Edward Polhill, A View of Some Divine Truths, 1.2 (God’s self-disclosure)

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Polhill, Image of God, imago dei, Theology, Uncategorized

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A View of Some Divine Truths, Edward Polhill, God's Self-Disclosure, image of God, The Fall, Theology Proper

This is an abridgment with notes on Edward Polhill’s first chapter of A View of Some Divine Truths. The previous notes on this chapter may be found here

God’s self-existence and self-sufficiency in all things means that God has no need of his creation. That such a great being would invade his own privacy, as one theologian one-time expressed it is a matter of “supereffluent goodness:

That such an infinite All-sufficient One should manifest himself, must needs be an act of admirable supereffluent goodness, such as indeed could not be done without stooping down below his own infinity, that he might gratify our weakness.

We have no words which could reach or describe God, who is so far above our ability and our reason. And yet God has disclosed himself to us in the Scripture and in the Incarnation:

His name is above every name; nevertheless, he humbles himself to appear to our minds in a scripture image; nay, to our very senses in the body of nature, that we might clasp the arms of faith and love about the holy beams, and in their light and warmth ascend up to their great Original, the Father of lights and mercies.

God hath manifested himself many ways.

He set up the material world, that he, though an invisible spirit, might render himself visible therein: all the hosts of creatures wear his colours.

The evidence of God’s self-disclosure in nature is a matter admitted in various ways by pagans and philosophers. And what is it that they have observed:

Almighty power hath printed itself upon the world, nay, upon every little particle of it: all the creatures came out of nothing, and between that and being is a very vast gulf.

First, creation shows infinite power:

It was an infinite power, which filled it up and fetched over the creatures into being; it was an Almighty word, which made the creatures at an infinite distance hear and rise up out of nothing. The old axiom, ex nihilo nihil fit, is nature’s limit and a true measure of finite powers; but when, as in the creation, nature overflows the banks, when nullity itself springs up and runs over into a world, we are sure that the moving power was an infinite one.

Second, creation displays God’s infinite wisdom:

And as infinite power appears in the being of the creatures, so doth infinite wisdom in their orders and harmonies. The curious ideas and congruities, which before were latent in the Divine breast, are limned out upon outward and sensible things, standing in delicate order and proportion before our eyes. The world is a system of contraries made up into one body, in which disagreeing natures conspire together for the common good: each creature keeps its station, and all the parts of nature hang one upon another in a sweet confederacy.

Here Polhill makes note of natural agency:

Mere natural agents operate towards their ends, as if they were masters of reason, and hit their proper mark, as if they had a providence within them. Such things as these teach us to conclude with Zeno, that λόγος, reason, is the great artist which made all; and to break out with the Psalmist, O Lord, how manifold are thy works? in wisdom hast thou made them all.

Creation also shows God’s goodness, which is a thing even pagans could observe:

And as the two former attributes show forth themselves in the creatures, so also doth infinite goodness: all the drops and measures of goodness in the creature lead us to that infinite goodness which is the fountain and spring of all. Pherecydes the philosopher, said, that Jupiter first transformed himself into love, and then made the world; he, who is essential love, so framed it, that goodness appears every where: it shines in the sun, breathes in the air, flows in the sea, and springs in the earth; it is reason in men, sense in brutes, life in plants, and more than mere being in the least particles of matter.

There is a belief held by the Manichees – and if you would like a modern version think about the “force” in Star Wars in there are two equally powerful principles – that the world is ruled by two equally power gods. Polhill will have none of this and points goodness of God displayed in creation:

The Manichees, who would have had their name from pouring out of manna, did brook their true name from mania, that is, madness, in denying so excellent a world to be from the good God. The light in their eyes, breath in their nostrils, bread in their mouths, and all the good creatures round about them, were pregnant refutations of their senseless heresy: the prints of goodness everywhere extant in nature, shew the good hand which framed all.

And the capstone of creation: the creation of man in the image of God:

In the making of man in his original integrity, there was yet a greater manifestation. In other creatures there were the footsteps of God, but in man there was his image; a natural image in the very make of his soul, in the essential faculties of reason and will, upon which were derived more noble and divine prints of a Deity than upon all the world besides.

The moral uprightness of original man could see this display of God’s glory in all things:

And in that natural image there was seated a moral one, standing in that perfect knowledge and righteousness, in which more of the beauty and glory of God did shine forth, than in the very essence of the soul itself. His mind was a pure lamp of knowledge, without any mists or dark shades about it, his will a mirror of sanctity and rectitude without any spot in it; and, as an accession to the two former images, there was an image of God’s sovereignty in him, he was made Lord over the brutal world; without, the beasts were in perfect subjection to him: and within, the affections. Now to such an excellent creature, in his primitive glory, with a reason in its just ἀκμὴor full stature, the world was a very rare spectacle; the stamps and signatures upon the creatures looked very fresh to his pure paradisical eyes: from within and from without he was filled with illustrious rays of a Deity: he saw God everywhere: within, in the frame and divine furniture of his soul, and without, in the creatures and the impresses of goodness on them: he heard God everywhere; in his own breast in the voice of a clear unveiled reason, and abroad in the high language and dialect of nature. All was in splendour; the world shone as an outward temple, and his heart was in lustre like an oracle or inward sanctuary; everything in both spake to God’s honour. Such an excellent appearance as this was worthy of a Sabbath to celebrate the praises of the Creator in.

Why then do we not see God’s glory so plainly? What has made it difficult to see this expression of God:

But, alas! sin soon entered, and cast a vail upon this manifestation; on the world there fell a curse, which pressed it into groans and travailing pains of vanity; the earth had its thistles, the heavens their spots and malignant influences, all was out of tune, and jarring into confusion.

