The Way of Life, Treatises 1 · Treatise 5
ZACH. 12.10.
And they shall be in bitternesse for him.
THere yet remaines one Doctrine more from the Effect, from the word Bitternesse.
Doct. 5 A gracious heart looking upon Christ pierced by it, shall be in bitternesse for him.
A gracious heart, that is, such an heart, as upon whom the spirit of Grace and Prayer is poured, when it looks upon Christ pierced by it, it shall be in bitternesse. This is expressed, Luke 22.61. Peter seeing Jesus look back at him, remembring what Christ had said unto him, he went out and wept bitterly.
Now for opening of this Point, see what bitternesse it is that the soule finds when it doth look upon Christ as pierced by him, and then the Reasons and Application of it.
There is a fourfold bitternesse of soule which a mans heart is taken up with in such a case.
First, there is a bitternesse for sinne; for sinne it selfe yeelds bitternesse to the conscience. It is bitter it selfe, but is not felt till a man look upon Christ, and begins to take to heart his sinnes against him. Notable is that confession of Solomon after his grievous Apostasie, Eccl. 7.27. I find more bitter then death the woman whose heart is as snares, &c. An evident argument that Solomon penned that book after his repentance, and there he describes most excellently the whole course of repentance in those few verses. I find such sinnes more bitter then death, drawing him on to sinne, and holding him fast therein. There is indeed a strong bitternesse in sinne, but yet a man is not sensible of it, till his eyes be open to see Christ. Peter, that had seene and felt the bitternesse of his owne sin in piercing Christ, he could see the bitternesse of the estate of other men: Act. 8.23. I perceive thou art in the gall of bitternesse, (speaking of Simon Magus) where he describes the carnall estate of a naturall man; Simon had not as yet shewed any bitternesse and malice against the wayes of Christ, but he perceived by the unsavourinesse of his question, that he was yet in a carnall estate, for he had offered him money for the gift of the holy Ghost, whereas he knew the gift of Grace could not be bought and sold for money. How then is that carnall estate a gall of bitternesse? Bitternesse it was that made him unsavoury in himselfe, so that a godly heart can relish nothing in such an one but that which is as bitter as gall; he gives him gall to drink, when hee puts forth such a question, a covetous and carnall question.
2. And so it is the nature of all sin to provoke God to bitter wrath.
3. It is the nature of sinne to corrupt others, and therefore it is called a bitter root, Heb. 12.15 So the estate of nature, and the wayes of sinne, they are bitter as gall, Deut. 32.32, 33. All is bitternesse that comes from a naturall man, his thoughts and life are unsavoury, he is bitter to God and to his people. Now when mens eyes are open to see Christ, they see and feele that in sin which before they felt not; Then we see our sinfull course most bitter, the very grapes of gall and wormwood.
Secondly, there is the bitternesse of Gods wrath which a man sees and feeles when he sees Christ pierced by him, Hos. 12.14. and Gods wrath being imbittered against us is very bitter, Ier. 8.14. and 9.15. All such afflictions are like wormwood and gall to us: So the Church complaines, God hath made me drunk with wormwood, Lam. 3.15, 19. And Iob 13.26. Thou writest bitter things against me.
Thirdly, there is another bitternesse caused by a man looking upon Christ, and that is by reason of the losse of Christ: we never either had attained to him, or else now we have lost him; now we see we have no portion in Christ, and that is bitter to our soules, Ier. 2.19. A man in such a case sees that the feare of God is not in him, that the Lord Jesus he hath forsaken; estrangement from God is bitter to such a soule, Ruth 1.20. That which you reade of Esau is very memorable in this case, Gen. 27.34. when he saw he had lost the blessing, that Christ was given away from him, he went out, and lift up his voice, and cryed with a very bitter cry. I doubt not but Isaac and Rebecca took paines to catechise their families, and therefore surely in some measure he saw what he had lost; but how much more bitter would it have been unto him, had he had but a sight of Christ?
Fourthly, such a soule is in anguish for the bitternesse of soul which the Lord Jesus himself did taste and feele for our sakes; when ever the soul sees Christ with a gracious look, it beholds all the bitternesse Christ tasted of for his sake: Men gave him gall, and vinegar to drink, Psal. 69.21. but they fell short of what cup God gave him to drink, he tasted of the bitternesse of the wrath of God, and all for our sakes; and a soule seeing this is deeply imbittered in the sense thereof.
