The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 9-11, Treatise 3 · Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX.
Encouragements to the soul in its walking by Faith. 1 God tenders himself to all to whom the Gospel comes, in a Covenant of Grace, and not of Works. 2 All the good that God doth for his Creatures, especially in order to eternal Life, is for his Names sake. 3 There is no qualification in the Creature that is made by God as a condition to our beleeving. 4 It is the great Glory of God, and the design that he hath in the world, to glorifie himself in the way of his free Grace, and faithfulness towards men. 5 It's as delightful to Christ to have the end of his Death, as to us to have our souls saved. 6 God leaves his People without Sence of his love for many good ends to them. 7 God hath more Glory in saving than in casting off.
AS for Encouragements to the soul in its walking by Faith; consider of these Particulars.
1 That God doth tender himself unto all those to whom the Gospel comes, so as he is willing to deal with them in the way of a Covenant of Grace, and not a Covenant of Works: This is a special help and Encouragement to the soul that is in darkness, and sees no light, who hath no sence of the Presence, and Love, and Mercy of God, yet O thou soul look up to God; Oh the sight of God will such a soul say, is terrible to me; The Lord is a consuming fire, and who can stand before the everlasting Burnings? Oh who can endure the consuming fire? But Oh thou soul look up again, and behold the Lord tendering himself to deal with thee in the way of the Covenant of Grace.
Object. I but, I do not know whether I am under the Covenant of Grace.
Answ. Yet when thy Ears hears the glad tydings of the Gospel, know that that's nothing else but God coming to tender himself to thy soul in the way of a Covenant of Grace: Had we to deal with God in a way of a Covenant of works, Cursed is every soul that abides not in every thing that is written in the book of the law to do it; then every thought of God might be very terrible to us, and I verily beleeve that it's the main ground that holds many under a spirit of bondage, and causes them to walk in a disconsolate, and distressed condition, and cannot walk by Faith, because they look upon God as having to deal with him in the way of a Covenant of Works; they see God to be a Holy, and Just, and Righteous God, and they see his Law Righteous; now they are conscious to themselves of having broken his Law, and their Consciences being defil'd with evil works, and having guiltiness upon them through the…r sin, upon this God is terrible to them, and they are not able to put forth any acts of faith to beleeve in him.
But on the other side, Could this soul come to behold God tendering himself to it, to deal with it in the way of a Covenant of Grace, and the Lord speaking thus, for so he doth, Oh you wretched sinful soul who art cast and undone by the Covenant of Works that first was made with man-kind, you are undone, and by that must perish for ever: But behold, there is a Second Covenant, a Covenant of Grace, wherein I am willing to have to deal with the Children of men, and through that Covenant that I have made, that is, Beleeve and Live, and I am he that justifies the ungodly; and in that Covenant there is a way of satisfaction for the Sons of Men, and there is acceptation even of the desires, and endeavors of the souls of poor Creatures that are otherwise ful of sin; yet acceptation there is through the Covenant, of their souls, and that to Eternal Life; and it is through that Covenant that I am willing to have to do with the children of men, with you in particular to whom my Gospel comes to be preached; not to deal with you meerly as I am the Creator of al things, and you Creatures, as I Holy, and you Sinful; but willing to deal with you through my Son, and to apply the purchase that my Son hath made: Oh if we could but come to see the Lord so, in the midst of al fears and troubles we might come to exercise our Faith, and to walk by Faith rather than by Sence; beholding God in this manner, and indeed without the beholding of God thus we shal never be able to step a step of Faith in our walk: And that's the first Encouragement.
2 The Second is this, That all the good that God doth for his Creatures, especially in order to Eternal Life is for his own Name sake, it is out of free Grace, and nothing else; it is because Mercy pleaseth him, Mic. 7. 18. it's not because you can please him, for he will have mercy on whom he wil have mercy, and whom he wil he hardens; it is meerly because he delights in mercy, it's from Arguments that are in his own Bowels, and not from Arguments that are or can be in thee or any Creature: What an Encouragement is here for the soul to exercise Faith? a soul that walks in darkness and can see no light, I see nothing in mine own heart but a dungeon of dismal darkness; Oh but I hear that the Fountain of al Gods goodness unto his Creatures, of all the good that he doth for his Creatures in order to Eternal Life, is meerly out of free grace, and because mercy pleases him; then why may there not be a way for me then to exercise Faith, though my condition be never so sad in its self: That's the Second Encouragement.
