3. And then, again, faith stirreth up such graces as do comfort the
Ans. Many ways. I will name a few.
1. Faith in Christ banisheth troubles, and bringeth in comfort, because it is an emptying grace. It emptieth us of ourselves, and so makes us cleave to another, and thereby becomes a grace of union. It is such a grace as brings the soul and Christ together. Now, Christ being the fountain of comfort, God having treasured all comfort in him ('for the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ,' Col. 1:19, and faith causeth Christ to dwell in us), brings the soul and Christ together, and so must needs make way for comfort. For it makes us one with the fountain of comfort, and by its repeated acts derives fresh comfort.
2. Again, faith establisheth the heart. Now, to establish the soul there must be a solid basis, as in building there must be a foundation, and a planting upon that foundation. Now here is a foundation, God and Christ; and there must be a grace to found and bottom the soul thereupon, and that is faith. And so the soul is established. The chain and connection of causes herein is this. God the Father in Christ, and by the Holy Ghost, conveys comforts, through the word laid hold upon by faith. It is not the word alone, for that is but as the veins and arteries that convey the blood and spirits. So the Spirit being conveyed by the promises, helpeth the soul to lay itself upon Christ by faith, which is a grace of union, by which union with him the soul is established.
3. And then, again, faith stirreth up such graces as do comfort the soul, as hope in all good things promised. And therefore in the next verse he adds, to comfort them, 'In my Father's house are many mansions,' and faith is the grace that apprehends the joys thereof; and hope expects that which faith believes, and that hope becomes an anchor to the soul, and stayeth the soul in all the waves and
troubles of the world. And what is the ground of that hope but faith?
Faith stirreth up hope, and hope pitcheth on the promise, especially of life everlasting. And thus faith becomes a quieting and a stilling grace, because it raiseth the soul, by representing and making real to it better things than the world can give or take, as it doth also at other times present heavier things than the world can threaten. Faith makes things present to the soul; and because it lays hold on divine things, greater than anything here below, therefore it overcomes the world, and all things in the world, yea, hell itself, because it lays hold on heaven and happiness, upon the power of God, and the mercy of God in Christ, and upon those rich promises. What is in the world, or in the rank of good things, but faith outbids it by setting heaven against it! and what evil is there but faith overcomes the fear of it by setting hell against it! I shall have such a good if I yield to such a lust.
Aye, but what is that to heaven? saith faith. For faith being the hypostasis, the substance of things to come, makes them substantial and evident to the soul, as if they were already subsistent, being looked upon in the certainty of the word; and so it affects the soul deeply, and upholds it strongly, even as if the things themselves were present, and so it banisheth and dispels all discomforts. The 11th chapter to the Hebrews is a comment upon this truth in the example of Moses and many others. What greater object of fear might be presented to a man than the angry face and countenance of a terrible tyrant? Yet when by the eye of faith he saw him that was invisible, and then looked upon Pharaoh, what was Pharaoh to God? When
Micaiah had seen God sitting on his throne, what was Ahab to him?
And when the soul hath entered into the vail, and sees the glorious things of heaven and happiness, what are all things below? Faith sets the soul on a rock, above the reach of waves, upon the love of God in Christ. And therefore set the grace of faith on work, keep it on the wing, preserve it on exercise; and faith exercised will be able to
comfort the most dejected soul in the world, and to raise it above all the troubles that can be imagined or befall us.*
THE SECOND SERMON
Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.—John 14:1.
THE words of dying men departing out of the world, as being the most serious and weighty, are most to be regarded. The children of God, the nearer they are to heaven, the more suitable they are to their heavenly condition. So was our Saviour Christ; and therefore he labours to furnish his disciples, and in them us, with good counsel to establish their hearts against the troubles and scandals to come.
[This will appear] if you consider the time when he spake these words. It was when he himself was to be troubled more than ever was any creature. Yet he forgets himself and his future troubles, and thinks how to raise up and comfort them. He foresaw that Peter would deny him, that the rest would leave him; he foresaw that they would be dejected when he was gone. Yet 'let not your hearts be troubled.'
Oh, what a blessed and sweet Saviour have we, that thinks more of us than of himself, that he forgets his own troubles, and sufferings, and extremities, and thinks of the supporting and upholding of his disciples!
This came from the same love that drew him from heaven to earth, which moved him to take our nature, and in that nature to die for us.
And what may we not expect from that sweet and large love? Out of the same bowels of pity and compassion was it (that they should not
be overmuch dejected) that he saith, 'Let not your hearts be troubled.'
He knew his disciples were in the state of grace already, yet he foresaw they were such as would sin; nay, that Peter would deny him.
Yet the foresight of Peter's and their unkindness did not take away his love, and pity, and compassion towards them.
