WE are upon the adjuncts of Christ's transfiguration.
The first was the appearance of Moses and Elias talking with him.
The second is the entertainment which the apostles gave to this glorious
dispensation, or their behaviour under it. Three things are observable :-
1. Their posture for some while: and Peter and they that were with him were
heavy with sleep.
2. Peter's motion when they were awake: let us build here three
tabernacles.
3. The censure of it: not knowing what he said.
First, Their posture after the transfiguration was begun: 'And Peter and
they that were with him were heavy with sleep.' This sleep might arise
either from a common natural cause, or from a special cause peculiar to this
dispensation.
1. A common natural cause, being tired with labour in ascending the mountain,
for it was upshlos lian, 'exceeding high.' Or it was with watching,
for they tarried there all night, and Christ continued long in prayer, and
possibly being a little withdrawn from them, as in his agonies, he was
transfigured before them.
2. The special cause of this sleep was the extraordinary apparition, as the
prophets often were in a deep sleep and trance when they saw the like: Dan.
viii. 18, 'As the angel Gabriel was speaking to me, I fell into a deep
sleep, with my face towards the ground.' Again, Dan. x. 9, 'When I
heard his voice, then was I in a deep sleep.' So the prophet Zechariah, in
the midst of his visions: Zech. iv. I 'The angel of the Lord wakened me as
one in a deep sleep.' Any eminent passion causeth sleep, and they were
astonished so with these visions and representations, that nature fainted under
them, and they fell into a sleep; so the apostles seeing Christ, in the midst
of fervent prayers, transfigured before them.
Now, whether it came from the one cause or from the other, we must conclude
this sleep was a weakness on their parts, but directed and overruled by God for
just and wise reasons.
1. It was a weakness and infirmity on their part, for questionless they were to
attend with all vigilancy to this manifestation of our Saviour's glory,
and observe the passages of it. Why else did he take them into the mountain
apart, but as witnesses of it, as they were to watch in his agonies? So in his
transfiguration. It was a fault then:
Matt xxvi. 40, 'When he cometh he findeth them asleep. What! could you not
watch with me one hour?' But the best men are clogged with human
infirmities, in the most glorious manifestations of God to them.
2. The providence of God is to be observed in this sleep. That which came to
pass through their fault was ordered by God's providence; for if they had
been awake, they had heard all the discourse that passed between Christ and the
two great prophets, which neither their present condition nor the state of the
time did permit. Christ had told them that he should suffer an ignominious
death, which they did not thoroughly understand; nor could they reconcile it
with the present thoughts which they had of the Messiah; nor was it fit for
them to hear all, how the death of Christ was foretold in the prophecies,
prefigured in the sacrifices, shadowed out in all the rest of the types of the
law, and sung of in the book of Psalms, to satisfy the justice of God, and open
a way for his mercy and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ would not have the
great work of his dying hindered, and these things they were not to learn from
Moses and Elias, but he would teach them himself after the resurrection: Luke
xxiv. 44 - 46, 'These are the words that I spake unto you, while I was yet
with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of
Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he
their eyes that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead
the third day.' And the full knowledge of them was reserved till the
pouring out of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. If 'they had heard them
now, they would have begotten scruples and troublesome thoughts in their minds,
and hindered the present service.
Observe hence our weakness during the time we are environed with mortality,
that we cannot bear up long under spiritual duties; either our hearts are soon
overcharged with wonder and astonishment, or else we yield to natural
infirmities. However, let it be a warning to us against sleepiness in the
worship of God. It is true the best may be surprised with it, as here
Christ's disciples. Yet it was a sin in them to be asleep when Christ was
at prayers, and it is a sin God hath severely punished; witness Eutychus: Acts
xx. 9, 'And there sat in the window a young man named Eutychus, being
fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with
sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.' Mark
though the sermon continued till midnight, and it was a youth that slept, yet
he fell down as dead. It was a small sin - a sin of infirmity - a boy's
sin; yet God would leave this warning. I do not animadvert too severely upon
this infirmity, only give you caution. Christ praying all night on Mount Tabor,
this weakness prevailed on these choice apostles, and elsewhere during the time
of Christ's agonies. Yet we are to strive against it, and be sure it may
be said of us as of them: Mark xxvi. 41, 'The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak.' Make conscience of avoiding this sin; do not compose
yourselves to sleep; do not come to these duties spent with labours and worldly
cares, nor
clogged with excess of meat or drink, nor having defrauded ourselves of
necessary refreshing by sleep, by vain pleasures the night before.
