The Silent Soul, Part 5
Firſt, This looks ſourely and ſadly upon murmurers, upon ſuch as do nothing but mutter and murmure under the afflicting hand of God: This was Iſraels ſin ofExod. 16. 7, 8, 9 Numb. 12. 14, 27, 29. chap. 17. 5, 10. Exod. 15. 24 Deut. 1. 27 Pſal. 106. 25. old, and this is Englands ſin this day: Ah what murmuring is there againſt God! what murmuring againſt inſtruments! and what murmuring againſt providences is to bee found amongſt us! Some murmure at what they have loſt, others murmure at what they fear they ſhall loſe; ſome murmure that they are no higher, others murmure becauſe they are ſo low; ſome murmure becauſe ſuch a party rules, and others mutter becauſe themſelves are not in the ſaddle; ſome murmure becauſe their mercies are not ſo many as others, and others murmure becauſe their mercies are not ſo great as others are; ſome murmure becauſe they are afflicted, and others murmure becauſe ſuch and ſuch are not afflicted as well as they. Ah England, England! hadſt thou no more ſins upon thee, thy murmuring were enough to undo thee, did not God exerciſe much pitty and compaſſion towards thee: But more of this hereafter; and therefore let this touch for the preſent ſuffice.
Secondly, This truth looks ſourely upon thoſe that fret, chafe, and vex, when they are under the afflicting hand of God. Many when they feel the Rod to ſmart, ah how do they fret and fume! Iſa. 8. 21. When they were hardly beſtead and hungry, they fret themſelves, and curſe their King, and their God. Prov. 19. 3. The fooliſhneſs of man perverteth his way; and his heart fretteth againſt the Lord. The heart may bee fretful and2 King. 6. 33 Pſal. 37. 1, 7, 8 froward, when the tongue doth not blaſpheme. Folly brings man into miſery, and miſery makes man to fret; man in miſery is more apt to fret and chafe againſt the Lord, than to fret and chafe againſt his ſin that hath brought him into ſufferings. A fretful ſoul dares let fly at God himſelf. When Pharaoh is troubled with the frets, hee dare ſpit in the very face o… God himſelf; Who is the Lord, that I ſhould obey him? And when Jonah is in a fretting humour, hee dares tell God to his face, that hee doth well to bee angry. Jonah 4. 8. Jonah had done well if hee had been angry with his ſin, but hee did very ill to bee angry with his God. God will vex every vein in that mans heart, before hee hath done with him, who fumes and frets, becauſe hee cannot ſnap in ſunder the cords with which hee is bound, Ezek. 16. 43. Sometimes good men are ſick of the frets, but when they are, it coſts them dear; as Job and Jonah found by experience. No man hath ever got any thing by his fretting and flinging, except it hath been harder blows, or heavier chains; therefore fret not when God ſtrikes.
Thirdly, This truth looks ſourely upon thoſe who charge God fooliſhly, in the day of their adverſity, Lam. 3. 39. Why doth a Lam. 1. 12 Pſal. 77. 7,—12. Ezek. 18. 25. ch. 29. 33. 17, 20, 29.living man complain? Hee that hath deſerved a hanging, hath no reaſon to charge the Judge with cruelty, if hee eſcape with a whiping: And wee that have deſerved a damning, have no reaſon to charge God for being too ſevere, ifSome of the Heathens, as Homer obſerves, would lay the evils that they did incur by their own folly, upon their gods; ſo do many upon the true God. we eſcape with a fatherly laſhing: Rather than a man will take the blame, and quietly bear the ſhame of his own folly, hee will put it off upon God himſelf, Gen. 3. 12. It is a very evil thing when wee ſhall go to accuſe God, that wee may excuſe our ſelves, and unblame our ſelves, that wee may blame our God, and lay the fault any where, rather than upon our own hearts and waies. Job was a man of a more noble ſpirit, Job 1. 22. In all this Job ſinned not, nor charged God fooliſhly. When God charges many men home, then they preſently charge God fooliſhly, they put him to bear the brunt and blame of all, but this will bee bitterneſs in the end: When thou art under affliction, thou mayeſt humbly tell God that thou feeleſt his hand heavy, but thou muſt not blame him becauſe his hand is heavy. No man hath ever yet been able to make good a charge againſt God, and wilt thou bee able? ſurely no. By charging God fooliſhly in the day of thy calamity, thou doſt but provoke the Lord to charge thee thorow, and thorow, more fiercely, and furiouſly, with his moſt deadly darts of renewed miſery; it is thy greateſt wiſdome to blame thy ſins, and lay thy hand upon thy mouth; for why ſhould folly charge innocency? That man is far enough off from being mute and ſilent under the hand of God, who dares charge God himſelf for laying his hand upon him. ButExod. 32. 11 Pſal. 10. 1 Pſal, 22. 1, 2 Job 3. 11, 12. ch. 19. 11, 13, 14.
