out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou
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" more, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved " from wrath through him."
In a word, Fourthly, and lastly, If it were the very design and intention of God in not sparing his ownS on, to open thereby a door for all mercies to be let in upon us, then it is not imaginable he should withhold them : he will not lose his design, nor lay fo many stripes upon Christ in vain some shall surely have the benefit of it, and none so capable as believers.
When God spared not his own Son, this was the design of it; and could you know the thoughts of his heart, they would appear to be such as these :
I will now manifest the fierceness of my wrath to Christ, and the fulness of my love to believers.
The pain shall be his, that the ease and reftmay be theirs; the stripes his, and the healing balm issuing from them, theirs , the condemnation his, and the justification theirs ; the reproach and shame his, and the honour and glory theirs ; the curse his, and the blessing theirs ; the death his, and the life theirs ; the vinegar and gall his, the sweet of it theirs. He shallgroan, and they shall triumph ; he shall mourn, that theymayrejoice; his heart shall be heavy for a time, that theirs may be light and glad for ever; he shall be forsaken, that they may never be
forsaken ; out of the worst of miseries to him, shall spring the sweetest of mercies to them. O grace ! grace beyond conception of the largest mind, the expreffionof the tongues of angels!
THE SEVENTH
MEDITATION,
UPON MARK ix. 24. Andstraightway the father of the childcriedout, andfaidwith tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. context : and briefly it was this ; A tender father brings. apoffefsed child to Christ to be cured ; with Sipotes ? a doubting question, " If thou canstdo any thing ? have compassion
" upon us, and help us :" Words importing much natural affection and tender love to his child ; " Have compassion [up- " on us,] and [help us.]" If the child be sick, the parent is not well ; what touches the child, is felt by his father.
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And as they import his natural affection to his child,fo also his own spiritual disease, or the weakness of his faith. His child was possessed with a dumb devil, and himself with unbe. lieving doubts and suspicions of Christ's ability to cure his child.
The child had a sick body, and the father an infirm foul: Satan afflicted one by a possession, and the other by temptation, ver. 22 .
Christ returns his doubting languageuponhimself, ver. 23.
" If thou canstbelieve, all things are possible to him that be- " lieveth :" q. d. Dost thou doubt of my ability to heal thy child? Questionratherthy own ability to believe, for his cure.
If he be not healed, the cause will not be in my inability, but inthineown infidelity: Which he speaks not, to insinuate that faith was in his own power, but to convince him of his weakness, and drive him to God for assistance : Which effect it obtained ; for immediately he cried out, and faidwith tears,
" Lord, I believe, help thou mineunbelief."
Ohow good is it for men to be brought into the straits of affliction sometimes ! Had not this man fallen into this distress, it is not like that he had (at least not fo soon) arrived either to the sense of his grace, or the weakness of it.
In the words we may note these three parts.
First, A profession of his faith ; Lord, I believe.
Secondly, Asenseofthe weakness of his faith; Help thou my unbelief.
Thirdly, The affection with which both were uttered; He cried out, andJaid with tears. If these tears proceeded from the sense and feeling of divine power, enabling him to believe, as some think ; then they were tears of joy, and would inform us of this great truth :
Doct. 1. That the least and lowest measure of true faith, is matter of joy unspeakable to the possessor of it .
If they proceeded from the sense of the weakness of his faith, then they give us this note :
Doct. 2. That the remainders ofunbeliefin the people of God, do cost them many tears : They are the burdens and sorrows of gracious fouls.
Doct.
1. That the least and lowest measure of true faith, is matter of joy unspeakable to the possessor of it.
The apostle, in 2 Pet. i. 1. calls it precious faith ; and it well deserves that epithet ; for the least and lowest degree of saving faith, is of invaluable excellency ; as will appear in these particulars :
First, 'The least degree of saving faith,truly unites the soul
Sacramental Meditations. to Jesus Christ, and makes it as really a branch or member of him, as Motes, Abraham, or Paulwere.
All saving faith receives Christ, John i. 12. Indeed, the strong believer receives him with a stronger and steadier hand than the weakone doth, who staggers, doubts, and trembles, but yet receives him ; and consequently is as much interested in the blessed privileges flowing from union, as the greatest believer in the world.