Secondly, Their carriage when they were awake. When they awaked, they saw his
glory, and the two men that stood with them; they saw Christ transfigured
before they fell asleep, but I think they saw not Moses and Elias before, but
now saw them, that they might give testimony of it to the church, not by common
fame and hearsay, but as eye-witnesses; and they knew Moses and Elias either by
information from Christ, or some secret instinct and revelation of the Spirit,
or as hearing some part of the discourse, they heard enough to show what they
were, or what the general matter of their discourse was. But that which is most
remarkable is Peter's motion and proposal, 'It came to pass, as they
departed from him ' - just as they were parting - ' Peter said, Lord,
it is good for us to be here: let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, one
for Moses, and one for Elms.' He mentioned no distinct tabernacle for
himself and fellow-disciples, because they would be with Christ, attending on
their master in his tent.
The motion in the general is rash, sudden, and unadvised; but being made by a
good man, though under a passion, there is something good and something bad in
it.
1. That which was good in it is, he yet retaineth his reverence.
[1.] That he submitteth his proposal to the judgment of his Lord and Master,
wherein he expresseth his reverence of Christ - 'Lord, if thou
wilt.' He desireth a continuance of this dispensation, leaveth it to his
consent, acknowledging herein his wisdom and authority.
[2.] It showeth the valuableness and felicity of conversing with Christ and the
glorified saints; for when but two of them appear in glory, talking with
Christ, Peter said it is good to be here, to continue and abide in this place
together with thyself, Moses, and Elias. What a blessed dignity is this! The
glory of heaven is so ravishing and satisfactory to the soul, that the soul can
rest in the least glimpse and degree of it ! If a glimpse, what is the fulness?
If the splendour of his humanity not yet glorified be so great, what is the
glory of his God-head? If a sight of these things at a distance, what is the
partici-pation when the glory shall be revealed in us, or we shall appear with
him in glory? If Moses and Elias, what is the company of all the saints and
angels? If it be thus at Mount Tabor, what will it be in heaven, when all the
world is renewed and refined, and the church gathered together in one great
assembly?
[3.] The nature of a state of glory, and how easily it maketh us to forget all
things here below. Peter had a family, and household affairs to mind; for we
read in the Gospel that his wife's mother was sick and cured by Christ:
Mat. viii. 14. He had friends, and a brother called Andrew, who was one of the
disciples of Christ, left below in the valley: John i. 40. Nay he forgot his
own present condition of life, which could not long brook his remaining in that
mountain, without the supply of food, and other necessaries. Now all this
showeth that when we are translated to heaven, we shall be so ravished with
that kind of life we shall have there, as that all sense and memory of things
that we have left behind shall cease, as Peter being ravished with this sight
and spectacle, thinketh not of kindred, friends, or household, or any kind of
worldly comfort, but saith only, it is good to be here; so that it teacheth us
that the delights of the other world make us forget all our conceruments here
below: all shall be forgotten and swallowed up in that heavenly delight we
shall have there.
2. That which was evil in it.
[1.] That he mistook the nature of the present dispensation. This was to be a
representation, not a fruition, to be transient and momentary; for
confirmation, not possession; rather a viaticum, a bit by the way, than a
feast. It was good and commendable to be affected with joy and delight in the
presence and company of Christ, and Moses, and Elias, but it was not to be
rested in as their full reward.
