The Silent Soul, Objections · Objection 5
Object. 5 My afflictions are very great, how then can I hold my peace? though they were many, yet if they were not great, I would bee mute, but alaſs, they are very, very great. Oh! how can I bee ſilent under them? how can I now lay my hand upon my mouth?
To this anſwer, Firſt, Though they are great, yet they are not ſo great as thy ſins, thy ſelf beingRead Pſa. 106. and Nehem. 9. Judge; therefore hold thy peace, Ezra. 9. 13. And after all that is come upon us, for our evil deeds, and for our great treſpaſſe, ſeeing that thou our God haſt puniſhed us leſs than our iniquities deſerve. They that are under the ſenſe and guilt of great ſins, have cauſe to bee ſilent under their greateſt ſufferings. Never complain that thy afflictions are great, till thou canſt ſay that thy ſins are not great; it is but juſtice that great afflictions ſhould attend great ſins; therefore bee quiet: thy ſins are like great Rocks, and mighty Mountains, but ſo are not thy afflictions; therefore lay thy hand upon thy mouth: the remembrance of great ſins ſhould cool and calm a mans ſpirit under his greateſt troubles; and if the ſenſe of thy great ſins will not ſtop thy mouth, and ſilence thy heart, I know not what will.
Secondly, It may bee they are not great, if you look upon them with Scripture-ſpectacles; fleſh and1 Pet. 5. 10 blood many times looks upon Mole-hills as Mountains, and ſcratches upon the hand as ſtabs at the heart wee make Elephants of Flies, and of little Pigmies wee frame Giants: Carnal reaſon often looks upon troubles through falſe glaſſes. As there are ſome glaſſes that will make great things ſeem little, ſo there are others that will make little things ſeem great, and it may be that thou lookeſt upon thy afflictions through one of them. Look upon thy afflictions in theIſa. 54. 7, 8. ch. 26. 20. glaſs of the word, look upon them in a Scripture dreſs, and then they will bee found to bee but little; hee that ſhall look into a Goſpel-glaſs, ſhall bee able to ſay, heavy afflictions are light, long afflictions are ſhort, bitter afflictions are ſweet, and great afflictions are little, 2 Cor. 4. 16, 17, 18. It is good to make a judgement of your afflictions by a Goſpel light, and by a Goſpel rule.
Art…mon an Engineer, was afraid of his own ſhadow; men that look not upon their afflictions in a Scripture dreſs, will bee afraid even of the ſhadow of trouble, they will cry out, no affliction to our affliction, no burden to our burden, no croſs to our croſs, no loſs to our loſs; but one look into a Goſpelglaſs would make them change their note. The Lion is not alwaies ſo great nor ſo terrible as hee is painted, neither are our troubles alwaies ſo great as wee fancy them to bee: when Hagars bottle of water was ſpent, ſhee ſate down and fell a weeping, as if ſhee had been utterly undone, her proviſion and her patience, her bottle and herGen. 21. 17, 18, 19 hope were both out together; but her affliction was not ſo great as ſhee imagined, for there was a well of water near, though for a time ſhee ſaw it not: So many Chriſtians, they eye the empty bottle, the croſs, the burden that is at preſent upon them, and then they fall a weeping, a whining, a complaining, a repining, a murmuring, as if they were utterly undone, and yet a well of water, a well of comfort, a well of refreſhment, a well of deliverance is near, and their caſe no waies ſo ſad, nor ſo bad as they imagine it to be….
Thirdly, The greater thy afflictions are, the nearer is deliverance to thee; when theſe waters riſe high, then ſalvation comes upon the wing; when thy troubles are very great, then mercy will rideScripture and Hiſtory ſpeaks fully to this head. poſt to deliver thee. Deut. 32. 36. For the Lord ſhall judge his people, and repent himſelf for his ſervants; when hee ſeeth that their power (or hand) is gone, and there is none ſhut up, and left. Iſrael of old, and England of late years, hath often experienced this truth. Wine was neareſtJoh. 2. 1, 2, 3. when the water-pots were filled with water up to the brim: So oftentimes mercy is neareſt, deliverance is neareſt, when our afflictions are at the higheſt, when a Chriſtian is brim-full of troubles, then the wine of conſolation is at hand; therefore hold thy peace, murmure not, but ſit ſilent before the Lord.