Such is Christ's complacencyin our persons and duties, his sympathy with us in our troubles and afflictions, and our interest in his person and purchase. And is not this matter ofexceedingjoy ? Is it not enough to melt, yea, overwhelm the heart of a poor sinner, to discover and feel that in his own heart, which entitles him to such mercies ?
Secondly, From the least degree of saving faith, we may infer as plenary a remission of fin, as from the strongest.
The weakest believer is as completely pardoned, as the strongest ; Acts x. 43. " By him all that believe are justified from all
" things." All that believe,without difference of sizes, strength, or degrees ; the least as well as the greatest ; the believer of a day old, as well as the fathers and worthies of greatest name, and longest standing.
Lo then, the least measure of faith entitles thee as really to the greatest blessing, as the highest acts of faith can do.
It is true, the stronger the acting of faith is, the clearer the evidence usually is; but interest in the privilege is the fame in both. If then thou canst discern but the weakest act and smallest measure of faith in thy soul, haft thou not reason, with him in the text, to cry out, and say with tears, Lord, I believe ?
Canst thou receive and read this pardon, the pardon of such, andfo many fins, and not wet it with thy tears ? O, it is matter of joy unspeakable!
Thirdly, The least degree of saving faith infers thy election of God; and if that be not inatter of melting and transporting consideration, nothing is. O, it is matter of more joy, that our names are written in the book of life, than that the devils are subject to us, Luke x. 20. From hence it may be inferred, that we are chosen of God; Acts xiii . 48. " As many as were
" ordained to eternal life, believed."
Fourthly, The least measure of favingfaith, is a mercy greater than mostmen ever partake of.
It is true, God is rich and bountiful in the gifts of providence to others ; they have the good things of this life, many of them morethantheir hearts can with, Psal. lxxiii. 7. He enricheth manyofthem also with endowments of the mind, na
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tural and moral knowledge and wisdom ; yea, and adorns them with homilitical virtues, that render them very desirable and lovely in their couverses with men; but there are but few to whom he gives saving faith, Ifa. liii. 1. Believers are but a small remnant among men.
Fifthly, and lastly, He that hath any, the least degree offaving faith, hath that which will never be taken from him : All other excellencies go away at death, Job iv. 21. but this is a spring that never fails, " it springs up into everlasting life,"
John iv. 14. Am an may outhve his friends and familiars, his estateandhealth, his gifts and natural parts,but not his faith.
How great matter of joy and comfort is wrapt up in the least degree of faith !
Use 1. Of trial.
It concerns us then to examine ourselves, whether our faith be true, be it more or less, stronger or weaker ; and, until we discern its truth, it will yield but little comfort.
I confess, weak believers are under great disadvantages as to comfort; small and weak things being usually very in evident and undifcernible.
But yet, in this example before us, we find weak faith was made evident, though much unbeliefwas mixed with it.
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
In which words, many very useful signs of true, tho' weak, faith did appear ; and they are very relieving to weak believers, to consider them. O that we might find the like in us !
First, His faith gave him a tender, melting heart. He cried out, and said with tears.
Doth your faith melt your hearts, either ina sense of your own vileness, or the riches of free grace to such vile creatures ?
Secondly, His faith gave him a deep sense of his remaining unbelief, and burdened his heart with it: Help my unbelief.
And sure fo will yours, if it be but as a grain of mustard-feed in you.
Thirdly, His weak faith carried him to Christ, in fervent prayers and cries, for his help to subdue unbelief in him; and so will yours, if your faith be right. O how often do the people of God go to the throne of grace upon that errand!
Help, Lord, my heart is dead, vain, and very unbelieving ; there is no dealing with it in my own strength : Father, help me!
Fourthly, His weak faith-made him hunger and thirst after •greater measures of it : Help my unbelief; i. e. Lord, cure it, that I may believe with more strong and steady acts of faith ; that I may not question thy power any more, orfay, If thou
Sacramental Meditations. canst do any thing ? Why thus it will be with you, if you be true believers ; Luke xvii. 5. " Lord, (faidthe disciples) in- " crease our faith ."
Fifthly, There was a conflict in his soul betwixt faith and infidelity, grace and corruption ; and this is very sensible to him; faith inclining him one way,and unbelief carrying him another : And hence he speaks like am an greatly distressed,betwixt the working of contrary principles in his own soul (and fo you will also find it in yourselves), Gal. v. 17. " The flesh
" lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; so " that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
Use 2. Of consolation .
