as long as he can from having the sence of grace And this is the third reason why Gods people may lye under the want of the light of Gods countenance Reason 4 The fourth sort of reasons why God may withdraw the light of his countenance it is this it ariseth from other men and that partly from good men and
partly from bad men 1. It ariseth partly from good men i good men may slight the society and company of doubting and weak Christians when they shall consider thus with themselves I am a trouble to the company and society of good men and when good men shall stand at a distance and not care for the company of weak Christians it makes them say surely God will not have good thoughts of me and surely God will not think well of me and will Christ have fellowship with me and not contemn me These reasonings arise in the hearts and spirits of good men weake Christians occasioned by that strangenesse and slightness of spirit in good men towards those that are weak T is hard to pity much till we have felt much women that never was in travel cannot pity them so much that are in travel for Christians that never was tempted cannot pity those so much that lie under great and strong temptations those that have not been under strong doubts and fears cannot pity those that are under doubting and fears 2. It is to make them more experienced for to comfort tempted souls 2 Cor. 4 5 6. there the Apostle layeth down one end of their affliction whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation who comforteth us in all our trihulation that we may be able to comfort those that are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God This was it that they who are under spiritual afflictions they may comfort them with the same comforts that they themselves have been comforted of God a Scholar may read much of sufferings yea he may read whole volumes of sufferings and of spiritual sufferings of doubts and fears that other Christians have lain under I but yet for all that reading he may not be so able to pitty distressed souls because he wanteth experience of it himself A Scholar may read books of the Art of Navigation and yet he may not be a good Mariner but it is experience that makes them to be good Mariners so a man may read books of sufferings yet not be able so kindly to pity those that are in sufferings because he wants that experience that others have that have been in the same case those that have been tempted those whose consciences have been troubled those are the fittest men to succour those that are in that condition God chuses broken vessels to poure comfort into that they may diffuse it unto others 2. It may arise from bad men bad men may occasion the trouble of soul to dejected souls though the Lord doth leave and suffer his people to be dejected and cast down yet the Lord doth it 1. To make wicked men to fear their eternal condition may not wicked men justly reason thus with themselves do I see such a man that doth follow the Ordinances of God and live and walk in the wayes of God with care and making conscience how he liveth in his calling and labours to keep his heart close to God and to maintain communion with him and will not nor dares not commit any known sin and prayes in his family and labours to mortifie sin and to keep under his body and to abound and grow fruitful in the wayes of God and in goodnesse and do I see such a man to lie under fears and under doubts and under troubles of mind and so cast down and even ready to fear all is in vain that he shall lose heaven at last O what then will become of me what may I think with my self whose wayes are nothing like his wayes he hath followed Ordinances but I have not he hath laboured to walk in Gods way with care and conscience whereas I never made conscience of any such thing he hath laboured to live conscientious in his calling which I never did he dares not commit known sins whereas alas I indulge sin and hug sin in my bosom he labours to mortifie sin whereas sin reigns over me as a Lord he labours to grow fruitful but I am unfruitful and I never watch my heart and do my duty and I never make conscience to walk holy and humbly with God as he doth and yet behold he is in trouble and cast down for want of Gods favour what then may I think of my self doth this man lie under the sense of wrath and may not I fear that I shall lie under the weight of Gods wrath Doth he fear hell and shall not I surely feel hell And when they see this it is only for this end to awaken them out of the sleep of security and to rouze him from those false presumptions and perswasions of his own salvation and in some sense it is a mercy to wicked men that good men are cast down and troubled that they may look into their own hearts and wayes to amend and repent 2. God doth it in a way of Judgement to wicked men that the Lord lets his own people be cast down under the absence of his Divine favour in Judgement to the world that it may be a stumbling-block to the world in their way to heaven when they shall say of themselves I and my company there is no such merry men in the world as we are we can be merry and we can over-reach and deceive in our trade and we can do this and that and yet not at all troubled in conscience all the year long and yet behold those that follow Ministers and go to Ordinances and hear Sermons love the Bible yet see how they hang down their heads are troubled in mind cast down and scarce have any comfort all their lives Now what may be the reason that they should go so after their own evil wayes and not be troubled and the people of God in their exact walking be so much cast down It was so in Calvins dayes Spiritus Calvinianus est Spiritus melancholicus Christians spirits were sad spirits and this was a stumbling-block to many Papists who would not follow a sad Religion SERMON VI. Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him The health of my Countenance and my God I Now come to shew you Why the people of God should not be too much cast down when they have a comfortable assurance of Gods love Now in the resolution of this question consider these nine particulars 1. Consider that Gods withdrawing the sense of his love and favour from the soul is not alwayes an act of Justice for to punish them for sin but sometimes an act of Soveraignty when it is for sin as when thou dost grieve Gods Spirit This may make the soul sad it is neither comfortable nor thank-worthy but when you suffer from God as by
an act of his power there is no such trouble nor cause of being cast down but you may take comfort under that state for that God may sometimes withdraw and suspend his love and favour meerly upon an act of his power In peace-offerings there was oyle mixt not so in sin offerings because there is no peace nor comfort in suffering for our faults as God to shew the goodnesse of his Will sometimes gives assurance so to shew the absolutenesse and liberty of his Will he sometimes withdraws it You read of the desertion of the Church in Cant. 5. 5 6. I rose up to open to my beloved but my beloved was gone he had withdrawn himself my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer Now this was an act of Justice in Christ to withdraw himself Jesus Christ he knocked until his head was filled with the dew and his locks with the drops of the night and yet she would not open to him therefore Christ as an act of Justice might withdraw himself to punish them for sin because the Spouse would not let Christ come in when he knocked and then you read of the desertion of the Church not as an act of Justice for the punishment of sin but as an act of his meer power Cant. 3. 1. By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loved I sought him but I could not find him Now if thy conscience can tell thee that thou art careful in thy duties towards God and thy heart is upright and to labour to walk exactly and yet thou canst not see thy comforts appearing now thou mayest say peradventure yea thou mayest say without all peradventure it is not an act of Justice but an act of power that he withdraweth his favour and the light of his countenance from thy soul 2. God may withdraw his love and favour from the soul not for any displeasure that he hath to them but out of an act of love to try his own peoples love to him as a mother a tender-hearted mother many times runs behind the door from her child in a corner and hides her self but it is not because she is angry with her child but to try the strength of her childs love in seeking after the mother so God he may withdraw his love from the souls of his people but it is not from any anger but from love to his people for to try the strength of his peoples graces and to try their love in seeking of him God tryes your graces strength in going after Christ and your graces love in looking after Jesus Christ it was so in Joseph unto which I may allude Gen. 42. 7. it is said that Joseph he spake roughly to them or hard things with them that is to his brethren and he cast them into prison for three dayes ver 17. Now all this his dealing with his brethren was not for want of love to them but it was to try the affections of his brethren and to cause them to call to mind their former unkindnesse Thus God deals many times with his own people he doth withdraw his love and suspend his favour and with-hold the light of his countenance to try the strength of his peoples graces and the strength of his peoples love to him see Luke 24. 28. when the two Disciples were going to a Village and Christ came and walked with them and when they came nigh unto the Village whether they were going Christ seemed as though he would have gone further but this action of Christ it was to try the love of his two Disciples whether they would presse him to make him stay with them so God may withdraw the beams of his love he may suspend his divine favour to this end to try the love of his people how they will long after him and much desire his love to their souls 3. God may suspend his favour because there may be more of Gods fatherly love in withdrawing his love then in manifesting his love in some cases unto the souls of his people and that in these two particulars 1. When a man doth injoy the sense of Gods love and that injoyment makes him to be spiritually proud then it is in mercy to with-hold his love and favour when he cannot injoy the sense of Gods love without the sense of spiritual pride it is in this case great love Job 33. 