The wilderness had been changed into green pastures

14 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Psalms, Uncategorized

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Affliction, J.D. Jones, Pilgrim's Progress, Psalm 23, Suffering, The King of Love

You remember how Greatheart in the Pilgrim describes the Valley of Humiliation as the best and most fruitful land in all those parts, and how that Mercy protested that she was as well in that Valley as she had been anywhere else in all their journey. That is only the old Dreamer’s way of saying that bare and sterile places have often turned out to be “green pastures.” And that is why God “makes us to lie down” in places from which we shrink. That is why He allows loss and trouble and disappointment to befall us. He knows what graces these things and their like beget in the soul, how they breed sympathy and tenderness and humility and dependence on God. They are indeed amongst the richest and most succulent pastures. And so God makes us to lie down in them in spite of ourselves. And later we come to recognize His wisdom. We realize the gain that has come to us. “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” That was a man for whom the wilderness had been changed into the “green pastures.” It is only in retrospect we recognize all this. While we are in the midst of life’s hardnesses and difficulties and trials they may appear to us to be anything but “green pastures.” But when we look back, in the mellow light of life’s evening time, we shall realize we owe some of life’s richest blessings to its troubled times, and shall be ready with David to confess “Thou makest me to lie down in green pastures, thou leadest me beside the still waters.

The King of Love, J D Jones (1922)

Edward Pohill on how the fear of God prepares us to suffer

25 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Polhill, Fear, fear of God, Fear of the Lord, Uncategorized

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A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Edward Pohill, Fear, fear of God, Suffering

Pohill begins with his proposition which he seeks to prove in the ensuring discourse:

If we would be in a fit posture for suffering, we must get an holy fear in our hearts.

He then cites to two texts of Solomon which commend fear as a means of wisdom:

The wise Solomon begins his Proverbs with this; “The fear of the Lord is the beginning (or head) of knowledge,” (Prov. 1:7); and ends his Ecclesiastes with this, “That to fear God, and keep his commandments, is the whole duty of man,” (Eccl. 12:13).

He then makes the observation that the capacity to fear the God is something which belongs uniquely to human beings. Not even devils, who have great intellectual capacity can perform this task of exhibiting a holy fear of God:

Other things appertain to the beast, or the devil; but holy fear is the all of man, it makes him a perfect man, not only to do God’s will, but to suffer under it.

He then notes three ways in which a fear of God creates a basis to withstand suffering. First, he contrasts the fear of God with the fear of man. He makes a series of observations respecting the fear of other human beings. To begin with, the fear of man is irrational (compared to the fear of God), because men are everywhere accounted as weak:

It is not the fear of man but of God, that doth it. It is not the fear of man that can do it. God gives us a charge against this, “Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die?” (Isa. 51:12). There is no cause to fear a weak piece of clay, a very breath, a fading leaf; he must die, and there is an end of him and all his thoughts perish with him.

Pohill could have cited to any number of like verses which warn us to not fear man, such as

Isaiah 2:22 (ESV)

²² Stop regarding man

in whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he?

Moreover, fear of man leads to sin:

The wise man tells us, “That the fear of man bringeth a snare,” (Prov. 29:25). It made Abraham dissemble as if he had no wife; David changed his behaviour, as if he had no reason; Peter curse and swear as if he knew not his master: this fear disposes to apostacy,

He takes the remedy from the remainder of Proverbs 29:25:

Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)

²⁵ The fear of man lays a snare,

but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

The fear of God and the fear of man seem to be mutually exclusive categories; we can only do one or other. And thus Pohill argues that the fear of man

must be cured by that fear of God, which disposes to suffering: when we are ready to drown in worldly sorrow, it is of singular use to spring another, a godly sorrow in our hearts; and when the fear of man puts us into trembling fits, it is an excellent remedy to raise up the fear of God in our souls above the other.

The fear of God does not create a generalized anxiety; rather it is a cure to anxiety. Rather than being basis for anxiety, a concern for the Lord alone creates freedom from a concern of what happens in this world:

Thus God directs his people not to fear the confederate enemies, but to “sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and to let him be their fear and their dread,” (Isa. 8:12, 13). He is Lord of Hosts, God over all, and the fear of him should be above all other fears; this is the way to have him to be a sanctuary to us, as it follows. If we fear him, he will be an inviolable place of retreat, where we may repose ourselves in a day of trouble.

