Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
— Hebrews 11:35-37
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
— 2 Corinthians 4:7-10
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
— Philippians 3:10-11
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
— Acts 5:41
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
— 2 Corinthians 9:8
Getting Clear Evidences of this Work of Grace in Us, in Order to Our Readiness for Sufferings, by John Flavel. The following contains Chapter Seven of his work, “Preparations for Sufferings, Or, The Best Work in the Worst Times, Wherein the Necessity, Excellency, and Means of our Readiness for Sufferings are Evinced and Prescribed; Our Call to Suffering Cleared, and the Great Unreadiness of Many Professors Bewailed.”
Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep, and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
In which the necessity of getting clear evidences of this work of grace in us, in order to our readiness for sufferings, is held forth, the nature of that evidence opened; and divers things that cloud and obscure it removed out of the way.
I have done with habitual readiness, consisting in an in wrought work of grace. The following particulars are the things in which our actual readiness lies. And of them, that which comes next to be handled, is the getting of clear evidences in our own souls, that this work hath been wrought in us: this will exceedingly tend to your strengthening and comfort in a suffering hour. Blessed Paul, who here professeth himself ready both for bonds and death, was clear in this point; 2 Tim. 1:12 and 4:6, 7. And indeed had he been cloudy and dark in this, he could not have said, I am ready. No, he had been in an ill case to undertake that journey to Jerusalem: and thou wilt find it a singular advantage in dark and difficult days, to have all clear and right within. Now, for the opening of this I will shew:
I. What the evidence or manifestation of the work of grace is.
II. How it appears to be of such great advantage to a suffering saint.
III. Prescribe some rules for the obtaining of it.
I. What it is. And, in short, it is nothing else but the Spirit’s shining upon his own work, in the hearts of believers, thereby enabling them sensibly to see and feel it to their own satisfaction. And this is expressed in scripture under a pleasant variety of metaphors. Sometimes it is called the “shedding abroad of the love of God in the heart,” Rom. 5:5. Sometimes “the lifting up of the light of God’s countenance,” Psal. 4:6 and sometimes it is expressed without a trope, by Christ’s manifesting himself to the soul, John 14:21.
For the opening of it, I desire you would consider these six things.
1. That it is attainable by believers in this life, and that in a very high degree and measure. Many of the saints have had it in a full measure, 1 Cor. 2:12. John 3:24. John 21:15.
2. Though it be attainable by believers, yet it is a thing separable from true grace, and many precious souls have gone mourning for the want of it, Isa. 50:10. This was sometimes the case of Heman, David, Job, and multitudes more.
3. During its continuance it is the sweetest thing in the world. It swallows up all troubles, and doubles all other comforts: it puts more gladness into the heart, than the increase of corn and wine, Psal. 4:7. Suavis hora, sed brevis mora; sapit quidem suavissime sed gustatur rarissime. Bernard.
4. Both in the continuation and removal of it the Spirit acts arbitrarily. No man can say how long he shall walk in this pleasant light, Psal. 30:7. “By thy favour thou hast made my mountain stand strong, thou hidest thy face, and I was 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. 3:4. “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 darkness, deadness, and deceitfulness of the heart; so much unevenness and inconstancy in their 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 may attain a certainty of the 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, Heb. 4:12.
2. The innate light of grace itself; or, if you will, the light of experience, 1 John 5:10. It hath some properties and operations which are as essential, necessary, and inseparable, as heat is to the fire, and may be as sensibly felt and perceived by the soul, Psal. 119:20.
3. The light of the Spirit, superadded to both the former, which is sometimes called its earnest, sometimes its seal. The Spirit doth but 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 with so clear a beam of light, that it is able to draw 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 right management of a suffering condition.
And this will appear by the consideration of five things.
1. You will 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 discouragements. “The floods cannot drown it, nor the waters quench it,” Cant. 8:6, 7. It facilitates the greatest hardships, 1 John 5:3. And whatever a man suffers, if it be not from this principle it is neither acceptable to God, nor available to himself, 1 Cor. 13:3.
But now nothing more inflames and quickens the Christian’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 that flame 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 7:47.
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 extraordinarily 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 27:41. O how tempestuous a sea doth that soul fall in, that hath fightings without, and fears within! how must that poor Christian’s heart tremble and meditate terror, that when be retires from 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. 17:17. 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, because the law of God is shed abroad in our hearts,” Rom. 5:3, 5.
3. It is a fountain of joy and comfort in the darkest and saddest hour. Hence the glorious triumphs of saints in their afflictions, Rom. 5:5. And in the Christian’s joy in the Lord, lies much of his strength for sufferings, Neh. 8:10. 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. 1:11. 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 eyes 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 cleared. It is true, the faith of recumbency gives the soul a secret support, and enables the Christian to live; but the faith of evidence keeps him lively, and prevents all those uncomfortable and uncomely sinkings and despondencies of spirit, 2 Cor. 4:16, 17 and therefore cannot but be of a singular use to a soul at such a time.
4. And, lastly, It is of special use to a Christian under sufferings, inasmuch as it enables him to repel the temptations that attend upon sufferings. Nothing sets a keener edge upon his indignation against unworthy compliances, than this. Indeed a poor cloudy and dubious Christian will be apt to catch at deliverance, though upon terms dishonourable to Christ; but he that is clear in point of interest, abhors compositions and capitulations upon unworthy terms and conditions, Heb. 11:35 and 10:34. He that sees the gain and reward of suffering, will think he is offered to his loss, when life and deliverance are set before him upon such hard terms as sin is.
