The love of God and his truth and the hatred of every evill which tendeth to the dishonour of God or to the clouding or eclisping of his truth against which evils when the childe of GOD shall any way bestirre himself hee is said to be zealous for the Lord. So that to be zealous is to shew love to God and hatred of error and false wayes to be grieved at those things which may dishonour God or crosse his truth to oppose them with might and main and to the utmost of our power to resist them And amend or repent These words have relation to their Lukewarmnesse The Lord will have them to leave off their Lukewarmnesse to repent them of their sinfull temper being negligent and carelesse in good duties and promoting the glory of God Object But it may be demanded why the Lord doth here put zeal before repentance when as zeal is by Paul set down as a fruit and effect of repentance For writing unto the penitent Corinthians 2. Cor. 7.11 He saith Behold this thing that you have been godly sorry what care it hath wrought in you yea what zeal making zeal an effect of repentance Answ The meaning of the Lord in this place is to exhort the Laodiceans to the practice of that duty which they had altogether neglected being a lukewarme a remisse and carelesse people Therefore having before reproved them for their sinne of Lukewarmnesse he doth now exhort them to be zealous and not only so but to repent them of their former remisnesse The words of the verse may be thus metaphrased Those that are my dearest children my best beloved I do rebuke and convince of their sinnes yea as a loving father tendering their good I do in mercy correct and chastise them therefore see you be not so Lukewarme as heretofore you have been but shew more love to mee and my word and more hatred to error and evill wayes be grieved and sorry for your olde courses and amend your lives Come wee now to the raysing of some Instructions out of the words In that the Lord telleth the Laodiceans that he rebuketh and chasteneth as many as he loveth wee may in the first place from hence learn that None no not the best of Gods dear children are without their trials afflictions Man is born unto trouble as the sparkes flie upward Job 5.1 Affliction is the lot and portion of all Gods children It was a cup which Almighty God did temper and put into the hands of Christ his best beloved Sonne Shall I not drink of the cup which my father hath given me John 18.11 And in this cup Christ will have all his members to pledg him as appeareth Mat 20.23 Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptisme that I am baptized with Hence it is that Tryals and afflictions are by Paul called the marks of the Lord Jesus Gal. 6.17 I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus The crosse is Christ his badge and cognizance If any man will be my follower let him denie himself and take up his crosse daily and follow me Luke 9.23 The way wherein Christ went to glory was affliction and in this path all that shall be glorified with him must foot it after him for Acts. 14.22 Thorow many afflictions wee must enter into tho Kingdom of God The way to heaven and happinesse is not strewed with rushes or set with violets and roses but with briars and thorns it is not a milky but a thorny way not a faire broad smooth and easie but a narrow cragged crooked and crosse way through many difficulties and troubles As the children of Israel were evill intreated in Egypt groaned under heavy burdens sighed and cried for their bondage before they could be possessed of that land which flowed with milk and hony so must we know what troubles and sorrows mean before we come at our place of rest our spirituall and Heavenly Canaan True it is that some have but a few tryals in comparison of others yet the most have many and the best yea all have some for all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2. Tim. 3.12 Do you desire examples for the better setling and confirming you in the trueth of this point Sooner may I find where to begin then where or how to make an end therefore out of an heap and a cloud of witnesses I will take but an handfull some few drops Job was a holy man as the Lord himself hath witnessed of him Job 1.8 An upright and just man one that feared God and eschewed evill Yet how great were his tryals how sharp and bitter were his afflictions Stript of all his outward means brought unto a morsell of bread bereaved at one time of all his children and that by sudden death yea whiles they were eating and drinking not having it may be breathing time to call and cry for mercy Wee should take it to be a heavy judgement and think that the Lord were highly displeased with us if out of ten children some two or three of them should be made away by an untimely and sudden death but to be at one blow bereaved of all our children to lose ten at one clap where is the man that would lay his hand upon his mouth in so great a tentation and not murmurre against the Lord Besides the Lord came neerer to Job fighting against him with many personall terrors afflicting his body with aches and botches vexing his soul in the day time either with the words of a foolish woman his wife or with the biting and taunting speeches of some which came to visit him whereas in truth like miserable comforters Job 16.2 they came to vex and gall him And in the night time how was he tumbled and tossed up and down Job 7.4 for when he said My couch shall relieve me and my bed shall bring mee comfort then was hee feared with dreams and astonished with visions Job 7.13.14 So that he was a burthen to himself grew weary of his life cursing the day wherein he was born wishing that he had died in his birth that he might not have lived to see and feel the miseries and sorrows which he sustained David also was a man after Gods own heart 1. Sam. 13.14 Yet how sorely did the Lord almost all his life time exercise and afflict him Hee was daily punished and chastned every morning Psal 73.14 So as he roared day and night through extremity of grief his bones were consumed with sorrow and his moysture was like the drought in summer Betrayed by his false-hearted friends persecuted and pursued from place to place by Saul 1. Sam. 26.20 As one would hunt a partridge in the mountains And which went neerer him then any other troubles his sins excepted what heart-breaking sorrows did he sustain through the wickednesse of his children defiling each other murdering each other yea and most unnaturally seeking to depose him
from the Kingdom It would fill a volume to set down the manifold afflictions which are recorded of GODS children I will therefore speak but of one or two moe which I cannot omit because their examples will tend much to our satisfaction if we will compare our tryals and afflictions with theirs and consider how farre theirs have exceeded ours One would think that if any upon earth should scape scot free as they say and be without afflictions the Virgin Mary the mother of our Lord might she being a woman so freely beloved of God Luke 1.28 and so neere unto Christ But if God would have the mother to be exercised because a sinner yet mee thinks her sonne being the onely begotten of the Father without sinne and one in whom the Father was well pleased Mat. 3.17 should go untouched No no it might not be both these drunk deep of afflictions as I shall make it evident unto you First concerning Mary let us consider what old Simeon said unto her Luk. 2.35 A sword shall pierce through thy Soul Shee under-went not onely out-ward and bodily afflictions but also in-ward and spirituall tryalls even such as pierced her very Soul A sorrowfull spirit drieth up the bones saith Solomon Pro. 17.22 And Prov. 18.14 the spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear it It was not then any pinching poverty nor the rough handling of the Romane exactors who forced her being bigge with child to take a painefull journey to Bethlehem nor the poore entertainment which she and her tender babe found in the Inne nor Herods blood-thirsty rage which made her with her tender little one to flie into Egrpt where being a stranger no doubt she indured adversity her bellie full nor the fear of Archelaus after her return nor her long deferred hopes all the while that Christ lived a private life though Hope deferred bee the fainting of the heart Prov. 13.12 nor yet the malice or hatred of those bloody people the high Priests the Scribes and Pharisees who not only opposed her son but blasphemed his person and doctrine no nor the paines and torments of his bitter passion of which she was an eye witnesse and spectator none of all these were the sword that pierced her Soul though these were great burthens for a poore woman to bear and the last more grievous then all the rest How did Jacob take on when hee beheld but the bloody coat of his sonne Joseph Jacob rent his cloths and put on sack-cloth about his loynes and sorrowed for his son a long season Gen. 37.34 How did David lament the death of his trayterous son Absolom though hee heard but the report of his slaughter 2. Kings 18.33 O Absolom my son O my son Absolom would God I had died for thee O Absolom my sonne my sonne And reade wee not that Agar went aside at her childs fainting her mothers heart not enduring to behold the death of an Ismael Gen. 21.16 How then thinke we was Mary affected at the sight of so many and so great miseries which befell her son And yet all these as I take it were but the beginnings and occasions of greater internall heart-breakings and spirituall agonies with which her soul conflicted For what perplexed thoughts may we think did assault her soul nay what did not when she saw every thing directly to thwart and crosse her preconceived hopes grounded upon the warrant and truth of Divine Oracles Might not Mary have thus complained What is this he that should be the Saviour and Redeemer of Israel the horn of Salvation unto them to be thus maligned and crucified And yet while he lived there was some hope though no likelyhood that God might work miraculously for his advancement and by means unknown make good his promises but now that he is done to death that shamefull and accursed death of the crosse what hope is left I thought that he should have restored the Kingdom again to Israel But alas how can that bee he being now dead and laid in his grave Surely Mary had sunk under this burthen her faith her patience had failed her had she not with Abraham the father of the faithfull above hope beleeved under hope not regarding the outward miserable condition of her sonne but fastning the eye of her faith upon the Lord true of his Word and just of his promise yet for all her faith and patience behold and see if any sorrow were like unto Mary her sorrow The mourning of a mother for her sonne her only sonne the sonne of her hopes her hearts delight nay that son in whom shee expected that all the kindreds and nations of the world should be blessed and yet now dying dying a most ignominious shamefull accursed death now perishing without hope of recovery Loe here was the sword that pierced her soul thorow and thorow wherupon the Fathers dispute the case whether Mary were not a Martyr and they conclude that she was more then a martyr because in martyrs the more fervent their love is to Christ the more it lesseneth the paines of their sufferings but Maries love the more intense and the greater it was towards her son the more it augmented her sorrows But let us leave the mother and last of all take a view of her sonne his sufferings Who though he were the prince of our salvation yet was he consecrated by afflictions Heb. 2.10 Was he not in this world reputed as an abject amongst men lived he not in penurie in povertie Mat. 8.20 The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven nests but he had not whereon to rest his head How was he reviled and rayled upon by those foul-mouth'dJewes who called him a Wine-bibber a Pot-companion a friend of Publicans and sinners a Conjurer one that wrought by the helpe of Belzebub was he not buffeted spit on whipped crowned with thornes last of all despitefully crucifyed Besides all these hee did inwardly sustaine farre more heavy crosses then that which was laid upon his shoulders though the weight of that made him to faint with wearinesse for he was all his life time assaulted by Satan and towards his end brought into such an agony as it wrung even drops of blood from his forehead before his death his soul was heavy unto the death through those feares and terrors which had seazed upon him conflicting with the wrath of God and undergoing the curse with greatest extremity all which made him as one rejected and given over of the Lord in a most heavy and dolefull manner to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matt. 27.46 If then Job an upright and just man one that feared God and eschewed evill If David a man after Gods own heart one that walked before the Lord in truth and righteousnes and uprightnesse of heart with God 1. King 3.6 If Mary the mother of our Lord a woman so freely beloved of God And to conclude if
