Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
~ John 14:27-28
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
~ Psalm 43:5
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
~ Isaiah 12:2-3
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
~ Isaiah 26:3
Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, by Richard Sibbes.
Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.— JOHN 14:1.
Sibbes’ Prayer
Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled – The First Sermon on John 14:1 Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled – The Second Sermon on John 14:1
THE AUTHOR’S PRAYER BEFORE HIS SERMON
GRACIOUS and holy Father! which hast sanctified this day for thy own service and worship, and for the furthering of us in the way of salvation; and hast made a most gracious promise, that when ‘two or three be gathered together in thy name, thou wilt be there in the midst of them:’* vouchsafe, then, we beseech thee, the performance of this thy promise unto us, now gathered together in thy name, to pray unto thee, to hear and speak thy holy and blessed word, and so sanctify our hearts by thy Holy Spirit at this time, that we may perform these holy services as shall be most to thy glory and our own comfort. Unworthy we are in ourselves to appear in thy most holy presence, both by reason of the sins of our nature, and the sins of our lives, even since that time that we have had some knowledge of thy blessed truth; which holy truth we have not entertained nor professed as we should have done, but oftentimes against the light that thou hast kindled in our hearts by thy Word and Spirit, we have committed many sins; and, amongst the rest, we confess our sins against thy holy ordinance; our not preparing our hearts unto it, nor profiting by it as we should and might have done; giving thy Majesty hereby just cause to curse thy own holy ordinance unto us. But thou art a gracious and merciful Father unto us in Jesus Christ, in the abundance of thy love and mercy. In him we come unto thee, beseeching thee, for his sake, not to give us up to these inward and spiritual judgments; but vouchsafe us a true insight into our own estates, without deceiving of our own souls, and from thence, true humiliation. And then we beseech thee to speak peace unto us in thy Christ, and say to our souls by thy Holy Spirit, that thou art our salvation. And for clearer evidence that we are in thy favour, let us find the blessed work of thy Holy Spirit opening our understandings, clearing our judgments, kindling our affections, discovering our corruptions, framing us every way to be such as thou mayest take pleasure and delight in. And because thou hast ordained thy holy word ‘to be a light unto our feet, and a guide and direction to all our ways and paths,’† and to be a powerful means to bring us more and more out of the thraldom of sin and Satan, to the blessed liberty of thy children, we beseech thee, therefore, to bless thy word to these and all other good ends and purposes for which thou hast ordained it. And grant, we beseech thee, that now at this time out of it we may learn thy holy will; and then labour to frame our lives thereafter, as may be most to thy glory and our own comfort, and that for Jesus Christ his sake, thine only Son, and our blessed Saviour. Amen.
THE FIRST SERMON
Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.—JOHN 14:1.
HOLY men, as they be ‘trees of righteousness,’ Isa. 61:3, and desire to be fruitful at all times, so most especially towards their end; having but a short time to live in the world, they be willing to leave the world with a good savour. So it was with Jacob. So with Moses, as appears in his excellent Song made before his death. You may see it in King Solomon and David before their deaths. But especially in our Saviour. The nearer to heaven, the more heavenly-minded. When grace and glory are ready to join, the one to be swallowed up of the other, then grace is most glorious.
All the passages of Christ are comfortable; but none more comfortable than those sermons of his, that were delivered a little before his death. Of all words that come from loving men to those they love, such are most remarkable as be spoken when they be ready to die; because then men are most serious, they being about the most serious business. Then they be wisest, and best able to judge; for the consideration of their end makes, them wise. And therefore, saith God, ‘O that my people were wise to consider their latter end!’ Deut. 32:29. And, ‘teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart to wisdom,’ saith Moses, Ps. 90:12. And indeed there is no wisdom to that; for it teacheth men to pass a right judgment upon all things in the world. They be no longer drunk with the prosperity of the world; they be no longer swayed with opinion, but they pass an estimation of things as they are.