Reas. 1 First, God intends thereby to chasten, and check, and punish us for that sweetnesse and delight that formerly we have taken in sinne; that God might make our sins afflictive to us, he will make them bitter to us. Ier. 2.19. Thine owne wayes and thy doings shall correct thee.
Reas. 2 God will have it to be bitter to us, not onelyonly to correct us for former wickednesse, but likewise to make us cast up our sins in a free confession and a serious reformation; as long as sin is sweet to us, we hide it under our tongues, Iob 20.12, 13. that is, so long we shall never confesse it, nor forsake it; but when it is bitter to us, then we vomit it out in free and hearty confession. Bitternesse of sinne will bring a man to confession for sinne, Psal. 32.3, 4. For might a man goe on, and feele no burden under his sinne, he would never confesse it; but when Gods hand is smarting upon him, when God afflicts, we purpose an acknowledgement of sinne; now sinne confessed and forsaken, makes way for pardon and mercy, Prov. 28.13. This bitternesse for sinne drawes us to confession to spit it out, and to keep us from turning to it againe, it now for ever appeares unsavoury to us.
Reas. 3 That so we might be sensible of the bitternesse of the cup of Gods wrath, which our Saviour dranke to the dregs, Mat. 26.39. Implying, that what bitternesse Christ relished in sinne, and in the wrath of his Father, the same shall every soule do in some measure that hath any part in Christ, Mat. 20.23. and thereby shall we know the wonderfull love of Christ towards us, that he would drinke such a potion to the dregs for our sakes.
Reas. 4 That so we might relish more sweetly the love of God to us, and his grace in pardoning and healing all our sins, Esay 38.17. For peace I had great bitternesse, but thou hast in love to my soule delivered me from the pit of corruption. This bitternesse that a soule tasts of, makes the love of God sweet and savoury to his soule, and it is a speciall reason that God looks at in all the bitternesse which he gives us to taste of in all our sinnes, that so our pardoning and healing in Christ might seem more precious in our eyes. And hence it was that in old time God commanded the Paschall Lamb should never be eaten but with bitter and soure hearbs, Exod. 12.8: Why so? to make the Lord Jesus more savoury to us. God never gives us taste of Christ, nor to feed upon him, but in bitternesse of soule, that wee might relish the more savour in Gods love to us.
Reas. 5 That so he might strengthen our faith against all the bitternesse of the wrath of men, and of death it selfe, or of hell, which else we might be in bitter feare of all our dayes. A man that hath sometimes been in hell, is able afterwards to say truly,1 Sam. 15.33. as Agag said presumptuously, Surely the bitternesse of death is past. He that hath been sensible of the torment of hell, he doth ever after, more or lesse, walk in some comfortable assurance that bitternesse and wrath is past. Psal. 116.3. I found trouble and anguish: but ver. 7, 8. now returne to thy rest, O my soule. Because the sorrows of death have formerly compassed him about, now hee knowes God will speake ease and rest to his soule: and so the heart is much strengthened against the feares of men, Luke 12.4, 5. he having already felt more bitternesse then men can put upon him. Moses he endured as one that had seene him that was invisible, he feared nor the bitternesse of the Kings wrath, Heb. 11.27. Nothing now can make us impatient under any affliction. The more bitternesse we have found in sinne, the more savour shall we find in any affliction: No affliction seems bitter to such to whom sinne feels bitter: To whom sinne is sweet, to them affliction is as bitter as death, Micah 7.9.
Reas. 6 That so he might ever after make our spirits more savoury and lesse harsh: There is in us a naturall harshnesse; though some men be better natured then others, yet there is a root of bitternesse in every one by nature: Nor is there any way more effectuall to make us more sweet, and amiable, and savoury, then to see the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be brought to a sense of bitternesse by such a taste and sight. Ephes. 4.31, 32. a taste of the bitternesse of Christ doth banish from us all thoughts of revenge. Physitians tell us there is no better medicine to purge out the most gloomy and clammy obstructions of the stomach, and to dry up such superfluous humours, then taking some bitter thing, as Aloes, and Centaury, or the like: That is the true nature of this gracious look upon Christ, it will cleanse the soule from what ever keeps us off from fellowship with God, it purges out all clammy and cholerick distempers, it preserves the frame of the spirit sweet and savoury, bitternesse is not the wisdome which is from above, Iam. 3.12, 13, 14. when once it hath wrought the heart to this heavenly wisdome, then it makes a man gentle and meek without partiality, &c.
