to drive us out of it and then indeed he was a spirit of bondage to which he hath reference when he sayes to feare againe because he was once such to them and such the Holy Ghost then might bee and then witnesse to them that their estates were damnable for then it was a truth in tha they had lived in an estate of bondage whereunto damnation was immediately due and had they dyed in it had certainly fallen upon them But when once he by making a man a Son hath become the spirit of adoption to him then if ever he should put him into such apprehensions and feares againe he should witnesse an untruth Therefore for the comfort of them and all beleevers he tells them that he never crosseth nor reverseth his testimony of adoption but his office is to be ready as a witnesse to seale to it but our owne hearts and Satan But yet though the Iudge doth not condemne any more yet the Iaylor may trouble and affright us 1 John 3. 12. our own hearts may condemn us God may give Satan leave to cast us into prison to clap bolts upon us again and to become a lying Spirit of bondage to us as hee became a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahabs Prophets and he may give up our hearts to be fettered with the cords of our own sins Prov. 5. 22 and to be ensnared with its own inventions and feares and jealousies For a more distinct understanding of this §. 2. to manifest how it comes to passe that all this befalls Gods childe Yet the Spirit hath some hand in the distresse I will shew how farre the holy Ghost proceedeth in it and puts forth his hand towards it and what Satans work is where he strikes in and our owne hearts to worke further and deeper distresse then the holy Ghost by himselfe alone intended For unto these three severall hands is the whole to be ascribed the works of Gods Spirit and his concurrence therein carefully to be severed from Satans as light from darknesse at the first Thus farre then the Spirit of God may concurre in this darknesse that befalls his childe 1. Privatively 1. Privatively to withdraw his testimony He may suspend his testimony and the execution of his office of witnessing adoption hee may withdraw his comfortable presence and hide himselfe for a moment and conceale his love as other Fathers will sometimes doe As David did when yet his heart was towards Absolom He may not admit him to see his face he may shut a Sonne out of doores when yet he doth not cast him off Iohn 20. 23. He may retaine their sinnes as Christs expression is that is call in the patent of his pardon which he had passed under his hand and seale in earth Mat. 18. 18. that is in their owne consciences take it out of their hands and custody and call for it home againe into the pardon office in Heaven and there keepe it And also when Satan comes and gives in a false witnesse and evidence and our owne hearts thereupon likewise condemne us the Holy Ghost may stand by as it were silent and say nothing to the contrary but forbeare to contradict Satan by any loud testimony or secret rebuking him as he doth at other times as Zach. 3. 1 2. 2. Positively 2. Positive in 2. things He may further proceed 1. To reveale and represent God as angry with his childe 1. To represēt God angry by immediate expression of wrath on the conscience for such and such sinnes formerly committed and make him sensible thereof not barely by concealing his love but by making impressions of his wrath upon his conscience immediately and not by outward crosses only Thus Esay 57. 17 18. God not onely hid himselfe and was wroth that is expressed his wrath by hiding himself but I smote him and was wroth and v. 16. he contended and was wroth that is fought against him as an enemy as Esay 63. 10. and this with his wrath upon his spirit for it followes that the spirit was ready to faile and the soule which he had made so as it was the spirit which was the white God shot at and wounded and that so deepe that it was ready to faile and come to nothing which Solomon calls by way of distinction a wounded spirit which who can beare and differenceth it from all other afflictions upon the outward man which strike the spirit but through the cloathes of the body mediately for sayes he The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmity that is all such outward afflictions wherein it suffers but by way of sympathy and compassion but when the spirit it selfe is laid bare and naked and wounded immediately by Gods wrath which only can reach it and wound it Who can beare this Thus towards Heman God did not only hide his face from him Psal 88. ver 14. but His fierce wrath went over him and thy terrors sayes he cut me off ver 16. not wounded him onely but even cut him off and and such impressions of immediate wrath as expressions and effects of Gods anger the Holy Ghost may make upon the spirit of his childe for it is a truth that God is angry and wroth with them when they sinne which anger he may make knowne not onely by dumbe signes in outward crosses and effects but by an immediate witnessing and plain and expresse speaking so much to their consciences and making them to feele so much by scalding drops of his hot displeasure let fall thereon And as other Fathers shew their anger by whipping the bodies of their children upon this ground as sayes the Apostle because they are the Fathers of our flesh Heb. 12. 9. So for the like reason may God shew his anger and chastise his children by lashing their spirits For he is the father of our spirits as he speakes in the same place And likewise our spirits and the very bones and marrow of them doe lie open and naked to him with whom we have to doe and his word and spirit being quick and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword Heb. 4. 12 13. are able to divide and cut even to the bones and marrow as the same Author speakes Yet withall so as when he expresseth his wrath thus upon their consciences hee doth not witnesse that this is an eternall wrath which he hath conceived against them for it is but a temporary displeasure It is but for a moment as Esay speakes the indignation of a Father nor is it a wrath which revenging justice hath stirred in him Heb. 12. 6. but Fatherly affection And though the Spirit tells them that God is displeased yet never that they are accursed that is a false collection made out of it 2. By shaking over him the threatnings of eternall wrath Yet 2. The holy Ghost may proceed yet further herein so farre as to bring forth and shew
these accusations his scope is to misrepresent our estates to us falsely to disquiet us therefore hee is yet more especially called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a slanderer as one that falsely and lyingly calumniateth and slandereth all our graces all Gods dealings towards us all our dealings towards him slandering our persons our estates to us charging us to be hypocrites unsound and carnall and counterfeit Christians still misconstruing all unto the worst Which false calumnies and charges of his I take most properly to be those darts mentioned Ephes 6. ver 11. which are there said more especially to oppose our faith and therefore faith is there said to quench them from which trade of his forging darts of calumnies he hath his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a slanderer from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a metaphor it is from casting darts for the slanderous calumnies of the tongue are as a manle Prov. 25. 18. and a sword Psal 57. 4. and a sharp arrow as Solomon speaks their teeth speares and arrowes and such are these kinde of satans tentations and accusations against us Even as darts and arrows that wound and pierce and runne through the affections that strike the soule through and through with feares his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tempter is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pierce because such are his darts so sharpned and slung with that force as they are fitted to pierce and enabled to runne through And besides the sharpnesse of the darts themselves they are said to be fiery as making double way for themselves for a piece of iron though blunt yet if fired red hot it runs through without resistance Satan hee is that great generall of the whole powers of darknesse in us and therefore even the forces of the guilt of sinne the proper seat of which is the conscience hee hath some command over as well as of the power of sinne in other members as he can muster up and set on fleshly lusts which fight against the soule and provoke and back them in their assaults upon us so he can clap on the chaines of guilt and bondage And as he can stir that guilt that is in us And also by working upon the injudiciousnesse of the conscience so also work upon that injudiciousnesse and erronious defilement that is in the conscience to judge of a mans owne estate this satan works upon and abuseth For as hee hath a power to work upon the corruption in the rest of the faculties so also over the defilement and pollution of the conscience misleading it in the verdict as cunning pleaders doe a silly Iurie the wards of conscience are of themselves loose and naturally misplaced but hee with his false keyes wrings and perverts them much more it naturally gives an uncertaine sound but he by his false alarums and pannicke feares cast in doth much more confound the testimony of it And how easie is it to trouble a soule disquieted already and to worke upon jealousies which are raised we see how far a cunning man can insinuate with jealous natures to encrease suspitions and surmises When an humour is stirred how easily is it wrought on and when the Spirit hath already read us a sharp Lecture and examind our consciences then hee strikes in and descants upon all But the more full and distinct explication of Satans worke herein § 2. requires a further search and enquirie A quaere discusted how and how far satan may know matter against us to accuse us of and larger demonstration how Satan comes and how farre to know matter by us thus to accuse us of for if hee doth accuse hee must as he said Acts 28. Have ought against us whereof to accuse else it were in vaine and there is this difference betweene these kind of tentations wherein we are exercised about the guilt of sinne and those other into sinne That the object matter of other tentations is what is without our selves but in these that which is in us and from us and hath beene committed by us is made matter of objection against and disquietment unto us That which is from within the man disquiets the man But ere I enter upon this enquiry I must premise a generall Caution to set limits to our discourse therein And the Caution is this A Caution premised that we are to reserve and maintaine this both as an undoubted truths and as Gods sole and royall prerogative That it is in Gods sole prerogative to know the heart that he can alone both search and know the heart and conscience As in like manner that He can onely by his wrath immediatly make those deep and killing wounds and gashes with which mens soules are often here and hereafter eternally wounded of which by way of caution also in the next chapter which two glorious and incommunicable attributes of his that Elogium of the word of God Heb. 4. 12 13. seems fully to hold forth unto us where as at the Gate of Paradise was set a Cherubin with a flaming sword to keepe our falne parents from ever entring in againe so there Christ is represented as that supreme Iudge with whom as at the 13. verse we are eternally to have to doe or as the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom we are to give an account for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Rom. 14. 12. and elsewhere taken and this with that dreadful sword of his word drawne and brandished by which he will judge men at the later day Iohn 12. 48. and which therefore is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 12. a judger of the thoughts c. that by the awfull terror thereof hee might compell and drive those that heare the Gospell to enter into that rest to which hee had exhorted ver 11. which is set open by him for men now falne to come into Which sword as it hath a double edge as there so in his hand who alone can wield it it serves to a double use That whereas in a Iudge two things are requisite to the compleat performance of his office 1. Skill and knowledge to finde out and examine the fact 2. Power to execute and torture the Malefactor when found guilty He shewes how both these doe transcendently and solely-meet in him by what power is found to be in his word which is the ensigne of his justice and instrument of his power in judging which is said to be a discerner of the thoughts and a sword that pierceth and woundeth the soule and spirit with unutterable anguish Which wounding power is distinctly set forth as some from the beginning of the 12. ver to those last words and is a discerner of the thoughts from whence to the end of the 13. ver that other the searching and all-judging property of God his word is laid forth to us but rather as I conceive the Apostle in one continued metaphor carries along the expression of both through
