Part II
PART II.
Who is among yon that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant,
that walketli in darkness, and hath no light ? ISA. L. 10.
USE I.
IF those that fear God and obey him are exposed to such a condition as
hath been described ; then, Who is among you that feareth not the Lord, nor obeys the voice of his servants ? You that live in known sins, and in
omission of known duties, which God s servants, your ministers, tell you you
ought to perform ; that pray not with your families ; who make not con
science of your speeches nor dealings, &c., where shall you appear, if the
righteous be thus scarcely saved ? If they whom God hath loved with a love
as great and unchangeable as himself, yet suffer his terrors here; what shall
you do whom he hath set himself to hate, and to shew the power of his
wrath upon, without repentance ? If these things be done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry? Luke xxiii. 31, which is fitted for wrath and the fire, even as stubble fully dry, Nahum i. 10, as the prophet speaketh. If such an estate of darkness and horror befall them that are children of
light, whose inheritance is light, Col. i. 12; then what is reserved for you that are darkness, and love darkness more than light ? And if this befalls them for not stirring up the grace which they already have ; what to you that are utterly devoid of it ; and not only so, but despise and scoff it ?
If this befalls them for not humbling themselves for old sins, though long since committed; what will befall you for going on to add new to the old with
greediness ? If to them for neglecting the opportunities of drawing nigher to God ; what to you for neglecting the offer of grace, and trampling under
foot the blood of Christ 1 All you that think there is no hell, or if there
be, that it is not so dark as it is usually painted, look upon Heman ready to
run distracted through terrors, and to give up the ghost every moment, Psalm
Ixxxviii., when yet his body was strong and outward estate whole. Look
upon David lying upon the wheel, and the Spirit of God breaking his bones, Psalm li., whenas otherwise, he being a king, had all outward things at will. Look upon holy Job, chap, vi., Oh that my grief were weighed
! it is heavier
than the sand ; and my words are swallowed up ; that is, I am not able to
express and utter my grief; the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the
poison thereof drinketh up my spirit ; the terrors of God do set themselves
in battle array against me, ver. 4. Insomuch, that at the 8th verse he
wisheth God would cut him off; and, Is my strength the strength of
stones, says he, or my flesh brass, as he complains, that he should be able
to hold out against such fierce encounters ? My brethren, God s people find
USE II.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 309
pains beyond those of the stone, gout, and toothache ; the falling of God s wrath on the conscience is more than the dropping a little scalding rheum on a tooth ; and yet these, which Job and David felt, are but a taste of that
cup which you that obey not must drink off to the bottom ; and it is eter
nity to the bottom. Psalm Ixxv. 8, There is a cup in the hand of the
Lord, and it is full of mixture, that is, all the bitter ingredients in the world are in it, the quintessence of evils are strained into it ; and here in deed God pours out of the same, as it follows there, that is, in this life some few sprinklings of it fall from the top of the cup, which his own do taste and drink of; but the bottom, the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the
earth shall drink, and wring them out, that is, leave none behind ; but the
vials of it, which will never be emptied, shall be poured forth, even to the utmost drop. And if God s people do begin to taste of it, as Christ himself
did, it could not pass him, and Zebedee s sons were to pledge him, as was
observed,-^then, as God says by Jeremiah, chap. xxv. 27-29, If my people have drunk of it, and begun to you, and I have brought evil upon the city that is called by my name ; then certainly you shall drink of it, and be drunk, and spue, and fall and never rise again. If God s people be thus shut up in darkness, what darkness is reserved for you ? Even as Jude says, ver. 13, blackness of darkness ;
* darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matt. xxii. 13. Blackness of darkness, because there is not a cranny of light, nor one beam of comfort that shines in to all eternity. And this is not for a moment, or a few years, but for ever. You that live many days in plea sure here, and rejoice in them all ; remember the days of darkness, for they are many, says Solomon, Eccles. xi. 8. Many indeed ! Days
! An eternal
night that shall know no end, which no day shall follow.
USE II.
Who is among you that fears the Lord and is translated out of the state of darkness, and yet never was in this darkness of desertion which I have described unto you ? You that have been free from those terrors of con
science, which are beyond all the miseries the world hath, for as the joy of the Holy Ghost is unspeakable and glorious, so these terrors are unutterable and unsupportably grievous, which yet souls that fear God and have obeyed him more than you, have been made the anvils of; you that have been
dandled, cockered, and fed with sweetmeats, had into the wine cellar, and have had all the Trinity to sup with you, John xiv. 23, Rev. iii. 20, when others have eaten gall and wormwood, as it is, Lam. iii. 19; and likewise
t peace which passeth understanding, yet, being justified by faith, you have a solid peace with
you who, though you enjoy not much ravishing joy, and
God, Rom. v. 1 ; and so walk in freedom of spirit, in the use of God s or
dinances, and in the performance of holy duties ; let me out of this doctrine
give all such this great instruction : To take notice that such kind of
troubles there are that do befall God s people beyond what they have expe rience of. Many there are that think not so ; Job s friends did not, and there
fore censured him. And this is a necessary instruction :
1. For this very knowledge of it doth prepare men for such a condition, if it should befall them; and therefore, beforehand to prepare them he wrote
to, for afflictions, the Apostle bids them not think it strange concerning the
fiery trial, 1 Pet. iv. 12. For if they be strange to any, then if they befall them at any time, they are the more grievous. As if some strange disease
befall a man which he had never heard of before, no physician hath skill in,
310 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IX DARKNESS. [PAST II.
it amazeth a man, and makes him desperate; but if lie hath heard that such and such have had it, as well as himself, and have been recovered, this
something helps to assuage the bitterness of it to him. Job s trial was a
strange trial to his friends, and therefore you see how unskilfully they go about to heal it, and so left the sore worse than they found it. So that to
prepare you for it, it is good to take notice that such a condition there is. In like manner also, in 1 Cor. x. 13, for the same end, the Apostle says of other kind of trials, that nothing had befallen them but what is common to man. There is a great relief in that, that it is common, and others have been in the like.
