-- CHAPTER II: How far men unregenerate apprehend and judge the goodness of spiritual things
CHAPTER II:
How far men unregenerate apprehend and judge the goodness of spiritual things.
How far it all comes short of the knowledge and judgment which a holy soul hath of them These things in general being premised, I now come more particularly by the application of these generals, to inquire out the true difference of this affecting knowledge as to spiritual things in the regenerate and unregenerate, so as to discern wherein true sanctifying knowledge, as it affects the heart in a different manner from any other, consists.
1. Let us examine how far unregenerate men apprehend and judge spiritual things to be good.
2. How far they judge them good for them.
3. How far they taste them and their goodness.
1. How far do unregenerate men apprehend and judge spiritual things to be good? It cannot be denied but that they may in the general apprehend spiritual things to be good, and the best things too. This much is implied in that heathen speech of Medea in the poet, That she saw and judged other things to be better than what she practised.* And Balaam's magnifying the blessed state of the righteous, evidently argues the same thing: Num. 23:10, 'Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.'
Now, the apprehension of that good which manifests itself in persons truly godly, and how happy they are and shall be, may affect wicked
men with such thoughts and wishes as Balaam had, to envy and desire their condition. And so, on the contrary, they may judge and esteem the ways of sin the worse ways of the two, when in the general they are compared one with the other, and yet choose and practise them for all that; knowing the judgment of God, and that what they do deserves death, and therefore that the things are evil, yet they will do them: Rom. 1:32, 'Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same things, but have pleasure in them that do them.'
Yet this, for difference sake, is to be added even concerning their apprehension of the goodness of these things in the general, that it is one thing to assent unto that goodness, which is said to be in and is spoken of things, whilst it is no otherwise represented than in a bare general proposition, and another thing it is to assent to their goodness when the things themselves come to be presented in real performances and enjoyment. An unregenerate man may, and oftentimes doth strongly assent to all the goodness which is, or can be said of spiritual things, whilst it is but represented in a mere notion, and in expression of words propounded in the abstract, but when the things come to be acted or enjoyed, he is unable to apprehend them as good. It is thus too in other instances, for take the veriest coward in the world, and commend, and set out true valour to him, and tell him what noble and heroic actions the great commanders of the world have done, and what a glorious thing it is to imitate them; he assents to all that is thus said, or can be said of them, and as truly joins in magnifying all as the noblest spirit doth, yea, and his spirit is much raised with this fair idea of heroic virtue, wishing that he were like them, and might have the honour of such achievements. His mind is elevated and stirred by the representation as well as the noblest spirit; but let him be brought into the wars, and let the least of the like brunts and encounters in which those heroes were engaged look him really in the face, his apprehensions, and esteem of the excellence of valour, and of the glory of a conqueror, sinks and falls, and vanisheth into base thoughts of saving his skin whole, though it be with shame. Such difference is there between our
apprehension of the goodness of things conceived in the abstract notion and mere idea, and our thoughts of the same things when they come to be acted. As the man in the fable who wished for death, but when death came to him, really appearing, he wished him gone again.
To apply this now to our present purpose, Take an unregenerate man, and he will acknowledge the holy duties of the law to be good.
To sanctify the Sabbath in the strictness of it, to have 'our speeches savoury, to pray with our families, to contemn the world, to deny ourselves, to be patient in afflictions; such dispositions and actions as these, whilst viewed and conceived in mere abstract propositions, and in the notion, as you hear of them in sermons, are accounted most amiable, excellent, and worthy; and so they are acknowledged, and you resolve to do them; as wholesome and good laws, when propounded in parliaments, and viewed only as they are yet in black and white, are assented to and applauded. But when any of these holy practices come really and particularly to be done by you, or when they appear in the lives of others in the concrete, any of you who are unregenerate want light to see, judge, or acknowledge them to be good and excellent indeed and in truth; and though to the notional abstract goodness of them, as barely in the thesis, your consciences may and do still assent, yet to the real goodness of them they do not, but they hate it, and fly in the face of it, or account it folly and madness, and accordingly despise and vilify it. Thus, also, when the blessed condition of the saints, and heaven, and the glory of it is painted lively, and set out to men in a quick representation, and so they apprehend in the notion and idea all those glorious things which are spoken of that city of our God, who desires not, as Balaam did, to die the death of the righteous, if they might but go thither? But were it possible that an unregenerate man should be admitted into heaven, admitted, if I may so speak, but upon trial and liking, as some monasteries admit their novices; yet, when once those pure and undefiled beams of light, which kindle joy that passeth understanding in the spirits of just men made pure and perfect; when once, I say, those beams should come to be darted
upon the eyes of his understanding, and by those windows be let in upon the rest of his soul, he would not be able to behold them, he could not endure them, but would seek to shun them, more than the night owl doth the day.
