Influences of the Life of Grace, Part 1 · Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII.
1. Of ſtriving againſt Soveraignty. 2. Some ſtriving is lawful. 3. A gracious behaviour it is to be woe at God's forſaking. 4. To repine at Soveraignty in hearing or not hearing of prayer. 5. Contradicting. 6. Murmuring. 7. Counter-working of Soveraignty is dreadful. 8. Oppoſing the operations of the Spirit. 9. Diſpairing. 10. Reproaching proud diſputing. 11. Submiſſion to want of influences. 12. What way the Lord recompenſeth deſertions. 13. Cloſing with influences of the Law-rebukes.
ELihu moſt gravely ſpeaketh, Job 33. 13. Why doſt thou ſtrive with him, for he gives not an account of any of his matters? The word foreign is to ſtrive and contend in words only, as Mercerus and Pagnin, either in judgement or out of judgement, jurgare. And its ſtrange that any dare chide or ſcold with the ſoveraign Lord.
But 1. Jacob's ſtriving and wreſtling in a holy willful peremptorineſs in praying, the Lord being on Jacob the wreſtlers ſide really to bear him up by his grace, is a lawful ſtriving.
2. There is a difference betwixt a meer temptation and a threatning. The woman of Canaan ſtrives not againſt Chriſt's not anſwering her one word, Matth. 15. what? he is maſter of his own Anſwers. When Chriſt ſays, I came not but for the loſt ſheep of the houſe of Iſrael, ſhe ſtrives not; he is Maſter of his own journey from Heaven to Earth; yet that Anſwer weakens her not in the duetie of praying, and worſhipping. But when ſhe is reproached as to her intereſt in Chriſt, Its not meet to take the childrens bread and to give it to dogs, ſhe mildly, yet in the boldneſs of faith contradicts Chriſt: ſuppoſe Chriſt out of his own mouth ſhould deny a child of God to be a child of God, there is place for a holy ſtriving and contradicting of him.
3. It is a gracious behaviour in the man Chriſt,It is a gracious temper to weep when the Lord is abſent or angry. that he is affected with grief for the Lord's forſaking, and expreſſeth it with tears and ſtrong cries, Heb. 5. Should not the child weep, when the father is angry? 2. The privation of the greateſt good, ſuch as the overclouding of the Lord's favour, is a due cauſe of ſadneſs; Woman, why weepeſt thou, ſaith the Angel to Magdalen? why weep I? they have taken away my Lord. 3. It wants not reaſon I weep, for my father is dead; there is my mothers grave, ſhe is very new buried, therefore I weep; all my goods are taken away, and therefore I weep; yet the Lord hath forſaken me, and I weep not; that is dreadful. So Job, Jeremiah, David, Hezekiah, are ſadly afflicted, when the Lord ſeems angry.
4. There is a ſoveraignty in hearing or not hearing of prayer,A ſoveraignty in the Lord's hearing, or not hearing. againſt which we muſt not ſtrive. 1. Sometime the unwritten bill is anſwered, Iſa. 65. 24. and the Lord yields to our blank papers, and ſubſcribes them. 2. Some times he hears the dumb mans ſigns, and his breathing, inſtead of his praying, Iſa. 38. 14, 20. Lam. 3. 56. Pſal. 6. 8. Pſal. 102. 19, 20. 3. Sometimes the Lord hears, and ſends the meſſage of deliverance, but we hear not, nor doe we know or feel that he hears, Pſal. 18. 4, 5, 6. compared with ver. 16. Dan. 10. 12. one crying for comfort may be heard and not comforted. Iſa. 66. 13, 14. As one whom his mother comforts, ſo will I comfort you, and ye ſhall be comforted. And when ye ſee this, your heart ſhall rejoyce, and your bones ſhall flouriſh like a green herb.
5. The clays (no) and the great Potters (ay) and vain mans (I will) and the Almighties (I will not) are moſt unſutable. Strive not with ſoveraignty.Iſa. 29. 16. Shall the work ſay of him that made it, He made me not? or ſhall the thing framed, ſay of hint that framed it, He hath no underſtanding? Rom. 9. 20. Who art thou, O man, that replyeſt againſt God? Iſa. 45. 9. Woe to him that ſtriveth with his Maker: Let the potſheard ſtrive with the potſheards of the earth: ſhall the clay ſay to him that faſhioneth it, What makeſt thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Jer. 18. 6. O houſe of Iſrael, cannot I doe with you as the potter, ſaith the Lord? behold, as the clay is in the potters hand, ſo are ye in my hand, O houſe of Iſrael. Humble ſpeaking to God doth well become us. Abraham excuſes his contrary pleading with God, Gen. 18. 27. Behold, now I have taken upon me to ſpeak, who am but duſt and aſhes. Ver. 30. Oh, let not my Lord be angry, and I will ſpeak, v. 32. Job 42. 3. Therefore have I uttered that I underſtood not, things too wonderful for me, that I knew not.
