The Case and Cure of a Deserted Soul, Chapter 2
CHAP. II. How, or in what ſenſe the godly are ſaid to be deſerted.
THe ſecond thing followes, how, or in what ſenſe they are ſaid to be deſerted.
Firſt, Sometimes in appearance only.ſometimes onelyonly in appearance,gQuoſdam deſerit, quoſdam deſerere videtur. Ambr. in Pſal. 118. Aug. in Pſ. 44. Obſcuris ſuper nos diſpoſitionibus Deus ſaepe unde nos aſtimatur deſerere, inde nos recipit; & unde nos recipere creditur, inde derelinquit, ut plerun que hoc fiat gratiâ, quod ira dicitur, & hoc aliquando ira ſit, quod gratia putatur. Greg. mor. l. 5. c. 5. not in truth: men are in nothing ſo much deceived as in themſelves; mans heart and wayes, yea, his judgement and thoughts are ſubject to many variations; and frequent miſtakes are found in mens opinions about theſe great queſtions, am I truly changed, or am I an hypocrite? doe I beleeve, or not? is God my God, or not, &c? And the errors of mens judgements ariſe from ignorance, unbeliefe, paſſion; falſe rules of judgement, &c. of which principles of errour I ſhall ſpeake hereafter; but through ſuch impediments men are often puzled, and thinke they are evill, when they are good; and worſt when beſt, and furtheſt from God, when neareſt to him.
But as deſertions are ſometimes in appearance onelyonly, Sometimes really.ſo ſometimes they are reall, God truly withdrawing himſelfe, and denying that fulneſſe of communion which his people were wont to have with him. But though he deſert them really, yet not totally; The Lord will not forſake his people for his great Names ſake, 1 Sam. 12.22. his truth is engaged in it, For he hath ſaid, I will never leave thee, nor forſake thee, Heb. 13.5. the words are emphaticallhEſt negationis conduplicatio, ut ſit vehementior pollicitatio. Eſtius in locum., foreign; here is to be obſerved a duplication of the ſubject of the Promiſe, I will not leave, I will not forſake: and a multiplication of negatives; there are five negatives in the promiſe, by which he intimateth that he will not, yea, he will not, ſurely he will not forſake his ſervants, hee will never wholy reject them, nor utterly leave them.
To clear this point a little,Yet with limitation. I will lay down three limitations, or diſtinctions, by which we may the better underſtand in what ſenſe this is a truth, that the godly are ſometimes forſaken of God.
God leaves them for a ſeaſon, not for ever.Not for ever. If he goe from them, it is but as one that goeth from home, to returne againe: I will not leave you comfortleſſe, or as Orphans; But I will come againe, Joh. 14.18iforeign.. When Sion was in this uncomfortable caſe, God ſaid unto her, For a moment have I forſaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee; in a little wrath have I hid my face from thee, for a moment, but with everlaſting kindneſſe will I have mercy on thee, ſaith the Lord thy Redeemer, Eſay 54, 7, 8. He may frown, but he will ſmile againe; though his compaſſions may be reſtrained, yet they cannot be extinguiſhed; his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life; weeping may endure for a night, but In the morning joy comes. Pſal. 30.5. in his favour is lifekIn benevo lentia ejus, vita, i. e. diu durat, contrarium ejus quod praeceſſit, momentum in ira ejus. Druſ. quaeſt. Ebraic. l. 1. q. 49., weeping may endure or lodge as a paſſenger, to be gone in the morning; but joy comes in the morning as an inhabitant, and enjoyeth his habitation to himſelfe. As the Sun ſets to riſe againe, and as the tender mother layeth down the childe to take it up againe; ſo deſertions are but ſhort interruptions of a Chriſtians comfort: God will not ſtay long, when his people cry unto him; he will returne, and exchange their dolefull Winter, into a joyfull Spring. Though the River hath her ebbings, yet it hath her flowings; the tide of comfort will come in again.
There ſhall be a day of their joyfull meeting with their beloved; they ſhall ſee their God, enjoy his preſence, and be embraced in the armes of his love; and when this day ſhall come, there will be more joy in meeting, then there was griefe in parting; God will powre in comforts upon them, as they have powred out teares for him; and will recompence their love with kindneſſe; their deſires, with fulneſſe; their mouring, with gladneſſe; their ſhort heavineſſe, with everlaſting conſolations.
Deſertions are not the interruption of Gods love, Not in reſpect of Gods love, but the acts of love.but of the acts of his love; his affection is the ſame, but the expreſſion is varied: nore that there is a twofold love of God, or a twofold conſideration of the ſame love.
There is the love of Benevolence, and the love of Beneficence, or as ſome call it, the love of Intention, and the love of Execution lSuarez. de praedeſt. l. 1. c. 11. §. 5. Baron. de p…ccato mort. & ven part. 1. §. 5.. The former to the faithfull from eternity to eternity, and is immutable, and incapable of any intention, remiſſion, augmentation, diminution, or any alteration; it is like God himſelfe, unchangeable, but the latter, the love of Beneficence, or of Execution, Vid. Greg. de Valent. t. 2. diſp. 8. q. 3. punct. 2.which is his love, as it expreſſeth it ſelfe in doing good to us, may be in a degree ſuſpended and reſtrained for a ſeaſon. As in the Summer there is a Lux and Lumen, light inherent in the Sunne, and light fluent from it; that is ever perfect and permanent, but this may ſuffer changes, it may be obſcured and leſſened, yea, extinguiſhed, and quite cut off, as in the night it fals out.
