---- CHAPTER V: Some general considerations premised to open a way for the following directions to g
also hath said, 'Seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. And he backs this by a strange convincing demonstration to assure them of it: Luke 11:4, 5, if one comes to a friend at midnight, and desires some necessary thing of him, though he be one who hath no list to rise, ver. 7, nor regardeth the relation of friendship at all in it, ver. 8, but saith he hath all his children already in bed with him, ver. 7, yet for his importunity's sake he would rise in the night: 'Now then, I say unto you,' says Christ, 'knock, and it shall be opened.' Though the door seem shut against thee, though thou shouldst think God intended not friendship to thee, and had, as it were, all his friends about him already, yet he will open to and let thee in, ver. 10. He confirms it by experience, that there was never yet any turned away, but every one that asketh receiveth, and that seeketh findeth; and there was never any yet that did so that was sent away empty.
CHAPTER V
Some general considerations premised to open a way for the following directions to guide us in our endeavours to believe.
Having thus removed the discouragements of faith, I now come to some directions to guide us in our endeavouring to believe.
I shall first in general explain to you what I intend, by way of premise, that so my scope and meaning may be apprehended. My scope is not to give directions about all ways, and means, and helps, outward and inward, to attain faith, such as you would give to mere carnal men; that is, to men that do lie still in the profaneness of their hearts, and in the looseness of their estates, insensible of anything; I will not, I say, go about to shew what such men should do, and what endeavours they are to use; no, I speak to such as are under discouragement, and lie under the sense of their own inability to
believe, for it is that objection which occasioneth what I shall speak. I do not mean neither to shew you what preparative works there are to faith, or to insist upon them; but I speak to a soul that is brought to the brink of believing, that is convinced of its poor ruined state, which indeed is the first part of faith, for so self-emptiness is; one that lies at the pool, as the cripple at Bethesda, that is, made sensible of his own disability, and lies under that discouragement. I am only, I say, now to deal with such an one; and therefore all that I shall speak shall be pertinent as to the condition of such a soul, and I shall not meddle with anything else.
Now, the question is this, what such a soul is to do? Whether, as some have said, to lie still, and only to wait (as they in Acts 1:8) for the power of the Holy Ghost to come upon them? Whether he is not to stir till such time as God comes, and to his feeling and sense overpowers his heart to believe? Whether, I say, till God comes with such a power as is infinitely beyond his own, and enables him to believe, and draws his heart unto it, he is not at all to attempt it till then, not only because it is in vain, but because otherwise it will be an attempt in his own strength? or whether, yea, or no, the soul ought not, as the text here hath it, to labour for to enter, and to set his feet into that rest by believing?
I have two things to say to this. First, some generals are to be premised. Secondly, some directions are more particularly to be delivered. The generals which I premise shall be these four:
1. That God in working faith in the hearts of his elect, although he always shews an almighty power, the same that wrought in Jesus
Christ when he was raised from death to life, yet notwithstanding he doth not always so affect the spirits of those in whom he works faith, as to make it appear to their sense, that it is a power of that almighty proportion. I say, God doth not always, in the sense of the party himself, come with a predominant overpowering power when he draws the soul to believe. He doth not always come as he did upon the prophets, with a strong hand, in a man's own sense, but he
oftentimes sweetly insinuateth himself, and gently slideth into a man's heart, and mingleth himself and his Spirit, and power with their spirits, in a way of a compliance to the pace (if I may so express it) even of the natural motions in their hearts, and in a sweet and still way, yet omnipotently carries them on so to act. God is exceeding free in the working of faith and grace in the spirits of men, and he doth deal variously. In Job 33:29, having described a work upon one that lies on his sick bed, how he is troubled for his sins, and then sends for a messenger, one among a thousand, to shew unto him his uprightness, &c.: 'These things,' saith he, 'worketh God oftentimes'
(mark that word oftentimes, not always) 'with man.' God is found of some that sought him not, and others he puts them upon seeking long before they find him. The power of the Holy Ghost comes upon a man as wind, but it doth not come always as a rushing mighty wind, in that predominant overpowering sense, as that he shall feel it to be a wind externally that doth thus and thus move him, as it came upon the apostles, Acts 2; but oftentimes comes like a still wind, in a still small voice, as you know it did unto Elijah, 1 Kings 19:12. When the Spirit of God came upon the prophets, sometimes he carried them by a 'strong hand,' as the word is; but how doth he deal with Ephraim and the ten tribes, Hosea 11:3?—and his dealing with them that were his people then, is a type of his dealing with his people under the gospel—he dealt with Ephraim as a nurse dealeth with her child when she teacheth him to go. 'When Ephraim was a child,' saith he, 'I loved him, I taught him also to go, taking him by the arms.'