all the terriblest and most terrible in his roaring whose roaring is therefore often in Scripture put to expresse dreadfulnesse and horrour The Lion roares who will not tremble Amos 3. 8. And as some have observed and the Psalmist intimates it by his roaring he strikes such horror and amazement into all other beasts as they stand still as exanimated and so he seizeth and preyes upon them as he pleaseth and in this respect those darts aforemeÌ„tioned are principally called fiery namely for that dolour and anguish and inflamation and combustion they cause through distempering the affections Those feares which our owne hearts engendred within us were but as smoke these darts of his put a fire into theÌ„ and doe cause them to flame and blaze The allusion is to the poysoned darts which the Scythians of old and other nations now use in warre dipt in the blood and gall of Asps and Vipers the venemous heat of which like a fire in their flesh killed the wounded by them with torments the likest hell of any other Which Iob also alludes to Iob 6. 4. The arrowes of the Almighty are within me The poyson or as others reade it the heat and fervour we may use both and read The hot poyson thereof drinkes up my spirit even as fire preying upon moisture And what were those arrowes but terrours So it followes the terrours of God c. Thus that Corinthian was in danger to have beene drunke up as the word signifies with overmuch sorow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Satan had to do with him 2 Cor. 2. 7. and the same word is again used of the devil 1 Pet. 5. 8. Seeking whom to drinke up So that as Satan inflames other members and the inordinate lusts in them with a superadded naturall vehemency and violence as the tongue which though of it selfe full of poyson is said to be set on fire from hell Iames 3. 16. that is from Satan who is called hell as in that speech the gates of hell even as the Angels the noblest creatures are called heavens Heb. 7. 26. who inflames mens tongues with an overplus of venome and malice to wound mens names with even as on the contrary the Holy Ghost did set on fire the Apostles tongues with zeale In like maner he can and doth put fire into those darts he wounds the conscience with and thereby augments our feares and griefes and so causeth such disquietments and pangs as that hell fire as it were begins to flame in a mans conscience As Christ is that Brazen Serpent so Satan is that fiery Serpent that can sting us by the guilt of sinne And here I must bring in the like caution as I used in the former Chapter A Caution namely that hee works not these terrors by immediate impressions upon the conscience which in that respect is subject to Gods stroke alone as to his knowledge alone Which as I intimated I take to be that other principall part of the drift of those words Heb. 4. 11 12. The word of God is quick and powerfull c. For there he sets forth Christ to us as was shewed as a judge compleatly enabled for vengeance against us not onely in respect of an omnisciency to finde us out in all our shiftings but also because a judge would not be much feared if he had only skill and knowledge though never so much to search and finde out the guile and guilt of malefactors if he were not armed with power to avenge and torture them therefore withall the Apostles scope is to strike terrour into their hearts in respect of that vengeance he can execute and therefore his aime is to exhort them not to dally with God or with his word in which he had 〈◊〉 of those that beleeved not they should not enter into his rest in the former verses So as the purport of the words must necessarily also bee supposed to be to shew the dreadfull power of God and of his word in avenging it selfe upon the contemners of him and it and not meerely to describe his omniscience and knowing of the heart but as joyned also with power to pierce as deep in wounding of the soule as in knowing of it Yea and that so large an illustration of his knowledge is brought in but as a clearer demonstration of His power to punish Who can diverso deep into our hearts As froÌ„ whence we might argue and feare the stroke of that 〈◊〉 in this haÌ„d whose eyes are so piercing And accordingly to set forth the dreadfulnesse of this his power all those his expressions doe as fully tend as to expresse the other and he useth such a comparison as both in the nature of the things and according to the more usuall phrase of Scripture doth more properly and abundanily intimate this slaying and wounding of mens soules that should be disobedient by 〈…〉 then that other of searching the soule and spirit This word sayes he is quick and lively not in respect of duration onely as abiding ever but in respect to working and eâ—â—cution Things that are exceeding operative though inanimate we call quick So quick-silver which runnes through a mans bowels like haile shot and so oppositely drugs and drinks that have lost their vertue and are ineffectuall we call dead and in respect to this energy and power to work upon mens hearts is that in Iohn 6. 63. The words I speake sayes Christ are spirit and life that is are full of an operative principle for an active working principle wee use to call Spirit as the spirit of wine c. So as in that he sayes the word is quick he nores out that that word is inspired with a principle most quick spiritfull and active and fit to work as occasion is the holy Spirit as the internall form of it and therefore 2. having thus intimated this internall forme of working he adds by way of explication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 powerfull mighty in operation as noting out that power which flowes from thence that ability to produce strange effects upon the soule these expressions cary report of more then of a skill and dexterity to search and know the heart onely And then 3. he further instanceth in such operations of it as the effects of that power which are most dreadfull as the comparisons he useth doe import More piercing then any two edged sword Now as elsewhere the word is coÌ„pared to an armory of all sorts of weapons and engines for war and vengeance The weapons of our warfare are mighty c. 1 Cor. 10. 4. and this as To the pulling down of strong holds and subduing unto Christ those that turn effectually unto him So also that they have in a readinesse to avenge all disobedience v. 6. in theÌ„ that submit not to him In like maner here he resembles it to a sword the most usuall and most terrible of all the instruments of death which were then in use The brandishing of which
strikes palenesse and horrour into a man ere the stroke comes at him which is usually put in Scripture to express vengeance and more especially in the prophecy of Ezekiel So also Psal 7. 13. If hee turne not God hath whet his sword and prepared his instruments of death that is to inflict torments and eternall torments also as Deut. 32. â—2 And indeed whatsoever doth torment or cause dolour and anguish is in Scripture called a sword the piercing with a sword is used to expresse the most exquisite dolours as Luke 2. 35. Yea a sword shall pierce through thy soule also Speaking to the blessed mother of Christ and of that her anguish and griefe wherewith shee should be cut even to the heart when she should behold her Sonne upon the Crosse Of whose dolours upon the Crosse likewise the same expression is used Psal 22. 21. when he prayes Deliver my soule from the sword And in this respect the word in Christs hand still when he is spoken of as a Iudge Psal 45. 3. is compared to a sword and so here Rev. 19. 16. Therefore to strike the more terrour into their hearts in respect of the wounds Isay 49. 2. and torments it inflicts he goes further on to exaggerate the dread thereof hee sayes not onely that it is as sharpe but more sharpe not then a sword of one edge but then a two-edged sword nor then some but then any two-edged sword and further to shew that hee speakes it in relation unto wounding and anguish and torment it causeth in the soule hee mentioneth the division of such parts as are not onely most hid and inward in relation to discovery for such the marrow is being covered with the bones and the ligaments covered with flesh but which are also of most exquisite sense and the wounding of which causeth the greatest dolour Hee saith it pierceth even through the bones which it must needs bee supposed to doe when it is said to reach unto the marrow Now the breaking of the bones is still put to expresse those exquisite and unsupportable terrours and dolours of conscience and woundings of the Spirit which a man cannot beare or sustaine For when the bones are broken a man cannot stand nor support himselfe And the like is also the cutting of the ligaments the nerves sinewes and arteries those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that knit the joynts which are the organs of sense and motion Againe he sayes it divideth not onely the Soule that is the sensuall part the passions of the mind as wounding them which creatures as men and angels can torment and excruciate but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Spirit also which is with an emphasis expressed and his meaning is not so much that it divideth the soule from the spirit as some have understood it but the soule and spirit also It is a two-edged sword and can at one blow strike through both this axe strikes at the root at the spirit which when wounded it 〈◊〉 can beare sayes Solomon And so he concludes ver 13. That as before him all things are 〈◊〉 so that if hee but strike them with his word they lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even with their throats cut dead and speechlesse at his feet as Theoderet expounds that word Now thus far that is to this spirit in man no created sword can reach they turne edge at it but even this the word reacheth that alone So as the summary drift of all herein is the same which Christ expressed elsewhere in other words to exhort them to feare that God whose sword and powerfull word is able thus to wound who is alone able thus to do and not to feare those who can only wound kill the body and but reach to the sensuall soul that is drencht in it but cannot wound or kill the Spirit Which God alone can do and no meere creature whatsoever And therefore in all our thoughts fears of Satans power of knowing our sins or troubling or disquieting our spirits as also through this discourse we are to set such bounds as that this incommunicable royalty of God and of his word may be reserved unentrencht upon namely that he alone knows and can immediately wound the spirit and conscience § 2. both which at once this place held out unto us Though hee cannot immediately wound the conscience yet which made me the largelier to insist upon the opening of it But yet although Satan cannot immediately wound the conscience and make impression of Gods wrath upon it for as no creature can shed abroad Gods love and cause the creature to tast the sweetnesse of it so nor the bitternesse of his wrath but God is his owne reporter of both Yet 1. 1. When the Spirit hath wounded it he can rake in those soares When the holy Ghost hath lasht and whipt the conscience and made it tender once and fetcht off the skin Satan then may fret it more and more and be still rubbing upon the soare by horrid suggestions And 2. From the experience of former terrours he can amaze the soul afresh He can by renewing the experimentall remembrance of those lashes which the soule hath had amaze the soule with feares of an infinitely soarer vengeance yet to come and so paint out and flash representations of hell fire in their consciences from those reall glimpses they have already had as to wilder the soule into vast and unthought of horrors And then 3. 3. He can bring home all the threatnings He can bring home all the threatnings that are thundered forth in the word against hypocrites and men unregenerate and discharge them all with much violence and noise upon a poore doubting soule he can and doth present and shew his prisoners those terrible threatnings chaines and racks and other instruments of death Psal 7. 13. as the Psalmist calls them which God hath prepared against sinners and hath stored up in that great armory of his word Which hath in a readinesse to revenge all disobedience 2 Cor. 10. 6. With the ratling of which chaines Satan can make a noise in the conscience of a poore sinner to affright him Which hee is the more enabled to doe out of experience of such terrours in himselfe Being bound up in chaines everlasting under darknes to the judgment of the great day Iude 6. And as a son of consolation and childe of light is enabled to comfort others the more by the comfort wherewith hee hath beene comforted of God So this Prince of darknesse is the more powerfull to terrifie weake consciences that are ensnared with the cords of their owne sinnes by reason of the terrours which he hath received from the Lord. And therefore in Scripture as a power in sin is attributed to him so the power of death Heb. 2. 14. Where by death is meant not so much that bodily as that eternall death to which as the proper punishment of sin
greatest outward darknesse may have yea often use to have most light in their spirits But here is such an estate spoken of such a darknesse as hath no light in it Therefore secondly it is principally to be understood of the want of inward comfort in their spirits But chiefely inward from the want of the sense of Gods favour from something that is betweene God and them and so meant of that darknesse and terrours which accompany the want and the sense of Gods favour And so darknesse is elsewhere taken for inward affliction of spirit and minde and want of sight in point of assurance that God is a mans God and of the pardon of a mans sinnes so Psal 88. 6. Heman useth this word to expresse his distresse and the reasons why it is thus to be understood here are First Proved by 3. reasons The first because the remedy here prescribed is faith to stay himselfe upon God and that as upon His God he puts in His God emphatically because that is the point he is troubled about and concerning which he is in darknesse and that is it which faith which is propounded here as the remedy doth in the first place and principally looke unto as its primary aime and object Secondly The second in the foregoing verses he had spoken of Iustification whereby God pardons our sinnes and accepts our persons The Prophet or Christ in the person of his elect as some having expressed his assurance of this God is neare that justifies me who shall condemne Which words the Apostle Rom. 8. 32 33. doth alleadge in the point of justification and to expresse the triumphing assurance of it and applies them in the name and persons of true beleevers now because there might be some poore soules who though truely fearing God yet might want this assurance and upon the hearing of this might be the more troubled because not able to expresse that confidence which he did therefore he addes who is among you that feareth the Lord c. as if he should have said though you want the comfortable sense and assurance of this be not discouraged but doe you exercise faith goe out of your selves rely upon Christ and that mercy which is to be found in God you may feare God and want it and you are to trust in God in the want of it Thirdly The third these words have a relation also to the fourth verse where he sayes as that God had given him this assurance of his owne justification for his owne particular comfort in the foregoing verses so that God had also given him the tongue of the learned to minister a word of comfort in season to him that is weary and heavy laden and thereupon in this verse he accordingly shewes the blessed condition of such persons as are most weary through long walking in darknesse and withall hee discovereth to them the way of getting out of this darknesse and recovering comfort againe And in all the word of God there is not a more comfortable and seasonable word to one in such a condition to bee found All which argues it is spoken of inward darknesse and trouble of spirit and that in point of applying justification and God to be a mans God CHAP. II. The particulars of the distresse contained in these two phrases Walking in Darknesse Having no Light THe second thing to be enquired into is What is His condition whilest hee walkes in darknesse c. What is the condition of such an one who is thus in darknesse and who hath no light Which I will so farre discover as the phrases used here will give light into by the help of other Scriptures First §. 