At this point, Polhill takes up a very contested issue: in what way precisely did the Fall effect man:

In man all the images of God more or less suffered; the orient reason was miserably clouded, the holy rectitude utterly lost: without, the beasts turned rebels; and within, the affections.

Polhill lists irrationality, behavior and affection: the mind, the heart and the hands were all disordered. At point, God then turned to a new means of disclosing himself to man. If man could not accurately read God’s goodness in creation, God would give a new disclosure, first in the law; then in Christ. In this section of the essay, Polhill is generally tracking the argument of the first five chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans: God was manifest in creation but human beings became disordered in their reason, affections and behavior. Paul then turns to the law as evidence of God’s working and of Christ who redeemed.

First, God makes a promise of the redemption

Nevertheless God, who is unwearied in goodness, would further manifest himself. Promises of the Messiah, and of grace in him, brake forth unto lapsed man; and as appendants thereof, there came forth sacrifices and other types to be figures of heavenly things, and a kind of Astrolabe to the pious Jews, that by earthly things they might ascend unto celestial.

This would be the first evangel in Genesis 3:15:

Genesis 3:15 (NASB95)

15 And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The sacrifices and other types were being developed in even before Moses and the law; such as Abraham offering Isaac. Next comes the law of Moses

Also the moral law was given forth by God: the spiritual tables being broken, material ones were made; holiness and righteousness being by the fall driven out of their proper place, the heart of man, were set forth in letters and words in the decalogue.

Notice how he explains the works of the law; it works in a way to undo the effects of the Fall in disordering reason, affections and actions. First, it restore reason:

This was so glorious a manifestation, that the Rabbins say that mountains of sense hang upon every iota of it. The Psalmist, in the 19th Psalm, having set forth how the sun and heavens shew forth God’s glory, raises up his discourse to the perfect law, which, as it enlightens the inward man

It directs actions:

, is a brighter luminary than the sun which shines to sense; and, as it comprises all duties within itself, is a nobler circle in morality than the heavens, which environ all other bodies, are in nature.

Then it restores right affection, being designed to bring about love of God and man:

“The commandment,” saith the Psalmist, “is exceeding broad,” (Ps. 119:96🙂 it is an ocean of sanctity and equity, such as human reason, the soul and measure of civil laws, cannot search to the bottom. Love to God and our neighbour is the centre of it; and as many right lines as may be drawn thither, so many are the duties of it. Whatsoever it be that makes up the just posture of man towards his Maker or fellow-creatures, is required therein.

It surpasses all human laws:

Human laws are δίκαια κινούμενα, moveable orders, such as turn about with time; but the moral law is by its intrinsical rectitude so immortalized, that, as long as God is God, and man, it cannot be altered.

Then the final revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth:

After all these manifestations, God revealed himself to the world in and by Jesus Christ; this is the last and greatest appearance of all.

Jesus was able to display God in a way that no mere creature could:

In the inferior creatures there is a footstep of God, but not his image; in man there is his image, but a finite, a created one: but Jesus Christ is the infinite uncreated image of God. The nearer any creature doth in its perfections approach to God, the more it reveals him; life shews forth more of him than mere being, sense than life, reason than all the rest: but, oh! what a spectacle hath faith, when a human nature shall be taken into the person of God, when the fulness of the Godhead shall dwell in a creature hypostatically!

This display of God in the Incarnation was to display the Creator and show his power, wisdom and goodness; just as the original creation had displayed God before Man’s sin marred his ability to see. Moreover, this display of God encompasses the written revelation of God by being a living word:

Here the eternal word which framed the world was made flesh; the infinite wisdom which lighted up reason in man assumed a humanity; never was God so in man, never was man so united to God, as in this wonderful dispensation; more glory breaks forth from hence, than from all the creation. We have here the centre of the promises, the substance of the types and shadows, the complement of the moral law, and holiness and righteousness, not in letters and syllables, but living, breathing, walking, practically exemplified in the human nature of Jesus Christ.

God’s Happiness is not Dependent Upon the Creation

05 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Polhill, Theology, Uncategorized

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Creation, Edward Polhill, God, Theology Proper

God has no need of us:

GOD All-sufficient must needs be his own happiness;

By happiness, the 17^thcentury Puritan Edward Polhill means more than a transitory emotional state. He means something like a supreme contentment; the need of nothing else. We as creatures are in constant need of another. We need air and space and time; we need food and water; shelter and sleep; company and care. But God’s happiness is complete in himself. Polhill here details the aspects of God’s self-sufficiency:

First

he hath his being from himself,

We need God to sustain our existence. Matter has nothing in itself to make itself continue to exist. There is nothing in the rock that keeps the rock in existence. The fact that we seek rocks continue in existence blinds us to this reality. But God has no need of another to come into being and then continue to be.

Second, God needs nothing to save him from ennui:

and his happiness is no other than his being radiant with all excellencies, and by intellectual and amatorious reflexions, turning back into the fruition of itself.

His excellencies are such as would delight his love. Moreover, he has no need for another to avoid being bored:

His understanding hath prospect enough in his own infinite perfections: his will hath rest enough in his own infinite goodness;

His being is from himself, his thoughts and affections have an infinite view to maintain a constant delight.

Negatively, God has no need of anything else, when God has God:

he needed not the pleasure of a world, who hath an eternal Son in his bosom to joy in, nor the breath of angels or men who hath an eternal Spirit of his own; he is the Great All, comprising all within himself:

If God were delighted with any other than God, that other being would be greater and would be God. By definition, God must be content with God:

nay, unless he were so, he could not be God.

At this point, Polhill makes a list of all things which God would not suffer if he never did create.

Glory:

Had he let out no beams of his glory, or made no intelligent creatures to gather up and return them back to himself, his happiness would have suffered no eclipse or diminution at all, his power would have been the same, if it had folded up all the possible worlds within its own arms, and poured forth never an one into being to be a monument of itself.