17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man it is in the Hebrew That he removeth his works from man c. lest men should be proud of Gods grace and proud of comforts God will keep him from the comforts of his grace and in this case it is great mercy to have the love of God withdrawn when to have it continued Gods people would grow proud a little Boat cannot bear a great Sail without sinking nor a weak vessel strong liquor without breaking some of Gods people are like to little vessels you know that little boats are like to weak vessels Weak Christians they are not able to bear strong comforts to put strong liquor in weak bottles is the way to break them so to put strong manifestations strong comforts into weak souls would soon break them God sees that sometimes his people are not able to bear nor able to use comforts and divine manifestations well and in this case it is great mercy when you cannot bear them then to be without them for then the want of comfort doth make you more eager after Jesus Christ then when you do injoy it many times the injoyment of comfort makes you to grow secure and to grow carelesse whereas the want of comfort maketh you the more eager for to look after it Non-deserit ut deseratur deserit potius ne deseratur ideo videtur deserere quia non vult deseri God doth sometimes forsake that so he might not be forsaken and he doth seemingly forsake that his people might not forsake him As it is credulis misericordia cruel mercy for a wicked man to have hopes and presumption of heaven and yet go to hell so 't is misericors crudelitas merciful cruelty that a godly man should lie under fear of Hell and yet go to heaven 2. The suspension of Gods love and favour is in love when it doth make thee to prize Jesus Christ more in the want of him then thou didst in the enjoyment of him the Lord doth many times bring his own people into great wants and expose them to great exigencies and streights that they might the more prize mercy and be the more eager in the pursute after it and not to grow proud when they have it you read Deut. 32. 13. He made them to ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the fruits of the field and he made him to suck honey out of the rocks and oyle out of the flinty rock
doth destroy the soul and not because sin doth defile the soul because God pursueth sin not because he hates sin more because it is against Gods justice that is provoked then because it is against the holiness of God which is dishonoured wicked men are troubled and disquieted because God threatens sin not because God doth forbid sin because of the Hell for sin not because of the Hell in sin But now godly men do hate sin and loath sin more because it is against the nature of God and because God loathes it and hateth it more because it is against Gods commands then because God doth punish sin as it is with a child that forbears to touch a coal because it will black his hand now the child will not touch the coal because it is a fire-coal because it will burn his fingers So it is with godly men they will not touch sin because it is of a smutting and defiling nature but wicked men are like the child that will not touch sin but it is onely because it will burn Now if you can say that you hate sin because God hateth it and you do hate sin not because of the punishment of sin but because of the evil of sin not because of the damning power of sin but because of the defiling power of sin in this case thy disquietness for sin shall never hurt thee The fourth Difference Although wicked men may be troubled and disquieted for sin yet that disquietnesse doth not make them for to leave sin but when their pangs of sorrow is over them they will run to their sin again they may be disquieted for sin sometimes but it is onely for the time that the trouble doth last and no longer You read Jer. 18. 12. They said there is no hope but we will walk after the imaginations of our own hearts Their consciences did a little smite them for sin but they would follow sin for all that But godly men doth reason with themselves thus Doe such sins trouble my soul and disturbe my conscience and hinder my Communion with God and break my peace and shall I yet touch them No I will cast them away as a menstruous cloth and break off from them and I will say to them Get you hence this is another difference godly men do break off from sin but wicked men though they may be disquieted yet they continue still in the same sin assoon as the troule is over Fifthly Wicked men may be troubled for sin at the present yet this doth but lay a bare cessation on the act of sin but not to put the soul in a way of detestation of sin it is possible that there may by reason of natural conscience be such a cessation of sin that for a long time he may not commit the same sin again but yet this doth not breed in the soul a detestation of sin but when the trouble is over the cessation is ended and then he goeth to the same way of inning again You have an instance of this in Pharaoh Exodus 8. 