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48 - Heaviness through Manifold Temptations - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Heaviness through manifold temptations. Now for a season, if need be,
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  Speaker 1: ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. First Peter, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: verse six. In the preceding discourse, I have particularly spoken
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  Speaker 1: of that darkness of mind into which those are often
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  Speaker 1: observed to fall who once walked in the light of
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  Speaker 1: God's countenance. Nearly related to this is the heaviness of soul,
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  Speaker 1: which is still more common even among believers. Indeed, almost
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  Speaker 1: all the children of God experience this in an higher
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  Speaker 1: or lower degree. And so great is the resemblance between
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  Speaker 1: one and the other that they are frequently confounded together,
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  Speaker 1: And we are apt to say indifferently such an one
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  Speaker 1: is in darkness, or such as one is in heaviness,
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  Speaker 1: as if they were equivalent terms, one of which implied
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  Speaker 1: no more than the other. But they are far very
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  Speaker 1: far from it. Darkness is one thing, heaviness is another.
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  Speaker 1: There is a difference, yea a wide and a sensual
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  Speaker 1: difference between the former and the latter. And such a
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  Speaker 1: difference it is as all the children of God are
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  Speaker 1: deeply concerned to understand. Otherwise nothing will be more easy
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  Speaker 1: than for them to slide out of heaviness into darkness.
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  Speaker 1: In order to prevent this, I will endeavor to show
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  Speaker 1: one what manner of persons those were, to whom the
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  Speaker 1: Apostle says, ye are in heaviness. Two what kind of
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  Speaker 1: heaviness they were in? Three? What were the causes? And
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  Speaker 1: four what were the ends of it? I shall conclude
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  Speaker 1: with some inferences. I am, in the first place, to
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  Speaker 1: show what manner of persons those were to whom the
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  Speaker 1: apostle says, ye are in heaviness. And first, it is
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  Speaker 1: beyond all dispute that they were believers at the time.
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  Speaker 1: The Apostle thus addressed them, For so he expressly says
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  Speaker 1: in one Peter one five, ye who are kept through
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  Speaker 1: the power of God by faith onto salvation. Again first
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  Speaker 1: Peter chapter one, verse seven, he mentions the trial of
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  Speaker 1: their faith much more precious than that of gold, which perisheth.
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  Speaker 1: And yet again in one Peter one nine he speaks
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  Speaker 1: of their receiving the end of their faith the salvation
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  Speaker 1: of their souls. At the same time. Therefore, that they
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  Speaker 1: were in heaviness, they were possessed of living faith. Their
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  Speaker 1: heaviness did not destroy their faith. They still endured, as
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  Speaker 1: seeing Him that is invisible. Neither did their heaviness destroy
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  Speaker 1: their peace, the peace that passeth all understanding, which is
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  Speaker 1: inseparable from true living faith. This we may easily gather
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  Speaker 1: from the second verse, wherein the Apostle praise not that
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  Speaker 1: grace and peace may be given them, but only that
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  Speaker 1: it may be multiplied unto them, that the blessing which
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  Speaker 1: they already in joyed might be more abundantly bestowed upon them.
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  Speaker 1: The persons to whom the Apostle here speaks were also
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  Speaker 1: full of a living hope. For thus he speaks in
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  Speaker 1: One Peter, Chapter one, verse three, Blessed be the God
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  Speaker 1: and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to
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  Speaker 1: his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again, me and you,
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  Speaker 1: all of us who are sanctified by the spirit, and
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  Speaker 1: enjoy the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ onto
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  Speaker 1: a living hope onto an inheritance, that is, onto a
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  Speaker 1: living hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fateth
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  Speaker 1: not away. So that notwithstanding their heaviness, they still retained
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  Speaker 1: an hope full of immortality, and they still rejoiced in
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  Speaker 1: hope of the glory of God. They were filled with
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  Speaker 1: joy in the Holy ghost. So one Peter one, verse eight.
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  Speaker 1: The apostle, having just mentioned the final revelation of Jesus Christ, namely,
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  Speaker 1: when he cometh to judge the world, immediately adds in whom,
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  Speaker 1: though now you see him not not with your bodily eyes,
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  Speaker 1: yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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  Speaker 1: Their heaviness therefore was not only consistent with living hope,
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  Speaker 1: but also with joy unspeakable. At the same time they
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  Speaker 1: were thus heavy, they nevertheless rejoiced with joy full of glory.
