England Faithfully Watched, Lecture 91
COLOS. 1.29.
Which worketh in me mightily. Or, in power.
IN-operation ſimply, and in-operation extraordinary, are both to be ſtood upon a little, to open this expreſſion unto you; the one will open the firſt part of this expreſſion, which worketh in me: the other will open the latter part of the expreſſion, which worketh in me mightily, or in power.
In-operation ſimply conſidered, is a ſupreme act, making an eternall impreſſe upon the ſoule, for life or death. Things have their advantage by poſition; ſo they may be put that every one cannot reach them nor finde them out; the heart hath this advantage, tis a hidden man, an inward creature. What you looke upon or touch, when you have to doe with a creature of your owne making, is fleſh and bones; but the manhood of this ſubſtance, or that which makes this ſubſtance a man, is hidden within; ſo hid that none can reach, but by ſupreme power of its owne, or borrowed. Among theſe Nations ſhalt thou have no eaſe, but the Lord ſhall give thee there a trembling heart, and ſorrow of mind, Deut. 28.56. The Lord ſhall give thee there a trembling heart: a ſtone may be ſtirred and toumbled ſometimes, when it is not broken: Conſider the heart under this metaphor, as the Scripture doth, for ſome refractory properties of it, and this ſtone that lies at the center of the little world, cannot be ſtirred, nor the foundation of this little world ſhaken in the leaſt but by a ſupreme power; The Lord ſhall give thee there a trembling heart. Thoſe internall operations which make a wicked mans heart ſhake and tremble ſometimes, they are from the Lord, and when the Lord takes off his hand, the ſtone lies ſtill againe; lift and pull whoſo will, as long and as much as hee will, the ſinner ſtirres not; which is authority enough, that internall operation is a ſupream act. If this be not, Job gives further authority, and makes a higher inſtance. Conſider the ſtone that lies at the center of the earth, the foundation ſtone of the little world, I meane the heart, as ſhaken, or as broken, and God doth it; God maketh my heart ſoft, and the Almighty troubleth me, Job 23.16. When a Chriſtians heart melts and is diſſolved; take it in a refreſhing ſenſe, or take it in an afflicting ſenſe, ſupreame power doth it: man cannot doe this himſelfe; a ſinner, a Saint, cannot move the ſtone in his boſome one jot; tis an Almighty act that reacheth the heart of any man; the Almighty ſtirs me within. Internall operation is as I have ſaid, a ſupreame act.
This act makes eternall impreſſe: Internall operation, is from a high hand, and of high concernment; tis of everlaſting force: the Spirit is called an eternall Spirit, not ſo much in order to being, as in order to operation; the things that this Spirit worketh in us and for us, are life eternall: the workman, the workhouſe, the worke wrought in this houſe, are all eternall: the Spirit eternall, the ſoule eternall, the workes wrought here, the carvings or cuttings, are eternall; unalterable; if Chriſt make but the leaſt dint upon the heart, I may challenge all powers in heaven and in earth to even it. Operations externall are not eternall; not a worke you looke upon without, though never ſo great or glorious, but fades, and ſhall be turnd into its fitſt nothing; but operations internall are eternall; what God doth in the ſoule, is to laſt as the ſoule; if he drop mercy into us, this drop ſhall laſt for ever, though all the mercies without us may be gone in a moment: if he drop juſtice and wrath into us, this drop abideth for ever. God is called immutable, not ſo much in order to being, as in order to action; and not in order to all action neither; but in order to internall actions; ſuch as are done about the ſoule. I am God immutable and change not; Change not? in what? in eſſe? that is granted of all, and needs no affirmation; no, this is not the thing; but in operari: and about this many doubt. I have droped mercy into the hearts of the ſonnes of Jacob, and it ſhall never out; I have begun a good worke, a good internall worke, and it ſhall laſt to the day of Chriſt; it ſhall laſt unto Heaven, that is for ever; therefore is the Spirit, according