2. Secondly, also, take notice of it, that you may be kept more in depend ence upon God, and that you may fear him more whilst you live in this world. Men that know not any afflictions in this life beyond what they see with their eyes and feel in the outward man, nothing beyond loss of friends and credit, these do often fear God less, though truly ; and when they come to part with any of these for God, are less willing, as when they must en dure a cross rather than sin, are apter to choose sin rather than affliction,* as Job says, but when they shall hear and know that God s wrath is beyond Pharaoh s wrath, as Moses knew it, who yet in the vast apprehension of the
< Who hath known the power of thy wrath? then they will obey God and fear him more than they would all the kings of the earth, as Moses did; not fearing the wrath of Pharaoh, Heb. xi. 27. When men enjoy a confluence of all carnal worldly comforts, and think their mountain strong, well built, with wife, children, about them, and riches,
greatness of it, cries out, Ps. xc.,
health, and honours, they think they are then more out of God s danger than other men, and are apt to say, Soul, thou hast goods for many years;* but know, that God, without taking either thy goods away or thy soul away, can in this life put thy spirit into such a condition of darkness as thou wouldest give all the world to have a moment s ease, when all other comforts
shall be to thee but as the white of an egg, as Job says. As he hath joys the world gives not, so he hath afflictions the world inflicts not. Therefore
fear him more than the loss of all, obey him rather than to keep all; for God can meet with thee in the midst of all : so he met with David, though a king, and then all his wives and kingdom could not comfort him, till God would heal the bones that he had broken.
3. Thirdly, take notice there are such troubles, and learn not to censure others when they are in this condition. Thou walkest in the light, and thou
seest another in the dungeon ; he may be dearer to God than thou. It was Job s friends fault, who, having not had experience of such a condition in
themselves, concluded that he was a hypocrite. If you thus judge, then, as Asaph says, you condemn the generation of the just, Ps. Ixxiii. 13, 14. And herein Satan also is gratified, the strict ways of grace scandalised. If God use his children thus, Curse God and die, says Job s wife; and so the
foolish men and women of this world.
4. Fourthly, pass your sojourning here in fear, and serve him with fear/ 1 Pet. i. 17; for even our God is a consuming fire, Heb. xii. 29. Keep the heart in awe with the knowledge of such an estate. This kept Job in
awe, and made him so strict a man all his days. Read the thirty-first chapter throughout, and you shall see what a righteous man he was, and then see the reason of all : ver. 23, Destruction from the Lord was a terror
* In tlie original edition it is affliction rather than sin. The sense seems to require the change which I have ventured to make. Besides, this is really what Job says, chap, xxxvi. 21. ED.
USE III.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 311
to me. And to the same purpose also, chap. iii. 25, 26, lie says that he had
always feared that which now had befallen him, whereof the distress of his
spirit was the greatest evil ; this he feared might befall him when he had most assurance.
5. Lastly, be thankful that God spares thee. Haply thy body is weak ; and he knows that thou art but flesh, and so stirs not up all his wrath : if he should fall on thee as on others, it would destroy thee. But consider that thou hadst a stone in thy heart as well as any other. God hath cured
it by gentle draughts, and so dissolved it and carried it away ; whenas he hath cut others, and bound them, and put them to much pain in taking of
it out. Oh, be thankful ! You that are healthful and have strong bodies, are you not thankful when you see others sick, and lie bedrid, roaring of the
stone, toothache, gout, whereof you are free ? And ought you not to be much more for the healthfulness of your spirits, (cheerfulness being the marrow of them,) whenas others are sick, as the expression is, Isa. xxxiii. 24, for want of assurance that their sins are forgiven ? Others roar all day as on a rack, and are distressed almost out of their wits, and even themselves
are a burden to themselves. Oh, be thankful that it is not so with you
USE III.
Who is among you that feareth the Lord, and hath been in darkness, but now is out of that eclipse, and walks in the light again 1 You who have been in the dungeon, and have been set free again ; who have had the wounds
of your spirit healed, your souls raised from the nethermost hell, when they
drew nigh to the grave, and have found a ransom, Job xxxiii. ; learn your duty also :
1. First, to be thankful to God and Jesus Christ, and to love the more ; for you know and have tasted what he did for you. You know how bitter a few sips of the cup was which he drank off and took down, and therefore must needs love him more. You also have more experience of God s power and faithfulness, and what a miracle God hath wrought in raising you up
: he hath shewn you wonders among the dead, as Heman speaks ; be thankful. Thus David, in Ps. cxvi. 3, 4, compared with ver. 1, I love
again
the Lord. And why 1 The sorrows of death compassed me, the pains of
hell gat hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow; I was brought low, and he helped me.
2. Secondly, learn to pity others in that condition. Who can do it better than you, that have experience of the like ? If you hear of any soul in dis
tress, it is expected of you to pray for him more than of another. Christ
learned to pity us in all our infirmities the more, by bearing our infirmities
himself, Heb. iv. 15. To that end God raised you up, that you might be
able to comfort others with the comforts you. have received, 2 Cor. i. 4, and might pray for them. Therefore, Isa. Ivii. 18, when any poor soul is
smitten, God, as it is there said, is moved to restore him again, for his mourners sakes as well as his own.
3. Thirdly, declare what God hath done for you. You have been in hell :
give warning to others from coming there, We, knowing the terror of the
Lord, persuade men. If the rich man had come from hell, what stories would he have told to have scared all his brethren ! Tell you the like. You have seen the wonders of God in the deep; now you are ashore, tell men of
the rocks, and shelves, and storms they are like to meet with in such and
such courses, of uncleanness, worldliness, &c. David says, when he would
312 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART II.
* then he would teach sinners God s ways/ Ps. li.
have once his bones that were broken healed again, that
4. Fourthly, take heed of what may prove the fuel of such a condition. The devil may come and cast you into your old fits if he find the same ma terials to work upon, such as gross sins, acts of uncleanness, lying, unjust dealing, &c. You know what brought David to his broken bones. And likewise take heed of performing duties formally, coldly, and in hypocrisy, and of resting in them; which are but as a hollow tooth (as Solomon speaks, Prov. xxv. 19) that is broken, better out of the head than in; these may cause the toothache again. Take heed of sinning against light ; if the devil found no such things in you, he should not trouble you. So also, get small
straggling doubts answered, let them not lie neglected ; they may come in
together one day and make an army ; though, several and apart, as they now rise in your consciences scattered, you can despise and neglect them.
USE IV.
The fourth and main use, to such as fear God and walk in darkness.