Besides, love at that time is especially set on work. Therefore our blessed Saviour being now to offer himself a sacrifice on the cross, he sweetly delivereth these words before his departure, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’ Let us hear them therefore, as the dying words of our Saviour to his disciples, and in his disciples, to us all, as in the 17th of St John. ‘I pray not for them only, but for all such as shall believe in me, through their word,’ ver. 20. For his comforts concern us all, as his prayers did.
This chapter is sweetly mixed of comforts, counsels, and gracious promises; but especially it affords matter of comfort. Mark who it is that gives this comfort,—our blessed Saviour. And at what time,—when he was to sacrifice himself.
What admirable love, and care, and pity is in this merciful high Priest of ours, that should so think of comforting his disciples, as to forget himself, and his own approaching death! It is the nature of love so to do; and we should imitate our blessed Saviour in it. You see how he laboureth to strengthen them, especially towards his end. He knew they would then need it most, and. therefore he endeavoureth by all means to strengthen them, both by counsel, as here; by the passover, and by a newly instituted sacrament, 1 Cor. 11:23.
But what need we wonder at this in our blessed Saviour, who so regarded us, as he left heaven; took our nature; became man; put himself under the law; became sin?
The words contain a dissuasion from over-much trouble, and then a direction to believe in God, and Christ. Comforts must be founded on strong reasons. For we are reasonable and understanding creatures; and God works on us answerably to our principles. He stays our spirits by reasons stronger than the grievance. For what is comfort but that which establisheth and upholds the soul against that evil which is feared or felt, from a greater strength of reason which overmastereth the evil? If the grievance be but even with the comfort, then the consolation works not. But Christ’s comforts are of an higher nature than any trouble can be. For he not only dissuades from trouble, but also persuades to confidence, ‘Be of good comfort, I have overcome the world,’ John 16:33.
The occasion of this comforting them, and of removing their discouragements, was this. In the former chapter, he had told them, that he should leave them, and that they should leave him; the best of them all, even Peter, should take offence at him, and deny him, and that all the rest should leave him. From whence they might gather, that the approaching trouble should be great, that should cause Peter to deny him, and them all to forsake him. And thence must needs arise great scandals. Our Saviour saw by the power of his Godhead into their hearts, and like enough, in their looks he saw a spirit of discouragement seizing on them, for his departure, and Peter’s fall, their forsaking of him, and the persecutions that would follow. And therefore Christ discerning this dejection of their spirits, he raiseth them by this, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’ The heavenly Physician of our souls applieth then the remedy, when it is the fittest season.
There was some good in their trouble; something naturally, and something spiritually good. There was ground of natural trouble at the departure of such a friend, at the hearing of such persecutions. For we are flesh, not steel; and in that sense, Christ was troubled himself, to shew the truth of his manhood. Nay, trouble is the seasoning of all heavenly comforts, so as there were no comforts, if there were no trouble; and therefore this natural trouble was not disallowed by Christ. There was likewise something spiritually good, in this trouble. They loved their Master, who they saw was going away, and they knew it was a shameful thing for them to forsake him. There was love in them towards him all this while. Christ could discern gold in ore, some good in a great deal of ill; and therefore loved them again, and manifested it by comforting them, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’ They were right in this principle, that all comfort depends on the presence of Christ. And so the main ground of the sorrow was good. For as all heavenly light, and heat, and influence comes from the sun (it being all gathered into that body); so all heavenly comforts are gathered into Christ, and therefore must come to us from Christ’s presence, bodily or spiritually. Their error was in tying all comfort to a bodily, a corporal presence; as if it were necessary for the sun to come down and abide upon the earth, to bestow its heat and influence. And therefore he tells them, that though he was to go away, yet he would send another comforter, the Holy Ghost.