to his preſence and internall operation, called the earneſt of Heaven, and the ſcale to the day of redemption; it makes impreſſe upon the ſoule ſo deepe, that abides for ever; the worke the Spirit doth in us, outſtands the gates of hell; the Temple that Chriſt now builds in us, not a ſtone, not the leaſt pin of it, moulders to all eternity, tis ſo wrought: tis ſo on the other hand, what he doth internally in poynt of juſtice, he doth it to purpoſe. All the world on fire without, you may ſooner quench it, then one ſparkle of the fire of Gods wrath, which he caſts into a man; this is an everlaſting fire, an alway puniſhment, as the Scripture ſpeaks; Bow downe their backe alwaies, pointing at Doeg and Judas, and ſuch like wretches, that were internally puniſht. A man internally ſmitten by the juſtice of God, his backe is broke for ever: take Job but as hee perſonates a wicked mans caſe; forbeare the application of it to himſelfe, as he doth, being then in a temptation; let his perſon alone, but take the thing, as his apprehenſion is opened fully in this poynt, to his triall for a time, and you ſhall have him ſpeake notably, of the property of internall operation, in order to evill men. God is in one mind, when he is at worke in wicked ſoules, one cannot turne him; what his ſoule deſireth that he doth, Job 23.13. If after great provocation, workings and ſtrivings without, by words and blowes, hee goe to worke within, to fit the veſſell for wrath; if this be now the will of God, there is no turning of him, nor no turning of the point, nor edge of the tooles hee workes with; no terminating the effect ſhort of the Authors intention: the Trinity in their action internall, to expreſſe this property of it are called agents hitherto. The Father worketh hitherto, and I worke; obſerve about what works Chriſt was, when he ſpake thus; he was about internall action, to wit, the curing of the cripple which had laine ſo long at the poole; which was a cripled ſoule, as well as a cripled body.
Internall operation is of eternall force; this is generall and indetermined: therefore it followes in the definition, tis of eternall force to ſuch an expreſſe end, to life and death: that which Chriſt doth within about the heart, is vitall or mortall, to diſpatch the creature for his furtheſt end. To make miſerable or bleſſed here, is not the furtheſt end of internall operation, though the furtheſt end of externall operation. Externall donations which are the workes of Gods hand, their furtheſt end is to make a ſweet condition here; as riches, and the like, they will availe here. Money anſwers all; but they will not availe any further then here, for the felicitating of man; they will not availe in death, much leſſe in judgement, to doe man any ſervice: but the furtheſt end of internall operation, is to make curſed or bleſſed in death, and after death in another world, when and where nothing elſe can. There be gifts that be meere Spirit, which have not a jot of any carnall thing in them; theſe we call internall; theſe are moulded ſome by juſtice, ſome by mercy, and you ſhall ſee what their end is, by an inſtance or two. God hath given them a ſpirit of ſlumber, Rom. 11.8. Here hee ſpeakes of operations all ſpirit; God hath given them a ſpiris of ſlumber; internall workes, and the Prophet tels the end and iſſue of theſe; tis deciſive, to diſpatch them; they have a ſpirit of ſlumber, that they may goe away in a ſlumber; Shut their eyes, lest they ſhould ſee with them; ſtop their eares leſt they ſhould heare with them, and convert, and be healed. Internall operation wee ſee diſpatches the ſoule one way or other. Into whatſoever houſe ye enter ſay peace, and if that would not take, ſpeak death: Theſe were but emblems of Chriſts internall action. Into what houſe or heart Chriſt goes to worke, by his Word and Spirit, hee makes through worke; the Axe is then to the root; it makes exciſion or circumciſion at leaſt. All internall operation is to cut off ſinne off the ſoule. He is a Jew that is one inwardly; Circumciſion is that of the heart: When he goes to worke inwardly, he doth exciſe or circumciſe, and thus I have opened the nature of internall operation.