Wisdom:

His wisdom the same, if it had kept in all the orders and infinite harmonies lying in its bosom, and set forth no such series and curious contexture of things as now are before our eyes.

Goodness:

His goodness might have kept an eternal Sabbath in itself, and never have come forth in those drops and models of being which make up the creation.

Eternity:

His eternity stood not in need of any such thing as time or a succession of instants to measure its duration; nor his immensity of any such temple as heaven and earth to dwell in, and fill with his presence.

Holiness:

His holiness wanted not such pictures of itself as are in laws or saints; nor his grace such a channel to run in as covenants or promises.

Majesty:

His majesty would have made no abatement, if it had had no train or host of creatures to wait upon it, or no rational ones among them, such as angels and men, to sound forth its praises in the upper or lower world. Creature-praises, though in the highest tune of angels, are but as silence to him, as that text may be read. (Psalm 65:1.)

Were he to be served according to his greatness, all the men in the world would not be enough to make a priest, nor all the other creatures enough to make a sacrifice fit for him. Is it any pleasure to him that thou art righteous? saith Eliphaz. (Job. 22:3.)

No doubt he takes pleasure in our righteousness, but the complacence is without indigence, and while he likes it, he wants [lacks] it not.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 1.

The Conclusion of Edward Polhill’s Preparation for Suffering

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Edward Polhill, Uncategorized

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Affliction, Edward Polhill, Suffering

PREPARATION FOR SUFFERING

IN

AN EVIL DAY:

SHEWING

HOW CHRISTIANS ARE TO BEAR SUFFERINGS,

AND WHAT GRACES ARE REQUISITE THEREUNTO

SUITED FOR ALL CHRISTIANS IN THIS PRESENT TIME

Edward Polhill, 1682.

The first post in this series may be found here.

Polhill ends his treatise on preparing for suffering with a description of the blessing of suffering. This is of two sorts, first how suffering well blesses God. Second, how God blesses the one who suffers.

How Suffering Well Glorifies God.

First,

Pious sufferers do glorify God in a very signal eminent manner. What is said of St. Peter’s death? that “It was a glorifying of God,” (John 21:19). The same may be said of the death of all other martyrs; we glorify God by offering praise; much more by offering our lives for him. We glorify him by giving some of our estates in charity; much more, by giving our blood for his name…..As it was with Christ, his power appeared in miracles; but above all, in that he triumphed over principalities and powers upon the cross: so it is with christians; the divine power appears in other graces, but above all in that patient suffering which overcomes the world. The truth of God is in martyrs practically proved to be exceeding precious. The fathers, in the first general councils, were so earnest for the truth, that they would not exchange a letter or syllable of it.

Second, “Pious sufferers do propagate and multiply the church.”

Third,

Pious sufferers do give an evident token to the persecutor, that the wrath of God will come upon him…. “Stand fast,” saith he, “in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God,” (Phil. 1:27, 28). The persecutor comes with his torments and engines of cruelty, to terrify the martyr; but the martyr, by his Christian patience and courage, gives the persecutor an evident token that the wrath of God will come down upon him at last. If bloody persecutors, who look upon the suffering martyrs, had but their eyes open, they would see cause enough to reflect upon themselves, and say, Surely these men have a patience more than human, and therefore they suffer for God; and, if so, we in persecuting them fight against him, and may expect that his wrath should come down upon us, as it hath upon former persecutors.

How God Blesses Those Who Suffer Well:

First, “Pious sufferers are happy here and hereafter. They are happy here upon a double account.”

They give the highest proof of their sincerity that can be given. …The highest proof of grace is in suffering. That faith must be right that endures the fiery furnace; that love must be pure, that practically lifts up God above all other things; that hope must be lively that lets go a present world for a future one; that obedience must be glorious that continues unto the death.

As they give the highest proof of their sincerity, so they have the gracious presence of God in the most eminent way with them. All his glorious attributes do, as it were, pitch their tents round about them, and put forth their virtues in a gracious manner for their good. His power rests upon them to bear them up, how weak soever, in the fiery trial; his wisdom directs them how to carry themselves under the cross; his mercy melts over them, while they are under man’s cruelty; his love is shed abroad in their heart while they bear the world’s hatred: the presence of God will be to them instead of, nay, infinitely more than all other comforts. They may say, “If God be for us, who can be against us, (Rom. 8:31).

Again: They are happy hereafter, and this stands in two things:

They are freed from all evils. In heaven they shall have no corruption within, nor oppression without; no noise of passion in the heart, nor rout of turbulent persecutors to disquiet them; the will of the flesh shall have a total circumcision; the infirmities of the body shall have a perfect cure; the serpent cannot hiss in paradise; no temptations or miseries can fasten on a saint in glory. There is day without night, love without fear, joy without sorrow, life without death, all happiness without the least mixture of evil. There the blessed martyrs shall be freed from all their troubles and miseries.
They are endowed with all good and happiness, The promises made to the overcomer in the Revelation of St. John, shall be made good to them; they shall eat of the tree of life in a blessed immortality; they shall have the white stone in a perfect absolution; they shall be clothed in robes of glory; they shall be pillars in the heavenly temple, standing there as ornaments in an immoveable felicity; they shall sit down with Christ in his throne, and judge their enemies that condemned them; they shall inherit all things; they that lost all for God shall inherit all in him who is goodness itself, and the fountain of it; they shall see him who is the original and crystal ocean of all truth; they shall enjoy Him who is the supreme good and sabbath of souls; they shall be swallowed up in the joy of infinite truth and goodness; and their happiness shall not be for a time, but run parallel with eternity itself; they shall be for ever in the Lord in the blessed region. There, as St. Austin hath it, God who is all in all, Sine fine videbitur, sine fastidio amabitur, sine fatigatione laudnbitur: “Shall be seen without end, loved without disdain, and praised without weariness.” In the next world there will be a vast difference between persecutors and sufferers. The pride and cruelty of the one will be paid for in torments and endless misery in the prison of hell; and the patience and suffering of the other will be returned in joys and eternal felicity in the blessed heaven.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 356–359.