A father may have a deare affection to his childe, yet ſhew but little in his carriage. David ſhut in his love from Abſalom, not ceaſing to love him, but forbearing the wonted acts & expreſſion of his love: A fountain may have her ſtreams cut off, or dammed up, though it ſelf have the ſame fulneſſe & aptnes to powre itſelf out as before. The root doth not alwayes give ſo much ſap as to make branches bud and bloſſome at all times, yet when ſhe is moſt ſparing in her beneficence, her good will is the ſame, ſhe ſticks as cloſe to them as ever.
We often keep backe mercies from our ſelves, and God would more abundantly powre in himſelfe,Sene…. ep. 50 Rogat paedagogum ut migret, domum tenebroſam eſſe ait. but that we open not unto him; and ſo as that blind woman complained the houſe was darke, when ſhe her ſelfe was blinde, ſo we often complaine, as if God had reſtrained mercy, when we our ſelves reſtraine it: and it is as true, that ſometimes God is provoked by our ſinnes, and keeps in his mercy, that he comes not with ſuch gracious viſits as before, yet his love is not ſhortned, though the fruits of it are; Behold, the Lords hand is not ſhortned, that it cannot ſave, nor his care heavy that it cannot heare; but your iniquities have ſeparated betweene you and your God, and your ſinnes have hid (or made him hide) his face from you, that he will not heare. Eſay. 59.1, 2.
Though God may vary in the operations of his love, yet his love in it ſelfe is the ſame, and ſhall be the ſame for ever;Necuit hic dici quod Orontes de regum amicis eſſe ut digiti rationes ſupputā tium modo ↂ modo unitatem repraeſentantes. Plut. it is an everlaſting love, Jer. 31.3. The hils may be removed, and the mountaines may depart, but my kindneſſe ſhall not depart from thee, neither ſhall the covenant of my peace be removed, ſaith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee, Eſay 54.10. This was ſpoken to the Church in the day of her ſorrow; he tels them he loved them though he afflicted them: and that ſpeech of God to David is full for this purpoſe; I will viſit their tranſgreſsions with rods, and their iniquities with ſtripes, nevertheleſſe, my loving kindneſſe will I not utterly take from him, nor ſuffer my faithfulneſſe to faile, my covenant will I not breake, &c. Pſal. 89.30, 44.
When God deſerts his people, Not acts which are for being, but thoſe onelyonly which for wel being.hee withholds thoſe acts of love onelyonly that are for our well being, not thoſe which are for our being. Though a Chriſtian may want that without which hee cannot have peace, yet not that without which he cannot live: Whatſoever is neceſſary to his conſtitution, life, compleatneſſe, and ſtability, that is never denyed; no ſuch Good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly, Pſal. 84.11. He will ever hold their ſoules in life, not leaving them in weake beginnings, but continually leading on unto perfection: As he is the Author, ſo he is the finiſher of our faith, Heb. 12.2.Qui operatur ut accedamus, operatur ne diſcedamus. Auguſt. de bon. perſev. c. 7. We are confident of this very thing, that hee that hath begun the good worke in you, will finiſh it untill the day of Ieſus Chriſt, Phil. 1.6. The Saints ſhall have of him, whatſoever is ſo neceſſary, as without it they cannot hold their ſtate, or attain their end: but that which is rather for their ornament than ſupportment, for the ſweetneſſe of their way, than ſureneſſe of their end, for comfort rather than neceſsity, may be, and is often in great meaſure cut off and decayed.
This then is the thing: when God leaves his people, he doth not ſo leave them to the will of the fleſh; the tentations, and ſnares of the world, the power and tyrannie of the Price of darkneſſe, as never, or not at all to looke after them; but his care is over them in theſe times, and hee is with them by a ſecret and powerfull manutenency, both guiding and upholding them, and is often moſt in power, when leaſt in appearance. The metals that lye deep under ground, and ſee not the heavens in their light, yet partake of their influence, yea ordinarily the moſt precious operations of Gods gracious power are there where is leaſt ſenſe and feeling of them, and they have moſt of God when they ſee him leaſt. As when God covered Moſes his face in the cleft of the rock, Exod. 33.22. then hee paſſed by, and gave Moſes to ſee his glory: ſo the clouds and veiles that cover our eyes, are often forerunners of the cleereſt light, and ſweeteſt ſight of God.
And when God ſeemes to be turning a man into a deſolate and ruinous heap, yet even then is he building, and preparing him to be a more excellent ſtructure. The gardiner digs up his garden, pulls up his fences, takes up his plants, and to the eye ſeemes to make a pleaſant place, as a waſte; but wee know he is about to mend it, not to mar, to plant it better, and not to deſtroy it: So God is preſent even in deſertions, and though he ſeeme to annihilate, or to reduce his new creation into a confuſed Chaos, yet it is to repaire its ruines, and to make it more beautifull and more ſtrong. The glory of the ſecond temple was greater than the glory of the firſt, Hag. 2.9. In the repairing of an houſe, we ſee how they pull down part after part, as if they intended to demoliſh it, but the end is to make it better: it may be ſome poſts and pillars are removed, but it is to put in ſtronger: it may be ſome lights are ſtopped up, but it is to make fairer lights: So though God take away our props, it is not that we may fall, but that he may ſettle us in greater ſtrength; hee batters downe the life of ſenſe, to put us upon a life of faith; and when he darkens our light that we cannot ſee, it is but to bring in fuller light; as when the ſtarres ſhine not, the Sunne appeares, repairing our loſſe of an obſcure light, with her clear bright ſhining beams. So then we ſee, that though God doe forſake his people, yet not totally, not for ever, not ceaſing the affection of love, but the acts, and not thoſe which concerne our being, but ſuch as concerne our well being: As abundant quicknings, and aid of grace, victorious and triumphant power over ſinne, the cleare and ſatisfying teſtimony of his Spirit, &c.