God You that have been so intimate with Christ that have had so much experience of Christ did not I tell you that after three dayes I should rise again have not you formerly had sweet Communion with me strange Why are ye troubled But I take it to be a gentle reproof Again consider whence those thoughts arose from themselvs not from Christ from a principle of their own hearts for it was in their hearts that they rose and from their hearts Christ said peace be unto you but they arose from their own suppositions and mistakes as appeareth from vers 37. They were terrified and affrighted and supposed they had seen a spirit The words shew also the certainty of these beleevers or Disciples trouble of mind by the Ingemination of the Question Why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts he doth not say are ye troubled and do thoughts arise but why is it so Implying a certainty I hope the words are cleared up I come now to the observations Doctrinall observations And first from the Interrogation Why are ye troubled c. Whence observe a truth implicitely infolded in the words that is this That the Saints of God the Disciples of Christ even in Gospel times are subject to trouble of mind distemper of spirit 2. Why are ye troubled and why c. Christ asketh them the reason of it shewing it was not from him Whence observe again That it is not from Christ but principally from a beleever himself and his own heart that he is so much troubled as he is 3. From the ground of their trouble Thoughts or doubtings that arose in their hearts I observe again There is corruption enough in the heart of every beleever if it did but shew it self to trouble him and mightily distemper him Rom. 7. Paul telleth us sin dwelled in him and when he would do good evil was present and the Law in his members rebelled against the Law of his mind and now see how it troubled him vers 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Many wonder that beleevers should be troubled in Gospel times Why so Are beleevers free from the stirring and moving of corruption and so long as unbelief opposeth faith and the flesh lusteth against the spirit is it any wonder to see them troubled 4. From the Ingemination or doubling of the Question Why and why I note That it behoveth a Christian in trouble of spirit to observe the ground whence it riseth 5. Why are ye troubled Why see vers 37. It was a mistake for they had cause to have rejoyced because they were not acquainted with the manner of Christs appearance at that time they utterly mistake and make contrary constructions of his appearance Whence I note That many times the Saints and people of God are mightily troubled and perplexed in their hearts and spirits when they have cause to rejoyce and be comforted 6. From the generall That Christ reproveth them for it and laboureth to help them against it as appears ver 38.39.40 And he said unto them why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see me for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have And when he had thus spoken he shewed them his hands and his feet I observe again That Christ would not have his people tire themselves and burden themselves with lying under discouraging thoughts to trouble and affright their own hearts with doubtings and discouragements Or thus Christ would not have his people lie under discouragement of heart He reproves it here and helps them against it John 14.1 Saith Christ to his Disciples Let not your heart be troubled there was cause enough a man would think Christ â—elleth them he must suffer and they should all be scattered from him and Peter should deny him that night It was like to be a sad time yet saith he Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be affraid vers 27. So Mar 13.7 Be ye not troubled when you shall hear of this and this So also the Scripture is clear Isa 56.3 Neither let the Son of ihe stranger that hath joyned himself to the Lord speak saying the Lord hath utterly separated me from his people neither let the eunuch say Behold I am a dry tree Let them not say so saith God as if he should say Let them not say so saith God as if I had cast them off or had no mercy for them So in the 42. and 43. Psalmes Why art thou cast down Oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me See how the Spirit of God guideth him to debate the business why there was such a hurry in his heart Christ would not have his people do so Hebr. 12.5 He would not have them forget that exhortation that speaketh unto them as to children My son despise not thou the correction of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him I shall a little follow and clear up this point for the incouragement of drouping souls whose hearts languish under terrours Reasons And I shall shew reasons for the confirmation of it and they are of two sorts That he would not have them discouraged 1. Reasons to shew that he would not have them discouraged 2. Why he would not First That he would not 1. It appeareth from the frequency of the promise you can hard ly read any part of the word but you light thick and threefold