15. When Pharaoh saw that there was respit he bardened his bears and hearkned not unto them as the Lord had said When he had a pang upon him and in great trouble then his sin was abated and a cessation of it I but when the trouble was gone then his heart hardned again So when conscience shall fly into the face of ungodly men and wicked livers and shall tell them that thus and thus they have done O then they will labour to stifle conscience and say they will break off from their wicked ways and will do so no more and when trouble of conscience is over then they will to their old sinful ways again and this is the condition of wicked and ungodly men In 2 Pet. 2. 22. It is said there It is happened to them according to the true Proverb The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that is washed to the wallowing in the mire Wicked men are like dogs while they have a pang over their stomach they are troubled and vomit it up but when the pang is over they return to the vomit again so doe wicked men when conscience shall gripe them and trouble them and punish them then they will vomit up their sins and will say they will do so no more but when pain and trouble is gone they go to their sin again Trouble of soul to a wicked man is like a Prison to a thief a Prison to a thief doth restrain his practise to keep him from doing those parts of Robbery which he would be apt to doe were he at liberty but it doth not change his thievish disposition and inclination from that sin Just so it is with a wicked mans conscience it may check and controul and restrain him from those exorbitant practises and keep him from gross acts of sin but it cannot change his sinful inclination and take away that wicked habit of sin that is within him and to stir up indignation against sin It is observable of Balaam You read in a Pet. 2. 15. Which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness He loved profit and the pangs of natural conscience were so great upon him that it did restrain him from the receiving of this sinful gain and profit but when Peter came to take cognizance of the sin of Balaam you find that he saith that he loved the wages of unrighteousness though he did not receive them his love and desire went out after it though he did not by reason of his trouble of his natural conscience receive it he would sain have had it It is no thanks to thee O wicked man if thou dost not commit sin thou it may be canst not doe it because of the checks of conscience but hast not thou a love to it and a desire to commit it it is charged upon thee as if thou hadst done it Hast thou a desire to commit adultery and though thou hast not opportunity yet if thou lovest it and delightest to contemplate upon it this is looked upon by God as thy sin And so if thou hast a desire to be drunk and lovest strong drink and hast not opportunity to doe it no thanks to thee yet thy love to the sin renders thee guilty and God will judge thee according to that But godly men they are disquieted for sin and they do desire not onely to take away the act but the habit of sin Psal 119. 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way The Psalmist he by considering the sweet precepts of God came to undestand the nature of sin and the evill of sin and therefore he hated sin and every false way not onely false ways in the outward acts of sin but false ways in regard of the secret actings of sin in his own
God did not give them water but God gave them honey it had been a mercy had God given them water to drink when they were ready to die for thirst but when Moses comes to speak of this he makes mention that God gave them honey to suck because they saw the want of a lesser mercy God gave them a greater mercy so it is in spiritual things when we in our straights see the want of mercy a spiritual want of mercy to the soul O then the soul would be glad of a little mercy the least crumb of comfort then would refresh the soul The want of spiritual mercies makes us for to see the spiritual worth of mercies the want of Gods favour the want of the light of Gods countenance makes the soul to prize the enjoyment of it the want of the love of Jesus Christ shining on the soul makes the soul to see and feel and know that the love of God in Christ is exceeding precious Now when the withdrawments of the light of Gods countenance from the soulworks these gratious effects it is in great love and mercy to the soul 4. That you may not be too much cast down consider That the people of God they have alwayes ground of comfort in their souls though they have not alwayes the sense of comfort though the souls of the children of God may be sometimes without the present sense of comfort yet the people of God are never without the cause of comfort in their souls as a man hath right to an inheritance though he cannot read the evidences for it so they have a real right to an inheritance with them that are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ though you may not sensibly enjoy your inheritance as it was with Hagar so it is with many doubting Christians about Gen. 21. She flying into the wilderness of Bersheba her water was spent in the bottle she casts her child under one of the shrubs and sate down over against it and wept and there was a Well of water by her the Well was there before and she knew it not but when God opened her eyes then she saw the Will of water that was by her So it may be with many a poor soul salvation may be neer thee very nigh thy soul and yet the soul may