3. Beware of murmuring and angry and fretting words againſt God; Divers kinds of ſtriving with ſoveraignty.Exod. 14. 11. Were there no graves in Egypt? Exod. 15. 24. Exod. 16. 2. Numb. 14. 2, 27. and much more. Its dreadful to contend with the Almighty; and for ſo ſmall a thing as a drink of water, and for a piece of fleſh, ſhould we fall a pleading with the ſoveraign Lord?
4. Eſpecially we ſhould not counter-work the uncontroulable providence of God; for that is to give the Lord battle, and to lead an army againſt him: as Iſa. 9. 10. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build them with hewen ſtones; the Sycamores are cut down, but we will change them unto Cedars.
5. There be divers kinds of ſtriving with the Almighty; ſuch are they who blaſphemouſly oppoſe the ſhining and convincing power of the Spirit in Chriſt caſting out divels, Matth. 12. ſuch are they who gnaſh with the teeth and ſpit upon the ſhining beauty of godlineſs in Steven, Acts 7. and kick againſt pricks as perſecutors doe, Acts 9. who if they had the Father and Spirit incarnate, as the Son was, would crucifie both, and would, were it in there blaſphemous power, crucifie the God-head; whereas meek yielding to the actings and flowings of the Spirit in others, ſays there muſt be much of the Spirit there; for the Spirit cannot but love the Spirit.
6. Deſpairing ſtoutly of mercy and the power of grace is of this ſort; when Cain, Judas, and others defie Omnipotency and infinite mercy to ſave them, and ſpitefully hate the influences of ſaving grace, and ſay, mercy cannot ſave me; the compleat ranſome of the bloud of God cannot buy me from the ſecond death: To this we may reduce a lazie deſpairing; what if I be never ſaved, I can, I will doe no more? The people are bidden return; nay, there is no hope (ſay they,) Jer. 18. 12. but we will walk after our own devices.
7. There is here, the fainter reproaching of Omnipotency, as if God were weary and not able to bring back the captive people, Iſa. 40. 27, 28. Hence the Lord muſt prove his Omnipotency by that rare piece the curtain of Heaven ſtretched out, and a meaſuring line drawn over the Earth, Iſa. 51. 14, 15. Iſa. 50. 2, 2.
8. There is a proud diſputing with God when we dare give in a bill againſt God. 1. Ah, he takes me for his enemy. 2. He hath left off to be gracious; An ungracious God is no God. O the pride of a tempted mind that dare oppoſe the very exiſtence of God.
3. Some ſay, God hath need to be inſtructed to govern the world better, otherwiſe what needed that be ſaid by Iſa. 40. 13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counſellour, hath taught him? Ver. 14. With whom took he counſell, who inſtructed him, and taught him in the path of judgement, and taught him knowledge, and ſhewed him the way of underſtanding? Or what needs that Job 21. 22. Shall any teach God knowledge? ſeeing he judgeth things that are high. What a God is an unknowing God, who needs a leſſon from the creature, or from ſome higher God? and then who taught that other God who is ſuppoſed to be higher then the moſt high? what a carnal mind is this that chaſeth the Almighty God out of the world?
4. What doe they who curſe the day, the ſtars, the twilight, the birth? as Job chap. 3. A gracious heart ſaith, let the Lord be the Lord, and cloſes with all the attributes of God, and with all the influences of Omnipotency, wiſedome, goodneſs, and juſtice on men, and of love, mercy, grace, bounty, forbearance to the Saints, and to their own ſoul; this is to ſing mercy, and to ſing judgement: whereas its a note of Atheiſme to wiſh and vote out of the world God, his attributes, and all the acting and influences of mercy, juſtice, truth, grace, ſoveraignty, and to ſay, Its not the Lord, the Lord can neither doe good, neither can be doe evil, Zeph. 1.