Well then, bless the Lord for the least degree of saving faith ; and be not so discouraged at its imperfections, as to overlook and flight the smallest working of faith in your souls.
This poor man was deeply sensible of his unbelief, and yet at the fame instant truly thankful for a small measure of faith ; and so should you.
For, First, The least measure of saving faith, is more than all the creatures power could produce: It is the faith of the operation of God, Col. ii. 12. It is the work of God, thatye believe, John vi. 29. Yea, it is the exceeding greatness ofbis power, Eph. i.
19, 20. No ministers of Christ, how excellent soever their gifts are, no duties or ordinances, no labour or diligence of your own, without this mighty power of God,can ever bring youtofaith.
Secondly, It is the just matter of wonder and astonishment, that ever one spark of faith was kindled in such an heart as thine is ; an heart which had no predisposition or inclination in the least to believe : Yea, it was not Rafa Tabula, like clean paper, void of any impression of faith, but filled with contrary impressions to it ; so that it is marvellous that ever your hearts received the stamp or impression of faith on them.
It was wonderful, that fire should fall from heaven and burn upon the altar, when Elijah had laid the wood in order upon it; but much more when he poured so much water upon it, as not only wet all the wood,but filled the trenches,
1 Kings xviii. 33. Just so was the case of thy soul, reader, when God came to kindle faith there: Thy heart was dark and ignorant, neither acquainted with God, or thy own condition ; yea, thy heart was a proud heart, full offelf-righte ousness, and self-conceitedness, Rev. iii. 17. Rom. x. 3. A heart, that would rather venture eternal damnation, than denyfelf, and submit to Christ: And yet the light of the Lord
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must shine into this darkness, and the pride and stiffness of thy heartmustbebroken, and brought to yield, or there is no believing.
Beside, How many and mighty enemies did oppose the work of faith in thy soul ? Among which Satan and thy own carnal reasonings were the principal, 2 Cor. x. 4. By them, what strong-holds and fortifications were raised, to secure thee from the strokes of conviction that make way for faith.
Let but the state of thine own heart, as it was by nature, be considered, and thou wilt say, it was the wonderful work of God, that ever thou wast brought in any degree to believe.
Thirdly, Though thy faith be weak, yet it is growing, if it be saving faith.
The largest tree was once but a kernel, or acorn; the most famous believer, at first but a weak and doubting one : Be not discouraged therefore, God will fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness in you, and the work of faith with power. It were certainly much better for you to be blessing God for a little faith, praying for the increase of faith, and diligently attending those means by which it maybe im proved and made flourishing in your souls, than, bya sinful ungrateful, and prejudicial despondency, at once to dish on our
God, and thus wrong yourselves.
Doct. 2. That the remains ofunbelief in gracious hearts do cost them many tears and sorrows .
There are many things that afflict and grieve the people of God from without; but all their outward troubles are nothing to these troubles that come from within .
There are many inward troubles that make them groan, but none more than this, the unbeliefthey find in their own hearts.
This sin justly costs them more trouble than other fins, because it is the root from which other fins do spring ; a root of bitterness,bearingwormwood and gall, to the imbittering of their souls.
For, First, The remains of unbeliefinthe saints, greatly dish on our God ; and what is a greatdishonour to God, cannot but bea great grief and burden to them : For look, as faith gives
God special honour above all other graces, so unbelief, in a special manner, both wrongs and grieves him above all other fins. Unbeliefindominion makesGoda liar, 1 Johnv. 10. And even the relicts thereof in believers, do shake their afsent to his truths and promises, and nourish a vile suspicion of them in the heart. And how do those base jealoufies reflect upon his honour ? Certainly,it cannot but be a grief to a gra
VOL . VIII.
Sacramental Meditations. cious heart to fee.God dishonoured by others, Psalm exix. 36and a much greater to dish on our him ourselves.
Hinc illae lachrymae : Upon this ground, wemayjustly cry out, andfay with tears, Lord, help our unbelief !
Secondly, The remains of unbelief in the saints, doth not only dish on our God, but deface and spoil their best duties, in which they at any time approach unto God. Is the face of Godcloudedfrom us in prayer, hearing, or receiving ? Examine the cause and reason, and you will find that cloud raised from your own unbelieving hearts. Are your affections cold,
flat, and dead in duty? Dig but to the root, and you will find this fin to lie there.