Edward Polhill, Patience Endures and Even Conquers in Suffering and Affliction

29 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Edward Polhill, Uncategorized

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1 Corinthians 10:13, A Preparation for Suffering, A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Endurance, James 1:4, patience, Suffering

The previous post in this series may be found here

The tenth thing needed to bear “an evil day” is patience. Patience has a peculiar bearing to the evil day:

We are not only to do other commands by obedience, but, when providence calls us to it, we are to do that of taking up the cross by patience. Other graces may help to bear the cross, but patience takes it up upon his back. It is its proper peculiar office ὑπομἐνειν, to make a man abide piously under the cross.

Polhill first considers what patience is to the patient Christian, himself. (It must be noted that the word “patience” as used by Polehill in the 17th Century is similar in many respects to the word “endurance.”)

First, in patience “makes a christian possess his soul, (Luke 21:19)”. The Christian’s trouble is not truly in the outward world — that is in the Lord’s control. The Christian in patience must bear and still himself. “All the powers in earth and hell cannot put him out of the possession of himself, or hinder his graces from coming forth into act—he will be like himself in his suffering.”

Second, in patience the Christian conquers the world. Even death cannot conquer the Christian (Rom. 9:35-37). But the Christian by patience conquers the world, because the world cannot over come the patient Christan whose hope is set upon Christ.

Third, patience takes its contentment from God — therefore, present sufferings cannot take away from the best part. Moreover, in that very patience there is a sweetness from God. James says that such patience leave one “perfect and entire”. James 1:4

Considered Godward, Polehill makes three observations about patienc.

First, patience is submission to the will of God: God is God and therefore, who am I to rebel?

Patience subjects the soul to the will of God; when the cross comes, the patient Christian’s will, with Aaron, hold their peace; or if they speak, they will do it in some such language as that of Eli, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.” Patience will instruct them to lie in the lowest posture of humility, and to argue the matter with themselves in this manner: Is God the rector of the world, and shall we not subject to him? His presence is in all, his power is over all, his wisdom and righteousness orders all. Who can stay his hand, or say to him, what dost thou? or call him to give account of any of his matters? To strive with him is folly; to murmur at any piece of his government is rebellion; to think that things might have been better, is to blaspheme his wise and just providence; and is he the Father of spirits, and shall we not be under him? We give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, and now much rather should we be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

Second, patience knows that the strength to endure comes from God. Patience is a very faithful activity:

Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the cross, and for a good issue out of it: we have both these promised in that of the apostle,” God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape,” (1 Cor. 10:13). In the first clause we have a promise of strength proportionable to the temptation; in the last, we have a promise of a good issue out of it. First, patience waits upon God for strength to bear the cross; this is the right method of obtaining strength: “Wait on the Lord, and he shall strengthen thy heard,” (Psa. 27:14). Strength comes in a way of dependance upon God.

And then patience looks to God for the best outcome:

True patience waits upon God for strength; but this is not all, it also waits upon God for a good issue out of the suffering; salvation belongs unto the Lord, and he gives many good issues to his suffering people: if they have an increase of graces and comforts, that is one good issue: if they hold out and persevere to the end, that is another good issue: if by death they pass from the cross to the crown, from a temporal life to an eternal one, that is the best issue of all: for such issues as these do patient souls wait, till the Lord put an end to all their troubles.

Finally, patience for the Christian is not a bear stoicism. Christian patience is one of joy and praise:

“Count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations,” (Jam. 1:2); that is, when ye fall into afflictions for the gospel. All joy? how can poor afflicted souls reckon thus? In the trial their graces appear in their pure beauty; strength is made perfect in weakness; consolations abound as much, nay, more than afflictions; the beams of divine love irradiate the heart, and fill it with a sweet serenity; hope enters heaven, and fixes upon the crown of life, and heaven comes down in a spirit of glory upon the heart. Here is joy, all joy indeed; the total sum of it in this life is made up in these things. It was the saying of the martyr, Mr. Philpot, “That to die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any unto in this vale of misery; yea, so great a honour as the greatest angel in heaven is not permitted to have.” It was the prayer of Mr. Bradford, the martyr: “God forgive me my unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy, that among so many thousands, he chooseth me to be one in whom he will suffer. It was the observation of one of the ancients, “That it was peculiar to christians to give thanks in adversity.” Jews and Gentiles can praise God for benefits, but the patient christian can thank him for afflictions. O! let us labour after patience, that we may not only suffer for Christ, but do it with joy. Thus our Saviour directs his persecuted ones; “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,” (Matt. 5:12). Inward and outward joys are very proper in suffering saints, because then they are arrived at the highest pitch of Christianity, and ready to enter into the blessed heaven, there to enjoy God for ever and ever.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 354–356.

Edward Polhill, Obedience Prepares One for Suffering

19 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Edward Polhill, Obedience, Uncategorized

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Edward Polhill, Obedience, Suffering

(The previous post in this series on Edward Polhill’s A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day may be found here )

Polhill next explains that obedience to God’s will before we suffer, will prepare us to persevere through suffering when it comes. We are fitted to God’s determination for our life through obedience, that obedience then becomes the basis for submitting to God’s will in suffering.

He proves this point with six consideration:

First, obedience is the work of the Holy Spirit in one’s life: this supernatural work of the Spirit in obedience leads to the same supernatural work of the Spirit to go through suffering:

Again, the Holy Spirit, which makes good men do God’s will, will enable them to suffer it too. St. Paul took pleasure in persecutions, because, when he was weak, then he was strong, (2 Cor. 12:10); that is, the Holy Spirit did strengthen his inward man to bear the cross. The Holy Spirit in the saints is a well of water, springing up to everlasting life, (John 4:14; 1 Peter 4:14).

