to rise againe and as the tender mother layeth down the childe to take it up againe so desertions are but short interruptions of a Christians comfort God will not stay long when his people cry unto him he will returne and exchange their dolefull Winter into a joyfull Spring Though the River hath her ebbings yet it hath her flowings the tide of comfort will come in again There shall be a day of their joyfull meeting with their beloved they shall see their God enjoy his presence and be embraced in the armes of his love and when this day shall come there will be more joy in meeting then there was griefe in parting God will powre in comforts upon them as they have powred out teares for him and will recompence their love with kindnesse their desires with fulnesse their mouring with gladnesse their short heavinesse with everlasting consolations Desertions are not the interruption of Gods love Not in respect of Gods love but the acts of love but of the acts of his love his affection is the same but the expression is varied nore that there is a twofold love of God or a twofold consideration of the same love There is the love of Benevolence and the love of Beneficence or as some call it the love of Intention and the love of Execution l Suarez de praedest l. 1. c. 11. §. 5. Baron de pâ—ccato mort ven part 1. §. 5. The former to the faithfull from eternity to eternity and is immutable and incapable of any intention remission augmentation diminution or any alteration it is like God himselfe unchangeable but the latter the love of Beneficence or of Execution Vid. Greg. de Valent. t. 2. disp 8. q. 3. punct 2. which is his love as it expresseth it selfe in doing good to us may be in a degree suspended and restrained for a season As in the Summer there is a Lux and Lumen light inherent in the Sunne and light fluent from it that is ever perfect and permanent but this may suffer changes it may be obscured and lessened yea extinguished and quite cut off as in the night it fals out A father may have a deare affection to his childe yet shew but little in his carriage David shut in his love from Absalom not ceasing to love him but forbearing the wonted acts expression of his love A fountain may have her streams cut off or dammed up though it self have the same fulnesse aptnes to powre itself out as before The root doth not alwayes give so much sap as to make branches bud and blossome at all times yet when she is most sparing in her beneficence her good will is the same she sticks as close to them as ever We often keep backe mercies from our selves and God would more abundantly powre in himselfe Seneâ— ep 50 Rogat paedagogum ut migret domum tenebrosam esse ait but that we open not unto him and so as that blind woman complained the house was darke when she her selfe was blinde so we often complaine as if God had restrained mercy when we our selves restraine it and it is as true that sometimes God is provoked by our sinnes and keeps in his mercy that he comes not with such gracious visits as before yet his love is not shortned though the fruits of it are Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save nor his care heavy that it cannot heare but your iniquities have separated betweene you and your God and your sinnes have hid or made him hide his face from you that he will not heare Esay 59.1 2. Though God may vary in the operations of his love yet his love in it selfe is the same and shall be the same for ever Necuit hic dici quod Orontes de regum amicis esse ut digiti rationes supputaÌ„tium modo ↂ modo unitatem repraesentantes Plut. it is an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 The hils may be removed and the mountaines may depart but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Esay 54.10 This was spoken to the Church in the day of her sorrow he tels them he loved them though he afflicted them and that speech of God to David is full for this purpose I will visit their transgressions with rods and their iniquities with stripes neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant will I not breake c. Psal 89.30 44. When God deserts his people Not acts which are for being but those onely which for wel being hee withholds those acts of love onely that are for our well being not those which are for our being Though a Christian may want that without which hee cannot have peace yet not that without which he cannot live Whatsoever is necessary to his constitution life compleatnesse and stability that is never denyed no such Good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 He will ever hold their soules in life not leaving them in weake beginnings but continually leading on unto perfection As he is the Author so he is the finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 Qui operatur ut accedamus operatur ne discedamus August de bon persev c. 7. We are confident of this very thing that hee that hath begun the good worke in you will finish it untill the day of Iesus Christ Phil. 1.6 The Saints shall have of him whatsoever is so necessary as without it they cannot hold their state or attain their end but that which is rather for their ornament than supportment for the sweetnesse of their way than surenesse of their end for comfort rather than necessity may be and is often in great measure cut off and decayed This then is the thing when God leaves his people he doth not so leave them to the will of the flesh the tentations and snares of the world the power and tyrannie of the Price of darknesse as never or not at all to looke after them but his care is over them in these times and hee is with them by a secret and powerfull manutenency both guiding and upholding them and is often most in power when least in appearance The metals that lye deep under ground and see not the heavens in their light yet partake of their influence yea ordinarily the most precious operations of Gods gracious power are there where is least sense and feeling of them and they have most of God when they see him least As when God covered Moses his face in the cleft of the rock Exod. 33.22 then hee passed by and gave Moses to see his glory so the clouds and veiles that cover our eyes are often forerunners of the cleerest light and sweetest sight of God And when God seemes to be turning a man into a desolate and ruinous heap yet even then
Ship is easily born down the stream but it is hardly fetched up again the Philosophers tell us that the way from the habit to the privation is easier than the way from the privation to the habit as a man may easier make a seeing eye blinde then a blinde eye to see a man may soon put an instrument out of tune but not so soon put it in again a man may lose more strength in a dayes sicknesse i Corpora tarde augescunt at cito extingunntur citius templum à Romanis destructum quam à Iudaeis structum Savan then he can recover in many dayes of health Therefore when thou art mounted aloft by plentifull supplies of grace as upon Eagles wings take heed of falling for it is easier not to fal then to rise if thou provoke thy God to retire it may cost thee many prayers and teares to get him to return when thy lusts begin to stir and to be armed with a new strength these monsters will cost you labour and sweat to muzzle them subdue them it is easier to keep out an enemy then to expell him a man may better keep an estate then get it how did the Church seek Christ before she found him again Cant. 5. 3. It will be grievous The losse will be grievous it is most miserable to have been happy k Miserum est fuisse beatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl ep 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Eurip. in Hec. acriores sunt morsus libortatis intermissae Cic. in Offic. when you have found the sweetnesse of Gods presence it will be a bitter thing to lose it 4. It s possible to keep it It is possible to be kept it is a comfort that care will keep it Object But few do maintain a constant communion with God but do at one time or other fall behinde hand Answ 1. This doth not argue it impossible but difficult 2. The more difficult the greater care is required and a wise man stirres the more when a case is difficult Object But God doth sometimes of his own pleasure shorten and diminish the influences of his Spirit l Animus fortis crescit inipsa rerū difficultate Bern. ep 256. even because he will and that for ends best knowne to himselfe Answ 1. If it be not for your default it is not lost by you though in such a cafe it be lost to you because you have it not yet you have not lost it so it is without sin to you as it is in bodily health if it depart but not by our default by want of due care of it we sin not it is our present affliction not our fault 2. Whom God hath so left he hath not left in that maner as he doth others as we may see in examples 1. He denyeth not a generall assistance but a spetiall that is he withdrawes not all those workings of his power by want of which an universall weaknesse and dcadnesse overspreads his servants but in some particular case only as in Peter Christ did not leave him to a generall declension but to a particular slip 2. He did sooner return to Peter and caused Peter to return to himself 3. He communicates more to them afterward so Peter gained by his losse 3. Wee are not so much to minde what God doth in the way of his free pleasure and absolute soveraignty as what he doth in ordinary nor so much what he will doe as what he will that we shall doe nor so much what the Issue of our work shall be as what our rule is This out of doubt we shall finde by an holy walking even more of God if not at this time in this thing in this kinde or in this measure yet in another for our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. 1 Cor. 15.58 It is possible and frequent to finde little strength in some case and much in another it may be thy lusts may be working but thy heart melting fearing mourning warring praying and abounding in much spirituall life it may be in afflictions thou maist have more sorrow and unquietnesse of heart being not so abundantly filled with spirituall comfort but this may be recompensed in much meeknesse humbleness hungring after God dependance upon him c. God will not be wanting to thee that failest not thy selfe if thy love be constant to him much more is his to thee we say love descends stronglier then it ascends the father loves the childe better than the childe loves the father Gods love begets ours therefore it is not only a preventing love before ours but an excelling love above ours 5. It is an excellent thing in respect of 1 the meanes 1 Christ Consider the excellency of enjoyment of God 1. In the meanes of it 1 the Son of God dyed to obtain it his blood was poured out that there might be a way for man to have Communion with God we are made neare and have accesse to God and favours from God at no lesse price then the blood of the onely begotten Son of God 2. The Spirit himself is imployed to poure in the treasures of divine grace 2 The Spirit 3. All the Prophets Apostles Preachers yea 3. All ordinances the Word and Sacraments are the instruments of conveyance of this high favour It must needs be of great worth and excellency In respect of the effects 1. Comfort and happy concord for the effecting of which such high persons and excellent means are employed 2. In the effects 1. It brings great peace and solace because it sets the soule in an harmonious state m Omne bonum concordiae cognatum est Spond in hom Ilia 2 1. A man carried on in a heavenly course by a divine hand hath concord betwixt Conscience and himselfe Conscience Betwixt conscience and himselfe as it is a tutor for instruction so is a task master for exaction as it shewes what we owe so it demands it now when a man hath his rent ready for his Lords Baily he is not molested Conscience will murmure and grumble if a man come short n Mens conscia verbere caedit occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Juven de improb Sat. 13. but holy walking keepes peace 2. Concord betwixt the affection and condition that is when a man enjoyeth God Betwixt the affection and condition he hath what he would have now if a man have what he loves he is satisfied as if you give a poore man riches his heart is eased Whom doth the godly man love and desire in the world more then God Psal 73.25 he is his light life strength Joy all in all to him Col. 3.11 3. Betwixt inclination and action Concord betwixt inclination and action when a man hath a principle that disposeth him to holinesse and yet is hindered or perverted this is a sicknesse and paine to the soule as if you stop water in its
darke and stormy season they reckon themselves among the dead and thinke that all hope is gone of getting out of these deepes but now consider there is hope 1. The life you have is from Christ Their life is from Christ and deare to him it is deare to him he laid downe his life that you might live he hath planted in you that grace you have and will hee not cherish his owne worke which with so much cost and care he hath undertaken the breathings of thy soule are the breath of his own spirit and he wil own it if you come to him he will in no wise cast you out f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 6.37 That grace you have was given you to fit you for communion with him and when you come to him will hee shut the doore he opened the doore in your heart when you shut it and will he not open his doore when you knocke he loves to doe much for his for he loves them much you are not straitned in him but in your selves what is the meaning of the Gospell doth not Christ stand with a fulnesse in his hand why doe you not looke to him with faith who is as full of goodnesse as of power is he not your head are you not his members he feeles your paines and sicknesse yea he well knoweth and that by experience in his kinde what it is to be without God and knoweth there is no help for you but in himselfe your unkindnesses shall not hinder if you will be friends with him he will be a friend to you the adulteresse shall finde acceptance if she returne Ier. 3.1 2. There is a promise to such as seeke You have a promise why then doe you not lift up your heads you cannot come before you are called and what you want is ready for you he hath said he will give rest to the weary strength to the weake light to the blind health to the sicke he would not have said these things but that hee would have you rejoyce in hope when you come to aske the spirit it is granted before you aske Luke 11.13 If you that are evill know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy Spirit to them that aske him Doe you think that you have more compassionate love then he you thinke if your children come hungring crying fainting for bread you could not deny them how much lesse will Christ your love is nothing to his He is love 1 John 4.16 that is to say he is the fountain of love he workes it where it is and that love that you have to him is from him and would he be loved of you if he did not love you certainly he was your friend before he made you his friend 1 Iohn 4.19 So then beleeve and God is ready good hangs in the promise like ripe fruit if you shake the tree f Verba cupressis similia dici solet de promissis speciosis quidem sed f â—llentibus apud Caelium l. 25. c. 2. the fruite will fall turne this promise into prayer plead with God in his owne language make his bond thy petition live upon his word if you beleeve it shall be well if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed those mountaines that lye upon you shall be removed when God deales with us by way of promise he deales the sweetest way for what would you expect but his good will and how would you know his good will but by his word by the promise you have God not inclining and yeelding but determining binding himselfe by this ladder climb up and bowe thy soule before him upon the pillars of faith which doth so surely interest thee in thy God he proclaimeth and makes heaven and earth his witnesses that hee is yours he hath given such power to faith that he that beleeves sits upon the throne with Christ Apoc. 3.21 and is made Lord of all the treasures of the kingdome All is yours 1 Cor. 3.22 Yea God hath so tyed himselfe to his people that he hath not only said aske seek pray but command me Esay 45.11 3 You have experience Experience you are ready to say as Gideon what signe dost thou give me stil the heart cryeth for security and is hardly satisfied have you not signes what is the word but a sign of his favour what is the Sacrament but a signe and seale of his love what is the grace you have but a signe and earnest of his love What are all the Saints but signes a cloud of witnesses Esay 43.10 12. Chap. 44. 