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  Speaker 1: In the midst of their heaviness. They likewise still enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: the love of God which had been shed abroad in
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  Speaker 1: their hearts. Whom says the apostle, having not seen ye love,
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  Speaker 1: though ye have not seen him face to face, yet
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  Speaker 1: knowing him by faith, ye have observed his word, My son,
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  Speaker 1: give me thy heart. He is your God and your love,
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  Speaker 1: the desire of your eyes, and your exceeding great reward.
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  Speaker 1: Ye have sought and found happiness in him. Ye delight
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  Speaker 1: in the Lord, and he hath given you your heart's desire.
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  Speaker 1: Once More, though they were heavy, yet were they holy.
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  Speaker 1: They retained the same power over sin. They were still
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  Speaker 1: kept from this by the power of God. They were
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  Speaker 1: obedient children, not fashioned according to their former desires. But
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  Speaker 1: as He that had called them is holy, so were
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  Speaker 1: they holy in all manner of conversation. Knowing they were
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  Speaker 1: redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ, as a lamb
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  Speaker 1: without spot and without blemish. They had through the faith
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  Speaker 1: and hope which they had in God purified their souls
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  Speaker 1: by the Spirit, so that upon the whole their heaviness
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  Speaker 1: well consisted with faith, with hope, with love of God
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  Speaker 1: and Man, with the Peace of God, with joy, and
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  Speaker 1: the holy ghosts, with inward and outward holiness. It did
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  Speaker 1: no way impair, much less destroy, any part of the
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  Speaker 1: work of God in their hearts. It did not at
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  Speaker 1: all interfere with that sanctification of the Spirit, which is
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  Speaker 1: the root of all true obedience, neither with the happiness
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  Speaker 1: which must needs result from grace and peace reigning in
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  Speaker 1: the heart. Hence we may easily learn what kind of
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  Speaker 1: heaviness they were in. The second thing which I shall
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  Speaker 1: endeavor to show the Word in the original is leupithetes
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  Speaker 1: made sorry, grieved from lupe, grief or sorrow. This is
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  Speaker 1: the constant literal meaning of the word, and this being observed,
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  Speaker 1: there is no ambiguity in the expression, nor any difficulty
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  Speaker 1: in understanding it. The persons spoken of here were grieved,
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  Speaker 1: the heaviness they were in was neither more nor less
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  Speaker 1: than the sorrow or grief, a passion which every child
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  Speaker 1: of man is well acquainted with. It is probable our
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  Speaker 1: translators rendered it heaviness, though a less common word to
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  Speaker 1: denote two things, first the degree, and next the continuance
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  Speaker 1: of it. It does, indeed, it seem that it is
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  Speaker 1: not a slight or inconsiderable degree of grief which is
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  Speaker 1: here spoken of, but such as makes a strong impression
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  Speaker 1: upon and sinks deep into the soul. Neither does this
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  Speaker 1: appear to be a transient sorrel such as passes away
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  Speaker 1: in an hour, but rather such as having taken fast
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  Speaker 1: hold of the heart, is not presently shaken off, but
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  Speaker 1: continues for some time as a settled temper, rather than
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  Speaker 1: a passion. Even in them that have living faith in
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  Speaker 1: Christ and the genuine love of God in their hearts,
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  Speaker 1: even in these this heaviness may sometimes be so deep
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  Speaker 1: as to overshadow the whole soul, to give a color,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, to all the affections, such as will
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  Speaker 1: appear in the whole behavior. It may likewise have an
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  Speaker 1: influence over the body, particularly in those that are either
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  Speaker 1: of a naturally weak constitution or weakened by some accidental disorder,
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  Speaker 1: especially of the nervous kind. In many cases we find
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  Speaker 1: the corruptible boy, but he presses down the soul. In
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  Speaker 1: this the soul rather presses down the body and weakens
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  Speaker 1: it more and more. Nay, I will not say that
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  Speaker 1: deep and lasting sorrow of heart may not sometimes weaken
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  Speaker 1: a strong constitution and lay the foundation of such bodily
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  Speaker 1: disorders as are not easily removed. And yet all this
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  Speaker 1: may consist with a measure of that faith which still
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  Speaker 1: worketh by love. This may well be termed a fiery trial.
