afflictions 387. Reasons 1 God will then help us to beare them 396. 2 God will do us good by our afflictions 397. 3 No misery can make us miserable if God love us 401. Uses 1 Whence it comes to passe that many are so perplexed in their afflictions 411. Of inward and spirituall afflictions 432. Divers objections from feare and unbeliefe answered 462. 2 Be perswaded of Gods love 488. Tokens of Gods afflicting of us in love 493. 1 If he gives us a contented minde 494. 2 If affliction brings us neerer to God 496. 3 If they worke godly sorrow in us 498. 4 If thankfull for afflictions 502. Doctr. IIII. The chiefe end of Gods afflicting of us is the bettering of us 508. Reasons 1 By affliction wee come to know our selves 514. 2 By affliction wee come to judge aright of sinne 518 How wee may find out that sinne for which wee are afflicted 524. 3 Affliction makes us to feare God 536. Uses 1 Satisfaction is not made to God by our affliction 546. 2 Our stubbornnesse provokes God to afflict us 550. 3 Amend by little else greater affliction will come 554. 4 Adde not affliction to the afflicted but rather comfort them 564. 5 Bee thankfull for afflictions 578. Whether wee may pray for afflictions 585. Errata PAge 91. line 14. for complaining read complaineth p. 92. l. 17. Esa 64.7 8 9. p. 96. l. 13. for their r. they p. 105. l. 12. r. set to p. 159. l. 16. r. so much p. 190. l. 3. r. it may p. 199. l. 9. r. as ready p. 217. l. 1. for and with r. for p. 333. l. 7. for originally r. organically p. 340 l. 5. r. makes him p. 341. l. 13. r. and disquiet p. 453. l. 16. r. drawest back p. 456. l. 4. so much put out p. 461. l. 6. r. as is implied p. 480. l. 13. for ever r. never p. 489. l. 12. for being r. be p. 524. l. ult for baiting r. biting A CORDIALL FOR THE AFFLICTED Touching the Necessity and Utilitie of Afflictions REVEL 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and amend THese words are a part of that Epistle which was written unto the Laodiceans In which Epistle there is set down first the Inscription or Superscription of the party unto whom it was sent to wit The Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans vers 14. Secondly there is a Description of the person from whom it was sent set forth by a twofold property The first is his fidelity and truth from whence he is intituled Amen or according to the originall the or that Amen which is an Hebraisme and signifies as much as Truly or Trueth it selfe explicated in the next words That faithfull and true witnesse The second is his Eternity or Power noted in these words The beginning of the Creatures of God Thirdly there is laid down the Narration or matter of the Epistle wherein there is first of all a Conviction of the Angel his sinnes the first whereof is Lukewarmnesse verse 15. which is such a temper as is neither hot nor cold He was as all hypocrites are good only in outward shew and appearance for he wanted both the mettall and making of zeal and piety He had only an outside and face of religion but wanted both the power of Gods word and the zeal of his Spirit in this allyed to the Cretians who professed that they knew God but by their works they denied him being abominable disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Titus 1.16 Then follows a Commination or the Punishment which the Lord threatned to inflict upon him for this sinne of Lukewarmenes and that is Rejection in the end of the 16. vers I shall spite thee out of my mouth The second sinne for which the Angel and in him the whole Church of Laodicea is taxed is his Pride or Boasting vers 17. For thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing The third sinne was Ignorance of his wretchednesse and misery And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable Which misery consisted in three particulars Poverty Blindnesse and Nakednesse in the end of the 17. verse The third thing in the matter of the Epistle is a Remedy prescribed for the curing of these three fore-named miseries unto each misery a severall remedy For the bringing of him out of his Poverty the Lord counsells him verse 18. To buy of him gold tryed by the fire that he might be made rich For the covering of his Nakednesse he adviseth him to furnish himself with White rayment that he might be clothed And for the healing of his Blindnesse he would have him to Annoint his eyes with eye-salve that he might see Fourthly the Lord sets down a way and course which he usually takes with his best beloved ones for the reclaming and amending of them and that is Rebuking and chastening of them in these words which I have read unto you vers 19. Whom I love I rebuke and chasten c. Which words are as a comfortable cordiall prescribed by a wise and loving Physitian unto his sick diseased patient to whom hee hath formerly administred some bitter pills or unpleasing potions The Lord before threatned to reject the Laodiceans for their lukewarmnes whereupon lest they should altogether despaire of regaining his love and favor he doth prevent their fear by telling of them that his correcting of them was no argument either of his hatred or of their rejection but an evidence of his love beating them that hee might better them Whom I love I rebuke and chasten bee zealous therefore and amend These words consist of two parts The first acquaints us with the Lords practice The second layes down the drift and end of his practice His practice in these words As many as I love I rebuke and chasten The end and drift of his practice in the latter part of the verse Be zealous c. I will briefly unfold the sence of the words and then the Lord willing collect Instructions out of them As many as I love I rebuke This word rebuke in the originall signifies not a bare and fingle reproof but even such a reproof as is uttered with some strong arguments and reasons to convince the party reproved implying unto us that when the Lord rebukes man for sinne it is an argument of his dislike and hatred of sinne And chasten This also must not be understood of ordinary correction but such a chastisement as a loving father gives unto the child of his love for the originall is taken from a word which signifies a child that as a father useth to teach and instruct his child so the Lord correcting all those he loveth intendeth thereby to teach and instruct them Bee zealous therefore These words are in opposition to their luke-warmnes and therefore Beza well renders it be hot Zeal or spirituall heat is an affection compounded of two qualities love and hatred
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