8. Others How many cripples have you seen walking and leaping how many sick healed how many dead raised and why doe you thinke he should be harder to you then to all what thinke you that hee hath some speciall quarrell to you are you alone and have you none like you in sin what if it were so yet is not all the sins of all the Saints more then yours cannot he pardon thy personall debt that hath sealed a discharge to so many thousands it matters not how much thou owest a mountaine is as easily covered in the sea as a mole-hill Have not you your selves experience Your own bethinke your selves have you not often been refreshed by his hand did you never finde your bones out and your soul sick till now and who helped you when you came grovelling in the dust with your backs bowing under pressures did he not lift up thy soule with a renewed strength when you came with yokes upon your necks irons on your hands and feete like poore captived slaves did he not heare you when you cryed when you had but a little roome to peep at and could out of a close stinking dark dungeon see but little of heaven when your soules were almost among the dead and you had but so much life as to cry Lord help me did he not help Nay how often unsought hath he come to you When Pharoah and his taskmasters made your soules to serve you did not send up the groanes and cries that Israel did yet hee came and led you out not into the wildernesse but unto Canaan and gave you liberty peace and the good things of the land when you had run in a sort out of all you came not as the Prodigall to his father but he came to you and renewed your stock and filled your becalmed soules with fresh gales of grace And now after all this when hee hath been such a friend so faithfull such a father so mercifull will you say there is no hope No rather say if new tentations arise and new lusts that break in and spoile say as David The Lord that delivered me out of the pawe of the Lion and out of the pawe of the Beare hee will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistim 1 Sam. 17.37 and as the Apostle We had the sentence
a death in him we trust that he will yet deliver us 2. Cor. 1.10 4. It workes more closing with Christ the death of comfort occasions a greater life and strength towards Christ both in desire of him and dependance upon him and for this cause God shakes the soule with earthquakes that it may stand faster upon its true basis and foundation that which at first brings the soule to Christ is his worth and our need and the more wee see our selves necessitous the more our hearts gather in to Christ the soule must have some rest and if it finde none within nor without it is carried to Christ as Noahs Dove to the Arke That which is the first coard to draw to him hath also a strength to bind to him therefore God gives his people sad visions of sin and wrath that by being shaken they may roote themselves more in Christ this was Gods great â—ime to set up his Son as the hope and helpe of his people and as that glorious meanes by which hee may diffuse the beames of his mercy and love upon men and hee loves to see the Saints advancing him by flying to him and abiding in him And the more they goe forth to Christ and seeke the Father in the Son the more they are blessed Christ is the rock of the Saints and when they are knit to it they stand fast the nearer they are to Christ the nearer are they to all happinesse God will not looke friendly upon the soule but through Christ he will not poure out the spirit of comfort but through him and as comfort comes by comming so the oftner the soule comes and the more it converseth with Christ and resteth on him the more comfort it will finde at last Christ will tell you many secrets and open his fathers bosome to you when you stick close to him And this advantage comes by desertions that the soule is so frighted with those stormes which it met with that it is afraid to bee any more out of its harbour but seekes to dwell under the wing of Christ and to keepe closer to him than ever it did before and so this affliction brings forth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse in them which are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 Cause 4 4. Cause The correcting and healing of some evill in his people He doth it for their profit that they may be partakers of his holinesse Heb. 12.10 There are many things in the Saints which are very repugnant to that filiall state in which they are set by grace and it is no wonder if God take such courses wherein he seemes not to bee a father to them that are not as children to him I will instance in some particular evils which God will not beare with but doth visit in his people with this and other rods 1. Deadnesse and dulnesse of heart Sometimes living men are in a livelesse state their hearts are so benummed that they seeme to lye among the dead the former vigor and activity of their graces is gone and they are become barren and unfruitfull now as in a lethargie or apoplexie Physitians use strong and sharpe medicines so God casts the soule into a feaver to get off this stupidity and hangs their soules over the mouth of hell and makes them to drink of that cup of red Wine the dregs whereof the wicked of the earth shall wring out and drinke Ps 75.8 that by this strong potion he may quicken their dull and sleepie spirits Deadnesse is such a state in which a man is neither receptive nor active neither fit to receive good nor to do good and such a case is not tolerable for in this Gods ends are stopped for he calleth out his people to be vessels to receive mercy to hold forth his name but he can doe neither that is dead Nature it selfe loves not a dead thing it is both unusefull and uncomely for where life faileth there is corruption as in the body a mortified member doth putrifie and not onely it selfe but others therefore as a man useth all meanes to recover the life and spirits in his body so God doth with his people David lay in a slumbering drousinesse a long time but at last when he lay like Ionah sleeping by the sides of the ship hee sent a storme into his soule to awake him then he revives like another man 2. Fearelesnesse of God this is a temper to which the Saints are apt to grow as Children are wont to grow sawcy and presumptuously malepert and irreverent till the fathers frowne and majesticke austerenesse take down their spirit God will not be carelesly dealt with though he allow us confidence and holy boldnesse in approach to him and converse with him yet he expects a due sense of his Majestie and greatnesse Let us have grace whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly feare for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. Though he be a father yet he is a terrible an holy and an Almighty God And therefore to correct the sinfull boldnesse of his people and to cause them to stand in awe of him hee sometimes shuts in his favour and keeps state by concealing himselfe as the Persian Kings shunned familiaritie and were seldome seene that they might be more a Persona Regis sub specie majestatis occulitur Iust l. 1. honoured The feare of God is one of the maine pillars of his throne and so farre as he is not our feare he is not our God therefore he hath ever shewed himselfe in his power and greatnesse unto men when he came to give the Law hee came in great Majesty with fire blacknesse and darknesse and tempest and the sound of a Trumpet c. and so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly feare and quake Heb. 12.18 19 21. yea and in the Gospell it was foretold that God would shew wonders in Heaven above and signes in the earth beneath blood fire and vapour of smoake the Sun shall be turned into darknesse and the Moone into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come Ioel. 2.31 Rom. 10.13 Acts 2.19 20 21. When he came to publish peace to the Gentiles hee came with great terror in judgement upon the Jewes and struck off the branch naturall that the Gentiles might not be high minded but feare Rom. 11.20 And in particular persons he so workes by intermixtures of frownes and favours majesty and mercy that they may learne to walke as those Churches did In the feare of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost Acts 9.31 It is not a servile seare or a feare of discouragement which God expects but a feare of reverence a feare intermixed and tempered with love there is a great difference in feares a man feares a beast and runs from him a man feares an enemie but hates him but a child feares his Father and loves him yea therefore hee feares because hee loves they shall feare the
will bring all the enemies of Christ under his feete and if there be a treacherous disposition like Ioab exalting Adoniah into the throne of David God will bring it downe Christ must have his owne place the throne must not be given to another If you so set up the world that you count it happinesse and seeke it more than Christ and are more carefull to leave this then Christ unto your children God will arme himselfe against you to subdue this treacherous conspiracy and rebellion against his anointed 5 Intractablenesse and stiffenesse of heart this is another cause of the clouding of our comfort God deales with the heart by coards of mercies and by bonds of affliction but mercies move not and afflictions prevaile not therefore God takes another course as Physicians when gentle meanes profit not apply sharper God wil not lose any whom he hath called therefore if they be stubborn and stand like rocks against all ordinary meanes he will come upon the tenderest part and use the sharpest way and when he comes in stormes and clouds who can abide it his rebukes are more terrible than thunder The spirit of a man may sustaine his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can beare Now the soule is hard set and comes upon her knees to submit her selfe and melts like waxe and yeelds to any thing it seeth an absolute necessity of agreement with God when it is beleaguerd with such trouble on every side David had enough upon him to have humbled him but his heart was strong till God put the cup of trembling into his hand and this wrought so that it fetched up all and brought the man in frame Clay is easily molded but the marble must have many blowes the Sun beames will melt the soft but brasse must be put into the fire A tender sprig is easily nipped but a stiffe Oake must be hacked and hewed before it falls A stout spirit brings much sorrow upon it It is a grievous temper if it be not bowed to God it groweth worse and worse if it be bowed it is often with great violence in naturall causes resistance increaseth the vigour and operation of contraries when fire and water meet in strong opposition how doth the stronger rage till he have got the victory If a man enter the lists with a stout a strong Antagonist he calls up all his spirits and power that he may get the conquest If a King send to deale with rebells if neither proffers nor patience nor counsells nor favours can prevaile he armes himselfe against them God will overcome if faire meanes doe not the worke then he awakes himselfe as a Lyon and comes as a man of warre and le ts flye his arrowes into the soule Iob 6.4 God tryed Ephraim divers waies but his heart yeelded not at last when warning pieces did not bring him God mounts his Canons against him and gives him a broad side For the iniquity of his covetousnesse I was wroth Isay 57.16.17 and then hee strikes sayle and yeelds Ierem. 31.19 6. Rigidnesse and unmercifulnesse to the spirituall state of others the Saints are sometimes much wanting in bowells of pitty and tendernesse and apt by censures neglects contempts and rough dealing to break the bruised reed it is hard to pitty much till they have felt much for this cause Christ was a man of sorrowes that we might be assured of his compassion c Haudignara mali miseris succurrere disco Dido Virg In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a mercifull and faithfull High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.17 18. God chooseth broken vessels to powre comfort into that it may diffuse it selfe upon others Whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation 2 Cor. 1.6 Sense of the paines of a wounded spirit makes the heart tender and God loves such a spirit he abhorres pride insolence and unmercifulnesse in all but most in his children It is very unnaturall for fellow-members to be incompassionate one to another The relation requires love and love calls for mercy Christ is full of meeknesse and will not quench the smoaking flaxe nor breake the bruised reede and he that abounds in mercy loves mercy What if thy brother be low in gifts and grace yet know you not that the beauty of Christs body is made up as of the summetry and congruity so of the inequality of members and the least infant in grace is as the apple of his eye take heed of destroying by your uncharitable carriage the Temple of Christ or causing those to grieve whom he would not have grieved Is it for you whom he hath spared to deale so with your fellow servant your hard dealing is the way to bring you into prison and to lay you in chaines What if he be poore and meane yet looke not over him with disdaine Have not the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons James 2.1 In this you are corrupt Judges Iudges of evill thoughts ver 4. these are chosen of God rich in faith heires of the Kingdome ver 5. If ye despise the poore it will occasion men to blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called ver 7. The Law saith If thou love thy neighbour as thy selfe ye doe well ver 8. You must be judged by this Law and hee shall have judgement without mercy that hath shewed no mercy ver 13. What if thy brother have many failings or have offended remember the rule Brethren if a man be overtaken with a fault restore such a one in the spirit of meekenesse considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted Be are ye one anothers burthens and so fulfill the Law of Christ Gal. 6.1.20 Edoms sinne was great because he added affliction to Iacobs troubles Thou shouldest not have spoken proudly in the day of distresse c. As thou hast done it shall be done to thee thy reward shall returne upon thine owne head Obad. 12.15 7. Some great transgression there are dayly infirmities which have a pardon in course but though God be mercifull to the weaknesse of his servants yet if they sinne willingly and put out the light of Counsell he will put out the light of comfort If they breake the bonds of his government he will cast them into bonds of distresse David is a visible and knowne patterne in this case Sometimes the Saints take head and run like the wilde asse in the desart till her moneth come in which she hath tâ—avell and sorrow and sometimes they wound the honor of the gospel so bring a wound upon themselves a sword is sheathed in their soules and sometimes they will run to their old waies and this reneweth their old feares and breeds new troubles sometimes they lye long unhumbled