Yet, notwithstanding, he gives them sweet counsel; nay, after they had dealt unkindly with him, and denied and forsook him indeed, he took no advantage of their weakness. He knew they had a secret love to him, that they had in them a root of affection; and he was so far from taking advantage for it that presently after he saith, 'Tell my brethren that I ascend to my God and their God,' yea, and 'tell Peter so too,'
John 20:17, that hath dealt most unkindly of all with me. What a gracious and merciful Saviour have we, that foresees what ill we will do, and when we have done it, takes no advantage against us, but is careful to keep us from too much dejection, though he knew we would deal so unkindly by him! And, indeed, he did of purpose take our nature, that he might be a merciful High Priest.
Christians must distinguish betwixt dejection and grief. It had been a sin for them not to have grieved, as well as it was a sin for them to be overmuch troubled. None are more sensible than a Christian. Sentit dum vincit. He feels troubles whiles he overcomes them.
Christ speaks to the heart, because the heart is the seat of trouble, 'Let not your hearts be troubled.'
Christ could speak to the ears and heart at once. His words were operative, and conveyed comfort with them. Together with his words, he let in his Holy Spirit, that comforted them. God's commands in the ministry of his word, suppose not that we have any ability to execute them, but together with his word there comes forth
a power. As when Christ said, 'Lazarus, arise!' there went forth a power that caused Lazarus to arise; as in the creation he said, 'Let there be light;' for the word and the Spirit go together.
Having taken them off from trouble, he shews a way how to raise them, which is by faith, 'Ye believe in God, believe also in me.'
The object in believing is God, and Christ Mediator. We must have both to found our faith upon. We cannot believe in God, except we believe in Christ. For God must be satisfied by God, and by him that is God must that satisfaction be applied, the Spirit of God, by working faith in the heart, and for the raising of it up when it is dejected. All is supernatural in faith. The things we believe are above nature; the promises are above nature; the worker of it, the Holy
Ghost, is above nature; and everything in faith is above nature. There must be a God in whom we believe; and a God through whom. If God had not satisfied God, the conscience would never have been satisfied; there would still have been misdoubtings. And yet if the Holy Ghost sets not down the heart, and convinceth it throughly of the all-sufficiency of that satisfaction, it would never believe neither.
And, therefore, as 'ye believe in God, believe also in me,' for I am God too.
We may know that Christ is God, not only by that which Christ hath done, the miracles, which none could do but God, but also by what is done to him. And two things are done to him, which shew that he is
God; that is, faith and prayer. We must believe only in God, and pray only to God. But Christ is the object of both these. Here he is set forth as the object of faith, and of prayer in that of Saint Stephen:
'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,' Acts 7:59. And, therefore, he is God; for that is done unto him, which is proper and peculiar only to God.
That which I shall now touch upon is this: We must remember what a strong foundation, what bottom, and basis, our faith hath. There is
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Christ the Mediator. That our faith may be supported, we have him to believe on who supports heaven and earth, as in Heb. 1:2, and Col. 1:16, 17. He created all things as well as the Father. He is honoured of all as well as the Father. He that supports the pillars of heaven and earth is able to support the pillars of thy soul.
But how doth faith in Christ ease the soul of trouble?
In a word, as it carrieth the soul out of itself unto God in Christ, and unto Christ, uniting and making us one with him, and so sets the soul above all trouble whatsoever. For, being one with Christ, we are already with him in heaven. And again, faith is a grace that presents things to come, as present, and so establisheth the soul. It is the hypostasis of things, it gives subsistence to them in the promise, and it doth never leave to do it till the things subsist indeed. It is a grace that accompanieth the soul to heaven, looking upon things in the word of him that is truth itself, and so giving a kind of being to them, throughout all the way to heaven, till they have a being indeed. And then faith is out of office, yielding it up to sight, and the full enjoyment of all.
Quest. But did not the disciples believe already?
Ans. Yes, they did. But they had need to renew their faith, as occasions were renewed, and as troubles were to increase. 'Believe in me.' It is as he should have said: 'Now there is occasion for you to use your faith. I must be taken out of your sight. You must see me suffer.
And you had need of an extraordinary measure of faith to see me in such abasement, and yet to believe that I am God.'
We must grow from faith to faith, that we may live by it continually; and we must increase with the increase of God, that as our difficulties do increase, our strength to go through them may increase also; as they prayed, 'Lord, increase our faith,' Luke 17:5.
I give some directions how we might not be troubled.
And first, we must labour to have our part and portion in Christ, else there is nothing belongs to us but trouble. There are two sorts of men in the church, some that usurp a peace and exemption from trouble, as if joy and comfort were their portion. Satan is wise enough not to trouble them, and they take an order with their consciences, that they shall not trouble them till needs must, till the hour of death, or some dismal accident. The only way for such is to be troubled, that their trouble may be a foundation of their comfort. For to such as live in their sins against conscience, apparently* so, that every man may see it, and yet are not troubled, they have no interest in comfort.
