Chapter 3

The efficient causes of this distress: first, the Spirit; whether he has any hand therein, and how far.

Having thus explained and proved this, that this does and may befall one who truly fears the Lord: for the more full clearing of it, I will further show:

First, the efficient causes.

Secondly, the cases wherein.

Thirdly, the ends for which God leaves his children in such distresses.

First, for the efficient causes of this so woeful, desperate, dark condition of God's child: they are three which have a hand in it.

First, God's Spirit.

Secondly, a man's own guilty and fearful heart.

Thirdly, Satan.

First, for God's Spirit: although he has a hand in some part of this disquietness, yet we must take heed how we put upon him any of those doubts and desperate fears and conclusions whereby the child of God calls his state into question. For the Spirit is not the direct efficient or positive cause of them.

And to this end we may consider that known place: Romans 8:16: 'You have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again, but the spirit of adoption.' The right understanding of which will also prevent an objection: for some have alleged this place as if the child of God, after he had once the Spirit sealing adoption to him, could never after fall into apprehension of bondage — that is, into fears of eternal damnation any more, or of being bound over for hell — and that this can befall him but once, and that at his first conversion.

But if we mark the words well: the apostle affirms not that fears of bondage can never befall God's child again; but his scope is to show that the Spirit which we have received, having been once become the Spirit of adoption, that Spirit is never after again the spirit of bondage to us, nor the cause of such fears. Indeed at first conversion, and before he witnessed adoption, he then revealed our estates to us to be an estate of bondage, which he then does in love to drive us out of it; and then indeed he was a spirit of bondage — to which he has reference when he says 'to fear again,' because he was once such to them. And such the Holy Ghost then might be, and then witness to them that their estates were damnable: for then it was a truth, in that they had lived in an estate of bondage, to which damnation was immediately due; and had they died in it, had certainly fallen upon them. But when once he, by making a man a son, has become the Spirit of adoption to him: then if ever he should put him into such apprehensions and fears again, he should witness an untruth. Therefore for the comfort of them and all believers, he tells them that he never crosses nor reverses his testimony of adoption, but his office is to be ready as a witness to seal to it. But yet, though the judge does not condemn any more, yet the jailer may trouble and frighten us, and our own hearts may condemn us. God may give Satan leave to cast us into prison, to clap bolts upon us again, and to become a lying spirit of bondage to us, as he became a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab's prophets. And he may give up our hearts to be fettered with the cords of our own sins, and to be ensnared with its own inventions and fears and jealousies (1 John 3:12; Proverbs 5:22).

For a more distinct understanding of this, to show how it comes to pass that all this befalls God's child, I will show how far the Holy Ghost proceeds in it and puts forth his hand toward it, and what Satan's work is — where he strikes in — and our own hearts to work further and deeper distress than the Holy Ghost by himself alone intended. For to these three several hands is the whole to be ascribed, and the works of God's Spirit and his concurrence therein carefully to be severed from Satan's — as light from darkness at the first.

Thus far then the Spirit of God may concur in this darkness that befalls his child.

1. Privatively: he may suspend his testimony and the execution of his office of witnessing adoption; he may withdraw his comfortable presence and hide himself for a moment and conceal his love, as other fathers will sometimes do — as David did when yet his heart was toward Absalom. He may not admit him to see his face; he may shut a son out of doors when yet he does not cast him off. He may retain their sins (as Christ's expression is, John 20:23; Matthew 18:18) — that is, call in the patent of his pardon which he had passed under his hand and seal in earth, that is, in their own consciences; take it out of their hands and custody, and call for it home again into the pardon office in heaven, and there keep it. And also, when Satan comes and gives in a false witness and evidence, and our own hearts thereupon likewise condemn us, the Holy Ghost may stand by as it were silent and say nothing to the contrary, but forbear to contradict Satan by any loud testimony or secret rebuking him, as he does at other times (Zechariah 3:1-2).