to be mistaken in this particular as though God did at any time afflict any without cause Although the Lord doth sometimes afflict and not for sinne yet never without sinne either inherent or imputed God is so farre from picking holes in our coat so far from afflicting any without just cause that hee may see enough in the best of us yea even in our best services performances to afflict us The best of us brought with us into the world so much corruption and do carry about us such bodies of sinne as may expose us to all the plagues of this and another life Every one of us hath in himselfe sufficient fewell for the fire of Gods wrath to work evermore upon him if the Lord in his justice would be pleased to kindle it Let no man therefore question Gods justice in afflicting the best of his children because as I have said he somtimes afflicteth us to prevent some evill to come which through our naturall propension through some violent occasion or through some strong temptation wee may be drawne into Ephraim was mad upon sinne therefore saith the Lord Hos 2.6 I will stop thy way with thornes and make an hedge that she may not find her paths Too much sun-shine will dazle our eyes Too much honey turnes to gall so too much prosperity and ease breeds security and makes us proud or wanton therefore lest our ranck blood should cause some inflamation it pleaseth God our wise and loving Physitian to open a veine to cool us and to keep us in good temper Horses that are full fed and pampered grow many times restif Vessels unused do quickly grow rusty even so our nature would soon contract some evill if the Lord should not now and then take us into affliction 's scouring house The Lord sees that prosperity and immunity from affliction blunts the edge of our devotion cools the fire of our zeal and dulleth our eager pursuit after Heaven and Heavenly things and therefore he afflicts us to prevent these evils as hee took away Jeroboams sonne by death lest if he had lived longer he might have trod in the steps of his wicked father and been tainted with his sinnes It may be the Lord seeth that wee would run into some danger if he should let us alone therefore as he snached Lot out of Sodom lest he should have perished in their flames so he catcheth hold of us by affliction thereby to deliver us from some sinne wee are falling into Therefore whatsoever triall and affliction doth befall thee lay thy hand upon thy mouth murmure not against the Lord but be thankfull unto him and say O Lord thou knowest the distemper of my soul thou knowest how prone I am to sinne and wickednesse and thou who seest things to come as if they were present seest I was inclining to some evill but in mercy hast by this affliction prevented mee keep mee therefore from falling into evill by what means thou pleasest suffer mee not to sin against thee Reason 4 Fourthly the Lord doth afflict us to teach us some good lesson which without affliction hee sees wee shall hardly learn Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Corrections are instructions God will have none of his to perish for want of instruction he sendeth his word amongst us to teach us his wayes that so we may walk in his truth Psal 86.11 But outward prosperity so thickens our eare and so hardens our heart that we cannot wee will not heare to our profit Jerem. 22.21 I spake unto thee when thou wast in prosperitie but thou saidst I will not hear this hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou wouldest not obey my voice therefore the Lord openeth the ear of men even by their corrections Job 33.16 For such as will not hear the word shall hear the rod Mica 6.9 Manasses learned that lesson in the school of affliction which could never be taught him in the school of the Prophets 2 Chron. 33.12 In his tribulation he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers He that was prowd and could set himselfe against the Lord and his truth and all that professed it all the while he was in prosperity and upon his throne when the Lord caused him to be cast in prison and put chaines of iron upon his leggs in stead of a chaine of Gold about his neck hee could then learn to be humble and obedient unto the Lord. Nabuchadnezzar being pulled out of his Babel driven from men to have his dwelling amongst the beasts could at length come to praise extoll magnifie the King of heaven whose works are all truth and able to abase those that walk in pride Dan. 4 34. Our hearts are very hard and sturdy so as the word will not break them untill the Lord by affliction subdues and humbles these hearts of ours making them soft and yeelding so as the word may take some impression in us Hence it is that Solomon tells us Prov. 15.32 Hee that obeyeth correction gets understanding Some say that many and I have found it true in some children after a sicknesse grow both in ripenesse of understanding and in stature of body so it is with the Lords children affliction bringeth them to a better understanding of heaven and heavenly things as Nebuchadnezzar confessed Dan. 4.33 Mine understanding was restored unto me and causeth the inner man to grow more then before It teacheth us to walk in the right way and to keep Gods Word as Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I keep thy word What havock did Paul before the Lord met with him make of Christs flock entring into every house hee drew out both men and women and put them into prison Acts. 8.3 And being armed with malice and authority he posteth to Damascus to put in execution his bloody commission but the Lord meets him by the way unhorseth this persecutor strikes him down to the ground and smites him with blindnesse and what followed Paul was now a new man Act. 9.6 He then both trembling and astonied said Lord what wil thou that I do What had become of Paul if affliction had not beene Which of Gods children cannot say as David said It is good for me that I have been afflicted Nay what affliction hath at any time befalne us which wee could have spared Nay let me go a little further is it not best with us when wee are under the rod Would it not be better with us thinke you if the Lord should afflict us more If thou beest the child of God I appeale to thy conscience whether thy case had not been farre worse then now it is if affliction had not been Many are like unto those kind of fishes which seldom or never without much difficulty and labour can be caught but when the water is troubled So before troubles do befall many they cannot be caught
unto better objects that wee may seek better things then this life can afford us and make heavenly things our chiefest treasure and portion the Lord will have us to feed upon this world as the children of Israel did eate the Passeover not only with sowre hearbs to allay the sweetnesse of their bread but also with their staves in their hands as those that were ready to go towards Canaan their place of rest For wee are strangers and pilgrims on the earth here wee have no continuing citie Hebr. 13.14 This world is but a bayting place as an Inne to rest our selves in for a while Therefore God will have us so to use it as if wee used it not because the fashion of this world goeth away 1. Cor. 7.31 They that set their affections on things below do not live as those that lay up for themselves treasures in heaven seeking better and more durable riches then the world is able to afford them but as those that make their belly or their Mammon their God These may well be compared to a swinish sot who travelling towards the place of his inheritance is content to become an hostler in some base or obscure Inne to give content unto the tapster thereof Little do wee know how the Lord takes it and well hee may to heart to see us so dote upon the things of this world and set our hearts so much upon them as wee do God would have his children to live by faith to trust in him and to rest and bear themselves upon his promises Remember saith David Psal 119.49 thy promise made to thy servant wherein thou hast caused mee to trust How can wee trust in the Lord if wee make outward things our confidence Therefore it is just with the Lord to strip us and spoile us of these base props that so our hope and confidence our joy and delight may be chiefly in the Lord. It is said that Zeno having suffered shipwrack addicted himselfe to the study of Philosophy the sweetnesse whereof after he had once tasted hee accounted that an happy shipwrack which caused him to affect such excellent knowledge So first or last hath and will every regenerate childe of God say O blessed be that affliction whether it be sicknesse poverty reproch or contempt of the world persecution imprisonment c. which weaned my wicked heart from delighting in these transitory things and brought my mind and affections to pitch upon heaven and heavenly things Reason 9 Ninthly the Lord doth many times afflict his children to bring them unto the throne of grace and to make them more ready and desirous to seek his face and to call upon his name who are too seldom upon their knees before the Lord and to make those which do daily seek him seek him more earnestly with greater ardency and affection then formerly they have done Many of Gods children are too great strangers with the Lord they visit him not so often as hee would have them and therefore he is constrained to send for them by affliction a messenger which doth its errand so well as he brings along with him those for the most part unto whom he is sent In trouble they have visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them Esay 26.16 The Prophet complaining of the sins of his time and of the sencelesse stupiditie of the people who as it seems were not moved nor affected at the first with their misery but when troubles came thicke upon them and the hand of God grew heavie then they could cry out upon their sinnes and call and cry to God Our iniquities like the winde have taken us away There it none that called upon thy name neither that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities But now O Lord thou art our father wee are the clay and thou art our potter and wee are all the work of thine hands Be not angry O Lord above measure neither remember iniquity for ever loe wee beseech thee behold wee are all thy people Ha. 6.4.7 8 9. Manasses who it may be had never offered up prayer to the Lord being so grosse an idolater one that made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to erre and to do worse then the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel 2. Chro. 33.9 Yet this monster of men who brought vengeance upon Judah and Jerusalem for his sinne as appeares Jere. 15.4 When he was in tribulation prayed unto the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers 2. Chro. 33.12 Wee are naturally like to those proud poor people who are loth to aske any almes till very need and necessitie drives them out of doores to make their wants known and to beg relief but need will make the old wife trot Want many times brings proud stout rebells upon their knees Psal 107.5.6 They were hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them then they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble When they were in any straights through oppression or in any heavinesse then they cried unto the Lord in their trovble Psal 107.12.13 When sicknesse hath brought them low and made them so weak that their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they are brought to deaths doore then they cry unto the Lord. Psal 107.18 19. When Jonah was shipt for Tarshish the Lord sent out a great winde into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken Jon. 1.4.5 6. Then the Mariners were afraid and cryed every man unto his god And Jonah being asleep they awaken him and bid him a rise and call upon his God that they perish not It may be Jonah being conscious to himselfe of his stubbornnesse and disobedience did not seek to the Lord in the time of the storme or if hee prayed it may be it was not in faith for none of their prayers could aswage the storme untill such time as Jonah was cast into the sea and of this thing was Jonah perswaded whereupon said Jonah Take mee and cast me into the sea so shall the sea be calme unto you for I know that for my sake this great tempest it upon you Jon. 1.12 And howsoever the Mariners at first abhorred the fact yet when they saw that there was no remedy into the sea they cast Jonah Where the Lord prepared a Whale to swallow him up Then Ionah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and said I cryed in mine affliction unto the Lord he heard me Ion. 2.1 2. Which places with many moe do teach us how affliction drives people unto prayer and makes them as well as they can to lift up hands and eyes toward heaven to fall upon their knees intreat the Lord to save them to spare them or to deliver them from that evill their fear is
