the sea and could not be moued and the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waues And the men that were in her constrained so many as could swimme to cast themselues into the sea and so goe out to land and the rest some vpon bords and some on pieces of the ship to escape and saue themselues He that had stood on the shore at that time no doubt should haue seene a fearefull and lamentable spectacle but hee that had beene a partie in it himselfe would haue sound it an vpspeakeable danger Deut. 13 6 It is a great heauinesse for a man to loose a louing friend which was to him as his owne soule as Moses saith And yet this was Dauids case in the death of Ionathan 1. Sam. 18 1 3. whose soule was knit to the soule of Dauid and they loued one another as their owne soules and they made a couenant together And how hee tooke it to heart may appeare by that dolefull lamentation that he maketh for him when he heard the tydings of his death Woe is me for thee my brother Ionathan 2. Sam. 1 â—6 very kinde hast thou beene to me thy loue to me was wonderful passing the loue of women The losse of children by any meanes whatsoeuer is a great griefe to kinde and louing parents who haue born them with great paine and trauell and brought them vp with much care and cost But to be depriued of them by vntimely violent feareful death is a griefe that cannot be expressed None knoweth the greatnes of it but they that haue felt it And yet this hath befallen euen the dearest of Gods children Aaron Psal 106 16. whom the Scripture calleth the Saint of the Lord had his two sons Nadab Abihu fearfully destroyed both in a momeÌ„t with fire from heauen Leuit. 10.2 Eli a good man 1. Sam. 4 11 had likewise his two sons Hophni and Phinehas slaine in battell both on a day Iob also Iob. 1 2 19. whose godlinesse we haue heard before had all his children seuen sonnes and three daughters pittifully slaine crusht in pieces with the fall of an house But the greatest griefe of all is when a mans childe is taken away in some sin so as besides the death of the bodie hee hath iust cause to feare the death of the soule And yet this was good Dauids case in the losse of his Absalom which made him breake forth into such passionate mourning as he did 2. Sam. 18.33 O my son Absalom my sonne my sonne Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my sonne my sonne It is a great griefe for a man to bee depriued of the wife of his youth Pro. 5 18. which hath long lyen in his bosome Deut. 13 6 which for many yeares hath beene vnto him as the louing hinde and pleasant Roe Prou. 5.19 in whose loue he hath so long delighted and which was the pleasure and desire of his eyes Ezech. 24 16 And yet this befell those two holy Patriarkes Abraham and Iacob Abraham was depriued of his dearest Sara Gen. 23.2 and 35 19 and Iacob of Rahel whom he so much affected There cannot be a greater affliction to a poore woman then to loose a kinde and louing husband which was the vaile of her eyes in all places Gen. 20.16 But with the losse of an husband to be bereft of all meanes of maintenance and exposed to extreame pouertie is such a crosse as can hardly bee imagined And yet wee haue examples euen of this kinde also Poore Naomi Ruth 1.3 was depriued of her husband in a strange cuÌ„try where she had few friends and small meanes and her two sonnes which had taken them wiues there in the land of Moab died also 5. so that she was left alone and destitute of succour And how much she was affected with this calamitie may appeare by her speeches 20. when she returned againe into her owne country Call me not Naomi saith she that is beautifull but call me Mara that is bitter for the Almightie hath giuen me much bitternesse I went out full 21 and the Lord hath brought me home againe emptie why then call yee me Naomi seeing the Lord hath humbled mee and the Almightie hath brought mee into aduersitie So likewise the Prophets wife that dyed in the land of Israel 2. Kin. 4.1 besides the losse of her husband was left in great debt and hauing nothing to pay the mercilesse creditour came to take her two sonnes to be his bondmen It is an vncomfortable thing to dy in child birth Gen. 35.17.18 and yet it was the case of Rahel Iacobs wife who dyed in the paines of her labour Sai m. 4 19 20. of Elies daughter in lawe who hearing that the arke of God was taken and her husband and father in law were dead bowed her selfe and trauelled and in her trauell dyed It is feareful to dye a violent death and yet it is a thing that hath happened euen vnto those that were deare vnto God 1. Sam 4 18 Eli of whom wee haue heard before when he heard mention of the losse of Gods Arke being heauie and vnweildie with age fell backward from his seat and his necke was broken and so he dyed The Prophet of the Lord that was sent to cry against the altar 1. Kin. 13 24 which Ieroboam had made at Bethel because he kept not the commaundement which the Lord commaunded him a lyon met him by the way and slew him and his carkaise was cast in the way 2. Kin. 23.29 And good Iosiah who is so highly