3 The Third is this, That there is no qualifications in the Creature that is made by God as a Condition of our beleeving: God doth not say, that if you be thus and thus, that then you have right to beleeve, and so you shal come to have right to Christ, There is nothing before Faith, that gives right unto Faith: Indeed there may be somthing before that may take away some hinderances, and lets, and so may help us towards beleeving; but nothing before Faith that can give us a right to beleeving; therefore for men to say, How do I know that I have a right to beleeve? If thou canst beleeve, thy beleeving gives thee a right to beleeve; 'tis my beleeving makes me to have interest in the Riches, and in the Grace of the Covenant to apply it to my self, but there's nothing can give me a right to beleeve: If the Gospel be preached, and I find the Lord working upon my heart to draw me to beleeve, the Lord gives me liberty to it, that is, not that I may conceit that I have my part in Christ: All to whom the Gospel is preached, they have right to this: if they can find that in their hearts, to cast and noul their souls upon the infinite, free, ful, and rich Grace of God in the Gospel, they may do it; and they need not stand to plead whether it be not too much boldness in them so to do, for thou art invited to do it freely, Come and drink of the Waters of Life freely; and you that have no money, no worthiness at al in you, yet the way is made over to you as wel as to others: And that's a Third Encouragement.
And if at the first time when we come to beleeve; there be then no qualifications required to give us interest to beleeve, then surely at al other times we are not to reason, That because I am thus and thus, therefore I may not beleeve; let thy condition be as bad as it can be afterwards, yet surely it is not worse than it was at the first of all, thou art not more off than before, or at least it cannot be so ill but that this Rule may encourage thee.
Yea, though they have sin'd against knowledg, and after profession of Religion, yet still this holds a truth that there is no precedent qualifications gives thee right to beleeving, it doth but that which may make way, and take away hinderances, and therefore thou may est be encouraged in the want of al sight and sence, yet stil to exercise thy Faith.
4 The Fourth Encouragement, That it is the great glory of God, and design that he hath in the world to glorifie himself in the way of his free grace, and faithfulness towards the children of men: God doth delight in the glory of his Power, in the glory of his Wisdom, in the glory of his Bounty, in the glory of his Justice; but the great Master-piece above al things, is the glory of his Grace, in the Glory of the Riches of his Grace, and Mercy, and Faithfulness, it is that the Lord delights more in, than he doth in making the World: God as he hath made one World, so he could make a thousand Worlds by the Word of his Power: If God pleased, he could make a thousand Worlds more by one Word; yet God doth not so much delight in making of Worlds, as in shewing forth the riches of his Grace to poor wretched Creatures that have undone themselves: That's the great Master-piece of God that he will be honored in to al Eternity: Now when as the soul shall think, If that Mercy may do me good, that shal be so great as God shal have the chief Glory of above al his Works, and that God takes most delight in above al other of his Attributes, if that mercy wil do me good, then this is tendered to me in the Word, and therefore I may have Encouragement to beleeve.
5 Another is this, That as it is Gods great design to magnifie his Grace above al his Works, so it's as delightful to Christ to enjoy the end of his death, as it can be to any of you to have your souls saved: Christ takes as much pleasure in, and accompts it as great a good to him to have the End of his death, as any of you can accompt it to have your souls eternally sav'd: You think thus, Oh such and such a Mercy that I have need of, what a benefit would it be to me if God would grant me this mercy; but if God would save my soul, pardon my sin, and bring me to eternal Life, how happy should I be? What is thy heart set upon such a Mercy, and doest thou so prize the pardon of thy sin, and the saving of thy soul? thou canst not prize it more than Christ prizes the fruit of his death, thou canst not get more good by thy Salvation, than Christ shal get by having the purchase which he purchased by his death; you know the Scripture in Isa. 53. He shall see the travel of his soul, and he shall be satisfied, for by his knowledg shall my righteous Servant justifie many: This is the travel of Christs soul to bring sinners to be justified, and when Christ sees this, he is satisfied: If thou should'st see the Salvation of thy soul, and God should as it were in a Map shew thee all that glory that thou should'st have in Heaven to al Eternity, would not this satisfie thee? Now when Christ sees the travel of his soul, that is, in bringing Life and Salvation for sinners, this is as great a satisfaction to the heart of Christ as thy Salvation can be to thine own soul: The consideration of this, may be useful to help thee to beleeve in the want of all Sence whatsoever.