The worſt evill is curable, the greateſt good attainable; this iſſues naturally from this point, that there is ſuch an engine to be found, that can worke inwardly. Our greateſt maladies are thoſe that are within; that one plague that was upon Pharaohs heart, (to wit) the hardning of it, was more then the ten plagues upon his outward man. Evils are not rightly weighed; this is one of the greateſt evils: they which ſtrip us moſt of externall things, they are accounted greateſt: no, they are not; that which gnawes upon the ſoule after outward things are gone, is greater. There is death, and the bitterneſſe of death, as Agag ſaid; the one it is a greater evill then the other by farre. The death of husband, wife, child, or the death of eſtate, is nothing, if it be but a naked departure of theſe, if their ghoſt doe not walke afterwards in the ſoule, if there be not after their departure a bitter tang in conſcience, as evilly got or as evilly kept; got with too little conſcience, and kept with too much affection; the cup of affliction, fill it as full as the world, or as ſatan can, if God doe not put one Ingredient in it or other, to make it off with a tang and a touch upon the ſpirit, tis nothing: when a malady doth feſter inwardly, and lights of ſome blood-veſſels that carries it more directly to the heart, then it is a malady indeed; and yet in theſe caſes there is hope, if taken in time, becauſe there are things inwardly vertuall and operative: ſo we can ſay ſpiritually; the ſtrongeſt poyſon that the ſoule hath taken in, cannot render the condition deſperate, becauſe there are things of an internall vertue; operations that can reach the ſoule: Chriſt can purge the inward man, and can let the inward man blood; with his Word he can pricke the heart, any tumor or ſwelling in it, and let out all the watery or fiery matter that is in it; he can wound the ſpirit and then heale it; make clouds, and then expell them; make darkneſſe upon the face of the deepe, upon the ſoule that deepe part of man, and then make a Sunne riſe in this horizon, in that more then halfe the little world that lies out of fight: when more then halfe the little world is drowned, when that in part of man is quite overwhelmed: yet then is not the caſe deſperate; nor ſhould any ſoule give it up as ſo. Miſery ſometimes ariſes to extremity; extremity is darkneſſe without any light; a whole Army engaged and routed; without fightings, within feares: the hand can doe no more, the head doe no more; all faculties have pumpt themſelves dead in the place: I cannot thinke a thought to refreſh me; the waters are come in to my ſoule, and come in ſo deepe, that I give up my ſelfe for loſt. This poore ſoule hath more ſorrow then is godly. Preſſure is unkind, when it oppreſſes; oppreſſion is not alwaies from another; I may be an oppreſſor to my ſelfe; and this is when I write death upon my perſon, becauſe Chriſt hath written death upon all my actions. Wher thou canſt doe no more, wilt thou give up thy ſoule for loſt? if this ſhould be generally practiſed, there would not a ſoule be ſaved. Waters are come into thy ſoule, and thy heart is overwhelmed; and yet in this deepe internall diſtreſſe, a Rocke may be found, ſomething higher then thee may appeare for reliefe, by a ſupreame hand. From the ends of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead mee to the Rocke that is higher then I, Pſalm 61.2. When the water is got in to me, and overwhelmes my heart, yet then there is one higher, and taller then I, that can pull mee out of theſe deepe waters; pull body out; yea, pull ſoule out, and ſave the heart when it is overwhelmed.
The worſt evill is curable, the greateſt good attainable, I ſee by this point. The greateſt good in this world, is that which Chriſt moſt loves; that which he moſt loves, is truth in the inward parts. Wee are taken with outward beauty, and outward glory; Chriſt is not. All the glory of this world was ſhewed to him by ſatan, at once, and yet no temptation to him, affection not ſtird a jot; internall glory takes Chriſt much, truth in the heart; himſelfe ſeated in the ſoule, is the greateſt good in the world, to him, and to us; and this takes him exceedingly. If the Divell when hee tooke Chriſt and ſet him upon the top of a high place, could have taken Chriſt and ſet him downe in any mans heart, and ſeated truth in the inward parts of any one, though it had been the pooreſt perſon in the world; this would have taken him indeed: but Satan cannot doe this for Chriſt, neither doth Chriſt need it from him, he can doe it himſelfe; he works inwardly, at a greater depth, and from a more underived ſtrength then he; hee can take Chariot in his Word, and ride over all the great world, over all the little world, into every roome of the ſoule; into joynts and marrow, and ſet downe himſelfe where he will; in conſcience, in affection, in what inward part he ſees good; in ſome one part, or in all parts: that is the greateſt good in the world, when truth is in the inward [parts] (i.) not in one faculty, but in all; not onelyonly in the underſtanding, but in the conſcience, in the affection, in every faculty; this Chriſt loves mightily, and what hee loves hee can accompliſh; there is no torture upon him, affection larger then power, as tis uſually with us. All power is given to him, to worke without, to worke within, in Earth, in Heaven; that is, in the more internall and heavenly part. Hee giveth wiſdome to the heart. I will give my Lawes into your mind. By Lawes is meant all grace; and yet all this made a gift, and given into the ſoule that deſires it. Chriſt gives things into the hand, yea, into the heart, all precious things, and derives them into all parts; and when all this is done in us, and the like laboured for to be done by us, in all others; then is internall operation in power; or then Chriſt workes in us mightily; which terme pointing onelyonly at a gradation in the ſame operation, hath raveld out it ſelfe, according to what is difficult, in unfolding the former.