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
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
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
Christ the only begotten of the Father could not come to glory but through many tribulations and afflictions I hope the doctrine which I have delivered standeth without contradiction and that it is a most undoubted and undeniable truth that None no not the best of Gods children are without their trials and affflictions Reason 1 And if any should demand a reason why the Lord doth thus deal with his dear ones many may be rendered some whereof respect the sinnes of his children either as they are past present or to come Sometime the Lord afflicteth his children that so they may ransack and search their own hearts and consciences and so find out some sinnes which have a long time lurked in their breasts and are not as yet repented of Lament 3.39 40. Man suffereth for his sinne let us search and try our wayes The heart is deep yea deceitfull and wicked above all things who can know it Jere. 17.9 It hath many turnings and secret corners many holes for sinne to sculk and lurk in so as it will very hardly be found out unlesse a privie watch be set a narrow search be made In the examination of a craftie a cunning thief the Justice or Judge had need to gather his wits together and to have his eyes in his head least he be not able to find out that villany which will never be confessed though the evidence be cleer against it Affliction will quicken our wits and cleer our eye-sight so as we shall be the better able to finde out those sins which otherwise peradventure would never have beene discovered That person that cannot by affliction be wrought upon to search what is amisse in him will never do it If the conscience which hath been rockt asleep in the cradle of prosperity cannot bee awakned by affliction it is in a deep if not a deadly sleep Josephs brethren could be touched in their consciences for their unnaturall and cruell usage of their brother when they were in some straights suspected as they conceived to be spies and one of their brethren taken and bound before their eyes Genes 42.21 Whereas for divers yeares before they had no check of conscience for their sinne Iob in the day of his adversitie could call to mind old sinnes afflictions could bring them fresh to his remembrance Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth Iob. 13.26 Elihu hath an excellent speech to this purpose If they be bound in fetters and tyed with the cords of affliction then will he shew them their worke and their sinnes Teaching us hereby that until such time as the Lord by some affliction or other doth hamper and shackle us wee have no list to finde out our sinnes but had rather cover and daube them over Whereas affliction like unto a prospective-glasse will shew us things a farre off and discover unto us many corruptions which wee have either buried or else slighted over In affliction wee can see our formalitie barrennesse loosnesse dead-heartednesse lithernesse in good duties pride hypocrisie earthly-mindednesse uncharitablenesse and many moe old and new sinnes which before we took little or no notice of Therefore if thou beest now under the rod of God or hereafter mayst be say unto thy heart surely there lieth some wedge of gold or Babylonish garment hid which the Lord would have me search and find out certainly there is some Ionah that hath raysed this storme there is some sinne or other that hath caused all this affliction to befall me which must be found out yea and cast out of my heart as Ionab was thrown out of the ship before this storm will be calme before the Lord will take off his hand from afflicting me Therefore do not repine at the Lords wise and righteous dealing but let thine anget and indignation reflect upon thine own vile heart cast thy selfe with all humilitie at the feet of God begge some of his eye-salve whereby the eyes of thy understanding may be enlightned that thou mayst be the more able to gage and search the bottom of thy heart find out that or those sinnes which have provoked the Lord against thee lest thou perish through impenitency St. Paul writing unto the Corinthians about their prophaning of the Lords ordinance their abuse of the Sacrament telleth them that for this cause many are weake and sick among you and many sleep for if wee would judge our selves wee should not be judged 1. Cor. 11.30.31 implying thus much that Gods hand lay upon them that so they might search out see and confesse their sinnes that so God might pardon them Therefore as at all times so especially in the time of affliction wee should narrowly sift and search our hearts lest any corruption lye lurking there to do us a mischief And if ever we bee brought to a sight and confession of our sinnes it will be while the rod is upon our backe when the Lord had throughly jerked Ephraim he could smite on his thigh bee ashamed and confounded because he did bear the reproach of his youth Jerem. 31.19 Old sinnes could bleed afresh before them when the hand of God did crush them The Lord by the Prophet Ezekiel told Jerusalem that he would judge her after the manner of harlots and would give her the blood of wrath and jealousie Ezek. 16.38 Because thou hast not remembred the dayes of thy youth but hast provoked me with all these things behold therefore I also have brought thy way upon thine head saith the Lord God yet hast thou not had consideration of all thine abominations Vers 43. Teaching us that the end of Gods correcting them was to bring them to a consideration and sight of their sinnes Reason 2 A second reason of the Lords dealing sharply with his children is to purge them and cleanse them from all their filthinesse of the flesh and spirit This appeares by divers places of Scripture I I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy drosse and take away all thy sinne Esa 1.25 And some of them of understanding shall fall to trie them and to purge them and to make them white Dan. 11.35 And so in Esa 4 4. When the Lord shal have washed away the filth of the daughters Sion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgement and by the spirit of burning And Esay 27.9 By this shall the iniquitie of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit even the taking away of his sinne not by justifying but by sanctifying them by the rod of affliction beating sinne out of its old corners for as Elihu said Iob 36.10 He openeth their ear to discipline and commandeth them that they return from iniquity when the Lord doth afflict us he doth really call upon us and charge us to turne from our evill wayes Hee knoweth my way and trieth me saies Iob 23.10 and I shall come forth like