Second, he distinguishes fear of the Lord from fearfulness. He uses the now unusal word “diffidence” which emphasis a lack of confidence, doubt, uncertainly. The fear of the Lord does not paralyze us in place:

It is not a diffidential fear, but a fiducial one that doth it: a diffidential fear makes the mind, as meteors in the air, to hang in suspense, and, in case affliction come, to fail under the burden. St. Peter walked upon the water to go to Jesus; but when he saw the wind boistrous, he was afraid, and began to sink, (Matth. 14:29, 30.) By faith he walked, and by diffidence he began to sink.

While sinful fear creates diffidence in our heart, the fear of the Lord is consistent with faith and confidence in God:

Our condition is the very same; in the waves of a troublesome world we stand by faith, but fall by diffidence; that fear, which prepares us for suffering, must be a fiducial one. “Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield,” (Psa. 115:11).

Fear of man entails an increasing sense of protection of myself-by-myself; it is the opposite of faith. Fear of the God causes us to flee and run toward God in faith:

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.

Thus, fear of God is not a fear which causes wavering or cowardice.

Third, fear is also associated with a position of dependence. But the fear of God is not the dependence of a slave but the dependence of a child: “It is not a servile fear, but a filial one that doth it”.

The difference in these two types of fear lie in the result of such fear with respect to sin. There is a difference between fearing the consequence of sin as opposed to hating the sin:

he that hath a mere servile fear of the wrath to come, may forbear an act of sin, but he hath the love of it in his heart; “adhuc vivit in eo peccandi voluntas” the love of sin lives in him still, as an ancient hath it.

He then applies this question of fear to matter of suffering. If one merely fears pain – such as the consequence for sin – then such a one will reject all suffering. One who suffers for God suffers because the love of God is greater than the sorrow of suffering:

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.

He then contrasts servile fear with filial fear (the fear of a child) on the ground that filial fear is fear of God mixed with the love of a child:

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. Thus much touching the nature of that fear, which prepares us for suffering.

In the second half of the essay, he lists out three ways in which holy fear acts to prepare us for and help us endure through suffering. First, holy fear looks upon sin as worse than suffering. Second, holy fear takes real the suffering of hell as opposed to temporal suffering. Third, holy fear looks upon eternal loses as greater than temporal loses.

What each of these elements has in common is that holy fear, fear of God, puts our life into a different context. The fear of a bare creature is the fear of loss of some immediate good in the present creation. But holy fear looks through the present and sees things in their eternal aspect.

First holy fear looks upon sin as worse than suffering. Sin is contrary to God:

Holy fear looks upon sin as an evil much greater than any suffering: suffering is opposite to the creature,

but sin is opposite to the infinite God;

it is a rebellion to his sovereignty,

a contradiction to his holiness,

a provocation to his justice;

an abuse to his grace;

a stain cast, as much as in us lies, upon his glory;

nay, as the schools speak, it is a kind of deicidium, it strikes in a sort at the very life and being of God;

it wishes that there were none at all;

and, if it could effect it, there should be none.

Suffering does not make a man worse; but sin does:

Suffering doth not make a man worse then he was before, but sin doth it. Those saints that were destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth, were yet such excellent ones, “That the world was not worthy of them,” (Heb. 11:37, 38). On the other hand, Antiochus Epiphanes, (who was, as his name imports, illustrious and glorious in the world) was yet but a vile person, and was made such by his wickedness.

Next, present suffering can only affect those things which must lose. Sin will cause the lost of those things that must not lose:

Suffering strikes at the estate or body of man, but sin strikes at his soul, a thing more precious than a world; nay, and at the divine image there, which is more worth than the soul itself:

Consider the degradation which sin perpetuates:

it doth, where it can prevail, turn men into beasts in its sensual lusts, or into devils in its spiritual wickednesses: suffering may have good, nay great good in it, but sin is evil, only evil; it is called by St. James, περισσεία κακίας, the superfluity or excrement of all evil, (James 1:21).

It contains all evils in it; and if all evils (saith a worthy divine) were to have a scum or excrement, sin is it, as being the abstracted quintessence of all evil, and having nothing at all of good in it. Sin, saith Bradwardine, is a thing not to be done, “pro quantiscunque bonis lucrandis, aut pro quantiscunque malis præcavendis,” for the gaining never so great a good, or for the avoiding never so great an evil.