Second, we must believe, because God has commanded: that it is enough. Having been fitted to obey, we are fit to suffer at God’s determination.)

Third,

True obedience makes us to grow up into Christ the head, and to be of near alliance to him. It makes us to grow up into Christ the head, (Eph. 4:15). Obedience, being the exercise of all graces, brings us into a near union with Christ, and makes us more and more like to him: the more we act our love, meekness, mercy, goodness, or any grace, the more we are united to him and incorporated with him; nay, true obedience makes us to be of near alliance to him. (Luke 8:20-21)….St. Paul bore about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, (2 Cor. 4:10); and the allies of Christ must be ready, at God’s call, to suffer with him.

Fourth, suffering well will take strength; we can only increase in such strength through obedience:

True obedience produces an increase of grace and spiritual strength. Obedience is a christian’s daily walk; the more he exercises himself to godliness, the more grace he hath in his soul. …Such an obedience as this admirably disposes a man for suffering. The greater his stock of grace is, the better will he hold out in the straits of the world. The more strength he hath in the inner man, the more able he will be to bear the burden of the cross:

Fifth, “True obedience obtains the gracious presence of God to help and comfort good men in the doing his will.”

Sixth, if we are in the way of obedience, we are on the way to God, and thus will endure suffering on that way:

True obedience is the way to heaven: those blessed ones, that do the commands of God, “have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city,” (Rev. 22:14). The more obedient a man is to the divine will, the richer entrance he hath into the blessed kingdom. After sowing to the Spirit comes the crop of eternal glory; after walking in holy obedience, comes the blessed end of life and immortality…..When Basil the great was threatened with banishment, and death, he was not at all moved at it: banishment is nothing to him that hath heaven for his country; neither is death any thing to one to whom it is the way to life: He that is in the way to heaven hath great reason to break through all difficulties to get thither.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 352–354.

12 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Biblical Counseling, Edward Polhill, Uncategorized

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Affliction, Biblical Counseling, Edward Polhill, Obedience, Puritan, Suffering

The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/edward-polhill-humility-prepares-one-for-suffering/

Polhill next explains that obedience to God in the present prepares for suffering in the future. To draw the connection between the two, Polhill first explains that obedience is an act of submitting our will to our Creator’s will. Thus, it prepares us for submitting to God’s will when suffering comes. He demonstrates the connection between obedience & suffering in six parts.

First, any true obedience is a supernatural act: “Obedience being a mere supernatural act, comes from the Holy Spirit, as the prime cause thereof; a general concourse suffices not; there must be a peculiar motion and impulsion of the Spirit in it” (Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 352). This is important to note, because we can easily fall into the false understanding that obedience is merely some outward conformity of the hands. However, obedience is a willing work of the heart.

Again, the Holy Spirit, which makes good men do God’s will, will enable them to suffer it too. St. Paul took pleasure in persecutions, because, when he was weak, then he was strong, (2 Cor. 12:10); that is, the Holy Spirit did strengthen his inward man to bear the cross. The Holy Spirit in the saints is a well of water, springing up to everlasting life, (John 4:14). The persecuting world would fain stop and dam it up; but in the midst of all oppositions it springs, and never leaves springing till the saints be in heaven; and before they come thither, it is, as St. Peter speaks,” A spirit of glory resting upon them,” (1 Pet. 4:14); it brings down some glimpses of heaven into their hearts, whilst they are suffering for religion.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 352–353. Continue reading →

Edward Polhill: Humility Prepares One for Suffering

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in 2 Corinthians, affliction, Biblical Counseling, Edward Polhill, Humility, Preaching

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil D, Affliction, Biblical Counseling, Edward Polhill, Grace, humility, Suffering

The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/edward-polhill the-fear-of-god-which-prepares-one-for-affliction/

To prepare for suffering we must first become humble.

If we would build our Christianity as high as suffering for religion, we had need lay a deep foundation in humility for it. Our Saviour Christ was not only a pattern of suffering, but of humility too: St. Peter tells us, that, “he suffered, leaving us an example,” (2 Peter 2:21). St. Paul tells us, how he came to suffer; he emptied himself, or made himself of no reputation, “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, the death of the cross,” (Phil. 2:7, 8). He laid by his robes of majesty, and became, as it were, nothing, that he might suffer for us. If we would follow Christ in suffering, we must put off our ornaments, and lay by our proud plumes; we must empty ourselves of all our self-excellencies, and become vile; yea, nothing in our own eyes, that we may endure the trial.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 350. A great deal of the pain for suffering lies in the loss of one’s present expectation and self-concern. There is the physical pain, but often the loss of hope and expectation and “glory” hurts more. Thus, to suffer we would first need to be concerned with nothing beyond that granted by Christ.

Polhill first notes that humility stems from a right view of God. To see God clearly one immediately becomes humble.

Humility dwells in an enlightened mind, and hath such rays from God, as make the heart, where it is, take up very low thoughts of itself. Of old the appearances of God in outward symbols of glory, made men lie very low before him. When Job heard the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind, “he abhorred himself in dust and ashes,” (Job 42:6). When the prophet saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, he cried out, “Woe is me, I am undone,” (Isa. 6:5).

Therefore, humility fits one to receive suffering from the hand of God:

Such thoughts as these do so abase and annihilate a man in his sense, that the great and glorious God may do anything with him; his own littleness will Keep him from murmuring under any cross or affliction that comes from the Most High.