if he to whom it is brought cannot read it he will not beleeve him or accept him Now God hath revealed himselfe by the creation Rom. 1.19 20. all the creatures are as so many witnesses to reason it selfe that there is a God which made all but reason is deafe and heares not That sound that is gone through the world Psal 19. or heares it so weakly that it cannot settle and quiet it selfe in this truth that God is and that he made the worlds so that our faith even in these things is not onely from the light of nature but also and especially from the light of the spirit and according as this light is afforded more or lesse so doth our faith vary in it's operation by the weaknesse and blindnesse that remaines upon the understanding though it be renewed the minde is disabled to answer these various and snarling objections which are conceived in this fruitfull wombe how many reasonings and strange disputes doth the carnall minde when it is left to it selfe forge against the truth which doe so cloud and puzzle the soule that it is often strangely foyled As those Gentiles being left of God became vaine in their imaginations Rom. 1.21 So the Saints themselves when God shutteth in the light of his spirit are full of dangerous reasonings entangling thoughts the Psalmist beholding the manner of Gods dealing with the wicked and with the godly that they prospered and these were asslicted from hence argues so strangely that he had almost beene soiled but that God did guide him with his counsels and upheld him by his right hand Psal 73. So Moses though God had told him what he would doe for the provision of his people consulting with reason had this answer from it Can God prepare a table in the wildernesse Num. 11. I need not insist upon instances of this nature the minde is very active and quick in working and is able to lose it selfe in doubts and perplexing reasonings but it is not so able without divine assistance to untie her knots and to free her selfe 2 Cause is Satan whose worke it is to molest the Saints Satans working he is full of all knowledge so that he knowes how to weave the most subtilenets to toyle the soule and he hath a way into a man by the phantasie where he is able both to keepe the thoughts working upon some strong imagination and ensnaring reasoning and to suggest new hence it comes about that a man is so mightily and uncessantly pursued with doubts and strong workings of unbeliefe that there is scarce an article of his faith so rooted in him but by these blustering and tempestuous winds it is at one time or other much shaken These then are the causes of the new and strong working of incredulity Atheisme which as it seemed by former force and power of supernaturall light to have beene buried doth in a time of desertion rise up againe to the great affrightment and disturbance of the heart CHAP. XI Of the change and alteration of affections in case of desertion where is spoken of love hope hatred c. with their sad abatements THe third change which a man deserted may finde in himselfe Third change in one deserted is in his affections in respect of his graces is in the affections these are the pulses of the soule by which judgement may be made of the state and temper of the soule the affections are but severall acts and motions of the will according to the quality distance and absence of objects presented to it And the will is the principall subject of holinesse herein the graces are most scituated and planted this is the throne wherein they reigne and rule so that the affections do much discover the state of a man grace hath its birth in the understanding but her seat in respect of the greater part in the will it is seminally in the minde actually and formally in the will especially therefore as I said the will is much to be observed in its tempers and inclinations and motions which are the affections of the soule as we call them Now these affections I referre that I may instance in particulars to two heads according to the principall objects of them which are 1 God and things spirituall 2 Sinne and things carnall As the heavens are moved upon her two poles so the affections are conversant about these two objects First of the affections which looke upward and have God and Christ and heavenly things for their object These affections are all comprised in love g Aquin. 1.2 ae q. 28. a. 6. as among the disliking affections hatred doth vertually contain the rest as griefe fear anger c. so in the liking affections love doth comprehend the rest of that kinde as desire delight joy hope c. these being but the children of love or severall acts of love Now the acts of love towards God and things above are principally three 1 Desire 2 Hope 3 Delight By desire and hope love extends it selfe towards God as absent by delight she enjoyes him as present Desire is love in motion Delight is love in rest Hope is Love having motion in her rest and rest in her motion and in expectation there is neither perfect rest nor perfect motion 1 Desire There will be a great change in this Desires abated so that when God denieth his wonted influence for what is desire but the soules following of God and there is a decay in this proportionable to the abatement of Gods drawing for so far only as God draweth we follow Cant. 1.4 Ioh. 6.44 The abatement of desires will shew it selfe in two things 1 There will be lesse prayer and endeavour to enjoy God Prayer is the presenting of our desires to God there is lesse prayer and endeavour and he that is full of desires is full of prayers the soule that longs after God breathes out many sighs and prayers and teares unto the Throne of Grace and is ever reaching after him h Non requiescit amor in quacunque supersiciali adeptione amati sed quaerit amatum perfecte habere quasi ad intima illius perveniens c. Aqu. 1.2 ae q. 28. a. 2. that it may apprehend him Phil. 3. If God be present it hangs upon him with humble entreaties not to depart from him if absent he flieth after him with mournfull complaints and cries that he would returne to him he cannot be answered or quieted if he finde not the losses and ruines of his spirit to be repaired But where the heart is still and silent in her evils over run with darknesse deadnesse earthlynesse and other like dolefull evils and yet puts not up her prayers or if prayers yet not cries being either no suter or at least no begger but quietly contents her selfe in her way here desires after God are very low The like may be said of all endeavours desires are active if you are become more slacke and
and friends and all the sweetest accommodations of this life yet as the child that wants the nurses breast is not quieted with bables no not bracelets of pearles oâ— chaines of gold but it must have the breast so he still pursues God anâ— is not satisfied till he get his hard hearâ— softened his dull heart quickned his darke heart enlightned and God returning againe into the tabernacle of his soule to fill it with the glory and power of his presence and so farre as he gaines in this he is at peace if God open the well of life and cause the streames thereof to flow in upon him iâ— he come in with power to destroy his lusts to quicken awaken and establish the soule hee counts it a greater happinesse than to possesse a crown counâ— â—t a greater happinesse then to possesse a crowne or heape of pearles or mines of gold The second act of love is hope In Desertion hope is weakned this is an act of the will extending it selfe towards that which it loves as future it is of great use to a Christian it is an anchor to uphold in troubles and a goad to excite to endeavour yet such â—s our folly that though all Christians have a saving hope yet few have a living hope that is to say such a hope is lives in them and gives life unto them but most rest in a poore faint â—eeble hope seldome improving this grace except in the day of feares sorrowes troubles and of death But surely if hope be abated a man â—s abated in his communion with the God of hope And the decayes of â—ope are in some of these three things 〈◊〉 in all in the Certainty of hope in the Acts of hope in the Efficacie of hope 1 For the certainty Certaine hopes â—re not onely mans portion In its certainty though there be a certainty in the object yet not alwayes in the subject Hope in the Saints respects the good hoped for in a three-fold degree of futurity Some hope for heaven as possible onely this is the lowest pitch of hope Some hope for heaven as probable though they have hope of attaining yet not without feare of missing some hope for heaven as certainâ—â— and infallible The hope of possibility is a weak hope the hope of probability is a fluctuatin hope the hope of certainty is a setlâ—â— hope that which the Apostle cals the Plerophorie or full assurance of hope Heb 6.11 Now as in other parts sâ— in this the Saints are subject to declension but where it so fareth that a man hope is clouded and enfeebled so that from a triumphant and joyfull expectation and waiting for of heavenly glory he is fallen into an habituall anxietie and dubiousnesse of minde it argueth that he enjoyeth not God as he hath done 2 For the acts of hope In the acts Note Hope hath two acts 1 Desire 2 Expectation The one is the reaching forth of the will to the thing promised the other hath two things which constitute it 1 The fixing of the soule upon the thing desired 2 The resting of the soule in the futurity of it Concerning these I will propound three things for your triall 1 The acts of hope are decayed Not so compleat where there is not that compleatnesse in them that hath beene as desire of heaven without minding it I or some slight desire and scattering thoughts of it without a patient and joyfull waiting for it 2 Where there is not that frequencie of these acts that hath been Not so frequent as when you doe not so often long and looke for heaven not so often minde it and feed your hearts in the expectation of it 3 Where there is not that fulnesse in these acts which hath beene Not so intense as when your heart doth not so eagerly desire it but hath lost her former breathings and pantings after it not So looking for and hasting to it 2 Pet. 3.12 And when it doth not dwell above but hath lost her habitation which shee had in heaven and hath pitched up tents unto her selfe in the world and when it doth not comfort it selfe in the remembrance of the promise and solace it selfe in the thoughts of its future blessednesse it is certaine here is a decay in the acts of hope 3 For the efficacie of hope In its efficacy not working note that a lively hope is an efficacious hope and as there are many precious effects of it so I will instance in foure 1 Prizing of the promise Appretiation of the promise faith coÌ„mends the promise unto hope it reveales the worth and truth of it and then hope takes it and hugs it so that it reckons it as its treasure and feeds upon it as its Manna which God hath given to refresh the soule in this desert when you forget your consolation and let the promises lie as a thing of no account when you afford them not roome yea the highest roome in your hearts when you build not your peace on this pillar and sucke not your joyes from these breasts surely all is not well your hopes are diminished 2 Moderation of the affection to the world Hope doth elevate the heart Moderation towards the world Where a mans treasure is there will his heart be also Matth. 6. If you be grown more proud in abundance more covetous after what you have not more discoÌ„tented with what you have your hearts are againe entangled in the love of the world and fallen from the heights of heavenly hope 3 Quickning endeavour Hope makes a man willing constant chearefull diligent Abundant diligence abundant in endeavours therefore if you strive lesse you hope lesse 4 Making able to suffer This steeled the Saints with courage and patience in persecution yea Constant patience this made them to rejoyce yea glory in tribulation for Christ Rom. 5.3 Encrease of feares of the crosse and of impatience in suffeâ—ing argueth a decrease of the efficacie and vigour of hope 3 The third act of love is delight this is a sweet contentment of heart in God and in the things of God In Desertion delight in God lessened a complacencie or taking pleasure in God and according to the degree of love is oâ—â— delight in God the same love that quickens desire and hope after God as absent sheweth it selfe in delighting in him as present It is true God is in a sense absent from us while we are in the world 2 Cor. 5.6 that is we have not fully attained Phil. 3.12 but yet he is also present he is present 1 to faith for faith hath a propheticall eye to see that as present which is absent and a magneticall hand to draw unto it selfe that which is afarre off and he is â— present to sense for we taste and feele his power and goodnesse and so farre as the soule that loves him enjoyeth him it joyeth in him Appearing therefore if your delight be lesse