6 The next is this, That God withdrawing himself from his People, and bringing of them into such a condition wherein they are without al kind of sence of his Love, and nothing but darkness; the Lord in this hath many good ends why he doth it: He doth that which is very sad to the hearts of his people, yet it is not so evil but God many times hath excellent ends for which he doth do it, he takes his Servants off from the props of the Creature, and from the prop of Sence and Reason to the end that he may be All in All to them; if there were no other end why God did withdraw himself from his Creatures, but that he might shew to them what their condition were like to be for ever, but only that he might eternally forsake them, if God had never any other end, then thou mayest be much discouraged in the want of sence: But consider what an Encouragement is here for thee to think thus, Indeed my condition is sad, but hath God no other ends but only to forsake his Creature? have not I heard out of the Word many times that God hath very gracious ends, and that he doth not only aim at his own glory, but at the good of his Creature in withdrawing himself, and much good hath come by it, it hath been a means to withdraw the hearts of his Servants from the Creature, and to unite them more▪ strongly to himself: Then why should not I make the best Interpretations of Gods dealings as may be? I was before afraid that surely God had utterly forsaken me; but when I hear this, that he hath many gracious ends why he doth for the present withdraw himself from the hearts of his People; not only many good ends why he doth outwardly afflict his people, that many are convinc'd of; Oh but that God should intend good in withdrawing himself from their Souls, that they cannot see so much: But Oh thou afflicted soul, that art tossed with tempests and with temptations and troubles, know that God hath many times gracious ends even in withdrawing himself from the very souls of his Servants. God withdrew himself from the very Soul of Christ for a time, for so he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? therefore do not think that it is alwaies in hatred, and so as it wil be a certain forerunner of Gods separation from thee: Certainly God did at that time love his own Son dearly, when he did cry out so; and indeed that may be a mighty help to our Faith, when we consider not only what God doth do many times to his dear Saints, but to his own Son; and consider that God did not withdraw himself from Christ only for satisfaction (for so it was) and to shew that we had deserved that the Lord should eternally withdraw himself from us, but it was that he might be a merciful High-Priest to us; as in Heb. 4. We have not an High-Peiest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are: In all Points; why? you are tempted with Poverty, Christ was; you are tempted with Disgrace, Christ was: I but I am tempted with inward and Spiritual afflictions, with Gods withdrawing the Sence of his Love, and Mercy, and Goodness, what should I do there? Christ was tempted so too; In all things, the Scripture saith; And why was he tempted? it was, That he might be made sensible of our Infirmities, that he might be a compassionate High-Priest to us; and therefore mark the Exhortation that follows upon it in the 16. verse, Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find Grace to help in time of need.
So I shal conclude for the present with that Exhortation; You want Sight and Sence, Oh walk by Faith, and let this be an Encouragement and help to thee for the exercising of thy Faith, That we have such a High-Priest that was toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities; and among other particulars even in that, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? and I make no question but it was one special end why we have this very suffering of Christ in his soul recorded in the Scripture, and it was when he was afflicted outwardly, yet then he was inwardly afflicted at the sam time; Christ was apprehended as a Malefactor, and so accused, he was imprisoned, and forsaken by his friends, he was in the hands of wicked men, yea, in the hands of wicked men so as to be put to death by them, and there made a gazing stock to al the World, and scorned at in the midst of his afflictions: we do not use to scorn at men when they suffer, though they suffer for their sin; but Christ was scorned at: now if ever there were a time for God to shine upon him, and to give him the sence of his Love, one would think it should be now; Oh no, but now at this time God withdraws himself from him so far as he cries out in the Agony and bitterness of his soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You are to make a Two-fold Use of it.
First, That here is a satisfaction to Gods Justice, Christ by being forsaken for a time hath delivered al Beleevers from being forsaken by God Eternally.
And it is likewise an Use of very great moment, that Beleevers should make of it, Christ is set …ut▪ as a Pattern before us, and we are to arm our selves with the same mind.
And he is set forth unto us as a High-Priest to shew unto us that he was put under such temptations as these are, to the end he might pitty us, and have compassion on us in our temptations, and tryals, to the end our Faith might be helped, if we should ever be brought to such a condition, to be without Sence, so as to look upon God in the greatest of our afflictions to have forsaken us, yet then cast up an Eye to Jesus Christ, and behold him thus forsaken, and know as here is satisfaction to justifie for thee; so here you have an example of Gods dealing with his own Son whom his soul loved, for certainly the soul of God did alwaies love him, I know Father, thou alwaies hearest me, and so he did alwaies love him: Certainly the Lord had gracious ends in forsaking of him, and this is set out as a Pattern to thee for the helping of thy Faith when all Sence is wanting; and had we nothing in all the Book of God to help us to exercise Faith in the want of Sence, but only this example of Christ, and the dealings of God the Father with him, it were sufficient to help us to walk by Faith when we have no sight nor sence.
