A Treatise of Prayer and Divine Providence, Chapter 4 · Section 2
SECT. II.
Some Rules about the manner how this Queſtion is to be taken in hand.
UPon ſerious conſideration of the nature and ſtate of this queſtion, and of the aforementioned difficulties, wherewith both he that ſeeketh, and he that would give reſolution in it, are beſet, it appears ſomewhat requiſite and conducible, before we come home to it, to deliberate of, and premit ſome things by way of rule and propoſition touching the manner and means of reſolving it: and if I ſhall not attain to the clear diſcovery of the thing enquired after, yet if I may in any wiſe help to prepare, open, and indigitate the way thereunto, I ſhall not wholy loſe the Readers, or my own labor.
Firſt, Theſe Rules following may be looked over, touching the manner of our addreſs to this queſtion, or how it muſt be taken in hand and diſcuſſed.
1. We muſt endevor to free our minds of the above-noted impediments, to wit, looking above us, when we ſhould look about us; and looking about us, when we ſhould look within us: Scandal at the thing, indulgence to our ſelves, prejudice againſt others, and an oblique intent in asking after the cauſe, theſe Errors have already been layd open; let it be our care to lay them aſide, and get clear of them: Look how much we retain of them, ſo far we foreſtall our own judgments, and becloud the matter we ſeem willingly to ſee into: And in ſpecial, let us be content, yea and deſirous, that the ſearch may go on impartially, neither prejudging others before, nor priviledging our ſelves from an upright and through inquiſition: Let us be unfeignedly willing that the genuine cauſes may be known, whether it make for, or againſt us; and that the Achan may be diſcovered, the accurſed thing may be brought out, whereſoever it lies; that our own tent, our own fear be ranſackt as well as others: and wha ſoever perſon or party be the Jonah, let him not ſtick to acknowledg,Jonah 1.12 I know that for my ſake this great tempeſt is upon you: and for that end, let no man think the uncovering of his own counſel, courſe, or condition, an evil comparable to the hiding of Gods face, that for the avoyding of that he ſhould reſerve any thing unto the continuance of this.
2. Remember here, and take along that ſage admonition of Solomon, Eccl. 7.16Make not thy ſelf over-wiſe: that is, as to the preſent purpoſe: The thing queryed being an act of God, we muſt keep our due bounds (as Iſrael was to do at the Law-giving in Mount Sinai, Exo. 19.12 21) we muſt not preſs too far in this enquiry, we muſt not gaze too near, we muſt take heed of looking into Gods ways as Recognizers, Judges, or Cenſors of them: we muſt beware of that captiouſneſs, or readineſs to call in queſtion the equity of Gods proceedings, upon any inevidence of the reaſons of them, or ſeeming unequalneſs, that we may apprehend. We go too far, we are too bold (and ſo may well miſcarry in our ſearch) if we enter into judgment with God, Job 34.23or think that he ows us a reaſon or an account of his actions. Job ſaith of God, He multiplyeth my wounds without cauſe; Cap. 9.17that is, without ſhewing cauſe; and ſo he may do. God is not accountable to any creature for his actions: Who will ſay unto him, Verſ. 12what doſt thou? and, as Elihu to Job, He giveth not account of any of his, matters. Cap. 33.13We muſt not think that Gods ways are not right, unleſs they be clear to us, that there is no great or good reaſon for what he doth, but we muſt needs ſee it: Though we may and ought to conſider, yet we muſt not expect to comprehend the ways of God, or confine them to the ſcantling of our underſtanding.Job 26.14 Job ſaith, Lo theſe are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him? There are parts (or, as ſome interpret it) ends, that is, extremities, or outmoſt parts of Gods ways which are diſcovered; but how little a portion or parcel are they, in compariſon of the whole? Eliphaz ſaith,Cap. 4.12 Mine ear received a little thereof: ſo modeſtly he confeſſeth mans weakneſs, reſembling him unto a narrow-neck'd veſſel; he ſwims (as it were) in a vaſt Ocean of divine Manifeſtation, but he is able to take in a very ſmall quantity thereof.Cap. 5.9. Mr Caryl in loc. Eliphaz ſaith again, He doth great things and unſearchable, marvelous things without number: Here are four things ſpoken of Gods works, which advance them above our reach; He doth great things, unſearchable things, marvelous things, and things without number. We have no line that can meaſure or fathom them, no Arithmetick that can caſt them up. Unſearchable (ſaith a learned Expoſitor) may be conſidered two ways: 1. Which cannot be ſearched; ſo are many of his works, myſterious in regard of the manner, cauſes, and ends of their doing. 2. Which ought not to be ſearched into: they are to be adored by believing, not to be pryed into by ſearching: Zophar ſaith of God, Canſt thou by ſearching find out God? Job 11.7Canſt thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? We may be ſearching find God, but we cannot find him out; that is, we cannot find the utmoſt of God; or, as ſome read the end of the former clauſe, the laſt thing of God: We cannot find him out to perfection, that is, we cannot attain to the perfect diſcovery of what God doth. Mr Caryl cites a learned Author tranſlating that word Perfection by the parts about the heart, or the cloſeſt lodges of the heart; as if he had ſaid, Canſt not find out the inmoſt receſſes or ſecrets of Gods heart? Canſt thou dive into all the moving cauſes, drifts, and purpoſes that are in his mind? Elihu tells us, Great things doth he, Job 37.5,which we cannot comprehend; touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: We muſt never think to meaſure or bottom his works: we may not look to go about or reach the utmoſt extent or whole circumference of them from ſide to ſide, or to ſound the depth of them from top to bottom; if we do, we ſhall come immeaſurably ſhort, and perhaps be ſwallowed up.