upon the promises Now if God would have had his people to lie languishing under sorrows and perplexing themselves with thoughts sinking under discouragements he would never have left such store of promises upon record for them as he hath done Consider what a promise there is John 14.18 I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you Methinks this should bear up the heart God will not leave you Orphans for so the word is in a destitute sad helpless condition as usually Orphans are and Isa 51.12 I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die c. Mark I am he and who art thou As if he should say who art thou that thy heart should sink under such promises when not another but I am he that is thy comforter I beseech you poor souls do but consider how God doth inculcate and urge his promises to his people to chear them up Isa 41.9,10 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee thou art my servant I have chosen thee and not cast thee away here is sweet incouragements But mark now Fear 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
work and have grown secure afterward and the want of such a thing perhaps may make thee more watchful afterward whatsoever course God did take to bring thee to Christ make the best use of it and it is the best for thee Scripture proofes that Christs converts differently But some may say will the Scripture shew that Christ brings in men to himself after different manners and measures I answer Yea It is clear by Scripture And for it Consider these things The word of God which is the ordinary means of †Rom. 10.14 mans conversion is compared to rain Deut. 32.2 My doctrine shall drop as the dew my speech shall distill as the rain as the small rain upon the tender hearbs and as the showers upon the grasse So Heb 67.8 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thorns and bryers c. Now Rain cometh sometimes by sudden dashes sometimes more mildly like dew sometimes great drops and sometimes small sometimes fals violently is quickly over and sometimes more moderately and holdeth longer And if the ground be throughly soak't its no matter it may as well be by a mist Gen. 2. as by great showers So the heart may as well be mollified and softned by the Lords blessing in gentle drops distilled upon it as by a violent storm Our Saviour in Mark 4.26.27 seems to speak of somes conversion and growth in an insensible way the words are these So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground Seed that is The word of God vers 14. Into the Ground that is into the man or heart as the parable before clears it And should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring up he knoweth not how Mark here is effectuall workings the seed takes place yet in such an insensible mild way he that sowes it knows not how which could not be if all that are converted to God were brought over by such violent storms as some are We read of Paul strucken down by strong hand Acts 9. But where do we read of any such conversion that Timothy had 2 Tim. 3.15 saith Paul From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise to salvation c. Luke 19. Christ called in Zacheus at once come down at once for to day I must abide at thy house Luk. 15. But the prodigal was fain to be starved out by degrees Some may be in such a case as they may be mightily presst at and wounded in the heart others may have the word dropped in more gently by gentle instructions as the Eunuch Act. 8. We read not of any such heart-breaking Rock-renting tempest that he had and yet faith truly wrought To conclude I conceive all that the Lord brings in he doth it by the blowing of his spirit John 3.8 The winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it comes nor whether it goeth So is EVERY one that is born of the Spirit But whether it be a winde to break the Roks or a still winde whether a high winde or low gentle puffs that is in Gods choise whether a North winde or South-winde as Cant. 4. ult Awake thou North winde and come thou South blow upon my garden that the Spices thereof may flow out Mark it thou canst not say thy Spices flow not out because the North winde blows not The South may make them flow out as well The second ground of fear 2. Thou saist Thou hast some peculiar sin̄s that hang upon thee and have hanted thee a long time omission of duty Pride Lust Passion c. I Answer thou canst not conclude thou hast no grace therefore nor thy state naught because of this Gods servants have had corruptions hung long upon them yet true converts The Prophet Jonah had passion hung long upon him And Hebr. 12.1 There is mention made of the sin that doth so easily beset us What meaneth the weights that hang on and the sin so easily besetting us but that it continues long what means the continuance of the combat between the flesh and the Spirit but that corruption hangeth long See how Paul exhorts the Collossians Chap. 3.5.6.7.8 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleaness Inordinate affection Evil concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry For which