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  Speaker 1: And though it is not the same with that the
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  Speaker 1: Apostle speaks of in the fourth chapter First Peter, Chapter four.
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  Speaker 1: Yet many of the expressions they are used concerning outward
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  Speaker 1: sufferings may be accommodated to this inward affliction. They cannot, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: with any propriety, be applied to them that are in darkness.
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  Speaker 1: These do not cannot rejoice. Neither is it true that
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them.
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  Speaker 1: But he frequently doth on those that are in heaviness,
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  Speaker 1: so that though sorrowful, yet are they always rejoicing. But
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  Speaker 1: to proceed to the third point, what are the causes
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  Speaker 1: of such sorrow or heaviness in a true believer? The
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  Speaker 1: apostle tells us clearly, ye are in heaviness, says he,
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  Speaker 1: through manifold temptations poechilios or manifold not only many in number,
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  Speaker 1: but of many kinds. They may be varied and diversified
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  Speaker 1: a thousand ways by the change or addition of numberless circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: and this very diversity and variety makes it more difficult
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  Speaker 1: to guard against them. Among these we may rank all
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  Speaker 1: bodily disorders, particularly acute diseases, and violent pain of every kind,
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  Speaker 1: whether affecting the whole body or the smallest part of it.
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  Speaker 1: It is true some who have enjoyed uninterrupted health and
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  Speaker 1: have felt none of these, may make light of them,
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  Speaker 1: and wonder that sickness or pain of body should bring
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  Speaker 1: heaviness upon the mind. And perhaps one in a thousand
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  Speaker 1: is of so peculiar a constitution as not to feel
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  Speaker 1: pain like other men. So hath it pleased God to
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  Speaker 1: show his almighty power by producing some of these prodigies
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  Speaker 1: of nature who have seemed not to regard pain at all,
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  Speaker 1: though of the severest kind, if that contempt of pain
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  Speaker 1: was not owing partly to the force of education, partly
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  Speaker 1: to a preternatural cause, to the power either of good
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  Speaker 1: or evil spirits, who raise those men above the state
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  Speaker 1: of mere nature. But abstracting from these particular cases, it
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  Speaker 1: is in general a just observation that pain is perfect
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  Speaker 1: misery and extreme quite overturns all patients. And even where
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  Speaker 1: this is prevented by the grace of God, where men
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  Speaker 1: do possess their souls in patience, it may nevertheless occasion
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  Speaker 1: much inward heaviness, the soul sympathizing with the body. All
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  Speaker 1: diseases of long continuance tho life us painful, are apt
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  Speaker 1: to produce the same effect. When God appoints over us
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  Speaker 1: consumption or the chilling and burning ague. If it be
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  Speaker 1: not speedily removed, they will not only consume the eyes,
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  Speaker 1: but cause sorrow of heart. This is eminently the case
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  Speaker 1: with regard to all those which are termed nervous disorders
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  Speaker 1: and faith does not overturn the course of nature. Natural
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  Speaker 1: causes still produce natural effects. Faith no more hinders the
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  Speaker 1: sinking of the spirits, as it is called in an
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  Speaker 1: hysteric illness, than the rising of the pulse in a fever. Again,
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  Speaker 1: when calamity cometh as a whirlwind, and poverty as an
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  Speaker 1: armed man, is this a little temptation? Is it strange
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  Speaker 1: if it occasions sorrow and heaviness? Although this also may
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  Speaker 1: appear but a small thing to those who stand at
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  Speaker 1: a distance, or who look and pass by on the
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  Speaker 1: other side, Yet it is otherwise to them who feel
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  Speaker 1: it having food and raiment. Indeed, the latter word skipas Nahta,
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  Speaker 1: implies lodging as well as apparel. We may, if the
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  Speaker 1: love of God is in our hearts, be therewith content.
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  Speaker 1: But what shall they do who have none of these, who,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, embraced the rock for a shelter, who
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  Speaker 1: have only the earth to lie upon, and only the
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  Speaker 1: sky to cover them, who have not a dry or warm,
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  Speaker 1: much less a clean abode for themselves and their little ones,
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  Speaker 1: no nor clothing to keep themselves or those they love
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  Speaker 1: next themselves from pinching cold, either by day or night.