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
his children that the truth and strength of grace may be tryed and seen in us that so wee may throughly know our selves The skill of the Pilot is then best discerned when the windes blow when the waves billows rise mounting the ship as it were up to heaven from whence down it falls again into the deep every gust of winde threatning to turn it over every wave of the sea comming over the ship and gaping to swallow it up In these tempestuous times in these great perils to keep the ship up-right and to save it from drowning this doth manifest both the knowledge and the paines of the Pilot whereas every skuller will be able to crosse the seas in a calme and when there be no waves to crosse him So every one will hold up his head and be cheerfull whiles prosperity blowes upon him and nothing to crosse him but adversity tryes the man and the truth and strength of grace in him For Prov. 24.10 If thou be faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small Saint John having spoken of that warre which the beast should make with the Saints and how they should be led into captivity and be killed by the sword ads presently after Revel 13.9 here is the patience and faith of the Saints as if he should say By these afflictions will the Lord both exercise and manifest the faith and patience of the Saints Many drugs and spices have an excellent savor in them which wee cannot smell untill such time as they be either grated or stamped to powder or burnt in the fire so when we are grated by trouble stamped in the morter of affliction or cast in the fornace and fire of tentation then more then before the fragrant and sweet smell of grace is discerned in us Arise O North saith Christ Cant. 4.16 and blow on my garden that the spices thereof may flow out When persecution blew upon the blessed Martyrs in those bloody times of Popery how sweetly did grace smell in them how meekly how patiently and cheerfully did they go under their crosse and undergo whatsoever malice and crueltie could inflict upon them The rage and violence of their enemies was so farre from daunting and putting out the light of grace in them that it more increased it Reason 6 Sixthly the Lord doth sometime afflict his children to fit and prepare them for some speciall work and service wherein they are to be imployed When wee see a Carpenter tumbling and rowling any piece of timber up and down wee may conceive that he overlooks it to see whether it will serve his turn or no but when hee strikes his axe into it when he falls to hewing squaring and sawing of it then wee know for certain it is for some use and service All the while the wheat lies still upon the mowe it serves for no use before it can be used it must be threshed and fanned or winnowed or cast up and down Even so the Lord deales with his children before he imployes them in any speciall service Affliction is the axe the saw the chissell which heweth and pollifheth us the fan which winnoweth and cleanseth us making us fit for that work which he hath appointed us unto Before Joseph can be promoted in Pharaohs Court and have the sway as it were of his Kingdom that he may store up provision for Jacob and his family he must endure much hard-ship he must be sold as a slave unto strangers carryed by men unknown away from his fathers house into a farre countrey and there he must bee cast into prison Psal 105.17.18 They held his feet in the stocks and he was laid in irons Before Moses is sent unto Pharaoh to charge him to let the children of Israel depart out of Egypt before he is appointed to bee the captain and commander of that great and mighty people of Israel hee must be banished from house and home from kindred and acquaintance and as Heb. 11.25 suffer adversity with the people of God Before David could have the scepter of the kingdome put into his hands and the crown set upon his head hee must endure many a hard brunt go thorow many difficulties and perills be tossed up and down from post to pillar banished from wife and children with a world of other troubles wherewith it pleased the Lord to exercise him Yea Christ himselfe was by affliction fitted and prepared for that great worke of our redemption For it became him that he should consecrate the Prince of their salvation through afflictions Heb. 2.10 Therefore whensoever thou art exercised with any kind of afflictions say thus with thy self I perceive the Lord hath some work to set me about some service to imploy me in and therefore makes tryall of me before-hand that so I may be the better able to do him service in that work hee shall set me about and call mee unto Reason 7 Seaventhly the Lord doth somtime withdraw from his children these outward and earthly comforts lest through their long and plentifull enjoying of them they begin either to grow wanton in the abuse of them or else begin to underprize if not contemne them The Lord sees that wee would not esteem aright of the comforts which we reap from his love and bounty if sometimes more or lesse wee should not feel the smart of his displeasure for abusing his benefits Plenty oft times causeth satietie as appeareth by those full fed Israelites who grew to a lothing of that food which the Lord in abundance provided for them Wee can see nothing but this Manna Numb 11.6 The prodigall mentioned Luk. 15. grew weary of his fathers house their diet and fare too coorse and homely not fine enough for his dainty tooth their society and company too plain and rude for such a gallant as he was abroad hee must and from his father he would to see fashions or to trie conclusions so long that at length the begger meets with him poverty pincheth him and hunger biteth him then he could looke backe from whence he came and then he could prize the priviledges of his fathers family How many hyred servants of my fathers have bread enough and I die for hunger Luke 15.17 He should now think himselfe a happy man if upon any conditions he could but get into his fathers house againe though he were put unto any service though but as one of his hired servants Luke 15.19 Absence and intermission of any outward benefits and desireable comforts adde a great deale of life to the love of them and waight to their worth and valuation The goodnesse of any thing wee enjoy is better perceived by vicissitude of want then continuall fruition Sleep is never so much longed for and desired as after the tediousnesse of some wakefull and wearisom nights of restlesse tossings up and down or turning too and fro in our tedious bed The light if it were alwayes day with us would never be so acceptable were