2. But if they could assent to their real goodness, as well as they did to it when appearing in the notion only, yet unless they be able to apprehend it thus to be truly good for them, that knowledge works not to any purpose. Though a sore eye may have sight enough to judge the light in itself to be good and amiable, and that it is a pleasant thing, yet it cannot judge it so for itself, for it vexeth it; so suppose an unregenerate man could assent that indeed spiritual things, when really represented, were the best, yet he could not judge that they were the best for him. Though upon consideration he may think, that to draw near to God, and to live upon communion with him affords the truest pleasure, yet his heart being carnal, and so not having any gust of this spiritual pleasure, he cannot judge it to be the best for him. But David's heart and sense being spiritual, he could say really: Ps. 73:28, 'But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.'
It is as if he should have said, I account it my present happiness, and what is best for me now to do, and I can wish no other happiness than to live in the presence and enjoyment of God day and night. But no unregenerate men have such thoughts and judgment, of which we have an instance in Balaam, whose heart being carnal, and his wisdom sensual, though he judged the state of the righteous better in itself than his own, yet for the present, while he could in this world enjoy the pleasures of sin, he desired it not, because indeed he knew not how he could find at present more comfort in that condition of the righteous, than in the pleasures of sin and wages of unrighteousness: 2 Pet. 2:13–15, 'And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime: spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: which have
forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.'
When Balaam indeed should die, and must then part with all these things in this world which he loved and admired, which are but for a season, and must then receive death, the wages of all; it is then he desires the death of the righteous and to possess their happiness:
Num. 23:10, 'Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.'
Now the reason of all this is, because a man judgeth those things best for him which are most suitable those dispositions with which his spirit is seasoned, and which most answer his present desires, purposes, and aims. For that happiness which we find in things ariseth from their suitableness to us, and not merely out of the goodness of the things themselves. Therefore, though we may apprehend the things in themselves best of all; yet, if we do not perceive them suitable to us, we cannot judge them good for us, as the cock in the fable, who preferred a barley-corn before a diamond, because that he could eat, but the other could not feed him. Thus a man who is sick, though he knows that solid meat is sweeter and better to a man in health, yet he cannot judge it to be so for him, as long as his palate remains vitiated, and his stomach distempered.
Now the Scripture tells us that the wisdom of all unregenerate men is thus depraved: James 3:15, 'This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish;' that all their perception and judgment is seasoned with nothing but flesh, and so vitiated: Rom.
8:7, 'Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' And now then it is no wonder if they judge the things of the flesh to be better for them, because more agreeable to their corrupt senses and appetites.
Obj. If now it be further asked, and the case put, and query made, That though indeed a man unregenerate cannot apprehend spiritual things as good for him in the condition wherein he is, yet knowing, that to one whose soul is restored to health and grace, spiritual
things are better than the pleasures of sin, he may therefore judge that so they would be to him, if he was once renewed in his mind; and from this judgment of the thing, he may come to be set on work to seek, and desire it. As a man that is sick, though he cannot now judge meat to be best for him while he is so, yet he may judge that in health it may be so, and so desire to have it, when he shall be restored to that condition.
Ans. To this I answer, It is true that such a notional apprehension and conviction he may have which may thus work, yet it is not strong enough so to affect him as to overcome the difficulties, and to sweeten the use of the means, by which they may obtain that good, as in a regenerate man it doth. For, though in the general and abstract notion, they apprehend all which is mentioned in the objection, yet really and truly they do not affect the thing itself, for when the means of grace come to be used, which should, as physic, restore them to that health, their judgments disapprove, and dislike even them, and they do not, nor cannot judge it best to use them constantly, and diligently. That physic which should expel the noxious humour, and recover them, they cannot get down, though they should die for it, because their palates and their stomachs are both against it. In a word, though they conceive spiritual things to be true, and good, and some desires of possessing them may be stirred, yet when come to the point, and must use means to obtain them, then upon the trial, it appears that all their apprehension, and judgment, doth not, nor cannot really affect them to purpose; for their minds disallow, disapprove, distaste, and fight against all the means of their own recovery, or of the acquisition of these desired good things, and both their palates and stomachs, their judgments and wills, rise against the means and workings of grace in them, and cannot but do so. They cannot be brought to get the healing physic down, or to keep and retain it, though they know that otherwise they must die. The wisdom of their flesh is enmity against God, and his law, and his grace, and all the means of it, Rom. 8:7; and therefore, this wisdom is death, because it thus resists the means of life. Thus, they cannot judge the use of the means to be good for them, when really they
come to use them; nay, the very light and workings of the Spirit of God in their reasonings, their reasonings oppose: 2 Cor. 10:4, 5, 'For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience to Christ:'
And what is the cause why they do thus? Because nothing can judge, and judging, desire the destruction of itself, and therefore abhors any mixture of its contrary; and therefore flesh, and corrupt nature, which possesseth the judgments of men unregenerate, cannot pass such a sentence, as to judge the state of grace better for it, so as to set him effectually on work to seek it, and to admit of it, for that would be to the ruin of itself. As though water be a baser element than fire, yet when fire comes to change it into itself, the form of water will hold its own, and make the utmost resistance, and cannot but do it; so it is in this case too.
