The Souls Conflict With Itself, Chapter 20
CHAP. XX.
Of the method of trusting in God: and the tryall of that trust.
LAstly, (to add no more) our trusting in God, should follow Gods order 13. Our trusting should follow Gods order of promising.in promising. The first promise is of forgivenesse of sinne to repentant beleevers: next 2. of healing and sanctifying grace: then 3. the inheritance of the Kingdome of Heaven to them that are sanctifyed: 4. and then the promises of all things needfull in our way to the Kingdome, &c. Now answerably, the soule being inlightned to see its danger, should looke first to Gods mercy in Christ pardoning sinne, because sinne onelyonly divides betwixt God and the soule; next, to the promises of grace for the leading of a Christian life, for true faith desires hea ling mercy, as well as pardoning mercy, and then to Heaven and all things that may bring us thither.
By all this wee see that it is not so easie a matter as the world takes it, to bring God and the soule together by trusting on him; It must be effected by the mighty power of God, raising up the Eph. 1. 20.soule to himselfe, to lay hold upon the glorious power, goodnesse, and other excellencies that are in him; God is not onelyonly the object, but the working cause of our trust; for such is our pronenesse to live by sense, and naturall reason, and such is the strangenesse and height of divine things, such our inclination to a selfe sufficiency and contentment in the creature, and so hard a matter is it to take off the soule from false bottomes, by reason of our unacquaintance with God and his wayes; besides such guilt still remaines upon our soules for our rebellion and unkindnesse towards God: that it makes us afraid to entertaine serious thoughts of him; and so great is the distance betwixt his infinite Majesty, (before whom the very Angels doe cover their faces) and us, by reason of the unspiritualnesse of our nature, being opposite to his most absolute purity, that we cannot be brought to any familiarity with the Lord (so as to come into his holy presence with confidence to rely upon him, or any comfort to have communion with him,) till our hearts be sanctified and lifted up by divine vigour infused into them.
Though there be some inclination by reason of the remainder of the image of God in us, to an outward morall obedience of the Law, yet alas, we have not onelyonly no seeds of Evangelicall truths and of faith to beleeve them, but an utter contrariety in our natures (as corrupted) either to this, or any other good. When our conscience is once awaked; we meditate nothing but feares and terrors, and dare not so much as think of an angry God, but rather how wee may escape and fly from him. Therefore together with a deepe consideration of the grounds wee have of trusting God, it is necessary wee should thinke of the indisposition of our hearts unto it, especially when there is greatest neede thereof, that so our hearts may be forced to put up that petition of the Disciples to God; Lord increase our faith, Lord helpe us against our unbeleeving hearts, &c. By prayer and holy thoughts stirred up in the use of the meanes, we shall feele divine strength infused and conveyed into our soules to trust.
The more care we ought to have to maintaine our trust in God, because (besides the hardnesse of it) it is a radicall and fundamentall grace; it is as it were the mother root and great veyne whence the exercise of all graces have their beginning and strength. The decay of a plant though it appeares first Defects in life rise frō defects in trust.from the withering of the twigs and branches, yet it arises chiefly from a decay in the roote; So the decay of grace may appeare to the view first in our company, carryage, and speeches, &c. but the primitive and originall ground of the same, is weaknesse of faith in the heart; therefore it should be our wisedome (especially) to looke to the feeding of the roote; we must 1. looke that our principles and foundation be good, and 2. build strongly upon them, and 3. repaire our building every day as continuall breaches shall be made upon us; either by corruptions and temptations from within or without; And wee shall finde that the maine breaches of our lives arise either frō false principles, or doubts, or mindlesnesse of those that are true; All sin is a turning of the soul from God to some other seeming good, but this proceeds from a former turning of the soule from God by distrust. As faith is the first returne of the soule to God, so the first degree of departing from God is by infidelity, and from thence comes a departure by other sins, by which (as sinne is of a winding nature) our unbeliefe more increaseth, and so the rent and breach betwixt our soules and God is made greater still (which is that Sathan would have) till at length by departing further and further from him, wee come to have that peremptory sentence of everlasting departure pronounced against us; so that our departure from God now is a degree to separation for ever from him. Therefore it is Sathans maine care to come betweene God and the Soule, that so unloosing us from God, wee might more easily be drawne to other things; and if he drawes us to other things, it Sathans study is to unloose our hearts frō God.is but onelyonly to unloose our hearts from God the more; for hee well knowes whilest our soules cleave close to God, there is no prevailing against us by any created policy or power.
It was the cursed policy of Balaam to advise Balak to draw the people from God (by fornication) that so GOD might be drawne from them: the sinne of their base affections crept into the very spirits of their minde, and drew them from God to Idolatry: Bodily adultery makes way for spirituall; An unbeleeving heart is an ill heart, and a treacherous heart, because it makes us to depart from God, the living God, &c. Heb. 3. 12.Therefore wee should especially take heed of it as wee love our lives, yea our best life which ariseth from the union of our soules with God.
None so opposed as a Christian, and in a Christian nothing so opposed as his faith, because it opposeth whatsoever opposes God, both within and without us: it captivates and brings under whatsoever rises up against GOD in the heart, and sets it selfe against whatsoever makes head against the soule.