it not for the usuall intercourse of darknesse The Spring would never be so welcome as it is had wee not a cold biting and frosty Winter Wee never come to know the benefit of health untill such time as the Lord cast us upon our sick bed We know not what our liberty is untill wee bee thrown into prison c. Therefore because wee are so ready to underprize the good benefits of God and to rob him of those prayses wee should yeeld unto him for them the Lord in wisedome afflicts us cuts us short of them that so wee may know the price and worth of them by the want of them Reason 8 Eightly the Lord doth sometime afflict us to weâ—â— us from this world Such is the corruption of our vile and stinking hearts that the things of this life sit too cloce unno them cooling the fervor of our first love and by little and little stealing away our mindes from the practise and pursuit of heavenly things Whence it comes to passe that too many Christians like moules are alwayes rooting and scraping in the earth yea doting upon the world with immoderation and carking to the great disgrace of their persons and the foul reproach of their profession and calling opening the mouths of unregenerate ones to blaspheme the wayes of God and saying These are such as make not godlinesse their gain but rather their gain their godlines Nay too often the world by its subtil insinuations lulls them so long upon her lap that they are cast into a deep slumber even of carnall securitie that though the Lord cry aloud in their eares by the voice of his ministers and speak to their consciences by the inward motions of his holy Spirit and intreat them to give over their eager pursuit of the world to let earthly things fall out of their mindes and to mind heavenly things to better purpose yet for all this they will not knock off but forge and frame many shifts excuses and delaies as the Church in the Cantic 5.3 I have put off my coat how shall I pat it on I have washed my feet c. Whereupon her blessed Lord so unworthily repelld departs for a time and suffers her to be taken by the watchmen of the citie who smote her and wounded her which shee might have escaped had shee not loved her ease too well A thousand pitties it is to see how fast the mindes of many are locked to outward things as if they never knew what joy or delight in heavenly things meant hence it is that the Lord afflicts them to beat them off from resting upon and too much delighting in these transitory vanities In our prosperity wee are ready to think wee shall never be removed and with the rich fool in the Gospel encourage our selves to ease and liberty because as wee think wee have enough for many yeeres Luke 12.9 If all things go well with us we are ready to set up our rest and with Peter to say Mark 9.5 It is good for us to be heere nay as the Laodicean said Wee be rich and increased with goods wee think wee have need of nothing wee fear no colours for the rich mans riches are his strong citie and as an high wall in his imagination Prov. 18.11 whereupon lest wee should leane too much upon these outward things and so have our hearts our hope and trust drawn away from the Lord he in wisedom and mercy withdrawes from us these weak crutches and stilts of ours We are ready to make prosperity our bulwarke to shelter and defend us from all harmes and those things which wee hold of the free goodnesse of God and his good pleasure wee are ready to think wee have them in our own right and so wee make as it were a rent charge of all that which the Lord affords us of his free bountie Whereupon least wee should challenge Gods gifts as our own right the Lord will let us know of whom wee hold them by taking them away from us To please or flatter our selves with any outward things is to reckon without our host those things are not ours either by fee-tayle or fee-simple but as tenants at will we must hold them of him who may every day take them from us or us from them If God should let us alone suffer us alwayes to abound and swimme in plenty wee should be ready to take our selves to be some petty Gods and wee would not care for any life but this Therefore lest wee should dote too much upon this world and take too much content in these outward things as Jonas did in his gourd the Lord will blast them and smite them that so wee may see the vanity of them If the things of this life begin to steal away our hearts from beter things the Lord sees it is high time either to trust us no longer with them and therefore takes them from us as parents take a knife from their childe lest he should hurt himselfe or others withall Or else if the Lord suffers us still to enjoy them hee will cast in some bitter thing amongst them as nurses when they would wean their children rub their nipples with some unpleasing thing to wean our mindes and affections from them If the Lord send Jacob a Benjamin he will take away a Rachel If there be a Ziba to meet David 2. Sa. 16.1 with two hundred cakes an hundred bunches of raisins dryed figgs and a bottle of wine to comfort him there will be a Shimei at his heeles to cast stones at David and curse him and to tell him that he was taken in his wickednesse because he was a murderer Certainly if the Lord should not thus remember us with some affliction or other wee would quickly forget both God and our selves For being full wee be ready to deny the Lord as Agar said Prov. 30.9 Man in prosperity is so proud that hee seeketh not for God Psal 10.4 Hence it is that the Lord complained of Israel by Hoseah They were filled and their hearts were exalted therefore they have forgotten me Hos 13.6 Prosperity and abundance doth even intoxicate many and make them like drunken men so besotts and befools them that they have no thoughts of heaven or heavenly things no hearts to be thankfull as they should to God the giver of every thing they enjoy Such is the corruption of our wicked nature that the more of these temporall blessings wee receive from God the lesse wee think wee need him and the seldomer wee think upon him If once Psalm 17.10 wee bee inclosed in our own fat twenty to one but we shall speak proudly with our mouth and be ready to aske as did proud Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice Exod. 5.2 Therefore to prevent the manifold mischiefs which ease and prosperity as was formerly said may bring upon us to beat us out of our earthly trenches and to draw up our minds and affections