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  Speaker 1: I laugh at the stupid heathen, crying out nil habit
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  Speaker 1: gillis pauperatos duartus tensei quam quad neduculos amenies facet has poverty.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing worse in it than this, that it make men
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  Speaker 1: liable to be laughed at. It is a sign. This
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  Speaker 1: idle poet talked by wrote of the things which he
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  Speaker 1: knew not is not want of foods, something worse than this.
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  Speaker 1: God pronounced it as a curse upon man, that he
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  Speaker 1: should earn it by the sweat of his brow. But
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  Speaker 1: how many are there in this Christian country that toil
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  Speaker 1: and labor and sweat, and have it not at last,
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  Speaker 1: but struggle with weariness and hunger together? Is it not
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  Speaker 1: worse for one, after a hard day's labor to come
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  Speaker 1: back to a poor, cold, dirty, uncomfortable lodging, and to
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  Speaker 1: find there not even the food which is needful to
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  Speaker 1: repair his wasted strength. You that live at ease in
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  Speaker 1: the earth, that want nothing but eyes to see, ears
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  Speaker 1: to hear, and hearts to understand how well God has
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  Speaker 1: dealt with you? Is it not worse to seek bread
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  Speaker 1: day by day and find none? Perhaps to find the
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  Speaker 1: comfort also of five or six children crying for what
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  Speaker 1: he has not to give. Were it not that he
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  Speaker 1: is restrained by an unseen hand, would he not soon
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  Speaker 1: curse God and die all want of bread? Want of bread?
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  Speaker 1: Who can tell what this means unless he hath felt
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  Speaker 1: it himself. I am astonished at occasions, no more than heaviness,
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  Speaker 1: even in them the belief. Perhaps next to this we
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  Speaker 1: may place the death of those who were near and
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  Speaker 1: dear unto us, of a tender parent, and one not
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  Speaker 1: much declined into the veil of years, of a beloved child,
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  Speaker 1: just rising into life and clasping about our heart, of
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  Speaker 1: a friend that was as our own soul. Next the
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  Speaker 1: grace of God, the last best gift of heaven, and
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  Speaker 1: a thousand circumstances may enhance the distress. Perhaps the child
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  Speaker 1: the friend died in our embrace, perhaps was snatched away
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  Speaker 1: when we look not for it, flourishing, cut down like
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  Speaker 1: a flower. In all these cases, we not only may,
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  Speaker 1: but ought to be affected. It is the design of
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  Speaker 1: God that we should. He would not have a stalks
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  Speaker 1: and stones, He would have our affections regulated, not extinguished. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: nature unreproved, may drop a tear. There may be sorrow
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  Speaker 1: without sin, a still deeper sorrow we may feel for
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  Speaker 1: those who are dead while they live on account of
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  Speaker 1: the unkindness, ingratitude apostasy of those who were united to
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  Speaker 1: us in the closest ties. Who can express what a
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  Speaker 1: lover of souls may feel for a friend, a brother
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  Speaker 1: dead to God, for an husband, a wife, a parent,
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  Speaker 1: a child rushing into sin as an horse into the battle,
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  Speaker 1: and in spite of all arguments and persuasions, hasting to
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  Speaker 1: work out his own damnation. And this anguish of spirit
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  Speaker 1: may be heightened to an inconceivable degree by the consideration
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  Speaker 1: that he who is now posting to destruction once ran
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  Speaker 1: well in the way of life. Whatever he was in
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  Speaker 1: time past, serves now to no other purpose than to
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  Speaker 1: make our reflection on what he is more piercing and afflictive.
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  Speaker 1: In all these circumstances, we may be assured our great
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  Speaker 1: adversary will not be wanting to improve his opportunity. He
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  Speaker 1: who is always walking about seeking whom he may devour,
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  Speaker 1: will then especially use all his power, all his skill,
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  Speaker 1: if haply he may gain any advantage over the soul
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  Speaker 1: that is already cast down. He will not be sparing
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  Speaker 1: of his fiery darts such as are most likely to
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  Speaker 1: find an entrance and to fix most deeply in the
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  Speaker 1: heart by their suitableness to the temptation that assaults it.
