Trouble of the Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, Discourse · Part 1 · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
Of the direct Acts of Faith, as the moſt ſuitable to a diſtreſſed Soul; as alſo of waiting upon God: With ſeveral conſiderations to enforce it. And that a Perſon in great Affliction, ought to hope that it may be better with him.
THird General. Look forward to Jeſus Chriſt, when you find things perplex'd and troubled in your own ſouls; and indeed, in the direct Acts of Faith, we have nobler objects to converſe withal than when we look and pore upon our guilty ſelves; when we look into our troubled hearts, we can ſee nothing beſides confuſion and diſorder there; but we may at the ſame time diſcern an alſufficient fulneſs in God and Chriſt to relieve our wants. It is a long and a tedious work to conſider by the ſeveral ſteps by which we are to proceed in ſuch a Caſe▪ whether we have believed or not; our Duty is at this very inſtant to believe, i. e. under a penitent ſenſe of what we have done amiſs, to look unto Chriſt for help. We muſt carefully diſtinguiſh between Juſtification and Sanctification; between thoſe habits and thoſe holy actions that are the effects of Faith, and Faith it ſelf. Our Sanctification is full of imperfection; but that Righteouſneſs of Chriſt, wherein alone we are to truſt for acceptance with God, is compleat and perfect. Theſe are things to be conſidered by people under ſpiritual diſtreſs; but if you be under the diſeaſe of Melancholly to any great degree, I am ſenſible, that neither this, nor any other direction will be altogether available. It is ſuch a ſtubborn and obſtinate diſeaſe, that it is not to be overcome by rational methods and perſwaſion, no more than a broken Bone can be ſet again by words and talk. 'Tis only God that is fully acquainted with the Nature and Violence of this worſt of Diſtempers; 'tis his Power and his Grace alone that can chaſe it away; and all thoſe things that depend upon conſideration, and that may ſucceed in other Caſes, have not the ſame tendency to good in this, becauſe it is our diſeaſe always to pore and think, and it is our miſery that we cannot think to any purpoſe. I beſeech you to remember, that the foundation of all our Peace and Comfort is Chriſt alone, and Faith in him; Mortification, Self-denial, and other Graces, are the ſuperſtructure that is laid upon it; but truly all that we can do in great and deep affliction, and ſore diſtreſſes of Soul, is only to look up to Chriſt as a poor wounded bleeding Man does look and cry to one that paſſes on the Road for help; and our Saviour and our Phyſician is ſo compaſſionate, that he will regard us, tho' we are able to ſay little more than this, Have mercy on us, thou ſon of David. Under the proſpect of our great infirmities, and of the manifold imperfections of our Duties, and under the ſenſe of our own nothingneſs and unworthineſs, let us humbly betake our ſelves to Chriſt, he will not diſdain, nor ſlight our approaches to him, nor leave them unattended with ſome manifeſtations of reviving Grace and Mercy.
IV. When you have done all this, you muſt wait till the Lord appear to your relief and help. Pſal. 123.2. Behold, as the eyes of ſervants look unto the hands of their maſters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hands of her miſtreſs; ſo our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us. Tho' his ſtroaks be very ſmart, yet we are ſure that we have deſerved them; tho' his delays of help be tedious, yet we have merited at his hands a much longer delay: We are as ſo many poor Slaves indeed, under the bondage of our fears and our troubles; but alas! we have brought our ſelves to that ſlavery, and we muſt look unto God till he ſet us free again; and tho' our Maſter be angry with us, yet he is a Maſter ſtill; and that relation that we have to him, that Intereſt which we have in his Covenant, may be ſomewhat ſupporting and comfortable to us; 'tis a more eaſie thing to bear any trouble that continues for a Week, or for a Month, and then paſſes away; but this will be the tryal of our Faith, if we can maintain our dependance and truſt in God when he afflicts us very ſore for many Months or Years together: If we ſee no ſign of help, no proſpect of deliverance, we are ſtill to wait till the time, even the ſet time to favour us be come; and this muſt be done with patience, with a ſilent and a quiet reſignation to his Will; it is the product of a calm and a quiet Soul that is ſatisfied in the Juſtice of Providence, tho' it be ſevere; only with this limitation, that you have the freedom and the command of your natural ſpirits; for if they be put into a hurry and confuſion by a diſeaſe, then indeed you can neither perform this nor any other ſpiritual action with calmneſs and deliberation; but in other Caſes, where the diſorder of the ſpirits is not ſo great and violent, He that believes, makes not haſte, Iſa. 28.16. is not furious and precipitant; and indeed it is our common fault that we would have the help of God to come juſt when we will, to be eaſed as ſoon as ever we find our ſelves in pain; to get to Heaven immediately