18. The Fifth Dividing Distemper (Rigidity); the Sixth Rashness; the Seventh Wilfulness; the Eighth Unconstancy.
Chapter Eighteen The Fifth Dividing Distemper (Rigidity); the Sixth Rashness; the Seventh Wilfulness; the Eighth Unconstancy.
R igid, harsh, sour, crabbed, rough-hewn spirits are unfit for union; there is no sweetness, no amiableness, no pleasingness in them. They please themselves in a rugged austerity but are pleasing to none else in all their ways. They will abate nothing of their own, nor yield anything to others. This is against the rule of the Apostle, Romans 15:1-3. We must not please ourselves, but let everyone please their neighbor for their good to edification; and this, according to the example of Christ, who pleased not himself. This is the duty not only of weak men, who need to please others because they have need of others, but also of those who are strong. They ought not to please themselves but seek to please others.
Men who are of austere spirits, affecting a gravity that turns to a dull, sullen sternness, think it to be the commendation of the strength of their spirits that they can carry themselves as they do towards others, seeking altogether content for themselves without any yieldableness to others. No, that is but lightness and weakness in men; they are of a more staid and
strong temper than to do so. These men, by their wisdom, do very much sin against the wisdom of the Holy Ghost in this Scripture; yea, and against the example of Jesus Christ, who in his whole course manifested tenderness, gentleness, affableness, amiableness towards weak ones who were infinitely beneath him. Here he is set forth unto us as one who pleased not himself, far from this rigid harsh temper.
Those swords are not of the best-tempered metal that will not bend but stand stiff, but such as yield and bend with most ease and stand straight again. Neither are those dispositions the best that are the stiffest, but such as are most yieldable and yet stand straight too. This harsh and rigid spirit makes men's gifts and graces very unuseful. When Plato saw Xenocrates of an austere rigid temper, he advised him to sacrifice to the Graces that he might have more mildness, fearing that otherwise his parts and learning would be unprofitable.
The Jews observe upon Exodus 25:3 that no iron was in the stuff of the Tabernacle; rigid iron spirits are very unfit for Church work. Leviticus 17:7 states they shall no more sacrifice to Devils. The word translated "Devils" signifies rough ones; Devils had their names from thence; this is the name of a Satyr, Isaiah 34:14, "The rough one." The Spirit of God is a dove-like sweet Spirit, but the Spirit of the Devil is a rough harsh spirit, the spirit of a Satyr. Proverbs 11:17 says he that is cruel troubles his own flesh. That word here translated "cruel," the Septuagint elsewhere translates by a word that signifies rigid, stiff (ςερεὸς), Jeremiah 30:14. Men of such tempers are very troublesome to themselves, to their families, to all with whom they converse.
If a smith would join two pieces of iron, he must first file them or beat them smooth. If the joiner would join two pieces of wood, he must plane
them. Except our spirits be filed, beaten smooth, or planed, they are unfit for joining.
The Sixth Dividing Distemper: Rashness Acts 19:36 states you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. Doing things rashly and quietness are opposed.
1. Rashness makes men engage themselves suddenly in business before they have examined it well. This causes much trouble, for if a man is engaged he lies under a temptation to go on in it. As in 2 Chronicles 25:9, when the man of God came to Amaziah to take him off from a business he was engaged in; "O but," says he, "what shall I do for the hundred talents I have given out already?" Thus many answer to the truth of God that would take them off from what they are engaged in: "But what shall I do for my credit that lies engaged?"
Secondly, rashness causes men suddenly to provoke others; whereas if they considered what ill consequences might come of it, they would forbear.
Rash men quickly take hold of the sword of justice to hack and hew; they think that what they do is according to reason but do not wisely weigh things in the balance of justice. Remember, justice has a balance as well as a sword. Proverbs 29:11 states a fool utters all his mind;* the Septuagint translates it as θυμον (anger). Rash fools by uttering their anger suddenly cause great stir and trouble wherever they come. The Hebrew word that signifies a fool and that which signifies suddenly or rashly is from the same root.