Vse 1 For a signe of tryall of our owne estates, whether ever we looked upon Jessus Christ with a gracious look, yea or no: If we never knew what bitternesse of soule was for sinne, nor the wrath of God, nor the want of Christ then we never yet beheld Christ with any gracious look. They to whom sinne hath been bitter, they who know no bitternesse for want of Christ, nor any pangs they have suffered for him, such soules have not yet received a spirit of Grace. Had we received a spirit of Grace, long ere now we should have felt the bitternesse of Gods wrath, the losse of Christ, the paine he suffered, in some measure: a point of much clearnesse and evidence for the discerning any mans estate. While sin is sweet, and we find relish in it, though it be unlawfull profit or pleasure, if any of these seeme sweet, and ever have done so, we have then never yet seene nor known the Lord Jesus; and yet this is for the most part the frame of the spirits of the sons and daughters of men. What a lamentable thing is it, when all of us by nature are a Simon Magus, that any man may say of us, Thou art in the gall of bitternesse, that we are of an unsavoury and bitter frame of spirit, ready to corrupt our selves and others, and yet we know it not, we neither see, nor feele this? but if sinne was never bitter to us, then have we neither part nor portion in Christ. It is true, a man may be in bitternesse for sinne, when Gods wrath lyeth heaviest upon him, as it was with Iudas, which made him not to hide it under his tongue, but to confesse it, Mat. 27.3, 4. But was he then in bitternesse for Christ? No verily, it was for sinne against him, but yet onelyonly so farre as the bitternesse thereof did reflect upon himself; but it was not for any losse of Christ he felt, or for what Christ by that meanes was to undergoe, but he was in bitternesse in himselfe: For Esau cryed out with a great and a bitter cry, but not for Christ, but for himselfe, because he had now lost that which now he could never recover.
You say, How can I tell but that my best bitternesse is no better then so? how shall I know it is for Christ? I may be in bitternesse for sinne, and for Gods wrath upon me for sin, and for want of the pardon of my sins, that I might bee rid of the burden of it. But how may I know it is for Christ, and for my losse of Christ, whom I desire above all things to enjoy?
Answ. I know not better how to put a difference, then by taking a survay of the fruits of your bitternesse; If a man be in bitternesse onelyonly for himselfe, it will end in one of these two; either in bitternesse of despaire, as it did in Iudas, and therefore he hanged himselfe, a signe he was not in bitternesse for Christ, but for bitter anguish of heart, which was greater then he was willing to endure; Or else, secondly, if not so, it will end in bitternesse of malice against them that have their part in Christ: So Esau cried out bitterly for the losse of his blessing, and birth-right; but Gen. 27.41. it is said, He hated his brother Iacob: So that if a man be in such bitternesse for the losse of Christ, that he hates those that enjoy Christ, his bitternesse is not for Christ; but if a man can finde this to bee the frame of his heart, that sin therefore seemes and tastes bitter to him, because by it he hath pierced Christ, and thereby the wrath of God is kindled against Christ; and the more that I doe meditate upon the death of Christ for me, the more it imbitters me, that I should crucifie him that hath not refused to doe so much for me; This is an undoubted argument of the spirit of grace poured forth into such a soule.
Vse 2 May teach us to take heed of resting in the estate of nature, or in a course of sin, for make account this will be bitter in the end, it will either be bitter in thy repentance, when God calls thee home to himselfe, or bitter in the nethermost hell, when Gods wrath breaks forth against thee to the utmost: We may make a sport of sin, but in the end it will be bitter. 2 Sam. 2.14. That which was but a play in the morning, proved bitter in the evening. So though a man in the morning of his age, look at sin but as a trifle, yet the time will come when thou shalt say, it is bitternesse, Esay 24.9. and Prov. 23.32. It will in the end bite like a Serpent: Though at the first the lips of an whorish woman seem sweet, yet in the end they will fill you with gall and wormwood, Prov. 7.4, 5. So you will find this to be the issue of all sin; Though a play and a pastime in the beginning, yet in the end it will be bitter. But if you come to a sight of Christ, there is no bitternesse like to that; yet no man can expect any better fruit of sin: Therefore let no man content himselfe in a carnall estate, nor a course of sin, for bitternesse will be the end of it.