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
rod or the stick hee cries out hee layes on tongue hee doth with all eagernesse and earnestnesse intreat for pardon or no moe stripes even so when wee feel the smart of Gods rod whipping of us there is an edge set upon our prayers wee pray not in that drowsie and sleepy manner wee did before This appears by that which David speakes Psal 88.9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction Lord I have called upon thee I have stretched out my hands unto thee In their affliction they will seek me diligently saith the Lord. Hos 5.15 You may observe many a dog sleeping in the chimney corner which will not arise when he is spoken unto but if you spill but a drop or two of any scalding liquor upon him he is up and is gone he cries and laies on tongue Thus the Lord by affliction awakens his children so as they call upon him in a more lively manner then formerly they have done If you peruse the Psalmes of David you shall find that very many if not most of them were penned in the time of triall and affliction And the sharper his afflictions were the more fervent and earnest were his petitions unto the Lord Out of the depths have I cryed Psal 130.1 The lower hee was brought by affliction the higher was he in prayer crying out unto the Lord. Thus was it with his forefathers in the dayes of the Judges the greater their danger was the more instant and earnest were they in prayer unto the Lord. To give you one instance The children of Israel were sore troubled and vexed by the Ammonites whereupon they cryed unto the Lord for help but the Lord gave them a cold answere saying unto them Ye have forsaken me and served other Gods wherefore I will deliver you no more Goe and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen let them save you in the time of your tribulation Judges 10.13 14. Whereupon they confessed their sinnes made hast to put away their strange gods from among them then they will lay on tongue unto the Lord beseeching him that he would do unto them whatsoever he pleased Onely wee pray thee deliver us this day Judg. 10.15 Thus I have made it evident that afflictions are very needfull to drive us unto the Lord in prayer yea to make us amend our pace to double both our diligence and our fervency in prayer Therefore If any be afflicted let him pray Wee highly dishonor God and wrong our selves if wee seek not unto the Lord in our troubles Call upon me in the day of trouble so will I deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50.15 Wee must make our afflictions our arguments to move God to deliver us as David did Psal 25.16 Turn thy face unto mee and haue mercy upon me for I am desolate and poore Reas 11 Eleventhly the Lord doth thus afflict his deare children to make them conformable unto Christ who though he were without sinne yet was he not without affliction If then affliction be a meanes of purging out sinne and refining of us as formerly we have heard then it is needfull wee be afflicted that wee may be made more like unto Christ both in sufferings and in righteousnesse The life of the crosse is the life of light Christ was the light of the world and his life was in a sort a continuall crosse Was it thus in the green tree and shall it not be so in the dry was the head thus continually exercised and should the body go free especially when all the sufferings of Christ were for our sake either suffering for us or to teach us patience by his example or to sanctifie our afflictions unto us God will have all his elect to be made like to the image of his Sonne Rom. 8.29 Not onely in holinesse and obedience but also in sufferings Wee must know the fellowship of his afflictions and be made conformable unto his death Phil. 3.10 Not any that shall reigne with Christ can be exempted or priviledged from suffering with him If any man will follow me let him denie himselfe and take up his crosse daily and follow me Luke 9.23 Yea the dearer and nearer unto him wee be in love the more conformable must wee expect to be made unto him in-affliction For the bearing of the crosse is a part of our tenure or holding of Christ himselfe as may be gathered out of that place last quoted Luk. 9. Christ himselfe held by this tenure Luke 24.26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory And as any of Gods children have obtained a more evident right and cleare title unto this inheritance or as any hereafter shall obtain therein a greater portion of glory then other by so much the more strictly are they tied and bound to observe the custom of the Mannor For God hath predestinated us as I said even now to bee made like to the image of his Sonne first in his sufferings then in his glory for we an heires annexed with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified with him Rom. 8.17 The end of the Lord his hewing and squaring of us by affliction is to make us lively stones of that spirituall house 1. Pet. 2.5 so that we may be joyned with Christ the chiefe corner stone 1. Pet. 2.6 unto whom wee be made conformable by affliction And againe 2. Tim. 2.12 If we suffer wee shall also reign with him Hence it is that James saith chap. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord bath promised to them that love him Therefore such as go without correction whereof all the Lords people are partakers cannot be conformable unto Christ for hee was consecrated through afflictions Hebr. 2.10 Hee was a man full of sorrows and had experience of infirmities Esa 53.3 He was in all things tempted as we are that so hee might both have a feeling of our infirmities and also succour us in them for in that hee suffered and was tempted hee is able to succour them that are tempted Hebr. 2.18 Reas 12 Lastly not to keep you any longer in laying down of moe reasons the Lord doth afflict his children in this life that they may not perish in another life When wee are judged wee are chastened of the Lord because wee should not be condemned with the world 1. Corin. 11.32 Prosperity immunity and freedom from afflictions ease liberty and fulnes is the broad way which leadeth to death and condemnation Hence it is that our blessed Saviour hath pronounced woe to those that are rich woe to those that live in fulnesse woe to those that live merriy c. Luke 6.24 25. Now because Gods children doe naturaly linger after these earthly delights and comforts the Lord in great mercy doth hedge up our wayes with thornes Hos 2.6 Hee will have us to