He that hath this holy fear in his heart, will choose suffering as the lesser evil, rather than sin, which is much the greater….It was the saying of Anselm, That if sin were set before him on one hand, and hell on the other, he would rather choose hell than sin. … Holy fear will tell us, that sin must not be done to avoid suffering; that we were better bear all reproaches than dishonour God; lose our estates than leave our religion; nay, and lay down our lives than be separated from the Divine love.

O let us look upon sin as the maximum formidable; as that which hath in it the most proper cause of fear and flight, that no external miseries and dangers may be able to drive us into it.

Second, a holy fear causes the reality of hell to overshadow the losses of this world:

Holy fear looks at the sufferings which God inflicts in hell, as incomparably greater than those which man doth or can inflict upon earth.

Our Saviour directing our fear to its right object, takes notice of the vast difference between them, “Fear not them, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matt. 10:28.)

Man’s killing is one thing, but God’s destroying another: man may kill the body, and it may be in a tormenting manner; but there is no death like the second; no torments on earth are comparable to those in hell; no finite arm can strike so hard as the infinite one; no culinary or elementary fire can burn so hot as the infernal doth.

….Man may kill the body, but after that he can do no more, his engines of cruelty cannot reach the soul, or touch the inward man, which is a sanctuary for God; but God kills the soul, his wrath is in a peculiar manner poured out there where the chief seat of sin was; the never-dying worm is ever growing upon conscience. … He that hath this holy fear in him will choose any sufferings on earth rather than those in hell. One of the sons of Solomona told the tyrant Antiochus, that his fire was cold, and indeed it was so, comparatively, to the fire of hell.

St. Austin [Augustine] putting the question whom we should obey, God commanding one thing, or the emperor commanding another, makes his answer: “Da veniam, Imperator, tu carcerem minaris, ille gehennam,” Give place, O emperor, thou threatenest a prison, he a hell.

When Polycarp was threatened with fire, his answer was, That the persecutor threatened only a momentary fire, but knew not the eternal one. He that ever heard that true thunder, which is the voice of God, would hardly be afraid of such artificial cracks as the emperor Caius Caligula used to make to shew himself a God. And he that carries upon his heart an awe of those sufferings which God inflicts in hell, will hardly fear those which men inflict on earth.

Finally,

Holy fear looks upon spiritual and eternal losses, as incomparably greater than carnal and temporal ones. The loss of the world may be made up in the saving of the soul; but for the loss of a soul, nothing can make a recompense.

Moreover, the loss of this world will be more than satisfied by the gain of the world to come and the presence of our Savior:

The loss of man’s favour may be richly made up by the presence of God’s. Moses endured the king’s wrath, as seeing the invisible one; the presence of God was so with him, that he feared no human frowns. But if the divine favour be wanting, nothing can supply the defect of it.

Conversely, if we were to lose God, what good would the entire universe provide? All things in this world are temporal; the things to come are eternal.

Its riches are but poor moth-eaten things, which in a little time vanish away; its pleasures are but the titillations of sense, and perish in the using; its honours are but a blast, a little popular air which soon go away, and come to nothing. When once God, who is the fountain and spring of all good, departs, it is in vain to hope for any thing from the little rivulets and cisterns of the creature.

When we compare what will have and lose with respect to God; our concern is not to lose the creature but to lose the Creator:

The adulterous woman fears, lest her husband may come; the chaste woman fears lest her husband depart. In like manner servile fear makes us afraid that God will punish, and filial fear makes us afraid that God will depart. The loss of him is more than the loss of all things.

He finishes with this exhortation from a Martyr:

When the Martyr Menas, under the persecution of Dioclesian, was brought forth to suffer, he gave this reason for it: “Nihil est, quod meâ sententiâ conferri possit cum regno cœlorum; neque enim totus mundus potest, æquâ lance expensus uni comparari animæ;” There is nothing, in my judgment, like the kingdom of heaven; neither may the whole world, if weighed in an equal balance, be compared with one soul. He had rather lose anything in the world than a heaven and a soul. O let us labour to know where the great loss lies, that we may never for sake spiritual and eternal things for carnal and temporal.

The Fear of God and Suffering

25 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Polhill, Fear, fear of God, Fear of the Lord, Uncategorized

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Edward Polhill, fear of God, Fear Thesis, Suffering, Thesis

This discussion of “fear” takes place in the context of a larger concern of Pohill’s work, a preparation for suffering. The basic proposition is that “holy fear” will prepare us for suffering. Before we consider his understanding of fear, it would be well to consider something of how the concept of godly fear interacts with the problem of suffering. What makes this particularly interesting is something I heard recently of a pastor who faith was challenged by truly heart breaking instance of suffering.