And then they were overcome by an opinion that it would go worse with them when Christ was gone. Therefore Christ telleth them that it should be better for them; and indeed it was better. Christ did not take away his blessed presence for their disadvantage, but for their good. God never takes anything from his children, but he maketh it up in a better kind. If Christ takes away his bodily presence, he leaveth his spiritual presence, and more abundantly.
So that, though they were led with sensible things, and what they saw not they could hardly believe, yet Christ looks to what is good in them, and accepts it. He saw what was naught in them, with a purpose to purge it; what was naturally weak in them, to strengthen it; and therefore he counsels them, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’
The thing that I will first observe out of the words is, that the best Christians are subject to be troubled, to be pensive, and dejected more than should be.
Indeed our Saviour Christ himself was troubled, but his trouble was like the shaking of clear water in a crystal glass. There was no mud in the bottom. But our trouble is of another kind, and apt to be inordinate.
We may carry this truth through the whole Scripture, and shew how Hannah was in bitterness of spirit, which exceeded so, that Eli, a good man, mistakes her, supposing that she was overcome with drink, 1 Sam. 1:13.
Hezekiah, a good king, was in such bitterness that, like a crane or swallow, he did chatter, Isa. 38:14. And David complained that his spirit was overwhelmed within him, Ps. 77:3; and Jonah cries out that he was ‘in the belly of hell,’ Jonah 2:2.
And God will have it so, partly for conformity to our Head, and partly that we may be known to ourselves; that we may discern where our weakness lieth, and so be better instructed to seek to him in whom our strength lieth.
He suffers us, likewise, to be troubled for the preventing of spiritual sins, pride and security, and the like.
And partly in regard of others, that we may be pitiful. Christ was man for this end, that he might be a merciful High Priest; and we have much more need to know and feel the infirmities that are in ourselves, that we may be merciful to others; that we may not be harsh and censorious upon the troubles of others; from want of which consideration proceeded Eli’s rashness in passing that censure upon Hannah.
But how shall we know that our hearts are more troubled than they should be? For I lay this for a ground: That we may sin in being over much troubled at things for which it is a sin not to be troubled. If they had not been at all affected with the absence of Christ, it had been a sin, and no less than stupidity; yet it was their sin to be over much troubled. In a word, therefore, for answer, a trouble is sinful when it hinders us in duty or from duty; when it hinders us in duties to God or to others; or from duty, that is, when the soul is disturbed by it, and, like an instrument out of tune, made fit for nothing, or like a limb out of joint, that moves not only uncomelily, but painfully, and becomes unfit for action. When we find this in our trouble, we may know it is not as it should be.
There be some affections especially, that are causes of over much trouble; fear of evils to come, sorrow for evils that at present seize on us. Now, when these do hinder us from duty, or trouble us in duty, they be exorbitant and irregular.
Naturally, affections should be helps to duty, they being the winds that carry the soul on, and the spiritual wings of the soul. So that a man without affections is like the dead sea, that moves not at all. But then they must be regulated and ordered; they must be raised up and laid down at the command of a spiritual understanding. When they be raised up of themselves, by shallow and false conceits and opinions, they be irregular. When they be raised up by a right judgment of things, and laid down again when they ought to be, then they are right and orderly.
Now, besides the hurt that is in such affections themselves, Satan loves to fish in these troubled waters. The affections are never stirred and raised up irregularly and exorbitantly but Satan joins with them. And therefore we have need to keep our affections of grief and fear within their due bounds. Satan is a curious observer of any excess in our passions; and in just correction, to speak the mildest of it, God lets loose Satan to join with that excess. And therefore the apostle saith wisely, ‘Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil,’ Eph. 4:26, because as soon as ever we give way to any excess of affection, Satan fishes in these waters, and joins with that excess. He being a spirit of darkness, loves to dwell in the soul when it is in darkness. And therefore, when it is clouded by passion, as all passions beyond their due measure are as clouds that darken the soul, Satan, that works in darkness, then seizes on the soul presently.