Then, who is among you walking in darkness, that yet fears to offend God as much as hell, and endeavoureth and desires to obey him in all things as much as to go to heaven ? Such, when they find God withdraw, and their hearts left comfortless, their spirits dead and hard, do call God s love and their own estates into question ; especially if they were in the sunshine
before, but now sit in the valley of the shadow of death. If dandled in God s lap before and kissed, now to be lashed with terrors and his sharpest rods, and on the tenderest place, the conscience ; to have their songs in the
night turned into writing bitter things against them ; how bitter is it to them ! Once, they say, they could never come to the throne of grace but their hen rts were welcomed, their heads stroked, and they went seldom away without a white stone, an earnest-penny put into their hands ; but now God is a terror to them, and when they arise from prayer or the like duty, their hearts condemn them more than when they began. Once they never looked to heaven but they had a smile ; now they may cry day and night and not get a good look from him. Once, say they, they never hoist up sail to any duty, but they had a fair and good wind, God went along with them ; but now they have both wind and tide, God and the deadness of their own
hearts, against them. In a word, God is gone, light is gone
: God answers them neither by vision nor by prophets ; neither in praying nor in hearing ; and therefore hath forsaken them, cast them off, yea, will never be merciful. Oh, woe to us, say they, we are undone ! You err, poor souls, not knowing the Scriptures, and the manner of your God, and of his dealings with his people, to think that his mind is changed when his countenance is, and so to run away from him, as Jacob did from Laban ; to think he hath cast you off, when he is but returning to his place, that you may seek him more earnestly, Hos. v. 15. Like children, when their mother is gone aside a little, you fall a-crying as if you were undone. So it is that you are always in the extremes : if he shines on you, then your mountain shall never be removed ; if he hides his face, then he will never be merciful. This, as it is a fond and childish fault, so it is beastly and brutish also, thus to judge. I term it so because you are led therein by sense, and, like beasts, believe nothing but what you feel and see, and measure God s love by his looks and outward carriage ; which when Asaph did in other afflictions, as you in this, he cries out he was ignorant, and as
USE IV.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 313
a beast/ Ps. Ixxiii. 22. What ! will you trust God no further than you see him ? It will shame you one day to think what a great deal of trouble your childishness put the Spirit of God unto. As what trouble is it to a wise
man, to have a fond and foolish wife, who if he be but abroad, and about
necessary business, haply for her maintenance, yet then she complains he
regards her not, but leaves her ; if he chides her for any fault, then she says he hates her, and is so much distempered by it as a whole day s kindness cannot quiet her again ? Thus deal you with God, and though he hath given you never so many fair and clear evidences of his love, and these never so
often reiterated and renewed, yet still you are jealous, never quiet, always doubting, questioning all upon the least frown ; that either God must undo
you, by letting you go on in your sinful dispositions, without ever rebuking of you, or else lose the acknowledgment of all his love formerly shewn, and have it called in question by your peevish, jealous misconstructions, upon every small expression of his anger towards you. Some of you that are less
troubled, and thus wanton against Christ, I would chide out of it. But you that are more deeply and lastingly distressed, I pity you, I blame
you not for being troubled ; for when he hides his face, the creatures all
are troubled/ Ps. civ. 29. God would have you lay it to heart when he is
angry, Isa. Ivii. 17. God there took it ill that when he smote him, he went on stubbornly. If you should not thus lay it to heart, it were a sign you had no grace; that you made not him your portion, if you could bear his
absence and not mourn. Carnal men, having other comforts, can bear the want and absence of him well enough ; but not you, that have made him
your portion, and your exceeding great reward. But yet though you are to
lay it to heart, so as to mourn under it; yet not to be discouraged, to call
all into question. For though you change, yet not God, Mai. iii. 6, James
i. 7 ; nor his love, for his love is himself, 1 John iv. 8-10. We may change in our apprehensions and opinions, and God s outward carriages and dispen sations may be changed towards us, but not his rooted love. We are not
the same to-day that yesterday we were ; but Christ is the same to-day,
yesterday, and for ever/ Heb. xiii. 8. To say that he hath cast you off because he hath hid his face, is a fallacy fetched out of the devil s topics, and injuri ous to him ; for, Isa. liv. 8, In a little wrath have I hid my face for a mo ment ; but with everlasting kindness will I remember thee. I have but
* hid my face/ not cast thee out of mind ; and though in anger/ yet but a little
anger ; and not long neither, but for a moment. And all that while I am
not unmindful of thee, I remember thee/ &c. ; and this with kindness from
everlasting to everlasting. When the sun is eclipsed, (which eclipse is rather
of the earth than of the sun, which shines as it did,) foolish people think it
will never recover light, but wise men know it will.
Obj. But you will say, If this desertion were but for a moment, it were
something ; but mine hath been for many years. Ans. How many years
? This life is but a moment; and God hath
eternity of time to shew his love in ; time enough to make amends for a
few frowns; everlasting kindnesses. Remember the text says, one that
fears God may walk in darkness ; not for a step or two, but many wearisome
turns in it. Heman was afflicted from his youth ; David so long, that, Ps.
Ixxvii., he thought God had forgotten mercy. And doth his promise fail
1 ? Remember what he said in another case, Luke xviii. 8, that
for ever
though he bears long, yet he conies speedily ; that is, though long in our
eyes, yet speedily in his own, who hath all time before him, and knows how much time is behind to be spent in embraces with you.
314 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART II.
Ofy\ Yea, but yon will say, It is not only hiding his face ; but I suffer
terrors : he is wroth ; he is turned enemy ; he fights against me ; and there
fore I am a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction.
Ans. So it was with Job, chap. xiii. 24, Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy
? So Isa. Ixiii. 10 ; Ps. Ixxxviii. 16. All
these are but the effects of a temporal wrath. There is a wide difference
between a child under wrath, and a child of wrath. Thou mayest be a child
under wrath, when not a child of wrath. God, as he may afflict you in your
estates and bodies, so your spirits, as a father j for, Heb. xii. 9 ; he is the
Father of spirits.
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TEN DIRECTIONS
FOR THOSE WHO ARE MORE DEEPLY TROUBLED ; AND MEANS TO BE USED HOW
TO RECOVER LIGHT AND COMFORT.
FOR their sakes who are thus more deeply troubled, I will prescribe some directions how they are to behave themselves in such a condition, so as to come more comfortably and the more speedily out of it. For it is in these
long and great sicknesses of the soul as in those of the body ; men are kept the longer in them, and under them, for want of right directions and pre scriptions, as we see in long agues and fevers, and the like diseases.