Thirdly, when peace sometimes is even concluded and there is great joy in hope of a comfortable agreement, rashness will suddenly break it without any due consideration.
O that promise in Isaiah 52:4 were fulfilled amongst us: "The heart of the rash shall understand knowledge." Rash men think they presently understand all that is knowable in such a business and thence presume to make sudden determinations; but as over-hasty digestion causes wind and brings much trouble to the body, so over-hasty resolutions bring trouble to men's spirits and societies.
The Seventh Dividing Distemper: Wilfulness I think I may say in most men, will is the axle-tree; lust and passions are the wheels upon which almost all their actions are carried. Where there is much will, though the thing be little about which men contend, yet the opposition may be great; as a little stone thrown with a strong arm may take deep impression.
It is a dangerous thing to have men's wills engaged in matters of difference; it is easier to deal with twenty men's reasons than with one man's will. A man of a willful stout spirit stands as a stake in the midst of a stream, lets all pass by him, but he stands where he was. What hope can there be of union where there will be no yielding? One man's will raises another's; set will against will and they may dash one against another but are not likely to close or get into one another.
A willful man thinks it is beneath a wise man to alter his way; yea, it may be he thinks it a dishonor to the truth that both he, his profession, and the honor of God shall suffer by it. When stubborn self-willedness is taken for right constancy and settledness, it is very strong in men. But let us take heed of this; it does not matter though we go back from our former assertions so long as we go forward to the truth. Luther was called an apostate; "I am so," says he, "but it is from error to the truth."
Many times stoutness of spirit comes from weakness rather than strength; there is not always the greatest strength of judgment where there is the greatest strength of will. As a man's judgment that is without prejudice is very strong; so a man's prejudice that is without judgment is as strong. The dullest horses are not always the most easily reined.
"I know and am persuaded," says the Apostle in Romans 14:14. Many men are persuaded before they know; those who are persuaded before they know will not be persuaded to know. Men's wills will not suffer their understandings to consider; if they do consider, they will not suffer them to be convinced; if they are convinced, they will not suffer them to acknowledge that they are convinced.
It is dishonest for a man not to give in his bond when the debt is paid; similarly, it is dishonest for a man not to acknowledge himself convinced but to stand out against the truth, even when his conscience tells him it is clear. Let men lay down their wills, and there will be no hell, says Bernard.
So say I: take away men's wills, and contentions will cease. Scaliger tells us that the nature of some kind of amber is such that it will draw to itself all kinds of stalks of any herb, except basilisk, an herb called Capitalis because it makes men heady, filling their brains with black exhalations. Thus, those who, by the fumes of their corrupt wills, have grown headstrong will not be drawn by that which draws others.
However, this charge of willfulness is often misused; if men will not yield to what some conceive to be right, they are immediately accused of willfulness and stubbornness. They do not see because they will not see; they are not convinced because they will not be. We who differ so much from others in things that others think to be clear should be cautious about accusing others of willfulness who differ from us. Just as it is dishonest not
to give in the bond when the debt is paid, it is equally a cheat to require the bond before the debt is satisfied. Men may think and claim they have done enough to convince others when, upon examination, it may be found to be nothing or far short of satisfying the reasons against it if they were their own. But when a man may have peace in his conscience that what he holds or does is not through willfulness but constancy of his love for the truth, I shall speak to that presently.
The Eighth Dividing Distemper: Unconstancy If a man had an art to change his face every day—to seem sometimes white, sometimes black, sometimes ruddy, sometimes pale, sometimes hairy, sometimes smooth, sometimes old, sometimes young—how unfit would such a man be for society? What men cannot do with their faces, they do with the unconstancy of their spirits. Our affections and determinations must not be like the Persian decrees, which admit no alteration; neither must they be like the Polish laws, which (they say) last but three days. When a thing is so brittle that it breaks as soon as you meddle with it, how can you make it join? There must be some consistency in that which you would fasten to another thing. When men's spirits are so fickle that one cannot tell where to find them, how can there be a close?