That was Saul’s case. He was envious at David, being of a proud and haughty spirit, that could not endure competition; and Satan took his time to work on him. And therefore it is said he was troubled with an evil spirit, 1 Sam. 16:23.
But trouble of spirit is too large an argument. I will not now stand upon it; only I will shew that we should not yield to excess of trouble any way. And the reasons are:—
First. We wrong our own selves when we give way to grief and sorrow, that is immoderate and inordinate. The soul is, as it were, put out of joint by it. We make actions difficult unto us. The wheels of the soul are thereby taken off. Joy and comfort are, as it were, oil to the soul. And therefore Nehemiah saith, ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength,’ chap. 8:10. When, therefore, we give way to fear and grief, and such passions, it weakeneth the soul in action. And then again they are, as it were, a cloud betwixt God’s love and us; and so the soul is hindered of much comfort and enlargement. Joy enlargeth the soul, but grief straiteneth it. Comfort raiseth up the soul, grief and sorrow weigh down the soul. A Christian should be of a straight, upright, and enlarged spirit. When, therefore, the spirit is straitened, when it is pressed down and dejected, a Christian is not in his right mind, in his due and proper frame.
Second. Besides, if we regard God himself, we should take heed that the soul be not thus distempered; for by over-much sorrow and grief, what a great deal of dishonour do we to God, in proceeding from a mistake of his goodness and providence! And with over-much fear and sorrow, there is always joined murmuring and discontent, and a spirit unsubdued to God, and his Spirit. There is a wronging, as of his care in providence, so of his graciousness in his promises. There is a grieving of his good Spirit; a questioning of his government, as if he did not dispose of things as he should; when we will have it one way, and God will have it another way. There is likewise a great deal of pride in dejections and discontent. The most discontented spirit in the world is the devil, and none prouder. It argues a great deal of pride and sullenness to be affectedly sad, and dejected; as if such worthy and excellent persons as we should be so afflicted: or there were greater cause for us to be dejected than raised up. Whereas if we balance our grounds of comfort, being Christians, as we should do, they would appear incomparably above the grounds of our discouragements. So it is a wrong to God, and his truth, and his gracious sweet government, to yield to a dejected sullen disposition.
It is likewise a wrong to others. For it maketh us unfit for any office of love to them, when we plod and pore so much upon our discontentments, and drink up our spirits, and eat up our hearts. It disables the soul, taking away not only the strength, but also the willingness of the soul; besides the scandal that it brings on religion, and the best ways; as if there were not enough in religion to comfort the soul.
But you will say, religion breeds a great deal of trouble and pensiveness. It is indeed the speech of the shallow people of the world, ‘religion makes men sad.’
And it is true, that as our Saviour Christ here had made his disciples sad, by telling them that he would leave them; and that a great scandal would be taken at his cross, and shameful suffering; but yet withal, bids them not be troubled, and gives them grounds of comfort; so religion will make men sad; for it discovers truths, and sad truths. Aye, but the same religion will cheer them up again, yea, it casts them down, that it may raise them up. The sun in the morning raiseth clouds; but when it hath strength it scatters them. God intending solid and substantial comfort, doth first beget troubles, and discovers true grounds of trouble; he lets us see that all is not well. But still as religion brings any trouble, so it brings with it great remedies against these troubles; and that God that raiseth a soul to see just matter of grief, will by his Spirit shew its due and right portion, in comfort. Thus, to be sorrowful and sad, in some measure is from religion; but that which will prevent the excess and over-measure of it, is from religion likewise.
So that it is a scandal to religion to be overmuch dejected.