not have a sensible knowledge of it but may be ready to think that he shall perish for want of salvation and for want of comfort and consolation from God in Christ it is very observable what is spoken concerning Josephs brethren they had so much love from their brother that they had a testimony of his love along with them they had the money in their sacks and yet they never knew it nor never knew him to be their Brother So a poor soul may have the testimony of Gods love in the soul and the sure pledge of Gods everlasting and eternal love to the soul and yet thou mayst not know this testimony and thou mayest not know and sensibly feel the loving kindnesse of thy God to thy soul 5. Remember this for thy support that none of Gods people do retain alwayes the like sense and manifestation of Gods love to their souls but it fares with the souls of Gods people in reference to comfort as it is with the Sea sometimes ebbing and sometimes flowing and as with the air sometimes cloudy and sometimes clear and so like the season of the year sometimes winter and sometimes summer as it is in nature so it is in grace nothing in nature doth alwayes retain and keep the same likenesse at all times to keep the like perfection so it is in grace no child of God under heaven doth alwayes at all times retain and keep the same measure of comforts in his own spirit As Sampson had not the same strength at all times so a Christian hath not alwayes the same comforts 6. If at any time God doth suspend his love and favour the light of his countenance yet consider that God never doth this but he seeth great reason need for it you read 1 Pet. 1. 6. Wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations there it referreth to the sufferings for the Gospel so I may say to you If need be you shall be in heavinesse for want of the enjoyment of Gods love in Christ if you need heavinesse you shall have heavinesse if no need of sorrow you shall have no sorrow Philosophers say there is great need of wind and thunder as well as of shining of the Sun for thereby the air is kept clear so when God doth thunder into thy soul and sometimes bluster like wind into thy soul God doth see some need of that dealing with thee to sweep thy soul from sin and the love of the world and to quell thy pride and to subdue thy lusts and to purge away that slightnesse of spirit wherein thou art apt to slight others God many times doth suspend the light of his countenance and hold from thy soul the comforts of thy graces for this end that thou mightest not be proud of thy measure of grace and sometimes God may do it to stir up in thee a compassionate spirit towards others in affliction and that thou mightest exercise thy grace and God may let thee want the comforting work of the spirit that thou mightest have more of the sanctifying work of the spirit therefore comfort thy self for if God did not see need of this afflicting of thee he would never let thee lie under this sad condition 7. Consider this for thy comfort That Jesus Christ himself was under spiritual desertion as well as thou Christ himself cried My God my God why hast thou for saken me Mat. 27. 46. Here was substractio visionis though not unionis and thou dost no more but cry my God my God under the absence of the favour of God Jesus Christ did it to sanctifie thy death was buried to make thy grave a bed of roses to thee and was tempted to sanctifie thy temptations and deserted to sanctifie thy desertions he drank deep of the cup thou dost but sip of it Now he himself was under troubles and desertions and temptations that he might be able to succour them that are tempted he was able to succour them before I but now he is made experimentally able to succour his people in the like case 8. Consider this That the seeming loss of Gods favour it is not simply prejudicial to the state of grace for it doth not hinder thy having accesse to and having successe at the throne of grace neither can it hinder thee of glory thou mayest trust and wait upon God in the way of thy duties and though thou dost not enjoy the light of his countenance yet this will not hinder thee of successe at the throne of grace It is the want of Christ not of comfort that makes the throne of grace a throne
of justice and wrath for thou mayest want Gods face to comfort thee but thou shalt not want Gods hand to help thee God may lend thee his ear to thy prayers when he may deny thee the shines of his face it is the truth of grace and not the sense and sight of grace that brings the soul to heaven it is not the measure of grace nor the sense and sight of grace but the truth of grace that entitles the soul to glory though while you live you may be without your masters joy yet you shall be sure to come to your masters joy when you die though thou never hadst a heaven in thy soul while thou livest yet thy soul may come to heaven when thou diest 9. Consider and be not so cast down for want of comfort for when you come to heaven you shall have comfort enough God doth reserve the fulnesse of thy comfort untill the fulnesse of thy glory This is the time of thy travelling in this world and you must not expect your reward till you come to your journeys end Here you have joy and comfort for a time but there in