Second, God does not give us trials without providing the grace to sustain such trials:

⁷So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (ESV)

As Polhill notes, humility fits us for grace:

Humility puts the soul into a capacity to have larger effusions of grace bestowed upon it; “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble,” (James 4:6). God hath two hands; with the one, he casts down the proud that lift up themselves against him; with the other, he lifts up the humble that lie at his feet for mercy. Humility is not only a grace, but a capacity to receive more of it. He that goes to a river to take up water, puts the mouth of his vessel downward to do it; he that goes to God for grace, must put his mouth in the dust, and cry to have it, not for his worth’s sake, but for his spiritual poverty. A humble heart is, as Parisiensis calls it, a spiritual vacuum; and as nature doth not suffer a vacuum in bodies, but fills up the space one way or other, so grace doth not suffer a vacuum in spirits, but fills up the humble soul with fresh supplies of grace.

Third, humility makes us willing to receive trials from the Lord:

Humility makes a man freely to bow and subject himself to God in all things. This is a choice and excellent preparative for suffering; the same which our Saviour commends to weary and heavy-laden souls: “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart,” (Matt. 11:29). Christians are to take up a double yoke, the yoke of evangelical commands, and the yoke of the cross that accompanies them; in both subjection is requisite; in the one, subjection to Christ’s authority commanding; in the other, subjection to his providence ordering: and that christians may be subject to both, they must look to the great pattern, and learn meekness and humility from him.

The proud person stands in the posture of the σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, standing to himself, (Luke 18:11); he stands upon his own bottom, and thinks himself able by his own power to do or suffer anything as he pleases: but standing in his own presumption, it is very likely that he will fall off as soon as the trial comes. But it is otherwise with the humble man; he knows that he is weak in himself, and must be strong in God, and therefore he will not trust in his own power or will, but look up to God for support and comfort in the evil day. It is a notable passage of St. Austin, “Multos impedit à firmitate presumptio firmitatis, nemo a Deo fit firmus, nisi qui a seipso sentit infirmum:” A presumption of firmness hinders many from being firm; no man is made firm by God, but he that feels infirmity in himself. … The greatest christians may fall, by presuming upon themselves; the least may stand, by depending on the power of God: the poor in spirit would not be their own keepers, but would commit themselves unto God, (Ps. 10:14), as being safer in his hands than in their own. Humble souls, not being able to bear up their own weight, lean upon the Rock of Ages; and, having no rest in themselves, they acquiesce in the centre of souls.

Polhill, 352.

Edward Polhill: The Fear of God Which Prepares One for Affliction

13 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Biblical Counseling, Edward Polhill, Fear, Isaiah, Luke, Puritan

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Affliction, Biblical Counseling, cords of kindness, cords of love, Edward Polhill, Fear in a handful of dust, fear of God, Fear of man, fear of the Lord, Hosea 11:4, Isaiah 51:11-16, Luke 12:4-7, Proverbs 29:25, Psalm 103, Psalm 3, Puritan, Suffering, T.S. Eliot, The Burial of the Dead, The Waste Land

Much of Polhill’s instruction on how to prepare for suffering makes sense upon first consideration: For instance, a lively hope of eternal life necessarily orients one to look to beyond the suffering, and thus limit the pain which suffering can inflict (for suffering afflicts one most painfully by extending endlessly into the future — but the certain hope that it will end, that suffering can only be a “little while” (1 Peter 5:10) does much to defang the monster).

Yet, when he comes to the seventh direction, one may begin to question his wisdom:

The seventh direction is this, if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must get an holy fear in our hearts.

Edward Polhill, A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, 347. Polhill knows the apparent difficulty with the concept, therefore he begins by defining the scope of this holy fear by means of three characteristics: It is fear of the Lord — human beings; it is a fear which springs from faith; and it is a fear mixed with love.

Fear must have its end in God: Human beings are contingent creatures — we have no life or being in ourselves; we cannot cause our life to continue; we cannot cause our body to persist. All our existence hangs from something else, and that something else rightly becomes the object of fear.

When fear does not find its object in the Creator, the human being becomes even more wretched — for the fear does not disappear by banishing God. Rather, the fear flits about for an appropriate object making the man ridiculous:

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water.
OnlyThere is shadow under this red rock
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land, “The Burial of the Dead”. But what of one who claims to have no fear of any-thing? Look at his life? Why the absurd concern for basketball teams or politics? How could the movement of a ball across a court or field be of such moment? If no Creator or Judge concerns himself with us, then why the least concern for life or death? To concern oneself with life or death, with politics or police in the absence of any God is like anxiety for soapbubbles – in fact, bubbles existing in a meaningful universe matter more, for they can convey beauty: but what beauty can exist in absurdity?

To live without a rightly angled fear must by necessity be a persistent affliction. Thus, we seek to remedy this by landing our fear upon the image not the original. We concern ourselves with humanity which Scripture calls “fear of adam [human beings, “man”]” which is a trap:

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

Proverbs 29:25

To fear man is to fear too little — fear must be set upon its rightful object:

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows

Luke 12:4-7

Here is a curious fear: It is an existential fear — it is a fear of that which reaches to one’s existence beyond the grave. Yet, this fear becomes the basis of comfort. Having fixed our fear on its rightful and sole object — God who created us and can exercise absolute dominion over us — the fear transforms to solace, “Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” When we finally fix our fear on Creator, than nothing of the creation can instill fear:

12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, 13 and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? 14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. 15 I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar- the LORD of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.'”

Isaiah 51:11-16.

When our heart fills with fear of The Lord, then we will not fear man — for man is merely something made by God. Indeed, the entire creation lies within God’s control, God “who stirs up the sea ….”

The second aspect of godly fear is faith. It makes sense to set one’s faith upon the ultimate matter of concern — God who has consumed all one’s fear:

Holy fear is and must be in conjunction with faith. Fear flies from the evils of sin and hell; faith closes in with the promises of grace and glory; both concur to make a man fit for suffering; and such a sufferer shall have God for his help and shield.