It is obſerved, that in every humane art there is a myſtery, and there are ſome rules and reaſons therein which are not vulgarly underſtood, but known only to the Arts-maſters: if it be ſo in mans workmanſhip, how much more in Gods? Whoſoever then ſhall enter upon the enquiry which we are about, I would adviſe him to lay down this as a ground or grant beforehand, That that is perfectly right which God doth, and that is ſufficient to be known which God revealeth.
I cannot paſs from this rule until I have further backed it with a Scripture-Aphoriſm, and an example added to it: The Aphoriſm is that of Moſes; Deu. 29.29The ſecret things belong unto the Lord our God; but thoſe things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law: Here are two ſorts of things ſolemnly diſtinguiſhed, ſecret things, and thoſe which are revealed; and two diſtinct parties to whom they are ſeverally appropriated, Secret things belong unto the Lord, Revealed unto us, and to our children: and the proper end, or reaſon of the latter part of the diſtinction, and of that appropriation of it, that we may do all the words of this Law. Dr Hall Exhort. apud Acta Synodi Nat. Dord. Seſſ. 16.A great Divine, in an Exhortation ſpoken in a famous Synod, obſerved, that in all the Scripture the Jews note fifteen places that have a ſpecial kind of mark ſet upon them, and this is one, and the firſt of them: and it is the more to be marked, in reference to our purpoſe, becauſe it is ſpoken in way of anſwer to a queſtion not much differing from this we have in hand: When all Nations ſhall ſay (upon the ſight of the dreadful Judgments of God upon Iſrael for their forſaking of him, and breach of their Covenant with him) wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this Land? what meaneth the beat of this great anger? then men ſhall ſay, becauſe they have forſaken the Covenant of the Lord, &c. Unto which poſitive anſwer this is added, as the cloſe and boundary unto mens expoſtulations touching that matter; The ſecret things belong unto the Lord, &c.
The example is that of Job and his three Friends: They (in Jobs heavy taking) enter into, and maintain on both ſides, and carry very far on, a perplexed debate about Gods providence towards righteous and wicked men, and the differences and ends thereof; from which neither part came off clear and innocent, much leſs ſatisfied or ſatisfying to their Reader: in the end therefore God himſelf interpoſeth to decide the controverſie (when Elihu had aſſayed, and could not,Job 38.1) and ſpeaking out of the whirlwind, blameth them both: Job he faulteth ſomewhat, to wit, of preſumption and raſhneſs; but his three Friends more, to wit, of unſoundneſs and untruth in their ſeveral diſcourſes of his ways: and he ſo deals with them both, as that he drives them to recant their Errors, and return into the bounds of piety and charity. Let this example inſtruct us:Job 40.3.42.1 let us not forget the ſilence, ſelf-abhorring, and retractation, which Job was brought unto; nor the kindling of Gods wrath againſt Eliphaz and his two friends, and what attonement, by ſacrifice,Cap. 42.7 and the interceſſion of Iob, they were put to.