[2.] If this request had taken place, the work of our redemption had been
hindered. What had become of Christ's death and passion, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem? All our happiness dependeth on that, and if God should
give way to our carnal desires, what mischief would ensue! If Christ had
hearkened to him, he would not have gone up to Jerusalem to suffer, nor would
any man living have dared to lay hands upon him while he continued in this
glory and majesty.
[3.] This request was injurious to Moses and Elias, that they should utterly
forsake their heavenly mansions for an abode on earth, and therefore to desire
their continuance there was to desire their loss. They were a little time to
appear on earth with Christ, and then to return to their blessedness, or to the
enjoyment of the sight of God in the third heavens.
[4.] It was injurious to Christ. To hope to learn something from Moses and
Elias which Christ could not teach them, and to equal them with his Lord and
Master, in building tabernacles for all three alike and without difference, was
some lessening of his respect to Christ. If they were to learn anything from
them, they were to consult the books, not the persons: Luke xvi. 29, 'They
have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And the desires of
extraordinary means argueth a contempt of ordinary.
[5.] It was an error to imagine that tabernacles were necessary for Moses and
Elias, who now appeared in such heavenly glory in the mount They needed not
earthly houses and tents to dwell in, to defend them from the injuries of the
weather, neither had they such present conveniences to prepare them.
Thirdly, The censure of the Holy Ghost: Luke saith, 'not knowing what he
said.' In Mark, chap ix. 6, 'He wist not what to say; for they were
sore afraid.' They were words of a man in a rapture, or surprised with
great astonishment. There were two affections, dazzled with the majesty of this
glory, and transported with joy. There was also a great fright. Usually, ta
lupnra fobera, such things as bring a hurt, occasion fear, and also things of
excellent glory; such as surpass our present meanness; as here the change of
Christ's person, and the glorious appearance of the great prophets, so
long since separated from the commerce of mankind.
Observe, before we proceed, the inconvenience of great and excessive passions: they make us speak we know not what. Peter is an instance in scripture. Let us keep to him. You see him surprised with a great passion of fear, when at Christ's command a great draught of fish came to hand in an unlikely time: Luke v. 8, 9, 'Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of fishes that they had taken.' You find him at other times transported with a passion of excessive reverence or humility: John xiii. 8,' Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet.' With a passion of love, or pity to his Master : 'Lord, let it be far from thee; this shall not be unto thee,' when his Master had foretold his death: Mat. xvi. 22, in case of contempt of Christ. Here with a passion of joy or ravishment, or transport of soul, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here.' Now all these passions were religiously exercised; but it is dangerous when religion, which should bridle and govern our passions, is made the matter and fuel of them. Passionate joy, or passionate fear, passionate reverence, or passionate zeal, and anger, may easily transport us to some uncomely action or motion; for though in all these there was religion at top, yet sin at the bottom; and, therefore, you see how much it concerneth us to moderate and reduce ourselves to a due temper; for passion causeth us to do things without and against reason; yea, to speak and do we know not what; and when religious matters overheat our affections, we may err exceedingly.
Now, having opened this part of the history, let us observe something that conduceth to our practical instruction.
Doct. 1. That the state and condition of the glorified saints is a most
delightful state and condition.
For when Peter had but a glimpse of it in the transfiguration of Christ, it
seemed so ravishing and transporting, that here would he abide and stay by it;
so was he affected with joy in the company and presence of Christ, and Moses
and Elias appearing with him, that all his natural comforts and relations were
forgotten. This would com-pensate all. If once we be gotten into this blessed
estate, we shall never desire to come out of it, and part with it. This which
the dis-ciples had was but a little glimpse and taste of the life to come. This
must needs be so; it is called joy: Mat. xxv. 21, 'Enter thou into the joy
of thy Lord;' and fulness of joy: Ps. xvL 11, 'In thy presence there
is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for ever-more.'
No better estate can be expected. The soul is at rest, as having obtained its
end. And it is also proved by the privileges and benefits the saints shall
enjoy in the world to come.
1. A freedom from all evil, which here are matter of grief to us. And
2. The fruition of all good, which may any way bring joy, and delight, and
contentment.