commended for his godlinesse was notwithstanding slaine in the warres by Pharao Necho king of Egypt Nay a man may be so far left to himselfe as he may coÌ„mit such a sinne wherby he may deserue to be cut off by the sword of the Magistrate yet still be the child of God As the sins that Dauid coÌ„mitted by the expresse law of God were to be punished with death if there had bin any Magistrat aboue him that had had power to inflict it By all these particular instaÌ„ces many more that might be produced it may appear that there is not any kind of afflictioÌ„ or calamity but the children of God may be subiect to it according to that enumeration which the Apostle maketh Rom. 8.35 wheÌ„ he saith Who shal separate vs from the loue of Christ shal tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword c. A man may bee subiect to all these miseries yet not be depriued of the loue of Christ But besides all these outward afflictions the children of God may bee and oftentimes are subiect to inward fear horror of conscience which as Solomon saith Prou. 18.14 is the most intolerable tormeÌ„t that can be indured The spirit of a man wil sustain his infirmitie
c. And then by a particular effect which was wrought in him thereby That I may learne thy Statutes And thus we see the coherence that these words haue with the former together with the sum and resolution of them Let vs now come to the seuerall instructions contained in them It is good for me In the example of Dauid we learne that euen the Godly themselues are subiect to many afflictions The dearest of Gods children may and oftentimes doe suffer affliction with varietie Psal 34 19 extremitie and continuance Many saith Dauid or great are the troubles of the righteous Psal 80 5. Yea God doth many times feede his owne children with the bread of teares and giueth them teares to drinke in great measure And hee threatneth euen those with whom he hath made a sure couenant and from whom hee will neuer take his mercie and louing kindnesse Psal 89 30 31 32.33 that if they forsake his lawe and walke not in his iudgements If they breake his statutes and keepe not his commaundements hee will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquitie with strokes And to this purpose is that saying of Solomon that euen a iust man Pro 24 16 falleth seuen times that is is afflicted oft and many times And the Apostle Iames exhorteth the faithfull Iam. 1 2 to count it exceeding ioy when they fall into tentations or afflictions And hereof the Prophet Dauid himselfe is a most pregnant example Hee was a man that God had set vp on high 2. Sam. 23 1 the Annointed of the God of Iacob 1. Sam. 13.14 Yea by the Lords owne testimony he was a man after his owne heart and yet he affirmeth of himselfe that daily hee had beene punished Psal 73 14 and chastened euery morning Euery day that wēt ouer his head brough with it some affliction or other He was persecuted by Saul who pursued him from place to place 1. Sam. 26 20 as one would hunt a partridge in the mountaines and 22 9 and 23 19 20 He was falsely accused by Doeg that cursed Edomite betrayed and discouered by the false hearted Ziphims He was discomforted and derided by his wife that lay in his bosom He had many heartbreakings with his children Ziglag 1. Sam. 30 1 5. the towne which Achish king of Gath had giuen him for his habitation was sacked burnt by the Amalekites his wiues that were the comfort of his life were taken prisoners Yea it may appeare to all that shall read his story in both the bookes of Samuel that as if hee had beene a man borne to misery hee scarce had one good day in all his life Neit er was this the case of Dauid alone but euen all the children of God mentioned in the Scripture haue also beene partakers of the same condition Rom. 9.13 Iacob that holy Patriarke on whom God had set his loue before he was borne was many waies afflicted in the greatest part of his life He was hated of his brother and for feare of his fury forced to leaue his owne cuntry and his fathers house and to liue as a seruant in a strange land for the space of twentie yeares Gen. 31.41 He was vexed with the vnkindnesse of his churlish Vncle who notwithstanding his faithfull seruice changed his wages ten times He was vpbraided and slaundered by his Cosins the sonnes of Laban He was grieued with the peeuish behauiour of his wiues and much discomforted by his children Iob likewise though a godly man one of whom the Lord himselfe testified that he was an vpright and a iust man Iob. 1.8 one that feared God and eschewed euill Yet his life for a long time was euen a Mappe of misery It was no small affliction to loose such a deale of substance all in a day to haue his children so pittifully dismembred to haue his wife and his friends that should haue asswaged his sorrow Iob. 16.2 and 6.4 to play the miserable comforters and to adde affliction vnto his misery and which was worst of all to haue the terrours of God to fight against him Solomon also of whom the Lord said before euer hee were bone He shall bee my Sonne 1. Chr. 22 10 and I