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  Speaker 1: He will labor to inject unbelieving or blasphemous or repining thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: He will suggest that God does not regard, does not
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  Speaker 1: govern the earth, or at least that he does not
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  Speaker 1: govern it aright, not by the rules of justice and mercy.
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  Speaker 1: He will endeavor to stir up the heart against God,
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  Speaker 1: to renew our natural enmity against him. And if we
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  Speaker 1: attempt to fight him with his own weapons, if we
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  Speaker 1: begin to reason with him, more and more heavyess will
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  Speaker 1: undoubtedly ensue, if not uttered darkness. It has been frequently
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  Speaker 1: supposed that there is another cause, if not of darkness,
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  Speaker 1: at least of heaviness, namely God's withdrawing himself from the soul,
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  Speaker 1: because it is his sovereign will. Certainly he will do
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  Speaker 1: this if we grieve his Holy Spirit, either by outward
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  Speaker 1: or inward sin, either by doing evil or neglecting to
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  Speaker 1: do good, by giving way either to pride or anger,
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  Speaker 1: to spiritual sloth, to foolish desire, or inordinate affection. But
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  Speaker 1: that he ever withdraws himself because he will merely because
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  Speaker 1: it is his good pleasure. I absolutely deny there is
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  Speaker 1: no text in all the Bible which gives any color
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  Speaker 1: for such a supposition. Nay, it is a supposition contrary
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  Speaker 1: not only to many particular texts, but to the whole
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  Speaker 1: tenure of scripture. It is repugnant to the very nature
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  Speaker 1: of God. It is utterly beneath his majesty and wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: As an imminent writer strongly expresses it, to play at
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  Speaker 1: bo peep with his creatures. It is inconsistent both with
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  Speaker 1: His justice and mercy, and with the sound experience of
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  Speaker 1: all his children. One more cause of heaviness is mentioned
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  Speaker 1: by many of those who are termed mystic authors, and
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  Speaker 1: the notion has crept in I know not how even
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  Speaker 1: among plain people who have no acquaintance with them. I
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  Speaker 1: cannot better explain this than in the words of a
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  Speaker 1: late writer who relates this as her own experience. I continued,
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  Speaker 1: so happy in my beloved, that although I should have
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  Speaker 1: been forced to live a vagabond in a desert, I
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  Speaker 1: should have found no difficulty in it. This state had
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  Speaker 1: not lasted long, when, in effect I found myself led
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  Speaker 1: into a desert. I found myself in a forlorn condition,
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  Speaker 1: altogether poor, wretched, and miserable. The proper source of this
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  Speaker 1: grief is the knowledge of ourselves, by which we find
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  Speaker 1: that there is an extreme unlikeness between God and us.
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  Speaker 1: We see ourselves most opposite to Him, and that our
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  Speaker 1: inmost soul is entirely corrupted, depraved, and full of all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of evil and malignity of the world and the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: and all sorts of abominations. From hence, it has been
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  Speaker 1: inferred that the knowledge of ourselves, without which we should
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  Speaker 1: perish everlastingly, must, even after we have attained justifying faith,
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  Speaker 1: occasion the deepest heaviness. But upon this I would observe one.
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  Speaker 1: In the preceding paragraph, this writer says, hearing I had
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  Speaker 1: not a true faith in Christ, I offered myself up
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  Speaker 1: to God and immediately felt his love. It may be so,
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  Speaker 1: and yet it does not appear that this was justification.
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  Speaker 1: It is more probable it was no more than what
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  Speaker 1: are usually termed the drawings of the Father, and if so,
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  Speaker 1: the heaviness and darkness which followed was no other than
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  Speaker 1: conviction of sin, which, in the nature of things must
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  Speaker 1: precede that faith whereby we are justified. Two, Suppose she
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  Speaker 1: was justified almost the same moment she was convinced of
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  Speaker 1: wanting faith. There was then no time for that gradually
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  Speaker 1: increasing self knowledge which uses to precede justification. In this case,
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  Speaker 1: therefore it came after, and was probably the more severe
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  Speaker 1: the less it was expected. Three, it is allowed, there
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  Speaker 1: will be a far deeper, a far clearer, and fuller
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of our inbred sin, of our total corruption by nature,
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  Speaker 1: after justification, than ever there was before it. But this
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  Speaker 1: need not occasion darkness of soul. I will not say
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  Speaker 1: that it must bring us into heaviness. Were it so,
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  Speaker 1: the apostle would not have used that expression. If need be,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: for there would be an absolute, indispensable need of it
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: for all that would know themselves. That is an effect
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: for all that would know the perfect love of God
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and be thereby made meet to be partakers of the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: inheritance of the saints in light. But this is by
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: no means the case. On the contrary, God may increase
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the knowledge of ourselves to any degree, and increase in
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the same proportion the knowledge of himself and the experience
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: of His love, And in this case there would be
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: no desert, no misery, no forlorn condition, but love and
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: peace and joy, gradually springing up into everlasting life. For
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: what ends, then, which was the fourth thing to be considered?