1. There is a freedom from all evil. There is a twofold evil, either of sin or
punishment. In heaven there is neither sin nor misery.
[1.] To begin with sin, that is the worst evil, because it maketh us hateful to
God, and grieveth the saints most: Rom. vii. 24, 'Oh wretehed man that I
am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' If any man had
cause to complain of afflictions, Paul much more, being often imprisoned,
whipped, stoned; but his lusts troubled him more than scourges; and his
captivity to the law of sin more than
prisons. God's children are most weary of the world, because they are
sinning here whilst others are glorifying of God, and enjoying God and the
company of his blessed ones. Now in heaven there is no sin: Eph. v. 27 there is
neither spot nor blemish, nor wrinkle on the face of the glorified saints.
Their faces were once as black as yours, but now they are washed in the
Lamb's blood and fully cleansed; now with much ado we mortify sin, but
then it is nullified. But if we subdue the power of sin, we do not get rid of
the being of it, but then we are rid of all at once - of all sin, and
temptation to sin. There was a serpent, a tempter in Paradise, but there is
none in heaven; the devil is shut out, and the old man is left in the grave
never to rise more.
[2.] There is not the least evil of affliction: Rev. xxi. 4, 'All tears
shall be wiped away from their eyes.' Whatsoever is painful and burdensome
to nature, is a fruit of sin, a brand and mark of our rebel-lion against God.
Therefore, when sin is done away, affliction, which is the fruit of it, is done
away also. In hell there is evil, and only evil; in heaven, happiness, and only
happiness. Here our wounds are healed, but the scars remain - something to put
us in mind that we have sin yet dwelling in us; but there all the effects of it
cease - there is neither death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain.
2. They shall enjoy all good things, which shall bring joy and com-fort to
them. In blessedness there is a confluence of all good; our joys are full and
eternal.
[1.] There is the immediate sight and presence of God and Jesus Christ, who
shall be all in all to them: 1 Cor. xiii. 12, 'Now we see through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, then shall I know as also I
am known.' And John xvii. 24, 'Father, I will that they also whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which
thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world.' We are brought into the presence of him who is blessedness itself.
[2.] The society of all the blessed angels and saints glorified: Mat. viii. 11,
'Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.'
[3.] The perfection of all heavenly gifts both in soul and body.
(1.) In soul: that is the heaven of heaven: 1 John iii.2,' Now are we the
sons of God; but it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but this we know, that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is;' Ps. xvii. 15, 'When I awake I shall be satisfied
with thy image and likeness.' By knowing we come to love, and by loving
God we know him. There is vision, assimilation, satisfaction. The object is
efficacious, the intimation vigorous and clear, the subject prepared for the
impression.
(2.) In body: Phil. iii. 21, 'Who shall change our vile body, that it may
be fashioned like unto his glorious body.' The body shall be endued with
all glorious qualities, as brightness, strength, agility. It is a body wholly
impassible and incorruptible, fit for the operations of a glorified soul, and
with it shall for ever remain, a glorious temple of the Holy Ghost; therefore
it is good to be here.
Use 1. Let this draw forth our love to such a blessed estate, which is so full of delight and contentment, and wean us from these things which are
most pleasing in the world.
1. The best estate in the world is but vanity, altogether vanity, Ps. xxxix. 5,
mingled with some grievances. Wealth hath its incident cares, and honour its
tortures, and all pleasures here are but bitter sweets; there is a worm that
feedeth on our gourd, and will in time wither it. At last death cometh, and
then the lust of the world is gone: 1 John ii. 17, 'The world passeth
away, and the lust thereof.' The godly themselves have but a mixed estate,
because of remaining infirmities, they live here in a vale of tears and snares,
and sin doth not gasp its last till death removeth us from this sinful flesh,
and puts us into the sight of God himself. Wherefore the saints are groaning
and longing for the parting day, when putting off the desh we shall put off
sin, and come and dwell with God for ever.