things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the Children of disobedience In the which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them Mark They had walked in these and now did not live in them and yet they hung upon them still were not quite dead for he exhorts to mortifie them And ver 8. And now also ye put off all these Anger Wrath Malice Blasphemy Filthy communication out of your mouth Lye not one to another c. These Collossians were Saints Coll. 1.2 Yet these things were not wholly put off And Christ saith to his Disciples Are ye also yet without understanding Matt. 15.16 Importing ignorance hung long and Joh. 14. Have I been so long time with you and yet thou hast not thou known me Philip * Jonah was so selfish that he rebelled and fled to Tarshish And yet after God had broken him in hell how did his selfish passion hang on him again Iohn 4.1.2.3.9 But note this though thy corruptions hang long and be as pricks in thy side pierce thee and pain thee yet a sincere heart laboureth to make profit of his corruptions and infirmities What 's that 1. These occasion his godly sorrow as Paul Rom. 7.24 complaining of the evil that was present when he would do good and the law in his members rebelling and of sin dwelling in him and leading him Captive cries out ver 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death See how low thoughts he had of himself because of this 2. By these Christ is sweetned to a sincere heart and by them Christ is kept within the veiw of the soul to keep the heart near to Christ Rom. 7.25 I thank God through Jesus Christ So then with my minde I serve the Law of God but with my flesh the Law of sin Mark here how precious and sweet Christ is made to the soul by the consideration of these corruptions 3. Here is some comfort though they stick long if God maintain the combat within thee The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh So that ye cannot do the things that ye would ye cannot saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 If God keep them from raigning there is some comfort Rom. 7.25 With my MIND I serve the Law of God but with my flesh the Law of sin His minde was upon the Law of God There is force in sin as
world and creatures take up our thoughts at other times and then when we come to duty and would keep them in we cannot For our hearts are like unruly children if they use to have Liberty they will look for it When the heart hath got a custom of loosness it is hard to keep it in 4. For want of Considering the Excellency of Christ above all things For if thou didst taste and see the Excellency of him it would gather up thy spirits to him alone Thou wouldst like Paul forgo the things that are behind and press forward to the things that are before Phil. 3.7.8 c. And then thy thoughts would not so much rove after them The fifth ground of fear Fifth Objection A man complains he doth not find that growth in the Inward marrow of Religion which should be answerable to his time and means of knowledge Though he be grown in gifts yet he cannot find that he is grown in inward acquaintance and familiarity with Christ And hence he questions the truth of his conversion Tryals of growth I answer Thou mayst herein be deceived and therefore view over thy heart and life and try thy growth a little 1. By thy rooting Hast thou taken root into Christ A tree that spreads and lives at root we say growes though it appears not to man to grow And because thou art worse in thy own sight wilt thou say thou growest not Why man Trees and corn grow downward and die or seemdead before they grow upward Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. It may be God intends thy Humility and Self-deniall that thou mayest be kept low in thy own sight And Self-deniall is the best sign of growth spiritually And when the duties you perform do not so much please the soul as the Love of God in the duty it argues growth 2. Men try their growth by their reaching to some mark set as to the top of some bed or beam or pin in a wall c. So art thou more Heavenly minded canst reach neerer God in prayer and duty is thy affection more inlarged towards him though thou find not him manifesting himself to thee as thou desirest thou art grown 3. Men try their growth by their Ability to lift a waight or bear a burden So if thou Canst not see that thou art any higher in affection yet if thou Canst suffer more hast more Patience and contentedness art able to bear more with more constancy and less fear c. thou art grown 4. By their skill Though one may not be grown in height yet he may be grown in wisdom and manliness So hast thou more skill to use the spirituall weapons able to find out Sathans designs able to confute an errour and give thy soul satisfaction in a truth then heretofore Surely it is growth But if this satisfie thee not make use of some means in which the Lord may make thee grow Means of growth They are such as these 1. Cast off all manner of sin and corruption Mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live If the body be sick or diseased it cannot grow especially if it be in a waste