2. Positively: he may further proceed.

1. To reveal and represent God as angry with his child for such and such sins formerly committed, and make him sensible thereof — not barely by concealing his love, but by making impressions of his wrath upon his conscience immediately, and not by outward crosses only. Thus Isaiah 57:17-18: God not only hid himself and was wroth (that is, expressed his wrath by hiding himself), but 'I smote him and was wroth'; and verse 16, 'he contended and was wroth,' that is, fought against him as an enemy (as Isaiah 63:10) — and this with his wrath upon his spirit. For it follows that the spirit was ready to fail and the soul which he had made — so that it was the spirit which was the target God shot at and wounded, and that so deep that it was ready to fail and come to nothing. Which Solomon calls, by way of distinction, 'a wounded spirit, which who can bear?' and distinguishes it from all other afflictions upon the outward man, which strike the spirit but through the clothes of the body mediately. For he says, 'The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity' — that is, all such outward afflictions wherein it suffers but by way of sympathy and compassion. But when the spirit itself is laid bare and naked and wounded immediately by God's wrath (which only can reach it and wound it), who can bear this? Thus toward Heman: God did not only hide his face from him (Psalm 88:14), but 'his fierce wrath went over him, and your terrors,' says he, 'cut me off' (verse 16) — not wounded him only, but even cut him off. And such impressions of immediate wrath, as expressions and effects of God's anger, the Holy Ghost may make upon the spirit of his child: for it is a truth that God is angry and wroth with them when they sin, which anger he may make known not only by dumb signs in outward crosses and effects, but by an immediate witnessing and plain and express speaking so much to their consciences, and making them to feel so much by scalding drops of his hot displeasure let fall thereon. And as other fathers show their anger by whipping the bodies of their children (upon this ground, as the apostle says) because they are 'the fathers of our flesh' (Hebrews 12:9): so for the like reason may God show his anger and chastise his children by lashing their spirits, for he is 'the father of our spirits' as he speaks in the same place (Hebrews 4:12-13; Hebrews 12:6). And likewise our spirits, and the very bones and marrow of them, lie open and naked to him with whom we have to do; and his word and Spirit, being quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, are able to divide and cut even to the bones and marrow, as the same author speaks. Yet withal, so as when he expresses his wrath thus upon their consciences, he does not witness that this is an eternal wrath which he has conceived against them: for it is but a temporary displeasure — 'it is but for a moment,' as Isaiah speaks — the indignation of a father. Nor is it a wrath which revenging justice has stirred in him, but fatherly affection. And though the Spirit tells them that God is displeased, yet never that they are accursed — that is a false deduction made out of it.

Yet 2. The Holy Ghost may proceed yet further herein: so far as to bring forth and show him and shake over him the rod of his eternal wrath, especially when he has provoked Christ by presumptuous sins already; and to prevent his going on forwardly in the way of his heart. And this, first, by presenting to them and setting before them and pressing home all those threatenings which do hypothetically and conditionally threaten, even to believers, eternal damnation — such as that which we find Romans 8:13: 'If you live after the flesh, you' (even you believers) 'shall die.' For there is a truth in all such threatenings so conditionally set forth which reaches God's dearest children under a condition and with relation to going on in sin — to stop him and prevent him in which, when he is going on forwardly in the way of his heart, the Holy Spirit may bring home such threatenings to him with respect to such a course as he is entering into, and accordingly stir up the fear of that damnation thus threatened if he should go on in those sins he has begun to commit. But to apply threatenings of eternal damnation simply to his person — as 'you shall die eternally' — this the Holy Ghost does not speak to the heart of a believer when he is a believer. And again also 2, the Holy Ghost may represent to him and remind him of all those examples of men in whom, for their going on in sin, his soul has had no pleasure, and of God's dealings with them: as how he swore against many of the Israelites for their provocations of him, that they should never enter into his rest; and how he rejected Esau for the despising of his birthright; and all this with this end, to startle and awaken him, and with this intimation that for such and such sins, God might in like manner deal with him. For these and the like examples does the Spirit of God set before the believing Hebrews (Hebrews chapters 3 and 12) and the believing Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:5-13), to keep them in fearfulness to offend. But to apply any such examples absolutely to them — so as to say, 'Thus God intends to do with you for such and such sins past, and God will never be merciful' — this the Holy Ghost does not speak to a believer's heart.