2. None are translated into heaven but such whose hearts are there first: 2
Cor. v. 2, 'In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven;' Phil. i. 23, 'I desire to be
dissolved and to be with Christ;' Born. viii. 23, 'We that have the
first-fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
the redemption of our bodies.' A Christian waiteth and longeth for a purer
state of bliss and immortality. The first-fruits show what the harvest will be,
and a taste what the feast will prove; though they are thankful for this
refreshing by the way, yet they are longing to be at home - cannot be contented
without it.
3. The excellency of this estate requireth it: if it be not worth your desires
and best affections, it is little worth. Christ procured it for us by a life of
labours and sorrows, and the pangs of a bitter, cursed death; and when all this
is done shall not we desire it and look after it ? - that is foul ingratitude.
Oh then let your hearts be upon it; desire must go before delight.
Use 2. To move us to labour for it, and seek it in the first place, and to get it assured that we have a part in this blessed and joyful condition: Mat. vi. 33, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof;' Luke xiii. 24, 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate ;' so 2 Pet. i 10, 'Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.' What profit is it to know that there is such a blessed and joyful estate, if we have no interest in it? Heaven is worth our pains, and will bear all the cost we can lay out upon it. So the children of God thought: Acts xxvi. 7, 'Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.' If we do not desire it, we do not believe it; if we do not labour for it, we do not desire it.
Use 3. Let us comfort ourselves with the hopes of this blessed and joyful
condition.
1. Against all the miseries and afflictions of this present life. These are
necessary ; we would sleep too quietly in the world if we did not sometimes
meet with thorns in our beds; we should be so pleased with our entertainment in
the way as we should forget home. But God awakeneth us out of our drowsy fits
by sharp afflictions, as if he said, 'Arise, depart hence, this is not
your rest,' Micah ii. 10. While we wallow in sensual comforts our hearts
say, it is good being here.
2. When there is a joyful and blessed condition beyond them, it is some comfort
in this shipwreck of man's felicity that we can see banks and shores, a
landing-place where we may be safe and enjoy our repose. 'To you that are
troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels,' 2 Thes. i. '7. Here our days are sorrow and
our travail grief, but there is our repose.
3. That our joy and contentment is so infinitely above our sorrow and trouble,
2 Cor. iv. 7, so that in all the troubles and sorrows of this life, we may look
beyond them and through them to the joy and comfort of the life to come. This
joy is set before us in the promises of the gospel: Heb xii. 2, Christ,
'for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,' &c.,
and Heb vi. 18, 'Who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set
before us,' we see it by faith, though not by sense.
Doct. 2. That one of the diseases of mankind is that we catch at felicity,
without considering the way that leadeth to it.
Peter seeing and apprehending this estate to be an estate of happi-ness and
glory, doth not consider what he must first do and first suffer before he could
come to converse with Christ and the glorified saints. Our Saviour had lately
told him that he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow him; but
Peter overlooketh all this, and saith, 'It is good to be here.' He
would be glorified before he was abased and had suffered all the afflictions
foretold, and would have his wages before he had done his work. Every one would
enjoy Christ's glory and happiness, but we do not like his yoke - are loth
to submit to his cross. If we would enjoy happiness with Christ and the
glorified saints, we must be humbled with them and suffer with them first. But
we would triumph before we had fought any battle, and receive the crown before
we have run our race, and reap in joy before we have sowed in tears, or
performed that necessary work that God requires at our hands.
Now the reasons of it are these :-
1. Because by nature we love our own ease and contentment: Gen. xlix. 15,
'He saw that rest was good.' We are loth to undergo the cross, and
desirous to enjoy happiness and glory before and without afflictions; but this
is an untimely and preposterous desire, proceeding from self-love. God hath
appointed another order, that the cross should go before the crown: Rom. viii.
17, 'If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified
together.'
2. From the libertinism and yokelessness of our natures, and that spirit of
unsubjection which is so natural to us: Rom viii. 7, 'The carnal mind is
enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can
be;' Ps. ii. 3, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away
their cords from us.' Duties are more displeasing to the flesh than
happiness, and we like pardon and life more than we like strictness, purity,
and that watching and striving, and waiting, and exercising ourselves unto
godliness which the scripture calleth for.