Why such a disease is sin Therefore get sin purged out by the Blood of Christ and faith in him otherwise it will poyson the soul and then it cannot grow as Job 20.14 Speaking of a man hiding and favouring his sins saith he His meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall of Asps within him This corrupts that which should nourish him And therefore get this out 2. Eat thy meat And eat wholsome meat Feed upon Christ and sound doctrine wholsom truths Alas if a child eat not at all or eat nothing but trash Coals Ashes Earth c. how should he grow So if thou feed upon vanities and not upon the wholsome food of the word how canst thou grow Psal 1.1.2.3 Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the councell of the ungodly nor stood in the way of sinners nor sate in the seat of the scorners But his delight is in the LAW of the LORD and in that Law doth he MEDITATE day and night That he takes down and disgests Now mark how he grows And he shall be like a tree planted by the Rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season whose leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doth shall prosper So 1 Pet. 2.2 As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the WORD that ye may grow THEREBY 3. Get as much experience of Christ as thou canst learn to taste Christ in his Merits and Offices and Spirit Labour so to grow into Christ that thou mayst not trust to swellings in stead of growth I mean to outward gifts 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Ephes 4.15 Grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ Col. 2.18.19 And not holding the HEAD saith he but mark the former vers Let no man beguiâ— you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly pufft up with his fleshly mind And now mark And not holding the head from which all the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God So that if thou wouldst grow thou must suck of the sap of life from Christ And because thou feelst not what thou wouldst feel in Christ thou canst not conclude thou art not grown The Apostle Ephes 3. prayeth for the Saints there that they might have a greater measure of Excellency and spiritual perfections That ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and bredth and depth and heighth And to know the Love of Christ that passeth knowledge that you may be filled with all the fulness of God 4. Be often praying to God to make thee grow and look up to him for help as Paul 1 Thes 3.12 The Lord make you to increase and abound in Love c. So the Disciples Luk. 17.5 Lord increase our Faith 5. Get a place in the House of God a station in the true Church Christian Society and fellowship of the Saints is a great help to growth There thou shalt hear of Christ and have the excellencies of the Spirit dispenced to thee Ps 92.13,14 Those that be planted in the HOVSE of the LORD shall FLOVRISH in the Courts of our God They shall still bring forth fruit in their old age they shall be fat and flourishing So Heb. 10.23,24,25 Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised And let us consider one another
which is first to banish a poor soul and then devise means to bring them back again to him So that if this be Gods discipline and Christ give thee up to languish under terrors and fears and so to hold thee under holiness Then thou concludest wrong that therefore God will cast thee off 4. Consider affliction of spirit may rise from other causes and not because I am cast off of God And God hath gracious ends in hiding himself from a soul and not the deserting or utter forsaking of a soul In what respect a man may say he hath no grace 1. Thou maist say thou hast no grace in comparison of other men because thou hast the same means and hast not so much grace as thou conceivest must thou therefore say thou hast no grace What if they have more need of it It may be they may be of a more perverse spirit more proud stubborn or selfish more apt to run aside from God And so have need of more Nay it may be they have more temptations in the way of their callings or more oppositions from carnal freinds or enemies then thou hast 2. Thou mayst say thou hast no grace in regard of sutableness to the means thou hast had as Hebr. 5,12 For whereas for the time you ought to have been teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God And are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat When thou complainest I have had a great deal of means and am not grown under it sutable to the means I have had This is a good trouble for herein is thy spirit poor And spiritual poverty never casts thee off from God 3 Thou mayst complain thou hast no grace in respect of thy desires and purpose of heart Thou hast over bidden thy self man and that troubles thee I did hope to have gotten further in Gods waies by this time then I have done To have over-mastered such a lust To have had more self-denial To have glorified God better in my place I can get my heart to nothing I had hoped I should have been better content with crosses and born affliction with more patience then I do Now thus to be afflicted is acceptable to God Suppose a weak sickly child should sit weeping in the chimney corner and being asked what aild it it should answer why I had hoped by this time to have done my father better service and to have been more useful to him He is tender of me and I can do nothing in requital of his love again Now the father of this child seeing its affection takes it as kindly as if it did perform what it desires So it is with God 2. Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing minde it is accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not So that now for this we must not judge our selves cast off of God God would not have us lye for his glory Rom. 3.7.8 nor our salvation much less for damnation Again consider what ends the Lord hath in keeping close his countenance and hiding his face sometimes from a soul that is dear to him Gods ends in hiding his face from a soul 1. To bring such a soul to self examination to look narrowly into their own hearts and to search out some corruption which it may be they do not see for the present And it is a great benefit to have discovery made of those traitors that lie lurking within that a man seeth not And this God usually brings the soul to by hiding his countenance Psal 77. When the spirit of the Psalmist was overwhelmed and the thought of God troubled him and his soul refused to be comforted Ard he cried unto God and still his sore ran in the night and ceased not and his eies were held waking and he was so troubled tha he could not speak as ver 1.2.3.4 Now saith he in the 6. vers I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent SEARCH Now he falleth a Searching what the matter was And inquires will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever and doth his promise fail for evermore hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Selah Mark here upon serious search he durst not tax God nor his mercy nor promise But mark he finds it out now where it was ver 10. And I said This is my infirmity By this means he finds out some weakness in the soul which before he saw not So that this was beneficial to him for God would have no sin harbour and lurk in the souls of his Saints 2. By this means the Lord brings a man or woman to the confession of sin And we are all proud by nature and are loth to come to acknowledge our sins Now the Scripture saith He that hideth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy And if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness Now God in mercy to a soul when he sees they are willing to connive and wink at some beloved sin which they would favour and are ready to say as David deal gently with the yong man Absalom or as Naaman The Lord be merciful to thy servant concerning this thing withdraws his face to shew them his dislike against every sin and to bring them to a free and willing confession of it So it was with David Psal 32.3.4.5 While I kept silence that is from acknowledging my sin my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my moysture was turned into the drought of summer Selah I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Selah So Hosea 5.15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face Till then saith God I will hide my face 3. God sometimes hides his face that his people might see that they are nothing in and of themselves But that all their sufficiency is of God That they may see their own emptiness that they can do nothing bear nothing mannage nothing to Gods glory without a special assistance from God That they may learn to deny themselves and live upon him alone Isa 57.17 I hid me and was wroth saith the Lord and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart When God hides himself then the frowardness of the heart appears So hereby the servants of God are kept humble from self glorying or boasting 4. Sometimes the Lord by the hiding of his countenance trieth the graces of his spirit in his servants that it may appear to
my friend O daughters of Jerusalem See now how this takes upon their Spirits Chap. 6.1 Whether is thy beloved gone O thou fairest among women whither is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee Mark how his hiding himself from his spouse conduceth to the calling of other poor souls to the seeking after Christ When they see them mourning and grieving and complaining and cannot rest without him thinks the poor soul there is some excellency in him that we see not we will certainly go along to seek him with these poor souls he is worth seeking after And so it sets them a flame after him also The third thought is when the Soul complains it hath none of the Spirit Thirdly The third Thought that riseth in the heart to trouble the soul and perplex it is this I have none of the Spirit of God Now Christ commands John 4. To worship God in the spirit And Gal. 5.16 Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and Jude 20. Praying in the holy ghost But how should I do this that have not the Spirit feel him not working nor quickening nor comforting me my heart is so dead and loose and weary in duty never carried