Vse 3 May serve to teach all the people of God, that are at any time imbittered in their soules for sin, to walk in the sense of that bitternesse all their dayes. For God cals you ever and anon to look at Christ, & therefore it behoves us in our whole conversation, to carry about us not a spirit of bitternesse and harshnesse, but such a frame as hath sprung from sense of Christ pierced by us, and that will make us savoury, both to God and to his people: though it be like Aloes in the taste, Psal. 45.8. yet (as Aloes be) it keeps the whole man from putrifaction, and the Churches garments smell of this, that it all the graces of the Spirit of God, wherewith the soule of the Church is cloathed, as with a garment, without which she is naked, they all relish of Christ crucified, and of the gracious love of God in Christ, being pierced for them, it makes them all savour sweetly, they are not defiled nor corrupted with sinfull distempers; and therefore as a man in all his waies and duties would be sweet and savoury, so let him ever and anon renew his look at Christ, and see what he hath done and suffered for us, and that will make all our graces alwayes savour of a spirit of humility, and will effectually cleanse us from all wrath and vain-glory, and every other distemper. And if at any time thou finde thy selse imbittered with affliction and extremity for the losse of any thing, goe thou in this case and look at Christ, consider what he hath done and suffered for thee, and then thy bitterest afflictions will soone be sweet to thee, look at the bitterest of thy sins that pierced him, and that will sweeten thy greatest losses. Dost thou at any time finde thy spirit harsh, and unsavoury, uncomfortable, and unquiet? thy garments doe not now smell of myrrhe, this kinde of bitternesse must be put away; but it is for us so to feed upon the death of Christ, as that the sweetnesse of Gods love in pardoning sin in Christ, may make us quietly and meekly expresse our selves in our carriage towards our brethren; this would set an amiable lustre upon all our graces, and upon our whole conversation; and if thou seest any of thy brethren imbittered, harsh or unsavoury husbands, wives, neighbours, bitter one to another, though otherwise they be never so gracious, yet thou maist say, they have not seene Christ that day, it may be not for many dayes together; and look how long it is since we saw Christ crucified, so much will a spirit of harshnesse creep in upon us: but by how much the latelier any man hath seen Christ, and tasted of the bitternesse of his death; and therein also of the sweetnesse of his love to us, so much the more savoury and gracious will our carriage be, both before God and man; and therefore if at any time thou finde thy spirit harsh and unsavoury, take this medicine, Let the sense of the bitternesse of thy sins purge it out, and so it will, though thou beest exercised with the losse of an onelyonly childe, or an onelyonly Prince, yet looking at Christ would put us into a savoury frame, and make us relish well before God and our brethren.
Vse 4 For a word of comfort to such soules as are in bitternesse for Christ: Bitternesse against Christ is a most fearfull estate, and of all conditions the most miserable. For you see it is the condition of Gods children to be in bitternesse for Christ: But there is a generation that is full of bitternesse against Christ, and his children, and the wayes of his grace; a most fearfull condition. If such as have received a spirit of grace, be in bitternesse for Christ, then such as are in bitternesse against Christ, have received the spirit of the Devill; If thou beest in an estate of nature, and knowest not what thou dost, thy estate is lesse dangerous, but yet very dangerous it is; but if a man be in bitternesse for Christ, it is a most comfortable estate. A Christian is never more gracious, never more Christ-like, then when he is in bitternesse for him; such bitternesse will end in everlasting consolation. If therefore thou beest in bitternesse for him,Esay 65.13. and for the wrath of God, as it hath pierced Christ, and for the losse of Christ, whom thou hast grieved by walking so, unsavourly, in the profession of his name, in bitternesse for all the evil Christ hath borne for thee, in bitternesse for performing duties so unsavourly, doe not think it a dangerous and desperate condition, for this is the sweetest temper of a Christian soule.
Object. It is true, a Christian, a true Christian man is called to rejoyce in the Lord alwayes, Phil. 4.4. And you say, how should alwayes hee bee in bitternesse?
Why,Sol. by how much thou canst finde thy soule in bitternesse for Christ, so much the more cause hast thou to rejoyce in Christ, and to rejoyce alwayes; it is the truest cause of joy, that can befall thee; for the Text saith, Such an one hath received a spirit of grace; and so much as any soule walks heavily, and droopingly, as many times many a Christian doth, in such bitternesse, as wherein it findes no joy, that which makes thy heart so uncomfortable, is, because thy bitternesse is not for Christ; for if it were, it would be so sweet to thee, as that thou wouldest say, thou never hadst more cause to rejoyce, then when thy soule was in greatest bitternesse for Christ: If thou beest in bitternesse for Christ, it will make thee both comfortable to thy selfe, and to all that thou shalt converse withall, every thing will be sweet to thee when thou mournest for Christ.