Now I am not “picking on” this pastor. This concept that faith is challenged by suffering is an interesting idea. For faith to be challenged, something contrary to the faith must occur. For example, my faith in gravity would challenged by suddenly floating rather than sinking to the ground.

Thus, for suffering to challenge faith would entail a preceding belief that life would be without suffering.

Such a faith cannot be found in the Bible. The Bible is replete with precisely the opposition promise. There is an answer for suffering, but there is no promise that we will not suffer.

However, we have an implicit sort of faith that we will be exempted from trouble (and perhaps that is a modern affliction). I sympathize with such a conflict, having experienced it myself. This implicit belief is something that seems quite natural to us: if there is a God, then will exempt me (perhaps others) from suffering. It is a version of the argument if God is good and all powerful then why is there evil? When the evil is suffered by someone else, it is an abstract philosophical question. When it is suffered by me, it is a real issue.

However, it is good to note how this is problem of suffering is nuanced in the Scripture. Scripture directly confronts the concept that suffering causes us to question God, but it does not do so in the context of saying that we will not suffer. Consider Psalm 13:

Psalm 13:1–2 (ESV)

¹ How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

² How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

His suffering causes him to question: Not God’s existence, but God’s absence: how long will I suffer in this way?

The extended question of Job is not whether God is, but what sort of God there is.

Pohill makes this observation:

Holy fear looks upon sin as an evil much greater than any suffering: suffering is opposite to the creature, but sin is opposite to the infinite God; it is a rebellion to his sovereignty, a contradiction to his holiness, a provocation to his justice;

When we suffer, we are brought to a question because we are personally crossed. Suffering is against us as a creature. The existence of God (which is what the modern, crisis of faith amounts to: If there is a God, then why should I suffer?) does not come into view. The creature being crossed does not prove or disprove God. Perhaps the issue for one in the position of Psalm 13 is “Is God good?” or “Does God care about me?” The question is not, Is there a God?

Fear of God puts God’s evaluation of the circumstance above my own. It is not what I intend or desire or expect. In fact, my own expectations are the cause of much human sorrow. Much of my suffering comes not merely from the event itself, but the fact that the event challenges my own belief about how the world is supposed to be. To that extent, we could say that suffering is good because suffering forces me to have a more realistic understanding of the world (all is vanity, in this world you will have sorrow). It also forces me to not set my expectations upon ease within the current world, but rather hope for the world to come.

James puts conflict at the feet of human desire. Genesis 3 puts original sin at the heart of human desire. Fear answers suffering by grounding us in the consideration of God’s valuation.

Fear is an interesting idea in this case: because it is “fear” which drives me to a different understanding of myself as a creature and God’s work in this world. (And thus, perhaps suffering is necessary to cause me to realize that I am a creature living at the sufferance and upon the grace of God; indeed all creatures live upon the sufferance and grace of God, because we are all contingent.)

Suffering does not raise the question of God’s existence, when the starting place is the fear of God based upon God’s holiness.

Now, this is not to deny suffering; nor does this answer the question of the ground for a “holy fear.”

The two sorts of trouble in this world

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Hope, trial, Uncategorized

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Affliction, Hope, patience, Pilgrim's Progress, Suffering, Trial

In Pilgrim’s Progress, Apollyon stops Christian and seeks to turn him aside from the way. One argument which Apollyon presses is the sheer difficulty of seeking to follow after Christ in this world,

Consider again, when thou art in cool blood, what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest. Thou knowest that for the most part his servants come to an ill end, because they are transgressors against me and my ways. How many of them have been put to shameful deaths! And besides, thou countest his service better than mine; whereas he never yet came from the place where he is, to deliver any that served him out of their enemies’ hands: but as for me, how many times, as all the world very well knows, have I delivered, either by power or fraud, those that have faithfully served me, from him and his, though taken by them! And so will I deliver thee.

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come. As Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation.” John 16:33.

The Beatitudes which begin the Sermon on the Mount list out poor of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting (after righteousness), showing mercy and making peace, capped with two promises of persecution: first to the first persecuted, then he shifts and says “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

The Church is sent out as lambs among wolves. And, this side of the age to come, there is little promise of respite.However, there is a comfort in all of this.