walke the narrow way which as wee have heard is the crosse way thorow manifold afflictions lest wee should perish and be damned with the world What had become of Manasses if he had not been afflicted He was carried into captivity that so he might be freed from the bondage of sinne and Satan Hee was put into chaines of yron that so he might bee preserved from chaines of eternall darknesse Hee was cast into prison that so hee might be kept out of hell Therefore saith David Psal 94.12 13. Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest O Lord and teachest him in thy Law That thou maiest give him rest from the daies of evill whilest the pit is digged for the wicked Teaching us that affliction is very usefull and necessary to free us fom condemnation And not onely so but to help us forward in the way to heaven for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2. Cor. 4. The afflicted man must needs bee an happy man because glory because a crown because weight of glory be-a weighty crown of glory is not only promised but purchased and prepared for him The tryall of your faith being much more pretious then gold that perisheth shall bee sound unto your praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1. Pet. 1.7 The afflictions and troubles which do befall us in this life are the Lords earnest which hee gives us of comfort and ease in another life Whereupon Paul tells the Thessalonians that those persecutions and tribulations which they suffered were a token of the righteous judgement of God that ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which ye also suffer 2. Thes 1.4 5. As the Israelites could not come at Canaan but they must first be cast into the desart and in their journey be set upon by Amalekites their enemies So before wee can come to that heavenly Canaan our place of eternall rest wee must look to encounter with our deadly enemies the flesh the world and the devill with tentations and afflictions these stop us or at the least offer to stay us in our journey But these wee must manfully resist as Israel did Amalek When Israel went down into Egypt they met with no afflictions no rubs in the way so the way to hell is easie and smooth Wee read not of one block that lay in the rich gluttons way But when Israel came out of Egypt what trialls what afflictions befell them what enemies to oppose them So when the Lord calls us out of the world when wee begin to set our faces toward heaven the devill will muster his forces against us but if wee fight the good fight of faith if we endure to the end and be faithfull unto the death great shall be our reward and recompence even a crown of righteousnesse which the Lord that righteous Judge shall give us at that day 2. Tim. 4.8 Not as if we had merited and deserved thus much by our sufferings for the greatest afflictions that ever any Christian hath or can endure are in themselves no way worthy of that glory which shall be bestowed upon him For I count that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy of the glory which shall be shewed us Rom. 8.18 If wee had a thousand lives to sacrifice to God if wee had ten thousand rivers of oyle to offer up if wee would give our first-born for our transgression or the fruit of our bodies for the sin of our souls we are no way able to satisfie Gods justice much lesse merit heaven by all our offerings or sufferings Were our heads wells of waters and our eyes fountains of teares and wee ten thousand eyes and would willingly weep them out for sorrow through our sinnes yet all were not able to expiate one sinne nor deserve the least corner in heaven yet because the Lord would have us bear our afflictions cheerfully and thankfully hee is pleased to promise us that if we sowe in teares wee shall reap in joy Psal 126.5 if wee suffer wee shall reign with him 2. Tim. 2.12 The Lord puts none into possession of eternall life and glory in heaven before they bee made fit for it before the drosse and corruption be purged out of them for there shall enter into heaven no uncleane thing neither whatsoever worketh abomination or lies Revel 21.27 Now the way to purge and refine us as hath beene taught is to be cast into the fornace of affliction where the drosse is purged out of us and so wee fitted and prepared for the life of glory Thus have I beene somewhat large in laying down the reasons why the Lord should so correct his deare children let us now come to make some use of the point Vse 1 Doth the Lord thus deale with all his beloved ones then are many of the world much mistaken who are ready to censure those that are afflicted especially if their trials be more or greater then ordinary Censoriousnes is a lesson quickly learned and every one like unto Jobs miserable comforters can make a wrong construction both of Gods aime in correcting his children and of their estate and condition which are by God afflicted Whereby they do adde affliction unto the afflicted and persecute him whom God hath smitten Ps 69.26 The rule of our Saviour is that none should judge or be judged according to appearance John 7.24 yet how ready are many to give their verdict and passe sentence upon those that are more then ordinarily afflicted They cannot believe but there must be some extraordinary sinne in such a person more then all the world sees but known to God in that the hand of God is so heavy upon him Which error our Saviour rebuked in them which shewed him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices Suppose ye saith Christ that these Galileans were greater sinners then all the other Galileans because they suffered such things I tell you nay c. Or thinke ye that those eighteene upon whom the towre of Siloam fell and slew them were sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem I tell you nay Yet let the affliction of any of Gods deare children be more then ordinary then our foolish bolt is quickly shot and we are ready to judge of the man by the affliction as did Davids enemies Psal 71.11 God hath forsaken him pursue and take him for there is none to deliver him So the Barbarians when they saw a viper hang upon Pauls hand by and by censure him this man surely is a murtherer c. This fellow is some villain some notorious beast whom though he hath after shipwrack got to shoare yet vengeance doth now dog and pursue him and will not suffer him to live Acts 28.4 Let Christians beware of rash censuring or judging of any by their affliction for so we may quickly condemne those whom God hath chosen
cannot be beaten from the truth not brought to deny the faith nor forced to forsake Christ What is the devils ayme in our afflictions Is it not to provoke us not onely to impatience but also to deny the truth and to blaspheme God As he said of Job Stretch now out thine hand and touch his bones and his flesh to see if he will not blaspheme thee to thy face Job 2.5 But experience hath proved the Devill a lyer both in Job and other of Gods children For as we have formerly heard affliction doth not onely exercise the graces of the spirit in their hearts but puts more life and vigor into them as fire in an oven is the hotter because it is restrained and kept under Therefore the Devill and his instruments vexing and troubling of Gods faithful servants thinking thereby to drive them out of their pious practice and to desist godly courses do mistake the marke they ayme at and misse of their mischievous purpose It is not their subtilty or policie their rage or cruelty that can make the godly to shrink from their holy profession and grow weary of well-doing nay rather it doth more and mere confirme them in their courses and makes them lay faster hold of the truth even as a passenger the stronger the winde blows upon him the closer he sets his hat to his head the faster he tyeth or windeth his cloke about him lest through the rage and violence of the winde either of them be blown from him So that a Christian is then a conqueror and gets the victory over affliction and persecutions when he is chearfull patient and constant in the bearing of them which we shall hardly be if we do not daily provide against them and look for them But alas it is a trouble unto many to heare of troubles a punishment unto them to heare of affliction but how are these like to speed when affliction cometh even as Amycle a Towne in Italy did the story is short and very fit for our purpose News came once and again to this Towne of the enemies approaching towards them but whatsoever the report was the enemy did not as yet come whereupon they made a Decree amongst themselves that none should any more speak of the coming of the enemy against them Not long after the enemy comes indeed besiegeth assaults and sacks the Town Whereupon did arise this by-word or proverbiall Epitaph Amycle perished through silence Oh be not therefore unwilling to heare of afflictions lest through silence they suddenly come upon you and vanquish you before ye be prepared for them For affliction may not unaptly be likened unto the Basilisk of whom it is reported that if it sees a man before it be seene of him the man dyeth and so of the contrary It is in some sort true of affliction if it seize upon us before we see it we are in danger of being wounded by it but if we look for it afore hand and arme our selves against it we shall more easily resist it and those afflictions which are hard unto some in suffering will prove easie unto us by fore-seeing them preparing for them Therfore in prosperity look for adversity In health prepare for sicknesse In times of plenty and fulnesse bethink your selves of a dearth and scarcity In our best estate we should learne to put our selves in readinesse to suffer adversitie when we are well and at ease if we were wise we would looke for worse times keeping such a watch that in plentie we may thinke of want and in prosperitie fore-see some miserie We must not thinke alwayes to rest in our nest alwayes to enjoy outward comforts and know no crosse but think sometimes to receive frowns and stripes as well as smiles and kisses from the Lord especially when our sinnes offer continuall occasions to the Lord to exercise us with some punishments he having roddes enough in store to beate us for and from our sinnes Therefore let us look daily to be assaulted daily to be humbled and cast downe that so we may be the better prepared and also the more willing to suffer affliction to partake of adversity thereby to glorifie God then to sleepe in a whole skinne to live in ease and prosperitie to our owne wo and shame Force thy self daily to mind tryals and betake thy selfe to some serious thoughts of changes even when prosperitie and ease would most divorce thee from the remembrance thereof If people would be thus wise they should quit themselves better then they do in time of affliction Hence it is that many of Gods children do undergo their afflictions so chearfully above others They can say I thank God it is no other then I have waited for I have a long time looked for this or some other tryall And thus they are able with more alacrity and chearfulnesse to beare their affliction Whereas such as could not endure to heare of these things are even dismayed by them and at their wits end oh what shall they do Whither shall they go they scarce know which way to winde themselves or where to fetch a thought that may administer any sound comfort unto them Therefore make account sooner or later to meet with the crosse if thou belongest unto the Lord or makest account to come at heaven We must not look to go to heaven as the saying is in a feather-bed that is to live in fulnesse ease pleasure and worldly delights here and then to heaven after No no thorow many afflictions we must enter into the kingdome of God Act. 14.22 God will have all those that shall partake of joy and glory with him now and then here to partake of sorrow and reproach God will have those that shall hereafter dwell in light now and then to know what it is to be in darknesse and in the shadow of death This is the way as we have heard wherein Christ went before us and all the godly have hitherto walked in the same path after him then let not us thinke to make a shorter cut or to chalk out some easier or smoother way then that which the Lord himself hath layed out for us If the black ox hath not as yet trode upon thy foot if thou hast not as yet beene entred into the schoole of affliction make as full reckoning if thou belongest to God to have thy share and to beare thy part in some dolefull ditty or other ere thou dye as that thou now livest Obje But doth not Christ counsell us Not to care for the morrow Mat. 6.34 The day hath enough with his own griefe I had not need therefore to trouble my selfe with thoughts of troubles before they come Answ The meaning of our Saviour in these words is to take us off from anxiety and worldly distractions about outward necessaries he would not have us distrustfull or solicitous for the things of this life what we shall eate or what we shall drink or wherewith we shall be
were increased I have done these things unto thee Thus visiting even the best of his children with the rods of men yea and sometimes scourging their transgressions with whips of scorpions which hath made them roar through anguish and to cry night and day through extremity of gtiefe For if a man will sinne God will yea must punish unlesse hee should let us perish for hee that spareth the rod hateth his sonne but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes Prov. 13.24 Bee not therefore ventrous in sinning Though Israel transgresse yet let not Judah sinne Hos 4.15 The Lord hateth sinne wheresoever hee sees it and will sooner punish it in his deare children then in the wicked although hee will not do it with that rigor wrath and severitie wherewith hee plagues the wicked They are the people by whom his name is called upon of his houshold his servants friends sonnes yea his beloved spouse and therefore do not only shame themselves by sinning but highly dishonour God their Lord their father The lewd prankes which rogues commit in streets or vagrant persons by high-way sides do not redound to the reproach of the housholder but if any of his family especially son or daughter do grow outragious hee thinkes his credit is neerly touched and it is a matter which much concerns him to look unto Even so the prophane and licentious lives of open and notorious sinners do not so much dishonor God therefore many times he lets them have their swinge and take their course but if such as make profession of piety and truth will be bold with sinne whereby the mouthes of the wicked are opened and the name of God blasphemed the Lord if he love such and purpose to save them will not suffer them to go unpunished For as the Lord is zealous of maintaining his own glory and will have it known to men and Angels that he is no patron of sinne or sinners but will punish the wicked sinning be they never so great neither will he give alowance unto iniquitie in the godly be they never so good so also is he tender of the good of his children and therefore must not suffer them to go on in sinne which they would do if the Lord should nor restrain them being so ready to cast themselves into perils if they be but a while exempted from affliction Therefore let none of Gods children say I am safe and farre enough from correction because sure of salvation If thou beest bold with sinne thou maiest fall into sore affliction in this life though thou beest in a state of happinesse for the life to come As appeareth by old Eli whose sonnes wickednesse which hee connived at when as he should have sharply punished it was in the eye and mouth of all Israel so that Gods glory should have been much wronged and his name as much blasphemed as his offerings were abhorred if they had escaped unpunished No doubt but Eli repented him of his sinne but this might not quit him from temporall judgement The