1. as exprest 1. by having no light he is said to have no light Light saith the Apostle Ephes 5. 13. is that whereby things are made manifest that is to the sense of sight to which light properly belongs and as light and faith are here severed as you see so sight also is in 2 Cor. 5. 7. distinguished from faith Heb. 11. 1. which is the evidence of things absent and not seene Light distinct from faith when therefore here he sayes he hath no light the meaning is he wants all present sensible testimonies of Gods favour to him he sees nothing that may give sensible present witnesse of it to him Gods favour and his owne graces and all the sensible tokens and evidences thereof which are apprehended by spirituall sight are become all as absent things as if they were not or never had been that light which ordinarily discovers these as present he is cleane deprived of To understand this A threefold light added to faith to cause assurance wee must know that God to helpe our faith which as I said before is distinguisht from sight as we now speake of it vouchsafeth a threefold light to his people to adde assurance and joy to their faith which is to faith as a backe of steele to a bow to strengthen it and made to be taken off or put on to it at Gods good pleasure First 1. The immediate light of Gods countenance the immediate light of his countenance which is a cleare evident beame and revelation of Gods favour immediately testifying that wee are his which is called the sealing of the Spirit received after beleeving Ephes 1. 13. which David desired and rejoyced in more then in all worldly things Lord lift up the light of thy countenance Psal 4. 6. in which more or lesse in some glimpses of it some of Gods people have the priviledge to walke with joy from day to day Psal 89. 15. They shall walke in the light of thy countenance in thy name shall they rejoyce all day which he may want And this is here utterly withdrawne and it may thus come to passe that the soule in regard of any sense or sight of this may bee left in that case that Saul really was left in 1 Sam. 28. 15. God is departed from me and answers me not neither by Prophets nor by dreames though with this difference that God was really departed from Saul but to these but in their owne apprehensions yet so as for ought they can see of him God is departed cleane from them answers them neither by prayer nor by word proved nor by conference they cannot get one good look from him Jonah 2. 4. Such was Ionahs case I am cast out of thy sight that is he could not get a sight of him not one smile not one glaunce or cast of his countenance not a beame of comfort and so thought himselfe cast out And so hee dealt with David often and sometimes a long time together Psal 13. 1. How long wilt thou hide thy face from mee and Psal 89. 46. How long c. even so long as David puts God in remembrance and pleades how short a time in all he had to live and complaines how in much of that time his
light in it to discover it selfe to him it may be in the heart in esse operari when not in cognosci it may have a being and a working there when not in thy apprehension The reason is The reason because as the influence of Gods favour may be really in the heart when the sense sight and light of it is withdrawne as was said before so the power of grace may in like maner bee in the heart when the light and comfort thereof is wanting And although it is true that every man having the power of reflecting upon his owne actions can discerne what thoughts are in him and what affections and can tell for the matter of them what he thinkes on and that he is grieved c. But yet so as he may still question whether those thoughts be acts of true and unfeigned faith and whether those affections of sorow for sin c. be sanctified affections holy and genuine and spirituall affections And the reason of the difference is because though the naturall spirit which is in a man knowes the things of a man as the Apostle hath it 1 Cor. 2. 11. that is his owne thoughts c. understanding them physically as they are acts of a man yet what is the true goodnesse of them morally Ierem. 17. in discerning This the spirit of a man is deceitfull and cannot know it without the supernaturall light of the Spirit of God who as he is the giver and actor of that grace in us so is given of God that we might know the things which are given us of God 1 Cor. 2. 8. 12. Light is sowen for the righteous and joy for the upright sayes the Psalmist Grace and the exercise of it is the seed which they continually scatter but light and joy is the crop that is to be reaped This seed often lies hid long though it will come up in the end Thus light or joy may be severed from grace and the comfort of it from the power of it Secondly §. 2. let us further consider the other phrase and what is intimated thereby to bee his condition What his condition is as exprest by walking in darknesse when as it is said he walkes in darknesse First to walke in darknesse implies to be in doubt whither to goe so Iohn 12. 35. Hee that walkes in darknesse knowes not whither he goes And thus the soule of one that feares God To be in doubt what will become of him may bee filled with doubts whether God will ever be mercifull to him yea or no and not know what God meanes to doe with him whether he shall goe to heaven or hell Psal 77. 7 8 9. Will the Lord be mercifull which speeches are spoken doubtingly for ver 10. hee sayes this was his infirmity to call this into question So Heman Psal 88. 5 6 11 12. Hee thought himselfe as one that was in hell Free among the dead that is as one admitted into the company of them there ver 5. free of that company as you use to say and of the number of those whom God no more remembred in such darknesse was he ver 6. And to raise him out of that condition was a thing hee doubted whether God would ever doe ver 10 11 12. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall thy wonders be declared in the grave that is did God ever shew mercy to one that was in the same state that they in hell are in which is my state now yea so as to be out of hope So Lamen 3. 18. My hope is perished from the Lord. Secondly those in darknesse are apt to stumble at every thing Stumbling at all comforâ—s So Esay 59. 10. One effect of darknesse mentioned there is to stumble at noone day So take a soule that is left in darknesse and it will stumble at all it heares out of the word either in conference or at Sermons all it reades all promises it meetes with it is more discouraged by them Oh thinke they that there should be such glorious promises and not belong to us Such an one misapplies and misinterprets all Gods dealings and the Scriptures against himselfe and refuseth comfort as Psal 77. 2. Yea and as at the third verse when he remembers God he is troubled Thirdly darknesse is exceeding terrible and full of horrour Filled with terrors When children are in the darke they thinke they see fearefull sights it is therefore called the Horror of darknesse Gen. 15. 12. So his soule here may be filled with feares and terrours from Gods wrath and of Gods being an enemie to him Heman was almost distracted Psal 88. 15. and out of his wits with terrours So the Church thought Lament 3. Yea and concluded it for certaine that God was her enemy Surely he is turned against me ver 3. CHAP. III. The efficient causes of this distresse First the Spirit whether he hath any hand therein and how farre HAving thus explicated and proved this that this doth and may befall one who truely feares the Lord for the more full clearing of it I will further shew First the efficient causes Secondly the cases wherein Thirdly the ends for which God leaves his children in such distresses First The efficient causes of this distresse 3. for the efficient causes of this so wofull desperate darke condition of Gods childe they are three which have a hand in it First Gods Spirit Secondly a mans owne guilty and fearefull heart Thirdly Satan First §. 1. for Gods Spirit Although he hath a hand in some part of this disquietnesse 1. The Spirit yet we must take heed how we put upon him any of those doubts and desperate feares and conclusions whereby the childe of God calls his state into question For the Spirit is not the direct efficient or positive cause of them And to this end we may consider that knowne place not the cause of doubtfull and despairing thoughts Rom. 8. 16. Yee have not received the spirit of bondage to feare againe but the spirit of adoption the right understanding of which will also prevent an objection For some have alleadged this place as if the childe of God after he had once the Spirit sealing adoption to him could never after fall into apprehension of bondage that is into fears of eternall damnation any more or of being bound â—ver for hell and that this can befall him but once and that at his first conversion But if we marke the words well The Apostle affirmeth not that feares of bondage can never befall Gods childe againe but his scope is to shew that the Spirit which wee have received having been once become the Spirit of adoption that spirit is never after againe the spirit of bondage to us nor the cause of such feares indeed at first conversion and before he did witnesse adoption he then revealed our estates to us to be an estate of bondage which he then doth in love
his owne wayes to him making that which is straight seeme crooked and all in him to bee hypocrisie a man is brought to passe a false sentence upon himselfe So as if this subtill pleader cannot deceive the judge as I may so speake with false rules and mistakes in the Law it selfe then he endeavours it by misrepresenting the case of the party and puts in a false bill of accusation so ordered and coloured as to procure a judgement against him laying afore the eyes of mens consciences their by-ends deadnesse and hardnesse of heart and falsenesse in such and such turning of their lives excepting against what is good in them aggravating what is evill and all to enforce from thence a false conclusion To instance in some one false reasoning Satan oft argueth and chargeth the conscience of one distressed in this or the like maner Those in whom any sinne raigneth or in whose hearts hypocrisie and selfe-love is the predominant principle are not in the state of grace But such an one art thou c. for the proof of which minor he musters up and sets in order in the view of conscience a multitude of instances of sins committed thus hainously thus oft of duties omitted and if performed yet with such and such pride of heart self-aimes c. In which sort of reasoning the major and first proposition is often true but the minor the assumption such an one art thou is most false And although there be a truth in the instances alledged to prove it That such sins have been committed and that in performance of duties such particular by-ends c. doe arise and are found in the heart yet not in that manner as hee would lay the charge not as raigning not as the swaying and prevailing principle in a mans whole course That hypocrisie is there cannot be denyed but that hypocrisie rules there and is predominant and that nothing but hypocrisie this is it is false which yet satan amazeth the conscience with to bring forth this conclusion out of all Therefore thou art an hypocrite which conclusion likewise how able hee is to set on with terrors and affrightments wee shall shew anon That which wee have now in hand is to shew how able he is for those kinde of false reasonings the deceit of which lies chiefly in the assumption and minor proposition that is in misapplications to a mans selfe in which hee hath principally to deale with conscience for the guilt of a mans particular wayes actions and corruptions is made the matter of the evidence the proofs of those minors and the defilement and erroneousnesse of the conscience is that principle in us which hee workes upon when he enforceth such a misapprehension from those evidences Wherein we may take notice of a difference betweene the holy Ghosts dealing with a beleever A difference between satans sifting us the holy Ghosts searching when at any time hee comes with the word and searcheth and tries the heart and discovers corruptions to us to wit such as David prayed for Examine mee oh Lord and try my heart c. Psal 26. 2. Psal 139. 23. convincing and reproving us and that sometimes with some sharpnesse for our by-ends hypocrisies c. when also he bores the care and shews wherein we have exceeded as Elihu speaks Iob 36. 9 10. and betweene these other siftings and winnowings of sathan as Christs phrase is Luke 22. 31. of which afterwards The difference is That the holy Ghost dealeth sweetly herein but as a father that rebukes and convinceth his childe of his misdemeanours but without putting in any such sting in the conclusion that therefore wee are hypocrites nor to any such meaning or purpose thence inferred that therefore sinne raignes in us c. but in these of satan that is the issue he mainely drives all to and it is made the foot the burthen of all those his accusations and is as the scope and argument that runnes through the whole of that his charge against us And in respect to this his misse-representing our estates and false aggravations of our sinnes unto us he is called as the Tempter which is in a generall relation to all sorts of tentations so the accuser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 12. 20. or empleader against us and as the accuser of us to God §. 1. in Gods Court How satan is an accuser by charging the guilt 〈◊〉 on the conscience and before his tribunall for to accuse in a Court the word may seeme to import so in the Court of our owne consciences And as hee tempts us unto sinne so also for sinne and by sinne that is the guilt of it to draw us to despaire Hee that accused Iob unto God would surely accuse Iob unto himselfe much more A Caution And though it may bee truly 〈◊〉 that neither Satan nor our own consciences A Caution can ever aggravate unto us too much the intrinsecall sinfulnesse the hainousnes and vilenes of our sinnes in their due and proper colours and true aggravations of them which we can never come to see enough as not to hate nor loath and mourne for as we ought yet Satan and our owne consciences may in the representation of our sinnes put such false apprehensions and such aggravations upon them as may make us apprehend too much about them as when it is suggested that they are such as are not compatible with the state of grace or that they are utterly unpardonable he may likewise use them as inductions to prove a false conclusion And also although our sinnes if truly can never be enough represented if it be in order to drive a man more to Gods free grace and unto Christ yet to present them singlely and alone and to hold the minde intention of it so to thē as to cause us to forget our owne mercies and in such a manner as thereby Gods mercies and all comforts are hidden and concealed from us this is that is satans practice and is the cause of this deep bondage wee thus here speak of And in this respect that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser is given this evill spirit in a direct and full opposition to that speciall name and office of the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the comforter or pleader for us because as the holy Ghost maketh intercession in our owne hearts unto God for us and upon true repentance helpeth us to make apologies for our selves as the word is 2 Cor. 7. 11. and comforteth us by discovering our graces given us of God as 1 Cor. 2. 12. and by pleading our evidences and witnessing with our spirits that wee are the sonnes of God so on the contrary satan is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an accuser by laying to our charge the guilt of our sinnes by empleading our evidences misrepresenting our estates thereby to deject us and swallow us up with sorrow as 2 Cor. 2. 7. And further because in