This comparison of a nurse teaching of a child to go, and so joining her strength with the strength of the child, would be a full comparison, if that the nurse did put the inward strength into the child, as God doth; but yet allowing that disparity, it holds forth thus much however, and serves thus far to illustrate the thing in hand, viz., that God in working upon a man doth apply himself as it were to his natural pace, and yet works strongly. He doth not say that God dealt with Ephraim as Christ did with the lame man, make him go and leap and dance as it were presently; no, he doth not let him feel always such an omnipotent power coming upon him as shall enable him so to do; but he deals with him as a nurse deals with her child
when she teacheth him to go. Now a nurse, you know, doth not take and hurry the child, doth not come with a power that shall be sensible to it beyond and above its own, and remove it from one place to another, as she is easily able to do; but first she sets the child gently down, and then lets it try if it can feel his legs, as you use to say, and then if it can stand upon the ground, and then lets it try to set one foot before another. Just thus as the nurse deals with a child, and applies herself to its weak state and condition in teaching it to go, so doth God unto his children in teaching them to enter into this rest, and to believe, and in guiding all their steps therein. He first letteth a man see he cannot stand, letteth him see there is not a power in himself, then sets his heart upon Christ, and lets him try if he can stay and rest upon him, when yet he cannot walk in Christ, as he thinketh; and then he taketh him by the arms, when yet it may be he cannot set one foot before another, and so gives him now a little strength, and then a little strength, insinuating and sliding in his power, his supporting and assisting power, according to the pace of the motions of a man's heart: and although in the working of faith he gives all power, and faith is not of ourselves, but is the gift of God; yet he doth not always come with such an almighty and over-ruling power, when a man is sensible of his own emptiness, as to the man's sense shall hold proportion with the power that raised Christ from the dead. That same drawing that is spoken of, John 6:44, 'No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him,' you may interpret by Hosea 11:4, 'I drew them with cords of a man,' that is, I did not overhaul them; but as one man would persuade another, so I insinuated my love and my power to them, humano more, though there was an almighty power went with it. And it is interpreted also by what follows in John 6:44, 'They shall be all taught of God.' He by his almighty power puts an instinct into the heart (for that is his teaching) after Christ and after free grace, and causeth the man to renounce himself, and so sets the heart earnestly intent upon these things. The heart would have Christ, and, says he, why may not I have Christ? and what is between me and Christ? A thousand such thoughts God casteth in, and yet it is but like an instinct, though God himself be at the bottom of it. As we are said to be taught of God to
love one another, it is not by a sudden shedding, in an instant, into the heart, abundance of love unto the saints; but it is, as I may so express it, by a still and secret touch of the heart, whereby it is drawn on to love them, such as when the iron is touched with the loadstone.
And observe, whom doth Christ speak this of when he saith, John 6:44, 'No man can come unto me except the Father draw him'? It appears evidently by what follows at verse 64 of that chapter, that he speaks of his disciples: 'There are some of you,' saith he, 'which believe not. Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.' Now had all these apostles when faith was wrought in them, think you, seeing themselves first unable to believe, had they the sense of an omnipotent power, that with a strong hand carried on their souls to believe in a sensible and discernible way? Clearly no; for see what is said, John 14:6–8, of these very men of whom Christ saith, they had not come unto him unless the Father had drawn them, and unless the Father had taught them. See what is there said of these very men,
I say, whom God hath shown so much power in drawing them unto Christ: 'Whither I go you know,' saith Christ, 'and the way you know.'