And because mistake is very dangerous, and wee are prone to conceive that to trust in God is an easie matter, therefore it is needfull that we should have a right conceit of this trust what it is, and how it may be discerned, lest we trust to an untrusty trust, and to an unsteady stay.
We may by what hath been said before, What trust in God is.partly discerne the nature of it, to be nothing else▪ but an exercise of faith, whereby looking to God in Christ through the promises, wee take off our soules from all other supports, and lay them upon God for deliverance and upholding in all ill, present or future, felt or feared, and the obtaining of all good, which GOD sees expedient for us.
Now that we may discerne the truth The tryall of trust.of our trust in God the better, wee must know that true trust, is willing to be 1. It can and is willing to endure tryall.tryed and searched, and can say to God as David, Now Lord what wait I for, my hope is in thee; and as it is willing to come to tryall, so it is able to endure tryall, Psal. 39. 7.and to hold out in opposition, as appeares in David; If faith hath a promise, it will rely and rest upon it, say flesh and bloud what it can to the contrary; true faith is as large as the promise, and will take Gods part against whatsoever opposes it.
And as faith singles not out one part 2. It looks to all the promises.of divine truth to beleeve and rejects another, so it relyes upon God for every good thing one as well as another; the ground whereof is this, The same love of God that intends us heaven, intends us a supply of all necessaries that may bring us thither.
A child that beleeves his father will Fides non eligit objectum.make him Heire, doubts not but he will provide him food and nourishment, and give him breeding sutable to his future condition; It is a vaine pretence to beleeve that God will give us heaven, and yet leave us to shift for our selves in the way.
Where trust is rightly planted, it gives boldnesse to the soule in going to 3. It makes the soule bold,God, for it is grounded upon the discovery of Gods love first to us, and seeth a warrant from him for whatsoever it 1.trusts him for; though the things themselves be never so great, yet they are no greater then God is willing to bestow; againe, trust is bold because it is grounded upon the worthinesse of a Mediator who hath made way to Gods favour for us, and appeares now in heaven to maintain it towards us.
Yet this boldnesse is with humility, which carryes the soule out of it selfe; 4. yet hūble.and that boldnesse which the soule by trust hath with God, is from God himself; it hath nothing to alleadge from it selfe but its owne emptinesse and Gods fulnesse, its owne sinfulnesse and Gods mercy, its owne humble obedience, and Gods command; hence it is that the true beleevers heart is not lifted up, nor swells with selfe confidence; as trust comes in that goes out; trust is never planted and growes but in an humble and low soule; trust is a holy motion of the soule to God, and motion arises from want; those (and those only) seek out abroad that want succour at home; Motus ex indigentia▪Plants move not from place to place because they finde nourishment where they stand; but living creatures seeke abroad for their food, and for that end have a power of mooving from place to place; and this is the reason why trust is expressed by going to God.
Hereupon trust is a dependant grace answerable to our dependant condition; 5. Trust is dependantit lookes upon all things it hath or desires to have, as comming from God and his free grace and power; it desireth not onelyonly wisdome, but to be wise in his wisdome, to see in his light, to be strong in his strength, the thing it selfe contents not this grace of trust, but Gods blessing and love in the thing, it cares not for any thing further then it can have it with Gods favour and good liking.
Hence it is that trust is an obsequions and an observing grace, stirring up the 6. and obsequions.soule to a desire of pleasing God in all things, and to a feare of displeasing him; Hee that pretends to trust the Lord in a course of offending, may trust to this that God will meet him in another way then he lookes for: Hee that is a tenant at curtesie will not offend his Lord; hence it is that the Apostle inforceth that exhortation to work out our salvation with feare and trembling, Phil. 2. 12, 13.because it is God that worketh the will and the deed, and according to his good pleasure not ours; Therefore faith is an effectuall working grace, it workes in Heaven with God, it workes within us commanding all the powers of the soule, it workes without us conquering whatsoever is in the world on the right hand to draw us from God, or …n the left hand to discourage us; it works against Hell and the powers of darknesse; and all by vertue of trusting as it draweth strength from God; It stirres up all other graces and keepes them in exercise, and thereupon the acts of other graces are attributed to faith as Heb. 11. It breeds a holy jealousie over our selves, lest we give God just cause … stop the influence of his grace to…ds us, so to let us see that wee stand …ot by our owne strength: Those that take liberty in things they either know … doubt will displease God, shew they want the feare of God, and this want of feare shewes their want of dependancy, and therefore want of trust; dependancy is alwayes very respective, it studieth contentment and care to comply; this was it made Enoch walke with God, Heb. 12. 5.…d studie how to please him; when wee know nothing can doe us good or hurt but God, it drawes our chiefe care to approve our selves to him. Obedience of faith and obedience of life will goe together; and therefore he that commits his soule to God to save, will commit his soule to God to sanctifie and guide in a way of well pleasing: Not 1 Pet. 4.onelyonly the tame, but the most savage creatures, will bee at the beck of those that seede them, though they are ready to fall violently upon others; disobedience therefore is against the principles of nature.