A stronger instance of what I have said cannot be given than is to be found even in a man regenerate, who, though he hath grace begun in him, and knows, not nationally only, but tastingly and really, the pleasures of that state to be greater and better than those of sin, yet still so far as he is un-renewed in his judgment, and the spirit of his mind, so far doth that fleshly mind approve the ways of sin as best, and the ways of grace as of less worth, and the renewed part in his mind fights against the means of grace in a man's own heart, and disallows of them as if they were not best for him. How much more then must his mind, and judgment, who is nothing but flesh, and who never tasted that the other state is better, and who never came in that full manner to assent unto this indeed, that the estate of grace is best for him, how much more, I say, must his judgment and heart fight against these things.
3. Last of all, though notionally an unregenerate man may be convinced that the other state of grace would be better for him, yet because he wants a judgment of taste of the betterness of it, he cannot strongly be affected to it, be as to leave those things of which
he hath always had so sweet a taste, in exchange. To prove this we need go no farther than the instance of the young man in Mat. 19:16–
22, 'And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is
God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shall do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.' He had a great conviction of the goodness and excellence of salvation, and he notionally knew it better than all the world, and not in itself only, but for him if he could attain it, and therefore he comes earnestly to make the question, What shall I do to be saved? and he comes with a seeming resolution to do anything which Christ should enjoin; but yet, when it came to the trial, he would not buy his eternal life so dear, as at the price of all that he had in the world, because he had not such a real taste of the pleasure and sweetness of that life as might prevail on him so to do. He had not (I say) such a lively sense of it, as should be sufficient to sweeten the means (which yet he inquired for) that were necessary to obtain it; but he knew, and relished really the goodness of his worldly enjoyments, and possessions, which was the reason that he could not find in his heart to forego them, and that he preferred them above that salvation, whose delights he had never yet really experienced. From this cause it was, that all the apprehensions and desires which he had of eternal
[life], though they wrought on him a little, yet in the issue came to nothing: 'he went away exceedingly sorrowful, for he had great possessions,' which he loved better, and judged better for him than salvation itself. For it is not bare conceits, and notional apprehensions of things absent not yet attained, which can sway
more, or affect us more, than the real tasting of present pleasures which are to be foregone. Our wills and affections being realities, and things full of weight, it must be a real apprehension and sense that can move and stir them.
Object. But it will be further objected that it is said of those who fall away, and therefore were never regenerated, that they are not only enlightened, but that they taste the world to come: Heb. 6:4, 5, 'For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.' They have tasted the good word of God, i.e. the goodness of those things which the word reveals.
Ans. To this I answer, that there is a twofold goodness of the things represented in the word, which is revealed to us therein. The one is the good which comes by the things, the other is the goodness of the things themselves. For as other things, so those which are spiritual too, have an intrinsecal, essential, proper goodness and excellency in their own nature, severed from all the outward conveniences which proceed from them and accompany them. Thus, in friendship, there are the personal good qualities and conditions of the man, and there are besides some outward benefits which may haply be gotten by his friendship, as promotion to some desired and expected honour and dignity, or freedom from some feared evils, or some other ends and use which a man may have of his friend, wherein he may stand him in stead. Thus also in marriage there are the personal excellencies of the wife, her beauty, and the goodness and amiableness of her nature and carriage, and also her virtues and graces which are inherent in her person; and there is also her portion and dowry, and the advantageous alliances which come with her. And so now to speak to the present instance, as there is the sweetness of the meat itself, and the sweetness of the sauce which it is served up in, so in the word spiritual things are with a double goodness propounded and revealed to us. There are the good things which come by Christ through believing, as freedom from hell, pardon of sin, peace with God, and a
happy condition spoken of and promised with it, and we are told that we cannot have one without the other; but besides this, there is also the internal excellence, the personal worth, the glory of the things themselves, the proper goodness of them conceived in their spiritual nature. Now, since the word sets out both these kinds of goodness to us, an unregenerate man may taste of the one but not of the other.