the whole though more principally the one in that former part of the words and the other in the later yet so as both are alike made The royalty of God which is the thing we have in hand Neither needs it stumble any that this is attributed to the word of God of which he seems to speak for that is all one to ascribe it unto God for as where the word of a King is there is power sayes Solomon Eccles 8. 4. so where the word of God is there is the power of God so is it here to be understood and therefore as in other Scriptures his word is said to create by it the heavens to be establisht c. also Gal. 3. 8. in the like phrase of speech the Scripture is said to foresee that is God foresaw who writ the Scripture so also here to know and wound the heart Which to be the Apostles expresse intention here appears by the connexion of the 12. and 13. verses For whereas ver 12. he begins with attributing this power unto the word yet in the end hee closeth his speech with transferring all that was said thereof upon God himselfe ver 13. with whom we have to doe To open the words a little more largely so as to clear this assertion out of them which it is necessary to premise The words are For the word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom wee have to doe And first of that sole searching power of the soul in this Chapter and of that other the sole wounding power of the conscience in the next Chap. we shal have the like occasion to premise For the present that searching examining judging power of the word now in hand he expresseth by an allusion to the anatomy of bodies which then though not so frequently as now was yet in use or else to the cutting up of the sacrifices whether those of the Iews or as it was used among the heathen especially by the Soothsayers who curiously searched into every inward part as we find in the Prophet Ezek. 21. 21. and his similitude stands then that looke what the entrailes are to a sharp sword or Sacrificers knife or the like instruments of Anatomy in a strong and skilfull hand such are all the most inward and secret parts of the heart even those which are most difficult to be divided unto this sword in Gods hand when hee is pleased to use it to search the heart and reynes and to discover and bring forth to judgement the secrets thereof Hee can use this sword not onely to unrip strip off the outward cloathes of outward and formall actions and so present the soule naked as his expression is ver 13. nor only to flea off all the skin to excoriate and so to see what lies under it as the next word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated opened doth sometimes signifie but further to cleave and cut up to the back bone for even so deep doth the signification of that word reach that so all the inwards may appear and this so curiously divided laid asunder as to see view apart what is in each It pierceth to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit By which grace and corruption are not so properly here to be understood for then he would have rather said flesh and spirit and besides the persons hee speaks this of are principally those who shall be found secret unbeleevers who have not spirit in that sense at all in them but they are here used to expresse those two maine powers of the heart The soule that is the inferiour part that more sensuall part wherein the affections are as 1 Thes 5. 20. it is also used which it divides by discovering how close inordinatly all those affections cleave to sin and then 2. of the spirit that is the superiour part of the understanding conscience c. which it rips up by discovering how these plot and contrive the accomplishment of sinne Dividing that is discovering apart with difference how things are carryed severally in each and withall what correspondency and entercourse there is betweene these how sin and all our actions passe through them from the one to the other even as bloud and spirits doe through the veines and arteries in all the parts frō each to other And as in the body there are severall regions as Anatomists call them divided by partitions the vitall parts in the upper loft next the neck in which are lodged the heart and lungs The naturall parts in that lower and these divided by the midriffe as by a floore betweene them so in the soule to which haply Solomon alludes when Prov. 19. 27. hee calls the severall powers of it The Chambers of the belly as some read it there is the sensual part of the affections The soul c. which is as it were in a distinct room from that more sublime spirituall part the spirit And as the spirit of man that is the conscience and understanding of a man searcheth all those chābers as t is there that is Knows what is in man as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 11. which yet when it doth so it is not by an innate light but with Gods candle as Solomons expression there is that is by the word and the light thereof set up by him in it So here the word under another similitude namely of a sword is said to cut up and to discover all within those severall regions And in the Spirit it is said to discover what can be imagined most retired and withdrawne and so lockt up as no eye could finde it out which he expresseth by mentioning such parts as are most inwardly seated of all other the marrow which wee know is inclosed within the bones and the joynts or ligaments by which the joynts are knit and move these it unbares and discovers also Both which hee interprets in the next words and is a discoverer of the thoughts and intentions of the heart which are a more plain interpretation of what he had expressed by those two metaphors The utmost intention and end in all our actions that is as the marrow because as the marrow gives moisture to the bones so by these our ends all our purposes and resolutions by which we are supported in all our actions are strengthned and confirmed and then our devising thoughts or plottings our contrivements and machinations those by which wee artificially doe connect and hang together many joynts of meanes to accomplish and bring to passe our intentions which thoughts of all other we strive to hide and conceale these are as the joynts or
opinions and illusions with joyes and ravishments of spirit which differ as much from the joyes of the holy Ghost which are unspeakable and glorious as heaven from earth So he can and doth back his false reasonings and accusations to holy men about their estates with abundance of terrour and disturbance which also differs as much from the impressions of Gods wrath made immediately by the spirit upon the conscience as those joyes are found to doe CHAP. X. The conclusion 7. Advantages in common Satan hath over us in all those forementioned dealings ANd for a generall conclusion to this and all the rest of this discourse about Satans working on us I will but onely mention some of those great and many advantages hee hath in all these his false reasonings and accusations over us to set them on to fasten his slanders and false conclusions thence deduced and to perswade the minde of them Which I therefore bring in here as being common to all those particulars which have beene related First § 1. it is no small advantage that he can familiarly 1. Advantage that he can and doth suggest frequently and familiarly and frequently suggest them again and againe unto us The frequency of any thought that comes in againe and againe that lies by us and haunts us hath secretly the force of an argument to perswade us to thinke it is so Wee use to say I have thought so againe and againe A cunning flatterer that is continually suggesting and taking all hints and occasions so to doe may at last put hard to worke out a neare and a deare friend and to make one jealous of him As the Iudge yeelded to her importunity Luke 18. 5. So is the minde apt to yeeld a suggestion that haunts it and importunately presents it selfe yea though it be to passe a false sentence against a mans selfe And 2. hee can also and doth represent a multitude of reasonings § 2. and considerations together at once 2. That hee presents a multitude of false reasonings c. At once all tending to confirme the same perswasion He will sometimes bring in a cloud of witnesses and instances to prove us hypocrites and environ the minde round about with them that looke which way it will it sees nothing else As he represented to Christ 〈◊〉 glory of the world in the twinckling of an eye So he can doe a mans sinnes c. That a man shalt have a generall prospect of them and see nothing else looke which way he will And what force this must needs have to prevaile with the minde and judgement to assent experience shewes As when a man doubting of a truth in a thing controverted reads an opposite party presenting all that can bee said for the other side alone it often staggers him and for the present wins and gaines his opinion to that side till he reads and considers what is said to the contrary yea though a man is confirme◠and setled in the truth yet sometimes a man shall have an army of arguments on the other side come in upon him so ranked and ordered as for the present shall shake and stagger him and so it must needs bee in the agitation of this great controversie about a mans estate when Satan shall muster and marshall up an army of objections once together and not scatteredly as he is able to doe And 3. §. 3. He is able to hold the intention of the minde so unto them 3. That he can hold the mind and the intention of it to them alone as to keep off all that which should any way comfort hee can turne downe that columne in the leaves of our hearts wherein grace or any thing that may comfort is written and turne over onely and hold our eyes fixt to reade nothing but that wherein our Errataes and sinnes are written so as to cause a mans soule to forget all good as Lament 3. 17. the Church in desertion is said to doe and to forget his owne mercies as Ionah speakes he can multiply suggestions so fast and come in with such a tempest that as Iob complaines Iob 9. 17. hee will not suffer them to take breath and therefore the Apostle calls them the buffetings of Satan 2 Cor. 12. because like unto buffetings they come in thick and threefold upon a mans spirit so as a mans spirit cannot take breath hee raines downe temptations sometimes not by drops as in ordinary raines but by spouts as marriners calls them when a cloud melts as in hot countries suddainly and falls by whole sale and often sinkes a ship Hee breakes me with a tempest sayes Iob in the place forementioned Chap. 9. 17. §. 4. He speakes it of God but such like tempests Satan also raiseth 4. He addes weight to his lying accusations 4. That hee backs all with an imperious affirmation and false reasonings by an imperious and obstreperous affirmation that so it is hee suggests not reasons onely that should perswade but sets them on with words of affirmation and perswasion therewithall suggested and so like as in reasoning often a weake spirit is borne downe by a stronger not by force of argument so much as by strength and violence of spirit for many when the iron is blunt and their arguments want edge put to the more strength as Solomon speakes Eccles 10. 10. and so prevaile and so doth Satan being a spirit of greater strength then ours by creation and guilt also further weakning us in arguing with him Cunning pleaders may so argue the case with such violence and confidence that as Socrates said when his accusers had done that if he had not been very innocent hee should have suspected himselfe guilty how much more when this shall fall upon persons that are so guilty as we all are and the thing also impleaded be that which wee are already suspitious of What a man feares already he easily beleeves as what a man hopes quod metuunt facile credunt There falls out often in opinions a preconceit which also exceedingly swayes the minde a giving of minde that such a thing is so or so and in such a case Satan can strike in exceedingly to strengthen such a conceit this I take to be implyed in that phrase 2. Thes 2. 1. I Where the Apostle gives warning they should not be troubled neither by spirit nor by word to thinke the day of Iudgement was at hand By spirit he meanes a pretence of a revelation joyned with a mans owne private conceit and imagination thus 1 Iohn 4. 1. Spirit is also taken And oftentimes when Satan perceives the minde inclined to thinke or conceit thus or thus he addes weight unto the ballance and so a man is given up to the efficacy of delusion as wee see in false Prophets which the Apostle there speakes of when he sayes Beleeve not every spirit because many false Prophets are gone out into the world Thus those false Prophets became confident