chastisements of the Almightie are many times deadly though the sinne be remitted by which the Lord was provoked God had said that the wickednesse of Elies house should not be purged with sacrifice for ever 1. Sam. 3.14 Repentance doth not alwayes free us from outward afflictions Freedom from damnation doth not free a man from affliction What punishment unlesse it bee eternall torments in hell fire can any of Gods children think to escape unlesse he will forbeare such sinnes as provoke the Lord to wrath against him David was as far from damnation if wee consider Gods purpose and decree as the devill is from salvation yet you have heard how his afflictions made him roare and roare againe Obje If it be thus that upon every sinne the Lord is thus ready to afflict his children may bee demanded what priviledg the godly have more then the wicked or what difference there is betwixt them seeing the one must be corrected and punished as well if not before or more then the wicked if they do sinne Answer Surely the child of God hath no more rather lesse liberty and priviledge to sin then the wicked Yet there is a great deal of difference in their afflictions For though all things fall alike to both in respect of the evills themselves as the childe of God may perish through famine fall by the sword die of the pestilence c. Yet in respect of the effects and ends of these outward evills there is great difference betwixt them For their nature is much altered and there is as much difference betwixt the afflictions of the Godly and the wicked as is betwixt poison corrected and rectified by the arte and skill of the Physitian that so it may be medicinable and wholsome and that poison which remains in its naturall temper The Lord in afflicting his children doth it with a father-like heart and hand in mildnesse and mercy to amend and better them Whereas hee correcteth the wicked with the rod of his wtath in justice and severity to plague and torment them The wicked shall be cast away for bis malice but the righteous hath hope in his death Pro. 14.32 In respect of the wicked the Prophet Nahum 1.2 speaks thus God is jealous and the Lord revengeth even the Lord of anger the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies Loe here is anger wrath and vengeance belonging to the wicked Whereas in respect of the godly Mica 7.18 19. speakes thus He taketh away iniquitie and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Hee retaineth not his wrath for ever because mercy pleaseth him Hee will turn againe and have compassion upon us hee will subdue our iniquities and cast all our sinnes into the bottom of the sea By which places it appeares that afflictions are nothing but the messengers of Gods wrath the rods of his indignation the arrows of his vengeance to plague and punish the wicked for their sinnes and to give them an earnest and taste of those endlesse torments which they have purchased by their wickednes Whence ariseth in them feare and terror horror of conscience rage and desperation Whereas to his children afflictions are tokens of the tender and father-like care the Lord hath of them they are cords of his love to draw them neerer unto him Yea they be badges of their adoption For whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every sonne that hee receiveth Hebr. 12.6 And this bringeth forth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to them that are thereby exercised Again the Lord takes pleasure in avenging the wickednesse of the wicked upon their own pates I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Esay 1.24 And not only so but I will laugh at their destruction and mock when their fear commeth Prov. 1.26 Whereas it is a grief unto him to afflict his people His soul was grieved for the
nothing in our own eyes And be we thankfull unto our good God and loving Father that he will be at these paines to refine and purge us that so he may make choice of us for his glory before others Behold saith the Lord Esay 48.10 I have fined thee but not as silver I have chosen thee in the fornace of affliction When God doth cast thee into the fornace to refine thee take heed thou dost not say or think I am cast out of his eyes the Lord hath rejected and forsaken me for this were to bring an evill report upon the waies of God and to turn his truth into a ly Ezek. 20.37 I will cause you to passe under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant Yet such is the peevishnesse of our nature such is our unbeliefe that if any extraordinary affliction doth befall us especially if it be such as tarrieth and sticks by us we are ready to mutter and murmur yea ready to feare that God hath forsaken us Whereas we should rather gather arguments of comfort to our selves that the more he afflicteth us the better he loveth us in that he carrieth such a straite hand and vigilant eye over us that we shal no sooner step aside but he will be ready to fetch us in againe The Lord might give us over to our own hearts lust even unto hardnesse of heart to a reprobate minde giving us leave to eate of the fruit of our own way and be filled with our own devices Pro. 1.31 But his love compels him to take another course with us to chasten us That we should not be condemned with the World 1. Cor. 11.32 Whereupon one of the antient Fathers prayed Lord seare me here that thou maist save me hereafter cut and wound me here that thou maist for ever heale and spare me Consider what the wiseman saith Pro. 3.11 12. My sonne refuse not the chastening of the Lord neither be grieved with his correrection for the Lord corcteth him whom he loveth even as a father doth the child in whom he delighteth Children will hardly be brought to beleeve thus much and therefore they are ready to measure their parents affection by their correction and to think there is most love where ther is least correction But this is their error for wisedome telleth us Pr. 13.24 that Hee which spareth the rod hateth his sonne but hee that loveth him chasteneth him betimes Least if he let him alone with out correction as too many foolish indulgent parents do he go to Hell in the end Therefore thou shalt smite him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from Hell Pro. 23.14 So wee are ready to think wee might do well without affliction but the Lord knowes us better then wee know our selves and hee seeth we would to hell hereafter if hee should not afflict us here I am sure it had been wo with some of us if the Lord had not afflicted us Nay some of us can say blessed bee God for his unspeakable mercie that there never did befall us any affliction which we could have spared either for the nature and kinde or for the measure and quantity thereof And may we not all say that wee are then in the best temper when we are afflicted Even the wicked will be somewhat good in affliction Pharaohs proud heart will stoope and yeeld a little then the Israelites shall go and sacrifice to their God Exod. 10.14 But their goodnesse lasteth no longer then their troubles last When afflictions end their goodnesse ends And they returne with the dog to their old vomit 2. Pet. 2.22 Their hard heart will be a little softned whiles they are in the fire as iron bendeth as the Smith would have it all the while the fire is in it But as their affliction abateth so their hardnes and wickednesse returneth as iron growing cold grows as hard as it was before nay oft times harder as water waxeth colder after heating then it was at first Therfore we have more cause to be thankfull to God for afflictions then for meate and drinke seeing the Lord doth us more good by them then by these Which good though at the first thou seest not because thy physick is now but in working yet if thou belong to God thou shalt hereafter both see it and feele it too And thou wilt justify the goodnesse of God in every particular and say I could not have spared any of Gods rods I would not have been without this or that affliction for all the world None could have been invented to doe me more good so to hit me in the right veine I had been undone I had perished for ever if the Lord had not thus and thus afflicted me Happy art thou who canst thus say But this is a lesson which flesh and blood can hardly be brought to learne and some are more dull then others that is more proud more stubborn more carnall more earthly minded then others and therfore the Lord keeps those longer in the schoole of affliction then those his children that are more tractable and teachable But as I said it is a hard taske for the best and therfore if we might be choosers we would be no sufferers if we could shift it wee would not be afflicted How hardly are we brought to beleeve that the Lord intendeth or will do us good by this evill of affliction What meate to come out of the eater sweet out of the sowre this is a very riddle unto us But faith makes it plaine and easie to be understood for faith will shew us one contrary in another good in evill health in sicknesse ease in paine glory in shame and life in death Without this eye of faith thou canst not possibly see the Lords goodnes towards thee in afflicting thee nor yet reap that good by thine afflictions which otherwise thou maiest by beleeving And for proofe herefore I wish the to peruse such treatises as do tend to this purpose In the meane time let this which I have spoken serve to comfort thee in thine afflictions Howsoever they may be tart and sharp for the present bitter and grievous unto nature as if the print of every stroke did pierce thy flesh and fetch blood from thee yet God is where he was yet God loves thee as much as ever he did if not more and loving thee will lay no more upon thee nor suffer thee to be tempted above that which thou shall be able to beare 1. Cor. 10.13 Some the Lord doth chastise with rods othersome he doth whip with scorpions as it were laying on greatest loade where he hath given greatest strength to beare as a father will lay those burdens upon the shoulders of his elder and stronger sons which will go neere to break the backs of his little ones Or as a wise Physitian who tempereth and prescribeth Physick answerable to the constitution and strength of his sick patient How should this comfort us in
our trials when we know they be no other then our good God will make us able to beare And not onely so but he will give issue with the tentation 1. Cor. 10.13 We say all is well that endeth well then must it needs goe well with the afflicted children of God because all their trials end in peace and glory Marke the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 And if wee suffer we shall also reigne and be glorified with Christ 2. Tim. 2.12 By which and and many moe places it appeares that howsoever afflictions bee painefull and grievous to our nature in the bearing of them yet the issue and end of them will be the most happy and comfortable The consideration whereof hath caused some to suffer with joy the spoile of their goods knowing that in heaven they have a better and more induring substance Heb. 10.34 This was that which put a song of praise and thanks giving in the mouthes of the blessed Mrrtyrs that the Lord would honor them so highly as to bring them to suffer for him And though they might have escaped yet would they not be delivered that they might receive a better Resurrection Heb. 11.35 Seeing then such a cloud of witnesses have gone before us whose trials and afflictions have been as smart and tart as ours can be let us become followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6.12 be not too much taken up with the sence and smart of thy present affliction But let thy thoughts be occupied about the good which thereby is like to accrue unto thee And assure thy self that all shall worke together for thy weale Rom. 8.28 Yea that the Lord takes much delight in thee in that he is ever and anon pruning of thee That man or woman which takes content in their orchard and garden will ever be plucking up of those weeds that grow in them cutting and pruning all superfluous branches or slips Whereas if it be a place hee takes no content in he careth not what rubbige or baggage do overgrow it If the Lord takes delight in thee there shall not a weed spring up in thee but with the pruning knife of affliction he will cut it off whereas if he regarded thee not he would lay the reines upon thy neck and let thee have thine own swinge to fill up the measure of thy sinne that so in justice he may mete unto thee a ful cup of his wrath and vengeance Vse 7 Seventhly if we be subject to so many afflictions in this life me thinks we should then be willing if the Lord see it good to remove out of this place of sorrow and trouble to lay down these our earthly Tabernacles and to be with the Lord that so there may be an end put to all our evils both sinne and punishment and the contrary good enjoyed of us For blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their labors and their works follow them Revel 14.13 Desire we then to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.23 Object But is it lawfull for any to wish for death Answ Yes if he wish it aright That is not out of an unwillingnesse to beare the yoke of God any longer as if he were weary of doing that which the Lord injoyneth him or suffering that which the Lord shall lay upon him For this was Jonah his fault who in an impatient mood would needs be gone being weary of his life Besides as we must be willing to abide the Lords pleasure so also to tarry his leisure which if we be we may desire death for these causes First to be freed from those evils which here we are pestered with And secondly to enjoy that good which can no where be had but in Heaven The evils which death will free us from are bodily and spirituall The bodily evils are divers to wit sicknesses diseases paines and aches of all which death will heale and cure us at once Death will also set us free from the rage and malice of all our enemies If death have once seized upon us we shall be out of their reach They shall be able to doe us no more mischiefe nor harme The righteous is taken away from the evill to come Peace shall come they shall rest in their beds Esa 57.1 2. Last of all death will free us from all troubles and afflictions for when sinne and corruption ceaseth then correction and affliction endeth But we should desire death especially that we may be freed from spiritual evils First that sinne and corruption may cease and be no more in us O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Sinne is that which worketh us all woe Jerem. 