your love is lesse Quest How may I know that my delight in God is lesse By forgetfulnesse of God Answ 1. If you be more forgetfull of God for that which we esteeme we minde Excessive delight in vanities 2 If you delight more in the worlds vanities Heavenly delights and sensuall pleasures are contrary each to other There is a lawfull delight in the world consistent with delight in God yea for whom is delight in the world but for the heires of heaven he that is in his sinnes stung with the venome of his guilt and racked with the feares and clamours and terrours of an unquiet conscience can have no true delight in the world What sweetnesse is a mans dainties to him that feares he hath no portion in the bread of life What comfort in his great riches that looks to have heaps of eternall woes What peace in his faire dwelling who expects hereafter to live in the lowest hell What good doe those pleasures which are sowred with hellish horrors and dreadfull expectations of unsufferable paines for ever No no hee onely hath true pleasure who hath God for his God yet even they are subject to a carnall use of lawfull comforts which is when our delights are immoderate not used in that way and to that end that we may be more fitted to walke with God c. and when our delights are such the more they are the lesse is our delight in God a full delight in God deads the heart to earthly and carnall delights as in the pipes of water when the water hath broke a vent to it selfe upward it ceaseth to runne forward 3 Vnwillingnesse to walke with God Unwillingnesse to walke with God which lieth in five things 1 Hardly drawne to God A stone need not to be driven downward because that motion is sutable to it Hardly drawne to him and it affects the centre the Eagles flie willingly to their prey an hungry man need not either perswasion or compulsion to take his meat if you did delight in God as before what meanes your hanging backe from him and how is it that the counsels and thoughts of your hearts the pressing perswasions of the Word the strong motions of the spirit the shining examples of the godly the wise advise of faithfull friends the sweet enducements of precious promises the fad menacies of fearfull evills yea the heavy stroakes of an angry God yea the melting mercyes of a tender father yea the bleeding wounds of a crucisied redeemer I say how is it that none of these doe more prevaile with thee to a more ready walking with thy God this backwardnesse is hatefull l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Vnchearfulnesse in his presence Unchearefull in his presence people and service a man may soone see when a servant workes willingly in his masters service David when he had his delight in God delighted in all the waies of God Psal 119.16 24 35 47 70 77 174. it may be to be with God hath in times past been to thee better than thine appointed food but now thou comest to dutyes as to meales when thou hast no stomack what then more clear than this that thy delight is lesse in God 3. Uneavennesse and inconstancy in the way of God Uneaven and inconstaant when a man is in and out and constant in nothing but unconstancy it is a sign he is not well pleased with his way the soule rests in that which she fully likes all changes are from dislike for if a man had what hee would have in any thing he would not desire to leave it all uneavennesse in our walking with God argueth a distaste of the wayes of God and of God himselfe and it is great weaknesse to be drawne so from our selves and to be so tottering l Bene compositae mentis esseexistimo secum consistere secum morari Sen. 4. Easinesse to be drawne from God when a man is well pleased in his house Easily drawne from God or horse or any thing a small price will not buy it out of his hands therefore judge your selves when Satan comes and bids you such a price offers such a pleasure or such an advantage to draw you from that which happily heretofore the whole world could not have wonne you from and you easily and ordinarily are by this taken off from your holy course it is a signe your hearts are not so delighted in God as they were Loath to rise to the highest pitch of holinesse 5. Loathnesse to rise to the highest pitch of an holy conversation you have some hopes still but you can rest with the sad admixtures of sears some mortifying grace but you seek not for the fulnes of it some quickning grace but you strive not for the abundance of it you have some communion with God but you strive not to be much in it a man hath never enough of that which delighteth him much Now briefly of the other maine Object about which our affections are conversant while we carry this flesh is sin and carnall things there will bee a change in these in the time of desertion In a word that I may dispatch this I will instance in two affections 1. hatred 2. griefe These two goe together and they are ever of an equall height hatred respects the nature of sin griefe the proximity of it though we had no sin we should have hatred of it but if it were not neare us or in us we could not have griefe for it To begin with hatred which is a displicency against sin in the nature of it In Desertion hatred of sinne abated this hatred is founded in love and as love is either terminated on a mans self or on God such is the hatred of sin a man may have the former and yet bee without God that is he may hate sin as repugnant either to his nature so meek men hate contention or to their peace so men illightened hate it for the evil that it brings as shame sorow fears paines death hell But they that thus hate it love it their hatred is but respective but their love direct and reall though they hate the fruit they love the tree though they dislike the effect of sin yet they like the sin it selfe But true hatred is a displicency against sin it selfe g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet l. 2. c. 4. Signes of it 1. Occasions of sin lesse distasted and feared And since this is of God the more we have of it the more we have of God consider then if there bee not an abating of this is not thy heart entred into a kinde of league and amity with thy former lusts Quest How shall I know this Ans The occasions of sin will be lesse feared and distasted the occasions of sin are Harbengers and spokesmen of sin and where these finde better entertainment their sin is not so much disaffected Princes doe shew their loving respects
when sin hath thus revived and is become stronger Ans It will be necessary to consider foure things When sin is growne stronger it may be known by The roote The branches The soyle The fruit 1. The roote of sin First the roote which is the life of the plant is in the root and there is something which hath the resemblance of a roote to sin in the soule by the meanes whereof sin lives 1. Affection Affection and the minde 2. Vnderstanding The affection and love of sin is the life of it then sin dyeth when we hate it then it lives when we love it hence flow all resolutions to sin and all voluntary acts of sin and all yielding to tentations and occasions of sin love is an affection begetting union and action a man is desirous to be and doe that which he loves judge then theincrease of the power of sinne by the increase of love to sinne There are foure degrees of love to sinne Foure degrees of love to sin 1 Degree is a non-resolution against it t Cum non sit dicendus velle qui quod potuit non confecit non vult proculdubio resistere qui non facit quod potest ut resistat Aug. apud Parisiens which is when though a man be not come to a resolution to fulfil his lust Non-resolution against it yet he is not at all or but slightly resolved against it his hatred against it is not sogreat as hath beene therefore his watch is neglected his sinne connived at the course of mortification slacked though he open not the doore to entertaine sinne yet he leaves it unlocked and unbarred that if occasion present it selfe sinne may not be excluded u Planevult qui plene non est nolens qui deliberat descivit 2 An allowed desire of sinne desire is love or an act of love tending to that which pleaseth and suteth with the heart and as hatred begetteth an aversion Allowed desire so love begets desire when you finde a leaning and hankering and lusting unto sinne with allowance it is a signe of love and this is a wofull temper of spirit a Malorum ultimum est malasua amare ubi turpia non solum delectant sed etiam placent Sen. ep 39. 3 A resolution to runne to sinne when the heart hath decreed with it selfe that it will doe evill it is a signe of a great strength of sinne when a man retaines a purpose of sinning and for the most part is a token of a rotten heart What greater strength of sinne can there be imagined Resolution then against reason religion vowes threats promises heaven hell to maintaine a resolution of evill in the heart this begets a desperate prosecution of sinne and argueth a great measure of Atheisme and contempt of God and is ever joyned in persons enlightned with a resisting of the Holy Ghost in the counsels of his Word and the checks and dictates of conscience 4 A delightfull acting of sinne Delightful a â—ing and taking pleasure in unrighteousnesse as here the acts of sinne are very sinfull because the more an evill act is wilfull the more it is sinfull so the power of sinne is very great because the more it is in delight the more in the will and the more it hath of the will the stronger it is The second thing which is a part of the root The other root is the minde Which feedeth sinne and the maine part is the understanding as it is in the root of the tree one part conveyes sap to another and then that coveyeth sap into the tree so here affection feeds action and the minde feeds affection the minde gives strength to sinne 1 By good opinion of it that fleshly wisdome that is in us By good opinion of it that carnall minde is wholly for the strengthning of sinne and the more this ministers that which gives life to sinne the stronger it is as in the Church so in every particular man there is a false prophet and a beast the beast of sensuality and brutish lusts and the false prophet of carnall wisdome working miracles before the beast raising up many representations of a bewitching nature by which lust is quickned and strengthned now while Christ rules with power in the soule the beast is bound and the false prophet is silenced but when he departs then they are loosed and walke up and downe with power and deceit woring in the heart 2 In a word By working for it when the corrupt minde works unto sinne sinne is growne Quest How doth it worke unto sin Answ 1 By diverting it selfe from the thoughts that might detaine the heart from sinne By diversion being voluntarily inconsiderate 2 By studying to defend it b Excusare non excutere Sen. Protection either making it no sinne or small sinne being willingly carelesse to search and enquire into the utter sinfulnesse and exceeding danger of sinne 3 Drawing the heart to sinne by speculation Attraction presenting sinne to the heart as fire to powder by perswasion suggesting the sweetnesse advantage necessity smalnesse secrecie and singularity of the sinne or the possibility facility and efficacie of repentance to remove the guilt of it or such like shifts or stratagems doth the corrupt minde use by these perswasions and suggestions as by cords drawing and by gins entrapping the heart in sin now when the operations and efficacie of the minde in this kinde are increased then sinne is strengthened in the root 2 Consider the branches of your sinne The increase of sinne appeares in the branches as it is a signe the tree groweth when it spreads in this spreading of sinne observe 1 When thy sinfulnesse spreads into grosse sinnes When it spreads into grosse sinnes such as the Apostle cals the manifest fruits of the flesh Gal. 5.19 and the defilements of the world 2 Pet. 2.20 thou hast cause to reckon that thy sinne hath regained much strength 2 When it spreads unto many sinnes Into many sinnes and various lusts when swarmes of evils and many sinfull distempers are put forth as pride and envie and passion and earthlinesse and unbeleefe and impatience and the like it is a signe a disease hath much prevailed in the body when it hath brought it into a generall weaknesse so when distemper and sicknesse hath over-spread the soule so that it is every way disabled to an holy walking and over-run with various and manifold corruptions it is evident that sin hath gained 3 When those sins sprout up with liking Sinnes bewailed which you have confessed and bewailed if there were not a strong streame of sinfulnesse in your soule such a dam of resolutions and vows as is made with teares and heavinesse in repentance could not be so borne downe 3 Consider the fruits of sin The increase of sinne appeares in the fruits which are 1 Inclination which are 2 Action First inclination
Proposition It is safer to exceed then to come short it is safer to extend you selves by over-abounding then to c◠short it savours of a better spirit wh◠a man is free though in excesse the when he is slack and back ward and is not so much evil by abounding so◠what to pinch the flesh as by abating suffer losse in the spirit the things the concern the body are not of such va◠as those that concerne the soule 〈◊〉 so much the more cause you have 〈◊〉 ther to leane to the right hand because as there is a greater worth in the w◠on the right hand so there is usually disposition inclining rather to the 〈◊〉 hand Few men offend in passing their bounds More men are found defective in giving almes then excessive and so where one is in any way of piety carried with too full a gale an hundred lye becalmed where one piece is more than weight many are found too light 4 Proposition Fourth Proposition A man must not make his disposition a rule alway Which in three cases is hardly bounded That a man must not be ruled by his own disposition but must seek arule to walk by for in some men the heart hangs with perpetuall hungring after converse with God that if there were nothing to limit them they would scarce doe any thing else and there are three things draw the heart still unto God 1 Great comforts in meeting God in duty Great comforts these make the soule to say as David It is good for me to draw neare to God Psal 73.28 When God opens himselfe and his treasures and lets in his people to his presence and feasts them with spirituall and joyfull sights and tasts this makes them loath to leave but they hang unto duties as the child to the breast and finding so sweet a conjunction of plenty and sweetnesse are filled with delight and are ready to say to all things else as Abraham to his servant when he went up to the mount Stay thou in the valley the spouse vns with her beloved and found him as a apple tree among the trees of the forrest whose fruit was sweet unto her taste hee led her into his wine-cellar and she was ravished with his love and greatly solaced in his sweet embraces and now see what care shee takes to keep that which she joyed to have and feared to lose I charge you oh ye daughters of lerusalem that ye stir not up nor wake my beloved till he please Cant. 2.7 But in such a case it is a point of obedience and self-deniall for a man to leave his banquet to do that which he is called to and we should so prefer God to all our comforts as to bee content to come downe with Moses from the Mount when he hath businesse for us below 2 Love to God Great love this is of a living and large disposition and apt to draw the heart much out he that loves come as a friend he loves to come and converse with God and even then when his necessities are not urgent yet his heart is drawing heaven-wards as the wife loves to be with her husband c. 3 Necessitousnesse of spirit Great necessities when one is sensible of great wants great corruptions tentations feares then he is apt to be over-solicitous and active especially when such an afflicted spirit hath either both of these two things 1 An opinion that all good lyeth in duties When men thinke that a hard heart may be softned a stiffe heart bowed a corrupt heart changed