Use. To press us to get this disease cured, and our hearts reconciled to our
duty as well as to our happiness. These considerations may be a help to you.
1. God is a governor as well as a benefactor, and must be respected in both
relations; and therefore we must not only desire and wait for his benefits, but
submit to his government. His government is seen in his laws and providence. In
his laws he appoints our duty, in his providence he appoints our trials; to
refuse either is to question his sovereignty: Ps. xii. 4, 'Who have said,
With our tongue will we prevail: our lips are our own: who is lord over
us?' Exod. v. 2, 'And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should
obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel
go;' so also not to submit to his trials. Therefore now, if we love God as
a benefactor, we must be subject to him as our true and proper sovereign, who
will bring us to heaven in what way he pleaseth.
2. The terms and means appointed conduce to mortify our love to the false
happiness, for one great part of religion is to draw off our hearts from the
vain pleasures and honours of the world, the other part is to carry us on in
the pursuit of the true happiness - a recess from the world and an access to
God, mortification and vivification. We shall sit down with present things if
we abandon ourselves to our sensual inclinations, Luke xvi. 25, so that our
desires of the true happiness will be feeble and easily controlled if we submit
not to the means.
3. The care and due observance of the means showeth the value and respect to
the true happiness. If we do not labour for it and suffer for it, we do not
value it according to its worth. There is a simple, naked estimation, and a
practical esteem. Naked approbation, Rom ii. 18, 'And knowest his will,
and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the
law.' The practical esteem is a self-denying obedience, Rom. ii. 7,
'To them who by patient continu-ance in well-doing seek for glory,'
etc. Then they respect means and end together, and submit to the one to
obtain the other. If the wicked are said to despise eternal happiness, it is
not simply as happiness, nor as eternal, for they that love themselves would be
happy, and everlastingly happy; but it is in conjunction with the means, as the
Israelites despised the pleasant land, and murmured in their tents: Ps. cvi.
24, 'Yea, they despised the pleasant land; and they believed not his word;
but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.'
The land was a good, fertile land, but afar off, and because of giants and
walled towns, and so not thought worthy the pains and difficulties to be
undergone. Heaven is a good place, but out of indulgence to the ease of the
flesh we dislike difficulties and strictness of holy walking.
4. The difficulty of salvation lies not in a respect to the end but the means,
and therefore the trial of our sincerity must rather be looked for there. There
is some difficulty about the end, to convince men of an unseen felicity but
that may be done in part by reason, but savingly and thoroughly by the Spirit
of revelation: Eph. i. 18, 'The eyes of your understandings being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the
riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.' But man is sooner
convinced than converted, than drawn off from worldly vanities, that he may
seek after this happiness ; and usually we have a quicker ear for offers of
happiness than precepts of duty and obedience. Balaam, Num. xxiii. 10, 'Oh that
I could die the death of the righteous, and that my latter end were like
his!' John vi. 34, 'Evermore give us this bread' of life; but a
true Christian, 'If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the
dead,' Phil. iii. 11.
5. The necessity of this self-denying resignation of ourselves to God, to bring
us to heaven in his own way, is necessary. That we may begin with God: Luke
xiv. 26, 'If any man come to me, and hate not father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be
my disciple.' And also that we may be true to him, and go on with him, and
be fortified against all the difficulties we meet with in the way to heaven:
Heb. xi. 35, 'Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they
might obtain a better resurrection.' ' But none of these things move
us, Acts xx. 24: Mat. xx. 22, 'Are ye able to drink of the cup that I
shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with?'
6. There is such an inseparable connexion between the end and means, that God
will not give us the one without the other. If we believe, mortify, wait,
suffer, then shall we reign with him - otherwise not.
Doct. 3. Much evil would ensue if we had our desires in all those things that we think good for us.