up to heaven how can I but be troubled When you are carried with a fiery Chariot into heaven then you think you have the spirit But when a man moves in a lower Region he thinks he hath it not I shall speak to this 1. Generally 2. More Particularly Generall observations to this case Generally thus 1. That it is a very good thing to have the Spirit or to miss it As in hearing the word in prayer conference Meditation c. Either to feel a man hath it or to feel he wants it And the worst of these is better then to rest in a duty shaped out of your own Brain consisting in an empty sound of expressions and words For ye must take heed ye do not content your selves with shadowes and phrases without the Spirit For God doth not know the meaning of such duties Rom. 8. 2. Consider the spirit hath a manifold work in the hearts of the children of God Now a man cannot reason from the want of such a fruit of the Spirit as joy or peace c. that therefore he hath not the Spirit Ye cannot reason thus A man doth not Laugh Therefore he doth not Live Weeping is a sign of life as well as laughter So it is in this Case The sense of sin may argue the Spirit of God to be in you as well as the feeling of Joy Zach. 12 10. I will pour upon them the SPIRIT of grace and the Spirit of supplications And they shall look upon me whom they have peirced and shall MOVRN for him as one mourneth for his onely Son And be in BITTERNES c. The Spirit is a Spirit of variety 1 Cor. 12. Giving to one this gift to another that gift to one Humility Poverty of spirit Self deniall Godly sorrow to another Zeal and Courage and Joy c. And so it is oftentimes in the same man sometimes it is tuning his godly sorrow sometimes his joy sometimes his fear c. And this is one ground of the variety of conditions the Saints are in as David sometimes ye find him singing on the uppermost branch of the tree and sometimes hanging his wing in the bottome of the hedg Sometimes calling upon himself to praise the Lord seven times a day Psal 119.164 And sometimes crying out that he was cast out of Gods sight Psal 31.22 So Job sometimes professing though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 And sometimes changing his note If I had called and he had answered me yet I would not believe that he had hearkned to my voice Job 9.16 The Church spoken of in the Lamentations Sometimes lamenting my strength and my HOPE is perished from the Lord Lam. 3.18.22 and sometimes again confessing I have HOPE Paul had the spirit as well in his buffetings as in his rejoycings And David when he prayed restore to me the joy of thy salvation as when he felt it Psal 51. The Spirit led Christ to be tempted as well as supported him and brought him back into Galilee Luke 4.1 c. A man may have the spirit in the Fight as well as in the Triumph He hath the spirit that soweth to the spirit in Tears as well as he that reaps in joy Psal 126.5.6 Therefore you may be mistaken in saying you have not the spirit seing it works so variously 3. This spirit may exercise it self in thee in duties one way though it be not felt but another way as in prayer sometimes tuning thy love sometimes thy hatred sometimes thy humility sometimes thy joy Therefore do not wrong the spirit of God and say it is from home because you feel not joy Do not say it is idle for it may be working in another room tuning another grace If a man should alwaies touch one key he should never play various tunes Now our hearts are Gods Harps Rev. 14.2 and 15.2 And therefore if God should not tune them variously there would be no melody And if the spirit be not setting up a candle in thee it may be scouring of a candle-stick I mean If it be not filling thy heart with joy it may be preparing thy heart for joy 4. There may be workings of the spirit in the heart and yet ye may not perceive it is the working of the spirit As in a peice of blunt money that ye can see no mark upon you will say by the bigness it should be such a piece six pence or a nine-pence but I can see nothing upon it So there may be workings of the spirit that are not seen for the present and yet afterward when the spirit worketh another way then thou maist perceive that this was of the spirit Luk. 24. The disciples that went to Emmaus knew not Christ while he was opening the Scriptures to them which was the likeliest time yet they knew him in breaking bread And then they could call to minde the burning of their hearts by the way Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us by the way and opened to us the Scriptures ver 32. just as it is in our businesses in the world many secret providences which a man doth not see to be a providence till after by some other issue he cals it to minde and sees it a providence So God hath his glory at last As Zaccheus climbing up into the figtree what could a man pick out of it till afterward that Christ tells him he must abide at his house then it appeared to be a providence So in the Disciples being so importunate with Christ to stay when he made as if he would have gone further they saw nothing in it for the present but afterward when Christ