and all good attained by labour and sweate men that know what it is to want these will worke even their soules out of breath and are so carried with desire of the good that they are not sensible of the labour But remember all lyeth in Christ and therefore you must seek it from Christ by the meanes if you make duty and endeavour your refuge you are deceived 2 If there be an opinion that God will not accept lesse this is the case of many they have been at prayer and that not only in sincerity but with importunity and with a full tyde of spirit and yet they are afraid to betake themselves to their employments out of opinion that they have not done that which is sufficient but that their occasion and necessity cals for more still but herein men have under-thoughts of God as if he were like the gods of the heathen that did not heare or as if hee were hard to be entreated For a close of this businesse I will in a briefe view present some things that are considerable in way of satisfaction in such cases Farther considerations to cleare the question 1 Distinguish between occasions and duties ordinary and extraordinary Distinguish betwixt duties ordinary and extraordinary for as when an extraordinary or great person comes all stand by and give him place which we will not if an ordinary and common man come so affaires and things of the world and nature doe stand for their own and will not be set aside for ordinary duties to waite at the closet dore as when an extraordinary service is performed Your time is divided betwixt heaven and earth therefore you must not only give to both but with equality each must have his owne 2 There is a time to waite as well as to work Know there is a time to waite as well as to work when you have presented your suites with what strength you are able now faith must come in and lay hold upon the promise and you ought to beleeve that God heareth for you have his word The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their prayers Psal 34.15 Remember you come not to God to obtain a promise and grant but it is obtained in Christ you must only sue it out by prayer and whatsoever you aske in Christs name beleeving you shall receive it Mat. 21.22 so Davids practise he begins often with prayer but ends with praise it is want of faith that causeth unquietnesse though you should not rest in your duties yet you should rest in the promise if God heare not at first yet he will heare at last yea he heares when you thinke hee heares not But you must give God time that is all he requires the thing shall be yours but the time is his doe with your prayers as with your seed be patient til God come Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it untill he receive the early and the latter rain Ja. 5.7 Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the comming of the Lord draweth nigh When you have preferred a petition to the King you do not fall presently to write another but you waite a time convenient and then you move again so doe with God the doore is open you may come again in due time but live by faith and
apud Greg. de Valent. t. 2. disp 8. qu. 1. p. 6. take heed then of harbouring lusts in imagination or purpose take heed of frowardnesse and rebellion of heart unkindnesses breeds unkindnesse can you with reason expect that God should be with you when you regard him not Can two walk in one way that are not agreed Amos 3.3 walke then before him in all well pleasing keep close to Jesus Christ for all the love of the father is laid out upon the son and comes to you through him be dearly affected to his people for they are his friends God dwelleth in such 1 John 4.12 When you have your friends good will you have your friend and when you fall into straits and lusts and men and devils shall take up armes against you if you come and say to God as Iehoram to Iehoshaphat The King of Moab hath rebelled against me wilt thou goe with me against Moab to battle God will answer as Iehoshaphat did I will go up I am as thou art my people as thy people and my horses as thy horses 2 Kin. 3.7 My brethren you have a sure way to retain the favour of your God he hath shewed you the way that is good and have you not one alway with him which is the delight of his soule one ready at your request to interpose himselfe and to take up all differences betwixt you and him lye not therefore under any guilt but every day renew thy peace and league with God by making Christ thine advocate then shall his face shine upon thee and his Spirit shall not be with-held from thee Thinke it not enough to escape his wrath a friend not only dreads displeasure but delights in the favour of his friend it cannot satisfie a living and a loving Saint that Gods hand is not against him except it be also with him or that God is not his adversary except he be his friend a wicked man may fear his wrath but a good man cannot beare his absence if then you desire his presence keep his favour and because nothing but that which is against his will displeaseth Take heed of crossing God take heed of crossing his will And for this I will prescribe two Rules 1 Keep up love Keep up love for this will make you of on heart with God there will be an harmony in your hatred and his your desire and his your delight and his your wils will run in the same channell with his feare may make the life better but love makes the heart better it carrieth a man out of himselfe and casts his affections and actions into Gods mould it works after his pattern and doth all to please him as love is the wife subjects her desires to the desire of her husband love would hol◠you in an uniforme course of holinesse and all strayings in life are from decayings of love this bindes the soule to God so that as the hinder wheeles in the Coach follow the forewheeles being all conjoyned so the heart ◠drawne after God by love love will not suffer you to please your selves with any thing that may not please you God nor to swerve from this rule to gaine the world but as Gods love sub◠fils your will in giving all good so you love in its measure will fulfill Gods will in doing all good and this is the property of our communion with God there is a continual intercourse of love Gods will and mans sweetly conjoyning in a happy concord mutually delighting each in other and mutually filling the desires each of other God dwelling in his and they in him 1 John 4.16 they cleaving to him and hee to them And let me a little more open the power and efficacy of love in this businesse and when I have done you shall see that it contributes not a little to the keeping of the heart to God Love quickneth and preserveth desires 1 It sharpens and preserves desires r Animae motus radix est amor Paris pars 1 partis 1. de universo c. 21. after God and what are desires but reachings of the heart the soul by desires doth as it were with extended spread armes raise it selfe after God it will make a man unsatiable alwayes thirsting and now though the armies of the Philistines be in the way yet the soule will breake through all for the waters of Bethlehem desires after God have much good in them they capacitate the soule an hungry man eates much the promise emptieth it selfe freely upon such Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be filled Mat. 5.6 and they quicked the soule as they make it receptive so they make it active Psal 63.1 It sets all the wheeles in motion it will not suffer the soule to bee at rest it cannot take content ſ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any thing except it bee fulfilled but will put out all her Sayles and Oares in strong pursuance Psal 63.8 My soule followeth hard after thee 2. It makes resolute It makes resolute regardlesse of all things in comparison of what it longs for and fearlesse t Quid non audet amor and invincible no terrors can deterre him but as a Gyant he rejoyceth to run his race u Grata ignominia crucis qui crucifixo non est ingratus Bern. in Cant. Serm. 25. It makes also unweariable no labours too great but love will finde patience no difficulties so long but love will finde tolerance and longanimity nay love thinkes nothing hard The Commandements art not grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 It is a great advantage to have strength of resolution for now the soule will be 1. more full in all endeavours the bow full bent delivers the arrow with full strength a piece full charged will go off with great force and its fulnesse and vigour indoing that is the grace of the action 2. More steady it is hard to stop the soul when she runs with strength what was said of Aristides is much truer here you may as well almost stay the Sun in heaven as put such a one out of his way when resolutions are strong the soule is like a fenced City it is hard for tentations to break in there is roome left for Satan to work when through coldnesse of affection there is weaknesse in the resolution a faint denyall begets new sutes and a doore left unbarred gives easie entrance When you cleave not to God with full purpose of heart Acts 11.23 other things may get in betwixt God and you the steeple moves not because it is setled upon its basis but the Weather-cock is turned with every winde 3 It makes the soule of an yeelding temper It makes yeelding when God hath your love he hath the key of your hearts love sets him in the throne all the faculties will bow themselves with offerings to him love opens the eares to heare God and moves the hands to work and the
focte to walk and the head to devise for God God may have any thing in a time of love he never comes out of seasâ—â— when the heart is in this temper if her say the word it is done love cannoâ— say no to God it is full of promises easily entreated is not churlish but of a liberall property it stands ready for all service and will trample upon all reasonings respects contradictions rebellions that rise up against God if God say of the dearest lust fall upon him it wilâ— not spare if God say I must have thy liberty it saith there it is if God say thou must be impoverished for my sake it saith I am content if God say I must have thy life for my glory it saith Lord it is thine take it I am thine do what thou wilt love cannot hold when God as keth but will give all do all suffer all if God call it will run out of estate peace friends the world it self yea when it doth much it thinkes it little yea nothing and so when it hath been labouring for God it still saith with David What shall I render to the Lord and with the Apostle Lord what wilt thou have me to do it sticks at no cost nay it is glad it hath any thing for God and counts this the best use of all to lay it out for God and this the best possession of all to lose all for God 4 Love will make you fearefull of losing God every mans feares are equall to his love so that as the worldly man feares to lose the world which is his God so a godly man feares to lose his God Elies heart trembled for the Arke while he sate watching to heare newes of the battle 1 Sam. 4.13 feare makes men wise x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist pol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexand Prov. 1.7 it keeps the heart waking and watching it keepes the eye upon the treasure and soon apprehends the least recesse of God from a man 5 Love keepes the intentions right It keeps the intentions right 1. Upon the right end it is as the by as to convert the soule in all her wayes to her God On the right end for what is love but imbracing of God and such a closing with him as that as it findes indigence and want of him so it hath complacence and contentment in him yea and that contentment breeds hunger after what it hath not and gratitude for what it hath and so turneth all designes and her wholâ— course to this thing that she may beâ— still blessed and more blessed in the fruition of God 2 In due plight 1. actuall 2. It keeps the intentions in due plight in themselves 1. Makes them actuall love hath a good memory it carrieth the stamp of God upon the heart and seldome forgets him the soul lives where it loves x Animus ubi amat non ubi animat and as love came in by the eye so it delights by thâ— same doore to run out to God y Vbiamoriói oculus 2 vigorous 2. Iâ— makes them vigorous and serious and so able to order and regulate all the motions of the soul in their right way Thus love is very usefull in this point to keep you from straying from God and consequently needfull that you may by holy walking retain his favour and presence 2 Hold this as a fixed verity That you may not crosse or offend God hold fast this truth that Gods will is best that that is best which God wils all that are come to God do beleeve this else they had not come for what could draw the heart from all its good but that which is greater then all but though this be habitually in them yet they doe not alwayes actually beleeve it for what should be the cause of their excursions and deviations but because at present they think it better to walk in another way then the way of God there are but three causes of voluntary declining any thing either it is because 1. the thing is not worth entertainment at least 2. upon such tearmes or because 3. a better thing is presented which wee cannot enjoy with it so that if a man could carry this truth in his heart unblotted that it might ever appeare legible it would be to his gadding affections as a curb and settle the soul on God as on her Center If you could beleeve that you cannot mend your selves or make your condition better any other way you would be stedfast and immoveable for how you would see a conjunction of Gods will and your chiefe good so that in crossing his will you should crosse your selves as wisdome speaketh He that sinneth against me wrongeth his â—wn soul all they that hate me love death Prov. 8.36 To help you in this as in a matter of â—eat importance Meanes to hold that fast 1 Get a cleare knowledge of God witâ— he is in himselfe and of the wisdomeâ— God in the Commandements which at full of reason and of the end of the command thy good and of the nature 〈◊〉 that good 2 Make this knowledge actuall ofâ—â— minde it 3 Know that there is reason to gioâ— the lye to all opinion of good out of Gods way and against his will 1 Because Gods love is fully toward you and so perfect that he hath not câ— off any good from you 2 All that is truly good agreeth wiâ— his will as the formality of truth is the agreement that it hath with the mind of God so the verity of goodnesse is thâ— agreement that it hath with the will oâ— God and again all true good is froâ— him and eminently in him z Omne honum in summo bono therefore that which stands in opposition to hâ— cannot be good 3 Consider the subject of such misâ—â— prehension hee is either one coverâ— with darknesse or clouded with passion men naturally are blind and so call eviâ— good and good evill and good men sometimes are clouded and with a frenâ—ie of passion distempered and judge that good which when they become sober they count the greatest evill and which is the truest judgement whether that of a man drunk and not himselfe or that of a man that is calme cleare and himselfe 4 Remember that you must needs are in judging that to be good which you cannot entertaine with contentment but a godly man findes these two things as sure notes of the true evill in every sin 1. Feare before and in admission of it 2. Paine and repentance after and that ever a Chilo damnum lucro turpi se pretulisse dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laert. in Chil. 5 When you see two crosse counsels weigh well these two things 1. the Counsellors 2. the Reasons First weigh the Counsellors consider well who they are that stand up to oppose God and you shall finde that which may disable their testimony they can be but one of