when we find our ſelves no longer fit for ſervice here on Earth, and to have an unpainful and eaſie paſſage thither; but God that is not ſo tender of our Fleſh as of our Spirits, will ſuffer us long to be in trouble, that all may know by their own feeling, how evil and how bitter a thing it is to ſin, and that by the methods that pleaſe us leaſt, he may do us the moſt good; and by our temporal inconveniencies promote our eternal welfare. We ought in patience, in an humble and a quiet ſilence to poſſeſs our ſouls, and to approve of all the diſpenſations and the works of God; for how it is poſſible for us not to manifeſt our ſenſe of grief, even in doleful expreſſions, I know not: When a Man is under a burthen that he cannot bear, or when he is in ſharp pain, 'tis natural for him to groan and to ſigh; 'tis a thing which he cannot help. It would be, as I have intimated before, a needleſs labour, to adviſe people under great affliction, and ſpiritual diſtreſs, not to complain; for ſay what we will, they cannot but complain: Can a Man think God his Enemy, and his Soul in danger, and Hell like to be his portion? Can he ſee his Comforts wither, and his Hopes expire, and others at eaſe, while he is in wo and trouble, and not be greatly concerned? or be ſo, and not expreſs his concern for the ſadneſs of his Caſe? Blame not people that are under the Terrors of the Lord, for complaining; if your ſouls were embittered with Wormwood and Gall, you would complain as much as they. Can they be ſilent, when they think that God is departed from them? and as they fear, departed for ever? Can they be in ſo terrible calamity, as quiet, and as much unmoved as when they were at eaſe? Our bleſſed Lord himſelf, in the days of his fleſh, when his ſuffering encreaſed upon him, offered up prayers with ſtrong crying and tears, Heb. 5.7. And in the pain of his inexpreſſible agonies on the Croſs, he cryed out with a loud voice, My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me? Matt. 27.46. And Pſal. 32.3. When I kept ſilence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. And he aſſigns the Reaſon of it in Verſe 4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moiſture is turned into the drought of ſummer, Selah. There are ſome natural, unavoidable expreſſions of grief and ſorrow which are conſiſtent with that waiting and dependance upon God, which I have mentioned before; nor is it contrary to this waiting, to deſire a ſpeedy and a quick deliverance; you may lawfully pray for if: For which we have ſeveral inſtances, as Pſal. 22.19. Be not thou far from me. O Lord; O my ſtrength, haſte thee to help me. Pſal 31.2. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver me ſpeedily. Pſal. 69.17. Hide not thy face from thy ſervant, for I am in trouble, hear me ſpeedily. And ſo Pſal. 102.2. Pſal. 40.17. Make no tarrying, O my God. You may in imitation of ſo great examples, frame your requeſts after this or the like manner; but if, when you have done ſo, relief does not immediately come, if your diſtreſs and your anguiſh remain, you muſt be content ſtill to wait, and to juſtify your Maker in his delays, and in his proceedings towards you, tho' they be very terrible; as in Pſal 22.1, 2, 3. My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me? Why art thou ſo far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou heareſt not; and in the night ſeaſon, and am not ſilent: But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praiſes of Iſrael. Thoſe that aver Religion to be in all reſpects an eaſie thing, know not what they ſay; did they know what it were to be under the ſenſe of God's diſpleaſure, and under violent, painful diſtempers for many Months together, and yet to wait and to be ſatisfied with that Providence that thinks fit to continue on them long pains, and terrible fears, they would find it is not ſuch an eaſie matter to be truly Religious. But that you that are exerciſed with ſevere and ſharp Tryals, may arrive to this excellent diſpoſition of being able ſtill to wait on God.
Conſ. I. How long has God waited upon you! How long did he knock at your doors! How did he entreat, and beſeech, and call to you, ere you let him in! How did he follow you from day to day, and from Sabbath to Sabbath! How did he wait for your Repentance one year after another, doubling and renewing his expoſtulations with you, ſaying as to Jeruſalem, Jer. 13. laſt. Wilt thou not be made clean? When ſhall it once be? And if you denied to hear the Calls of the Great God for ſo long a ſpace, Can you think it hard that he does not grant a preſent anſwer to your Prayers? Would you have help on a ſudden, when you made the Eternal wait for your hearts ſo very long? He waited on us to do us good, when we ran from him, when we ſpent our Thoughts, our Strength, our Lives, and our Time in vain; after all our rebellious, our undutifulneſs and diſobedience, he moved upon our ſouls by his Spirit; he excited us to mind our Intereſt, and gave us ſpace wherein to repent. Let us remember theſe things to humble us, and to encreaſe our patience, and to keep us from thinking it ſtrange, if God, even for a long time delay his help.