30.15 Sinne is the make-bate betwixt the Lord and us Esa 64.5 Behold thou art angry for we have sinned Yet we are not to desire death that we may be rid of sinne in these respects only because it worketh our woe but rather because God is dishonored by it and it is displeasing unto his Majestie For the glory of God should be more deare unto us then our own lives Sin is that which clouds the glory of God And death is that which freeth us from sin Rom. 6.7 Secondly that we may be freed from the temptations and malice of the Devill Whiles we abide in the flesh he will never leave solliciting of us unto evill He goeth up and down like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure 1. Pet. 5.8 And the longer we live the more will his rage and malice against us increase because of the shortnesse of his and our time The neerer the childe of God is to heaven the more Satan and his accursed instruments will rage and the fiercer will their assaults be as it was with the children of Israel the neerer the time was that they should bee delivered out of Aegypt and go to Canaan the more cruell did their taskmasters grow and the heavier burdens were laid upon them And last of all we shall by death be freed from all inward vexations and griefes of mind and spirit So many sorrows and feares do compasse about many of Gods children that it makes them weary of their life at Rebekah said to Isaac Genes 27.46 But our desire of death must not bee so much for the avoyding of evill as for the injoying of good For there we shall have a crown of glory and immortality 1. Pet. 5.4 There we shall be like unto Christ Colos 3.4 There we shall have joy unspeakable 1. Pet. 1.8 Yea such joy as if we could but conceive the sweetnesse the greatnesse thereof we would despise the joyes and pleasures of the world in hope of assurance to enjoy them Yea there we shall for ever be with the Lord Christ 1. Thes 4.17 In whose presence is fullnesse of joy at whose
a decree yet shall it not stand Esay 9.10 There is no wisedome neither understanding nor counsell against the Lord Pro. 21.30 Thus wee see how the stayes and props of the wicked are but like reeds or Aegyptian staves which cannot helpe them Neither Heaven nor Earth can save or priviledge those whom the Lord will punish Then there is little cause why wee should grieve at the prosperitie or impunity of godlesse persons they are sorer plagued then the world takes notice of though no apparant judgement be seen upon them For doth not the Lord give them up to a reprobate mind even to fill and glut themselves with sinne and can there bee a greater punishment an heavier judgement then this not to be restrained from evill courses Desperate is the case of that patient whom the Physician gives over to his own appetite to eate and drinke what liketh him best When a father begins to cast off the care of his sonne suffering him to take his swinge sink or swim hee will not look after him doth it not appeare that he intendeth to disinherit such a childe Even so as the water where it is stillest is deepest and most dangerous to drown when God is most silent in threatning and patient in sparing there is hee most inflamed with anger and purpose of revenge For the fewer judgements are powred upon the wicked in this life the more are reserved for them in the life to come Therefore fret not thy selfe because of the wicked men neither bee envious for the evill doers for they shall soon be cut down like the grasse and shall wither as the green hearbe Psalm 37.1 2. Peruse the whole Psalme and it will teach thee that how prosperously soever the wicked do live for a time yet their happinesse is but transitory because they are not in the favor of God for in the end they shall be destroyed as his enemies Againe in that the Lord saith not they which I love shall be rebuked and chastened but whom I love I rebuke I chasten wee may in the next place observe this doctrine that All our trialls and afflictions come from the Lord. Of what nature and condition soever the affliction bee wherewith wee are exercised it is Physick of the Lords preparing hee hath his hand in it and therefore by a kind of proprietie afflictions be termed his judgements Wee have waited for thee O Lord in the way of thy judgements Esay 26.8 And in the next vers Thy judgements are in the earth c. That which Naomi spake to the people of Bethlehem makes much for the proof of the point in hand Call me not Naomi but call me Mara for the Almighty hath given me much bitternesse I went out full and the Lord hath caused mee to return empty why call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord bath humbled mee and the Almighty hath brought me unto adversitie Ruth 1.20 21. All her crosses and losses of what nature soever they were all her sorrows and bitternesse shee fathers upon the Lord. As personall so nationall evills come from the Lord as appeareth 2. Cron. 15.6 Nation was destroyed of Nation and citie of citie For the Lord did trouble them with all adversitie To the same purpose speaketh the Prophet Isaiah Who gave Jacob for a spoile and Israel to the robbers Did not the Lord because wee have sinned against him Isa 42.24 Whatsoever the outward means or instruments bee Gods hand hath a principall strok in all those afflictions which befall either the church in general or any particular member thereof whether it bee pestilence or sword or famine or captivity It is not the heedlesnesse and wilfulnesse of people which will adventure into places infected or upon goods that are contagious which beginneth or continueth the plague amongst us It is not alone the malice and cruelty of the enemie which bringeth the sword or causeth any to fall by it It is not unseasonable winter or summer which causeth and bringeth the famine amongst us these are but secondary causes the prime and supream cause is that all disposing wisedome and providence of God which causeth and ordereth both the one and the other Such as hee hath appointed to death shall go unto death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for captivitie to the captivitie Jerem. 15.2 So likewise for particular judgments whether in our body or estate all commeth from the Lord. Who hath made the dumb or the deafe or the blind have not I saith the Lord Exod. 4.11 From whom come consumptions burning agues other bodily diseases Doth not the Lord apoint them Lev. 26.16 Hence the Church professeth Hos 6.1 The Lord hath spoiled us and hee will heale us he hath wounded us he will bind us up If wee peruse that bedroul of curses Devt 28. It will appeare that neither povertie sicknesse nor any crosse or losse doth befall us but that which God doth send us Is there any evill in the citie and I have not done it Amos 3.6 I the Lord do all these things Esay 45.7 Here I might quickly lead you into a Labyrinth by propounding ambiguous and unnecessary questions how farre God hath his hand in every evill but such questions will breed strife rather than godly edifying 1. Tim. 1.4 Know therefore that something the Lord effects in and by himselfe without the helpe or assistance of inferior causes such are the workes of creation and some miracles Some things the Lord causeth to be effected by means as castigations and deliverances And some things the Lord suffers to be done by his permissive will yet so as if hee pleased he could easily prevent and hinder or alter the doing of them thus the Lord may be said to have a finger in every sinne not as it is a breach of his revealed will but that it may be an occasion of the manifestation of his power and justice in punishing and revenging of it These truths the heathen which either knew not God or else did not glorifie him as God were utterly ignorant of and therefore turned the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and foure footed beasts and of creeping things Rom. 1.23 And hence it came to passe that they forged unto themselves so many Gods one of the sunne another of the moone one of the sea another of the windes c. By whose wisedome providence and power as they conceived the whole world with all occasions and occurences therein were ordered and swayed Whereas there is but one only true God Who by wisedome hath laid the foundation of the earth and hath stablished the heavens through understanding by his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew Prov. 3.19 20. See Jerem. 10.12.13 of him and by him and for him are all things Rom. 11.36 The Pelagians
means of comfort Answ Gods wayes are not your wayes Esay 55.8 The Lord hath his wayes many times in the deep many times in the darke and secret Haply deliverance shall come some other way then thou canst imagine or thinke of When thou thinkest comfort and deliverance is farthest off it may be neare at hand yea when thou seest least likelyhood of it for In the mount will the Lord be seen Gen. 22.14 It may be thou seest no means but the Lord can worke without means yea by contrary meanes that his wisedome and power may appeare the more in thy deliverance What means had Daniel to save him from the fury of those hungry and devouring Lyons yet you know the Lord did deliver him Therefore Commit thy way unto the Lord and trust in him and hee shall bring it to passe Psalm 37.5 So that all things considered wee have little cause to bee disquieted in our afflictions seeing our heavenly Father sendeth them in love for our great good and lesse cause we have to fret or be disheartned if they tarry by us longer then wee would have them for when wee are fit for deliverance wee shall bee sure of it In the mean time if dangers or feares do increase upon thee say to the Lord as good King Jehosaphat 2. Chron. 20.12 Wee know not what to do but our eyes are towards thee Consider into what great distresse and strait the Lord brought the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt the sea before them their enemies behind them death as it were round about them yet how miraculously did the Lord make way for them So assure thy selfe whatsoever thy trouble or danger bee the Lord will one way or other give issue to his glory and thy good although thou seest not how because hee is the same God no changeling in his goodnesse towards his children It is a sweet motto which one hath I suffer I hope Though sorrows and afflictions increase upon thee yet give not over thy confidence but resolve with holy Job Loe though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 The motion of a thing the neerer it comes to the center the swifter it is Doth thy sorrow thy paine thy trouble increase upon thee hope it is neere at an end The children of Israel the neerer they were unto comfort and deliverance the sorer grew their afflictions and the greater were the burthens which their cruell taske-masters layd upon them and so doth the Lord oft deale in other kindes with his children Therefore wait with patience seeing the Lord many times doth suddenly turne tragedies into comedies sorrow into joy as he dealt with his people in Esters dayes to day in heavinesse through feare of being swallowed up and made a prey unto their enemies to morrow triumphing over their enemies and treading them underneath their feet Ester 8.15 16. For what thing can there bee under Heaven so heavie upon the heart of his children which the Lord cannot remove and put joy in the place of it before the day be light Therefore hope in the Lord and bee strong and hee shall comfort thine heart Psalm 27.14 Be cheerefull therefore in thy affliction Object Some will be ready to say I hope I hurt no body by my sadnesse but they are deceived for Answ First they wrong the Lord by their uncheerfulnesse not only in going and doing against his word which willeth us to bee joyfull in the Lord as Psal 32.11 Be glad ye righteous and rejoyce in the Lord and bee joyfull all ye that are upright in heart but they do also wrong the Lord in robbing him of that honor and praise which they might bring unto him by their rejoycing in affliction Secondly they wrong if not hurt their brethren being occasions of discouragement and disheartning them making them to feare and doubt of Gods goodnes and their own abilitie to bear any burden which the Lord shall lay upon them seeing others or longer standing in Christ his school and of greater knowledge to shrink and buckle under their affliction Thirdly they wrong their profession by opening the mouthes of those that are without or by putting a stumbling-blocke before them causing them to abhorre the way and practise of godlinesse when they see so great troubles to attend upon it and so little courage and cheerefulnesse in those that professe it Fourthly and lastly they wrong and hurt themselves not only by disinabling and indisposing themselves to the generall and particular dueties of their callings for a joyfull heart causeth good health but a sorrowfull spirit dries up the bones Prov. 17.22 that is makes the body weake and feeble for a man is said to bee in his full strength when his bones run full of marrow Job 21.23 24. but also in spoiling themselves of that peace and comfort which they might enjoy by their cheerfull undergoing of afflictions and loosing that holy vigor and strength they might partake of by rejoycing in the Lord for the joy of the Lord is your strength Nehe. 8.10 Besides by their lumpishnesse they make themselves unfit for holy dueties they cannot serve God as they should being oppressed with sadnesse For we are to serve the Lord with gladnesse of heart Serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce before him Psal 2.11 How can any serve God joyfully or praise him heartily when the heart is laden with griefe and the mind oppressed with sorrow If no joy in the sweet promises of God what delight can be had in his worship and service And last of all they expose themselves unto Satans tentations when they are dejected with worldly sorrow then are they baits for Satan to catch at and fit subjects for him to worke upon How many have been brought to a shamefull and miserable end through Satans subtiltie and malice working upon them and taking them at advantage in the time of their sorrow and heavinesse So that it is evident that such by their sadnesse oft times do wrong both others and themselves But admit it were so as you see it is false that wee hurt no body but our selves by our sadnesse is this a sufficient warrant to bear us out in our lumpishnesse In what court was that commission sealed unto us which gives us liberty to harme or wrong our selves Are wee not delinquents against Gods law and the law of nature in offring wrong unto our selves Therefore seeing thy afflictions are but for a season hold fast the Confidence and the rejoycing of thy hope unto the end Heb. 3.6 Live by faith and as the Prophet exhorteth enter into thy chambers and shut thy doores after thee hide thy selfe for a little while untill the indignation passe over Esay 26.20 By chambers the Prophet meanes a quiet and peaceable conscience into the which he would have us sequester our selves all the while the storme of affliction bloweth that so with patience we may waite for the event of them And whereas he