Third. Besides, though we should be troubled for sin, yet to be overmuch troubled for sin is a dishonour to Christ, and to the love of God in Christ; for it is as if we had not in him a sufficient remedy for that great malady. As, be it grief for the troubles of the church; as not to be troubled at the affliction of Joseph, is branded for a sin; so to be too much cast down, as if Christ had cast off the government from his shoulders, or had not the name of the church on his breast in heaven (as the high priest had the names of the twelve tribes in his breastplate); to be so cast down as to be taken off from prayer, and from the use of all good means to help the church, this is sinful. So also when grief for sin makes us forget the mercies of God in Christ; to forget the healing virtue of him our brazen serpent; to neglect to search our grounds of comforts, and to yield to Satan, to temptation. Overmuch sadness, even though it be for sin, or for the church, it is hurtful and scandalous.
Joshua was much cast down when he saw it went not well with Israel; but ‘Get thee up, Joshua,’ saith God, ‘what dost thou lying here?’ Up and do thy duty; consider what is amiss! There is an Achan in the camp. And so when things go not well, let not your thoughts be conversant about the matters of trouble, so much as about your duty. So we see it is incident to God’s people to be overmuch troubled, and we see also the reasons why it should not be so, because it is injurious to God, to ourselves, and others every way.
And after all this, there is much reason in this, that Christ hath forbidden it, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’
Obj. But Christ could as well have cured it, being God, as easily as forbidden it. Ans. It is true, but he cures it by forbidding it. With the words, there went forth a spirit of comfort into their hearts; an influence of grace accompanied his commands, for the word and Spirit go together. Christ deals with men by men. The Spirit of comfort is a spirit of truth; and therefore God comforts by truths. He gives us sanctified understandings and affections; and then works on them by sanctified truths.
And sometimes Christ cures it by real comforts; for comforts are either rational, which are fetched from grounds, which faith ministers; or real, from the presence of anything which comforts; as the sight of friends, or the accommodating of us in anything wherein we see the love of God conveyed. How many real comforts doth God bestow, when he fitteth us with conveniences in our way to heaven, so that we may read the love of God in them! God doth not only comfort us by his gracious promise, by his word and sacraments, administering heavenly comforts by them; but also by the conveying of himself and his love, by outward comforts that we enjoy in the world. Howsoever carnal men abuse them (making all things to work for the worst); yet that love, that intends heaven, sweetens all things in the passage to heaven, to his children; because they see the love of God in the least comfort.
Again, observe from this here, ‘let not your hearts be troubled,’ what is the seat of comfort, the heart. The seat of comfort is the seat of grief. There must be an application of comfort suitable to the grief, and the heart must be comforted.
And therefore in Isa. 40:1, 2, ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, speak to the heart.’ As the grief sinks and soaks to the root of the heart; so do Christ’s comforts, like true cordials indeed, that go as deep as the grievance. If the grief goes to the heart, the comfort must go as deep. Now God, the Father of spirits, and the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, knows and searches our spirits. They know all the corners of the heart. They can banish fear and sorrow out of every cranny; and bring light, heat, and influence into every part of the soul. And therefore Christ saith, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’
Now for the ways whereby we must labour to comfort our hearts (amongst many that I might speak of), I will name a few.
First of all, there must be a due search into the heart, of the grounds of our trouble; for oftentimes Christians are troubled, they cannot tell wherefore; as children that will complain they know not why. I speak not of hypocrites, that will complain of that which is not a true grief to them; like some birds that make greatest noise, when they be furthest from their nests. But of some poor Christians that are troubled, but distinctly know not the ground of it. But search the heart ingenuously and truly to the bottom of it, and see if there be not some Achan in the camp; some sin in the heart (for sin is like wind; when it gets into the veins, it will have vent, and a troublesome one; and so will sin, if it get into the soul). It is that indeed which causeth all trouble. And therefore search your hearts thoroughly; what sin lieth there unrepented of, and for which you have not been humbled.