unseasonably in conference hearing fasting praying he cannot upon just ground expect Gods assisting presence and blessing in his way and so on the contrary Answ 3. Sometimes a man is above ordinary course called to some worke and here we finde the calling of a man to be of God 1. When he hath a particular word d Quilege privà ta ducitur publica non constringitur apud Episc Sarisb de justitia operum c. 42. so Abraham had a particular charge to leave his Countrey and to slay his son in Sacrifice So Peter also had a particular word to walk upon the water and God failed them not 2. A strong bent and inclination of heart so Paul was bound in his spirit to Ierusalem though dangers waited for him Acts 20.22 so it is judged of Ehud in killing Eglon of Phyneas in slaying Zimri and Cosbi 3. When God fits not onely with a disposition but with a spirit for the worke as when he called Saul to the Kingdome he gave him another spirit 4. When he gives peace of heart in their way and beares them out against all accusations from within or without so Paul and Silas had this testimony of their calling to their worke a spirit of glory resting upon them Quest Quest But evill men have sometimes a great flush of spirit courage ability peace and confidence have they this of God Answ 1. Ans 1 God may employ even wicked men and may for the service of himselfe and of his Church fill their sailes with a full gale of great gifts and carry them on with a strong hand so he helped Cyrus He saith of Cyrus hee is my Shepheard and shall performe all my pleasure Esay 44.28 and Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus whose right hand I have holden or strengthned c. Esay 45.1 2 There is a naturall strength which may doe much some have a naturall vigour and confidence which enables them to do and suffer much 3 Mens lusts and sinfull ends and respects may adde activity and vigour to their spirits in good actions e Vis Hug. Grot. de verit relig Christ l. 2. Iehu was zealous but that flame of zeale was inkindled by the love of the kingdome and many others do much but it is by the strength of their self-love and politique ends 4 There is a diabolicall power of that Prince of the ayre who worketh in the children of disobedience which makes his zelots as God hath his f Pertinacia haeretica est obduratio voluntatis ipsorum obligatio diabolica qua eos trahit quò vult sicut vult ut furiosi casustinent ex insania cordium quae vix sanitas sustineret Guilielm Parisiens de tentat resist Vid. eundem de virtutib cap. 21. as Pharaohs Magitians wrought like unto Moses so Satan transformes himselfe often into an Angel of light and in a way of seeming piety and devout zeale makes many to be valiant Champions But there is this difference of that common assistance of the spirit of God to evill men and of the strength from nature lusts or Satan from that which the holy Spirit gives to the godly in their wayes 1 That which is from naturall temper lusts or Satan is often found in an evill cause as Sauls Zeale before he was called of Christ was madnesse against the truth 2 Only the spirit of holinesse works by love to God others for other ends 3 Only the spirit of holinesse makes more holy by all assistance which it affordeth this only wins the heart so that the more God is with him in his way the more he loves him and loves to serve him and so hath this evidence that it is from God because it tends to him so Davids heart was silled with love when God appeared for him Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplication the Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth and with my song will I praise him Psal 28.6 7. Let this suffice in this digression for briefe answer of these questions now let us returne to the direction be sure you keep in Gods way for you cannot finde God but in his own way when the arkâ— and pillar of fire the word moves before you walke after it and then yoâ— shall finde God pouring in himselfe and girding your Ioynes with strength 〈◊〉 Waite on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall streng then thine heart waite I say on the Lord. Psal 27.14 Feare thou not for I am with thee be not dismaid for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee feare not I will help thee feare not thou worm Iacob and ye men of Israel I will help thee saith the Lord and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel Esay 41.10 13 14. It is a precious promise a man may say and sigh in himselfe alasse the worke is great and I am weak but God saith I will strengthen thee and help thee and if the difficulty be too great for thee yet it is not too great for me But a man may say alas they that war against me are many and great and I cannot stand before them I finde mighty lusts strong disputes strong tentations but see what God saith ver 11 12. They that strive with thee shall perish they that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought they may come against thee but thou shalt be above them they shall vanish they are no more then a shadow But a man may say I finde my heart shaking at the sight of these sons of Anah and I am ready to say in my selfe I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul to this God answereth 1. by a repulsion of feare in a word of encouragoment Feare not nor be dismaid which he repeates again and again 2. by â—teration of the promise I will help I will help I will strengthen thee I will hold thy right hand as if he said I will surely do it 3. by calling in his attributes as witnesses and assurances I am Iehovah one that is and will give being to all my words I am the holy one one that cannot deceive you 4. by pleading his relation and affection I am thy God I am Iehovah thy God thy Redeemer as if he had said I have given my selfe to you and have undertaken to save you and therefore feare not though thou art but a worme Iacob yet will I uphold thee oh then that we could now in our way rejoyce and say as the Prophet The Lord Iehovah will help me therefore shall I not be confounded Esay 50.7 CHAP. XXIV Sixth and Seaventh means Be doing and wisely and diligently use the meanes of grace BE doing many cry Lord help
words are a strong expression of his deare and faithfull affection the mothers affections are deare and tender so are mine the mother loves her childe because it is the fruit of her wombe I also have begotten thee and thou art my childe the mother is most tender to the sucking childe which cannot help it selfe if it cry she cannot hold you also are such before me the mother may possibly forget but I will not you are alwayes in my eye and if I cannot forget my selfe I cannot forget you for you are engraven and imprinted in my hand Thus God hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted Esay 49.13 He comforteth those that are cast downe 2 Cor. 7.6 When the heart mournes much God will shew himselfe For 1. the end of sorrow is not to afflict but to profit not to cast downe only The end of sorrow is not affliction but healing but also to raise up when God casteth sorrows upon the wicked his end is to afflict and to punish and their sorrows doe attain their end when they lye like loads oppressing their spirits but that which is a curse to them is a cure to the godly their mourning is but sowing in teares to reap injoy sorrow in the spirits of such is like the raine upon the grasse it puts the soule into a flourish it makes it yeelding and tractable as wax when it is softned wil easily receive impressions and metals dissolved are apt to be drawn out and to be moulded as you would have them Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadnesse of the countenance the heart is made better Eccles 7.3 the sad lookes of others hath a naturall force to work seriousnesse and consideration in us much more when our owne hearts are full Ahab himselfe would do much in a pensive fit and Manasseh his monstrous spirit was tamed by sorrow God brought upon him the Assyrian and hee bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon and when he was in affliction hee besought the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him 2 Chron. 33.11 12. You see the sweet fruit of this bitter roote and what was the issue God was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Hierusalem into his kingdome ver 13. 2 The greater sorrow It makes a fit object of mercy the fitter object of mercy mercy is for the miserable and none more miserable then such as mourne in the losse of communion with God this wound is the deepest and most bleeding of all wounds the soule in such a case hath no help in all the world all things yeeld not more then a drop of water upon Dives his tongue Look now upon the nature of God and you shall see him full of mercy upon the promises they also are full of mercy upon the wayes of God they also are full of mercy therefore if you clothe your selves with the garments of heavinesse and can come before God with spirits much lamenting after him he will appeare to you Hee will revive the spirit of the humble q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Esay 57.15 3 Much sorrow will put upon strong pursuites after God it will make you full and strong in prayers and the power of prayer is great with God it makes the soule to run to Christ and to improve all the hope and faith and interest that it hath in him and they that seeke the Father in the Son shall finde him 4 Now God will be welcome when the soule is bitten with his absence God leaves his people because they slight him but when they have learned to prize him now he will come no place fits him but the highest and now God is lift up when the heart in the presence of all things which were delightfull and precious pines after him love is seene in sorrow we grieve much in the losse of that we love much 2. Then sorow prevailes with God Secondly when it is ingenuous when it is ingenuous 1. When for the cause not losse onely When not onely for the losse but for the cause when you can mourne not onely that you are Deserted but because you have sinned when you can grieve much that you have procured this evill 2. When not onely for sadnesse but also for the sinfulnesse of the losse When your sorrow is not onely because of the misery of such a state but also for the sinfulnesse there must needs be many feares and great anxieties in such a soule as seeth it selfe left of God but a holy heart will grieve for this not onely that it is fallen into such misery but also and especially that sinne hath regained strength that the life and lustre of holinesse is so weakened Grace hath a great beauty in the eye of him that hath it r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. orat 5.6 and sinne carrieth in it the greatest deformity and misery unto him so that such a one mindes not so much his ease as his cure yea his heart is carried in such strong desires after God that it overlookes its suffering weeping is no burthen and so that he might recover his losse though it come through a storme of feares cares griefes he would count himselfe happy another man who hath no greater thing to feare or desire then hell and heaven dwells upon his feares when he is affraid and is held in them and if he could be delivered from his feares he would be at rest but a godly man though he feele his troubles yet would he not count his case happier if these stormes were downe but he will mourne still till he be restored to his former life in God David was not satisfied till a new heart was created in him and a right spirit renewed Psal 51.10 11. 3. When not for losse of comfort onely but of God also When not onely for the losse of the comfort and sweetnesse in a holy converse with God but for the losse of God himselfe a child hath much comfort and reliefe from his father but when his father is gone he doth not onely lament his losse of comfort but his losse of his father so the wife more laments the losse of her husband then of her good by him when a man seeth what he hath lost he cannot but mourn to think what daies he had when he lived under the wing of his gracious father but yet all the comforts that ever he had or hoped for doe not lye so heavy as God himselfe For to a godly man all comforts and graces and all good that he receiveth doth serve to lead his heart to and to fixe it in God God hath his end here for he sends out these but as Ioseph sent Chariots to bring his father and brethren to him all these things are but conveyances and servants employed betwixt God and his people to invite and draw their