Conſ. II. The Soveraignty, the Greatneſs, and the Wiſdom of God: We are his own, and he may do what he will with us; being his creatures, he may cauſe us to ſerve to whatſoever purpoſes he pleaſes; and his Wiſdom will guide even our miſeries to make them uſeful to others, tho' they be ſharp and ſevere to us; his ways are far above us; his Greatneſs and his Glory being ſo far above our thoughts, the moſt ſuitable temper of a creature towards ſo great a God, is to be ſilent, and to wait, to ſee what a period Infinite Wiſdom will at length put to thoſe Diſpenſations of his Providence, which are ſo diſmal and ſo terrible to us: If all our Comforts that we have in this world, all that we moſt valued and eſteemed, be taken from us; if our Afflictions be long and tedious, and accompanied with ſuch ſtinging particularities as have ſcarcely been mingled with the Croſſes of others that have gone before us. God may do what he will with us; we can have nothing to ſay to him, becauſe we are the work of his own hands. Our hearts in ſore diſtreſſes are apt to ſay, Why are we ſo much and ſo long afflicted? Why are we compaſſed with ſuch terrible Calamities, when others are at eaſe, that to appearance have ſinned as much as we? But theſe firſt riſings of Murmuring and Diſquiet, are to be reſiſted by the conſiderations of the Majeſty and the Greatneſs of God; who may put his Creatures to what uſe he pleaſes, and ſo as may, tho with their own ſmart, promote the good of others, and their own final good. Tho Job, as Mr. Charnock obſerves, Diſcourſe on the Attributes, pag. 781. were a pattern of Patience, yet he had deep Tinctures of Impatience; he often complains of God's uſage of him, as too hard, and ſtands much upon his own Integrity; but when God comes, in the latter Chapters of that Book, to juſtifie his carriage towards him, he chargeth him not as a Criminal, but conſiders him only as his Vaſſal; he might have found flaw enough in Job's carriage, and corruption enough in Job's Nature, to have cleared the Equity of his Proceedings as a Judg; but he uſeth no other medium to convince him, but the Greatneſs of his Majeſty, the Unlimitedneſs of his Soveraignty; which ſo appales the good man, that he puts his finger on his mouth, and ſtands mute with a ſelf-abhorrency before him as a Sovereign, rather than a Judge. His Wiſdom alſo, that makes the Night to precede the Day, and Storms to clear the Air, and make way for a fairer Seaſon, ought to ſilence and pacifie our Souls, Iſa. 30.18. And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of judgment; bleſſed are all they that wait for him. He knows the fitteſt times and ſeaſons wherein to heal our Diſeaſes, to remove our Fears, and to do us good.
Conſ. III. How great the Mercies are that we are to wait for; 'tis for Heaven and Glory, and we have his Promiſe, That our Faith and our Patience ſhall not be in vain, Iſa. 35.3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And after all the dangers, the ſnares, and hindrances, and temptations of this world, to come to Salvation at the laſt, is ſo great a Mercy, that it is ſurely worth ſtaying for: Tho we labour Six days, yet the reſt of the Sabbath does refreſh our Spirits; and ſo will after the ſufferings of this mortal Life, that Eternal Sabbath that is to be kept above with God, give us great Refreſhment; our time on earth is a ſeaſon wherein by ſeveral Trials and Afflictions to prepare us for that Happineſs and Glory: As the Night does affright us, the Morning will ſurely bring us Joy: It is but a little while, and our Lord will come and ſave us: Let us not ſurrender our ſelves to our Spiritual Enemies, tho we are ſtraitly preſs'd; for our Saviour is marching to our Relief. Jam. 5.7. Behold the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter Rain. Be ye alſo patient, ſtabliſh your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. The Huſbandman gives not his Grain for loſt, tho it be covered with Snow and Storm; he expects to ſee it riſe with the returning Spring; ſo neither ſhould we deſpair of finding Comfort, tho the Prayers that we have made, bring us no preſent ſatisfaction; You know David had the promiſe of a Kingdom, but what ſtrange Difficulties did he meet withal? And what a long time was it, before he came to ſit upon a Peaceful Throne? We muſt have Conflicts before we get the Victory; we muſt run our Race, and ſtrive hard, ere we get the Reward; but when it ſhall once be beſtowed upon us, it will abundantly recompence us for all our Tears, and