Nothing but woe and misery belongs to them. Indeed, Christ came to save sinners, but it is broken-hearted sinners, penitent sinners, that are weary and heavy laden under the burden of sin. And, therefore, though they speak peace to themselves, yet we dare not speak any comfort to them from Christ. As Jehu said to Joram, 'What hast thou to do with peace, as long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel are so many?' 2 Kings 9:22. Dost thou talk of peace as long as thou art a swearer, a profane liver, a malicious person, against all that are truly good? What hast thou to do with peace?
Now, in the visible church, there is another sort that Satan laboureth to trouble. Since he cannot keep them in the state of nature, but they break from him—Christ pulling them out of Satan's kingdom by the power of his ordinances and Holy Spirit—he labours to trouble them in their peace all he can. Because they be, in the world, above the
world, he envies their condition, that they should enjoy that paradise which he left, the comforts that he once had; and, therefore, he labours to disturb them in their comforts.
The estate of such is mixed here in this world. They have that in them, and without them, which will always be a cause and occasion of trouble. They have corruption in them not altogether subdued; and they have without them Satan taking advantage against them; and the world opposing them. These, although they have something in them that must be subdued, yet something also that must be cherished and strengthened. And therefore these are the persons to whom comfort properly belongs.
In heaven we shall have no need of being comforted, for there our peace shall be to have no enemies at all. Our peace here is to have comfort in the midst of discomfort, and an heart enlarged in troubles.
He speaks this to them here who were believers already; ('Ye believe in God'), who he knew should not be troubled, ('Let not your hearts be troubled'). So that to the end we may be subjects capable of comfort, we must be such as by faith are one with Christ; and so reconciled to God. All motion ends in rest, and all the rest of the soul ends in God,—the centre of the soul. And therefore before the soul can settle itself, it must be brought to God, through Christ. That must be laid as a ground.
Now there is a threefold malady that troubleth us, and there must a threefold peace, and ground of comfort against them.
First, it is a trouble to the soul (when once it is awakened), that God and it should be in ill terms; when the soul looks upon God as angry, and displeased with it.
Secondly, Again, the soul is troubled, when it looks upon itself, and sees nothing but turmoils and seditions there.
Thirdly, when it looks upon the affairs of the world, and accidents here below, it is full of confusion for the present; and it is full of fears for time to come, that things will be worse and worse. Thus the soul, whilst it is in the world, is troubled about its peace with God, and with itself, and about this evil world.
Now before the soul can yield to any quiet, all these quarrels must be taken up.
First a peace must be made betwixt God and us, by the great Peacemaker, who is also called 'our peace,' Eph. 2:14; and when we be justified and acquitted from our sins by the blood of Christ, sprinkled on our souls by faith, that blood of Christ speaks peace to the soul in the pardon of sin; 'being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,' Rom. 5:1.
Then secondly, there must be another peace settled in some degree, and that is the peace of government in the soul; grace must be above corruption. They will be together in the soul whilst we are here, but sin must not have the dominion. This is such a peace, not as will admit of no conflict, but a peace wherein grace may get the better; and where grace gets the better, it will keep corruption under. And God gives his Spirit to whom he gives his Son; that as we be in good terms with God, so our natures may be like his; that we may love and delight in what he loves and delights in; and so may be as friends, enjoying acquaintance and communion together.
Aye, but thirdly, there is confusion in the world, and many accidents may fall out, that may disquiet us for time to come. Now before the soul can be at peace in that respect, it must know that, being once in
Christ, reconciled to God, and having the Spirit of God, it is under a gracious government and providence, that disposeth all things to good, and maketh everything peaceable. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia. When God is at peace, all is at peace; yea, so far at peace, that they have a blessing in them. The curse and venom is taken out of them by Christ, who took the curse on himself, and satisfied the wrath of God; and now they be not only harmless, but medicinal, and helpful, so that they be all ours, and made in some sort serviceable to further our spiritual good.
When our husband hath all things committed unto him in heaven or earth, will he suffer anything to befall his dearly beloved spouse, that shall be disadvantageous, and prejudicial to the main? No, no; he will not suffer anything to befall her, which he will not rule, and order, and overrule for the good of the church; and so there comes to be that third peace.
And, for the time to come, a Christian knows, that whom 'Christ loves, he loves to the end,' John 13:1; and 'the good work begun shall be perfected to the day of the Lord,' Philip. 1:6. He knoweth he is in heaven already in his head. 'He that believes in Christ hath everlasting life,' John 3:36, and is triumphing in glory in his head.
And, therefore, nothing can dismay a Christian that is truly in Christ.
Grant the first, grant all. Stand upon good terms with Christ; be reconciled to God, and nothing can do thee hurt.
But when we at any time come to comfort such as have comfort for their portion, it sticks here. If I were a child of God indeed, or if I did believe, it were something. These be good comforts indeed, and certain, and true, for they be the word of God; but what is this to me?
I find universally, that comfort sticks there, and therefore we must labour to remove that objection.