doe as he pleased and useth no other arguments in the 38 39 40 41. Chap. God indeed never wants a cause nor doth deale thus where sin is not yet as it is said of the young man that he was blinde not for his sinne nor his parents yet not without it but for the glory of God it was an act of Gods prerogative so here God had higher ends of glorifying himselfe in the patience and conquest of such a champion as Iob was and of confuting the devill who accused him of serving God for nought the falsenesse of which to demonstrate God tryes conclusions with him as also to confute the opinions which in those dayes were generally received as may seeme by his friends arguings and also the 37. Psal That godly men did prosper and flourish outwardly according to their godlinesse for these and the like reasons God did it However 〈◊〉 gives Iob this good and seasonable counsell to make this use of it to search into his sinnes Chap. 34. ver 31. 32. And God might well take liberty to deale thus with Iob because he could make him amends as afterward hee did in restoring double to him and indeed it was but the concealing awhile of his love as many parents love to doe by their children and yet to shew it the more in reall effects as God even then did in making him more then a conquerour A second case extraordinary is when hee intends to make a man a wise When God intends to make a man wise and able to comfort others able skilfull and a strong Christian Wise namely in this which is the greatest learning and wisdome in the world experimentally to comfort others This may seeme to bee the reason of this his dealing with Heman Heman was brought up in this schoole of temptation and kept in this form of desertion from a youth Psal 88. 15. He was put soone to it and so deep lessons had he set him as hee had like to have lost his wits as hee sayes there yet in the end when God raised him up again this Heman who lived about David Solomons time is reckoned among the wisest of his time and one of the foure that were next to Solomon 1 Kings 4. 31. So that great Apostle was a man exposed to the same combats that others were he was buffeted by Satan 2 Cor. 12. filled with inward terrours as well as those without what was this for Not so much for any personall cause of his owne as to make him able to comfort others 2 Cor. 1. 4 5. For that comfort which answers a temptation in one mans heart will answer the same in anothers the same key will unlock twenty locks that have the same wards So when temptations have the same wards that key which unlockt one mans bolts will serve and answer to anothers It is not every word that will comfort a weary soul but onely a word in season ver 4. of this 50. of Esay that is which is fitted to the parties case now who are they who have such apt and fit and seasonable considerations to comfort such but those who have had the same temptations and the like distresses This art of speaking peace and comfort and words in season is the greatest wisdome in the world and not learnt but in Hemans schoole Temptation was one of Luthers masters And therefore of abilities of the ministery Christ in this Chapter instanceth in this ver 4. and calleth the tongue of him that is able to speak seasonably to weary soules the tongue of the learned and therefore Iob 33. 23. to raise up one whose soule drawâ—s nigh to the grave is said to be the worke of 〈◊〉 of a thousand which is easily granted if you consider the danger of such a distresse In Scripture it is called the breaking the bones Psal 51. because the strength of a mans spirit that should uphold it as the bones the body sinkes with in him now to be a bone-fetter is not every mans skill he must have special art and cunning and a Ladies hand as we say that is meekness pitty which also are never kindly but when we have tasted the like or may feare the like Gal. 6. 1. The Apostle commands them to set such as one in Ioynt again as the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lest thou also be tempted it is the work of one that is spirituall You that are spirituall restore such an one It requires skill to get out every shiver to meete with every scruple and set all streight againe It is also called the wounding of the spirit Solomon A wounded spirit who can beare Prov. 18. 14. As the power of sinne wounds so the guilt also and the one as incurable as the other and it being the spirit of a man which is wounded that which must heal it must be somthing dropt into the heart that may come at the spirit and there are to be peculiar elective plaisters to heal these wounds because these wounds are usuall of a differing nature for some objections there are that often the learnedst men never met with in bookes and Satan hath devised methods Eph. 6. of tempting soules deserted which hee useth againe and againe and know those depths and fathome them a man shall not unlesse hee hath beene in the depths himselfe as Heman speakes and then he shall see such wonders of God in those depths which none else ever saw and thereby gaine such wisdome as to be able to encourage others by his example to trust in God and call upon him so David Psal 32. ver 5 6. The third case extraordinary 3. In case of abundance of revelations and comforts God doth desert in case a man hath had or is to have from God abundance of revelations and comforts First in case he hath already had abundance of revelations from God As after that glorious testimony given to Christ at his baptisme This is my beloved son c. Mat. 3. ult Then was Iesus led aside to be tempted Mat. 4. 1. He points out the time to this very purpose In like maner doth God often deale with the members of Christ for the season and time of their 〈◊〉 and temptations This was also that 〈◊〉 Apostles case 2 Cor. 12. 7. Lest I should bee exalted above measure through abundance of venue lations a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet 〈…〉 That which he calls there the thorne in the flesh that prickt him is meant rather I thinke of a desertion and leaving him to distresse of spirit then of a lust for his scope is to glory in his afflictions ver 9. 10. Now if it had beene a lust it had beene a thing not to bee gloried in Againe it was a messenger of Satan therefore something externall and it buffeted him he was as a meere patient in it as a man buffered is in the exercise of lusts our spirits are active besides he prayed it might
father that is a publique magistrate with an unruly childe after some great misdemeanour though he cast him not off yet he may send him to the Gaole to bee for example sake imprisoned for the Gaoler to take him and to clap irons on him to have him downe into the dungeon where he sees no light and into the little ease where he is in so streight a condition as he can neither sit nor stand nor lie as Elihu expresseth it Iob 36. 16. hee calleth it bringing into a streight place and binding them in fetters and cords of affliction and then hee shewes them their transgression and wherein they have exceeded ver 8 9. Yea And this 3. for sins long since committed and thirdly this God doth not onely presently after the sinnes were committed but sometimes a long while after and that when they have beene often confest Yea and after that God hath pardoned them also in our consciences as well as in heaven yet the guilt may returne againe and leave us in darknesse Thus Iob 13. 26. For the sinnes of his youth which questionlesse he had humbled himself for had assurance of the pardon of yet God did write bitter things against him for them many yeares after and made him possesse them as himselfe speakes God gave him over to the Gaoler and put him into the little ease in prison thou puttest my feet into the stocks sayes he ver 27. For as the power of sinne and the law of sinne is but in part done away in our members so in our consciences the guilt of sin is likewise but in part done away in regard of our apprehensiōs of the pardō of thē therefore as those lusts we had thought dead and that they would never have risen againe doe sometimes revive and trouble us afresh comming with new assaults so in like maner may the guilt of those sinnes revive which we thought long afore had beene pardoned and after the commission of some new act or forgetfulnesse of the old and security about them God may let them loose upon us afresh that we shall looke upon them as if they never had been pardoned Now the reason of all these particulars The reason fo all both why grosse sinnes especially if against light when not confessed throughly should yet after many yeares cast us into such fits of desertion is Because therein we rebell against Gods Spirit and that spirit It a nos tractat ut à nobis tractatur doth deale with us as wee with him If you grieve him he grieves you if you rebell against him he fights against you as an enemy so Esa 63. 10. They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore hee was turned to bee their enemy and he fought against them now to sinne against light is called rebellion so Iob 24. 11. When men go about to extinguish and darken the light of direction which God hath set up in their hearts to guide their paths by God puts out the light of comfort and so leaves them to darknesse But especially then when our hearts are so full of guile as we plead that they are no sinnes or extenuate them as David in all likelihood did Psal 32. in reference to which he sayes in 2. ver of that Psalme That that man is a blessed man in whom is no guile and in the 51. Psal 6. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts David had dealt guilefully and deceitfully in that sinne if man keepes a sinne under his tongue and will not be convinced of it nor bring it forth by confession God in that case brings him to the rack as they doe Traytors to confesse and if it be that any of our old sinnes revive and cause these terrours it is because wee began to looke on them as past and gone and thought we needed not go on to humble our selves any more for them making account they are so buried as that they will never rise againe when as the remembrance of them should keep us low and humble us all our dayes It is laid to the charge of them in the 26. of Ezek. 22. That they remembred not that they lay in their blood We are apt to thinke that time weares out the guilt of sinnes but to God they are as fresh as if they had beene committed yesterday and therefore nothing weares them out but repentance Great sinnes forgiven must not be forgotten Fiftly §. 5. in case of a stubborne stiffe spirit under outward afflictions 5. Case Of a stubborne spirit under outward afflictions when we will not mend nor stoope to God This may be part of the case mentioned Esa 57. 16. Where God alleaging the reason why he contended with a poore soul of his he gives an account of it ver 17. you shall see where the quarrell began For the iniquity of his covetousnesse I was wroth that is for some inordinate affection which we call concupiscence he mentioneth not a grosse act of sin committed so much as some lust harboured for which God began to be angry and to shew the effects of that his anger in smiting him haply with some outward crosse first I was wroth and smote him and when that did no good God began to be more angry and to hide himselfe I hid my face and this hee speakes of inward affliction which he also calleth ver 16. Contending with the soule and so far leaving it as that the spirit was ready to faile it came to inward affliction in the end and he further intimates the cause of all this He went on frowardly in the way of his heart When lighter and outward strokes will not take us of God leaves and deserts our spirits and wounds them And the reason is for in this case what course else should God take for either he must give him up to hardness of heart and leave him to his stubbornnesse and so he should have lost his childe but that God is resolved he will not doe I will heale him saith he ver 18. When therefore the heart remaines stubborne under other strokes he hath no way left in his ordinary course and progresse in the way of meanes but to lay strokes upon his spirit and wound that And this yoke is like to break and tame him if any For this he cannot beare other outward afflictions mans naturall spirit stoutnesse and stubbornnesse may beare and hath borne even in heathen men they have endured any thing rather then be put out of their way The spirit of man will sustaine its infirmities but in this the spirit failes in them ver 16. other afflictions are but particular but as taking some starres of comfort out of the firmament when others are still left to shine to them but when Gods countenance is hid the Sun it selfe the fountaine of light is darkened and so a generall darknesse befalls them and therefore then the heart is driven to God and broke off from all things else and then God delights