DIRECTION I.
First, Take heed of rash, desperate, impatient, and unbelieving speeches and wishes ; such you will be forced to recall again with sorrow. As David, when he was in fears, uttered a desperate speech, namely, that Samuel s pro phecy concerning him, and message to him from God, that he should be
king, would prove false ; and he says not only, that one day he should
perish by the hand of Saul, 1 Sam. xxvii. 1 ; the ground of which speech was, that he finding himself every day in some danger or other of his life, and so, though God had preserved him again and again, yet he thought that some of those many arrows which were shot against him so continually, and which still so narrowly missed him, might, at one time or other, hit and speed him, it were a wonder else ; but he says further, Ps. cxvi. 11, I said in my haste, that all men are liars, the prophet Samuel and all ; that it was but a promise of a vain man. But he soon recalls himself, and adds, I said this in my haste. So likewise, Ps. xxxi. 22,
< I said in my haste, I am cut
off. They were rash speeches, as he confesses, spoken in haste. Even so doth many a poor soul break forth and say, after they have had strong hopes, at first conversion, that a kingdom is theirs, that heaven is theirs, and that
it is reserved for them ; and they kept for it also through the power of God :
yet the devil being let loose to persecute them, as Saul did him, and God
hiding his face, and the arrows of the Almighty flying thick about their ears, the sorrows of hell encompassing them, and well-nigh every moment cutting them off; they, although upheld again and again, yet are apt to say that, one
day or other, they shall in all likelihood be cut off by God s hand, swal lowed up of Satan, and everlastingly destroyed. And when they are told of the hopes they had at their first conversion, and the promises that are made to them, they are apt to say that their graces by which they should now claim those promises are all a lie, false and counterfeit, and but in hypocrisy. This they say in their haste too often. So at another time, when David was in doubt about that other promise of an eternal kingdom, made to him in Ps. Ixxvii., he says, God will never be merciful. What a desperate weak
speech was this, that what a man sees not at present, he should conclude
316 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART II.
would never be ! But he acknowledged his error in it : It was my infir
mity/ ver. 10, thus to speak. So the church, Lam. iii. 17-19 : I said, My hope is perished from the Lord. What a desperate speech was this ! But she eats her words again with grief, ver. 21, This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. Job, though for a while, at the beginning of the storm, he was somewhat calm and quiet in his spirit, and it was his commendation ; and
therefore, in chap. i. 22, it is said that in all this that is, so long and thitherto he had not charged God foolishly
: but this held but to the
first and second chapter, for when he began to be wet to the skin once, and the drops of God s wrath began to soak iuto his soul, then he falls a-roaring, chap, iii., and curseth the day of his birth; and, chap. vi. 8, 9, wisheth God would cut him off; and, chap. vii. 15, says, his soul did choose strangling rather than life. For which speeches God in the end steps out, as it were, from behind the hangings, overhearing him, taking him up for them : chap, xxxviii. 2, Who is this/ says he, that talks thus ? How now 1
But, good souls, you that are in trouble ; oh, take heed of such impatient wishes or speeches as these or the like, that all which you have had is but
in hypocrisy; and, Oh that God would cut me off! that I were in hell, and knew the worst ! Take heed, I say. When a man is sick and raves, whereas otherwise the physician and those that stand about him would in
pity use him gently, they are forced to hold and bind him. Impatiem
aegrotus crudelem medicum facit, an impatient patient makes a physician more cruel than otherwise he would be. So would God deal more gently with thee but for such impatiences. And know that this is taking God s name in vain in a high degree. You must know that the graces of God written in your hearts are a part of God s name, as whereby his love is ma
nifested to you. Now for you to call the truth of these in question, and say they are counterfeit, is as if you should say of the king s hand and seal, when
it comes down to you, that it were counterfeit, and deny it ; which is crimen
Icesce majestatis. So if a special friend, or your father, had given you some old precious pieces of gold or jewels, &c., as tokens of their love and remem brances of them, for you to say in a distempered fit of jealousy, all these are but counters and but alchemy, you should exceedingly wrong and abuse their
love. Thus is it if you deny God s handwriting in your own hearts, when he hath written therein by his Spirit, joy, fear, love, zeal, &c., and should
say it is not like his hand. So if you deny the seal of the Spirit, after he hath sealed you up unto the day of redemption, and say that all the earnest-
pennies of heaven are but counters, and alchemy, and nothing worth, in so
doing you take his name, his love, his mercy, and all in vain ; yea, you lie
against the Holy Ghost, as the Apostle said in another case. Thus though God give you full leave to try and examine all his graces in you and dealings with you ; yet not desperately, at the first blush and view, upon the least mis take or flaw, to say they are no graces, and that he will never be merciful. You abuse him when you do so ; take heed of it.
DIRECTION II.
Secondly, Let the troubled soul make diligent search. Let an inquisition be set up in thy heart, So, Ps. Ixxvii. 6, David, in case of desertion, is said to do : I communed with mine own heart, and made diligent search. Now in this search make inquiry into two things
First, What might be the true cause which provokes God thus to leave
thee, and hide himself from thee 1
DIRECT. II.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 317
Secondly, What in thine own heart is the main doubt and objection, rea soning and apprehension, which causeth thee to fear, and thus to call all into question ?
These are two distinct things. For though God hath just cause and rea son to leave us^to this trouble, yet often the thing that troubles and disquiets us is a mere mistake, a misapprehension ; even as a father sees good reason often to scare the child, but yet the thing he suffers him to be affrighted with is but a mere bugbear. It is necessary to inquire into both.