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Does God permit heaviness to befall so many of his children?
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: The Apostle gives us a plain and direct answer to
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: this important question, that the trial of their faith, which
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: is much more precious than gold, that perisheth, though it
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: be tried by fire, may be found onto praise and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. One Peter,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse seven. There may be an allusion to
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: this in that well known passage of the fourth chapter,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: although it primarily relates to quite another thing, as has
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: been already observed, Think it not strange concerning the fiery
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: trial which is to try you? But rejoice that ye
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, that when His
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: glory shall be revealed, ye may likewise rejoice with exceeding
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: great joy. First Peter four, verse twelve. Hence we learn
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: that the first and great end of God's permitting the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: temptations which bring heaviness on his children is the trial
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: of their faith, which is tried by these, even as
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: gold by the fire. Now we know gold tried in
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the fire is purified thereby is separated from its dross,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: And so is faith in the fire of temptation. The
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: more it is tried, the more it is purified. Yea,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and not only purified, but also strengthened, confirmed, increased abundantly
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: by so many more proofs of the wisdom and power,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the love and faithfulness of God. This, then, to increase
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: our faith, is one gracious end of God's permitting those
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: manifold temptations. They serve to try to purify, to confirm
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and increase that living hope. Also where unto the God
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, hath begotten us
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: again of his abundant mercy. Indeed, our hope cannot but
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: increase in the same proportion with our faith. On this
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: foundation it stands. Believing in His name, living by faith
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: in the Son of God. We hope, for we have
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: a confident expectation of the glory which shall be revealed.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: And consequently, whatever strengthens our faith increases our hope. Also
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: at the same time it increases our joy in the Lord,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: which cannot but attend and hope full of immortality. In
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: this view, the Apostle exhorts believers in the other chapter,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: rejoice that ye are partakers of the sufferings of Christ.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: On this very account, happy are you, For the spirit
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: of glory and of God resteth upon you. And hereby
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: ye are enabled, even in the midst of sufferings, to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. They rejoice
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the more because the trials which increase their faith and hope,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: increase their love, also, both their gratitude to God for
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: all his mercies and their good will to all mankind. Accordingly,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the more deeply sensible they are of the loving kindness
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: of God their Savior, the more is their heart inflamed
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: with love to Him who first loved us. The clearer
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: and stronger evidence they have of the glory that shall
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: be revealed, the more do they love Him who hath
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: purchased it for them and given them the earnest thereof
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: in their hearts. And this, the increase of their love,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: is another end of the temptations permitted to come upon them.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Yet another is there advanced in holiness, holiness of heart,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and holiness of conversation. The latter naturally resum resulting from
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the former. For a good tree will bring forth good fruit,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: and all inward. Holiness is the immediate fruit of the
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: faith that worketh by love. By this, the blessed Spirit
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: purifies the heart from pride, self will passion, from love
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: of the world, from foolish and hurtful desires, from vile
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and vain affections. Besides that, sanctified afflictions have, through the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: grace of God, an immediate and direct tendency to holiness.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Through the operation of His spirit, they humble more and
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: more and abase the soul before God. They colme and
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: meeke in our turbulent spirit, tame the fierceness of our nature,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: soften our obstinacy and self, will crucify us to the world,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and bring us to expect all our strength from and
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to seek all our happiness in God. And all these
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: terminate in that great end that our faith, hope, love,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: and holiness may be found. If it doth not yet
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: appear unto praise from God himself, and honor from men
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and angels, and glory assigned by the Great Judge to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: all that have endured unto the end. And this will
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: be assigned in that awful day to every man according
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: to his works, according to the work which God hath
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: wrought in his heart, and the outward works which he
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: has wrought for God, and likewise according to what he
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: had suffered, so that all these trials are unspeakable gain.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: So many ways do these light afflictions, which are but
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for a moment, work out for us a far more