foes and their former love may be turned into future hatred It is possible that those that are nearest and dearest unto thee may reject thee Yet though thy father and thy mother should forsake thee the Lord will not he will take the care of thee Psal 27.10 If God hath once chosen thee for his own and set his love upon thee whether thou beest in health or in sicknesse in ease or in paine in prosperity or adversitie in life or in death all is one God loveth thee neverthelesse Before he shewed thee his love he knew what would befall thee yea nothing as wee have heatd can betide thee but that which he intended and provided in love for the so that whether you live or die you are the Lords Rom. 14.8 The Lord for special ends may give thee over unto afflictions he may give thee up into the hands of those that hate thee yea even unto the death and therfore will take away thy life from thee As it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter Rom. 8.36 Yet none of these nay not all these put together can any whit diminish or abate the love of God towards thee much lesse spoile thee wholly of it and take it cleane away from thee when they have done the worst they can against thee or unto thee When thou art plunged into the deepest distresse that might or malice can bring thee into thou art still as deere and precious in the Lords eye as ever thou wert nay if it were possible deerer now then ever thou wert before if those troubles and afflictions which thine enemies have devised and brought upon thee be for righteousnesse sake One friend may love another deerely yet when the one shall expose himself to danger or trouble for the others sake when I see my frend hath not regarded his life for my good but adventured and hazarded his own life in my defence and safety how doth this increase mine affection towards him as it was said of Jonathan his soule was knit with the soule of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soule 1 Sam. 18.1 So this will knit my heart and love unto him and I shal love him as mine own soule How much more then may we be assured that if our afflictions be for Gods cause in his defence he will abundantly recompence and more deerely love us Then let no man say that he is lesse beloved of God then others because he is more afflicted then others be God still loves his and will own them for his people whatsoever outward sorrowes or miseries may befall them I have surely seen the trouble of my people and have heard their cry and I know their sorrowes Exod. 3.7 Though wee bee in trouble yea and such trouble as makes us cry out for griefe and sorrow yet still we bee the Lords people Outward miseries and troubles cannot make God to respect any of his any thing the lesse God is not like some proud people of the world who will acknowledge their friends no longer then they are in prosperity and be able to requite their kindnesse with kindnesse againe Some such beasts there bee that if they bee either advanced into high places above their parents or their parents their brethren sisters and friends fallen into decay and poverty will scarse own them but grow to bee ashamed of them It is farre otherwise betwixt the Lord and his people when they are up to the knees in durt when they are cruelly oppressed when in a poore and base condition it may be not having cloaths to cover their nakednesse when their cheekes looke pale and their faces leane and wan through hunger sorrow or sicknesse when they be grown out of favor through bodily diseases they are even then as lovely in the Lords eyes as ever and hee will then acknowledge us for his people aswell nay better then in our great prosperity If a childe be sick in the family how are the thoughts and minde of the parents taken up about that child how do they tend it and pitty it O my poore sicke child c. thus doth the Lord pitty his children and tender them in their affliction Vse 1 Now to make some application of the point Is it so that the perswasion of Gods love is a great help to carry us cheerfully through afflictions here hence then we may be instructed what the cause is that wee are so much troubled and perplexed with afflictions as if they were the meanes of our undoing that the very thought or expectation of them is most grievous and irkesome unto us certainly here is the ground of all our feares and doubts the want of a sound perswasion and assurance of Gods love in correcting us Did we beleeve that when we are afflicted wee are in the hands of our holy righteous everliving and everloving God who never did us any wrong who never intended us any harme but alwayes goeth the best the wisest and the most loving way to worke with his children would wee not bee lesse afraid of afflictions then we be more willing to undergoe them then we are Little do wee know how highly we dishonor God how much we gratify and please the Devill when wee repine against the hand of God when wee bee impatient in afflictions and question his love for correcting us The Devill desired that Job might be sorely afflicted that so he might bee brought to curse God Stretch now out thine hand and touch his bones and his flesh to see if he will not blaspheme thee to thy face Job 2.5 It is a pastime unto the Devill to set God and his children at variance and therefore hee desires to vex and perplex us that so wee may open our mouths against the Lord and quarrell with him for when we are discontented with the Lords dealing when wee mutter and murmur against the Lord what do wee lesse then rebell against him Hence it is that Moses called the murmuring Israelites Rebels Numb 20 10. Heare now ye rebels shall wee bring you watter out of this rocke Therefore murmure not against the Lord for then thou rebellest against him and robbest him as much as in thee lieth of his most glorious attributes his power his goodnesse his love his truth When we deal with that man which makes cōscience of his word wee question not the truth of his promise but rest upon the performance and making good of that which he hath said If a father promiseth unto his childe any thing the childe makes as sure reckoning of the thing promised as if hee had it already in possession Shall wee dare to give lesse credit to God then to man when hee telleth us hee correcteth us in love and intendeth our good in afflicting of us shall wee dare to question the truth of his word especially when hee hath seconded his Word by oath yea and sealed both with the blood
be feared that man never felt the sweetnes of Gods love in the assurance of the pardon and forgivenesse of his sinnes Skin for skin and all that ever a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 Then much more will hee part with all that hee hath so be it he may have his part in Gods love for thy loving kindnesse is better then life Psal 63.3 for what is life but death if it be not upheld by the love of God Art thou then heartily content with the Lords handling of thee Dost thou with all cheerefulnesse take up thy crosse and beare thine affliction Canst thou truely say Behold here am I let him do to mee as seemeth good in his eyes 2. Sam. 15.26 I dare be bold to say thou art an happy man God in afflicting thee loveth thee Secondly if God loves thee hee will fetch thee neerer unto him by thy affliction See what the Church professed Esay 26.8 9. Also wee O Lord have waited for thee in the way of thy judgements the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my soul have I desired thee in the night and with my spirit within me will I seek thee in the morning By which words it appeares that Gods people those that are beloved of him are so farre from being driven from God by affliction that they are brought thereby neerer unto him Afflictions are so farre from extinguishing grace in Gods people that they increase it rather as water cast upon the smiths fire doth not put it out but increaseth the flame thereof Afflictions drive us unto the Lord in prayer Esay 26.16 In trouble have they visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them Affliction will send us to the Sanctuary and make us more diligent in hearing the Word more conscionable in the practise of good dueties So that as judgements lighting upon the wicked do come from Gods avenging wrath and justice and so are as pikes and clubs to beat them further off from God even so those afflictions which befall his people proceeding from his love are as cords to draw them neerer unto him Thirdly thou mayest assure thy selfe of Gods love in afflicting of thee if thine afflictions do raise up godly sorrow in thy heart causing thee to grieve and be disquieted that thou shouldest by thy wickednesse thus provoke the Lord and put him as it were out of his course forcing him to do that which he goeth unwillingly about for Hee doth not punish willingly nor afflict the children of men Lam. 3.33 This was that which did break the heart of David to consider how hee had offended the Lord who had been so gracious and bountifull unto him Against thee against thee only have I sinned and done evill in thy sight that thou mayest be just when thou speakest and pure when thou judgest Psalme 51.4 A good heart grieves more that by his sinnes hee hath grieved God then that God hath grieved him by some affliction And therefore had rather the Lord would take away his sinne then his affliction And therefore when the Lord had so severely threatned David by the mouth of his Prophet Nathan David cries not out through feare of Gods judgements as some would have done upon so hard tydings Alas I am undone how shall I ever be able to hold up my head if Gods judgements come so thick upon mee c. No no the sword which pierced Davids heart was his sinne against God and therefore hee praies Wash mee throughly from mine iniquitie and cleanse me from my sinne Psal 51.2 Hee that in the time of affliction can find his sinne the greatest cause of his humiliation may assure himselfe of a sanctified use of his affliction and of Gods love in so dealing with him Wee shall find little fruit and lesse comfort to grow out of our griefe sorrow and humiliation if it be for outward things and not for sinne Grieve wee never so much never so long for our outward afflictions and crosses our griefes can neither abate them nor remove them whereas godly sorrow sorrow for sinne if it doth not batter our crosse it weakens it and in the meane time procureth much ease to the minde and peace to the conscience Assure thy selfe that sorrow is no where so well bestowed as upon sinne Godly sorrow is the salve appointed to heale and cure sinne now to apply this salve to a wrong sore to affliction is lost labor Learn therefore to turn thy sorrow against thy sinne and then thou wilt say as David speakes Psalm 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou hast afflicted me justly as the old translation hath it And so saying thou mayst boldly proceed with David and pray Let thy mercy comfort mee according to thy promise unto thy servant Let thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live vers 76.77 Therefore whensoever the Lord entereth into judgment with thee fall thou to judging of thy selfe Accuse thy selfe that God may be justified And let thine own heart speak unto thee in the words of the Prophet Hast thou not procured this unto thy selfe because thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Jere. 2.17 This is a good signe that God will do thee good by thine affliction which hee would not if hee did not love thee Fourthly and lastly thou maiest bee assured that God afflicteth thee in love if hee gives thee a heart to be thankfull to him for thine affliction Canst thou blesse God taking from thee as well as giving unto thee I dare then confidently avouch that thine afflictions are sanctified unto thee and that in love he hath afflicted thee Thus did Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken it blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1.21 For prosperitie and good things many wicked men will in their manner be thankfull to God but for adversitie and such things as are in appearance evill to be thankfull this is the property onely of good men Wee can easily bee brought to praise the Lord when hee pleaseth us but when hee crosseth us when he cuts us short and keeps us to hard meat then to blesse and praise his name this is clean against our nature it is onely the worke of grace in us for grace will make those things easie which are very hard and difficult unto nature And therefore there cannot be a better evidence of a gracious and sanctified heart then to praise and glorifie God for afflictions For in so doing a man doth justifie the Lord in his dealing yea by our thankfulnesse for afflictions we magnifie the glorious attributes of God wee acknowledge his justice Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou hast afflicted me justly Wee acknowledge his truth Psalm 19.9 The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether Wee acknowledge his mercie Psalm 25.10 All the pathes of the Lord