Polhill, 348. As we rightly fear God, the fear closes with faith and drives us to God. Godly fear does this by causing us to fear offending God — which drives us from sin. And, having been driven from sin, we have no choice but to run toward God.

Thus, fear of God reduces the creature to its true measure and drives us on to God.

Finally, a fear which prepare for suffering is mixed with love. Here is a peculiar fear that draws one to the one feared, for the one whom we fear is the one who draws us in love:

I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.

Hosea 11:4. The Creator looks upon the creature and has compassion upon out fraility:

13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 103:13-19. As we rightly fear the King and Creator of all, our fear mixes with love and instills love. Our confessed weakness stirs our Lord’s love and protection; as when David calls out to God for protection, and God answers with rest and sleep for David:

1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah 3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around

Psalm 3:1-6. We will be bound to sin to the extent that we do not fear God. One who cannot and does not fear God will be bound to the world of sin — how then can he suffer for this God or suffer to lose this world (seeing it is his all):

the love of sin lives in him still, as an ancient hath it. Such an one is not in a fit case to suffer for the truth; he hath not a love to God to move him to it, nor a capacity to have heaven after it; and how can he suffer? It is very hard for a man to suffer for a God that he loves not; or part with the good things of this world, when he hath no hope of those in a better. That fear, which prepares for suffering, is not servile, but filial; it stands not in conjunction with the love of sin, but with the love of God; the nature of it is such, that he that hath it will displease man rather than offend God; part with a world, rather then let go the truth and a pure worship; nay, and lay down his life rather then forfeit the divine presence and favour which are better than life.

Edward Polhill, 348.

Hope Which Overcomes Here and Now

04 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Ecclesiastes, Edward Polhill, Hebrews, Hope, Puritan, Uncategorized

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Affliction, Aldous Huxley, Biblical Counseling, Death, Ecclesiastes, Edward Polhill, faith, Five to One, Galatians 1, Hebrews, Hebrews 9:27, Hope, Island, Jim Morrison, joy, Puritan, Suffering, Titus 2, Uncategorized

Years ago, I read Island by Aldous Huxley which recounted a man shipwrecked on an imaginary island — Huxley’s Utopia (no-place) — on which birds words would call out, “Here and now, boys! Here and now.” At the time, being in college and easily amazed at the dopiest ideas, I thought Huxley quite brilliant.

The trouble with such a thought is that it is hopeless.

Hope necessarily orients one to the future. “For who hopes for what one sees?” (Romans 8:24). Now, it would be right to now longer hope when the perfect has come — but — and this is the great mistake I made in reading Huxley — the island of his story does exist. Like Thomas Moore’s Utopia, it is no place.

I was taken in by a novel of a place that did not — could not — exist.

I may live in the present — indeed I must. And I may love in the present. And, I will suffer in the present. But must I be bound in the present?

The oppressor’s greatest taunt is that the present will never change. Oppression demands the present, it lives on the present, it denies that the present will ever change. The trouble with the false messiahs and politicians and hucksters is that offer something which they cannot deliver: something beyond the present.

Death stands unalterably before us: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Between us and death there will often be pleasure and even joy — but they are made sick with the absolute knowledge they will be destroyed. Indeed, it is an unanswerable mystery how joy can be found anywhere within the space of death.

Did Huxley think an absurd denial of the future with his “Here and now” would somehow ward off sorrow?

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. What can we do in the face of such a reality?

Certainly not “here and now.” Jim Morrison got that point right:

Five to one baby, one in five
No one here gets out alive.

No, the only exit is hope. But what would an exit be — it would necessarily be an exit from the entire aeon.

The Christward hope is that Jesus has overcome death — that his has undone the thief that makes a mockery of life. And, as a Christian, I must hang all my hope upon that point:

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19.

But Paul continues:

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Now there is a basis for hope because there has been an escape, or rather a rescue:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5. I need not trust a here and now of no-place. Huxley gave me nothing to counter suffering. Christ has given me a means to overcome through suffering.

Here, Edward Polhill helps. For he notes that the sufferings of now cannot overcome hope:

Hope assures us, that the good things of the world to come do incomparably exceed the things of this world. If the things of this world were the better, no man would leave better for worse: nay, if they were but equal, no man would part with that in possession for that in expectation: but hope assures us that the good things of the world to come do far transcend those that are in this world. The mansions in glory are better than the houses of clay; the incorruptible inheritance exceeds a fading one; eternal life is much more precious than temporal; the crowns of immortality above outshine all the titles of honor here below;

Now one may deny that such hope is real — but that claim hangs upon the resurrection. And I dare say that the resurrection is a matter which can well stand the weight.

Polhill continues: not only does the substantial hope of something more overcome present suffering, “Hope assures our interest in the things of the world to come”. The salvation of The Lord does not hang upon our merit, but upon our hope — our faith for what God will do. Life is the gift of God, given to those who will receive it.

It takes not unreal work, no hocus pocus. It is a real, substantial thing. Thus hope which overcomes our suffering is a real, substantial thing. Hebrews calls it an “anchor” of the soul:

17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:17-20.