Thomas saith unto him, 'Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?' Either Christ here must speak what is false, or Thomas must speak what is false, one would think in appearance. The truth is, Thomas he did know, and he did not know; and whereas, John 6:45, he saith, 'They shall be all taught of God' to know him, here, John 14:7, he saith, 'If you had known me, you had known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.' Yet Philip was drawn unto God, and drawn unto
Christ, and was drawn too by being taught of God, and taught of Christ. There is no way then to solve it but this, that God, when he works faith, doth not always come with such a power upon the soul, that he shall be sensible that there is such an omnipotent power upon him working faith in him. No; oftentimes though a man doth the thing, and truly believeth, and doth it by the power of God
working on him, yet he scarce can discern it from his own power, and from his own thoughts. This truth is evident—and whoever he be that denies it, his own experience shall confute him before he die—by the light that God puts into the soul concerning the manifestation of himself unto us. There is a constant light that a Christian carries about him, that he walks by, such as is in the day, whether the sun shine or not shine, which yet notwithstanding keeps to the pace of a man's own understanding; and there is a light which sometimes comes in upon a man, and is like the sun breaking through a cloud, that a man can look up and see the sun, and can confidently say, now
I do see the sun; and yet both these lights are supernatural, and both from the almighty power of God; and he that hath that ordinary light of faith, which keeps pace with his own understanding, he believes, and he believes truly and strongly too; and when those extraordinary lights cease, the ordinary one remains, and carries on the soul to Jesus Christ, and to faith in him. Job all his life had enjoyed an ordinary light of faith. 'I have heard of thee,' saith he, Job 42:5, 'by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee.' There came another light in then. So I take it, Paul, when he was under that great temptation, 2 Cor. 12, he prayed, and he would fain have had his request, fain have had his corruption subdued, fain have had such a power manifested in his weakness as he might have seen Satan trampled under his feet presently. No, saith God; 'my grace is sufficient for thee.' God insinuated himself strongly to support him, though Paul felt not such a sensible power as might presently overcome the temptation. The truth is, it is in the matter of working faith in the heart, as it is in the temptations of Satan. There are temptations of Satan which a man cannot discern from his own thoughts; and yet the devil is strong in such temptations. And again, there are temptations in which a man apparently feels the devil, and can distinguish them from his own thoughts, as in all those hellish blasphemies that are injected and cast into the soul. So it is in the workings of God, he doth sometimes insinuate himself into the soul so stilly and secretly, that a man cannot discern those insinuations from his own thoughts, but takes them indeed to be his own, and yet there is the mighty power of God that acts the spirit all that while.
And then again, there are mighty workings of God that come with a noise, with a stupendousness. I shall only add one confirmation of it from Eph. 1:19, where the apostle prayeth that their 'eyes may be opened to see the power of God that wrought in them that believe,' and in their own hearts.
2. The second general premise that I shall add is this, that God in carrying on the heart to believe, gives power to one act and not to another, and he hath appointed that one act to be a step and a degree unto another. In 2 Thes. 1:11, the apostle prays that God would 'fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.' The word fulfil signifies to perfect and accomplish a thing by degrees, to be doing of it I know not how long, as a man is about perfecting some masterpiece of work, or as a painter is perfecting of a picture, which he is fain to go over again and again before he hath fulfilled that idea he hath in his head. So is the very work of faith in the heart, which is what God hath in the idea of his own good pleasure and will, and he is a long while in perfecting it. You read in 1
Thes. 3:10, that there was something 'lacking in their faith,' and a great deal lacking too; and here he prays that God would 'fulfil that work of faith;' and you see he saith it is the work of faith with power; that he would fulfil one part after another, and so as to make one a step unto another. 'After you believed, you were sealed,' says he, Eph.