3. Take heed of ſetting up a skreen, or drawing a ſhadow betwixt us, and the thing we enquire after; I mean, of an allowance of our ſelves, or a purpoſed continuance in any known ſin againſt God; to bolſter up our ſelves, or to diſpenſe with our ſelves in any known way of wickedneſs, is wilfully to put a vail before our own eyes, and induſtriouſly to prevent our ſelves of finding out that which we pretendingly ſeek to know. And (by the way) a known ſin I underſtand to be, not only that which is actually apprehended, or preſently judged by our ſelves to be a ſin; but that which is contrary to our habitual knowledg, or received principles, though we ſhould not apply them to its condemnation actually: yea, whatſoever we have ſo ſufficient and plentiful means to be convinced of to be a ſin, that if it were not for our affection to the ſin, and our diſaffection to the light, that would detect us in it, and draw us from it, it would be evident enough to us that it is a ſin. And if there ſhould be any that will not allow the latter branch of this deſcription of a known ſin, yet I dare affirm to him, that a ſin even ſo continued in, may juſtly prove ſuch a skreen or vail as I am ſpeaking of. He that will not know his evil way to be a ſin in Gods ſight, or knowing, will not forſake it, that man muſt not look to ſucceed well in this enquiry: How ſhould he expect to receive information in the cauſe that he knoweth not, that will not obey information in the caſe that he knoweth, or is afforded full information in? That ſuch adherence to a manifeſt ſin is of this obſtructing nature, and interruptive conſequence, may appear, if we look into that notable place in Ezekiel, Son of man, Eze. 14.13theſe men have ſet up their Idols in their heart, and put the ſtumbling block of their iniquity before their face; ſhould I be enquired of at all by them? Here we have certain of the Elders of Iſrael repairing to the Prophet, and ſitting be ore him: their buſineſs is to enquire of the Lord, or (as it is termed after) to enquire of the Prophet concerning the Lord; that is,Verſe 7 to be acquainted from God with what they deſired to know concerning God, his Will, and ways: but the poſture they come in, is the matter which the Lord takes notice of more then the errand which they come about; and this is quite ſpoiled with that: Theſe men have ſet up their Idols in their heart, &c. This is the thing which puts a ſtop to their enquiry: here comes in the skreen or traverſe which interpoſeth betwixt them and their buſineſs. We may obſerve ſin indulged brings this about two manner of ways:
1. Efficiently. 2. Meritoriouſly. And both are in this Text.
1. Efficiently: ſin diſtempereth the heart that it cannot take in, or receive.
2. It provoketh God, that he will not give anſwer, or ſatisfaction.
1. Efficiently: It diſtempereth or indiſpoſeth the heart for the receiving of an anſwer; Their Idols are ſet up in their heart, and the ſtumbling block of their iniquity is put before their face: that is, there is a prepoſſeſſion of their heart, and ſight by their ſin; it is gotten into the heart before-hand, and there it hath the uppermoſt ſeat or throne; it is the Lady or Miſtriſs, it is the Idol or Goddeſs there: And it is before their face; it hath taken up the whole ſcope and region of their eye-ſight, it covers all before them; and this is with their own conſent and will, it is their own doing; they have ſo ſet it up in their heart, ſo put it before their face: they have been otherwiſe taught and inſtructed, they have been often and plainly detected of, and rebuked for thoſe their ſins, yet they will ſtill ſet and keep them up in their hearts, and before their faces; their affection, favor, and regard is to them; and this ſets them up againſt all the clear lights and admonitions of Gods Word: their ſin we ſee is of a blinding nature to them, and they blindfold themſelvs with it. The Law ſaith of a gift,Deu. 16.19 that it blindeth the eyes of the wiſe, and perverteth the words of the righteous: this it doth by raiſing the affections, which, like a ſteam or miſt about a candle, dim the eyes of the underſtanding. So it is in the prevalency of every other ſin, as well as in that of bribery: We ſay, affection is blind, love to ſin doth deprive the ſight, and deprave the judgment, that when an inquiſition is paſſing, the right cannot be diſcerned. There is a place very full and ſuitable to this, in the Prophet Iſaiah, Iſai. 44.18They have not known nor underſtood, for he hath ſhut their eyes that they cannot ſee, and their hearts that they cannot underſtand. He hath ſhut, that is, their Idol, ſpoken