The efficient causes of this distress: first, the Spirit — whether He has any part in it, and how much.

Having explained and established that this can and does befall those who truly fear the Lord, I will now show more fully:

First, the efficient causes.

Second, the circumstances in which it occurs.

Third, the purposes for which God leaves His children in such distress.

As for the efficient causes of this dark and desperate condition in a child of God — there are three that play a role in it.

First, God's Spirit.

Second, the person's own guilty and fearful heart.

Third, Satan.

As for God's Spirit: although He has some part in producing this distress, we must be careful not to attribute to Him those doubts, desperate fears, and dark conclusions by which a child of God calls his own standing into question. The Spirit is not the direct or positive cause of those things.

To this end, consider the well-known passage in Romans 8:16: 'You have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again, but the spirit of adoption.' Understanding this correctly will also answer an objection, since some have cited this verse as though it means that once a child of God has received the Spirit's seal of adoption, he can never again fall into feelings of bondage — that is, into fears of eternal damnation — and that this can happen to him only once, at his first conversion.

But if we read the words carefully, the apostle does not claim that fears of bondage can never return to a child of God. His point is that the Spirit we have received, having once become the Spirit of adoption, is never afterward again a spirit of bondage to us — never the cause of such fears. At first conversion, before He witnessed adoption, the Spirit did reveal that our condition was one of bondage — He did this in love, to drive us out of it. In that sense He was a spirit of bondage, which is what the apostle refers to when he says 'to fear again,' because the Spirit once was that to them. And the Holy Spirit rightly was so at that time — He could then testify that their condition was damnable, because it was the truth: they had lived in bondage, to which damnation was the just consequence, and had they died in it, damnation would certainly have followed. But once He has made a person a son and become the Spirit of adoption, if He were then to put that person back into such apprehensions and fears, He would be testifying to something untrue. Therefore, for the comfort of all believers, the apostle declares that the Spirit never reverses or contradicts His testimony of adoption — His office is to stand ready as a witness and to seal it. Yet while the judge does not condemn any further, the jailer may still trouble and frighten us, and our own hearts may condemn us. God may give Satan permission to throw us back into prison, to clap irons on us again, and to become a lying spirit of bondage to us — just as he became a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab's prophets. And God may allow our hearts to be fettered by the chains of our own sins, ensnared by their own inventions, fears, and suspicions (1 John 3:12; Proverbs 5:22).

For a clearer understanding of how all of this comes upon a child of God, I will show how far the Holy Spirit goes in contributing to it, and where Satan and our own hearts step in to deepen the distress beyond what the Holy Spirit alone intended. The whole must be attributed to these three distinct hands, and the work of God's Spirit must be carefully distinguished from Satan's — as light from darkness at the very beginning.

This, then, is how far the Spirit of God may participate in the darkness that falls on His child.

1. By withholding: He may suspend His testimony and hold back the exercise of His office of witnessing adoption. He may withdraw His comforting presence and hide Himself for a moment, concealing His love as other fathers sometimes do — as David did when his heart still yearned for Absalom. He may not allow the soul to see His face; He may shut a son out of His presence without casting him off. He may retain their sins — as Christ's expression has it in John 20:23 and Matthew 18:18 — that is, call back the certificate of pardon He had signed and sealed in earth, meaning in their own consciences, take it out of their hands, and return it to the pardon office in heaven to be held there. And when Satan comes forward with a false witness and accusation, and their own hearts accordingly condemn them, the Holy Spirit may stand by in silence — saying nothing to the contrary, not contradicting Satan by any clear testimony or quiet rebuke, as He does at other times (Zechariah 3:1-2).