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
be the name of our good and bountifull God live in plenty of the Gospel so as wee may speak of the food of our souls as Moses doth of bodily Lev. 26.5 Our threshing reacheth unto the vintage and the vintage unto the sowing time and wee eat our bread in plenteousnesse But little do wee know how soon the Lord may send a famine of the word as hee threatned Israel Amos 8.11 12. When wee shall wander from Sea to Sea from North to East too and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it Churches and people of other nations who not many yeares sithence had as little cause of fear and dread as wee do now feel the smart of this famine The Tabernacle of David is fallen amongst them Idolatry and superstition is in the place of the Gospel And why may not wee fear the like judgement especially seeing the Gospel is so much contemned of many amongst us Vse 4 Fourthly doth the Lord thus afflict his dear children be wee then admonished to break off our sinnes by repentance that so the Lord may either divert his judgements or else aswage and alay the heat of them For if wee will sinne God will punish Sin is that seed which being sown grows up unto a harvest of punishment Hee that soweth iniquitie shall reap affliction Prov. 22.8 Trouble waits upon sinne for affliction followeth sinners Prov. 13.21 Yea it so follows them as it will be sure to catch hold of them All these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord thy God Deut. 28.45 Is there any thing under the Sunne that is able to make a separation between sinne and punishment If the one be welcomed and entertained the other will not be shut out Paradice could not shelter nor priviledge our first parents from punishment after they had once sinned How then shall those be able to escape the wrath and vengeance of the Lord who make it their pastime to do evill into whose hearts and affections wickednesse hath warped and woven it selfe these must if speedily they repent not look to have the judgements of God to light upon them For what saies Job Is not destruction to the wicked and strange punishment to the workers of iniquitie Iob 31.3 Notorious offenders have oft times notable judgements Wicked ones may revell and be joviall and go on in their own wayes and pleasures but which of them can say I will continue my game my sport my lusts unto the end without feare or danger little do they know how neer at hand some judgement or other is to arrest them as it did Balshazzar to interrupt and turn their jollitie into woe and miserie Shut sinne out of dores if thou wouldst have that punishment either sanctified or taken away which doth now lie upon thee To complain of troubles or to seek to be eased of them and not to mourn and be sorry for those sinns which have procured them is folly and madnesse Do not our children when wee are correcting them confesse their faults and promise to do no more so by these words hoping to have their correction lessened and ended Wee shall shew our selves to have lesse understanding and wisedome then young children if wee take not the same course when the rod of God is laid upon us Repentance will make us gainers by our afflictions What wise man will not be willing to take that course albeit painfull which may be beneficiall and profitable unto him Repentance so sanctifies our affliction or removes it that a blessing comes with it or follows in the room of it If when our heavenly father correcteth us wee doe unfainedly promise and purpose to cast away our sinnes from us the Lord will speedily either lay aside his rod or else bestow upon us some blessing which shall make it evident that hee is pleased with our humiliation and will love us the better after it So well is the Lord pleased to see his children stoop under his hand that he will be so much the more gratious and mercifull unto them by how much the more he hath afflicted them so as they shall see the curse turned into a blessing unto them Repent thee of thy transgressions and the Lord will repent him of his corrections For that which the Lord promiseth unto a Kingdom or Nation Iere. 18.8 shall also be made good unto every person If wee will turn from our wickednesse the Lord will repent of the judgement which hee thought to bring upon us I will cast them into great affliction except they repent them of their works Revel 2.22 As our impenitencie hastens judgements threatned and continues them being inflicted so our repentance diverts them being threatned and removes them being inflicted The Ninivites repentance wrought repentance in God God saw their works that they turned from their evill wayes and God repented of the evill that he said he would do unto them and he did it not Ion. 3.10 Thus by their repentance the sentence pronounced was reversed Is not this a strange thing that the repentance of condemned malefactors should repeal the Judges sentences It were strange to see this in the Courts of men but with God it is not so strange as true our repentance not only frustrates Gods condemning sentence but turns it into an acquitting sentence it turns away the evill and as I said even now brings good in the stead of it Davids murtherous and adulterous marriage with Bathsheba brought many direfull curses but yet unfained repentance turned all those curses into blessings unto them and us for of this marriage came Christ the worlds Saviour Therefore as Daniel said unto the King Dan. 4.24 Let my counsell be acceptable unto thee and break off thy sinnes by righteousnesse for man suffereth for his sin Lam. 3.39 If wee will forsake Gods law and not walke in his judgements if wee break his statutes and keep not his commandements then will the Lord visit our transgressions with a rod and our iniquitie with strokes Psal 89.31 32. The more libertie that any of Gods children shall take to sinne the more liable are they to punishment The more care the Lord takes of them the more love he beares unto them the readier will he be to chastise them offending Is not the whole history of the Jewes a people once as dear unto the Lord as ever any were even as the signet on his right hand and as the apple of his eye Zach. 2.8 a pattern and example of an ungratious child continually exercised under the rod of his loving father evermore labouring as he trespassed so to correct him for his sinne The Scripture doth plentifully tell us how the Lord nurtured his people with severe discipline sending them one judgement upon the neck of another and all by reason of their sinnes Iere. 30.15 Why criest thou for thine affliction because thy sinnes
