The Great Duty of Self-Resignation to the Divine Will, Section 2 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. That in order to our being entirely resigned to the Divine Will, we must be willing pati Deum, to suffer God, and abide the power of his Spirit working in us.
III. THirdly, Having poured out thy Soul before God in humble and earnest Prayer, thou must be willing pati Deum, to suffer God, and abide the power of his Spirit working in thee.
To this purpose there is an observable passage in St. Austin on Psalm cli. 3. Magni languores, sed major medicus, &c. Be the maladies of thy Soul never so great, yet there is a Physician that is greater, and who never fails to cure; for to an all-powerful Physician nothing is incurable, onelyonly thou must patiently suffer thy self to be cured. Do not thrust back his hand when he begins to touch thy sores, and search thy Souls wounds: He well knows what he is a doing, do not hinder and resist when it begins to pain, be not so delicate and tender to thine own hurt, but with a quiet patience bear for a while the anguish when he cuts and lanceth, considering that the present pain makes way for thy future health and soundness.
Let not Christ and his holy Spirit have cause to say of thee, (as it was said of Babylon) we would have healed him, but he would not be healed.
Vt corpus redimas ferrum patieris & ignes.
For the health and safety of the body (in case of a Gangreen or other dangerous disease) how do men endure a tedious course of Physick and much torment?
Vt valeas animo quicquam tolerare negabis?
And for the health of thy Soul, infinitely more considerable than a little longer life and ease of the body, (which is all that Physick or Chirurgery can at any time effect, but can never secure) wilt thou not endure the pain of being cured of its diseases, which let alone will make thee eternally miserable?
Let us be therefore entreated, as ever we would obtain this Divine temper of Self-Resignation, 1 Thes. v. 19. Acts vii. 51.to take heed of quenching the Spirit, of resisting the holy Ghost, as the Jews did, and paid dear for it. Take we heed of stifling any of his Convictions, and rejecting his Motions: Let us not seek to shift off and put by serious and awakening thoughts working in us, as the usual practice of sinners is, by diverting to the vain entertainments and false pleasures of the world and the flesh, nor endeavour to drown the voice of Conscience, which is the voice of God, and to be heard with a reverend regard.
If we would have Christ sit as a Purifier and refiner in the midst of us, to purge us as gold and silver, that we may offer our selves unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; we must abide the day of his coming.
But alas! I must needs observe by the way, there are but few of the Christian Profession who are thus patient, and will endure the refining and purifying work of the Spirit. Most would with Simon Magus have the Holy Ghost in his Gifts, such as may make them seem some great ones, and procure admiration to them, but few would have the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and the Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience. Many would be glad to have the Spirit to sit as a Refiner upon their Lips, that they may be able to speak spiritually, but few are willing that he should sit as a Refiner in their Hearts to melt and consume their Self-will, and purge out of them all secret inclinations to Sin. Abundance have learnt Parrot-like, to talk of the Spirit, and pretend greatly to things Spiritual, which yet declare by their lives as those in St. Iude, that they are altogether Sensual, having not the Spirit, that they have received no other Spirit but that of the world.
It hath been a great and common fault, which hath been the occasion of a world of mischief to Souls, that men have been valued as Spiritual by the gifts of the Spirit, (such as the veriest hypocrites may have) rather than by the Graces and fruits of the Spirit, such as those Gal. v. 21, 22.
But to return to our present Direction: Would we have our Wills fully resigned to the Will of God, let us above all things beware of grieving his holy Spirit, according to the Apostles Caution, Eph. iv. 30. Let us take heed of rejecting him, when he offers to work this work in us, and of giving him any the least check or discouragement, but permit him to have his full scope and liberty of doing what he pleases within us without disturbance. When Christ stands at the door and knocks, and waits to be gracious to us, let us not refuse to open to him, nor seem not to hear him; but say with Samuel, Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.