8. So would we beware to fight with the Lord's diſpenſations of grace; he is Lord and Soveraign diſpoſer of his own comforts: whether we look upon comforts as duties commanded, 2 Theſ. 5. 17. Jer. 31. 15. or as a reward of duties from the Lord, Rom. 15. 4. Pſal. 27. 14. 2 Theſ. 2. 16. Iſa. 66. 13, 14. he is the Lord of all influences to work in us to will and to doe, and Maſter of his own rewards. The Lord is Maſter of his own love-viſits, and is neither debtor to the man Chriſt, nor to the elect Angels; yea, the Lord's ſaving influences go along with his free decree of Election; and look as the Lord of nature preſerves the ſpeces of Roſes,Deadneſs and deſertion may be on one way, and much of God in other actings. of Vine-trees, though this or that individual roſe or vine-tree may wither and be blaſted; ſo he holds on the work of believing, praying, of hoping, and perſevering to the end; though there may be a miſcarrying in this or that particular act of faith, and ſome deadneſs in praying, hic & nunc. And as in a great work of a water-mill, ſome one of the wheels may be broken, and yet the Mill is kept a going, and the Ship ſtill under ſayl, though ſome inſtrument, or other be wanting and laid aſide for a while: So when there is a withdrawing of feeling of a preſence in praying, as Cantic. 5. 6. I called him, but he anſwered me not; yet influences flow in another duty of praiſing, ver. 10. My Beloved is white and ruddy, and the chief among ten thouſand; And when there are withdraw-drawings of God, as touching vigourouſneſs of believing, Why art thou diſquieted, O my ſoul? &c. yet are there very large outlettings of God in love-ſickneſs and ſtrong deſires after the Lord, Pſal. 42. 2. My ſoul thirſteth for God, for the living God. So is it that ſome River which floweth a far other way, in a new cutted out Channel, the former being dried up. So the bloud runs in another vein, and ſtill furniſheth ſtrength to the body: nor is there cauſe to complain, as if all ſtrength were gone; for when the afflicted man eats aſhes for bread, and drinks tears, & the heart is withered as graſs, and the mans bones are burnt as an hearth, Pſal. 102. the flood breaks out in another corner. Ver. 12. But thou, O Lord, ſhalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations. V. 19. He looks down from Heaven. 20. To hear the groaning of the Priſoner: to looſe them that are appointed for death. There is ſome ſpiritual compenſation in the Lord's forbidding the wind to blow in one earth, when it ſtrongly blows in another. Some deadned deſerted ones are much meekned and made to ſpeak out of the duſt, and fed and fatned alſo with hunger; yea, if it were but lying at the gate of Chriſt and knocking, though no anſwer at all be returned, it hath much of Chriſt in it, in other conſiderations; deadneſs may be on, and want of holy vigorous acting of faith, and yet ſpiritual complainings; yea and with the complainings fervent praying, Pſal. 119. 25. My ſoul cleaveth unto the duſt: quicken thou me according to thy word. Ver. 28. My ſoul melteth for heavineſs, ſtrengthen me according to thy word. Ye would judge righteouſly of the Lord, and ſee whether or no ye complain without cauſe; for though there be fainting, yet there is hoping, Pſal. 119. 81. My ſoul fainteth for thy ſalvation, but I hope in thy word. Some children are always malecontent and ſtill weeping, nothing in the houſe can pleaſe them: its the fault of ſome greedy wretches, who have abundance, and yet ſtill complain of want. It were good to turn our cenſuring of the Lord's providence into complaining of our own evil hearts, it follows humble and diligent obedience, that hath ſweetneſs of ſubmiſſion, Pſal. 119. 165. Great peace have they that keep thy Law and nothing ſhall offend; foreign impegit offendit pede.or (as the word is) ſtumble their feet There is a heart-covenanting with God, when the man ſaith, God ſhall doe nothing that ſhall ſtumble me; his killing of me, his caſting me out of his preſence, into hell ſhall not offend me, Job 1. 22. 2 Sam. 16. 10. The man Chriſt could be broken or offended at nothing, whether the traytor ſell him, or the diſciples forſake him, or the Jews apprehend him, or the ſouldiers ſpit on his face, or Pilate condemn him, or the people nod the head, ſhoot out the lip, and mock him; there is nothing can break Chriſt, but the Scriptures muſt be fulfilled in Chriſt's ſufferings. If the Lord ſlay Aaron's ſons, Aaron holds his peace. Let me be rained upon with ſhowres of influences from Heaven, or let my fleece be dry, and let me be a bottle in the ſmoke, yet there is no unrighteouſneſs with God, and in him is no darkneſs. Ah, I am dead, but the Lord guides well; ah he is a Lion to me, and a Leopard; but the Lord is good to the ſoul that waits for him. The man that ſtumbles leaſt at the ſins of others and their falls, is the man neareſt to God's heart. Pſal. 18. 18. They prevented me in the day of my calamity. They wronged me, ver. 25. But I kept my ſelf from my iniquity: and what can ye ſay againſt his withdrawings, will ye make it a quarrel that he hides his face? there is a deep of ſoveraignty between the Lord's withdrawing from Hezekiah, and Hezekiah's pride. God hardens Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh hardens his own heart, Joſhua 11. 19, 20. Iſaiah 57. 17. Pſalm 81. 11, 12.