2. By acting: He may go further still.

1. The Spirit may reveal and display God as angry with His child for specific past sins, making that anger felt — not merely by concealing His love, but by directly impressing a sense of His wrath on the conscience, not just through outward crosses. Isaiah 57:17-18 shows this: God did not only hide Himself and 'was wroth' (expressing wrath by hiding Himself), but 'I struck him and was wroth'; and in verse 16 He 'contended and was wroth' — fighting against him as an enemy (as in Isaiah 63:10) — with His wrath falling on the spirit. The following verses show that the spirit was ready to fail and the soul He had made was brought near to collapse — the spirit was the very target God shot at and wounded, so deeply that it was ready to give out entirely. Solomon calls this, in contrast to all other afflictions, 'a wounded spirit, which who can bear?' distinguishing it from all outward afflictions on the body, which reach the spirit only indirectly through the body's suffering. He says, 'The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity' — meaning all outward afflictions, which the spirit suffers only by sympathy. But when the spirit itself is exposed and wounded directly by God's wrath — which alone can reach and wound it — who can bear that? This is what God did to Heman: He did not only hide His face from him (Psalm 88:14), but 'Your fierce wrath has swept over me, and Your terrors have cut me off' (verse 16) — not merely wounded, but cut him off entirely. The Holy Spirit may make such immediate impressions of wrath on the spirit of His child as expressions of God's anger, because it is true that God is angry when they sin. He may make that anger known not only through outward signs and afflictions, but by directly speaking it to the conscience and causing it to be felt through scalding drops of His hot displeasure falling on it. Just as earthly fathers show their anger by chastising the bodies of their children — as the apostle says, because they are 'the fathers of our flesh' (Hebrews 12:9) — so God for the same reason may show His anger and discipline His children by striking their spirits, for He is 'the father of our spirits' (Hebrews 12:6; Hebrews 4:12-13). Our spirits, and the very deepest parts of them, lie open and bare to Him with whom we have to do; and His word and Spirit, being living, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, are able to divide and pierce even to the bones and marrow, as the same author writes. Yet in all of this, when He thus expresses His wrath on their consciences, He does not testify that this is an eternal wrath against them — it is only a temporary displeasure, 'but for a moment,' as Isaiah says — the indignation of a father, not the revenge of justice. And though the Spirit tells them that God is displeased, He never tells them they are accursed — that conclusion is a false deduction drawn from it.

Yet 2. The Holy Spirit may go even further: He may bring out and brandish over them the rod of God's eternal wrath — especially when they have provoked Christ by presumptuous sins — to prevent them from pressing recklessly forward in the way of their heart. He does this first by presenting to them, setting before them, and pressing home all those conditional warnings which threaten even believers with eternal damnation — such as Romans 8:13: 'If you live according to the flesh, you' (even you believers) 'will die.' There is a truth in all such conditional warnings that applies to God's dearest children under a condition — in relation to continuing in sin — to stop them and prevent them when they are pressing forward in the way of their heart. To that end, when someone is beginning to enter a sinful course, the Holy Spirit may bring home such warnings with respect to that course of action and stir up the fear of the damnation thus threatened if he continues in those sins. But to apply a warning of eternal damnation to a believer simply and personally — as though to say, 'you will die eternally' — this the Holy Spirit does not speak to the heart of a believer while he is a believer. Also 2, the Holy Spirit may remind him of all the examples of people in whom, for going on in sin, God's soul had no pleasure, and show how God dealt with them — such as how He swore against many of the Israelites for their provocations that they would never enter His rest, or how He rejected Esau for despising his birthright. He does this to startle and awaken the person, with the implication that for such and such sins, God might deal with him in a similar way. These and similar examples the Spirit of God sets before the believing Hebrews (Hebrews chapters 3 and 12) and the believing Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:5-13) to keep them in godly fear of offending. But to apply any such example absolutely to a specific person — to say, 'This is what God intends to do with you for such and such past sins, and God will never be merciful' — this the Holy Spirit does not say to a believer's heart.