O how much are men now differing from themselves in what their thoughts of men and carriage towards them have been, though the men concerning whom they thus differ remain the same they were, even the same they appeared to be long since! There was sweet agreement in affection, loving embraces, rejoicing in the presence of one another, and yet nothing is known in those from whom their hearts, countenances, and ways are alienated more than formerly was—not difference in judgment; that was known before. Such a change of spirits and carriages in godly men towards
one another has appeared as never appeared in any age since the world began. A great deal of stir there has been more than formerly, and yet what are these men otherwise than they have been many years since?
Were I to speak to wicked men to charge them with the unconstancy of their spirits, I would use that similitude I have out of Epiphanius, who speaks of the Jews desiring the coming of the Messiah but hating him when he came. They were (says he) like mad dogs who first fawn upon men and then bite and devour them. But because I speak to many of the Saints, I would rather use a softer expression more suitable to the honor due to godly men. I compare them in their unconstancy towards their brethren—which has caused so great division—to the sweetness of the air on a fair sunshine morning. Oh, how it delights the traveler when he goes forth! And truly such were the serene countenances of our brethren towards us. But within a while, the clouds overcast, the sky looks lowering, gusts of wind arise; yes, thunderbolts of terrible words fly about our ears, and the flashes of their anger strike upon our faces.
Tantæ ne animis cœlestibus iræ.
Unconstancy is evil and a cause of division; stubbornness is evil and a cause of division. A man must not be one thing one day and another thing another day; not like a weathercock carried up and down with every wind; neither must he be willful and stubborn like a rusty lock that will not be stirred by any key.
Now then, how shall we know when a man is neither fickle nor stubborn?
For unless some rules of discernment are given, this temptation may be before me: I must not be fickle, unsettled, and unconstant; I will therefore stiffly stand to maintain what I have professed.
Answer: You may know whether your fickleness is avoided by true settled constancy of spirit or by stubbornness by these five notes:
First, true constancy and settledness of spirit are obtained by much prayer and humiliation before the Lord: "Establish me Lord with thy free spirit; unite my heart to fear thy name." When after your heart-breakings and meltings, heart-cryings and pourings forth—"Lord show me what thy will is in this thing; keep me from miscarrying; let me not settle upon any error instead of the truth; but what is thy truth fasten my soul in it so that whatever temptations come I may never be taken off from it." Tell God in prayer what the thing is and what has persuaded your heart to embrace it; open your heart fully to God in all your aims. If by this means your heart is fixed, now it is delivered from fickleness and not fallen into stubbornness.
Secondly, where true constancy is attained by the Spirit of God and not by the stubbornness of your own spirit, there is an exercise of much grace and growth in grace—such as faith, humility, love, meekness, patience, etc. (1
Peter 3:17-18). "Take heed ye fall not from your steadfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Hearts that are stout and willful are dry and sapless.
Thirdly, if the more a man has to do with God, the more settled he is in his way—when he has the most full converse and sweetness of communion with God—he is then most fully settled, satisfied, established in such a truth which he before conceived to be of God.
Many men are very stiff and willful—unmovable when they have to deal with men—they seem then to be the most confident men in the world. But God knows—and their consciences know—when they solemnly set themselves in the presence of God and have the most real sight of God and have to deal most immediately with him; then they have misgiving
thoughts; they have fears that things may not prove as sure as they led others to believe they apprehended them to be. But if God's presence and your dealings with him confirm you in this, your conscience may give you assurance that as you are not fickle and wavering so neither are you stout and willful.
Fourthly, when there is a proportion in men's constancy, if a man is resolute and constant in one thing but very fickle and easily turned aside in others, there is cause to suspect his constancy is rather from stubbornness than from grace; for grace works proportionately through the whole soul and in the whole course of a man's life.
Fifthly, if the more real the presence of death and judgment appears to a man, the more settled he is in that way; this likewise may be a good evidence to him that his settledness in such a way is right.