Qu. But what ſhall be done under deadneſs?
Anſ. 1. If there be any life, life helps life; the one part of the worm acts upon the other to bring forth a motion of life.
2. Ye have no more reaſon to chide him for blaſting your heart with withering, then that the Lord ſends a wind upon the Roſe, and dries it up, and the grace of it is gone.
3. Meddle not with his part but complain of your part; let his ſoveraignty alone and confeſs your own guiltineſs; Iſa. 64. 6, 8. there is a confeſſion of our ſin. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteouſneſſes are as filthy rags; and withal an acknowledgment of his Soveraignty, we are the clay and thou our potter.
4. When the Lord withdraws, ſeek again and again, be ſick after him, Cant. 3. 1, 2, 3. Cant. 7. 6, 7, 8. Joh. 20. 1, 2, 3, 13. and know that Chriſt is never ſo abſent, but there may be alſo much cauſe of praiſing and humble bleſſing God, if there be love-ſickneſs for him, hunger after him, and a ſpiritual miſſing of him, as there is reaſon to complain of the withdrawing of his influences; For Cant. 3. when Chriſt is abſent, he is not abſent; the ſoul is ſhined upon when the ſoul is overclouded,Chriſts abſence is ſometimes as good as his preſence. for it is noon-day at mid-night; he is abſent as to feeling, as to finding, and quiet enjoying. I ſought him, but I found him not; and again, I ſought, him, but I found him not: but he is ſtrongly preſent and ſhining, as to influences of grace. 1. In painful ſeeking in the bed by night, Cantic. chap. 3. ver. 1. 2. In and about the broad ſtreets and ways, v. 2. 3. In uſing publick means; watch-men, ſaw ye him? v. 3. 4. In uſing other means in private. I went a little further. 5. In holy miſſing. I found him not, v. 1. I found him not, v. 2. In holy finding, v. 4. I found him. 6. And all the while his preſence is mighty in the ſoul-love to him. I ſought him whom my ſoul loved, four times expreſſed, v. 1. v. 2. v. 3. v. 4. ſo that the gleaning is better then the full harveſt, the mid-night abſence hath as many ſweet priviledges as the noon days preſence. A ſinners ſeeking, loving, and longing and languiſhing after loſt Chriſt is Heaven upon Earth; his pawns he leaves behind him are rich and ſweet; nor can one be out of Heaven in a better deſertion then miſſing and ſeeking the face of Jacob's God, Pſal. 24. 6. Pſal. 27. 8. Jer. 50. 4. ſo groundleſs often is our complaining that we want Chriſt, that Chriſt guides and tutors us badly, that he miſ-guides rather. Ah, how ſinfully querulous are we? he does all things well, his abſence is preſence, his frownings ſweet and profitable. Yet is not this ſpoken to cool our fervour of ſeeking when we miſſe him, and find him not, but rather we are to go on; not to ſay any thing of Law-ſmiting and of Law-firings of the ſoul under apprehended wrath, eſpecially that which hath Goſpel-hope, and Goſpel-ſickneſs after Chriſt conjoyned with them;We are not to ſtrive with the Law. Rom. 7. The Law ſlew me. The Law kills no man who is under Chriſt out of hand, yea to ſuch as are under grace ſomewhat of the Goſpel-heaven cleaves to the Law-hell. Its a miracle how ſome are burnt with the Law, ſlain with the terrors of God, wounded with the arrows of the Almighty, and yet are green in the ſurnace; as Job c. 6. c. 7. 20. I have ſinned, what ſhall I doe to thee, O thou preſerver of men? Ver. 21. Why doſt thou not pardon my tranſgreſſion, and take away my iniquity? To ſtrive with the Law were to ſtrive with God; ſo do Divels and reprobates for eternity wreſtle with the Law-juſtice and the Law-curſe: grace teacheth meek aſſenting to the Law as good and ſpiritual; neither Chriſt nor any of his live at ods and variance with the Law. Indeed to the Saints the Law is, as they ſay of Elements, They exiſt not in their purity but with ſome mixture; For the Law to believers is managed by Chriſt, and in his hands made uſe of for ſaving ends, even when the believer is in the Law-furnace; nor is there any who could guide & make ſo good uſe of the Law as Jeſus Chriſt. Some there are, that one nights waking under the terrors of the Law would make an end of them, if inviſible Goſpel ſtrength were not furniſhed to them; and here there muſt be a mixture of Law-influences, and of Goſpel impreſſions of Chriſt upon the ſpirit. It ſpeaks much grace in Joſiah, 2 Kings 22. 