They may relish the sweetness of the sauce with which they are dished up, but not of the meat itself. In sin, there is the bitterness of the sauce, that is, the direful effects and concomitants of it: horror of conscience, shame, fear of punishment, and the threatening and the miseries with which God hath dished sin up to all those who shall eat the fruit of their doings; and this bitterness of sin wicked men may and do taste: Jer. 2:19, 'Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.' But wicked men never see nor taste the evil that is in sin itself, nor are they sensible of it nor moved with it. They see not nor abhor that evil in sin which God and holy men do, which puts their mouths out of relish with it for ever. For when that bitter sauce is not tasted by the unregenerate, when they have not the sense of those bitter effects in sin, but the same sin of which they were afraid and shy before is presented in the pleasure of it, without its former tasted bitterness, they fall to it as eagerly and as much as ever. In spiritual duties, likewise, there is peace of conscience which accompanies the performance of them, and hence the thoughts of men may excuse and pacify guilty fears upon the doing of a duty, as well as accuse upon a neglect of it, or the commission of a sin: Rom. 2:15, 'Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.' Now, this sauce of good duties which satisfies the gnawing worm of conscience, an unregenerate man may relish, but to the meat itself, the goodness of the holy exercise, he hath no mind nor stomach. But Christ, on the contrary, delighted in the holy work itself, and found a sweetness in it: John 4:32–34, 'But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the
disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.' Nay, farther, those who are not true and real believers on Christ, though they find a sweetness in his benefits, yet they see not his own proper excellencies, nor delight in his personal goodness. God sets out to us in the word, in and with Christ, freedom from hell, discharge from the guilt of sin, and the pardon of sin, which is as the sauce to the bread of life and heavenly manna, Christ himself. Now, those who never arrive to true faith and holiness, having their mouths embittered with the nauseous sauce of sin, may find sweetness in Christ as to these good effects mentioned, and yet have no pleasing sense of his excellent person, of the joys of communion with him, that relish of his love, which the church, in Cant. 1:2, says is better than wine; of that taste of the goodness of God in himself, of which David so much speaks of: Ps. 34:8, 'O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him;' and Paul intimates, when he says that we do not only rejoice in hope of the glory of God, but in God himself: Rom. 5:2, 11, 'By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.'
Now, in a word, to shew you the reason of this difference, I need only present to you this consideration, that there is in an unregenerate man a principle of self-love, which seasons his palate, and his judgment, and there is nothing more in him; but in a person regenerate there is more, there is a new divine spiritual power of discerning spiritual things put in, and superadded both to his judgment, and to the self-love in his heart. Now, then, that principle of self-love makes men unregenerate capable of tasting the goodness and sweetness of the sauce; that is, those motives and arguments which in the word are drawn from the good or evil which we all get by spiritual things; but there being a farther goodness and sweetness in the things themselves, which is of a more transcendent nature (for they are not only because they bring us such benefits with them, but
they are first so in themselves, and as they tend to glorify God) to relish this aright, a principle beyond all that is natural in men, a principle that is congenial to God, and his things, and so suited to them, is requisite. Though this is to be added, that a regenerate man having self-love, yet rightly tempered, tastes of both these kinds of sweetness, which spiritual things afford, for both meat and sauce were made for him.
From hence also it will now appear by way of inference or deduction, 1. That even the affecting knowledge of an unregenerate man, which may a little stir and warm his heart, is not that true knowledge of spiritual things which he ought to have, because he knows not that true, internal, proper goodness which is in them, which is indeed to know the thing as it is to be known, which also is the apostle's meaning when he says that they are spiritually discerned: 1 Cor. 2:14,
'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,' i.e. in that spiritual goodness and worth which is in the things themselves. For as it is in affections, so it is in knowledge, that they are not said to be true unless they be suitable to the nature of those things which we affect; thus to love a man only for some advantage I may have from him, to love a wife for her portion, or to satisfy lust, is not love, it is not said to be true love, because it is not agreeable to that which in all these ought principally to be beloved, viz. their personal goodness and qualities. Thus neither is our knowledge true, unless we know that in the things, which is principally to be known of them, for till then the thing is not known as it is. As therefore we shewed that unbelievers in their speculative knowledge of spiritual things could not be said truly to know them, because they know but the pictures, not the things themselves; so, practically, they know them not, when they know affectionately only the accidental goodness which comes by the things, and not the true proper goodness of the things themselves.