The walk of a Saint is the walk of Faith; there's nothing manifests us to be Saints but this, The walking by Faith, and not by Sence.
I shal ad one further Encouragement that may help very much, especially to a soul that is humbled before God, and is panting after the grace of God.
Consider, When you are afraid that God should cast you off because you have no sence of his Love, what should God get by it if he cast you off? If you can but bring it to this, That God shal get as much by receiving you, and saving you, as he shal have by casting you off, why should you not have encouragement to beleeve and exercise Faith in the want of Sence? When you have the most dismal thoughts of al, and Sence is furthest off, what do you think God wil get, if he should cast you off?
Object. You wil say, He shall have the Glory of his Will, he shall shew forth the absoluteness of his Will in it, and what should I look any further, what reason God may have?
To that I Answer thus:
First, God may have the glory of his Will, and yet save you too; yea, and have the glory of his Will rather more in saving such a soul that's making after him, than he should have in casting of him off: And surely if God may have a great deal more glory, then you may have a great deal of encouragement to beleeve.
For if he hath the glory of his Will, It's but his Will upon you; but in saving of you, he may have the glory of his Will of you, and that's more glory: you shall passively glorifie his Will, that is, you shall be a Subject, as God may make it to appear before Men and Angels that he may do what he pl…a…e with you: But when you shal come and subject to his Will, and lie down at his feet, he hath the glory of his Will Actively upon you, and this is more.
Again, God shal have the glory of his Power by casting of you off; I but when you come and fall down before him, and tremble at his Presence, he hath it more.
Yea, and he hath the glory of his Power in shewing mercy, as wel as in destruction: we have a notable Scripture for that in the Book of Numbers, chap. 14. ver. 17. Moses is pleading for the people, and now saith he, I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression: Let the Power of my Lord be great, so that it seems the Power of God appears in forgiving iniquity and transgression, as much as in destruction: If God should destroy thee, indeed a glorious power of his would appear in thy ruine; but there wil appear as glorious a power of his in forgiving thee as in destroying; and may not this be a great encouragement to exercise Faith in the want of Sence.
Object. I but God's a Just God, and delights in the Glory of his Justice, and he will have the Glory of his Justice it may be upon me.
Answ. Nay, but thou mayest be encouraged to beleeve in this, Because he may have as much glory of his Justice in saving thee, as in destroying thee, yea, and he may have it more in saving thee, than in destroying thee.
For first, Thou tremblest before Gods Justice: if there were no more than that, for the heart from a free act, not from a forced act, but freely; even that, is as great a glory of Gods Justice as God hath from all the damned in Hell: In destroying of the Creature God hath not more glory of his Justice than when the Creature shal by a free work, and not by a forced work, come in and tremble before Gods Justice, and subject it's self to the Justice of God, and acknowledg Gods Righteousness and Justice, if the Lord should destroy it: The glory that he hath upon the damned, it's but Passive, and that is not so much; but the glory of his Justice he hath in thee, in that thou doest freely come and acknowledg it, and tremble before it, he hath it actively, and this is more.
But Secondly, There is a way for God to have the glory of his Justice, and yet to save thee.
Object. You wil say, Though I come freely to acknowledg Gods Justice, yet Gods Justice is not glorified fully.
Answ. I but there is a way wherein God may save thee, and yet have the glory of his Justice fully; And that is in Jesus Christ. Now what a transcendent Encouragement is this to beleeve then, when there is nothing that can be conceived wherein God shal have glory one way, but he may have it the other way, and have it more abundantly. If God doth destroy a Creature, to what end is it, but that he might have glory? Now if God may have his glory, and save a Creature, may not that Creature have hope and ground to beleeve then? when as the Lord hath provided such a way of Salvation as his glory shall be no loser at al? And especially this, when the soul considers that God hath begun already such a work upon it, wherein he is in a way of glorifying himself in the soul as much as if he should have destroyed it. And thus much for the Encouragements of beleeving in the want of Sence.
I am willing to be somwhat large in this Point because it is so needful: Though I may treat of things that are but as riddles to many, yet to those souls that want the Sence of Gods Love, these things wil not be too large to such, but their hearts will greedily imbrace them. But because the want of beleeving in the want of Sence, is easier to speak of than to do, for it is one of the hardest things that are to beleeve in the want of Sence; therefore I will further proceed in way of Motives, to labor to draw the heart to the work of Beleeving.