1:13. 'After they had suffered a while, they were established,' 1 Pet.
5:10. Hence now— 3. (Which comes to the point in hand) A soul that is sensible of his own inability to do anything of itself, and is cast down in the apprehension thereof, may and ought to act in and towards believing, so far as it finds its spirit strengthened by God, not examining or staying till it knows certainly that this is such a power and such a strength as is so from God, as will now, at this instant, enable it truly and throughly to believe. Why? Because, as I said before, God doth not always carry on the work of faith by such an overpowering light, especially at first, but applies himself to the pace of a man's understanding and will; yet notwithstanding, because God
doth give power to one act and not to another, still so far as a man finds his spirit strengthened by God, so far let him join with God, and all in a subordination to the power of God to work further, for still there is somewhat lacking to your faith; and in such a way as this, you will still find that God will come in and shew you greater things than these. In 2 Cor. 12, Paul would have had a power instantly to overcome that temptation. No, saith God; 'my grace shall be sufficient for thee;' i.e., that power that I proportion out to thee shall be sufficient to uphold thee. Improve that, and join with that which I ordinarily give thee, and it shall be sufficient to carry thee through, though thou dost not attain what thou prayest for; for the truth is,
Paul prayed for more, and all the answer from God was, 'My grace is sufficient for thee.' In James 4:8 saith he, 'Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.' Do but mark what that place holds out: when he saith, 'and he will draw nigh unto you,' he doth evidently mean a sensible drawing nigh of God to a man's spirit, that the soul shall be able to say, This is God, and I feel my heart filled with his presence. Now in order to this, he bids us draw nigh first unto God. If now we should exhort a man that is cast down thus in the sense of his own inability, and should say unto him, 'Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you,' what would he say? He would say,
God must draw nigh unto me first, before I can draw nigh unto him, for I have no ability to do it; why then do you say, Draw nigh unto
God? he must first draw nigh unto me, even as he must love me first, before I can love him. Of necessity, therefore, the apostle must suppose an insensible drawing nigh of God unto a man's spirit, to enable him to draw nigh unto God, that so God may draw nigh unto him sensibly, and apparently, and evidently. So far forth, therefore, as thou findest, by an insensible power in thee, that thy heart is strengthened to draw nigh unto God, do thou draw nigh unto him, still maintaining a sense of thy own inability to do anything of thyself; and if thou wilt draw nigh unto him while he doth thus insensibly draw nigh unto thee, he will draw nigh unto thee manifestatively, so as thou shalt be sensible of his presence. I quote that place for this, that God doth give us strength to do one thing which is in order to some farther thing; he doth give an insensible
strength to draw nigh to him, so that the heart finds itself enabled to go into the presence of God, and cast down itself before him. In this case, saith the apostle, go and draw nigh unto him, join with this strength you find, and you shall find a farther strength, for the promise is there of an apparent drawing nigh, which the other was not. The like is certainly the meaning of Luke 11:13, where Christ saith, 'He will give the Spirit unto them that ask him.' Will not a man be apt to say now, How shall I ask the Spirit if I have not the Spirit?
Therefore without all question this is his meaning, that when a man doth find that he doth want the Spirit, as he thinketh, yet, saith he, so far forth as thou findest thy heart strengthened to ask (which is yet the Spirit's working), go and ask. Here is the Spirit working insensibly to ask, as in order to obtaining the Spirit in a sensible way.