This dependancy is either in the use of meanes, or else when meanes failes 7. It serveth Gods providence in the use of meanes.us; true dependancy is exactly carefull of all meanes. When God hath set down a course of meanes, wee must not expect that God should alter his ordinary course of providence for us; deserved disappointment is the fruit of this presumptuous confidence; the more wee depend on a wise Physitian, the more we will observe his directions, and bee carefull to use what hee prescribes; yet we must use the meanes … meanes, and not set them in Gods room, for that is the way to blast our hopes; The way to have any thing taken away and not blest, is to set our heart too much upon it. Too much griefe in parting with any thing, shewes too much trust in the enjoying of it; And therefore he that uses the meanes in faith will alwayes joyne prayer unto God, from whom as every good thing comes, so likewise doth the blessing and successe therof; where much indeavour is and little seeking to God, it shewes there is little trust; the Widdow that trusted in God, continued likewise in prayers day and Tim. 5. 5.right.
The best discovery of our not relying too much on meanes, is, when all meanes faile, if we can still relye upon God, as being still where he was, and hath wayes of his owne for helping of us, either immediately from himselfe, or by setting a worke other meanes (and those perhaps very unlikely) such as we thinke not of. God hath wayes of his …ne. Abraham never honoured God more, then when he trusted in God for …son against the course of nature, and when he had a son, was ready to sacrifice him, upon confidence that God Gen. 2. 2.would raise him from the dead againe. This was the ground upon which Daniell with such great authority reprooved Baltbazar that he had not a care to glorifie God, in whose hand his breath was, Dan. 5. 23.and all his wayes. The greatest honour we can doe unto God, is when wee see nothing but rather all contrary to that we looke for, then to shut our eyes to inferiour things below and looke altogether upon his Al sufficiency; God can convey himselfe more comfortably to us when he pleaseth without meanes then by meanes. True trust as it sets God highest in the soule, so in danger and wants it hath present recourse to him, as the Conyes to the Rockes.
And because Gods times and seasons Pro. 30. 25are the best, it is an evidence of true 8. It runnes not before God.trust when we can waite Gods leisure, and not make hast and so runne before God; for else the more hast the worse speed; God seldome makes any promise to his Children, but he exerciseth their trust in waiting long before, as David for a Kingdome, Abraham for a sonne, the whole world for Christs comming, &c.
One maine evidence of true trust in God is here in the text, wee see here it 9. It stills and quiets the soule upon good grounds.hath a quieting and stilling vertue, for it stayes the soule upon the fulnesse of Gods love joyned with his ability to supply our wants and releeve our necessities, though faith doth not (at the first especially) so stay the soule, as to take away all suspitious feares of the contrary: There be so many things in trouble that presse upon the soule, as hinder the joyning of God and it together, yet the prevailing of our unbeliefe is taken away, the raigne of it is broken. If the touch of Christ in his abasement on earth drew vertue from him, certain it is that faith cānot touch Christ in heaven, but it will draw a quieting and sanctifying vertue from him, which will in some measure stop the issues of an unquiet spirit; the Needle in the Compasse will stand North, though with some trembling.
A Ship that lyes at Anchor may bee something tossed, but yet it stil remains so fastned, that it cannot bee caried away by winde or weather; the soule after it hath cast anchor upon God, may (as we see here in David) be disquieted a while, but this unsetling tends to a deeper setling; the more we beleeve, the more we are established; faith is an establishing grace, by faith we stand, and stand fast, and are able to withstand whatsoever opposeth us. For what can stand against God, upon whose truth and power faith relyes? The devill feares not us, but him whom we flie unto for succour; It is the ground wee stand on secures us, not our selves.
As it is our happinesse, so it must be our endeavour to bring the soule close to God, that nothing get between, for then the soule hath no sure footing. When we step from God, Sathan steps in by some temptation or other presently. It requires a great deale of self deniall to bring a soule either swelling with carnall confidence, or sinking by fear and distrust, to lye levell upon God, and cleave fast to him; Square will lie fast upon Square; but our hearts are so full of unevennesse, that God hath much ado to square our hearts fit for him, notwithstanding the soule hath no rest without this.
The use of trust is best knowne i… the worst times, for naturally in sicknesse we trust to the Physitian, in want to our wit and shifts, in danger to policy and the arme of flesh, in plenty to our present supply, &c. but when wee have nothing in view, then indeed should God bee God unto us. In times of distresse, when hee shewes himselfe in the wayes of his mercy and goodnesse, then we should especially magnifie his name, which will move him to discover his excellencies the more, the more wee take notice of them. And therefore David strengthens himselfe in these words that he hoped for better times, wherein God would shew himselfe more gracious to him, because … resolved to praise him.
This trusting joynts the soule again, and sets it in its own true resting place, and sets God in his owne place in the …le, that is, the highest; and the crea…re in its place which is to bee under God, as in its owne nature, so in our hearts. This is to ascribe honour due un… God, the onelyonly way to bring peace Psal. 29. 2.…o the soule: Thus if wee can bring … hope and trust to the God of hope, … trust, we shall stand impregnable …n all assaults, as will best appeare in …ese particulars.