to restore and to comfort a man again I will restore comfort to him ver 18. Sixtly §. 6. in case of deserting his truth and not professing it 6. Case and appearing for it when he calls us to doe it For deserting his truth when called to professe it In this case hee left many of the Martys many of whom especially untill those in Queen Maries dayes when with the Gospells increase and the light of it God gave more strength also and some then also did desert the truth for a while then God in respect of comfort deserted thē then they recovering Gods favour again upon repētance a new resolution taken to stick to the profession of the truth what ever came of it that their desertion made them the more bold and resolute And this was in part Ionahs case who having a commission sealed him to goe to Niniveh with a message from God he withdrew himselfe and went another way and God in the midst of his security casts him into a whales belly and when hee was there God withdrawes himselfe from him as if hee meant never to owne him more insomuch that Ionah sayes Chap. 2. 4. Then I said I am cast out of thy presence And there is this equity in this dealing of Gods thus with us That as when we are ashamed of Christ the punishment fitted to it is That Christ will be ashamed of us so when we will not witnesse for God there is no reason His Spirit should witnesse to us And so when wee seeme to evade persecution for the Crosse of Christ then it is meet God should meet with us and take us in hand himselfe which is far worse Seaventhly §. 7. in case of unthankfulnesse and too common an esteeme had of the assurance 7. Case and light of Gods countenance Of unthankfulnesse for former comforts and of freedome from those terrours and doubtings which others are in which is a sinne Christians are apt to run into For as the light of the Sunne because it is ordinary is not regarded none minde it or look at the Sunne but as hee said when it is in the eclipse So a continuall sun-shine of Gods favour enjoyed occasioneth but a cōmon esteeme of it And in this case God withdrawes those cōforts and assurance because they are the greatest and sweetest comforts of all other and which to abuse or not to value of all other provokes most therfore in this case God takes them away For as Hos 2. 9. in case of being unthankful in outward mercies God tooke them away and restored them not againe till they esteemed them better and acknowledged whence they had them So also in spirituall assurance light and comfort doth God in like maner deale CHAP. XIII The third generall head The Ends for which God leaveth his children unto this darknesse First such as are drawne from God and his faithfulnesse c. NOw let us come to those ends which God may have in this his dealing with one that feares and obeyes him which are many and holy ones First to shew his power and faithfulnesse in upholding raising up and healing such a spirit againe as hath been long and deadly wounded with inward terrours which is as great an evidence of his power as any other and therefore saith Heman Psal 88. 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall thy faithfulnesse be declared in destruction ver 11. That is in raising my soul up again to joy and comfort which is as much as to raise up a dead man nay more as much as to raise up a soule already in hell for the same terrours sayes hee that destroy them doe in like maner seaze on me in the 1. Ephes 19. it is said That the exceeding greatnesse of Gods power was seene in raising Christ from death to life and wherein lay principally the demōstration of that power not simply in raising his body up againe that was no more then he did to others but in Acts 2. 24. the power is said to be shewen in this that hee having losed the paines of death wherewith it was impossible he should be held he was raised up againe his soule was heavy unto death with terrours and those paines in themselves were deadly though not to him in that hee being God as well as man it was impossible for him to sinke under them now therefore to raise up and glorifie that his soule that was so bruised wounded and pierced through and through herein lay the wonder and such a wonder God shewed in recovering Heman And to shew the greatnesse of this worke let us consider a little the depth and deadlinesse of this kinde of distresse it is compared to the bruising of a reede which when it is bruised who can make it stand upright againe It is called The wounding of the spirit Proverbs 28. which no creature knowes how to come at to heale none but God who is the father of spirits who made them and knowes how to mend them It is not onely called the sicknesse of the spirit as Esa 33. 24. where the want of the assurance of the forgivenesse of sinnes makes poore soules to say I am sick which to heale is made the prerogative of the Sunne of righteousnesse arising with healing in his wings Mal. 4. 2. but also it is called death and destruction for so in that 88. Psalme Heman calls that distresse that he was in And the reason is Gods favour is our life by which wee live and are upheld which therefore being withdrawne the soule is ready to faile and faint and to come to nothing and sinke into destruction Esa 57. 16. And againe the paines of those terrours are more violent and more powerfull to hold us under then are the pangs of death The wounds of the guilt of sinne being as deadly and as strong as the lusts of the power of it and it requires as great a power to dissolve and scatter them For all the strength that the law and Gods justice hath sinne also hath to back it For the strength of sinne is the Law 1 Cor. 15. 56. Secondly § 2. as to know the power of Christ his resurrection 2. End to know the fellowship of Christs sufferings so the fellowship of his sufferings that thereby the soule may be made more conformable to him as it is Phil. 3. 10. As there are the suffering for Christ so the sufferings of Christ and God makes his partakers of both persecutions without and terrours within With which Christs soule was filled then when as the text sayes Hee was heard in what he feared and his soule was heavy to death and My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and so Esa 53. It pleased God to bruise and wound him Now then to conforme us to his image we that are his brethren and are the persons guilty must suffer somewhat in spirit as well as he and have a portion therein also
justification to discover also what is in their hearts This is conceived to have been his end in deserting Iob to shew what strong patience unconquered faith was in him There be many gracious dispositions which actually have not opportunity to discover themselves bu◠in case of this kinde of desertion some of those which are the highest acts of Grace and purest fruits of it and which are the surest evidences of the truth of grace would never appeare but in case of such desertion For instance then it is knowne whether a man love God for himselfe and for those excellencies of wisdome holinesse and goodnesse that are in him when yet hee knowes not whether he himselfe shall be ever the better for them yea or no Then also it is manifested to be pure sincere and unfained obedience Then it is seene his repentance is true when he repents not of it then when he is out of hopes of any reward for it Then it is seene his sorow is godly sorow when though the sentence of condemnation is read to him in his owne apprehension and conscience and he verily thinks he is taking his leave of God for ever and going to execution yet he can down upon his knees ask him forgivenesse and mourneth that ever he wronged him is angry and displeased with himself that a God so good so just should have so just cause to be angry and displeased with him and he findes he could have some rest and contentment that God is glorified upon one who hath so much dishonored him Such dispositions as these would never see the light if it were not for this darknes But as Natura vexata prodit soipsam Nature when conclusions are tryed upon it and it is put out of its course then it discovers it selfe even as anger discovers it selfe when a man is 〈◊〉 as if you would know the properties that are in herbes you must try conclusions with them So also here doth God with a mans graces and then they discover their most occult and hidden properties It were endlesse to go over all particular graces Especially for the tryall of Faith I will but more distinctly instance in that glorious grace of Faith Which in this tryall deserves more then all graces else and though in all the varieties of conditions we passe through it stands us in stead yet in desertions it alone doth wonders Standing like Sampson encountring and conquering alone when there is none to help Because likewise it is that grace which is called for in the Text Let him trust in the name of the Lord as being that grace which God principally tryes to discover the truth and magnifie the power there of in such desertions First this is certaine there is no grace God tryes more then this grace of faith 1. Of all graces God tries faith the most Therefore 1 Pet. 1. 7. Yee are in heavinesse through manifold temptations that the triall of your faith being much more precious then of gold which perisheth being tryed in the fire might bee found to glory praise and honour That is both to the honour of God who is beleeved in and also of faith it selfe which is the most glorious grace a Christian hath which God loves to try to that end the glory of it may appeare In the fifth verse he having said that we are kept by the power of God to salvation If any now should aske wherein is that power of keeping us most shewne He answers in and through faith Yee are kept by the power of God through faith and if you aske when and wherein is the power of God through faith seene most He instanceth in manifold temptations that the try all of your faith c. Now then as of all graces God would have faith tryed So 2. 2. Of all trials this of darknes is the greatest ◠for 3. reasons of all temptations none try it more then desertion of Gods countenance this of darkness and of terrours other temptations strike but obliquely at faith but these lay direct battery to our faith for they strike at that which is the immediate aime and object of it namely that God is a mans God These speak the direct contrary to what faith endeavours to apprehend and that directly and not by consequence onely Again other temptations are easily borne and answered whilest the assurance of Gods favour remaines unshaken it answers them all and shakes them off as He the viper off his hand but when that shall begin to be questioned as in this case it is who is able to stand and what is able to strengthen a man then but the power of faith as Solomon sayes of the spirit of a man that it will beare all kinde of infirmities if it selfe bee whole but if it be wounded who can beare it So I say of assurance if it be weakened and battered the very foundations thereby are shaken a mans freehold toucht the roote struck now in such a case it is faiths peculiar office to stand a man in stead when nothing else can therefore hee sayes Let him trust c. because it helpes thus at this dead lift Againe thirdly in these conflicts of faith with desertions consisteth the height of our Christian warfare This is the highest pitcht battell the greatest and as it were the last brunt upon which all is either won or lost for in these a man encounters with God himselfe apprehended as an enemy God called out Iob to try him by fighting a single combate with Sathan and he became as I may so say too hard for Satan alone and God joynes against him also now then to beare the brunt and shock of his wrath and yet to stand upon a mans feete this to the utmost argueth the strength of faith Hosea 12. 3. It is said of Iacob That by strength he had power with God it argued strength indeed and this is done by faith by the power whereof Gods power rather supporting it a man relies on God when all his dealings would argue hee had forsaken a man that though God put on never so angry a countenance lookes never so sternely yet faith is not dasht out of countenance but can reade love in his angry lookes and trust God beyond what he sees it being the evidence of things not seene Then faith goes wholly out of it selfe and seeing nothing in it selfe but barely a capacity of mercy and plenteous redemption which it knowes to be in God This faith is a miracle of miracles for it is founded as the earth upon meere nothing in it selfe and yet beares the weight and stresse of sinnes devill yea of God himselfe And this is the faith ye are converted by in beleeving then on him that justifies the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. and that which we must live by when all comforts faile and this is that faith which must stand you in stead at death when the King of feares comes and besiegeth you and this is the faith
that is to honour and glory at the appearing of Iesus Christ CHAP. XV. Six Ends more For the encreasing of severall graces and destroying corruptions SIxtly as it makes for the triall and discovery of graces so it is a meanes sanctified to encrease them and to eate out corruptions First 1. To destroy corruption it is a meanes to destroy the flesh The incestuous Corinthian was to bee delivered to Satan that is to be terrified to destroy the flesh As corrasives eate out dead flesh so these terrours the dead corruptions and the reviving of the guilt of old sinnes doth kill the seeds of those that remaine in the heart For if an outward affliction which crosseth but the satisfaction of a lust is a meanes sactified by God to kill a lust then much more the inward terrour which the conscience feeles and which ariseth immediatly from the guilt of a sinne must needs bee a meanes much more Secondly 2. To humble it is a meanes to humble So Deut. 8. 16. the end of the biting of the Israelites by Scorpions which were the types of these stings and terrours were as to prove so to humble them and for this end was that buffeting by Satan we have so often mentioned 2 Cor. 12. 7. to keep downe being exalted above measure So also 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God and if in any other affliction his mighty hand layes hardest on surely in these Thirdly 3. To encrease assurance in the event it is a meanes to bring you in more assurance and establishment 1 Pet. 5. 10. The God of all grace after you have suffered a while stablish and strengthen you He knew they could not be setled till they had suffered in this or some other kinde The tree rootes it selfe the more it is shaken Comforts abound the more that sufferings doe abound That light is clearest and strongest that ariseth out of darknesse because God creates it Those things which men doubt of most God gives the greatest evidence of in the end Fourthly 4. The fearâ— and obedience of God it traines you up to feare God more and to obey him Therefore in the Text these are added as the concomitant dispositions of the soule in such a case For of all other these of fearing God and obeying him doe most eminently and sensibly appeare in that estate Heb. 5. 8. Christ himselfe learnt obedience by what hee suffered The yoke tames the wanton wildnesse in beasts and makes them serviceable breakes them and so doe these the stubbornnesse of a mans spirit Fifthly 5. To pray more and more earnestly to set beleevers hearts awork to pray more and more earnestly So the Apostles buffetings 2 Cor. 12. made him pray thrice that is often So Christ Luke 22. 44. being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and being in feares he did lift up strong cryes Heb. 5. 7. So Heman by reason of his terrours was a man much in prayers Psal 88. 1. I have cryed day and night before thee Christians that enjoy not communion with God yet if they thinke they have not lost him they are secure and lazie in prayers but if they apprehend once that their 〈◊〉 gone or that they are in danger to lose him then they will seeke him all the world over but they will finde him Cant. 5. 