First, Examine what might be the true cause that provokes God thus to leave thee. So Lam. iii. 40, Let us search and try our ways; it was spoken by the church in desertion, as appears by the former part of the
chapter. And to help yourselves in this, go over all the cases which have been propounded. Hast thou not been carnally confident in false sio-ns? or rested too much on true, to the neglect of Christ and God s free grace ? Didst thou not before neglect to stir up thy own graces 1 &c. Go over all those cases mentioned ; something or other will be found to be the cause. This is necessary, for till the cause be known, the heart submits not ; neither will
it sanctify God s name, nor will the trouble cease, till that which provokes God to lay it on be confessed and forsaken. And if it be a particular sin that God aims at, then usually God useth the horror for, and the guilt of, that very sin to afflict thee with ; and then that sin itself is made the cause of thy trouble in thy own apprehension. So as then it is easily found out ; thou wilt find thy sin to be the thorn in thy foot, the stone in thy shoe, that did grate, gall, and vex thee. David easily knew, in Ps. li., what it was for which God broke his bones ; for his very sin was the iron mace, the instrumental cause itself, of God s executing it upon him : the horror of that murder God used as the hammer to break him withal, and as the rod to whip him with : ver. 3, My sin, says he, is ever before me; it was ever in his
eye. Indeed, in outward afflictions it is more difficult to find out the cause why God afflicts a man ; unless sometimes you may, through God s wise-
disposing hand, find and read the sin in the punishment, they so resemble one another : so as a man may say, This cross lay in the womb of such a
sin, they are so like, in quo peccamus in eodem plectimur. But in those in ward distresses of conscience, that sin which is the true cause, and that moveth God to -afflict, God often useth even the guilt of that very sin to
terrify thee ; to cast a man into the distress, and to keep him in it; it is both the procatarctical cause and executioner also. But in case thou canst not find out the cause, as Job, it seems, did not ; and Elihu did suppose he might not, therefore gives him this counsel, (which do thou also follow till God shew thee the cause,) Job xxxiv. 31, 32, to say unto God, as he adviseth there,
< That which I see not, teach thou me, and I will not offend any more ; and if thou findest it, say also, as ver. 31, I have borne chastisement for such a sin ; I will never offend any more. Till then God will not let thee down.
The second thing to be searched into is, What is the chief and main rea
soning in thy heart which makes thee call all into question whether God be thy God 1 What is the reason why thou thinkest so, what makes thee con clude so ?
For this you must consider, that although God for some sin committed doth hide himself from thee, terrifies and lasheth thy conscience, yet that which causeth in thee and worketh in thee this apprehension, that God hath cast thee off, is usually some false reasoning or misapprehension, some mere mis
take, some device and sophistry of Satan. When the Corinthian was ex-
318 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PAET II.
communicated for his sin, Satan had leave to terrify his conscience for it ; but Satan went further, he would have swallowed him up of sorrow, by
persuading him that such a sin was unpardonable, and that God would
never own him again. Now the reasoning Satan used to bring this upon him was a false one, some trick and device, 2 Cor. ii. 7, compared with ver. 1 1 ; whereof if a man be ignorant, he may go mourning a long while as a cast
away. Therefore take thy soul aside, and seriously ask it, and examine it, why it is thus troubled ; what reason, what ground thou hast to think
that God is not thy God; and then examine it whether it be a true
ground, yea or no. As the Apostle, 1 Pet. iii. 15, bids us give a reason of our faith, so ask thou of thy soul the reason of its doubting.
Thus David, Ps. xlii. 5, Why art thou cast down, my soul "? And be
cause doubts arise again and again, therefore he asketh the reason again, ver. 11, Why art thou cast down ? David knew the way to dissolve them was to search into and examine the reason of them ; for still, when he had
thoroughly examined them, he found them needless and causeless to put him into such desperate fears. The child of God is often cast into prison, into fears and bondage, and after he hath lain long in them, and begins to read over the writ and mittimus, he finds it to be false imprisonment, a mere trick of Satan, his jailer. For as carnal men, when they think their
estate good, and that they are in the favour of God, it is some delusion, some
false reasoning that is still the ground of such their opinion ; as because
they prosper in the world, therefore God loves them, because they perform some duties, have some good motions, which grounds they cannot endure to have examined : so contrarily, one that fears God, the ground of his appre hension that he is out of the favour of God is likewise some false reasoning, which, when examined, appears to be such, and when it appears the soul is
freed out of its fears and doubts. Heman thought and said that God had
cast him off ; and what was the reason persuaded him to think so ? Ps.
Ixxxviii. 14, because God had hidden his face. It doth not follow, Heman. A father may hide his face from his son, and yet not cast him off. So David also reasoneth, Ps. Ixxvii. 2, 3, I have sought God, prayed, and used the means, and yet I am troubled, and yet God reveals not himself ; and what doth he conclude from this ? Ver. 7, Will the Lord cast off for
ever ? He thought, If God had loved me, he would presently have heard me ; he thought his soul would not have been worse after praying. This was a false reasoning ; for, Ps. Ixxx. 4, sometimes God shuts out his people s
prayers. A father may sometimes seem so angry that he may throw away his child s petition, and yet resolve to be his father still.
It were infinite to reckon up all the false reasonings that souls in distress have sometimes, from a place of Scripture misunderstood and misapplied. Some who, being annoyed with blasphemous thoughts against God and
Christ, and his Spirit, though they be their greatest affliction, yet have
thought they have sinned against the Holy Ghost, upon the misapplying that
place, Matt. xii. 31, that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be
forgiven; whereas that place is meant only but of some one kind of blas
phemy, which indeed is wilful blaspheming of God and the work of his
Spirit, out of revenge, Heb. x. 29. So some, because they have sinned after
enlightening and tasting, and fallen into some gross sin, think they shall never be renewed, by reason of that place, Heb. vi. 4 ; whereas he speaks of a wilful and revengeful falling away, with such a revenge as they would, if
they could, crucify Christ again, ver. 6. For otherwise David had not been renewed, for he sinned presumptuously, and despised the command-
DIRECT. Ill] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 319
ment, 2 Sam. xii. 9. So some, if they hear but of some fearful example, and of God s severe dealing with others, how he cast them off upon such a
sin, as he did Saul, they think and conclude that upon the commission of the like that God hath cast them off also. But there is no certain ground for such a thought ; for
l secret things belong to God. So because some hear there is a time after which God sometimes offers grace no more, but swears against some men, therefore that their time is also past ; which they can have no ground for : for though it be true God doth so with many that hear the gospel, yet the word gives us no certain rules to judge he hath done so by any of us. It is good to fear lest thou shouldst provoke him to
it, but thou hast no sign to fear he hath done so with thee. And indeed herein lies the main and first business to be done in raising up a troubled
soul, even to find out the ground of their doubting, and to examine the truth of it, and confute it. If a man be falsely imprisoned or cast in a suit at
law, what doth he to remedy it 1 He seeks to find out the error in the
writ. So do thou search out the ground of thy trouble ; go to some spiritual lawyer skilled in soul-work: keep not the devil s counsel; he opposeth nothing more than making your doubts known.