Now, one lovely effect of hope is that it transforms the one who hopes. The one who hopes becomes conformed to the object of hope. When I wedding day approached, my life became shaped by the coming wedding, because I hoped for that day. The hope of the Lord’s return conforms and transforms those who hope:

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 John 3:1-3. Or as Paul writes:

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Titus 2:11-15. It is interesting how Paul ends the proclamation. In fact suffering will end in hope for the believer:

3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5. And hope works with patience to overcome present suffering:

Faith adheres to the promise, hope waits for the good things promised; both strengthen in a day of trial. It is the very nature of divine hope to wait for the good things to come: when the sun of prosperity shines, it waits in a way of obedience; “Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and do thy commandments,” saith David, (Ps. 119:166). He waited in a way of obedience to God’s commands. And when the storm of persecution comes, it waits in a way of patience. Hence the apostle speaks of the patience of hope, (1 Thess. 1:3). That hope, which in prosperity waited in a way of obedience, will in adversity wait in a way of patience: hope would have the christian to be always waiting for the upper world; but when the cross comes, it presseth upon him more vehemently, and will speak after this manner to him; What, hast thou waited for the great reward in heaven in duties and ordinances, and wilt thou not wait for it in sufferings, too? Heaven is the same still, and sufferings are not worthy to be compared with it: do but suffer a little, and thou shalt be there.

Edward Pohill, A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, 347.

Hope as a preparation for suffering

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 2 Corinthians, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Edward Polhill, Hope, Job, Philippians, Puritan

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2 Corinthians, A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Affliction, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Edward Polhill, Evil, Hope, Job, Lamentations, Philippians, Problem of Evil, Problem of Harm, Puritan, Stoic, The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod, Thomas Brooks

The trouble of suffering, of evil constitutes a philosophical problem with which academics (typically) wrestle. There is a second category of problem, the actual subjective experience of evil, which drives one to ask, “How long O Lord!” (Psalm 13:1).

The philosophical discussions matter little to the sufferer. While I have cherry-picked a bit, I do not believer a suffering philosopher (or a philosopher on her death bed, awaiting the prospect of eternal judgment) will be comforted by

In slightly more detail, and using ‘Pr(P/Q)’ to stand either for the logical probability, or for the epistemic[4] probability, of P given Q, the logic of the argument is as follows:

(1) Pr(O/HI) > Pr(O/T) (Substantive premise)

(2) Pr(O/HI) = Pr(O & HI)/Pr(HI) et cetera …..

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/

The proof of God, despite suffering, or the “hope” that no God exists who will call to account matters less than (1) what I believe to be true of reality; (2) reality, itself. In the end, most of the philosophical arguments must be wrong in whole or part, because reality does not bend to my logical construct — however, well crafted and accepted by contemporary peers.

Arguments tell us nothing that we need. The man holding a bleeding child, the woman with cancer, cannot drink analytic philosophy — it will not digest. We would sooner feed scrap metal to a baby. The metal may good its place, but it will not ward off hunger.

The responses to suffering set forth below will answer to various philosophies, but they are in a very different form.

Suffering admits of only three responses. First, one can deny the reality of evil. This will also entail the denial of good, of love and joy and peace. The Stoic denial of all response is inhuman. And while a bit of peace may be had, the resignation of a stone to the rain does not end the rain. Rain will wear away the hardest stone. The stone may not rage, but the stone does not hope.

The drunkennes of cultures, flooding the senses with nonsense to obviate the real, a pornographic violence to the sense which wears away the soul merely mimics the Stoic without a hint of character or trial:

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! 12 They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. Isaiah 5:11-12

Thomas Brooks notes and rejects such a stoic resignation in his book The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod:

And so Harpalus was not at all appalled when he saw two of his sons laid ready dressed in a charger, when Astyages had bid him to supper. This was a sottish insensibleness. Certainly if the loss of a child in the house be no more to thee than the loss of a chick in the yard, thy heart is base and sordid, and thou mayest well expect some sore awakening judgment.1 This age is full of such monsters, who think it below the greatness and magnanimity of their spirits to be moved, affected, or afflicted with any afflictions that befall them. I know none so ripe and ready for hell as these.

Aristotle speaks of fishes, that though they have spears thrust into their sides, yet they awake not. God thrusts many a sharp spear through many a sinner’s heart, and yet he feels nothing, he complains of nothing. These men’s souls will bleed to death. Seneca, Epist. x., reports of Senecio Cornelius, who minded his body more than his soul, and his money more than heaven; when he had all the day long waited on his dying friend, and his friend was dead, he returns to his house, sups merrily, comforts himself quickly, goes to bed cheerfully. His sorrows were ended, and the time of his mourning expired before his deceased friend was interred. Such stupidity is a curse that many a man lies under. But this stoical silence, which is but a sinful sullenness, is not the silence here meant.

This may seem odd, because the Christian response does entail an element of resignation, yet it is a resignation coupled to hope — I will bear this to gain that:

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:10-13.

Paul bears with his circumstances, not by denying but by transcending:

⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (ESV)

A second response is to curse. Job’s wife provides a memorable example of such:

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job 2:7-10.

Job’s response provides the appropriate example: the Christian may not respond with cursing or anger to God’s providence. Job seeing through the secondary causes, through Satan and the bridgands, through the storm and the disease in his body, looks to the ultimate cause: God. God has given this, therefore we must willing accept this providence.

A third response is resignation without cursing coupled to hope. The poet of Lamentations does not deny the trouble brougth by God:

7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;

8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;

9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.

10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;

11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;

12 he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.

13 He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;

14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. Lam. 3

Yet he sees through the trouble to kindness of God to come:

19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lam. 3

Polhill lays this truth at the heart of his response. To perserve in the midst of trial, we have a hope which transcends our circumstance:

THE sixth direction is this: if we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must get a lively hope of eternal life. As our life is a sea, hope is compared to an anchor, which makes us stand steady in a storm; as our life is a warfare, hope is compared to a helmet, which covers the soul in times of danger; as the body liveth spirando, by breathing, so the soul lives sperando, by hoping. A man cannot drown so long as his head is above water; hope lifts up the head, and looks up to the redemption and salvation that is to come in another world in its fulness and perfection. Hope doth three things; it assures good things to come; it disposes us for them; it waits for them unto the end: each of which will, be of singular use to fit us for pious sufferings.

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 346.