are mercy and truth Therefore most true it is that whosoever in affliction offereth praise doth glorifie God Psalm 5.23 Men may be thankfull for peace plenty seasonable times deliverances and the like in selfe-love but for troubles and afflictions crosses and losses to bee thankfull this manifesteth our love to God which none can shew untill hee bee beloved of God Thankfulnesse in affliction is a notable soule of faith for faith will tell as that nothing can befall us which shall either lessen Gods love or encrease our hurt yea faith perswades us that God in afflicting of us loveth us though the affliction bee unto death and hence it comes that wee are thankfull for afflictions and patient in the bearing of them Now lay all these together Art thou willing to kisse that rod wherewith thou art beaten Canst thou cheerefully say as it is Mic. 7.9 I will heare the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him Art thou taken off from thine old courses thine old consorts thine old comforts and brought neerer unto God Is thy heart dissolved into teares of contrition for thy sinnes and transgressions Dost thou cordially unfainedly blesse God that ever hee took thee to do that ever he laid his hand upon thee then is it as evident as the Sun at noon day that God in afflicting of thee loves thee because hee hath taught thee to make so good and holy use of thy affliction For afflictions of themselves and in their own nature are fruits of the curse and such as being unsanctified will make us storm and rage and beat us further off from God but when wee feel and find them to worke contrary to themselves their nature altered and changed this is a most evident and infallible signe of Gods love and mercie extracting Treacle out of this ranck poison and good out of this evill Thou mayst hold it as a certaine truth that God in afflicting of thee loveth thee Now I come to the latter part of the verse the drift and end of Gods afflicting us in these words Be zealous therefore and amend I purpose not to make any discourse upon Zeal or Repentance for then I should go out or my intended course which tendeth wholy to the setting forth of the necessity and utilitie of Afflictions The Lord having said As many as I love I rebuke and chasten addeth by way of exhortation these words Bee zealous therefore and amend from which words wee may gather this conclusion The chiefe and speciall end of Gods afflicting us is the bettering and amending of us The Lord knows that grace is beter for us then great possessions and a healthfull soul is more to be desired then a strong and lusty body and therefore for the good of the soul doth many wayes afflict the body That ground from which wee expect and desire good wee digge or plough and harrow but that ground which wee regard not wee meddle not with it wee take no paines about it but let it lie waste Even so dealeth the Lord with man Hee lets the wicked alone hee looks for no good from them but hee ploweth over his children and harroweth them with affliction that so they may be fruitfull that in their lives they may bring forth a rich and plentifull crop of grace and godlinesse Why do we beat our wall-nut trees Why do wee prune and cut our vines is it not to make them more fruitfull So deals the Lord with his children hee breaks and cuts off many superfluous evils with the pruning knife of Affliction that so they may grow more fruitfull in well doing The end of Gods correcting of us is not as some may think to avenge himselfe upon us for those evils which wee have committed against him nor yet to please himselfe in our smart as if hee took delight in our punnishment and sorrow but it is for the bettering of us Moses tells the Israelites that the Lord was their guid in the great and terrible wildernesse to humble them and to prove them that he might do them good at their latter end Deut. 8.16 Hee chasteneth us for our profit that wee might be partakers of his holinesse Heb. 12.10 Hee woundeth us that hee may heale us A legge that is crooked and groweth awrye must bee broken before it can be made right and streight If the Lord should not break those crooked and perverse wills of ours they would never be rectified The Lord useth to beat out one evill with another the evill of sinne with the evill of punishment There is a great deal of folly in the hearts of his wisest children they are slow of heart to beleeve and practise that which will make for their good this folly the Lord in wisdom drives away from them by the rod of correction By this shall the iniquitie of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit the taking away of his sinne Esa 27.9 Naturally wee sport with sinne and make it a pastime to do evill Prov. 10.23 Many drink iniquitie like water Job 15.16 Wickednesse is sweet in our mouths and wee are loth to part with it untill the Lord in love doth administer unto us some affliction or other which like unto Stibium shall make us to vomit up these sweet morsells and make us out of love with our former evill wayes and courses as things not only unpleasing and distastfull unto the Lord but such as are noxious and hurtfull unto us Therefore for the preventing of that evill which sinne may bring upon us and for the bestowing upon us that good which the love and practise of sinne would hinder us of the Lord doth afflict and chastise us How did his people Israel go a whoring from him they were set upon gadding yea madding after sinne and therefore the Lord was constrained to fetch them back againe by his judgements Wee are as ready to wander out of the way as sheep going astray so that the Lord must send some affliction or other after us to call us back again as David Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray The prodigall in the Gospel turnes his back upon his father and takes his journey into a farre countrey where he consumed and wasted his goods with riotous living but having spent all and being pinched with penury he could then mind home and returne againe unto his father with griefe and shame which had not affliction been no doubt hee would never have done The like may be said of many moe who for ought wee know to the contrary had perished if they had not been afflicted So that few or none of Gods children but can say It had been wrong with them if they had not been afflicted for by afflictions they have been much bettered Reason And that first of all because by affliction they have been brought to know themselves and to see and acknowledge the damnable estate whereinto they were by sinne plunged Hence is it said That the prodigall
which thus rageth amongst us Surely our great unthankfulnesse and our horrible abuse of Gods good creatures Doth the Lord punish thee with losses or with povertie Consider whether these outward things did not make thee proud or else were occasions of imboldening thee to the committing of some sin or other Are thy children stubborne and disobedient Twenty to one but it is to punish thy disobedient and undutifull carriage formerly towards thy parents Thus might I instance in divers particulars by which it is evident that the Lord doth oft times proportionate punishments to our sins so as by our affliction wee may easily guesse at what sin the Lord aimeth and of which hee would have us most heartily repent us Secondly look into the book of God whither thou canst there find any that have formerly drunk of thy cup have been exercised and chastised with the same rod that thou art if thou dost not find any such example there aske and enquire of thy friends whether they have knowne any to be punished as thou art now if thou find any upon record in Gods booke or by report from others canst heare of any that have been in thy condition then seek and enquire what their sinnes have been what manner of persons they have been and think with thy selfe thus surely I am sick of their disease in that my Physitian takes the same course with me which he did with them I have committed their sins in that I partake of their punishment Thirdly if thou wouldest faine find out that sinne for which especially thou art afflicted consider when thou art under the rod what sinne lieth heaviest upon thy conscience very probable it is that that sinne which now cries loudest in thine eares from the voice of thy conscience cried loudest in the eares of God for punishment Too many commit sinne with delight thinking they shall never heare more or worse of it But when affliction commeth the consciencc begins to tell tales and lay open things done in secret Dost thou not remember how at such a time in such a place thou didst commit such a villany Dost thou not know how once in such a kind thou didst highly dishonor God Hast thou forgot how thou didst once wrong thy neighbor in such a thing Thus in affliction the conscience many times brings to mind that sinne of ours which wee had buried in forgetfulnesse as appeares by Joseph his brethren and so should never have repented of it if the Lord by affliction had not made our conscience to discover it unto us Fourthly if the Lord doth not meet with thy sinne in its kind or if thy conscience do not reveal unto thee all thy wickednesse or that sinne for which thou art punished then bee earnest with the Lord in prayer that hee would bee pleased to inlighten thine understanding and helpe thee to make a narrow search and tryall of thy wayes or else that hee would discover unto thee that or those sins for which his hand doth now lye so heavily upon thee Thus did Job I will say unto God condemne mee not shew me wherefore thou contendest with mee Iob 10.2 Before Ezekiel could behold the wicked abominations of Israel the Lord taught him to digge in the wall Ezek. 8.8 9. So before we shall be able to discerne that sinne or any other of our sinnes for which we are afflicted the Lord by his spirit must demolish that wall of hardnes of heart which hindereth us from seeing our sinnes or else he must give us of his eye-salve wherewith anointing our eyes those scales of ignorance and spirituall blindnes may fall from our eyes that so we may the better see our sinnes Intreat the Lord to shine into thy dark understanding by the light of his Word that it may enter thorow even to the dividing asunder of thy soul and spirit of thy joynts and marrow that it may be a discerner of thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart as the Apostle speakes Heb. 4.12 And be thou well assured of this for thy comfort that he that is truely desirous and withall scedulous and deligent to finde out his speciall sinnes hee shall have them in the end discovered and layed open unto him because as you have formerly heard this is one end why the Lord doth correct us that so we may search and trye our wayes and turne again unto the Lord. Lam. 3.40 That we may be brought to a true sight and sense of our sinnes and so be throughly humled for them Affliction serves to ransack the bottome of the heart to launch our festred consciences and o let out by confession the festred and corrupted matter there ingendred Iosephs bretheren never came to see the odiousnes of their sin untill affliction enlightned them and then they could say Wee have verily sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not heare him Gen. 41 21. Now if once we come to see sinne in its proper colours and to be perswaded of the nature and danger of it then we are in the broad way to repentance and this will worke our hearts not only to a loathing but to the leaving and forsaking of our former evils For what man but hee that is desperately carelesse of his own welfare and happines will dare to put on a garment infected with the Plague What man that is in his right minde will take a snake into his bosom Who is so foole-hardy as to pull a Lyon by the beard or take a mad Dog by the eare He that wilfully wittingly lives in sinne doth a great deale more endanger the safety and good of his soul then any man by the Plague or any other meanes doth the welfare of his body Lighten mine eyes saith David Psal 13.3 that I sleep not in death Prosperity thickens these eyes of ours or else doth cast such a mist before them that we cannot see sinne in its coulours yea the worse and more wicked any man is the lesse doth he see his evill the lesse is hee perswaded of the danger of sinne All the wayes of a man are clean in his own eyes Prov. 16.2 Through Satans subtilty and mans infidelity it comes to passe that those which commit the grossest sinnes and greatest offences imagine that their faults bee the smallest and those that are plunged into deepest dangers do dreame of greatest safety and security as many who have their hands deepest in the troubles and persecutions yea in the blood of Gods servants will thinke that they do God best service Ioh. 16.2 Of this minde was S. Paul all the the while hee breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord Acts 9 1. Therefore least such as belong to God should sleep in death by their blindnesse flying from repentance shunning reformation and running into destruction the Lord in great love opens their eyes by affliction as hee did the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar Dan.