If the word do not work upon you as you desire and pray it might, it is because it is not mingled with faith, Heb. iv. 2. No duties, norordinances, no promises, can give down their sweet influences upon your fouls, because of this fin.
Now communion with the Lord in duties is the life of our life : These things are dearer to the saints, than their eyes.
Justly therefore do theybewail and mourn over that fin, which obstructs and intercepts their sweetest enjoyments in this world.
Thirdly, The remains ofunbeliefgive advantage and success to Satan's temptations upon us. Doth he at any time aftright and scare us from our duty, or draw and entice us to the commissions of fin, or darken and cloud our condition, and fill us with inward fears and horror, without cause ? All this he
: doth, by the mediation of our unbelief.
The apostle, inEph. vi. 16. calls faith the soul's shield against temptation : And 1 Johnv. 4. it is called the victory by which we overcome ; i. e. the sword, or weapon, by which we atchieve our victories.
And iffo, then unbeliefdifarms us both off word and thield, and leaves us naked ofdefence in the day of battle, a prey to the next temptation that befals us.
Fourthly, The remains of unbelief hinder the thriving of alk graces ; it is a worm at their root ; a plant offuch a malignant quality, that nothing which is spiritual can thrive under the droppings and shadow of it.
It is said, Heb. iv. 2. That the gofpelwas preached to the Ifraelites, but it did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. No ordinances, nor duties, be they never fo excellent, will make that foul to thrive, where unbelief prevails : You pray, you hear, you fast, you meditate ; andyetyou do not thrive ; your spiritual food doth no good : You come from ordinances as dead, careless, and vain, as you wenttothem. And why is it thus, but because ofremainingunbelief?
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Use I. Let all the peopleofGod bewail, and tenderly mourn over the remainders of infidelity in their own hearts : There, there is the root of the disease. And surely, reader, thy heart is not free of such symptoms of it, as appear in other mens hearts.
For do but confider,
i Symp .
1. What is our impatiency to wait for mercy, and despondency of spirit, if deliverance come not quickly in the outward, or inward straits of foul or body, but a plain symptom ofunbeliefin our hearts ? " He that believes, will not " make haste," Ifa. xxviii. 16. He that can believe, can also wait God's time, Psalm xxvii. 14.
Symp.
2. And what means our readiness to use sinful mediums, to prevent, or extricate ourselves out of trouble, but a great deal of infidelity, lurking still in our hearts ? Might but faith be heard to speak, it would sayinthyheart, let me rather die ten deaths, than commitone fin.
It is sweeter, and easier, to die in my integrity, than to live with a defiled, or wounded conscience.
Itisnothingbut our unbelief, that makes us fo ready to put forth our hands to iniquity,when the rod of the wicked rests long upon us, or any eminent danger threatens us, Psalm cxxv. 3 .
Symp.
3. Doth not the unbeliefofyour hearts shew itself in your deeper thoughtfulness, and great anxieties about earthly things ? Matth. vi. 30. We pretend, we have trusted God with our souls to all eternity, and nd yet cannot trust him for our daily bread. We bring the evils of to-morrow upon us to-day; and all because we cannot believe more.
O reader ! how much better were it to hear such questions as these from thee. How shall I get an heart suitable to the mercies I do enjoy? How shall Iduly improve them for God?
" What shall I render to the Lord, for all his goodness ?" This would better become thee, than to afflict thyself with, " What
" shall I eat ? What shall I drink? Or wherewithal shall I be " cloathed ?"
Symp. 4. What doth the slavish fear of death speak, but remains ofunbelief still in our hearts ? Are there not many faintings,tremblings,despondencesofmind,under the thoughts of death ? Oh ! if faith were high, thy spirit could not befo low, 2 Cor. v. 1, 2, 3. The more bondage of fear, the more infidelity.
Symp. 5. To conclude: What is the voice of all those distractions of thy heart in religious duties, but want of faith, weakness in faith, and the actual prevalence ofunbelief? You
Sacramental Meditations. come to God in prayer; and there a thousand vanities befes you: Your heart is carried away: it roves, it wanders to the ends of the earth. Conscience smites for this,and faith, Thou doftbut mock God , thy soul will smart for this : Thou fee left neither strength nor sweetness arising out of such duties.