Peter said, 'It is good for us to be here;' but, alas! how ill would
it have been for the world if Christ had abode still in the mount. Peter's
instance showeth us two things :-
1. That we are apt to consult with our own profit rather than public good. The
world needed him, he had great business to do in the valley; but he would be in
the mount. It is our nature, if it be well with ourselves, to forget others.
Peter little minded his fellow-apostles, the redemption of the world, the
conversion of nations, etc.
2. How much we are out when we judge by present sense and the judgment of
flesh. We consult with the ease of the flesh, and so desire rest more than
pains and labour; what pleaseth rather than what profiteth. Peter saith,
'It is good to be here,' but he must labour first, suffer first,
before he entereth into glory.
Well, then, let us learn by what measure to determine good or evil.
1. Good is not to be determined by our fancies and conceits, but by the wisdom
of God; for he knoweth what is better for us than we do for ourselves, and the
divine choices are to be preferred before our foolish fancies; and what he
sendeth and permitteth to fall out is better for us than anything else. Could
we be persuaded of this, how would we be prepared for a cheerful entertainment
of all that is, or can, or shall come, upon us. God is wiser than we, and loves
us better than we do ourselves. The child is not to be governed by his own
fancy, but his father's discretion, nor the sick man by his own appetite,
but the skill of the physician. It is expedient God should displease his
people, for their advantage: John xvi. 6, '7, ' Because I have said
these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you
the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away.
We are too much addicted to our own conceits: Christ's dealing is
expedient and useful, when yet it is very unsatisfactory to us. He is to be
judge of what is good for us, his going or tarrying, and not we ourselves. We
are short-sighted creatures, distempered with passions; our requests many times
are but ravings, we ask of God we know not what, as the two brethren, Mat. xx.
22, we pray ourselves into a mischief and a snare, and it were the greatest
misery if God would carve out our condition according to our own fancies and
desires.
2. That good is to be determined with respect to the chief good and true
happiness. Now what is our chief happiness, but the enjoyment of God? Our
happiness doth not consist in outward comforts, riches, health, honour, civil
liberty; or comfortable relations, as husband, wife, children; but our
relation to and acceptance with God. Other things are but additional appendages
to our happiness: Mat. vi. 33, 'they shall be added to you.'
Therefore poverty is good, afflictions are good; they take nothing from our
essential, solid happiness, rather help us in the enjoyment of it, as it
increaseth grace and holiness, and so we enjoy God more. Surely that is good
that sets us nearer to God, and that evil that separateth us from him.
Therefore sin is evil because it makes an estrangement between us and God: Isa.
lix. 2, ' Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you.' But affliction is good, because
many times it makes us the more earnestly to seek after him : Hosea v. 116,
'In their affliction they will seek me early.' Therefore every
condition is good or evil, as it sets us farther off or draweth us nearer to
God; that is good that tendeth to make us better, more like unto God, capable
of communion with him, and conduceth to our everlasting happiness. So it is
good that man 'bear the yoke from his youth,' that he be trained up
under the cross, in a constant obedience to God, and subjection to him, and so
be fitted to entertain communion with him. If afflictions conduce to this end
they are good, for then they help us to enjoy the chief good.
3. That good is not always the good of the flesh, or the good of outward
prosperity; and, therefore, certainly the good of our condition is not to be
determined by the interest of the flesh, but the welfare of our souls. If God
should bestow upon us so much of the good of the outward and animal life as we
desire, we could not be said to be in a good condition: if he should deny us
good spiritual, we should lose the one half of the blessings of the covenant by
doting upon and falling in love with the rest. The flesh is importunate to be
pleased, but God will not serve our carnal appetites. We are more concerned as
a soul than as a body: Heb. xii. 10, 'He verily chasteneth us for our
profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.' Certain it is God
will chasten us for our profit. What do we call profit? the good things of this
world, the great mammon which so many worship? If we call it so, God will not;
he meaneth to impart some spiritual and divine benefit, which is a
participation of his own holiness. And truly the people of God, if they be in
their right temper, value themselves, not by their outward enjoyments, but by
their inward improvement of graces:
2 Cor. iv. 16, 'For this cause we faint not; but though our outward man
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.' A discerning Christian
puts more value upon holiness wrought by affliction than upon all his comforts;
so that though affliction be evil in itself, it is good as sanctified.
