SERMON XLII. FAITH IN GOD AND CHRIST A SOVEREIGN REMEDY AGAINST SERM. JOHN xiv. 1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. BEHOLD here the love and care that our great Master had of His scholars and disciples; He did not love to see their heads hang down, their countenances sad, their eyes bedewed with tears, nor their hearts oppressed with grief and sadness for any thing, no, not for His own departure from them, which was certainly one of the greatest troubles that could befall them; He had told them in the foregoing chapter, that He must now leave them, and go to a place [ch. 13.33.] where they could not as yet come; and perceiving them to be much troubled at it, He cheers them up, bids them be of good comfort; "Let not your heart be troubled," saith He, "ye believe in God, believe also in Me;" and so directs them what to do, that they may keep their hearts from being troubled at any thing in the world; for though their sorrow for His departure gave Him the opportunity of speaking these words, yet He did not intend them only for that particular occasion, and therefore takes no notice at all of it, but expresseth Himself in general terms, "Let not your heart be troubled," and so signifies His will and pleasure to us, that whatsoever troubles we meet with in the world, yet He would not have them come near our hearts, so as to disturb and discompose them, but that we take all the care we can, to keep our hearts free from all manner of disquiet and perturbation at any things that happen in the world, that so we may be always in a fit temper to serve and honour Him that made and governs it, with cheerfulness and alacrity of mind, which He therefore requires of us, and so makes it our duty, saying, "Let not your heart be troubled:" yours who are My friends and disciples, who profess to love Me, and to obey Me, I speak to you, not to others, for all others not only may, but ought to be troubled in heart, and must be so before they can come to Me for rest, and indeed they have all the reason in the world to be troubled at every thing, because every thing is accursed to them; but as for you, let not your heart be troubled at any thing, "ye believe in God," and therefore need not be troubled; but that ye may not be so, " believe also in Me." Where we may observe, that our Blessed Saviour, the great Physician of Souls, prescribes faith in God, and in Himself, as the most sovereign antidote to preserve our hearts from being troubled, and the best physic to cure them when they are so; and hath left it upon record as a general rule for all Christians to observe, at all times, in all places, in all conditions and circumstances of life, that whatsoever happens, they still act their faith aright, and by that means keep their hearts from being troubled; but for that purpose they must not only believe in God, but in Christ too, not as if Christ was not God, for if He was not God, we could not be obliged to believe in Him; or rather we should be obliged not to believe in Him; this being one of those duties or religious acts which are proper and peculiar only to God Himself, and therefore not to be communicated to any creature; so that our Saviour commanding us to believe in Him as well as God, doth plainly intimate to us, that He Himself also is God, otherwise He would never have required so great an act of Divine worship as faith is, to be performed to Himself in the same manner as it is performed to God, saying, "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me." But why then doth He require us to believe particularly in Him, when as He being God, whosoever believes in God, must needs believe in Him, who is so? To understand this, we may observe, that our Saviour doth not say, ye believe in the Father, believe also in Me. If He had expressed Himself after that manner, He would have thereby required SERM. XLII. John 5. 23. us only to believe in Him the Son as such, as well as in the Father, according to what He Himself elsewhere saith, “That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father." And so would have signified no more, than that the Father and the Son being both of the same Divine nature, we ought to believe in both alike. But our Saviour doth not say, Ye believe in the Father, but, Ye believe in God, or, Believe ye in God, believe also in Me, and so propounds Himself to be the object of our faith, not only as God the Creator and Governor of the world; but likewise as Godman, and so the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, who was now ready to offer up Himself as a sacrifice for their sins, and then to go to Heaven to prepare a place for them there, as He tells His Disciples in the following verse. And so directs us to the most infallible remedy against all manner of troubles both temporal and spiritual. From all temporal troubles, by believing in that infinitely wise, and good, and powerful God, that governs the world; and from all spiritual troubles, by believing in Him our Almighty and All-sufficient Heb. 7. 