The like is certainly the meaning of all those places, 'Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and it shall be given you,' &c. So that this is the thing I drive at, let every one of you in the way of believing and acting of faith (seeing God goes thus stilly and yet strongly, seeing likewise that God doth do one thing that is in order to another, step after step perfects the work of faith with power), so far forth still as you find that your hearts are strengthened to do anything that is spiritually good, though it may be you cannot discern that it is spiritually good in the doing, yet strive to do it. Though James himself had said,
'Every perfect gift is from above,' and that no man can have wisdom (if he will have a perfect gift of it) but he must have it from the Father of lights; yet, saith he, 'If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God,'
James 1. Let every man say that he will go so far as he finds strength to carry him, for God perfecteth the work of faith with power. When that poor man came to Christ, Mark 9, and asked him if he could do anything? saith Christ, ver. 23, Yes, 'if thou canst believe.' Do but observe that phrase, 'if thou canst believe;' it implies, indeed, that he could not do it without a strength and assistance, therefore the poor man afterwards saith, 'Help thou mine unbelief;' yet Christ puts him upon this, so far as thou findest thy heart heartened, as I may so express it, so far as thou findest thy heart any ways strengthened, that thou canst say, I can thus far believe, try, and put it forth; and so the poor man did: 'Lord,' saith he, 'I do believe; help thou mine
unbelief.' So now, there is many a poor soul that is not able to say, I have a heart to take Jesus Christ; no, on the contrary, I have not the boldness to do it; yea, when I go about to do it, my thoughts fail me, and my heart misgiveth me in doing of it; I have no strength at all to lay hold upon Jesus Christ. But canst thou go unto him? Yes; I find that, the soul will say, I have that strength put into me, that though indeed I cannot lay hold of his person, yet I can go unto him, and I can lay myself down at his feet. Still say I, so far forth as thou findest thy heart strengthened, so far forth still join with that strength, and act under God's activity upon thee. Say within thyself, Though I cannot go to him to lay hold upon his person, yet I can go to him to have power to lay hold upon him; go so far with it, put forth so far as thou findest thou canst put forth. The truth is, God takes you as little children by the arms, though his power go along with you. Now if the child had but knowledge when the nurse first teacheth him to go, what would it say? I cannot set one foot before another; it is no matter, will she say, therefore set your feet upon the ground, and try whether you feel them or no; and still so far forth as the child findeth strength, still so far it should act and go, being still held by the arms by the nurse. So do thou in a subordination to the power of God that is working faith in thee, and fulfilling the work of it with power. So far as thou findest thy heart heartened or strengthened to put forth acts of faith, or anything towards believing, so far still enter.
Those men that would have a soul that is sensible of his own inability lie and wait till God come with a sensible power to enable it to believe, and not to stir till then, what do these men do? They exhort that soul to wait for a power from above, do they not? Yes; this is all one with what I say, for where hath the soul that sense? Certainly from God. And where hath it that power to wait? Certainly from God.
'No man can say Jesus is the Lord, without the Holy Ghost,' much more to be sensible of his own unbelief. Then the meaning must needs be this, that so far forth as God strengtheneth the soul to act, so far forth it should act; or imagine it is in an ordinary way strengthened to wait, say I, if thou findest thy heart strengthened by God to go further, go further; set one foot before another, for God
doth apply his power to the pace of a man's will and understanding, and that not always in a discernible way as it is a power, but as a nurse doth to a child. Even to wait for the righteousness of faith and the power of God, is a work of the Spirit, and an almighty work too; so saith the apostle, Gal. 5:5, 'We through the Spirit wait for the righteousness of faith.' And therefore, as the apostle saith in another case, 'So far as any man hath attained,' so far still let him join with that power; that is, so far forth as he finds his heart strengthened
(and the Holy Ghost still strengtheneth men when they act anything), so far let him still put forth. You shall find that Paul took the same course: Philip. 3:12, 13, 'I do reach forth,' saith he, 'to those things which are before, and I press towards the mark,' &c. I do reach forward, I stretch all my sinews. The word there is a metaphor taken from a man in a race, or that is running towards the goal; he doth not only use his feet, but he runs with his hands stretched out, that where his feet may not come, his hands, if possible, may come; so saith he, I do reach forth, I do follow after it, as much as ever I did after persecuting the church (for the word is the same), so that still he applied himself to what he had attained, and still so far as he could, so far he reached; and yet all this was the grace of God in him.