now it hath in enjoying God this sometimes rising high inclineth to thinke that God is gone it is the nature of a fearefull heart to fall from care to feare from feare to jealousies from jealous suspitions to sad conclusions as the mother out of the vehemency of affection to her childe if hee bee out of her sight first taketh care then is filled with feares and sad conjectures at last cryeth out where is my childe 2. Love is liberall and is never satisfied it would still doe better and be better and the more it is the lesse it seemes to it selfe and is so enlarged in dispositions and resolutions to doe good that as it knoweth it cannot doe enough so it is apt to thinke it doth almost nothing hence many complaints arise that it is not with them as in former dayes that which they did before seemed much then because love was not much and now all seemes little because love is great But you should consider that God is much there where he workes much and that this flame of love is blowne up by him for God is love 1 John 4.16 that is to say the fountaine and author of love as love is eminently and infinitely in him so it floweth from him And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him CHAP. XXXI The false Rules of mens judging themselves causing mistake in this case IUdging by false Rules The first false rule Lesse vivacity is a third cause of mistakes as for instance 1. Men judge that they are deserted and feare they are in a state of declension because they have lesse quicknesse and vivacity as they conceive then they have had I confesse this is an ill signe Here 4. considerations about vivacity of spirit yet this may be where there is no just cause of such sad conclusions and to satisfie such let me propound foure things 1 Distinguish betwixt Gods working in gifts and his working in graces Distinguish betwixt Gods working in gifts graces God is sometimes pleased to carry up the gifts of men very high when their spirituall life hath not a proportionable elevation we see he is much this way sometimes in men that are not good gifts are given to the members for the body and for others sakes oftentimes he poureth out great measures and beareth them on with a full gale of assistance and when the work is done to which those gifts serve then God may withdraw I doubt not but many saithfull preachers may finde a weaknesse and dulnesse in their gifts in Judgement upon the people for the deafnesse of the hearers he smites the messengers dumb and so in sundry cases it may fall out it is said Christ could doe there in his owne countrey no mighty worke c. Mark 6.5 his hands were as it were tyed and bound his power was suspended because of their unbeliefe and where God had some great work to doe he opened the hearts of the Apostles and much enlarged their spirits wisely therefore distinguish betwixt gifts and graces though you be not able to doe as you have done yet see into the frame and disposition of your hearts towards God for that may continue when the other fadeth It may be you have not occasion for the use of gifts as heretofore and except they be used they grow dull inevitably as the most expert Musitian by disuse may lose his skill But note here that where there is occasion and use of gifts and they are not stirred up but suffered by idlenesse and carelesnesse to be quenched this is a sin against the Spirit and breeds a damp not only upon gifts but upon grace 2 God may and doth give sometimes more full assistance to the graces of his people then he will perpetually continue God in some cases gives more then hee will continue and the abatement of this is no just cause of concluding that God hath forsaken them 1 In times of seeking to him In times of actuall converse with him and of mediate converse in prayer and meditation and the like there is a fuller taste of him than at other times a godly man enjoyeth God in all things but especially in duties of piety there is an evident reason why a man hath more of God then because grace is now acting and feeding upon God duties are the meales of a Christian and other actions are his work he comes in duties to receive strength in other things be useth it as the body gets strength and refreshment by eating and draweth it out in working and then comes to repaire it againe by eating times of immediate approach to God are meeting times there is a mutuall visit betwixt God and the soule and this is the proper end of these things that God and the soule may meet together it were an happy thing if those impressions which the foul receiveth at such times were abiding but such is our condition here that wee must hunger and eate and when wee are filled we shall hunger again Heaven is the place of constant life there is a continuall feast but here we cannot have it so the minde is but finite and being of necessity to converse with other things besides God it cannot be expected that it should be so constantly filled with him so much a man enjoyeth him as he seriously mindes him therefore they that neglect duties or slightly perform them must needs lose much of God but it is not to be expected to carry such a spirit in other employments and in other actions as in conversing with God though the more a man hath in duties the better he will be in all things In times of great necessity and the fitter to meete God in his seasons 2 In times of great necessity God is wont to afford more of himselfe then at other times when tentations afflictions and dangers are many and great then as a father when his childe comes to a ditch or deepe way which hee cannot passe takes up the child into his armes but when hee is got over setteth him down againe so God in such hard cases ministreth more abundant ayde which he doth not continue alwayes Hence we see that even the weakest of the flock become Lions and those that seemed to be but little prove like mighty Champions victoriously conquering all difficulties and treading under feete the glory and terror of the world yea the feares of death it selfe These by the transcendent noblenesse and high courage of spirit so far above their ordinary pitch doe declare that there is another power with them than their owne which makes them so gloriously to exceed not others only but themselves also As the Spirit came upon Sampson when the Philistins came upon him so it is in this case but God is not alwayes at so much cost when the necessities of his people are lesse then he gives them their accustomed pension when Israel was in the desart a place barren of comforts
of this cup which wee have in hand This makes heaven sweeter and puts the soule upon more longings for it because there it knoweth it shall not feare nor sorrow any more Constant joyes in such a condition as this is in the world sute not more than constant feastings in times of heavinesse we are freed from the power of sinne but in part so we are but in part freed from afflictions And it is probable except grace were more abundant that constant peace would have ill consequents Paul was tempted after his exaltation that he might not be exalted Comfort belongeth not to sanctification but glorification therefore the fulnesse of it is kept till wee bee set in glory Comfort is the reward of holinesse therefore the perfection and stability of it is kept till that time when holinesse shall be perfected and the perfection both of grace and peace is deferred that when Christ shall appeare in glory this may set out the day When Christ came in the flesh God powred out much of his Spirit at his ascension and will powre it gloriously when all shall be consummate then Christ shall shine among all his Saints and the fulnesse of their perfections as the Sunne attended with all the starres in their brightest glory Till that time while you are children under tuition and at schoole you will meet with frownes as well as smiles and correction daies as well as play daies and it is well the day is comming that hath no night and joy that hath no sorrow with it Cause 2 Second Cause in Iudgement to the world God might send out his Saints as starres in glory that all eyes might gaze on them but he will not all things are in a mystery and hidden to the world the graces of the Saints hid under many infirmities and the comforts of the Saints under many sorrowes in just judgement upon the world God is wise and knoweth how to fit the same things for many ends Christ came in a poore estate and his glory and majesty was covered with a cloud and mantle of a meane outside and why was this It is true it was for satisfaction of Justice for the sinne of his people but it was also in Judgement to the world he was a precious one yet because hee came not in State and pompe he was a stone refused of the builders and so a stone of stumbling and a rocke of offence 1 Pet. 2.7 8. And because the Gospel came not with humane dresse and externall ornament The preaching of the crosse is to them that perish foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1.18 God hath not stooped in the matters of heaven to sense as he hath in the matters of the world he will not send unto men any from the dead nor yet shall any walke among men with shining robes of heavenly glory The things of this life are seene and tasted but Spirituall things are conveyed most in a spirituall way If Adam had continued in his integrity God would have manifested himselfe to the world as a man to his friend and not onely faith and reason but the senses should have beene blessed in communion with God but now he so disposeth of all things that even his people walke by faith and not by sight he will not give such a sensible demonstration of his bounty to the world that it may justly perish in its wickednesse if it will not beleeve Moses and the Prophets and if they will not beleeve the Gospel The world is led by sense though the Scriptures testifie of the excellency of redemption and adoption and of the great happinesse of the Saints yet they foolishly cast away faith and the word and run to sense and finding the heires of glory to be often sad beholding not their comforts but their sorrowes they conclude that the way is worthlesse and that religion is but a sower grape and as bitter waters and as the way of the desart Cause 3 Third Cause To establish them in more full comforts x Nube selet pulsa candidus ire Dies Ovid. there was darknesse before light in the world after the strong winde which rent the mountaines and brake the rocks came the still voyce in which God was 1 Kings 19.11 12. And as God often sends great comforts before great afflictions in the world Christ was transfigured in the Mount before his great agonie in the garden so he often premiseth affliction of the soule before great comforts and the soule is setled the more afterward as the tree is rooted more by shaking It is Gods method to bring first to Aegypt and through the Sea and wildernesse and then to Canaan The Apostle prayeth that they may bee strengthened and established but when After yee have suffered a while 1 Pet. 5.10 When the soule hath passed through straits and hath seene the wonders of the Lord in the deepes it is advantaged much to further establishment 1 Because that comfort and evidence which comes so immediately from God is strongest when a man hath beene taken off from all his foundations and God hath appeared unto him in the desart it is a strong demonstration of his love and wins the heart to much love and to strong confidence as if a friend when he is offended and hath us at an advantage so that he may in justice and can undoe us if then he spare and not onely so but is as Esau to Iacob turning wrath into love and anger into compassionate kindnesse this much knits us to him to love him and cleave to him as a good and a fast friend indeed 2 God gives much proofe and evidence of the truth of grace which he hath wrought in them when he makes them see they had hearts that could love him even when it was doubtfull to them whether he loved them when the truth of grace is evidenced clearely it brings much comfort and what greater evidence of an upright heart then to follow God when he seemes to flye away and to love him when hee seemes to abhorre and hate them to weep upon him in love when he seemes armed with weapons of death y Qui nec iratum cessat colere numen Sen Diis fruitur iratis superat crescit malis and to powre out the soule to him when hee seemes to be powring downe fire and brimstone upon them 3 It gives hope that if darke clouds do arise yet they shall be scattered againe the sense of former troubles may helpe to conclude that such deeps are passable and the soule will be apt to say there is hope concerning this z O passi graviora Daus dabit his quoque finem Virg. experience of mercy is a great helpe to faith and holds up the soule that it will not fall so flat and lie so long under discouragements againe It will helpe and furnish the heart to pray much because God hath beene intreated in such times before and to say as the Apostle having delivered us from so great
till God awake them with rods and raise them by kindling a fire about them rebellion brings many loads disobedience and impenitence are springs of bitternesse a fire comes out of this bramble to burne the Cedar of Lebanon Cause 5 5. Cause to shew that He is the God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1.4 He keepes the cisterne empty that wee may looke to the Clouds above that the pleasant fruit of peace hath her rootes in Heaven our owne hearts though they may bee planted with pleasant trees yet of themselves bring forth nothing but bryars And God loves to shew himselfe the Lord of these treasures of comfort that the heart may have no dependance but in him and that it may alwaies feare because hee can soone turne the clearesâ— day into the darkest night Comfort is not given us in absolute possession but wee are alwaies tenants at will If God will hee can in a moment lay our hopes and joyes in the dust and strip us of all our garments of joy and turne us into mourning And as light in the aire but as water not in the spring I but in the vessell so it may soone bee cut off God needs not goe farre to feeke a rod to whip us with if he doe but withdraw his comforting Spirit our spirit will soone proove an afflicting spirit The peace of the soule is by vertue of the power and presence of God but if hee depart all is in uproare our owne thoughts will bee as scourges the Roman Emperours kept Lions to destroy the Christians and our hearts are grates and dens of Lions if God let them loose on the rendings that are by them if God keepe not garrison the enemies will breake in so that all our peace is from him the brightest starre that shines most with light of comfort derives it from the Sun of righteousnesse And therefore that they may have a sight of that darke and dismall nature of their owne hearts he shuts in his light and then when the soule lieth in a mournefull and distressed case in deepes where it findes no nottome and whence none can deliver when a man seeth al creatures standing as dead pictures and reckons himselfe past all hope then I say God sheweth himselfe to bee the God of comfort by commanding light to shine out of darknesse and quieting the high and raging stormes which did beare downe all before them Cause 6 6. Cause To revive their esteeme of mercy When a man is first brought out of Babylon bee is as those that dreame the heart is full of gladnesse and the mouth of praise the birds sing sweetly in the spring When a man is newly brought out of the pit and delivered from the sorrowes of death which did compasse him about and from the paines of hell which gate hold of him while the prints of the chaine are on him and the scarres of his hurt remaine he saith as David I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications Psal 116.1 I was brought low and he helped me Returne unto thy rest oh my soule for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee For thou hast delivered my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feet from falling The soule is in a float at present but when the daies of mercy continue the remembrance of the daies of sorrow weares off and the fire of love begins to abate and Christ is not of so high account though at first hee was the chiefest of ten thousands the joy of their hearts yet now his love and kindnesse groweth stale therefore God sends back the soule into her old prison to feele the weight of her ancient irons and chaines and causeth her to put on her old cast garments of mourning that sackcloth and ashes which shee wore in the daies of old that by laying this rod upon her as the Prophet spread himselfe upon the dead child a new life comes into the dying love and now mercy is raised to its former price and Christ is advanced on high now the soule returnes with redoubled strength and with multiplied and increased thankfulnesse Cause 7 7. Cause That others may be instructed Sometimes God chuseth the most eminent to set them out as demonstrations of this That assurance is not essentiall to holinesse that their conjunction is not indissoluble weake ones might have thought their cause worse if they had seene much grace alwaies attended with abundant joy but now God sheweth that comfort and rejoycing is not alwaies the portion of the Saints that so in their darke nights when they see no light they may live in hope that the Sun will rise though their way be a darke way it may be a sure way 8. Cause Cause 8 To fit for speciall service They that goe downe into the deepes see many wonders which others know not Experience gives wisedome Many are kept in a low way and have neither strong feares nor strong joyes these are not as Davids Worthies but are Christians of the lower rank common souldiers many are carried much aloft in great hopes and flashes of joy but they much overlooke the things below many infirmities and failings lye undiscovered But when God fetches the soule downe and sets it to dig beneath this man is more enlarged in true wisedome and holinesse and carrieth a fuller knowledge of sinne and Christ and of hell and heaven than other doe and so is made a stronger and more compleat man As he that hath beene in all conditions and hath travelled through sea and land and seene many Countries gaines an excellency by his experience above others An bome-bred spirit is a low spirit God will not doe much with many but leaves them to this worke mainely to save their owne soules but he will use some as his agents and factors in his great designes and affaires of mercy therefore traines them up to the knowledge of heights and depths Some are ordinary passengers and it is enough for them to looke to themselves being able to doe but little for others but some must bee Pilots and therefore must bee acquainted with winds and seas and rocks and sands that they may not onely save themselves but others Afflictions come not empty handed but like a darke cloud bring much after them there are many things which a man cannot learne in bookes but hee must learne it in himselfe a Scholler may read and acquaint himselfe with the Art of navigation but that will not make him a good Marriner nor will the studie of warre make a souldier but experience makes both God doth all as in great freedome so in great wisedome and having appointed men to severall ends he leads them in severall ends and workes them in severall moulds out of the same lump hee makes some differing from others in forme quantity and excellency some metall which is for highest use he casts often into the fire It may bee God may call you out to suffer much for him and
