The Touchstone of Sincerity, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
Opening the designs and ends of God in bringing of the professours of Religion into such various Tryals of their graces in this world.
SECT. I.
THese are some of the ways & methods in which God brings his Gold to the Touchstone, and to the fire, even in this world; before the awful and solemn Tryal they must come to in the final Judgment. And if we desire to be satisfied what the design and end of God in making such probations of his people is,
We must conclude in the general, he certainly designs his own glory, and his peoples advantage, and profit in them. If he suffer them to be tryed by reproaches, happy are they, the spirit of God and glory resteth on them; there's their profit, and though his name be evil spoken of, yet in the meekness of their spirits, he is glorified, as it is, 1 Pet. 4. 14. If the scourg… slay suddenly, he laugheth at the tryal of the innocent, Job 9. 23. not at their afflictions, but at the effects and blessed issues and results of them: not that it gives them pain, but that it gives him glory: upon this account the Apostle bids us count it all Joy when we fall into divers temptations or tryals: and still the more tryals the more joy; for thereby God will produce such effects, as are more precious than gold that perisheth, 1 Pet. 1. 7. O who can value the comfort that is tasted by the soul upon the Tryal and discovey of its sincerity! when after some sore temptation, wherein God hath helped us to maintain our integrity; or after some close pinching affliction, wherein we have discovered in our selves a sweet resignation to, and contentment in the will of God; an heart cleaving to the Lord, purged and made more spiritual under the rod; we can turn to the Lord, and appeal to him as the Prophet did, Ier. 12. 3. But thou O Lord knowest me, thou hast seen me, and tryed mine heart towards thee.
I say who can duly value such an advantage, who would exchange such a comfort …o all the gold and silver in the world! how many tryals soever God brings his poople under, to be sure neither his own glory, nor their interest shall suffer any damage by them.
SECT. II.
BUt more particularly, let us bring our thoughts close to the matter before us; and we shall find many great advantages and benefits rising out of these Tryals of sincerity; for,
1. First, Hereby Hypocrisie is unmasked and discovered; The vizard is pluckt off from the false professour, and his true natural face and complexion shewn to the world; and in this there is a great deal of good.
Object. Good, you will say where lyes it? all the world sees the mischief and sad effects of it; many are stumbled, many are hardned by it, woe to the world because of offen…es, Matth. 16. 7.
Sol. True, some are prejudiced and hardened by it, so as never to have good thoughts of the wayes and people of God more; that's sad indeed, however therein God accomplishes his word, and executeth his decree. And though these perish; yet
First, Others are warned, awakened, and set a searching their own hearts more narrowly than ever; and this is good: 1 Cor. 10. 11, 12. now these were our examples, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.
Secondly, Hereby sin is ashamed, and it is good when sin that hath exposed men to so much shame, shall be it…self exposed to shame. This is the just reward of sin, Ier. 13. 25, 26. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the Lord; because thou …ast forgotten me, and trusted in falshood, therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face that thy shame may appear.
The turning up the skirt is a modest expression of exposing a person to the greatest shame: in the day of Tryal, God by discovering hypocrisie shames the hypocrite: and surely many such discoveries are made of men at this day; we may see sin that lurked close in the heart before, now laid open before all Israel and before the Sun.
Thirdly, Hereby the poor self-couzening hypocrite hath the greatest opportunity and advantage that ever was before him in all his life, to recover himself out of the snare of the Devil: now all his pretences are gone: now that which like a shield was advanced against the arrows of reproof and convictio… is gone: now a poor creature stands nake… and stript out of all his pleas as a fair and … pen mark to the word, and his own conscience; and happy will it be for him if now the Lord make conviction to enter pointblank into his…soul: all these are blessed effects of the discovery of Hypocrisie.
2. Secondly, By these tryals integrity is cleared up, and the doubts and fears of many upright and holly ones allayed and quieted, resolved and satisfied.
O what would many a poor Christian give for satisfaction in that great point o… sincerity! how many tears have been shed to God in secret upon that account? how many hours have been spent in examination of his own heart about it, and still jealo…sies and fears hang upon his heart? he doubts what he may prove at last: Well, …aith God, let his sincerity then come to the test kindle the fire and cast in my gold. Tryals are the high way to assurance: let my child see that he loves me more than these, that his heart is upright with me. I will try him by prosperity and by adversity; by persecutions and temptations; and he shall see his heart is better than he suspects it to be. This shall be the day of resolution to his fears and doubts.
The Apostle speaking of Heresies, 1 Cor. … … ▪ 7. 9. puts a necessity upon them. There …ust be Heresies (saith he) that they which are ap…roved may be made manifest. The same necessi…y there is (and for the same end) of all o…her tryals of grace, that the lovely beautiful …weet face of sincerity may be opened some…imes to the world to enamour them, and to …he soul in whom it is, to satisfie it that it …oth not personate a Christian, but lives the …ery life of a Christian, and hath the very …pirit and principles of a Christian in him.