So, I say, let the soul of every man that is thus made sensible of its own inability, act so far forth as he findeth the Spirit of God strengthening him. Do what thou hast to do with all that might thou findest thy spirit assisted withal.
4. The fourth and last general premise which I shall mention, and which indeed doth follow from all the former, is this, that such souls are not to stay from exercising acts of faith till they feel and discern that they are clothed with such a power as will and doth enable them truly to believe. They are not, I say, to stay until they discern this, that now I have such a power fall upon me, now I will believe, and this I have waited for, and I must lie waiting for it till I find this power. I yield this indeed, that you may seek and wait for the assurance of such a power that shall overpower your spirits over and above the ordinary pace of the natural motion of your own hearts to believe in Christ. Such a thing God vouchsafeth, such a thing the
apostle prays for towards the Ephesians, chap. 1:19, such a thing the apostles themselves waited for (Acts 1:4), till power from on high came upon them, and the promise is made unto us for believing and sealing us as well as unto them, Acts 2:41. We may therefore wait for such a power to persuade our hearts to believe beyond the pace, I say, of the motions of our own spirits. But yet, that which I add withal is this, that you are not to stay from attempting to believe till you feel such a power come upon you, not to stay till you can say, I feel a divine power now clothing me, which will enable my soul to believe. For, 1st, To stay from attempting to believe till you feel such a power, is perhaps ever to stay. Not only because that God oftentimes doth not give it even to those whom he doth give faith unto truly, but how dost thou know but that there is such a power now upon thee as, if thou dost join with it, thou shalt truly believe, which before thou didst not? For that must needs be seen when the thing is done, it is not seen in the cause, it is not seen in the feeling the power and the proportion of that first, but it is seen in the effect, it is seen in the acting of it, it is seen in the thing a-doing. If a mariner that is to set a ship over sea would say, I will stay till I feel such a wind blow as I shall be sure will carry me over, and last till I come thither; or a wind that should take the ship out of the port, and go and throw it on the other side, before I'll stir or hoist up sail, or give up my vessel to the wind, for this that now blows is not high enough, it is too still; this man might stay for ever, and never go over sea. But what do wise mariners do? Why when they see a gale, though it be but a still gale, yea, though it be but a side wind, if there be a necessity to go, they will hale and tow out with it; and though when they are at sea it begins to turn, yet still they wait, and make use of a side wind, and oftentimes meet with that wind that doth directly carry them over indeed.
2dly, To stay for such a power first, and wait for it, till thou mayest be able to discern that it will enable thee and overpower thee to believe before thou attemptest it, is to expect from God (ere thou puttest
forth an act of faith) a greater assurance than of election. And would you stay till God persuade you that you are elected before you believe? Will you have that to be the first thing God persuades you of, and to be the bottom of your faith? In thy desiring such a power to come upon thee as to thy sense shall be such, thou desirest a harder matter, a greater thing than for God to come upon thee with his love, and to testify unto thee that thou art elected, and that he hath loved thee from everlasting, because such a power as shall be such in thy sense, is the immediate fruit of that love and of that will in him, I mean not the fruit in thee, but from himself. Nay, it is more than to stay believing till God assure thee and persuade thee that thou art elected, it is to ask a thing yet more hard. And what is the reason?
Because election is a standing, permanent thing, a foundation always remaining, and is at all times, and if we could apprehend it, might be demonstrated to the soul; but such a power as shall rise to that proportion as to thine own sense, thou shalt think I am now clothed with it, and shall be enabled to believe, that comes when God pleaseth, and is a fleeting thing, and so thou puttest thy believing upon the evidence of that which is not permanent, but is arbitrary and fleeting, and very difficult to be.