There are two evils which come from trouble: first there is the trouble itself, second there is the response to the trouble. We can do very little with the first trouble: the world is cursed and a grave stands at the end of every life. For those who seek to follow Christ, there is often an extra measure of trouble. These troubles are largely unavoidable.

But the second trouble comes from how we think about the first.

We have many difficulties which we undertake willingly to bring about a better end. A joint replacement surgery is quite painful (from what is reported), but the end result is worth the pain. Therefore, the pain is not experienced as an unmitigated tragedy, but as a moment to be endured for a better end. We encourage children with school by pointing to the good of an education. Athletes undergo great privation to compete.

This evil which comes from the response to the unavoidable trials of life brings the greatest pain and sorrow. When we look through the first trial to see the end, we can persevere and endure. We are commend to look “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross”. Jesus lived through the cross for the good that would result.

It is hope which makes helps us to endure sorrow. We can afford to mourn, for we shall be comforted. We can afford the cost of showing mercy and making peace, because we shall receive mercy and be brought into God’s family. This will require hope and expectation and patience. But our hope and patience will be well rewarded.

William Perkins on the Blessings of Suffering

24 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction

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Affliction, Suffering, The Combat between Christ and the Devil Displayed, William Perkins

Let us then bear them, they will have an end [Ps. 37:37]; joy will follow [Ps. 126:5]; they show us our weakness [Isa. 38:10]; they move us to pray [Hos. 5:15]; they show we are in the pathway to heaven [Luke 24:26]; and [they] make us condemn this present world [Eccl. 1:2]. By them we learn to repent us of sin past [2 Sam. 24:17], to take heed of sin present, and to foresee sin to come [Gen. 39:9]. By them we receive God’s Spirit [Acts 2:2]; are like to Christ [Phil. 3:10]; are acquainted with God’s power [Dan. 3:17]; have joy in deliverance [Ex. 15:1]; know [the] benefit of prosperity; made more hardy to suffer; and have cause to practice many excellent virtues [1 Peter 1:6–7]. They cause us (as one says) to seek out God’s promise; the promise to seek faith; faith to seek prayer; and prayer to find God. Seek, and you shall find [Matt. 7:7]; call, and He will answer [Job 21:27]; wait, and He will come [Hab 2:3].

If we were at peace, we would be asleep

16 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in John Calvin

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Affliction, Calvin, Job, Suffering

Now, it is much better for things to be in a state of confusion so we will wake up, for if we were at peace, we would be asleep, we would no longer be aware of anything, anything at all. But if things go badly, we are forced to think about God and put our senses on alert and think about a judgment that is prepared, which is not yet apparent, and that is how our Lord leads us to hunger for the last day and the resurrection which has been promised. But the fact remains that men continue to surround themselves with false and wicked fantasies. For, as I have already said, inasmuch as events do not happen as we would like, we are tempted to suppose that God does not think of us or watch over us any longer, that serving him is a wasted effort and that there is no difference whether we live an upright life or not and that the good gain nothing by walking in fear under him.
John Calvin, Sermon on Job 24:1-9

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.

How to Have Hope

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Hope, Romans, Uncategorized

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Affliction, Hope, Hope of Glory, Romans, Romans 5:1–5, Romans 8, Suffering

Romans 5:1–5 (ESV)

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and 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.

This is a seemingly confused passage: why and how does Paul jump from justification to suffering?

Note the argument:

A.Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have

B. peace with God

C. through our Lord Jesus Christ.

C’. Through him we have also obtained

B’. access by faith into this grace in which we stand,

A’ and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God — being justified — is the subjective state of the one justified. Col. 1:27. This hope of glory is a great subjective benefit of the Christian life. Paul next turns to, how does one have more of this hope? The next section which discusses suffering, actually answers the question of “So how then do we obtain more hope, now?”

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,” — but not because suffering is good (it is not, if it were “good”, it would not be suffering), but because of what suffering does:

knowing that

suffering produces endurance, 4

and endurance produces character,

and character produces hope,

This, however, is not the sum total of Paul’s argument. Paul makes a similar argument in chapter 8, but this time he develops more of the psychology which produces home. Using language deliberately allusive to Ecclesiastes (all is vanity), Paul explains that present suffering is unavoidable in this world (the creation has been subjected to futility), but this suffering can cause us to long for the age to come (glory):

Romans 8:18–25 (ESV)

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.