DIRECTION III.
The third direction I give to such is, that they keep and lend one ear, as well to hear and consider what makes for their comfort, as unto what may make against them.
This direction meets with a great infirmity of such as are in distress, who through Satan s temptations have their hearts so deeply possessed with pre judicial conceits of the misery of their estates, that, as the people of God in
Exod. vi. 9, through the anguish of their hearts/ were so far distempered that they listened not to the good message which Moses brought them, nor believed that so good news could be true of them : so are the souls of many that are in distress so filled with anguish and sense of misery, and so strongly prepossessed with desperate opinions, and so far put out of hopes, that they reject all that is spoken for their comfort ; so as they will not so much as be brought to cast an eye or a thought upon anything that may be an occa sion of comfort to them. Like some prisoners at the bar, through extremity of fear they cannot read that in their hearts and in the word which might save them. Tell them of what God hath wrought for them and in them, as evidences of his love ; and as they cannot, so often they will not, read them over ; or if they do, they read them over but as a man doth a book he means to confute : they pick quarrels, and make objections at everything that is said, as if they were hired as lawyers to plead against themselves, and to find flaws in their evidences. I have observed some who have set all their wits a-work to strengthen all arguments and objections against themselves, and who have been glad if they could object anything which might puzzle those who have come to comfort them; if they could hold argument against them
selves; as if they were disputing for the victory only. And thus through much poring upon, and considering only what might make against them, they have had the bolts of their hearts so far shot into despair, and fixed in
desperate sorrow, and the true wards of sound evidences so far wrung and wrested by false keys, that when the skilfulest and strongest comforters have come with true keys to shoot back the bolt, they would not turn about ; nay, could scarce get entrance.
This was David s infirmity, as at the 10th verse of the 77th Psalm, com-
320 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART II.
pared with the 2d verse, My soul refuseth to be comforted. He spilt all
the cordials and physic that were brought him : he was not only void of
comfort, but refused it. What ! bring me promises to comfort me ! will
such a one say, you may as well carry them to one in hell, or give physic to a man past recovery ; and so will take down nothing that is given them. So also the church, in the 3d of the Lamentations, ver. 17, 18; her heart was deeply possessed with a desperate apprehension
: My hope, says she,
is perished from the Lord. And what was it that shot her soul into so
: she forgot, that is, she would
fixed despair? Ver. 17, she forgot all good
not so much as take into consideration and remembrance anything that had
been comfortable to her. All good, so the original, that is, all God s
former good and gracious dealings with her, all the good things wrought in
her, and for her, whence she might have comfort. And in stead thereof, what did her thoughts feed and chew upon? Only wormwood and gall, her
bitterness and distress, poring only on what might make against her : I
said my hope was perished from the Lord, calling to mind my affliction and my misery, my wormwood and gall. These she could revolve and roll up and down in her mind, though they were bitter, and would entertain thoughts of nothing else. But when, on the contrary, she began to take into considera
tion God s gracious and faithful supporting her in that very desertion, in
faithfulness renewing his mercies every morning, ver. 22, 23, and that still
he maintained in her heart a longing and lingering after him, and a secret
cleaving to him, and that God did enable her to choose him as her portion,
ver. 24, this I recall to mind, says she, ver. 21, (which speech hath refer
ence to those words fore-cited, which follow there,) therefore have I hope, she spits out her wormwood, and eats her own words. And now that her
heart began to listen to what might comfort her, presently she began to have
hope. This sullen, peevish, desperate obstinacy is a thing you ought to take
heed of; for hereby you take Satan s part, and that against those you ought
to love so dearly, even your own souls. But as they said, Let Baal plead
for himself; so let Satan plead his own cause, do not you. Hereby also
you forsake your own mercies, as it is said, Jonah ii. 8 ; you give up your own right, and are so far befooled as to plead against your own title, your own interest in the best things you can have interest in God s mercies, made yours by an everlasting covenant ; you give up your portion bequeathed
you in your Father s will, which you ought to maintain; and you trust to
lying vanities, the soothsayings and fortune-tellings, as I may call them, of
Satan and of your own hearts. Hereby also ye become judges of evil
thoughts, James ii. 4 ; for he is an ill hearer of a cause who will hear but
one party speak.
DIRECTION IV.
The fourth direction is, to make diligent search into, and to call to remem
brance what formerly hath been between God and you. The remembrance of
former things doth often uphold, when present sense fails. This David prac
tised in the like case, Psalm Ixxvii. 5, 6, when his soul had refused comfort,
as I told you, ver. 2 ; yet in the end he began not only to be willing to
listen to what might make for him, but set himself a-work to recall to mind,
to consider the days of old, to make diligent search, namely, into the re
cords and register of God s dealings, ver. 11, to see if there were never a
record extant which might help him, now the devil pleaded against his title.
Even as if your houses and lands were called into question, you would search
over old writings and deeds ; so do you in this. I considered, says he,
DlEECT. IV.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 321
< the songs in the night/ -that is, that joyful communion he had enjoyed with God, when God and he sang songs together, and I communed with mine own heart, and made diligent search; I tossed and tumbled over my heart, to see if no grace formerly had been there, and if no grace at present were there. He searched into what might comfort him, as well as into the causes might provoke God thus to deal with him for I take it both may be meant.