19. to feel and ſuffer, with ſoftneſs and tenderneſs of a meekned and a tamed heart, the ſmart and pain of the influences of the threatning Law. And its prevalency of grace for Hezekiah, Iſa. 39. to ſtoop to the like and to ſay, good is the word of the Lord, even the word of a curſe, Deut. 28. of threatning the ſaddeſt evils: as to kick like a fatted horſe and to ſpurn at ſuch impreſſions of wrath born in upon the conſcience in Pharaoh, Exod. 10. 28. in Achab, 1 Kings 22. 26. in the Prieſts, Prophets, and People, Jer. 26. 8. of the chief Prieſts and Phariſees, Matth. 21. 45, 46. does proclaim much graceleſneſs of an undanted and unplowed heart: where there is any ingredient of Goſpel-grace, there is a coming down and a ſtooping to the influences of God, of what kind ſoever,Sometime we may pray againſt the decree of God, but its never lawful to reſiſt his commanding will. yea and generally a gracious ſpirit dare no more reſiſt and pray againſt the Lord's will of pleaſure or purpoſe in its event, then againſt any part of the revealed will of God or the will of precept, either Law or Goſpel. The diſciples were to watch and pray againſt the decreed and prophecied ſcattering of the flock, and their fleeing and forſaking of Chriſt, Matth. 26. 31, 32, 38, 41. but there can no caſe be given, in which we may reſiſt the approving will of God in his word; that then muſt be a ſweet conformity with God, when the heart ſweetly cloſes with impreſſions of rebukes, threatnings, convictions, and influences of Evangelick commands. Its good earth that eaſily yields and cedes to the breakings and tillings made by the Plough;Its good to anſwer every impreſſion of his word. let the word act as the Lord will, in all its kinds, and the ſoul ſays amen: but the ground that breaks the Irons of the tilling Plough is convinced to be rocky and barren: every ſtring of the harp beaten on by the hand of the Muſician, gives a reſound like it ſelf; a Bell of ſilver hath an other ſort of excellent ſound then a Bell of Braſs or Iron: the gracious heart anſwers to every letter and impreſſion of the word, to the promiſe with faith, to the precept with pliableneſs of obedience, to the threatning with ſoftneſs and godly trembling; for all the Word and Law and the ſeveral parts thereof are written and engraven in the heart; and the gracious heart is a double or a ſecond copy of the Old and New Teſtament. So Achab on the contrary meets every word from Micaiah with hatred, and there is a reſound and an echo of hatred and perſecution which in the Phariſees meets the words of rebuke in Chriſt's mouth, and bitterneſs in Herod reſounds when John Baptiſt does rebuke his inceſt, and adultery. Take it for a ſad condition when there is a practical contrariety and hatred betwixt the heart and the word of the Lord; a heart loathing of the word and a rejecting thereof is dreadful; whereas the eſteeming of the word ſweeter then the honey or the honey comb, more then thouſands of ſilver and gold, the mans treaſure, his heritage, his ſouls delight and love night and day, his work, meditation, ſtudy, wiſedom, do proclaim much of the new creation; the word being the ſeed of the new birth,1 Pet. 1. 23. The new-birth. and new creations muſt love the mother ſeed, its own native beginning, as the ſtreams are of the ſame nature and likeneſs with the fountain: the Word tries all mens hearts, ſee Joh. 7. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. Luk. 4. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29. Acts 2. 12, 13, 37, 38, 39. Acts 7. 54, 55, &c. Acts 13. 38, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. Acts 14. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. Acts 17. 34, 35, 36. Some believe, ſome mock, the natural man cannot cloſe with the word.We may weep over our own dry hearts, when we want influences, but we cannot weep againſt the Lord becauſe he gives not theſe influences.
Now Chriſt is given as a Leader and Commander to the people, Iſa. 55. 4. charge him not as a miſleading and a raſh guide becauſe he carries you through a wilderneſſe where there is neither flood nor fountain on the Earth, nor dew or rain from Heaven; you are withered and no influences come from him, let faith complain of the barrenneſs of the Earth but juſtifie the drineſs of the clouds: its the wiſedom of God that teacheth the believer to weep becauſe he wants rain and moiſtneſs and is ſinfully dry; and yet to ſubmit to him who denies rain, and dew; for he gives not, here upon juſt grounds and holily; I want, deſervedly for my juſt demerit.