heaven you shall have joy and comfort for evermore here in this world joy and comfort entreth into you but in the world to come you shall enter into joy and that is trascendently and infinitely more then to have joy to enter into you here in this world you have but the beginnings of comfort but there you shall have enduring lasting comforts here you have comforts by drops but there you shal come to enjoy and see an ocean of comfort and that for ever Object There is one Objection to be answered which is this and it is a practicall case of conscience Me thinks I hear some poor souls say It is true if I thought that God in his hiding his face from my soul in his withdrawing the comforts of his spirit from me if the absence of the light of his countenance were meerly an act of his Soveraignty and Power and to try my love to try the confidence of my heart in trusting in him and the strength of my love to him and the more to put me forward to look after Jesus Christ if this was so I should not be much troubled but alas what shall I do my conscience tels me that it is for sin that God doth withdraw the light of his countenance and the comforts of his Spirit and for this cause he deals with me and my conscience tells me that I have grieved the spirit of God and sent that sad to heaven and therefore it is just with God to let me live sadly upon earth and to live in a comfortlesse condition and I have committed great sins to take away my comforts and for the guilt of sin it is for which God doth hide his face and this is the sad objection and reasonings of many a poor soul Now there are four particulars why a child of God should not be thus dejected although he may be cast down under sin 1. If thou canst not retain the sense of Gods love yet if you retain the sense of your own sins for which thou hast lost the sense of Gods love to be much in the latter though thou hast little of the former to grow down ward in humiliation thou dost grow but little upward in consolation it is a great mercy Hosea 14. 5. I will be as a dew unto Israel he shall grow as a lilly or blossom or flourish and cast forth or strike forth his root as Lebanon you that do blossom like the lillies though you may not so much blossom in the enjoyment of comfort yet if you do grow downward strike your roots downward by the sense and sight of sin and grow downward in humiliation it is a great mercy it is better and safer for to strike thy roots of grace downward in growing in the sap of humiliation then to grow upward and flourish in the sense of pardoning-grace and the reason is this because the one is of absolute necessity and necessary to the saving of the soul but the other is necessary towards the comforts of the soul and therefore the one is more needful then the other if I were put to my choice I had rather want the sense of the pardon of sin then to want the sense of my own sinfulnesse the Lord had rather to see his people to be in mourning weeds then to be in garments of pleasantnesse if God doth not see thy face full of smiles yet if he sees thy eyes full of tears that is more acceptable to him though you may want the light of Gods countenance yet if you have the sense of your own sinfulnesse that doth eclipse the light of Gods favour to thy soul thou hast no cause to be too much cast down under sin 2. In case thou art cast down for sin yet if you can love Jesus Christ really you need not be discouraged when you do not know seriously that Jesus Christ doth love you yet though thou dost not know thou art beloved yet to love Christ in this time thou needest not to trouble thy self and though thou hast not seen Jesus Christ yet to believe in him and by faith to apply Jesus Christ to thy soul if this hath been thy work and thou canst say so you may be confident that Christ loves you truly though it may not be apparently and the reason is strong because that we can never love Jesus Christ until he first loveth us a man being in trouble of mind wanting the assurance of Gods love he said that he never knew what the testimony of the spirit of God meant and what it was to his soul but yet he could say that he did rest and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and though he knew not that Christ loved him yet he did desire to love Christ so I say to you although you cannot sensibly feel the love of Christ to thy soul yet if thou canst dearly love Jesus Christ be confident that Christ loveth thee 3. In case you want the quieting and comforting work of the spirit yet if you have the quick ning work of the spirit be not too much cast down thou that canst act grace although thou dost want comfort and although thou hast not the sight of thy graces sensibly to feel and find the comforts of them yet if thou canst live in the exercise of grace in this case thou needst not to be troubled cast down if it be with thy soul as with a Well that hath two buckets while one is down the other is still up so if one bucket of thy soul be down and thou be dejected for want of the sense of Gods favour and gratious love to thy soul yet if the other bucket be up in thy living and exercising of grace though thou wantest sensible comforts yet this is matter of joy and comfort to thy spirit if you are dejected for want of