of immediately before. The Prophet there, and in the diſcourſe thereabout, doth excellently ſet forth the infatuating and intoxicating nature of Idolatry, (and every luſt-ſerving ſin is real Idolatry,) how unreaſonable, ſtupid and ſenſleſs it makes the followers of it; how it prevails, not only to tempt and entice them to its committance, but to bind and block up their ſenſes and reaſon from all diſcovery of their extream folly in it; ſo that they cannot once reflect upon or entertain a thought of their dotage therein, though it be never ſo palpable: And this place is ſufficient to make good the deſcription I gave before of a known ſin: we cannot expect, to the making of it ſuch, that a man do actually apprehend, and own, and yield it to be a ſin: It is in the next words ſaid of theſe men, None conſidereth in his heart, (or, as it is read) none ſetteth it on, Verſ. 19or returneth, or reduceth it to his heart; neither is there knowledg or underſtanding to ſay, I have burnt part of it in the fire, &c. This phraſe, none conſidereth, or ſetteth on to his hearth, gives us the ſence of thoſe words before and after, wherein they are ſaid to have no knowledg or underſtanding of what they did; to wit, they had not the practical applicative, or actual knowing; habitual knowledg, principles out of which to deduce an act of judgment, they had; for the Prophet there abundantly proves, what they did was againſt Natures light, common Reaſon, and ordinary ſenſe: and therefore in the following words he ſaith, Remember theſe, O Iacob, and Iſrael: Remember, there wanted no more but an act of remembrance, or calling in, out of the ſtorehouſe of the memory, that which was there already layd up, and was ſufficient to ſhew them the whole truth of that matter. But to return to the point: here it is evident that the cauſe of the Lords hiding himſelf may be near at hand, may be in the very hearts, and before the faces of men, and yet they not ſee, nor conſider it; that is, they ſee it not to be a cauſe of ſuch an evil: the thing they ſee, and own, and that too much; but they underſtand no ſuch cauſality, or effect by it: and the reaſon why they do not, is, the darkening and deluding efficacy that their Idolized ſin hath upon them. The more men ſet up their ſin in their heart, and put it before their face, as an Idol, to wit, in affection and regard; the more it is out of their mind and ſight, in reſpect of entitling or attributing to it the miſchief that it doth them: they cannot ſee, or find it out, in point of cauſing and procuring that evil to them, becauſe they look and fix too much upon it in point of love and affection. It is truly that beam in their eye, which is not conſidered: it is therefore not conſidered becauſe it is in their own eye: it is too near to be noted; and being ſo cloſe to them, it not only ſcapes eſpying but it is the impediment that they cannot ſee any thing elſe as they ought. Thus any allowed ſin is a blind or skreen againſt the enquiry we we are upon, by way of efficiency.
2. It doth it Meritoriouſly, or by way of provocation; it moveth God to deny an anſwer: and this is in the next words, Should I be enquired of at all by them? q. d. I cannot endure that ſuch perſons ſhould come and enquire of me, and if they do adventure upon it, it ſhall be in vain: This advancement of their Idols, and iniquities in their heart, and before their face, doth mightily incenſe God; and he takes their coming to enquire of him, in this conjunction with their ſin, as a very high preſumption, and daring affront, and indignity put upon him; and for it he refuſeth and repulſeth their enquiry with indignation. Suitable to this rejection is that in Daniel; when the Church of God (whether Jewiſh or Chriſtian, whether under Antiochus or Antichriſt, I ſhall not here diſpute) ſhould be in her time of greateſt trouble, it is ſaid,Dan. 12.4 Many ſhall run to and fro; to wit, to underſtand the riſe and continuance of thoſe doleful afflictions: and the Angel informs the Prophet Daniel, that their enquiry ſhould be of a twofold ſucceſs, according to the difference of the enquirers:Verſ. 10 None of the wicked ſhall underſtand, but the wiſe ſhall underſtand: and the reaſon why none of the wicked ſhall underſtand, is immediately foregoing, becauſe the wicked ſhall do wickedly; for their wicked doings it ſhall be that they ſhall be left deſtitute of underſtanding in theſe Times: they may run to and fro, but it will be but (as it is in the Pſalmiſt) like a dog, with an unſatisfied mind; and the reaſon is, becauſe they go round about, like the dog, to purſue their ſinful luſts with greedineſs.