4. A particular good must give way to a general good, and our personal benefit
to the advancement of Christ's kingdom and the glory of God. The
advancement of Christ's kingdom, or the good of the church, must be
preferred before our personal benefit or contentment. Paul could want the
glory of heaven for a while, if his continuance in the flesh were needful for
the saints: Phil. i. 24, 'To abide in the flesh is more needful for
you.' We must not so desire good to ourselves as to hinder the good of
others. All elements will act contrary to their particular nature, for the
conservation of the universe, so for the glory of God. That may be good for
the glory of God which is not good for our personal contentment and ease. Now
the glory of God is our greatest interest; if it be for the glory of God that I
should be in pain, bereft of my comfort, my sanctified subjection to the will
of God must say it is good: John xii. 27, 28. Here you must have the innocent
inclination of Christ's human nature, 'Father, save me from this
hour;' and the overruling sense of his duty, or the obligation of his
office, 'but for this cause came I to this hour.' We are often tossed
between inclination of nature and conscience of duty; but in a gracious heart
the sense of our duty and the desire of glorifying God should prevail above the
desire of our own comforts, ease, safety, and welfare. Nature would be rid of
trouble, but grace submits all our interests to God's honour, which should
be dearer to us than anything else.
5. This good is not to be determined by the judgment of sense, but by the
judgment of faith; not by present feeling, but future profit. That which is not
good may be a means to good. Affliction for the present is not pleasant to
natural sense; nor for the present is the fruit evident to spiritual sense; but
it is good, because in the issue it turneth to good:
Rom. viii. 28, 'All things work together for good to them that love
God,' etc. While God is striking, we feel the grief and the cross is
tedious; but when we see the end, we acknowledge it is good to be afflicted:
Heb. xii. 11, 'No affliction for the present seems joyous, but grievous;
nevertheless afterwards it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to
them that are exercised therein.' A good, present, is the cause of joy;
and an evil, present, is the cause of sorrow. But there are two termini
diminuentes, terms of abatement, pros to paron, and dokei, present sense,
and the conceits of the sufferer. When we are but newly under the affliction,
we feel the smart, but do not presently find the benefit; but within a while,
especially in the review, it is good for me. It is matter of faith under the
affliction, it is matter of sense afterwards. God's physic must have time
to work. That which is not good may be good; though it be not good in its
nature, it may be good in its use; and though for the present we see it not, we
shall see it. Therefore good is not to be determined by feeling, but by faith.
The rod is a sore thing for the present, but the bitter root will yield sweet
fruit. If we come to a person under the cross, and ask him, What! is it good to
feel the lashes of God's correcting hand? to be kept poor, sickly,
exercised with losses and reproaches, to part with friends and relations, to
lose a beloved child? he would be apt to answer, No. But this poor creature,
after he hath been exercised, and mortified, and gotten some renewed evidences
of God's favour; ask him, then, Is it good to be afflicted? Oh yes, I had
been vain, neglectful of God, wanted such an experience of the Lord's
grace. Faith should determine the case when we feel it not.
Well, then, let us learn to distinguish between what is really best for us and
what we judge to be best. Other diet is more wholesome for our souls than that
which our sickly appetite craveth. It is best many times when we are weakest,
worst when strongest: all things are good as they help on a blessed eternity:
so sharp afflictions are good. That part of the world that is governed by sense
will never yield to this. You cannot convince a covetous man that the loss of
an estate is good; or a worldly, rich man that poverty is good; or an ambitious
man that it is good to be despised and contemned; or a sensual, voluptuous man
that it is good to be in pains, that the body be afflicted for the good of the
soul: they will never believe you. But those that measure all things by
eternity, they know that poverty makes way for the true riches, and ignominy
for the true glory, want for fulness of pleasures, and misery mortifies sin.