2. And when you have found out your sin, give it vent by confession of it to God, and in some cases to others.
3. And when we have done so, consider what promises, and comforts, in that word of God are fitted to that condition. For we can be in no condition but there are comforts for it, and promises fitted to yield comforts for every malady. And it will be the wisdom of a Christian to accommodate the remedy to the sore of his heart. And therefore we ought to be skilful and well seen in the word of God, that we may store up comforts beforehand. Our Saviour Christ tells them beforehand of the scandal of the cross, and of Peter’s denial, that they might lay up strength and spiritual armour against the day of trial. Those comforts do not, for the most part, hold out in the day of adversity, which were not procured in the day of prosperity. Non durant in adversis quœ non in pace quœsita. It is not wisdom to be to learn religion when we should use it. And, therefore, let us be spiritual good husbands* for our souls, by storing up comforts out of the word of God; and then we shall have no more to do, than to remember the comforts that we did beforehand know.
And there be some promises of more general use, that are catholica, fitted for all sorts of grievances. And of these we must make use when we cannot think of particular ones, as the promises that concern forgiveness of sin. Think of God’s mercy in pardoning sin with admiration; because sin will be presented us in such terrible colours, that if God be not presented in as gracious colours, we shall sink. And, therefore, set out Christ in his mercies, and all-sufficiency, when sin is aggravated to be in its heinousness, and out of measure, sinfulness; as the prophet Micah doth, ‘Who is a God like our God, that pardoneth iniquity, transgression and sin?’ 7:18. Likewise, how many promises and comforts are there in that one promise, ‘He will give his Spirit to them that ask him,’ Luke 11:13. And here our Saviour promiseth to send the Comforter. All graces and all comforts are included in the Spirit of grace and comfort. His Spirit is a Spirit of all grace; and, therefore, our Saviour thought that he promised enough when he said he would send them the Comforter. And so what a world of comfort is in that promise! ‘All things shall work together for the best, to them that love God,’ Rom. 8:28. Yea, those things that are worst shall work together. Though they be hostile, and opposite one to another, yet they join issue in this, they be all for the good of God’s people; as in a clock the wheels go several ways, but all join to make the clock strike. And so in the carriage and ordering of things, one passage crosses another, but in the issue we shall be able to say, ‘all things work together for the best;’ I found God turning all things for my good; and I could not have been without such a cross, such an affliction. And so for present assistance in your callings or straits, remember that promise made to Joshua, which is repeated in Hebrews 13, ‘I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee,’ verse 5: a promise which is five times renewed in Scripture.
And how much comfort is in that, that he will vouchsafe by his Spirit a gracious presence in all conditions whatsoever! And likewise that of David, Ps. 23:4, ‘Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, yet will I fear no ill, for thou art with me.’ It was a terrible supposition made, that ‘though he should walk in the valley of the shadow of death, yet he would fear no evil.’ These promises well digested, will arm the soul with confidence, that it shall be able to put any case of trouble; as in the 27th Psalm, 1–3, David puts cases, ‘The Lord is my strength, the Lord is the light of my countenance, of whom shall I be afraid? Though thousands shall rise against me, yet in this I will be confident.’ If our hearts be established by the word of God, settled in the truth of such promises by the Spirit of God, we may set God and his truth against all troubles that can arise from Satan, and hell, and the instruments of Satan, or our own hearts. And, therefore, it is a great wrong to God, and his truth, if we know not our portion of comfort, and use it as occasion serves. More particulars I omit, leaving them to your own industry; the Scripture being full of them.
4. When we have these promises, let us labour to understand them thoroughly; to understand the grounds of our comfort in them, and to believe the truth of them, which are as true as God, who is truth itself. And then to love them, and digest them in our affections, and so make them our own, and then to walk in the strength and comfort of them.
5. Labour likewise to have them fresh in memory. It is a great defect of Christians, [that] they forget their consolation, as it is in the Hebrews, 12:5. Though we know many things, yet we have the benefit of our comfort from no more than we remember.