3dly, Wilt thou consider this, that though indeed it is the power of God that gives ability to believe, yet it is not the sense of the power of God in my heart that gives me my warrant to believe, therefore I am not to forbear till I feel such a power. It is, I say, indeed the power of God that gives thee ability, but it is not that which gives the warrant or the ground. It is the command of God to believe on the name of his Son, and it is the indefinite promise that Christ came into the world to save sinners, indefinitely thus expressed, and the like, that is the ground of believing. Therefore now upon the command thou art to attempt the duty, and to look up unto God for power to accompany thee in that duty, and thou art not to stay and wait first to be clothed with such a power as a warrant or ground for thy believing, as if else thou shouldst believe in vain. Yea, when thou hast pitched upon the right ground of believing, and attempted to believe, this power usually comes in and accompanies it. Thou art to do thy
duty according to the command, that is the warrant, to begin and to leave it unto God to enable thee, to assist thee to do it truly, as well as perform any command else. It is true, indeed, no man doth believe in the event unless God doth draw him, yet no man doth first believe upon this ground, because he feels that God doth draw him. I acknowledge that God may apply himself to such an error in the souls of some, as I have found he hath done; for God doth apply himself sometimes even to our errors rather than he will lose an elect child of his, which is the freedom of his grace, and so he may do in this case. One whose spirit is possessed with such an apprehension of such an objection and such a mistake, God may come upon him, and draw him to believe by a sensible mighty power; but herein God doth in his infinite grace and mercy apply himself to this error rather than lose his child. Even as in the first age of reformation, when they taught that all faith was assurance that a man's sins were forgiven
(which is as great an error as can be, it condemns the generation of many of the righteous), and yet God did apply himself unto this error in the experience of the most of that age, and came upon them accordingly.
Lastly, To end this fourth general premise. For thee to stay believing till thou feelest thyself clothed with such a power, it is indeed all one, and in a manner like to those other bars which are cried down so much, and many of them justly, and which do keep thousands from believing. Men think, I must have this, or I must have that first ere I believe, and so they are detained from believing; and if it were not for the infinite goodness of God to them, they would be 'ever learning, and never come to the knowledge of the truth,' as the apostle saith in another case, 2 Tim. 3:7; they would ever be in the way of believing, and yet never believe. One hears that there is such a course of humiliation to be run through, and as men that are to be cured must run through such a course of physic, or such things must be taken by way of preparation for such a medicine, so they are told that first this disposition must be wrought in them, and then that (many of which, the truth is, must have faith preceding them, or they cannot be wrought, as it may be easily demonstrated), and a man must go
through each of those, in their several degrees, before he must attempt to close with Christ. Whereas, now go and take such a soul that hath run through all those several methods and courses, when it comes to believe in the Lord Jesus, it is so far from being helped in his own apprehension by having had such things wrought in him, that it is possessed with the clean contrary thoughts. In souls that are most humbled, this is, as it were, the last thing in their being so humbled, that they see nothing in themselves; and this very sight of themselves, when they are sufficiently humbled, would be a hindrance of coming and closing with Christ nakedly; for whenas a man should close with Christ nakedly, and with Christ immediately, to come unto him under the sight and sense of such a thing wrought before, would be a hindrance unto faith. So, as the work of preparation is never a warrant or a ground unto any to believe, though it may really be a preparation without which a man would not believe, but it is not so apprehensively to the party; so it is here.
Indeed, it is the power of God really that doth enable to believe, but it is not the power of God apprehensively, viz., that I see I am clothed with such a power, and I wait till I am clothed with such a power, and so I believe. There are a great many of such diversions from Jesus
Christ. One saith, I must have Christ before I can have faith; another saith, I cannot take Christ till I find I have faith; whereas God giveth faith and Christ and all at once; and thy taking Christ is thy faith and thy believing; and upon thy attempting to believe, God gives all these at once. In thy going to him he gives thee power to come; as Christ saith, in doing of his will a man shall know him, so in falling to believe a man believeth. As in that question, whether the soul be first created, and then infused into the child, we usually answer that it is created and infused, and knit and united to the body, and all at once; so we may say here. But I say by those things before mentioned and answered, Satan diverts men from that which the apostle calls them to labour for, and that is to believe, and to enter this rest, Heb. 4:11.
And so much now for those generals which I have mentioned by way of premise.