Fourthly, This truth looks ſourely and ſadly upon ſuch as will not bee ſilent, nor ſatisfied under the afflicting hand of God, except the Lord will give them the particular reaſons why hee laies his hand upon them. Good men ſometimes daſh their feet againſt this ſtumbling-ſtone, Jer. 15. 18. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable? &c. Though God hath alwaies reaſon for what hee doth, yet hee is not bound to ſhew us the reaſons of his doings. Jeremiah's paſſion was up, his blood was hot, and now nothing will ſilence nor ſatisfie him, but the reaſons why his pain was perpetual, and his wound incurable, So Job, chap. 7. 20. Why haſt thou ſet mee as a mark against thee, ſo that I am a burden to my ſelf? It is an evil and a dangerous thing to cavil at, or to queſtion his proceedings, who is the chief Lord ofRom. 9. 20 Dan. 4. 34, 35 all, and who may do with his own what hee pleaſeth? Hee is unaccountable, and uncontroulable; and therefore who ſhall ſay what doeſt thou? As no man may queſtion his right to afflict him, nor his righteouſneſs in afflicting of him; ſo no man may queſtion the reaſons why he afflicts him. As no man can compel him to give a reaſon of his doings; ſo no man may dare to ask him the particular reaſons of his doings. Kings think themſelves not bound to give their ſubjects a reaſon of theirEccleſ. 8. 4 doings; and ſhall wee binde God to give us a reaſon of his doings? who is the King of Kings, andRev. 1. 5, 6 Lord of Lords, and whoſe will is the true reaſon, and onelyonly rule of juſtice. The general grounds and reaſons that God hath laid down in his word, why hee afflicts his people, as viz. for their profit, Heb. 12. 10. for the purging away of their ſins, Iſa. 1. 25. for the reforming of their lives, Pſal. 119. 67. 71. and for the ſaving of their ſouls, 1 Cor. 11. 32. ſhould work them to bee ſilent and ſatisfied under all their afflictions, though God ſhould never ſatisfie their curioſity in giving them an account of ſome more hidden cauſes which may lye ſecret in the abyſs of his eternal knowledge, and infallible will. Curioſity is the ſpiritual drunkenneſs of the ſoul; and look, as the drunkard will never bee ſatisfied, bee the cup never ſo deep, unleſs hee ſee the bottome of it; ſo ſome curious Chriſtians, whoſe ſouls are over-ſpread with the leproſie of curioſity, they will never bee ſatisfied, till they come to ſee the bottome, and the moſt ſecret reaſons of all Gods dealings towards them; but they are fools in folio, who affect to know more than God would have them: Did not Adams curioſity render him and his poſterity fools in folio? and what pleaſure can wee take to ſee our ſelves every day fools in print? As a man by gazing and prying into the body of the Sun may grow dark and dim, and ſee leſs than otherwiſe hee might: So many by a curious prying into the ſecret reaſons of Gods dealings with them, come to grow ſo dark and dim, that they cannot ſee thoſe plain reaſons that God hath laid down in his word, why hee afflicts and tries the children of men.
I have read of one Sir William John Stows ſurvey of London.Champney (in the Reign of King Henry the third) once living in Tower-ſtreet London, who was the firſt man that ever built a Turret on the top of his houſe, that hee might the better overlook all his neighbours; but it ſo fell out, that not long after hee was ſtruck blind, ſo that hee who could not bee ſatisfied to ſee as others did ſee, but would needs ſee more than others, ſaw juſt nothing at all, through the juſt judgement of God upon him. And ſo it is a juſt and righteous thing with God, to ſtrike ſuch with ſpiritual blindneſs, who will not bee ſatisfied with ſeeing the reaſons laid down in the word, why hee afflicts them, but they muſt bee curiouſly prying and ſearching into the hidden and more ſecret reaſons of his ſeverity towards them. Ah Chriſtians! it is your wiſdome and duty to ſit ſilent and mute under the afflicting hand of God, upon the account of revealed reaſons, without making any curious inquiry into thoſe more ſecret reaſons that art lock'd up in the golden Cabinet of Gods own breaſt. Deut. 29. …9.
Fifthly, This truth looks ſourely and ſadly upon thoſe, who inſtead1 Sam. 21. 12,—ult. Gen. 12. 13,—20. chap. 20. 2,—14. ch. 26. 7, 8, 9, 10. Jonah 1. 1 Sam. 28. throughout of being ſilent and mute under their afflictions, uſe all ſinful ſhifts and wayes to ſhift themſelves out of their troubles, who care not though they break with God, and break with men, and break with their own conſciences; ſo they may but break off the chains that are upon them; who care not by what means the priſon door is opened, ſo they may but eſcape; nor by what hands their bolts are knock'd off, ſo they may bee at liberty. Job▪ 36. 21. Take heed, regard not iniquity, for this hast thou choſen rather than affliction. Hee makes but an ill choice, who chuſes ſin, rather than ſuffering; and yet ſuch an ill choice good men have ſometimes made (as you may ſee by the proofs in the Margint) when troubles have compaſſed them round about. Though no Lion roars like that in a mans own boſome, conſcience, yet ſome to deliver themſelves from troubles without, have ſet that Lion a roaring within. Some to deliver themſelves from outward tortures, have put themſelves under inward torments; hee purchaſes his freedome from affliction at too dear a rate, who buies it with the loſs of a good name, or a good conſcience.