6. But, above all, if we will keep our hearts from trouble, let us labour to keep unspotted consciences. Innocency and diligence are marvellous preservers of comfort. And, therefore, if the conscience be spotted and unclean, wash it in the blood of Christ, which is first purging, and then purifying. It first purgeth the soul, being set awork to search our sins, and confess them; which maketh us see our need of Christ, who died to satisfy divine justice. Then, God sprinkles our heart with his blood, which was shed for all penitent sinners; by which, when the heart is purged, the conscience will be soon satisfied also, by Christ’s blood. And when it is purged and pacified, then keep it clean; for a foul soul is always a troubled soul; and though it may be quiet, yet it is sure to break out afterwards.
7. And because there can be no more comfort than there is care of duty, therefore, together with innocency, let us be careful of all duties in all our several relations. Let us consider in what relations we stand, and what duties we owe, and be careful to satisfy them all. Neglect of duty is a debt, and debts are troublesome. When the soul reflects upon the omission of a necessary duty; I owe such a duty to such a person; I should have done such a thing, in such a relation, but I have omitted it, it is a disquietment, and that upon good grounds; and if you have been negligent, there must be an actual renewing of the covenant, and a setting upon the duty, with fresh endeavours to make amends for former negligences; or else the soul shall have no comfort, nor will God suffer it to admit of comfort. And, therefore, ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling,’ Philip. 2:12. The reason that men do still tremble, and are troubled with this doubt and that fear, is, because their salvation is not wrought out; something is left undone, and their consciences tell them so.
8. But above all, that we may receive comfort, let us labour for a spirit of faith. Therefore here it is said, ‘You believe in God, believe also in me.’ Christ brings them to faith for comfort. And he sets down a double object of faith,—God, that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and Christ, considered as Mediator; and Christ brings them to himself, ‘Believe also in me,’ John 14:1, because he would fence them against the future scandal of his suffering. As if he should say, You will hereafter, when you see me so handled, and upon the cross, doubt and call in question whether I am God and the Messiah of the world or no. But if you believe in God, ‘believe in me.’ For howsoever, in love to you and mankind, I took man’s nature on me, and am abased, yet, in my greatest abasement, remember this, that I am God. And surely there is nothing can stay the soul more, especially when it is deeply humbled, than to consider God in the second person incarnate, and abased and crucified, and made a curse and sin for us; to see the great God of heaven and earth, whose excellencies we cannot comprehend, to take our nature, and in our nature to suffer for us those things which he did endure. This will establish the soul indeed. Can the soul think that this was done for any small or to little purpose? Or can there be any grief or sin that should hinder comfort, or persuasion of the possibility of pardon, when the great God became man on purpose to die for sin? We may set this against all discouragements whatsoever. And therefore, ‘believe in God, believe also in me.’ Howsoever you see me abased, yet you may have comfort in my abasement, for it is for you. And therefore, saith Paul, ‘I rejoice to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified,’ 1 Cor. 2:2. That which proud and atheistical heathens took scandal at, that he rejoiceth in, ‘God forbid that I should glory in anything but in the cross of Christ,’ Gal. 6:14. Peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, reconciliation, and title to happiness, is all founded upon Christ crucified. And then, again, you see he joins both together, ‘Ye believe in God, believe also in me,’ to shew the distinction of persons in the Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All our faith is resolved at length into one God, but yet withal into three persons in that divine nature, because, as there is God the Father offended, so there must be a God to satisfy that God, and there must be a God to reveal and apply that satisfaction. The soul is so full of doubtings, that nothing can set it down but that which is above the soul and above the devil. And therefore, for our salvation, and to give us comfort, there is a necessity of three persons in the Godhead. The Father is offended, God in the second person must satisfy offended justice, and God in the third person must reveal and apply that satisfaction for comfort. And therefore he names them distinctly, ‘Ye believe in God,’ &c. And because we cannot believe in God the Father but by believing in Christ, therefore he joins them together, ‘Ye believe in God, ye believe also in me.’ ‘No man comes to the Father but by the Son,’ John 14:6. God the Father dwells in the light that no mortal eye can approach unto; only he hath manifested himself in his Son, who is the engraven image of his person. God shines in the face of Christ, and as he comes down and makes himself known to us in his Son, so we must go up to him in his Son, as he saith afterwards, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life,’ John 14:6. There is no going to the Father but by me. Nothing is more terrible than to conceive of God out of Christ, for so he is a ‘consuming fire,’ Heb 12:29. Therefore think of God as ours in Christ. Carry Christ our elder brother with us, and desire God to look upon us in his Son.