You enquire for remedies, and fills the ears of friends with your complaints ; and, it maybe, fee not the root of all this to be in your own unbelief.
But there it is ; and till that be cured, itwillnotbe better with you.
Use II . Yet let not poor Christians so mourn, as those that have no hope, or ground of comfort, even in this case. For,
First, Though there be remainsofunbeliefinyou, yet you have infinite cause to bless Godthattheyarebut remains. You once were in unbelief ; 1 Tim. i.
13. (i. e. ) under the full power and dominion of it. Had God cut you off in that state, you must certainly have perished. This is the disease, but that was the death of your souls.
Secondly, Though unbelief be in you, yet it is not in you per modum quiet is, by way of rest, as it is in all unbelievers ; but by way of daily conflict, and as a burden too heavy to be borne. Now though the sin be sad, yet the sorrow for it is sweet ; and your conflicts with it bring you under a very comfortable sign of grace, Rom. vii. 21 .
Thirdly, This is a disease, under which all Christians do labour more or less.
There is not a heart so holy in all the world,but is infomedegreetainted and infected with this disease. And this hath been evident, not only in all Christians, of all sizes, but in all the acts of their faith.
Job's faith triumphed in chap xiii. 15. yet had its eclipse and fainting-fit in chap. xix. 20. Abraham was a most renowned believer, a great pattern and example of faith : O how high a pitch did his faith mount to inGen. xxii. 3.! Andyettherewas a time when it fainted, andfailedhim, as at Gerar, Gen. xx. 2, 10,
IJ . David in Psal. xxvii. 1, 23. was not like Davidin 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. The faith ofPeter shone out like the fun, in a glorious confession, Matth. xvi. 16. and yet was not onlybeclouded, but seemed to be gone down, and quite set, in Matth. xxvi. 69. though it afterwards recovered itself.
Fourthly, It is not this, or that degree of unbelief, that damns a man, but the power and dominion of it, that damns him. Indeed, your comfort depends much upon the strength of your faith ; but your salvation depends upon the truth of it.
Most Christians come to heaven with a weak and doubting
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faith; but few, with their fails filled with a direct and fresh wind of assurance.
Fifthly, There is enough in Christ to help thy unbelief :
Lord, said this poor man, help my unbelief.
He is an excellent physician, and knows how to relieve and cure thee : Go to him, and groan out thy complaint; tell him, thy heart is pained and troubled with this disease ; thou shalt find him a faithful, skilful, and merciful Saviour.
Sixthly, It is but a little while, before this, with all other diseases bredby it in thy soul, shall be perfectly healed ; fanctification is a cure begun; glorification is a cure performed and completed : The former hath destroyed the dominion, the latter will destroy the existence of it in thy soul : When you come to heaven, andnevertill then, will you find yourseives well, and at ease in every part.
And thus much of the fecondpoint.
There are some general observations arifingfrom both parts ofmytextconfideredtogether, wiz. the thankful acknowledgment of his faith, and the sorrowful sense of his unbelief.
It shall suffice, for a conclusion to this meditation, only to note them ; and they are these:
First, That the deepest sense of fin must not exclude an ☑humble and thankful acknowledgment of the grace of God in his people.
It is the fault of most, to hide their fins ; and the fault of some, tohidetheirgraces.
Secondly, Acceptance of our persons and duties, is a pure act of grace : There is no duty performed in a perfect act of faith ; all is mixed with unbelief in some degree, the honey and the comb are mixed together, Cant. ii. 8. No duty as it comes from us is pure.
Thirdly, Justly may we suspect that faith for a false faith, which boasts of its own strength, but never mourns in the sense of unbelief. Where there are no conflicts with fin, there can be no found evidence of sincerity.
Fourthly, Believers must not wonder to find strange vicissitudes and alterations in the state of their souls : Sometimes a clear,and sometimes a cloudy day : Sometimes they have their songs in the night, and sometimes their bitter lamentations.
If you ask, why is it thus ? the answer is, there are within you contrary principles struggling in your souls ; and it is no wonder at all to find peace and trouble, hope and fear, light and darkness taking their turns, and sharing your time betwixt them.