3. Thirdly, By these tryals pride and self…onfidence is destroyed and mortified in the …aints, as much as by any thing in the world: …e never see what poor weak creatures we …re, till we come to the tryal. It's said, Deut. …. 2. God led Israel through the de…art to …rove them and to humble them: when we …re proved, then we are humbled. Those that …ver reckon their graces before the tryal, see …ey must come to another account, & take …ew measures of themselves after they have …een upon tryal.
Ah! little did I think, saith one, that I had …o much love for the world, and so little for God, till afflictions tryed it, I could not have …elieved that ever the creature had got so …eep into my heart, till providence either …hreatned or made a separation, and then I …ound it. I thought I had been rich in …ith, till such a danger be…el…me; or such a want began to pinch hard; and then I saw how unable I was to trust God for protection, or provision. O it's a good thing that our hearts be kept humble and lowly, how…rich soever they be in grace.
4. Fourthly, By tryals grace is kept in exercise, and the gracious soul preserved f…om security and spiritual slothfulness: tryals are to grace what the estuations and continual agitations of the waters are to the sea: or what the racking of Wines from the Lees is to it: were it not for our frequent tryals and exercises, we should quickly settle upon the Lees; and our duties would be (as God complains of Ephraim) like sowre or dead drink, Hos. 4. 18. flat, and spiritless. Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel; neither hath he gone into Captivity; therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed, Jer. 48. 11.
Much after that rate it would be with our hearts, did not the Lord frequently try and exercise them: let the best man be without some tryal or other but a few months, & you may find the want of it in his prayers and conferences quickly. O what a tan… of formality will be found in them! an… is it for the honour of God or profit of hi… people that it should be so? no, no, the Lo… knows it is not; but how shall their spiri… be reduced to the former zealous heavenly temper again; why, saith the Lord, they must into the Furnace again. I will melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the daughter of my people! Jer. 9. 7. I love them too well to lose them for want of a rod: alas! if I should suffer things to go on at this rate, what will become of them in a little time? what delight can I take in their duties▪ when the faith, fervour, humility, & holy seriousness of their spirits is wanting in them? I will therefore refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tryed; and they shall call upon my name, and I will hear them; and I will say it is my people; aud they shall say the Lord is my God, Zech. 13. 9. and thus the Lord chides himself freind again with his people.
Thus he recovers them to their true temper, and thus his visi…ations do preserve their spirits: and when the Lord sees these sweet effects of his tryals upon them, it greatly pleaseth him. O now saith God I like it. This providence hath done them good, this …od was well bestowed, the letting loose…of this temptation or that corruption upon …hem, hath made them find their knees again, …ow I hear the voice of my child again.
Beloved, this is a blessed fruit and effect of …ur frequent tryals, and how ungrateful so…ver they are to flesh and blood, that affects …a…e and is loth to be disturbed; yet it is necessary to the preservation of our spirits.
5. Fifthly, By the tryal of our graces Satan is defeated, and his accusations of the Saints found to be meer slanders. It is a very common thing with the devil and wicked men, to accuse the people of God of Hypocrisie, and to tell the world they are not the men and women they are taken to be; and that if their inside were but turned out by some through tryal, or deep search, it would appear that Religion did not indeed live in their souls as they pretend; but that they only act a part, and personate heavenly and mortified persons upon the publick stage of profession.
Thus the Accuser of the brethren suggests the Hypocrisie of Iob, Cap▪ 2. 5. put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. q. d. Well might Iob serve thee, whilest thou hast been so bountiful a master to him; he hath been well rewarded for all the service he hath done thee; but if thou stop the current of his prosperity, thou shalt see how quickly he will stop the course of his duty: a few lashes from thy hand, will make him curse thee to thy face: but O what shame and disappointment was it to that envious spirit, what a vindication of Iobs integrity, when under the greatest tryals of his faith and patience, he still held fast his integrity, and shews himself as great a pattern of patience under the cross, as he had been of piety in the days of his greatest prosperity. Satan gets nothing by bringing forth the saints upon the stage, to be made a spectacle to ange…s & men, as it is, 1 Cor. 4. 9.
6. Sixthly and Lastly, The frequent tryals of grace, exhibit a full and living Testimony against the Atheism of the world. These prove beyond all words or arguments that Religion is no fancy, but the greatest reality in the world: men would make Religion but a fancy, and the zeal of its professours, but the intemperate heat of some crazy brains, overheated with a fond notion.
They that never felt the real influences of Religion upon their own souls, will not believe that others do feel them. Serious piety is become the ludicrous subject with which the wanton Wits of this Athestical world sport themselves. But behold the wisdom and goodness of God exhibiting to the world the undeniable testimonies of the truth of Religion, as often as the sincere professour thereof are brought to the test by afflictions from the hand of God, or persecutions from the hands of men. Loe here is the faith and patience of their Saints: here is the courage, meekness, and self-denyal shining as gold in the fire: they have the real proofs of it before their eyes: instead of casting them into hell, and convincing them by eternal fire, he is pleased to cast his own people into the fire of affliction, that they who scoff at them may be convinced at an easier and cheaper rate. It is no new thing to see the enemies of Religionbrought over to embrace it, by the constancy and faithfulness of the Saints in their tryals & sufferings for it. God grant that the Atheism of this present generation do not occasion a more fiery tryal to the people of God in it, than they have yet suffered.