And so Job did, when he was thus stricken and forsaken of God : he views over every part of his life ; he seeks what dry land he could find to get footing upon in the midst of seas of temptations ; recounts what a holy life he had lived, with what fear and strictness he had served God, chap, xxix and chap, xxx., and chap. xxxi. throughout, and tells them plainly <-VoT-w VVTTT -i PC CZ 4-1^^41^4. J-1* _, 1 Jl _ 1 i . . t . * * ^
remove mine integrity from me, nor let go my righteousness : win never give up mine interest in God s mercies, nor the evidences I have to shew for them. And, says he, chap. xix. 27, 28, Though my reins be at present con sumed, yet the root of the matter is in me/ that is, though God deals thus hardly with me, as you see, yea, though the exercise of grace is much ob scured, the sunshine of God s favour withdrawn, his face hidden from me, and the joyful fruits of righteousness, and comfortable fresh green speeches, and leaves you have known to grow upon this now withered stock fallen off; yet there is the root of the matter still in me a root of faith that decays not, a constant frame of grace that still remains, which hateth sin, loveth God ; and you shall all never beat me from it. And canst thou call nothing to remembrance betwixt God and thee, which argues infallibly his love ? What ! nothing? Look again. Did God never speak peace unto thy heart, and shed his love abroad in it 1 Hast thou at no time found in thine heart pure strains of true love and good-will to him, some pure drops of godly sorrow lor offending him, and found some dispositions of pure self-denial, wherein thou didst simply aim at his glory more than thine own good ? Hast thou never an old tried evidence which hath been acknowledged and confirmed again and again in open court ? What ! not one ? And if thou canst now call to mind but one, if in truth, it may support thee. For if one promise do belong to thee, then all do, for every one conveys whole Christ in whom all the promises are made, and who is the matter of them. As in the sacra ments, the bread conveys whole Christ, and the wine also whole Christ so in the word every promise conveys whole Christ. And if thou canst say, as the church of Ephesus, Rev. ii. 6, This thing I have, that I hate sin/ and every sin, as God hates it, and because he hates it : as Christ owned them for this one grace, and though they had many sins and many failings, yet, says he, this thou hast, &c. If Christ will acknowledge thee to be his for one ear-mark, or if he sees but one spot of his child upon thee, Deut. xxxii.
p, thou mayest well plead it, even any one, to him. Yea, though it be but in a lesser degree, in truth and sincerity. For God brings not a pair of scales to weigh your graces, and if they be too light refuseth them : but he brings a touchstone to try them; and if they be true gold, though never so little of it, it will pass current with him ; though it be but smoke, not flame, though it be but as a wick in the socket, Matt. xii. 20, (as it is there in the original,) likelier to die and go out than to continue, which we use to throw away; yet he will not quench it, but accept it. Yea, and though at present thou tmdest in thy sense no grace stirring in thee, nothing but hardness, deadness *&, yet if thou canst remember, Yea, but this once I had : as a woman with VOL. in. x
322 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART II.
child, though after her first quickening she doth not always find fhe child to
stir, yet because she did feel it stir, she still conceives hopes and thinks she
is with child ; so think thou of the new creature formed within thee. These things you are to recall and consider in time of distress : to remem ber former graces and spiritual dispositions in you ; and God s gracious deal
ings with you. God remembers them to have mercy on you ; and why should
you not remember them to comfort you? Therefore, Heb. vi. 9, 10, We
hope, says he, better things of you ; for God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love; namely, to reward you And therefore he calls upon them in like manner, Heb. x. 31, to call to remembrance the former days to comfort them ; how they held out when then: hearts were tried to the bottom ; when shipwreck was made of their goods, good names, and all for
Christ, yet they made not shipwreck of a good conscience. And if thou
dost thus call to remembrance things of old, and yet canst find no comfort
at first from them, as often ye may not, as was David s case, Psalm Ixxvii., for after his remembrance of his songs in the night, still his soul was left
in doubt, and he goes on to say, Will God ever be merciful 1 yet have
recourse to them again, and then again, for though they comfort not at one
time, yet they may at another ; that it may be seen that God comforts by them, and not they alone of themselves. Hast thou found a promise (which
is a breast of consolation, Isa. Ixvi. 11) milkless? Yet again suck; com
fort may come in the end. If after thou hast empanelled a jury and grand
inquest to search, and their first verdict condemns thee, or they bring in an
ignoramus ; yet do as wise judges often do, send them about it again, they may find it the next time. Jonah looked once, it seems, and found no com
fort, chap. ii. 4, for he said, I will look again towards thine holy temple. A man s heart is like those two-faced pictures
: if you look one way towards one side of them, you shall see nothing but some horrid shape of a devil, or
the like ; but go to the other side and look again, and you shall see the picture of an angel or of some beautiful woman, &c. So some have looked over
their hearts by signs at one time, and have to their thinking found nothing but hypocrisy, unbelief, hardness, self-seeking ; but not long after, examining their hearts again by the same signs, they have espied the image of God drawn fairly upon the table of their hearts.
DIRECTION V.
But now if former signs remembered bring thee no comfort in, but the waves that come over thy soul prove so deep that thou canst find no bottom
to cast anchor on, the storm and stress so great that no cable will hold, but
they snap all asunder, as is often the case of many a poor soul : Then take and put in practice this fifth direction, renew thy faith and
repentance, set thy heart a-work to believe and repent afresh as if thou hadst
never yet begun. Spend not all the time in casting out of anchors, but fall
a-pumping ; leave off and cease a while to reason about the goodness of thy former faith and repentance, and set upon the work of believing and repent
ing anew. Say, Well, suppose I have not hitherto been in the state of grace,
yet I am not incapable of it for time to come, I may obtain grace yet. Sup
pose my faith and repentance hath not been true hitherto, I will therefore now begin to endeavour after such as is true. And to that end make this
use of whatsoever flaws the devil finds in either, to direct thee what to mend and rectify for time to come ; begin to make up the breaches and unsound-
ness which is discovered, endeavour after a supply of all those wants he
DlEECT. V.] A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 323
objects to be in either : mend all the holes he picks. Say, Lord, I cast my soul on all thy mercies afresh ; I desire now to make my heart perfect with thee for time to come, to part with every sin, to submit to every duty, to curse every by-end to hell, and to set up God and Christ as my mark, polestar, and aim in all. And when thou hast done this, let the devil say his worst. This of all the former directions I commend to you, as a special means to dissolve and put these temptations about assurance to an end. I set a probatum est upon it ; take it, practise it, it is a tried one ; and it is that which at the last the church in desertion conies to : Lam. iii. 40, Come, let us try our ways, and turn to the Lord ; that is the last way and course she takes. Now when the water is at the lowest, and the tide of assurance ebbed, mend up your banks, as you use to do at low waters. Now when nothing but hypocrisy, and unbelief, and falseness of heart appear to thee to be in thy heart, do thou groan, sigh, endeavour after the contrary since
rity j and let Satan say his worst. And this direction I now in the next
place prescribe you, because in time of temptation about assurance, it is the usual course of some troubled souls to spend all their thoughts upon what
formerly they have had, as if they must have comfort only from the former work, or no way ; laying out all their time and cost in new suits and new
trials about their former title ; and when they have been cast again and again, yet still to do nothing but read over old evidences again and again, and
bring in and study new proofs.