6 7 8. and make 〈◊〉 and cry after him as the Church did there Sixthly 6. To prize the light of Gods countenance it causeth them to prize the light of Gods countenance the more when they againe obtaine it and to set a higher price upon it and to endavour by close walking with God as children of light to keepe it To prize it more then corne and oyle Cant. 3. at the 2. verse She loseth him but at the 4. verse Shee findes him againe and then Shee holds him and would not let him goe A CHILDE OF LIGHT WALKING in DARKNESSE ISAI 50. 10. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light USE 1. IF those that feare God and obey him are exposed to such a condition as hath beene described To those that feare not God nor obey him What darknesse reserved for such Then Who is amoÌ„g you that feareth not the Lord nor obeyes the voice of his servante You that live in knowen sins in omissioÌ„ of known duties which Gods servants your Ministers tell you you ought to perform that pray not withyour families who make not conscience of your speeches nor 〈…〉 be thus scarcely saved if they whom God hath loved with a love as great unchange able as himselfe yet suffer his terrors here what shall you dâ—e whom hee hath set himselfe to hate and to shew the power of his wrath upon without repentance If these things be done to the greene tree Luke 23 31. what shall be done to the dry which is fitted for wrath and the fire Nahum 1. 10. even as stubble fully dry as the Prophet speaketh If such an estate of darknesse and horrour befall them that are children of light whose inheritance is light Col. 1. 12. then what is reserved for you that are darknesse and love darknesse more then light And if this befalls them for not stirring up the grace which they already have what to you that are utterly devoid of it and not onely so but despise and scoffe it If this befalls them for not humbling themselves for old sinnes though long since committed what will be fall you for going on to adde new to the olde with greedinesse If to them for neglecting the opportunities of drawing nigher to God what to you for neglecting the offer of grace and trampling under foot the blood of Christ All you that thinke there is no hell or if there be that it is not so darke as it is usually painted looke upon Heman ready to runne distracted through terrours and to give up the ghost every moment Psal 88. when yet his body was strong and outward estate whole looke upon David lying upon the wheels and the spirit of God breaking his bones Psal 51. when as otherwise hee being a King had all outward things at will Look upon holy Joâ— Chap. 6. Oh that my griefe were weighted it is heavier then the sand and my words are swallowed up that is I am not able to expresse and utter my griefe The arrowes of the Almighty are within me the poison thereof drinketh up my spirit the terrours of God doe set themselves in battle array against me ver 4. Insomuch that at the 8. verse he wisheth God would cut him off and Is my streÌ„gth the streÌ„gth of stones sayes he or my flesh brasse as he complaines that he should be able to hold out against such fierce encounters My brethren Gods people finde paines beyond those of the Stone or gout and toothake the falling of Gods
themselves in such a coÌ„dition so as to come more comfortably the more speedily out of it For it is in these long and great sicknesses of the soule as in those of the body men are kept the longer in them and under them for want of right directions and prescriptions as wee see in long agues and fevers and the like diseases Direction 1. FIrst To take heed of rash impatient and unbeleeving speeches wishes take heed of rash desperate impatient and unbeleeving speeches and wishes such you wil be forced to recall again with sorow As David when hee was in feares uttered a desperate speech namely that Samuels prophecy coÌ„cerning him and message to him from God that he should bee King would prove false and he sayes not onely that one day he should perish by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27. 1. The ground of which speech was that he 〈◊〉 himselfe every day in some danger or other of his life and so though God had preserved him againe and againe yet he thought that some of those many arrowes which were shot against him so continually and which still so narrowly mist him might at one time or other hit and speed him it were a wonder else but he sayes further I said in my hast Psal 116. 11. that all men are lyars the Prophet Samuel and all that it was but a promise of a vaine man but he soone recalls himselfe and addes I said this in my hast So likewise Ps 31. 22. I said in my hast I am cut off they were rash speeches as he confesses spoken in hast Even so doth many a poore 〈◊〉 breake forth and say after they have had strong hopes at first conversion that a Kingdome is theirs that heaven is theirs and that it is reserved for them and they kept for it also through the power of God Yet the devill being let loose to 〈◊〉 them as Saul did him and God hiding his face and the arrowes of the Almighty flying thick about their eares the sorowes of hell encompassing them and well nigh every moment cutting them off they although upheld againe and againe yet are apt to say that one day or other they shall in all likelihood be cut off by Gods hand swallowed up of Satan and everlastingly destroyed And when they are told of the hopes they had at their first conversion and the promises that are made to them they are apt to say that their grace by which they should now claime those promises are all a lie false and counterfeit and but in hypocrisie this they say in their hast too often So at another time 〈◊〉 David was in doubt about that other proâ—â—sse of an eternall Kingdome made to him 〈…〉 he sayes God will never be mercifull 〈…〉 rate weake speech was this that what a man sees not at present he should conclude would never be but he acknowledgeth his errour in it It was my infirmity ver 10. thus to speake So the Church Lament 3. 17 18 19. I said my hope is perished from the Lord What a desperate speech was this but shee eates her words againe with griefe ver 21. This I recall to minde therefore have I hope Iob though for a while at the beginning of the storme he was somewhat calme and quiet in his spirit and it was his commendation and therefore in the first Chap. ver 22. it is said that in all this that is so long and thitherto he had not charged God foolishly but this held but to the first and second Chapter for when he begunne to bee wet to the skin once and the drops of Gods wrath began to soake into his soule then he falls a roaring Chap. 3. and Curseth the day of his birth and Chap. 6. ver 8 9. wisheth God would cut him off and Chap. 7. 15. sayes his soule did choose strangling rather then life For which speeches God in the end steps out as it were from behinde the hangings over-hearing him taking him up for them Chap. 38. 2. Who is this sayes he that talkes thus How now But good soules you that are in trouble oh take heed of such impatient wishes or speeches as these or the like that all which you have had is but in hypocrisie and oh that God would cut me off that I were in hell and knew the worst take heed I say When a man is sicke and raves whereas otherwise the Physitian and those that stand about him would in pitty use him gently they are forced to hold and binde him Impatiens agrotus crudelem medicum facit an impatient patient makes a Physitian more cruell then otherwise he would bee So God would deale more gently with thee but for such impatiencies And know that this is taking Gods name in vaine in a high degree You must know that the graces of God written in your hearts are a part of Gods name as whereby his love is manifested to you now for you to call the truth of these in question and say they are counterfeit is as if you should say of the Kings hand and seale when it comes downe to you that it were counterfeit and deny it which is crimen lasae Majestatis So if a speciall friend or your father had given you some old precious pieces of gold or jewels c. as tokens of their love and remembrances of them for you to say in a distempered fit of jealousie all these are but counters but Alchymie you should exceedingly wrong and abuse their love Thus is it if you deny Gods hand-writing in your owne hearts when he hath written therein by his Spirit joy feare love zeale c. and should say It is not like his hand So if you deny the seale of the Spirit after he hath sealed you up unto the day of redemption and say that all the earnest-penies of heaven are but counters and alchymie nothing worth in so doing you take his name his love his mercy and all in vaine yea you lye against the holy Ghost as the Apostle said in another case Thus though God give you full leave to try and examine all his graces in you and dealings with you yet not desperately at the first blush and view upon the least mistake or flaw to say they are no graces and that hee will never bee mercifull You abuse him when you do so Take heed of it Direction 2. SEcondly let the troubled soule make diligent search To make a diligent search and examination Let an inquisition be set up in thy heart So Ps 77. ver 6. David in case of desertion is said to do I communed with mine owne heart and made diligent search Now in this search make inquiry into two things First 2. Things to be searcht into what might be the true cause which provokes God thus to leave thee and hide himselfe from thee Secondly what in thine owne heart is the main doubt and objection reasoning and apprehension which causeth thee to feare
When his bones were broken Psal 51. Cleanse me from my sin ver 2. for I acknowledge my transgressions ver 3. and when he had confessed ver 4 5 6. then hee cryes Make me to heare of joy and gladnesse ver 8. and restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ver 12. and what was the chiefe ingredient the maine and principall motive which wrought most kindly with him to confesse and mourne and brought up all Against thee thee onely he puts in twice as much of the consideration thereof as of any other ingredient to make his heart mourne that chiefly if not onely melted dissolved him And in these thy confessions let the same also mainely worke with thee Against thee thee have I sinned thus oft thus grievously thus presumptuously Against thee a God so great and yet withall so good so kinde so willing to receive and pardon if my heart say were but as willing to turne unto thee and when thy case is as Iobs was Iob 10. 15 16 17. That thou art full of confusion as he speaks there so full as thou thinkest thy heart could hold no more and yet it encreaseth as it is there he fills thee fuller yet then doe thou poure out thy complaints to him as he poures in confusion into thee and when he hunts thee as Iob there complaines like a fierce Lion fall thou downe and humble thy selfe like a poore and silly Lambe if thou dyest dye at his feete mourning bleeding out thy soule in teares and when he hunts thee up and downe and pursues thee with blow after blow follow thou hard after him where ever he goes Psal 63. 8. with complaint after complaint And when yet he leaves thee not but again and again returns as some reade it after some intermission and shewes himselfe terrible to thee day after day night after night yet doe thou look in like manner againe and againe towards his holy Temple Ionah 2. 4. as Ionah did And when he begins to bring in new sins new inditements against thee as it is in the 16. verse Thou renewest thy witnesses and when thou thoughtest he had done with thee hee fetcheth new rods forth and enters into new quarrells and reckonings long since past and forgotten as it is in the same verse Changes and warre are against me vicissitudes and armies of disquietments and when one army is overcome new appeare in the field Then fall thou down upon thy knees and say as Iob at last doth Iob 7. 20. I have sinned I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee what shall I do unto thee oh thou preserver and not the destroyer of men these and these abominations I have done and I cannot now undo them what shall I do to obtain thy favour Alas nothing that can satisfie him onely confesse thy sinne Lev. 26. 41. accept thy punishment Go and strip thy selfe therefore and with all submission present a naked back to him and though every stroke fetcheth not blood onely but well nigh thy soule away yet complaine thou not one whit of him put thy mouth in the dust Lam. 3. 29 30. Be still not a word but only such as whereby thou utterest thy complaints and doest acknowledge thine own deservednesse of ten thousands times more And say as Micah 7. 9. I will beare thine indignation patiently for I have sinned against thee beare witnesse still to every stroke that it is not onely just but also lesse then thou hast deserved Neh. 9. 13. and that it is his mercy thou art not consumed Lament 3. and cut off by every blow and the heavier hee layes on struggle thou not he will let thee downe the sooner the higher he life 's up his hand to strike the lower let thy soule fall downe 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves under his mighty hand And still kisse the rod when hee hath done Hosea 14. 2. And then take up words of pleading for thy selfe It is for thy life desiring him to remember what hee hath beene ever thinking of even from everlasting thoughts of peace and mercy to us-ward and the number of them cannot be told as David sayes Psal 40. 5. which he hath been ever thinking of and with the greatest of delights as one that was in his besome and was his councellor his Son tells us Prov. 8. 31. and plead thou as David and other Saints of God have done What are now become of all these thy thoughts of mercy Isay 63. 15. are they restrained what Psal 77. 9. are all now on the sudden forgotten laid aside which thou hast been thinking on so long hast thou forgotten thine olde and ancient delights aske him if he hath forgotten his owne Name to be gracious and abundant in kindnesse it is his Name Say did the very intent of shewing mercy so infinitely before-hand possesse thee with delights and now when thou shouldest come to put it in execution and hast so faire an opportunity of doing it to a soule as full of misery the object of mercy as ever hast thou now no heart no minde to it And withall Say that thou hast notice given thee of an infinite and alsufficient righteousnesse in his Son laid up in him and that by his own procurement whereof his Son never had nor can have any need himselfe being God blessed for ever and for whom was it then appointed but for the sons of men those who are weary wounded sick broken Heb. 9. 16. lost these his Son hath put into his Will who still lives to be his own Executor And say further also to him that it is come to thine cares that his Spirit is the Comforter a God of comforts and that his Son hath bought them all his whole shop and all his cordialls Isay 61. 1 2 3. and all his skill and is annointed with this Spirit on purpose to poure him forth into the hearts of those that are wounded and sick and broken and the whole they have no need of them If it bee said unto thee yea but thou art most unworthy Answer Hosea 14. 4. but he professeth to love freely If the greatnesse of thy sins bee objected against thee pleade thou again Psal 130. 7. that Plenteous redemption is with him and if thou hast not enough to pardon me say I am content to goe without If that thou art ungodly Say That thou beleevest on him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 15. If hee puts thee off as Christ a while did the woman of Canaan and sayes he hath no need of thee say that thou hast need of him and canst no longer live without him for In his favour is thy life and that without it thou art undone If he seemes to rebuke thee that how darest thou presse thus to him who is the high and lofty One a sinfull man to him whose Name is holy Say thou hast heard himselfe say Thus faith that high and lofty One