Yea, it may be obſerved, this retaining and perſiſtency in their ſin, when they come to conſult with God, not only fruſtrateth their ſeeking unto him, by provoking him to deny them reſolution, but it procureth a further ſentence from God, as the words following declare; and it is of two parts: 1. A penal tradition, or delivery of them up to deceits and deluſions:Verſ. 4 I the Lord will anſwer him that cometh according to the multitude of his Idols: q. d. He ſhall not only be denyed that anſwer which he would have, and I would give, if he were an obedient and ſincere ſeeker of me; that is, a friendly and ſatisfying ſolution of his doubt; but he ſhall have an anſwer worſe then none, an anſwer of judgment and diſpleaſure: and it ſhall be according to the multitude of his Idols; that is, as his abominable Idolatries deſerve, and in ſome proportion to that kind of ſin: he ſhall have no better an anſwer then if he were enquiring at his Idols: he ſhall have an Idols anſwer; and that was, indeed, ſometimes a dumb, mute, and anſwerleſs repulſe; as was that of Baals Prieſts, in Elijahs conteſt with them:1 King. 18 26 but ſometimes it was a doubtful and aenigmatical, or a downright falſe and lying anſwer:Hab 2.18 The molten Image is a teacher of lyes: the Idols have ſpoken vanity, and the Diviners have ſeen a lye, and have told falſe dreams. Zech. 10.2 5The anſwer is further deſcribed, That I may take the houſe of Iſrael in their own heart; that is, the conſequence of their enquiry ſhall be their catching and enſnaring; they ſhall be poſſeſſed with the error and miſpriſion of their own brains, in ſtead of a true revelation from God: and by it they ſhall be held and led on with confidence, as in a net or ſnare, to their own ruine: This ſentence is the ſame, both in effect and in cauſe, with that of the Apoſtle; For this cauſe God ſhall ſend them ſtrong deluſion, 2 Theſ. 2.10, 11, 12that they ſhould believe a lye: and wherefore is it? becauſe they received not the love of the truth, but had pleaſure in unrighteouſneſs: and the ſpecial means, by which they ſhould thus fall into the trap, is in the ſubſequent words; And if the Prophet be deceived, Verſe 9when he hath ſpoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that Prophet: It ſhould be by the deceiving and deceivedneſs of falſe Prophets, whoſe falſhood and deluſion, whether ſubjective or effective, whether in themſelves or in the people, though it be their own ſin (as the peoples deluſion alſo is their own ſin, in that they ſeek to, and credit ſuch Prophets) yet it is alſo penal; and ſo from God, not by active infuſion, but by giving them up to Satan, his inſtruments and engines, to themſelves, and their own ſtumbling blocks.
2. The other part of the ſentence is,Verſ. 8. I the Lord will anſwer him by my ſelf, and I will ſet my face againſt that man, and will make him a ſign and proverb; and I will cut him off from the midſt of my people: Here is ſtill more weight added to the puniſhment of the preſumptuous ſinner, that dares enquire of God with his heart upon his ſin; he ſhall, not only be denyed a favorable and reſolving anſwer from God, nor only, beſides that, be given up by God to others and his own deceits, but he ſhall have thereto an immediate, poſitive return from God: and it is an heavy one; it containeth much: it is a moſt dreadful thing for a man to have the face of God ſet againſt him; it is one of the terribleſt expreſſions in the whole Scripture: and he that will ſeek to God, but will not ſincerely ſet himſelf towards him, to ſeek his face, but will keep up the ſtumbling block of his iniquity before his own face, he muſt look for this return. Therefore it behoves every one, not only in relation to the well-ſpeeding of his enquiry in this, or any other matter, but in reference to all other his concernments, to that deareſt concernment of his own Soul, that there be an unfeigned parting betwixt him and his iniquity. To cloſe up then this Rule, let that admonition of God himſelf, annexed to the rebuke and ſentence I have been inſiſting on in this place, be embraced and followed;Verſ. 6 which is this: Therefore ſay unto the Houſe of Iſrael, thus ſaith the Lord God, Repent and turn your ſelves from your Idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations: and let us, together with this, remember that in Pſal. 111. when the Pſalmiſt had diſcourſed of the great, honorable, glorious, and wonderful works of God, and of the duty of ſearching them out, he concludeth with this ſentence, as containing the way thereto, (and with it I will conclude this particular,) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wiſdom; a good underſtanding have all they which do his Commandments.
Other two Rules there are, which I ſhall diſpatch ſhortly.
