1. You doubt, and are ready to conclude, the Lord hath no re- gard or love for your souls, because of some extraordinary affliction which is come upon you : But I would not have thy soul so to con- clude, till thou be able satisfactorily to answer these three questions.
Question 1. If great troubles and afflictions be marks of God's hatred, why should not impunity and constant prosperity be tokens of his love? For contrarlorum coiitrarm est ratio 4* consequent'ia f of contrary things, there is a contrary reason and consequence : But is this so indeed ? or saith not the scripture quite otherwise ? Prov. i. 32. " The prosperity of fools destroys them." So Psal. xxxvii. 5.
Quest, 2. Dare I draw the same conclusion upon all others that have been as much, yea, more afflicted than myself? If this argu- ment conclude against thee, then so it doth against every one in thy condition ; yea, the greater the affliction of any child of God hath been, the more strongly the argument still concludes : And then woe to David, Job, Heman, Paul, and all that have been afflicted as they were.
Quest. 3. Had God exempted you only from those troubles, which all other his people feel, would not that have been a greater ground of doubting to you than this ? Especially since the scripture saith, Heb. xii. 8. " If ye be without chastening, whereof all are parta- " kers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."
Oh, how is our Father put to it by froward children ! If he af- flicts, then one cries, he loves me not : If he exempt from afflictions, others question his love upon that ground. Surely you have other work to do, under the rod, than this.
2. Or do you rashly infer, the Lord hath no love for you, because he hides his face from you ; that your condition is miserable, because dark and uncomfortable ? Before you draw such rash conclusions, see what answer you can give to these four following queries.
Query 1. If any action of God towards Ms people will bear a fa- vourable, as well as a harsh and sevei^e construction, why sliotdd not his people interpret it in the best sense f And is not this such ? May he not have a design of love, as well as of hatred, in this dis- pensation ? May he not depart for a season, and not for ever? Yea, that he might not depart for ever. You are not the first that have mistaken God's ends in desertion. Isa. xlix. 14. " Sion " said, the Lord hath forsaken me, ray God hath forgotten me :"
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Was it SO indeed ? Nothing less. Ver. 15. " Can a mother for- « get," &c.
Query 2. Do you find the marks of an absolute^ total and final de^ sertion upon your own spirits, that you are so apt to conclude yours to be such f Do you find your hearts inclined to forsake God ? Have you lost your conscientious tenderness in point of sin ? If so, sad characters appear upon you indeed ; but if in this dark hour you are as tender of sin as ever, as much resolved to cleave to God as ever; I cannot, I will not forsake God, let him do what he will with me : O Ro, I cannot. If your hearts work thus, it can be but a partial, limited, and temporary desertion ; by this he still keeps his interest in your hearts, a sure sign he will return, and visit you again.
Query 3. Is sense and feeling a competent judge of God's actions and designs ? Or may a man safely rely upon its testimony, after so many discoveries of the infallibility of it? Is this a sound argument? If God had any love for my soul, if it were not quite gone, I should feel it now, as well as in former times ; but I cannot feel it, there- fore it is quite gone. Do you not know the sun still keeps on his course in the heavens, even in dull and close weather, when you cannot see it ? And may it not be so with the love of God ? Read Isa. 1. 10. May not I as well conclude in winter, when the flowers have hid their beautiful heads under ground, they are quite dead and gone, because I cannot find them in Decen^er where I saw them in May ?
Query 4. Think you the Lord cares not to break his children's hearts, and his own promise too ? Hath he no more regard to either? If he return no more, these must be the consequents, Isa. Ivii. 16, 17. Heb. xiii. 5.
Well, then, from God's carriage towards you, either in affliction, or desertion, no such discouraging, heart-sinking conclusions can be inferred. Next, let us see whether they may not be inferred from our carriage towards God; and here the principal grounds of doubt- ing are such as these ;
1. 1 have fallen again into the same sin from which I have formerly risen with repentance and resolution ; therefore my sinning is cus- tomary sinning ; a spot that is not the spot of God's children. Hence the upright soul trembles ; upon this it is ready to aifirm, that all its former humiliations for, and oppositions unto sin, were but acts of hypocrisy. But stay, poor trembling heart.
Query 1. If this be so, how comes it to pass that Christ put such a favourable construction upon the disciples sleeping the third time, ivhen he had as often reproved them for it? Mat. xxvi. 40, 41. and how is it that we find in scripture so many promises made to God's people, not only upon their first sins, but upon their backslidings ^also? Jer. iii. 22. Hos. xiv. 4.
Query 2. Is not your repe^itance and care renewed as often as your guilt is reneived f Yea, the oftener you sin, the more you are trou-
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bled ; it is not so in customary sinning, the rise whereof * Bernard excellently discovers. 1. (Saith he) When a man accustomed to good, sinneth grievously, it seems insupportable, yea, he seems to descend alive into hell. 2. In process of time it seems not insupport- able, but heavy : and betwixt insupportable and heavy, there is no small descent. "
3. Next it becomes light, his conscience smites but faintly, and he feels not the stripes of it. 4. Then there is not only a total insensi- bleness of it, but that which was bitter and displeasing is now be- come sweet and pleasing, in some degree. 5. Then it is turned into custom, and not only pleases, but daily pleases. Lastly, Custom is turned into nature; he cannot be pulled away from it, but defends and pleads for it : This is customary sinning, this is the way of the wicked ; but the quite contrary is your condition.
Query 3. Are you sure, from scripture-grounds, that good men may not relapse again and again into the same sin? It is true, as i'ov gross sins, they do not use to relapse into them : David com- mitted adultery no more: Paul persecuted the church no more: Peter denied Christ no more : But I speak of ordinary infirmities. Job's friends were good men, yet (saith he) chap. xix. 3. " These " ten times have ye reproached me.'"' So then, no such conclusions follow from this first ground of doubting.