misery of Israel Judg. 10.16 So concerning Ephraim the Lord said his bowels were troubled for him Jere. 31.20 There is a conflict betwixt Justice and Mercie when he goeth to correct his children as appeares Hos 11.8 9. How shall I give thee up O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel Mine heart is turned within me my repentings are rouled together I will not execute the fiercenesse of my wrath I will not destroy Ephraim When hee punisheth the wicked he doth it in the fircenesse of his wrath as appeareth Psal 78.49 Hee cast upon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and wrath And to conclude The godly have libertie yea a command to come unto the Lord to call upon him and cry unto him in the day of trouble Ps 50.15 and he wil hear their cry and will save them Ps 145.19 Whereas the wicked shall cry unto the Lord but hee will not heare them hee will even hide his face from them at that time because they have done wickedly Micah 3.4 For the Lord may justly answere them as Iphtah did the Elders of Gilead Judg. 11.7 Did ye not hate mee How then come yee unto me now in the time of your tribulation Wicked persons are haters of God therefore these seeking to God in their need are like to have cold comfort from him What answere did the Lord make to Israel when in their distresse they sought unto him Yee have forsaken mee and served other gods Go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen let them save you in the time of your tribulation Judg. 10.13 14. So will he answere all those that make either their lusts or their belly or their Mammon their god you have devoted your selves unto the world and your lusts why then seek you not help and comfort from them You have hitherto observed and served these let them now help and save you What hope have the wicked Will God hear his crie when trouble comes upon him saies Job 27.9 By all which it appeareth that there is a great difference betwixt the afflictions which the Lord doth exercise his withall and those judgements which hee layeth upon the wicked Vse 5 Fiftly Is it so that the best of Gods children go not without affliction then let all that desire to have a good use of their affliction or a good issue out of them bee earnest suiters at the throne of grace and humbled before the Lord in prayer Is any among you afflicted let him pray James 5.13 Of all other helpes which wee can use wee may say as David of Goliahs sword There is none to that 1. Sam. 21.13 so none to prayer As the Load-stone draweth Iron unto it so our prayers if they be made in faith and proceed from a broken heart do draw God unto us Thou drewest neere in the day that I called upon thee Lam. 3.57 As the Lord gives us power to aske for it is his spirit which helpeth our infirmities so somtimes he gives us benefits without asking that wee may bee the more bound unto him and his benefits may be the more welcom unto us by how much lesse they are deserved or expected When God bids us to call upon him and pray unto him it is not for that hee needs to be intreated but that he may make us more capable of blessings by desiring them It being his own ordinance that if wee ask we shall have c. And therefore he that oft gives ere wee ask will not fail us when we seek aright unto him The Lord is ready to hear as wee are to pray and if wee send up our requests unto him hee is ready to send down comfort and help unto us Call upon mee in the day of trouble so will I deliver thee Psal 50.15 But to whom think you is this sweet and comfortable promise made even to such as have a desire to glorifie God Therefore as followeth in the next verse Vnto the wicked said God What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my words behind thee Psal 50.16 17. Although the Lord be a God hearing prayers yet hee is a God that heareth not sinners Job 9.31 Let every one that calleth upon the Name of the Lord depart from iniquitie 2. Tim. 2.19 It is not obedience but impudencie for such as in their health and prosperitie have not harkned unto God speaking unto them in his Word and Works to presse upon him in their need and affliction for help and comfort if their hearts be not more rent and broken by repentance and godly sorrow for their sinne then their estate or bodies are hurt or wounded by their punishment The Lord hath protested against such When affliction and anguish shall come upon you Then shall they call upon mee but I will not answere they shall seek me early but they shall not find mee Prov. 1.27 28. If hee that stoppeth his eare at the crying of the poore shall also cry and not be heard Prov. 21.13 How much lesse hee that stops his eares against the Lord calling and crying unto him in his holy Word His prayers shall bee abhominable Pro. 28.9 O how miserable and lamentable must his case needs be unto whom that exercise becomes sinne by which the godly and penitent obtain remedy against sinne and comfort in affliction Therefore let us be humbled under the hand of God in the sight and sence of our sinnes and then as our troubles will bee a motive to stirre us up to prayer so will they be a motive to procure ease and comfort from the Lord. O Lord turn unto mee according to the multitude of thy tender mercies hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble Psal 69.16 17 Such is the goodnesse of God toward sinners that all that seek unto him by prayer shall fare the better for it Whosoever returned in his affliction to the Lord God of Israel and sought him hee was found of him 2. Chron. 15.4 Jonah did behave himselfe stubbornly against the Lord and the Lord was even with him for his stoutnesse he was thrown into the sea and swallowed up of a Whale Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and hee heard him Jon. 2.1 2. Wee have heard what a vile and wicked man Manasses was Hee had done evill in the sight of the Lord like the abominations of the heathen hee built the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down he set up Altars for Baalim and worshipped all the hoast of Heaven and served them And he caused his sonnes to passe thorow the fire hee gave himselfe to witch-craft to charming and to sorcery hee did very much evill in the sight of the Lord to anger him shedding exceeding much innocent blood Yet for all these abominations when hee was in tribulation hee prayed unto the Lord and God was intreated of him and heard his prayer 2.