desertions are great preparations partly because they give much experience of the vanity of all creatures he hath shewed you learne how little they availe in the day of wrath so that you may see you part not with so great matters if you doe part with the world God hath shewed you that life is not in them and that you may live without them And partly because having felt greater evils you are more encouraged to indure the lesse You will not feare to fight with a strippling after you have encountred with a Goliah Moreover in the greatest deeps have you not seene how all your feares have vanished and all your sorrowes passed away by the light of Gods countenance shining forth upon you and so you see that the joy of the Lord is strong It is a signe of much a Afflict'â— dat intellectum quos Deus diligit castigat Deuâ— optimum quemque out mala valetudine aut luctu affuit Sen. love and that you are highly set by with God when he thus leads you into severall states for this is to lead you by the hand to see all that may bee seene and if hee did not intend much good hee would not bestow so much worke upon you you stand in this in the greatest conformity to CHRIST when through many tribulations and afflictions you enter into glory God keepes you from much soyling by constant rubbing and useth the sanne so much to blow away the chaffe and keepeth you awake by these stirres some troubles ennoble the spirit of a state which would degenerate into effeminacy by constant peace winds fanne the aire and purge it and the running and restlesse waters are most cleare This may suffice to have pointed at some Causes of Gods cutting off the comforts of the Saints Having hitherto treated of the Case of the afflicted soule I now come to the Cure The Cure I shall not need to enlarge my selfe much here having beene somewhat copious in the Cure of the first kind of desertions There are two sorts of men that walke much without the consolations In the first the cause is naturall in the second spirituall As for the first Of melancholicall persons who are oppressed with melancholly that darke and dusky humor which disturbes both soule and body their cure belongs rather to the Physitian than to the Divine and Galen is more proper for them than a Minister of the Gospell It is a pestilent humor where it abounds one calls it the devils bath Balneum diaboli These men cannot walke clearely but as a light in a darke Lanthorne shines dimly so is the soule in such a body the distemper of the body causeth distemper of soule for the soule followes its temper a Mores sequuntur temperaturam corpovis Galeâ— this disease worketh strange passions and strange imaginations b Terribilia de fide hurribilia de divinitate and heavy conclusions It is not possible such a man should be quiet till he be cured the seas rage not more naturally when the windes blow than this man hee may sometimes be elevated as it were into the third heavens but anon he will bee brought as it were into the lowest hell But I leave such with this advise when they finde their temper to be naturally or accidentally melancholike to use all such waies as God hath prepared in a naturall way for as the soule is not cured by naturall causes so the body is not cured by spirituall remedies But I shall direct my selfe to those whose heavinesse of spirit is from spirituall causes Of the sleepie soule These persons are of two sorts 1. Sleeping These persons are of two sorts 2. Awakened First there are some slumbering and drowsie spirits who are fallen from their former comforts and know it but make up that want in the creature in which they take delight living in the meane time without God As it was in the former kinde of desertion so it is in this God is departed and either men know it not or minde it not but beare their dolefull losse with a stupid and a sinfull patience or rather with a stupid dulnesse But if you finde your selves in such a case consider what a contempt of God this is to bee willing to live without him and to powre out your hearts upon the creature you must looke for a bitter scourge except you repent or else God will leave you to walke on to your graves in a dull and a low way It is a wofull change to descend from communion with God and Christ to these poore things below And how little doe you set by all precious promises the favour of the great and eternall God and the blood and love and presence of Jesus Christ that can bee content to live in such a state Looke upon others how their soules have melted when God hath beene estranged from them where is your love faith feare hope life that you can indure to be so if these were not all asleepe you would take up a cry for your former happinesse and sit downe and weepe over your present misery Is the losse of a friend in the earth so grievous and is a friend in heaven of no more account you live in a spirituall adultery because your husband is neglected while other things are entertained Awaken your selves and seeke to regaine your former peace and joy in God Secondly Of the awakened some are awakened and see their losse and are affected with it this sort though it have more sorrow yet is in a better way than the former I will to both these propound some 1. Perswasives I will to both these propound some 2. Directives For perswasion consider Motive 1. Comfort is your strength 1. That comfort is your strength The more a man seeth and feeleth the love of God the more the heart is established There are three great assaults and trials that a man is exposed to 1. Tentations to sinne He that will walke in the way of God shall not alway saile in a calme the great Leviathan will shew himselfe hee whose victories have beene many even among the highest Saints Now if your hearts bee filled with comfort you have a strength greater than the world For the manifestation of divine love is the incendiary of love which is stronger than death So long as love to Christ is kept up the heart is safe love is a strong garrison and makes the soule impregnable And while you keepe a fresh and cleare sight of the love of God and Christ it feeds love and keepes it up in strength Adde to this that comfortable enjoyment of God doth carry the heart aloft it makes the conversation to be in heaven and while a mans way is above he is safe from the snares below Then the heart is in danger to bee ensnared when it wanders in the creature as the foule is in danger when she is upon the earth but when she is mounted upon the
Lord and his goodnesse Hos 3.5 3. Slightnesse of heart there is a certaine wantonnesse and trifling disposition in the heart that men are apt to bee superficial and imperfect in their waies and this God visits upon them 1. Dallying with sinne they will be playing with snares and baits and allow a secret liberty in the heart to sin conniving and winking at many workings of it and not setting upon mortification with earnest indeavours though they be convinced yet they are not perswaded to arise with all their might against the Lords enemies but doe his worke negligently which is an accursed thing and for this cause God casteth them upon sore straits The Israelites should have done the worke perfectly when they were commanded to roote out the Canaanites but because they were slack and did it but by the halfes therefore God left them as a scourge and as briars and thornes to be alwaies an affliction to them When you are pressed to fight for Christ and have taken up armes against the rebels in your hearts if you fight not with all your strength and pursue the victory to the utmost till you finde your enemies dead before you God may give you into their hands to lead you into captivity and to hold you in chaines that will eate into your soules and may in this distresse stand afarre off as one that knoweth you not 2. Dallying with duties men doe them as if they did them not without heart in a loose lazy formall livelesse manner and when there is such idlenesse and negligence and indisposednesse God comes in a way of anger to whip up the slothfull and unfaithfull spirit Duties of godlinesse are not onely a debt to God but a reward to us therefore in slightnesse there is not onely unfaithfulnesse but unthankfulnesse also both the Majesty and the Mercy of God is despised and can God be well pleased with such things Remember the Wisemans counsell Whatsoever thine hand findeth to doe doe it with thy might Eccles 9.10 You are in an evill frame of heart when you can doe the weighty things of God with slightnesse and because you serve God so hee therefore comes with a kinde of expulsion and banishment and throweth you out of his sight that you see what it is to dallie with God 3 Dallying with Ordinances Slight and carelesse attendance upon them God comes in a way of gracious condiscension and stoopes downe with offers of grace and mercy to poore dust and sets before them Jesus Christ the most precious treasure of heaven and earth and calls them to a neare conjunction and communion with himself and holds forth precious promises of life but what is the carriage of the soule It neyther mindes these nor vouchsafeth God in all his goodnesse so much as a looke or if it be affected yet but little it makes no great haste nor useth much sollicitousnesse or pains about the matter but as if the things were of no great importance it is very moderate and easie in making towards them neither that high hand that holds them forth nor that bloud that bought them nor that worth that is in them workes much but all is slighted and therefore God comes in the quarrell of these high things to vindicate them from our contempt and teacheth the soule by the sense of misery to value mercy and by the feare of hell to prize Christ and to be more serious in the Ordinances as meanes of that good which they have learned to esteeme by the want of it The Apostles rule is to worke out our salvation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 Salvation is a tender businesse and of great concernment and therefore will not be dallyed with What thinke you Shall God set that before you which is better than the world for you to abuse you your selves take away the bread when the childe playeth with it and shall the bread of life be slighted shall God stand waiting upon you with calls and calls and with gracious offers and will you dally with him Hence is that black cloud which now darkens the heavens over you You are growne wanton and except the Gospel come in a dresse to please you you slight it therefore God puts you into straits and then you will come with a stomack b Num tibi cum sauces urit sitis aurea quaeris pocula Hor. Ser. l. 1. Sat. 2. and in earnest 4. Living too much upon the creature Quest When is that Ans 1. When it takes up so much of a mans time strength thoughts affections When a man lives too much on the creature spirits that he is unfitted for God when the soule is sicke with a surfet of the world drunk with cares feares delights so that the heart is stollen away and an indisposednesse groweth upon the soule towards God This was Solomons case till God fetched him by imbittering his waies to him The world is allowed for a way or Inne in our travells but not for our home to be a staffe in our hand but not to have a throne in our hearts For this cause God raines downe wrath and bitternesse upon our spirits to weane us from the world and thrusts out Hagar to give Sarah more full possession 2 When a man cannot be without the world When it gaines so much in our opinion and affection that we thinke there is no life or subsistence without it this is that for which God comes and takes off the soule with a storme and rescueth the poore captive with violence that was held in chaines and makes him to see of how little use these things are in an evill day When the soule falls to adulterous leagues with the world that they are so conjoyned that it lives and dieth with the world God brings his bill of divorce and turnes off as it were the disloyall soule to her miserable lovers that it may see the folly and wickednesse of its way 3 When a man can live without Christ the pleasantnesse and abundance of earthly contentments have so bewitched him that he becomes like a Prince that hath such fulnesse that hee can raigne without Christ and saith in his heart as those We are Lords we will come no more unto thee Jer. 2.31 Oh what unworthy carriage is this What is Christ shut out that the world may raigne Expect God saying and doing to you as he did to them Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten me daies without number Thou shalt goe forth with thine hands upon thine head for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences and thou shalt not prosper in them Jer. 2.32 37. While the Sun shines and the Sea is calme you may sport your selves in the deepe but when the storme comes then the harbour will be precious God will teach you that your life is in Christ and in a day of feares and affrightments of soul you will say None but Christ none but Christ God