And thus you see what influence it hath into a suffering condition.
III. In the next place I promised to prescribe some rules for the attaining of this evidence, and the dispelling of those doubts by which it is usually clouded in the souls of believers. And oh, that by the faithful use of them you may attain it, against a suffering day come upon you.
Rules
1. Rule. And the first rule I shall give you is this, make it your business to improve grace more; for the more vigorous it is, the more evidential it must needs be, 2 Pet. 1:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Oh how much time have many Christians spent in inquiring after the lowest signs of sincerity, and what may consist with grace? Which had they spent in the diligent improvements of the means of grace, for the increasing of it, they would have found it a shorter cut to peace and comfort by much.
2. Rule. Mistake not the rule by which you are to try yourselves, lest you give a false judgment upon yourselves. Some are apt to make those things signs of grace, which are not; and when the falseness of them is detected, how is that poor soul plunged into doubts and fears, that leaned upon them? As now, if a man should conclude his sincerity from his diligence in attending on the word preached; this is but paralogism, (as the apostle calls it,) Jam. 1:22. By which a man deceiveth his own soul; For that which is a note or mark, must be proper to the thing notified, and not common to any thing else. There are divers sorts of marks; some are exclusive, the principal use of which is to convince bold pretenders, and discover hypocrites; such is that, 1 Cor. 9:9. It is a most certain sign where these are, there is no grace; but yet it will not follow on the contrary, that where these are not, there is no grace. See Luke 18:11. Others are inclusive, the use of which is not so much for trying of the truth, as the strength and degrees of grace. As now, when faith is described by the radiancy of it, or by some of its heroic acts, and promises made to some raised degrees and operations of it; as that, Eph. 3:12. &c. here a mistake is easily made. Besides those, or rather betwixt these, are another sort of marks, which are called positive marks; and these agreeing in the lowest degree of grace, are for the trial of the truth and sincerity of it. Such are these, 1 John 4:13. 1 John 2:3. Matth. 5:3. Be sure to try by a proper mark.
3. Rule. Take heed of such sins as violate and waste the conscience; for these will quickly raise a mist, and involve the soul in clouds and darkness, Psal. 51:8, &c. Such are sins against light, and the reclamations of conscience.
4. Rule. Labour to shun those common mistakes that Christians make in judging of their state; among which I shall select these five as principal ones.
1. Call not your condition into question upon every failing and involuntary lapse into sin. “Iniquities prevail against me, as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away,” Psal. 65:3. In short, thou needest not call thy condition into question, provided thou find thy spirit working as Paul’s did under the surprizals of temptations: viz. If, (1.) Thou do approve of and delight in the law, though thou fall short of it in thy practice, Rom. 7:12, 14. (2.) If thy failings be involuntary, and against the resolution and bent of thy soul, ver. 15, 18, 19. (3.) If it be the load and burden of thy soul, ver. 24. (4.) If the thoughts of deliverance comfort thee, ver. 25.
2. Question not the truth of thy grace, because it was not wrought in the same way and manner in thee, as in others: For there is a great variety, as to the circumstances of time and manner, betwixt the Spirit’s operations upon one and another. Compare the history of Paul’s conversion with that of the Jailor, Zaccheus, or Lydia, and see the variety of circumstances.
3. Conclude not that you have no grace, because you feel not those transports and ravishing joys that other Christians speak of. If thou canst not say as Paul doth, Rom. 8:38. yet bless God, if thou canst but breathe forth such language as that, Mark 9:24. “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.”
4. Say not thou hast no grace, because of the high attainments of some hypocrites, who in some things may excel thee. When some persons read the sixth chapter to the Hebrews, they are startled to see to what a glorious height the hypocrite may soar; not considering that there are these three things wherein they excel the most glorious hypocrite in the world.
(1.) That self was never dethroned in hypocrites, as it is in them. All that an hypocrite doth is for himself.
(2.) The hypocrite never hated every sin, as he doth; but hath still some Agag, Rimmon, or Delilah.
(3.) That the hypocrite never acted in duty from the bent and inclination of a new nature, taking delight in heavenly employment, but is moved rather as a clock by the weight and poises of some external motives and advantages.
5. Conclude not you have no grace, because you grow not so sensibly as some other Christians do. You may be divers ways mistaken about this. (1.) You may measure your growth by your desires, and then it appears nothing; for the Christian aims high, and grasps at all. (2.) Or by comparing yourselves with such as have larger capacities, time, and advantages than you. (3.) Or by comparing your graces with other men’s gifts, which you mistake for their graces. (4.) Or by thinking that all growth is upward in joy, peace, and comfort; whereas you may grow in mortification and humility, which is as true a growth as the former. Oh! take heed of these mistakes; they have been very prejudicial to the peace of many Christians.
5. Rule. Lastly, Decline not sufferings when God gives you a fair call to them. Oh! the Christian’s suffering time is commonly his clearest and most comfortable time. “Then the Spirit of God and glory resteth on them,” 1 Pet. 4:14. That which hath been in suspense for some years, is decided and cleared in a suffering hour. And thus I have shewed you how to attain this necessary qualification also.
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