4. Both in the continuation and removal of it the Spirit acts arbU trarily. No man can say how long he shall walk in this pleasant light, Psal. xxx. 7. " By thy favour thou hast made my mountain stand *' strong, thou hidest thy face, and I v/as troubled." And when in darkness, none can say how long it will be ere that sweet light break forth again. God can scatter the cloud unexpectedly in a moment, Cant. iii. 4. " It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found " him whom my soul loveth." There is such an observable difference in David's spirit in some Psalms, as if one man had written the beginning and another the end of them.
5. Though God can quickly remove the darkness and doubts of a soul, yet ordinarily the saints find it a very hard and difficult thing to obtain and preserve the evidences of their graces. Such is the dark- ness, deadness, and deceitfulness of the heart; so much unevenncss and inconstancy in tlieir practice, so many counterfeits of grace, and so many wiles and devices of Satan to rob them of their peace, that few (in comparison) live in a constant and quiet fruition of it.
6. Notwithstanding all these things, which increase the difficulty; yet God hath afforded his people a sure light, and sufficient means, in the diligent use of improvement whereof they iijav attain a certainty
&8 PREPARATIONS FOR SUFFERINGS ; OR,
of tlie work of grace in them. And there is a threefold light by which it may most clearly and infallibly be discovered.
1. Scripture-light, which is able to discover the secrets of a man's heart to him ; and is therefore compared to the Anatomizer s knife, Ileb. iv. 12.
2. The innate light of grace itself; or, if you will, the light of experience, 1 John v. 10. It hath some properties and operations which are as essential, necessai'y, and inseparable, as heat is to the lire, and may be as sensibly felt and perceived by the soul, Psal. cxix. 20.
3. The light of the Spirit, superadded to both the former, which is sometimes called its earnest^ sometimes its seal. The Spirit doth hut plant the habits, excite and draw forth the acts, and also shine upon his own work, that the soul may see it ; and that sometimes with such a degree of light as only begets peace, and quiets the heart, though it doth not fully conquer all the doubts of it. And at other times the heart is irradiated Vv ith so clear a beam of light, that it is able to draM- forth a triumphant conclusion, and say, Now I know the things that are freely given me of God : I believe, and am sure.
And so much briefly for the opening of the nature of this evidence. II. I shall shew you the advantage of it to a suffering saint in order to the rio^ht manacjement of a sufferintx condition.
And this v, ill appear by the consideration of five things.
1. You v.'ill readily grant, that the Christian's love to God hath a mighty influence into all his sufferings for God. This grace of love enables him victoriously to break through all difficulties and discour- agements. " The floods cannot drown it, nor the waters quench it," Cant. viii. 6, 7. It facilitates the greatest hardships, 1 John v. 3. And whatever a man suffers, if it be not from this principle it is neither acceptable to God, nor available to himself, 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
Eut now nothing more inflames and quickens the Chi'istian's love to God, than the knowledge of his interest in him, and the sensible perception and taste of his love to the soul. Our love to God is but a reflection of his own love ; and the more powerful the stroke of the direct beam is, the more is that of the reflex beam also. Never doth ihsiljlame of Jah burn with a more vehement heat, than when the soul hath the most clear manifestations of its interest in Christ and his benefits, Luke vii. 47.
2. It must needs be of singular use to a suffering saint, because it takes out the sinking weight of affliction. That which sinks and breaks the spirit, is the conjunction and meeting of inward and outward troubles together ; then if the Lord do not strangely and extraordi- narily support the soul, it is wreckt and overwhelmed, as the ship in which Paul sailed was, when it fell into a place where two seas met. Acts xxvii. 41. O how tempestuous a sea doth that soul fall in, that hath fightings without, and fears within! how must that poor Chris- tian's heart tremble and meditate terror, that when he retires from
THE BEST WORK JN THE WOUJjT TIMES* o9
troubles without, for some comfort and support within, shall find a sad addition to his troubles from whence he expected relief against them ! hence it was that Jeremiah so earnestly deprecates such a misery, « Be not thou a terror to me, thou art my hope in the day of evil," Jer. xvii. 17. This is prevented by this means ; if a man have a clear breast, and all be quiet within, he is like one that hath a good roof over his head when the storm falls. " We glory in tribulation, be- *' cause the law of God is shed abroad in our hearts,"" Rom. v. 3, 5.
S. It is a fountain of joy and comfort in the darkest and saddest hour. Hence the glorious triumphs of saints in their afflictions, Rom. V. 5. And in the Christian's joy in the Lord, lies much of his strength for suilerings, Neh. viii. 10. If once the spirit droops and sinks, the man is in a bad case to suffer : Holy joy, is the oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the soul free to follow the Lord, Non tardat uncta rota. To suffer with joyfulness for Christ is a qualification that God's eye is much upon in his suffering servants. Col. i. 11. How did the famous worthies that went before us magnify Christ, and glorify religion by the holy triumphs of their faith and joy under tribulation ! one kissed the apparitor that brought him news of his condemnation, and was like a man transported with an excess of joy : Another upon the pronouncing of the sentence kneels down, and with hands and ej^es lifted up, solemnly blesses God for such a day as that. Oh how is Christ magnified by this ! and this cannot be until interest be clear- ed. It is true, the faith qfrecumhenqj gives the soul a secret support, and enables the Christian to live ; but Xhajaitlt of evidence keeps him lively^ and prevents all those uncomfortable and uncomely sinkings and despondencies of spirit, 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17. and therefore cannot but be of a singular use to a soul at such a time.