Fourthly, They are not great, if compared to the glory that ſhall bee revealed, Rom. 8. 18. For I 2 Cor. 4. 16, 17, 18reckon that the ſufferings of this preſent time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory that ſhall bee revealed in us, or upon us. The Apoſtle upon caſting up of his accounts, concludes, that all the pains, chains, troubles, trials, and torments that they met with in this world, was not to bee put in the ballance with the glory of Heaven. As the Globe of the Earth, which after the Mathematicians account is many thouſands of miles in compaſs, yet being compared unto the greatneſs of the ſtarry skies circumference is but a center, or a little prick: So the troubles, afflictions, and ſorrows of this life, in reſpect of eternal happineſs and bleſſedneſs, are to bee reputed as nothing, they are but as the prick of a pin to the ſtarry Heavens; they that have heard moſt of the glory of Heaven, have not heard one quarter of that which the Saints ſhall finde there; that glory is unconceivable, and unexpreſſable. Auguſtine in one of his Epiſtles hath this relation, that the very ſame day wherein Jerome died, hee was in his ſtudy, and had got Pen, Ink, and Paper, to write ſomething of the glory of Heaven to Jerome, and ſuddenly hee ſaw a light breaking into his ſtudy, and a ſweet ſmell that came unto him, and this voice hee thought hee heard. O Auguſtine! what doeſt thou? doſt thou think to put the Sea into a li…tle veſſel? when the Heavens ſhall ceaſe from their continual motion, then ſhalt thou bee able to underſtand what the glory of Heaven is, and not before, except you come to feel it, as now I do. Nicephorus ſpeaks of one Agbarus Eccleſ. Hiſt.a great man, that (hearing ſo much of Chriſts fame, by reaſon of the miracles hee wrought) ſent a Painter to take his picture, and that the Painter when hee came was not able to do it, becauſe of that radiancy and divine ſplendor which ſate on Chriſts face; ſuch is the ſplendor, the brightneſs, the glory, the happineſs and bleſſedneſs that is reſerved for the Saints in Heaven, that had I all the tongues of men on earth, and all the excellencies of the Angels in Heaven, yet ſhould I not bee able to conceive, nor to expreſs that viſion of glory to you; it is beſt haſtning thither, that wee may feel and enjoy that which wee ſhall never bee able to declare.
Fifthly, They are not great, if compared with the afflictions and torments of ſuch of the damned, who when they were in this world1 Pet. 3. 18, 19, 20 Jude 6, 7. Mat. 10. 15. …h. 11. 23, 24 never ſinned at ſo high a rate as thou haſt done. Doubtleſs there are many now in Hell, who never ſinned againſt ſuch clear light as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch ſpecial love as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch choice means as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch precious mercies as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch ſingular remedies asIſa. 33. 14 The fire in hell, is like that ſtone in Arcadia, which being once kindled, could not be quenched. thou haſt done; certainly there are many now a roaring in everlaſting burnings, who never ſinned againſt ſuch deep convictions of conſcience as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch cloſe and ſtrong reaſonings of the Spirit as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch free offers of mercy, and rich tenders of grace as thou haſt done, nor againſt ſuch ſweet wooings, and multiplied intreaties of a bleeding dying Saviour as thou haſt done; therefore hold thy peace: What are thy afflictions, thy torments, to the torments of the damned, whoſe torments are numberleſs, eaſeleſs, remedileſs, and endleſs, whoſe pains are without intermiſſion or mitigation, who have weeping ſerved in for the firſt courſe, and gnaſhing of teeth for the ſecond, and the gnawing worm for the third, and intollerable pain for the fourth (yet the pain of the body is but the body of pain, the very ſoul of ſorrow, and pain, is the ſouls ſorrow and pain) and an everlaſting alienation and ſeparation from God for the fifth? Ah Chriſtian! how canſt thou ſeriouſly think on theſe things, and not lay thy hand upon thy mouth, when thou art under the greateſt ſufferings? thy ſins have been far greater than many of theirs, and thy greateſt afflictions are but a flea-bite to theirs; therefore bee ſilent before the Lord.
Sixthly and laſtly, If thy afflictions are ſo great, then what madneſs and folly will it bee for thee to make them greater by murmuring? every act of murmuring will but add load unto load,1 Cor. 10. 10. and burden to burden. The Iſraelites under great afflictions fell a murmuring, and their murmuring proved their utter ruine; as you may ſee in that, Numb. 14. Murmu…ing will but put God upon heating the furnace ſeven times hotter; therefore hold thy peace: But of this I have ſpoken ſufficiently already.