walk stubbornly againist us and he will also chastise us seven times more accordng to our sinnes Lev. 26.28 If lighter afflictions wil not serve the turn greater shall The Lord came to Ephraim first like a moth Hos 5.18 you know that a moth though it be a noxious and hurtfull creature yet if it bee looked unto betimes the harme is little which it doth and the breach or hole which it maketh may easily be darned up again Thus dealt the Lord at first with Ephraim hee did favorably and gently afflict them but this salve was not strong enough to take down their proud flesh yet would not Ephraim bee healed nor cured of her wound Therfore saies the Lord I will be unto Ephraim as a Lyon Hos 5.13 14 A Lyon we know rents teares where he comes so the Lord when gentle meanes will not serve the turne comes like a Lyon with tearing and devouring judgments God when he see good to exercise his power will make the proudest Pharoah the stoutest sinner to stoop and yeeld else he will not spare to follow them with one judgment upon the neck of another All these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtak◠thee till thou be destroied Deu. 28.45 Consider what is spoken by the Prophet Nahum 1.9 What do ye imagine against the Lord he will make an utter destruction affliction shall not rise up the second time The Lord tarrieth long before he comes to smite his enemies he forbeareth much but when his patience is abused then he oft times gives a deady blow The spirit of the Lord did a long time strive with man in the daies of Noah but when their sinnes began to bee multiplied against the patience and long suffering of the Lord When the Lord savv that the vvickednesse of man vvas great in the earth and that al the imaginatiō of the thoughts of his heart vvere onely evill continually Gens 6.5 Then the Lord could beare with them no longer then the Lord comes with his sweeping judgment destroying from the earth the man vvhom he had created from man to beast to the creeping thing and to the sowle of the heaven vers 7. The Lord suffered Sodom Gomorrah so long that the cry of their sins did ring up to heaven but at length the Lord was even with them and paied them home for all their wickednes destroying them with fire and brimston from heaven Many other such like examples might be brought to shew how the Lord comes out against sinners at last with sweeping and devouring judgements if they will not take warning by lesser ones The history of the Jevvs a people sometime as deare unto God as the apple of his eye and as neere unto him as the signet on his right hand doth plainly teach us how severely the Lord at last deales with stiffe obstinate and impenitent sinners The favors the benefits which God bestowed upon them the priviledges which they injoyed were above all the nations of the world yet for all this did they above all other people provoke the Lord to anger against them They mocked the messenger of God they despised his Word and misused his Prophets untill the vvrath of the Lord rose against them and there vvas no remedy 2. Chron. 16.26 They did not onely kill the Prophets and stone those that were sent unto them but they crucified the Lord of life Acts 3.15 Yea and preferred a murderer before him provoking the Lord so long as hee could endure them no more and therefore hee sends against them Titus the son of Vespatian the Roman Emperour who besiged and sacked the City of Jerusalem and made such havock of the people as is most lamentable to heare of It is reported that they were besiged so long as many thousands of them perished through the famine and many of them isuing forth in hope either to escape or to finde mercy with their enemies were most cruelly hanged upon crosses and gibbets set up before their walls 500. of them somtimes hanged in one day so long untill there was no more space left unto them for execution The number of dead carcases carried out of the Citie for want of buriall to be cast into the ditches if wee will credit histories was numberlesse for at one of their gates the keeper thereof took the the tale of one hundred and fifty thousand dead bodies Nay through the exttemity of famine they were driven to eate their old shooes the dung of their stables and the fruit of their own loynes And after all this thousands of them murdered by the sword and many moe thousands carried into captivity to be a spectacle to all succeeding ages of Gods indignation and wrath against them And these things are recorded for our good that wee may not dare to stand it our against the Lord but speedily to amend upon the first warning and blow given us else the Lord will not give over but come with seven times more and greater judgemenes against us If wee belong unto the Lord hee will never leave afflicting till wee cease provoking him If wee be beloved of God hee will still follow us with correction till wee fall to unfained and sound humiliation repentance For we shall never be able to overcome the Lord and make him give over by our stubbornnesse and resisting his blow but by falling down and yeelding unto him The sturdy oke is rent and torne in pieces by the tempest when poore and weak reeds stand still by yeelding and bowing There is no standing out against the Lord no resisting by force of armes what is a silly sheep to grapple with a Lion The sooner wee yeeld and turn from our evill wayes the readier will the Lord be to repent him of that evill which otherwise hee will surely bring upon us Thou that by the Word of God and by loving and gentle correction canst not be perswaded to leave thy sinne must know that if thou belongest to God hee will never leave following of thee with one affliction upon the neck of another untill hee hath his will of thee What may wee then think of those that are little or nothing at all amended and bettered by any judgements that have befallen them assuredly if they be such as belong to the Lord hee is preparing of sharper Physick for them if they be none of his it may be hee will give them over to their own hearts lust and reserue them unto those eternall and unavoydable torments of the second death Vse 4 Fourthly is it so doth God correct his children for their great good let us then beware of doing them hurt by persecuting those whom the Lord doth smite lest we adde afflict on unto the afflicted and this wee do when wee shall either uncharitably censure or deride and scoffe at those that are afflicted or else in our mindes contemn and scorne them because it pleaseth the Lord in love for their great good to humble
Prophet Jeremiah speaketh Thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder then a stone and have refused to return Jerem. 5.3 They were unwilling either to beare their correction or to be bettered by it But let it not be so with any that love the Lord or their own good let both these extremities be avoided of us and let us exercise the golden mean to be sensible of the hand of God and to be cheerfull and thankfull for our affliction seeing as hath been proved so much good commeth unto us by them Object If it be so that afflictions are so profitable then may wee yea ought wee to pray that God would afflict us for may not every one nay should not every one pray for that which may be profitable for himselfe and others Answ Those things which in themselves are evill howsoever by the wise Providence and mercifull disposition of God they may have a good issue and work together for the best to those that love God yet may wee not lawfully pray for such evills to light upon our selves or others upon presumption of Gods goodnesse to turn them to the best The disasters and miserable calamities which for many yeeres together have rent and torn the Church have stirred us up to seek and cry mightily unto â—he Lord and to be humbled with fasting before him may wee therefore pray that the rod of God may still lie upon the backs of his people that ruines and the breaches of Sion may not be repaired Surely no for wee are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem That peace may be within her walls and prosperitie within her pallaces Psal 122.6 7. Death in it selfe is an evill thing for it is the wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 Yet by the infinite power and mercy of God who delights to bring good out of evill it is made the period of all our labors and an entrance into Gods own presence may we therefore being wearle of our lives desire death sooner then the Lord will Albeit afflictions when the Lord sendeth them unto us shall bring good unto his children yet ought wee not either to pray for them or wilfully to cast and plunge our selves into them Therefore Agar praies unto the Lord Give me not poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me Prov. 30.8 Wee are to pray for such a condition in which the Lord sees wee shall be best able to honor and glorifie him and procure most good to our selves and others Now whether this will be by prosperitie or adversitie wee must leave it to the wisedome of the Lord who knoweth better then our selves what is expedient and needfull for us Object But if it be so that afflictions are so profitable unto us whether being in them may wee pray for deliverance out of them or no Answ Wee are to pray for deliverance out of them if wee have received that good by them which God intended us otherwise wee are to be willing nay desirous that the Lord would not take off his plaister untill the sore be healed lest it ranckle and grow worse and so wee cause the Lord to apply some sharper medicine to lay upon us some greater affliction Therefore in thine affliction call upon the Lord and say Smite Lord correct me still untill thou hast done me good by thy rod let me have this affliction sanctified else let mee not be eased let it not be taken off me Are there not many delivered oft times out of sicknesse for whom it had been better in respect of their souls they had still continued upon their sicke bed The like may bee said of many other kinde of afflictions and that it had been better for some they had never come out of them Therefore when wee are in affliction let us not pray for freedome and deliverance but conditionally if it be the will of God to inlarge us and if he seeth that deliverance will be better for us Otherwise to desire the Lord to keep us still under and to give us patience and faith to beare his rod and to profit by it But if any shall unwillingly beare the Lords yoke using all means he can to cast it off and to pull his head out of the collar this shewes that such a person doth not desire that the Lord should do him good neither doth hee acknowledge the Lords wisedome and righteousnesse but seemeth to tell the Lord what hee thinkes were better for him And let him know that the Lord will either keep him in affliction longer then otherwise hee would or else that this affliction shall be but a fore-runner of some greater judgement Therefore let us not vexe or disquiet our selves in our afflictions and so make them more grievous unto us then the Lord would have them Lee us cast our selves upon the Lord and resolve to abide his pleasure and assure wee our selves that the longer wee are under his hand the more good he will do us and the better able we shall be to beare his hand You shall heare a new cart in the street which will squeak and make a noise if the least load that can be lie upon it whereas an old seasoned cart will go under a great weight and make no noise even so many a Christian not used to beare affliction will squeak and cry out upon every little trouble whereas hee that hath been seasoned long and exercised with afflictions undergoes many great and grievous ones cheerfully and contentedly Wert thou never in affliction untiil now then look up to the promises of God acquaint thy selfe with them and they will make thee cheerfull and thankfull for thy affliction It is my comfort in my trouble for thy promise hath quickened me Psal 119.50 Say as Sydrac Meshac and Abednego said our God whom wee serve is able to deliver us and hee will deliver us Hast thou been formerly afflicted and delivered let former deliverances confirm and strengthen thy faith in this present or future afflictions as it did Paul wee should not trust in our selves but in God Who delivered us from so great a death in whom we trust that yet hereafter hee will deliver us 2. Cor. 1.10 In the mean time resolve to tarry the Lords leisure consider not what now thou feelest but what good hereafter thou art like to find by thine afflictions Blesse God that hee will take this course with thee as Job said What is man that thou dost magnifie him and thou settest thine heart upon him And dost visit him every morning and triest him every moment We would take it as a great grace and honor if the King should every day send to know how we do but if hee should daily come in person to visit us how highly should wee think our selves honored It is thy case that art afflicted The King of Kings hath sent his servant nay comes with his servant to visite thee when he sendeth affliction unto thee Assure thy selfe he mindes thee nay sets his heart upon thee if he regarded not thy good and welfare hee would suffer thee to take thy swinge in sin but because he loveth thee he correcteth thee It is a truth the Lord hath spoken it As many as I love I rebuke and chasten bee zealous therefore and amend So be it FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fervent Zeal what it is Doct. 1. The best have afflictions Affliction findeth out sinnes Iob 36 8 9 Affliction purges out sinne Affliction is physick for the soul Affliction preventeth sinne Affliction teacheth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Affliction trieth the truth of grace in us Affliction doth fit us for Gods service Affliction teacheth us to prize Gods benefits Affliction weaneth us from the world Affliction stirs us up to prayer 0. Affliction quickneth our devotion Affliction coÌ„formeth us unto Christ Vita crucis vita lucis Affliction prepareth us for glory Censure not the afflicted How are we said to be conquerers when conquered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Store thy self with comfort out of the word of God Break off thy sinnes by repentance Afflictions of the godly and wicked differ Seek to the Lord by prayer Comfort for the afflicted 1 Sam. 2.17 22. M. Culverwell of faith Desire to be with Christ Death how it may be desired Woe to those that are not afflicted Note Doct. 2. All our afflictions come from God God filleth both heaven and earth Againe it must needs be God worketh all things as he will All creatures are subject unto the Lord. Away with Fortune and luck 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God disposeth of all tempests Patient in afflictions 1 Helps to the patient bearing of affliction Our enemies are but the Lords rods to whip us Comfort for the afflicted God doth order our affliction Note Go to God for issue and deliverance Fero spero Note Vncheerfulnesse doth much hurt Doctr. 3. Perswasion of Gods love will helpe us to beare our affliction Because God will helpe our crosse God intends our good in afflicting us No misery can make Gods people miserable Nothing can separate us from God We learne from hence why we be so troubled with our affliction Note Be perswaded of Gods Love Tokens of Gods afflicting of us in love Note Doct. 4. The chiefe end of Gods afflicting us is the bettering of us By affliction wee come to know our selves Note By affliction wee come to judge aright of sinne Affliction makes us to feare God The feare of Gods is very profitable Wee do not make satisfaction by our afflictions Our stubbornnesse provoketh God to afflict us Amend by little else greater affliction will come Note Adde not affliction to the afflicted but pitty them Live by faith in affliction Be thankfull for affliction Note Dan. 3.17