will bee his Father and concerning whom he promised that his mercie should neuer depart from him as he tooke it from Saul 2. Sam. 7.15 though he enioyed great prosperitie for many yeares yet when he turned his he art from the Lord God of Israell keept not that which he had commaunded him 1. King 11 9.10 the Lord raised him vp aduersa ies one after another which molested him with warres al the dayes of his life 1. Kin. 11 14 23.26 As first Hadad then Rezon and after him Ieroboam and when he was dead ten tribes of the kingdome were rent away from his sonne And Hezekiah a man so vpright in the sight of the Lord 2. Kin. 18 5 5 as after him there was none like him among all the Kings of Iudah neither were there any such before him was notwithstanding exercised with grieuous and continuall afflictions Verse 13 14 15 16 First of all Sanecherib king of Assyria came vp against all the strong cities of Iudah and tooke them and hee to make his peace was constrained to giue him three hundreth talents of siluer and thirtie talents of gold For raising of which summe hee was forced to take all the siluer that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the kings house yea he pulled off the plates of the doore of the temple and the pillars which himselfe had couered ouer and gaue them to the making vp of the tribute And yet notwithstanding all this 17. Sanecherib presently after sent a great arny against Ierusalem to destroy it and 19 10 11. and caused Rabshakeh with a blacke mouth to the breaking of Hezekiahs heart to blaspheme the name of the liuing God And he was no sooner by Gods mercie deliuered out of this danger and 20 1 but straightway he was visited with a sore sicknesse and as some thinke with the plague which in all appearance was vnto death So Lazarus Luk 16.20 21 22 at whose death the Angels of heauen were imployed to carry his soule into Abrahams bosome was in his lifetime poore impotent harbourlesse distressed and vnpittied In a word these famous worthies of the world that the Apostle speaketh off of whom the world was not worthy were tryed Heb. 11 36.37.38 some by mockings and scourgings some by bonds and imprisonment They were stoned they were hewen asunder they were tempted they were slaine by the sword they wandered vp and downe in sheepes skins goates skins being destitut afflicted tormented And as this is true in the generall that Gods children are subiect to many great afflictions so it is true also in the particuler that there is
but a wounded spirit who can bear Iob was not only afflicted in his body and outward estate but also troubled and wounded in his cōscience with the fearful apprehension of Gods wrath And therefore hee complaineth Iob. 6.4 that the arrowes of the Almightie were in him the venime or poyson whereof did drinke vp his spirit and the terrours of God did fight or set themselues in array against him And Dauid cryeth out Psal 22 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and art so farre from my health and from the words of my roaring And in another place he saith and 32.3.4 When I held my tongue my bones consumed when I roared all the day long For thy hand was heauie vpon me day and night and my moysture is turned into the drought of summer And in another place he maketh such a lamentable complaint as if hee had beene brought to the very pit of desperation and 38.2.3.4.5 6.7.8 Thine arrowes saith hee sticke fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is nothing sound in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sinne For mine iniquities are gone ouer mine head and as a mightie burden they are too heauie for mee My wounds stincke aad are corrupt because of my foolishnesse I am bowed and crooged very sore I goe mourning all the day For my reines are full of burning and there is nothing sound in my flesh I am weakened and sore broken I roare for the very griefe of my heart c. And againe and 130.1 Out of the deepe places haue I called vnto thee O Lord as if hee had beene euen in the bottome of hell In a word Hezekiah that good King complaineth that besides the sicknesse which God laid vpon his bodie that brought him euen to deathes dore the Lord had broken al his bones like a lyon Isa 38.13.14 and from day to night he made an end of him and that he chattered like a crane or swallow and mourned as a doue By this we see that euen the children of God doe many times wrastle with desperation it selfe and the Lord doth so long hide his face from them as they seeme vtterly to be forsaken and beginne to thinke that his mercie is cleane gone for euer as Dauid saith and that hee will bee fauourable no more And therefore the Church of God is compared to a lillie among thornes to giue vs to vnderstand that though it be very louely beautifull in the sight of God yet it is subiect to many miseries and accombred with many molestations But here it may be some will obiect if the case bee so that the children of God be subiect to so many great afflictions then it seemeth that either their sins are not fully forgiuen them or else that God is