25. Saviour," who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." According to which method therefore, I shall first shew, that believing in God is the most effectual means to preserve our hearts from being overwhelmed with any outward calamity that may befall us in this world; and then, that believing Christ is the surest way to fortify our hearts against those inward troubles which are so apt to assault and molest us, whilst we are in our imperfect state here below. As for the first, our Lord here supposeth, or rather taketh it for granted, that we shall meet with troubles in the world, according to what He elsewhere tells His Disciples, saying, John 16. 33. "In the world ye shall have tribulation." Which is generally true, not only of Christ's disciples, but of all mankind. All mankind are guilty of sin, and therefore cannot but be Job 5. 7. continually subject to the troubles which attend it. "Man is born unto trouble," saith Job, " as the sparks fly upwards." It is not more natural for sparks to fly up into the air, than for man to fall down into trouble, of one kind or other; yea, Job 14. 1. as Job again observes, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." Though his life be short, it is very troublesome, there being no place, no time, no calling, no condition of life, that a man can be in, but he finds some inconvenience, some trouble or other in it. Insomuch, that though no man hath all troubles, all have some: even they also who may seem to others to have the fewest, yet really may have the most and greatest of all. But there never yet was, nor ever will be, a man upon the face of the earth that always was or will be perfectly free from trouble, of one sort or other; some are troubled in their minds with melancholy and dismal thoughts and fears, when they have, perhaps, no real cause for it. Others are troubled in their bodies with pain or sickness, or loss of limbs, or the want of some of their senses, as their hearing, or seeing, or smelling, or the like. Some cannot speak at all, others so imperfectly, that they can scarce be understood. And they who enjoy health and soundness both of mind and body, yet are often troubled about their estates; some are troubled to get wherewith to live and maintain their families, others are as much troubled to keep and manage what they have gotten; and yet after all their care and diligence, sustain great losses either at sea, or by bad debts, or law-suits, or by the knavery and cheating of those they deal with, or else by their own relations or servants. Some are troubled for want of children, others are troubled with those they have, as being foolish, or distracted, or sickly, or maimed, or defective in their senses, or extravagant, or idle, or undutiful either to God or to them. Some are troubled at the frowns of their superiors, others at the scoffs of their neighbours; some at their own private, others at the public affairs; some at home, others abroad; some in prison, others in slavery; some with the loss of life, others with the fears of it; and so some are troubled with one thing, some with another, but every one with some thing or other. For the proof of this, I dare appeal to the experience of all mankind, and to yours particularly, who are here assembled, there not being, I believe, one person among us, who hath not his troubles as well as sins, of one kind or other; yea, our blessed Saviour Himself, who knew no sin XLII. [Isa. 53. 3.] 66 SERM. of His own, yet having taken ours upon Him, was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" but it was for us that He was troubled, and therefore He would not have us to be troubled too, but directs us how to preserve our hearts from being touched with any of the troubles that befall us here below, even by believing in God saying, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God,” or as the word may be rendered, Believe ye in God, the allknowing, all-wise, all-mighty, all-good and gracious Preserver, Governor, and Disposer of all things in the world, so as to trust and rely upon Him, to prevent the troubles you fear, remove those you feel, to bless and sanctify them to you, or to give you so much strength to bear them, that they may seem light and easy to you, that so your hearts may not be discomposed, much less overwhelmed with them. And verily, could we always thus believe in God, whatsoever happens in the world, we should never be much troubled at it; for amidst all the changes and chances of this mortal life, our hearts would still be fixed, trusting in the Lord; for which purpose therefore whensoever ye find your hearts begin to be troubled at any thing which befalls you, lift them up immediately unto God, and believe; Matt. 10. 28-31. First, that it comes from Him, at least not without His permission and providence, who orders and overrules not only the great affairs of kingdoms and empires, but the private concerns also of every particular person in them, with all and every circumstance thereof; insomuch, that there is not the least thing imaginable can happen to any man, but if he looks narrowly into it, he may see the hand of God in it, and then must needs rest fully satisfied with it. This is that great lesson which Christ our Master taught His Disciples, and which He taught them to make use of too upon such occasions, even whensoever they found their hearts troubled with the fear of their potent and malicious enemies, saying, "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;" and then He adds, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father; |