the light of this fire which carnall men not born againe content themselves with is that excusing which naturall conscience upon the performing any outward act of just dealing hath in such mens hearts mentioned Rom. 2. 15. And the walking in the light of this fire What by walking in the light of the fire is resting therein all their dayes not endevouring to have their hearts changed and to get a new principle of grace and of love to God fetcht from Christ as the spring of all Vse THe first Vse is Vse 1 seeing so many offer up but common fire to God Examine what fire we offer up to God it is good you examine whether that righteousnesse you think to please God with be any more then fire of your owne kindling First 1. The originall of it That righteousnesse which is kindled in thy heart and blazeth in thy life whence was it first enkindled examine the original of it Was it kindled in thee by fire from heaven that is by the Holy Ghost comming downe in Gods ordinances on thee as fire burning up thy lusts 〈◊〉 thy heart dissolving the workes of the devill enkindling sparks of true love to God zeale for his glory which are above the reach of mans naturall ability or is it no more then that whereas every man hath some sparkes of ingenuity and honesty towards others and of sobriety and of devotion to a Deity raked up in the ashes of corrupt nature for even the heathen had the Law written in their hearts Rom. 2. 14. which sparkes thou living in the Cuurch where civility and religion is professed civill education naturall wisedome and the accusings of naturall conscience enlightned have blowne up to some blaze to some just dealing common care of serving God yet know that if there be no other principle nor no more it is but fire of your owne kindling and you will lie downe in sorrow Secondly 2. The fuell examine what duties are especially the fuell of that fire in thee in what duties is that righteousnesse thou thinkest thou pleasest God with chiefly spent and exercised are they principally the duties of the second Table of just dealing with men and sobriety and it may be thou bringest withall a stick or two of the first Table to this fire that is some duties thereof such as for thy credit thou must not omit as comming to Gods ordinances of publique worship This fuell if there be no more argues 〈◊〉 but common fire for looke into the chimneys of the heathen thou shalt finde the most of all this practiced and in that thou dost put the chiefest of thy religion in them it is argued to be but a fire kindled of those sparks which are raked up in nature for those coÌ„mon sparks which are in all mens hearts are especially those of the second Table But now if it were a fire from heaven theÌ„ though those would not be left undone yet the chiefest heat of thy heart would be to the duties of heaven of the worship of God publique and private when men practise but so much righteousnesse as is necessary for them to doe if they will live in the world in any comfort or credit as to be just and sober is necessary as also to frequent Gods ordinances for the state we live in enjoyns them But when mens zeale and fervour contends also and lives upon such duties which the world regards not as mourning for sinne taking paines with the heart in private between God and a mans own soule and feeds upon heavenly things and thoughts and is such fire as the world quencheth it is a signe t is more then common fire Thirdly 3. By warming onely the outward man in these duties common fire warmes but the outward man as that fire doth which you feele daily it heats you not within so common righteousnesse contents it selfe with bodily exercise a formall performance of duties publique and private but fire from heaven heats first within heats the heart within as at the hearing the Word did not our hearts burn within us say they so it heats the heart in prayer makes a man fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Fourthly 4. What incentives enflame it examine what bellowes cherish and keep alive that fire of righteousnesse that is in thee and makes it flame that is what motives set thee awork to doe what thou dost if worldly ends make thee abstaine from sinne and to be just in thy dealings as credit with the world and feare of disgrace or the accusings of conscience onely or feare of hell or hope of heaven this is but common fire but if love to God the consideration of his mercies his eternall love and the love of Christ zeale for his glory if these be the bellowes the fire is heavenly But if when thou art to be moved with such as these they stir not thy heart It is but common fire The second Vse is Vse 2 to take heed of walking in the light of such fire that is resting in it for salvation and contenting your selves with it as most in the world doe and as the Iews here did for you will lie down in sorrow if you doe But you will say wee doe not trust in this our owne righteousnesse for we professe Christ and beleeve in him which added to this is enough I answer That though you professe Christ yet1. unlesse you have had a light that hath discovered to you that all the righteousnesse you have by nature and emproved in nature is a false righteousnesse you doe then as yet rest in your owne righteousnesse and rely not wholly on Christ So Phil. 3. Paul first sum all to be drosse and dung counted it losse that he might which râ—st it implies he could not have him els Men though they seem to take Christs Title as many will procure the Kings Title for a living to make all sure yet they keep and stick to and plead their own but you must give up that first and rely wholly on Christ or hee will not save you 2. Hee that doth not daily above all things directly and immediately aime at and seek out for Christs righteousnesse and maketh it not the chiefest of his thoughts prayers and businesse is restlesse without it rests in his owne for so when he had given up his title in his owne hee mainely endeavoured after this to bee found in Christ Phil. 3. Thirdly you will seeke from Christ a new righteousnesse of sanctification also for you will see that the common righteousnesse of nature and education will not please him and Christ must be made sanctification to you 1 Cor. 1. 30. aswell as righteousnesse Thus Nicodemus though a civill man afore yet when he came to Christ his old civility would not serve without being borne againe and becomming a new creature so as you must not think to make a supply or addition unto Christ with fire of your owne kindling you must have
the guilt of it doth binde us over Which power of his is not that of the Iudge in sentencing to death or casting men to hell which is a speciall flower of Christs Crowne who Rev. 1. 18. hath the keyes of hell death at his girdle of Gods who is therefore onely to be feared because he onely can cast body and soule into hell Nor is it as if he were the main tormenter and executioner of mens souls after that great day seeing that they are to be tormented by that fire which in common was prepared for the devills themselves And who is it that doth torment them but it is therefore principally meant 1. of that power and advantage he obtained over sinners when he had seduced them so as to come boldly as a pleader against them enabled with authority to urge Gods righteous law and word and to call upon and to provoke his justice to condemne poore sinners till Christ that righteous advocate dispoyled him of his pleas and power by that satisfaction of his which before the law had put into his hands and so Hee destroyed him that had the power of death and enervated all his pleas and terrours And 2. the meaning is that as he hath this power in Gods court so also in our consciences to urge the law upon us and to plead all that the Law sayes to thē under the Law and to increase in us the feares of that death by presenting to us the terrors of the Law to which in respect of naturall conscience men of themselves are subject all their life long And unto this later power hath that power of death there especiall reference for those words follow there v. 15. And because the children of God whilst in this life as they know but in part so they love but in part and so far as love remaines imperfect so farre feare which hath torment keepes possession 1 Iohn 4. 18. For it is perfect love only that casts out all feare And hence so far as slavish feare remaines so farre they may be subject to be terrified by him that hath power of death over those that are in any degree subject to the feare of it And 4. 4. He can excite the passions of feare and trembling of spirit Hee can immediately by his owne power stirre the passions of feare and griefe c. Excite them beyond nature as the windes can raise the billowes in the sea and make the floods to make a noise so can hee a tumult in the affections and put all the soule into an hurry and violent perturbation He is the Prince of the aiery part of the little world in man as well as of that elementary region in the great world and so can raise unnaturall stormes and vapours that shall darken reason and cause such thunders and lightnings as shall hurle all into a black confusion such as if hell and the soule would presently come together And though it is true that he cannot turne the streame and current of our affections back God onely can turne this Iordan back yet he can drive them faster and cause them to swell above their naturall channels that as a man possest hath the strēgth of ten men in him as that man Luke 8. 19. So shall the affections have that are blowne up by him As we may see in David what a strong minde doe we finde in him so needlesly to number the people 2 Sam. 24 against all reason as well as religion and the perswasion yea opposition not of Ioab onely but others also of his Counsellors the Captaines of the host a man would wonder that a man so holy and wise should bee so transported to doe an act so foolish as himselfe saw afterwards I have done very foolishly sayes hee ver 10. yea and so grossely sinfull as that it was abominable in the eyes of Ioab 1 Chron. 21. 6. one that seemeth by his other cariages to have had but nature in him But the devil was in it So verse the 1. Satan provoked David to number the people by raising up such an affection and inclination in him The like appeares in the affection of love which how strongly hath Satan drawne forth in some even to madnesse towards such as before and also after his fascination was overpast they have loathed and hated above all others is evident in stories by many instances And as he can raise up other passions in us so also feares and terrours jealousies and distrusts To feare where no feare is And thus he handled Saul when God left him to him An evill spirit from the Lord troubled him or as most reade it and our margent varies it terrified him 1 Sam. 16. 15. And in the raising up of these affections of feare and the like hee workes more then simply morally that is then by bare propounding such objects as shall move them which men onely can doe but further also Physically by stirring such humours in the body which such passions doe act and stirre in And so those humors in the body which shal put a man into a timorous and trembling disposition he can electively worke upon as he pleaseth And then also he can disturbe the phantasmes in the head the organs of the understanding as in him Luke 8. 35. Who through Satans working is intimated not to have beene in his right minde And when he hath thus distempered and disordered all in a man and put a man into such dispositions to feares c. then he comes with his suggestions and speakes nothing but of wrath and terrours and of the threatnings and of the hainousnesse of a mans sinnes the fearefulnesse of Gods wrath c. to the conscience that is troubled and then looke as when a mans choller is up every small thing provokes him so now when feare and melancholy are encited every suggestion every surmise doth striketh soule through and through with horrid feares and jealousies And thus though not immediatly yet through the meanes of these mists and vapours and fogges raised which environ and darken this sunne he workes upon the conscience and therefore we see by experience that he prevailes most in this sort of temptations with melancholly tēpers who dwelling in dark shops he much deceives with false colours and glosses And when affections are up and doe cloud the minde then multitudes of troublesome thoughts arise and every suggestion sutable to that passion takes and prevailes with a mans spirit as appeares by that speech of Christ Luke 24. 38. Why are you troubled or afraid and why doe thoughts arise in your hearts Passions like to heavy weights hung upon a clock do not onely make the wheeles the thoughts move faster but also perverts them wrests them the wrong way so as to a heart thus distempered all things come to be presented amisse even as to a bloodshot eye all things seeme red In a word as he deludes his Enthusiasts by setting on and backing thier false