not iust in inflicting such punishments vpon them To this I answer Psal 103.3 Col. 2 13 1 Iohn 1 7 that first for the sins of Gods children they are all absolutely forgiuen The hlood of Christ as the Apostle saith Isa 1 8 doth clense vs from al sin So that though they be as scarlet yet the Lord maketh them as white as snow thogh they be red like crimson hee maketh them as woll and 44 22. Yea the Lord putteth away our transgressions like a cloud and our sinnes like a mist Mich. 7.19 he subdueth our iniquities and casteth them into the bottome of the Sea So as they shall neuer rise vp in iudgement against vs to accuse or condemne vs. Againe the Lord is righteous in all his waies Psal 145.17 holy in all his workes and being Iudge of all the world as Abraham said he must needs do right Gen. 18 25 And forasmuch as our Sauiour Christ hath satisfied Gods iustice for our sins 1. Pet. 2.24 hath borne them in his bodie on the crosse feing the Lord hauing punished them once in Christ Non his punitur in idem cannot iustly punish thē again in vs therfore it must needs follow that the miseries wherunto the children of God are subiect are not punishments of their sins but the Lord hath other ends for which he afflicteth them Now the ends are many but for order sake we will refer thē to three heads Some of them are in respect of Gad some in respect of vs some in respect of others The end that God aimeth at in respect of himselfe is twofold First therby to manifest set forth his owne glory As our Sauiour said cōcerning the man that was borne blind Iohn 9 2 3 that that affliction was laid vpon him neither for his owne sinnes nor for his fathers sinnes but that the workes of God might be shewed on him And indeed no small glory redoundeth vnto God by the afflictions of his children As the power of God is more magnified and declared in aduersitie then euer it could be in prosperitie For that which the Lord said to the Apostle Paul concerning outward afflictions 2. Cor. 12.9 My power is made perfite through weakenesse For when we are in prosperitie see no euill we seeme not to stand need of Gods helpe But when God deliuereth vs out of troble then is his power manifested and then haue we occasion offered to glorifiie him Psal 50.15 As it is said in the Psalme Call vpon me in the day of trouble and I will deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Yea though the Lord for causes best knowne to himselfe doe not deliuer his children out of their miseries and tribulations yet this is no small matter of glory vnto him 2. Cor. 1 4. 1. Pet. 1.8 that in the middest of them all he ministreth comfort vnto them and maketh them cheerful and causeth them to reioyce with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious Secondly to declare his anger and indignation against sinne that when the wicked shall see that Gods dearest children if they take libertie to sinne doe not escape the rod they may know what themselues are to looke for at his hands according to that speech of the Apostle Peter If Iudgement first begin at the house of God 1. Pet. 4 17. what shall bee the end of them that obey not the Gospell of God The ends that God aimeth at in respect of vs are diuerse First to correct and chasten vs for our faults As the Apostle saith When we are iudged we are chastened of the Lord. 1. Cor. 11.32 As a father that hath care of his childe if he see him take euill courses will correct him to bring him to amendment so our most mercifull father will not suffer his children to continue in sinne Heb. 12 6. but vseth corrections to reclame them Secondly to try and exercise the graces that are in them and to make them more conspicuous Not as though the Lord were ignorant of them For he that made them
be mooued For thou Lord of thy goodnes hadst made my mountaine to stand strong See how soone a man is apt to forget himselfe Pressuâ—a caruit tumor excâ—euit Aug. in Psal 51. if hee enioy but alittle prosperitie But alas the case was soone altered with him For as he saith in the next words The Lord did but hide his face and bring him into some affliction and straitway hee was troubled And therefore in this respect affliction is very necessary and profitable because it causeth a maÌ„ to know himselfe As we see by common experience when God afflicteth a man eyther with ignominy and disgrace in his name or with pouerty in his estate or with sickenes in his body or with losse of children or any such like crosse and calamity though before hee were neuer so prowd and carried himselfe neuer so high yet then he beginneth to droope and letteth his feathers fall a Plut in Apotheg Reg et Imp. Antigonus though an heathen king when he was taken with alittle sickenesse and had recouered thereof he could make this good construction of it namely that it was well for him that hee had beene sicke and ill for his disease had taught him that seeing hee was but a mortall man hee should not too much lift vppe his Spirite And this is the goodnesse of God towards vs as Saint Augustine saith a August de vera Relig. That because the