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Add to this the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: advantage which others may receive by seeing our behavior under affliction,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: we find by experience example frequently makes a deeper impression
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: upon us than precept And what examples have a stronger
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: influence not only on those who are hearttakers of light
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: precious faith, but even on them who have not known
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: God than that of the soul, calm and serene in
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the mist of storms, sorrowful yet always rejoice, meekly, accepting
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: whatever it is the will of God, however grievous it
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: may be, to nature, saying, in sickness and pain, the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: drink it in loss or want? The Lord gave the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: I am to conclude with some inferences, And first, how
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: wide is the difference between darkness of soul and heaviness,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: which nevertheless are so generally confounded with each other even
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: by experienced Christians. Darkness or the wilderness state, implies a
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: total loss of joy in the Holy Ghost. Heaviness does not.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: In the midst of this we may rejoice with joy unspeakable.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: They that are in darkness have lost the Peace of God.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: They that are in heaviness have not so far from
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: it that at the very time peace as well as
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: grace may be multiplied unto them. In the former, the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: love of God is waxed cold. If it be not
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: utterly extinguished in the latter, it retains its full force,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: or rather increases daily. And these faith itself, if not
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: totally lost, is however grievously decayed. Their evidence and conviction
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: of things not seen, particularly of the pardoning love of God,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: is not so clear or strong as in times past,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: and their trust in Him is proportionably weakened. Those though
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: they see Him not yet have a clear, unshaken confidence
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: in God and an abiding evidence of that love. Whereby
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: all their sins are blotted out, so that as long
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: as we can distinguish faith from unbelief, hope from despair,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: peace from war, the love of God from the love
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of the world, we may infallibly distinguish heaviness from darkness.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: We may learn from hence secondly, that there may be
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: need of heaviness, but there can be no need of darkness.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: There may be need of our being in heaviness for
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: a season in order to the ends above. Recite it,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: at least in this sense, says it is a natural
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: result of those manifold temptations, which are needful to try
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and increase our faith, to confirm and enlarge our hope,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: to purify our heart from all unholy tempers, and to
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: perfect us in love. And by consequence, they are needful
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: in order to brighten our crown and add to our
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: eternal weight of glory. But we cannot say that darkness
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: is needful in order to any of these ends. It
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: is no way conducive to them. The loss of faith, hope,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: love is surely neither conducive to holiness nor to the
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: increase of that reward in Heaven which will be in
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: proportion to our holiness on earth. From the Apostle's manner
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: of speaking. We may gather thirdly, that even heaviness is
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: not always needful now for a season, if need be so,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: it is not needful for all persons, nor for any
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: person at all times. God is able. He has both
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: power and wisdom to work when he pleases the same
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: work of grace in any soul by other means, And
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: in some instances he does so. He causes those whom
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: it pleaseth him to go on from strength to strength,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: even till they perfect holiness in his fear, with scarce
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: any heaviness at all, as having an absolute power over
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the heart of man, and moving all the springs of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: it at his pleasure. But these cases are rareer. God
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: generally sees good to try acceptable man in the furnace
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: of affliction, so that manifold temptations and heaviness more or
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: less are usually the portion of His dearest children. We ought, therefore,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: lastly to watch and pray, and use our utmost endeavors
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: to avoid falling into darkness. But we need not be
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: solicitous how to avoid, so much as how to improve
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: by heaviness. Our great care should be so as to
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: behave ourselves under it, so to wait upon the Lord
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: therein that it may fully answer all the design of
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: His love. In permitting it to come upon us, that
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: it may may be a means of increasing our faith,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: of confirming our hope, of perfecting us in holiness. Whenever
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: it comes. Let us have an eye to these grecious
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: ends for which it is permitted, and use all diligence
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: that we may not make void the counsel of God
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: against ourselves. Let us earnestly work together with Him by
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the grace which he is continually giving us, in purifying
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: ourselves from all pollution, both of flesh and spirit, and
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: daily growing in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: till we are received into His everlasting Kingdom. End of
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Section forty eight.