Query 3. Can you dxny but that there are some signs appearing in your souls, even ivhilst God suspends his ansicer, that argue your prayers are not rejected by him ? As, (1.) Though no answer come, yet you are still resolved to wait : You dare not say as that profane wretch did, 2 Kings vi. 33. " This evil is of the Lord, why should '* I wait for him any longer.^"' (2.) You can clear and justify God still, and lav the reason and cause of his silence upon yourselves. So did David, Psal. xxii. 2, 3. " O my God, I cry in the day time, " and thou hearest not ; and in the niglit, and am not silent, but *' thou art holy/' S;c. (3.) The suspension of God's answer makes you inquisitive into your own hearts, what evils are there that obstruct your prayers. So the church, Lam. iii. 8. " He shutteth out my
HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FROM BACK5L1DIN6. 487
** prayer :*" And how doth this work ? You may see, ver. 40. Let *' us search and try our ways."" Well, then, neither from hence may you conclude that God hath no love for your souls.
And thus I have shewn you how to keep your hearts, in a dark and doubting season, from those desperate conclusions of unbelief. God forbid any false heart should encourage itself from these things ; it is our unhappincss that when we give Caution. saints and sinners their proper portions, that each of them are so prone to take up the other's part.
Season 11. The eleventh special season calling for this diligence
* to keep your hearts, is, when sufferings for religion come to an ' height, then look to your hearts, Matth. xxiv. 8, 9, 10. " All these
* are the beginning of sorrows, and they shall deliver you up to be
* afflicted, and shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations
* for my name's sake ; and then shall many be offended." When
* sufferings for religion grow hot, then blessed is he that is not of-
* fended in Christ, troubles are then at an height. (1) When a man's
* nearest friends and relations forsake and leave him, Mic. vii. 5, 6. ' 2 Tim. iv. 16. AVhen a man is engaged alone. (2.) When it comes ' to resisting to blood, Heb. xii. 4. (3.)When temptations are pre- ' sented to us in our sufferings, Heb. xi. 37. (4.) When eminent
* persons for profession turn aside, and desert the cause, of Christ, ' 2 Tim. ii. 19. (5.) When God hides his face in a suffering hour, ' Jer. xvii. 17. (6.) When Satan falls upon us with strong tempta-
* tions, to question the grounds of our sufferings, or the soul's inte- ' rest in Christ : Now it is hard to keep the heart from turning back, ' and the steps from declining God's ways." The eleventh question, ' then, shall be this :
Case 11. Hotv the heart may he kept fiom relapsing under the greatest sufferings Jbr religion ? If the bitterness of sufferings at any time cause thy soul to distaste the way of God, and take up thoughts of forsaking it ; stay thine heart under that temptation, by propounding these eight questions solemnly to it.
Question 1. What reproach and dishonour shall I pour upon Christ, and religion, by deserting him at such a time as this ? This will proclaim to all the world, that how much soever I have boasted of the promises, yet, when it comes to the trial, I dare hazard no- thing upon the credit' of them : And how will this open the mouths of Christ's enemies to blaspheme ? O better had I never been born, than that worthy name should be blasphemed through me ! Shall I furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised ? Shall I make mirth in hell ? O if I did but value the name of Christ, as much as many a wicked man values his own name, I could never endure to see it ex- posed to such contempt ? Will proud dust and ashes venture death, yea, hell, rather than a blot upon their names .^^ And shall I venture nothing to salve the honour and reputation of Christ ?
Quest. % Dare I violate my conscience to save my flesh ? Wh(k
488 now TO keep the heart from backsltdtng.
.shall conifort me when conscience wounds me ? What comfort is there? in life, ]il)erty, or friends, when peace is taken away from the inner man ? When Constantius threatened to cn^it off Samosateniis' right- hand, if he would not subscribe somewhat that was against his con- science, he held up both his hands to the messenger that was sent, say- ing, he shall cut (jfF both, rather than I will do it : Farewell all peace, joy, and comfort, from that day forward. " Had Zimri peace, that " slew his master ?" said Jezebel. So say I here, had Judas peace ? Had Spira peace ? And shall you have peace, if you tread in their steps ? O consider what you do !
Quest. 3. Is notthepnhllc interest of Christ afid religion, injinitehj nnore than any private interest of' my own ? It is a famous passage, that of Terentius, captain to Adrian the emperor, he presented a peti- tion to Adrian, that the Christians mighthave a temple by themselves, to worship God apart from the Arians: The emperor tore his peti- tion, and threw it away, bidding him to ask something for himself, and it should be granted. But he modesth^ gathered up the pieces of his petition again, and told him, ' If he could not be heard in God^s ^ cause, he would never ask any thing for himself ? Yea, even Tully, though an heathen could say, Ne imtnortalitatcm, quidem conty^a rempuhlicam ; he would not accept even of innnortality itself, against the common-wealth. O if we had more pubhc, wc should not have such cowardly spirits !
Quest. 4. Did Jesus Christ serve me so^ when^formy sahe, he ex- posed himself to far greater sufferings than can be, before me? His sufferings were great indeed, he sulTered from all hands, in all his of- fices, in every member, not only in his body, but in his soul ; yea, the suflcrings of his soul were the very soul of his sufferings : Witness the bloody sweat in the garden ; witness that heart-melting, and heaven- rending out-cry upon the cross, " My God, my God, why hast thou " forsaken me ?" And yet he flinched not, *'he endured the cross, des- '' pising the shame."" Alas ! what are my sufferings compared with Christ's.'' He hath drank up all that vinegar and gall that would make my sufferings bitter. When one of the martyrs was asked why he was so merry at his death .'' O, said he, it is because the soul of Christ was so heavy at his death. Did Christ bear such a burden for me, with un- broken patience, and constancy ; and shall I shrink back from mo- mentary, and light afflictions, for him ?