sweetnesse of earthly blessings doth deceiue vs and puffe vs vp we should be humbled by the bitternes of affliction Fourthly affliction is a meanes to reforme the godly and to make them better That which Salomon speaketh of children is true also of aged persons Prou. 22.15 that follie is bound in their hearts but the rodde of correction shall driue it away from them And therefore the Apostle saith well That when GOD correcteth chasteneth his children it is but to Nurture them as a louing father doth his sonne for their reformation and amendment 1 Cor. 11 32 When we are iudged saith he we are nurtered of the Lord c. The Lord knoweth that a sonne set at libertie runneth into such licentious courses that he is a shame to his father and a griefe to his mother and therefore hee will not suffer his children whom hee loueth most tenderly to goe on in their sinnes lest his name should be dishonoured and his holy Gospel euill spoken of but by corrections and crosses laboureth to reclaime them As Iob saith Iob 33.16 17 Hee openeth the eares of men euen by their corrections which he hath sealed That hee might cause man to turne away from his enterprise c. And Solomon hath a speech to the same purpose Prou. 6.23 that corrections for instruction are the way of life to keepe and preserue a man from whooredome and such like sinnes a Felix necessitas quae cogit in melius De praecepto et dispensat So that this as Bernard saith must needes be a happy and blessed affliction that maketh a man better Fiftly affliction is an excellent means to inforce vs and stirre vs vp to prayer Yea euen they that neuer thought to pray as Atheists and wicked persons when any trouble lyeth vpon them are driuen to pray whether they will or no. As the Prophet saith That such as rebell against God in the time of famine when they want corne and wine will howle vpon their beds Hosea 7.14 And Dauid reckoneth vp a bead-roll of such persons Psal 107.4 5 Some that wandered out of the way in the wildernes and found no citty to dwell in both hungry thirsty their soule fainting in them Others that dwell in darkenesse and in the shadow of death 10. that is poore prisoners being bound in misery and yron Others being cast on their sicke beds 18. whose soule abhorreth all maner of meate and they are brought to deaths doore Others in danger of shipwracke 26 whose soule meltsth for trouble c. Howsoeuer peraduenture in the time of their prosperity they cared but alittle for the Lord yet now they cryed to him in their trouble Verse 6.13 19 28 he deliuered them out of their distresse So that trouble and distresse will make any man cry vnto the Lord and betake him to his prayers So was it with the mariners that entertained Ionah Ionah 1.5 when they were afraid of their liues by reason of the mightie tempest that God sent vpon them they cried euery man to his God And the prowd king of Nineueh with all his people when they heard the sodaine destruction that was threatned against theÌ„ by the preaching of Ionah and 3.8 2 Chro. 33.6 they cried mightily vnto God And that wicked Manasseh who did very much euill in the sight of the Lord to anger him 2 Kin. 21.16 shedding innocent bloud exceeding much till hee replenished Ierusalem from corner to corner yet when God brought vpon him the Captaines of the King of Ashur which tooke him and put him in fetters and bound him in chaines and carried him to Babel then when he was in tribulation he prayed to the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers Yea the godly themselues are neuer so fit to pray as when they are in affliction Though they be carefull to pray continually 1 Thess 5.17 yet they neuer pray with so great deuotion and feruencie as when some heauy crosse or calamity is vpon them For then feeling their miserie and their owne inabilitie to helpe themselues they more earnestly flie vnto the Lord for succour As the Prophet saith In that day that is Esay 17.7 in the day of trouble shall a man looke to his maker and his eyes shall looke to the holy one of Israel Hosea 5.15 And in their affliction they wil seek me diligently saith the Lord. In our prosperity wee are all of vs both good bad too full of security as thogh we stood no neede of God As the Lord complaineth of Ieconiah saying Ierem. 22.21 I spake to thee when thou wast in prosperity but thou saidst I will not heare c. And so Dauid saith of the wicked that because his wayes alway prosper Psalm 10.4 5 and the iudgements of God are high aboue his sight therefore he is so prowd that hee neuer seeketh after God And the Prophet Ieremiah compareth such persons to the wilde Asse in the wildernesse Ierem. 2.24 that snuffeth vp the winde at her pleasure and it is in vaine to seeke to turne her backe but in her moneth that is in her foaling time then a man may deale with her As the little Chickens when the weather is faire and there is no danger towardes straggle a great waie from the Henne but if any Hayle shewer come vpon them or a Kite houer ouer them then they are glad to runne vnder her wings for shelter And as the Stagge when he