But know, that though this is to be done, and not to be neglected, and is found often comfortable, therefore in the former direction I exhorted to it :
yet you are not only to take that course, nor to look back so much to your former faith and repentance as to forget to practise new; but being to
practise new acts of faith and repentance, this is the rightest way, the short est cut, and requires as little pains. Thou mayest with as little charge get a new lease renewed, as prove good the old one ; it will require many terms to examine over all thy evidences again and again, which also haply are blotted and blurred. Thou mayest cut the knot and dissolve the temptations sooner by new faith, than untie it by reasonings and disputings. And the truth is, in the end thou must come to this ; for God s great end in deserting is to put you upon renewing your faith and repentance. Except ye be con-
verted, as Christ says to his apostles, converted as it were anew. He will not deliver thee out of the dungeon, till thou enterest into new bonds and bail for thy good behaviour. Therefore begin to do it soon. And whereas thou thinkest that by this thou mayest prejudice thy former title, that is not my meaning, as if thou shouldest utterly give up thy old faith and repent ance as counterfeit ; I will keep my integrity, says Job : only my advice
is to forbear, and to cease pleading of it for a time, and to begin to renew it
rather, that is it I exhort unto. And then the comfort of thy old repentance will come in. As the apostle says of the law, so I of thy former title, it is not destroyed, but established rather by this. And as Christ says, John
vii. 17, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine that it is of God ; so as the best way to know the truth is not to spend all the time in disputing about it, but to practise it, which puts an end to controversies in men s hearts : so say I, to know the truth of, and so to come to have the comfort of former grace, is to add to these reasonings about it, the practice of believing and repenting anew. This baffles the devil exceedingly, and
gets the advantage of him ; for by this the suit is removed, all his old pleas dashed, this puts him upon a new reply, diverts the war, and indeed non-
plusseth him ; for what can he say to it ? He must now prove thou art
324 A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. [PART II.
incapable of grace, that thou shalt never repent, which all the world and
devils in hell cannot prove. And yet if in this case he tells tliee, as usually he doth, that all will be in vain for time to come, as well as it hath been
for time past
DIRECTION VI.
Then, sixthly, stand not now disputing it, but be peremptory and resolute
in thy faith and turning to God, let the issue be what it will be. Faith is never nonplussed. Job vows
l he will trust him though he kills him, chap,
xiii. 15. So do thou ; whether he will damn or save thee, do what he will with thee, leave not to cast thyself upon him for mercy, nor to serve and
love him. Go thou on to use the means diligently and constantly ; and be
so much the more diligent, fear and hate sin still, pray day and night
: as Heman did when he thought himself cut off, Ps. Ixxxviii. 1, I have cried
day and night, though I be as one thou rememberest no more, ver. 4, 5 ; and
so at the 9th verse, I have called daily. Though, ver. 10-12, he thought himself in hell, and thought it a miracle ever to be raised up again, yet says
he, ver. 13, but I have cried to thee. That but seems to come in as an ex
pression of his resolution hitherto, that though these were his apprehensions of his condition, yet howsoever, he had, and accordingly would go on to seek the Lord. Suppose thou findest no relish in the ordinances, yet use them ; though thou art desperately sick, yet eat still, take all is brought thee, some
strength comes of it. Say, Be I damned or saved, hypocrite or not hypocrite, I resolve to go on. And there is good reason for it ; for if thou shouldest
leave off to serve the Lord, and resolve never to look after him more, then thou
art sure to be damned. If there be an evil heart in thee to depart from
the living God, thou art undone. But this other way of seeking him, thou
mayest in the end prevail ; Who knows but God may be merciful ? In the 3d of the Lamentations, ver. 29, this counsel is given to a soul being yoked and
deserted, to put his mouth in the dust ; and it waiteth, says he, suffers, and doth anything, not only if he hath hope, but
* if there may be hope, if there be but such a thought it may prove so, he will make a venture ; and so do
thou. See what Esther did in the like desperate case : thought she, If I hold my tongue, (and so Mordecai told her,) God will destroy me. And better itwas to make a venture upon the king to speak, and so to carry her life in her hand ; and therefore she says, If I perish, I perish. And so the lepers, see how they reasoned in a desperate case : 2 Kings vii. 3, 4, If we go into the city, we are sure to die, for the famine is there ; if we sit still, we die
also. Come, let us fall into the hands of the Assyrians
: if they save us alive, so ; if they kill us, we shall, however, but die. And there were many strong arguments to move them to think they would kill them, for they were
Jews, and so of the enemy s side, and might be suspected for spies ; if not, they were lepers, that might infect the camp, who were fit for no service, for nothing but to be knocked on the head. Yet in this desperate case they took the surer and more probable part, ventured to fall to the Assyrians side, and the success is known to you all. So reason thou : If I give over my
believing, humbling myself, praying, attending on the means, I shall certainly
perish, there is no help for it ; I will therefore rather go on to do all these
as sincerely as I can to the utmost, and if God saves me, a sinner, a leper, an
enemy, so ; if not, I can be but damned. But let me tell thee, such a resolution can never go to hell with thee ;
yea, if any have a room in heaven, such a soul shall : for this puts not the
devil only to it ; foy in this case, what can the devil himself say to thee ?
DlEECT. VII] A CHILD OP LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 325
for if thou wilt venture thy soul, service, and all upon God, let the issue be what it will, in this resolute yet safe way ; if thou wilt in a pure trust refer
it unto God with contentedness and submission, what is that to him 1 but
it puts God to it also, who cannot find in his heart to damn such a one who
shall go on to do thus. When thou thus freely servest him, choosest him, venturest and leavest thyself and all the issue of thy ways to him ; thou, by this one act in such a case, shalt win more upon him and his love, than haply by all thy obedience all thy life before. Thy salvation, and the assurance
of it, that is God s work, leave it to him, try his faithfulness ; it is self-love makes us too much to be troubled about it. Go thou on to believe, repent, mourn for sin, hate, forsake it; to use the means, &c.; that is thy work; and
so doing, thou canst not be damned.
DIRECTION VII.
Let him trust in the name of the Lord.
If you ask what ground a soul in this case may have to venture thus
upon
I answer, His name ; which will make up a seventh direction.
Being thus resolved to turn to God, and to go on to fear and obey him, thou mayest safely and confidently trust in and stay upon the name of God, when thou hast nothing else to rest upon. This, you see, is the direction which the text gives ; and I had thought therefore to have made a distinct