all our Heavineſs; we are to take up our Croſs daily; every day on earth will afford us cauſe of Patience; we are to watch, for all our time is but as a moment to Eternity: Let not our Lord, that will bleſs us with a long and unſpeakable Felicity, have cauſe to ſay to us, as he did to his ſorrowful Diſciples, Could ye not watch with me one hour? Mat. 26.40. He looks on, knows our weakneſs, and will give us help; he could immediately ſolace, and refreſh, and ſave us if he would; but ſeeing that he is not pleaſed ſo to do, let us humbly be ſilent, and acquieſce in the Wiſdom of his Appointment and Decree; for tho he delay, he is not unmindful of our ſorrows; and in the very Minute that is moſt for his Glory, and for our Good, he will come and ſave us. Iſa. 64.4. For ſince the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye ſeen, O God, beſides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
V. Entertain a ſecret hope, that it will not always be thus ſad and diſmal with you. Tho you have made ſeveral Prayers that have not yet received a Gracious Anſwer of Peace; yet pray ſtill, and be not diſcouraged, but like blind Bartimaeus, cry the more earneſtly: You know that the Woman of Canaan perſevered in her attendance on our Lord, tho the words he ſpake ſeemed to have in them a great deal of ſharpneſs and ſeverity; yet ſhe was reſolved not to leave him, nor be denied; and at the laſt, our Saviour commended highly that Faith, of which he ſeem'd to take no notice before. It is good that a man ſhould both hope, and quietly wait to ſee the ſalvation of God, Lam. 3 27. The reaſon whereof is alledged, v. 31, 32. For the Lord will not caſt off for ever; but tho he cauſe grief, yet will he have compaſſion according to the multitude of his mercies. Tho every thing that you look upon within your own hearts, terrifie and perplex your thoughts, yet the vaſtneſs of that Mercy that is in God, and which through his Son he is willing to communicate to you, may afford you ſupport and relief; the very poſſibility of help, tho never ſo remote, may a little quiet and calm your ſouls; for tho you ſee nothing for the preſent, but Frowns and Anger in the Face of God; yet you cannot, you ought not to ſay, that it will never ſhine again; tho his ſtrokes are increaſed, and every day more painful than they were the day before, yet you muſt not then conclude, That he who chaſtens for your profit, will not lay aſide the Rod: Tho you are ſinking with your fears, and you have no power left, yet lay hold on the ſtrength of God, he will not ſtrike off your trembling hand, but encourage your dependance and your truſt in him; you are not everlaſtingly periſht, you have not yet received your final doom, it is poſſible that you may eſcape. There is great comfort in a May be I ſhall be ſaved, even tho by fire; tho more in this, I fully believe I ſhall be ſo; As Zeph. 2.3. It may be you ſhall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Joel 2.13, 14. Who knows but he will return, and leave a Bleſſing? Tho you are afflicted and toſt with Tempeſts, and not comforted, yet there is a proſpect of a quiet ſhore. Chriſt is not far off with his pleaſant and reviving Conſolations: Hold out a little longer, and your expectation ſhall not be in vain; length of pain, and continuance of ſorrow, does tire and ſpend the natural ſpirits; and long attendance upon God, without any manifeſtation of his appearance for our help, dulls our motions, enervates our ſouls, ſtrikes off the Wheels of our Chariots, and greatly tempts us to deſpair, and to ſay, Becauſe he does not help us, that he never will. Jer. 8.18. When I would comfort my ſelf againſt my ſorrow, my heart fainteth within me; for the harveſt is paſt, and the ſummer is ended, and we are not delivered. But let us hope ſtill; for when we are at the loweſt, then is the proper ſeaſon for God to work; we are indeed altogether deſolate, but in him there is compleat and ſuitable Salvation; it is an honour that we give to his promiſe when we believe it, and rely upon it when all things ſeem flatly to oppoſe our Faith, Iſa. 8.17. I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the houſe of Jacob, and I will look for him, Pſal. 27.13, 14. When we let our hope go, we pull up the ſluce, we deluge our ſelves with Miſeries and Calamities that are inexpreſſible; tho that God that raiſes the dead, does many times after long deſpair, give our departed hopes a Reſurrection, and makes our broken bones to rejoice: So very merciful and ſo good is he.