4. Come to the enquiry with an humble heart: 1. With an heart-humbled under this condition (of Gods hiding himſelf from us in relation to prayer) according to the nature of it, and as it deſerves. We have great reaſon to take it very heavily: The Lords hiding from his ſervants, or from his Church, hath ever been the matter of their deepeſt hearts-piercing, bittereſt ſorrow, and dolefulleſt lamentation: So it was to Job, to David, Job 30.28to Heman. Job ſaith, I went mourning without the Sun; Pſa. 30.7 & 88.15I ſtood up and I cryed in the Congregation. David ſaith, Thou didſt hide thy face, and I was troubled. Heman complains, I am afflicted, and ready to dye from my youth up; while I ſuffer thy terrors I am diſtracted. And ſo it hath been to the Church of God: When the Lord told Iſrael in the Wilderneſs, upon their ſin, and notwithſtanding Moſes interceſſion for them, that he would not go up in the midſt of them, for that they were a ſtiffnecked people; it's ſaid, When the people heard theſe evil tydings, Exod. 33.3, 4they mourned, and no man did put on his ornaments. The Church, in that allegory of Solomons Song, when ſhe aroſe up, and opened to her beloved, and found that he had withdrawn himſelf, Cant. 5.5, 6, 8and was gone, her Soul failed, or melted: and when ſhe ſought him, and could not find him; when ſhe called him, but he gave her no anſwer; ſhe charges the daughters of Jeruſalem, if they could find him, to tell him, ſhe was ſick of love.
2. With an heart humbled under the ſenſe of our ignorance, and inability to ſee into this matter of our ſelves: There muſt be an ingenuous and lowly acknowledgment of our blindneſs and unskilfulneſs to diſcern what we ſhould ſee herein, and of our proneneſs to be puzled, non-pluſſed, and offended at all thoſe ways of God, wherein he walks behind a cloud in any ſort towards us: If we would be enwiſed in this particular,1 Cor. 3.18 we muſt become fools (in our own ſenſe) that we may be wiſe. He that intently looketh over the Hiſtory of Job, may find this failing both in Job and his friends (which might be one cauſe of their miſtaking touching the ways of God towards his afflicted ſervants) that they arrogated too much to themſelves, and inſiſted too much upon compariſons with each other in point of wiſdom and underſtanding. Agur, going to utter his Prophecy, or Doctrine of Chriſt, under the Titles of Ithiel and Ʋchal, (the former rendered God with me, the latter, God Almighty) thus vilifies, yea nullifies himſelf;Prov. 30.2, 3 Vide Jun. Trap, Cleaver, in loc. Surely I am more brutiſh, &c. or (as ſome interpret) Surely I have been brutiſh ſince I was a man; neither is there in me the underſtanding that was in Adam: I neither learned wiſdom, nor have the knowledg of the holy. And if we will underſtand the reaſon why he, who is Ithiel or Emmanuel, God with us, doth ſometimes withhold or conceal his preſence from us, we muſt take Agurs courſe, and abaſe our ſelves to the bottom of our own real imbecility. The Pſalmiſt alſo hath ſet us a very full and pertinent pattern for this:Pſa. 73.16 &c. he ſeeking to know the myſtery of the wickeds flouriſhing, and the godlies ſuffering, and for that end going into the Sanctuary of God, withall makes an humble confeſsion of his own fooliſhneſs, ignorance, and brutiſhneſs before God: This muſt be our way; and remember we that the promiſe of reſolution is made to ſuch a poſture,Pſa. 25.9 The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.
5. Laſtly, Be diligent and laborious: apply ſeriouſly and induſtriouſly to know what is to be diſcovered in this caſe: be not careleſs, ſlothful, and ſlight in a matter of this importance: it doth much offend God, if in the times of his afflicting providences men do walk at all adventures with him, or careleſly before him: if it be a hard queſtion to dive into, ſearch and ſtudy it the more; if it be poſſible give it not over without gaining ſome competent inſight into it. Many ſpecial duties, both towards God and man, may (for their diſcovery, practice, and quickening to them) depend upon the diſcloſing of the ſubject of this enquiry: There can be no very skilful or hopeful application of proper remedies for the ſalving of this caſe, until the cauſes of it be deſcryed: We cannot look that things ſhould be mended, or brought to a better paſs, either betwixt God and us, or among our ſelves, before our condition be better underſtood.Job 17.4. Job ſaith, Thou ſhalt hide their heart from underſtanding, therefore ſhalt thou exalt them: intimating to us, that thoſe whom God will raiſe up, he will firſt enwiſe. David in this caſe tells us, He communed with his own heart, Pſa. 77.6and his ſpirit made diligent ſearch.