Quest. Now, how doth faith in Christ ease the soul in trouble? Ans. Many ways. I will name a few.
1. Faith in Christ banisheth troubles, and bringeth in comfort, because it is an emptying grace. It emptieth us of ourselves, and so makes us cleave to another, and thereby becomes a grace of union. It is such a grace as brings the soul and Christ together. Now, Christ being the fountain of comfort, God having treasured all comfort in him (‘for the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ,’ Col. 1:19, and faith causeth Christ to dwell in us), brings the soul and Christ together, and so must needs make way for comfort. For it makes us one with the fountain of comfort, and by its repeated acts derives fresh comfort.
2. Again, faith establisheth the heart. Now, to establish the soul there must be a solid basis, as in building there must be a foundation, and a planting upon that foundation. Now here is a foundation, God and Christ; and there must be a grace to found and bottom the soul thereupon, and that is faith. And so the soul is established. The chain and connection of causes herein is this. God the Father in Christ, and by the Holy Ghost, conveys comforts, through the word laid hold upon by faith. It is not the word alone, for that is but as the veins and arteries that convey the blood and spirits. So the Spirit being conveyed by the promises, helpeth the soul to lay itself upon Christ by faith, which is a grace of union, by which union with him the soul is established.
3. And then, again, faith stirreth up such graces as do comfort the soul, as hope in all good things promised. And therefore in the next verse he adds, to comfort them, ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions,’ and faith is the grace that apprehends the joys thereof; and hope expects that which faith believes, and that hope becomes an anchor to the soul, and stayeth the soul in all the waves and troubles of the world. And what is the ground of that hope but faith? Faith stirreth up hope, and hope pitcheth on the promise, especially of life everlasting. And thus faith becomes a quieting and a stilling grace, because it raiseth the soul, by representing and making real to it better things than the world can give or take, as it doth also at other times present heavier things than the world can threaten. Faith makes things present to the soul; and because it lays hold on divine things, greater than anything here below, therefore it overcomes the world, and all things in the world, yea, hell itself, because it lays hold on heaven and happiness, upon the power of God, and the mercy of God in Christ, and upon those rich promises. What is in the world, or in the rank of good things, but faith outbids it by setting heaven against it! and what evil is there but faith overcomes the fear of it by setting hell against it! I shall have such a good if I yield to such a lust. Aye, but what is that to heaven? saith faith. For faith being the hypostasis, the substance of things to come, makes them substantial and evident to the soul, as if they were already subsistent, being looked upon in the certainty of the word; and so it affects the soul deeply, and upholds it strongly, even as if the things themselves were present, and so it banisheth and dispels all discomforts. The 11th chapter to the Hebrews is a comment upon this truth in the example of Moses and many others. What greater object of fear might be presented to a man than the angry face and countenance of a terrible tyrant? Yet when by the eye of faith he saw him that was invisible, and then looked upon Pharaoh, what was Pharaoh to God? When Micaiah had seen God sitting on his throne, what was Ahab to him? And when the soul hath entered into the vail, and sees the glorious things of heaven and happiness, what are all things below? Faith sets the soul on a rock, above the reach of waves, upon the love of God in Christ. And therefore set the grace of faith on work, keep it on the wing, preserve it on exercise; and faith exercised will be able to comfort the most dejected soul in the world, and to raise it above all the troubles that can be imagined or befall us.
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