Chron. 33.13 For God is neer unto all that call upon him in truth hee will fulfill the desire of them that feare him hee also will heare their cry and will save them Psal 145.18 19. Object Oh but my troubles are such as there is no possibility of being delivered out of them therefore I feare it will bee but lost labor for mee to pray unto the Lord. Answ Though it bee impossible in thine eyes should it therefore bee impossible in my sight saith the Lord of hosts Zach. 8.6 Is there any thing too hard for the Lord Jerem. 32.27 Is thy condition worse then Manasses was Is thy case more desperate then Jonahs was yet hee prayed out of the deepe and was helped Therefore be not dismayed but draw neere with a true heart in assurance of faith Hebr. 10.22 It is a hard taske I confesse to beleeve that God will deliver us out of al our troubles but as hard as it is faith makes it easie by apprehending Gods power and truth in all his promises Thy troubles thou sayest are great But faith tells thee that God is greater and mightier to helpe thee out of them then the devill and all his instruments are able to keepe thee in them Object But I have a long time prayed and hoped but cold comfort appeares for all my prayers Answ It may be there lieth some sinne secretly in thy bosom unrepented of and so long never look that God should heare thee in mercy Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sinnes have hid his face from you that hee will not hear Esay 59.2 Therefore Let every one that calleth upon the Name of the Lord depart from iniquitie 2. Tim. 2.19 For God heareth not sinnrrs John 9.31 It was a curse laid upon Moab That hee shall come into the Temple to pray but hee shall not prevail Hab. 16.12 It was a token of Gods heavie displeasure and judgement upon Saul That he sought unto the Lord but hee would no way answere him neither by dreames nor by Vrim nor yet by Prophets 1. Samv 28.6 Thus will the Lord deal with all ungodly persons When you shall stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and though you make many prayers I will not heare for your hands are full of blood Isay 1.5 Mine eye shall not spare them neither will I have pittie and though they cry in mine eares with a loud voice yet will I not heare them Eze 8.18 Object But I have searched my heart and sorrowed for my sinnes and yet God answeres not my prayers Answer It may bee thou art not instant and earnest enough in prayer thou must be fervent and wrestle with God in thy prayers if thou wouldest speed The prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it bee fervent Jam. 5.16 God is a living God and therefore will not be sought unto with dead and drowsie affections Thou must cry and be instant with the Lord if thou wouldst have him to heare thee Object I have been as instant and earnest in my prayers as I can but yet I have no answer from the Lord. Answ It may be so but it may be thou hast not prayed in faith which if thou dost not it is impossible that thou shouldest be able by any prayers to prevaile with God Hee that commeth to God must beleeve that God is and that hee is a rewarder of them that seek him Hebr. 11.6 True it is that the strength of our wrestling and prevailing with God lieth in our prayers but how not as they be a forme and sound of words but as they are the worke or fruit of faith Let our prayers be never so many never so loud never so long yet if faith be wanting they want their virtue they will be as weake as Sampson was when he wanted his haire The stronger thy faith is the freer is thy accesse with boldnesse and confidence to the throne of grace and the better successe shall thy prayers finde with God though he do not by and by answere thee for the Lord peradventure intendeth to exercise thy faith and make triall of thy patience to see whether thou wilt grow weary or no. For hee loveth to bee importuned as appeareth by that parable Luk. 11.8 Let us therefore use this excellent help of Prayer seeing it is so prevalent with the Lord as the Scripture doth plentifully witnesse unto us Prayer being a service so acceptable and well pleasing unto God hee cannot but heare the cries and satisfie the requests of his children if they faithfully holily and uncessantly do seek unto him Object But have all that do thus pray their requests granted unto them Answ Either they have their requests or that which the Lord sees better for them As the Lord doth sometimes deferre so hee doth sometimes transferre his benefits giving unto us in stead of that which wee aske something better for us As he answered not Paul in that particular he desired but in bestowing his Grace upon him which was sufficient for him 2. Cor. 12.9 Vse 6 Sixtly is it thus Here then is a ground of admirable comfort unto the children of God in the midst of all those afflictions which shall befall them This may strengthen the weak hands and comfort the feeble knees Esay 35.3 of all such as are by God afflicted when they consider that hee intendeth our great good in afflicting of us For our afflictions are as eye-salves ro cleer our dim sight that our sinnes may more evidently appeare they serve for sowre sawce to bring us out of love with our sweet sinnes and as sand to scoure off the drosse and corruption of our nature They are occasions of preventing many evills which if they were not wee should be ready to runne into They are as a School-master to teach and instruct us in the way of godlinesse They serve to manifest unto the world but especially unto our selves the truth and soundnesse of our faith obedience patience and the rest of Gods graces to the honor of him that hath bestowed them upon us and to the comfort of our own soules who have received them They are instruments of fitting us for that service wherein the Lord is pleased to use us They teach us how to prize the benefits of God and to make more account of them then formerly wee have done They are as wormewood to wean us from the love of this world Whose pleasing delights and bewitching pleasures wee should linger after and be ever and anon sucking of them if our mouthes were not imbittered and so distasted with some afflictions They are as cords to draw us unto the Lord in prayer and to seek him more often and more diligently at the Throne of grace then formerly wee have done They bring us into some conformity with Christ Wee cannot deny but that the crosse is somthing an uncomfortable companion to consort with flesh and blood But blessed bee that affliction
which so farre estrangeth us from the world that it changeth us into the similitude of Christ unto whom wee must be conformed in sufferings that so wee may as hath been formerly delivered bee like him in glory unto which glory wee are furthered by affliction it being a means of driving us out of the broad way of the world which leadeth unto destruction and bringing us into the narrow and crosse way which leadeth to salvation If thus much good comes by afflictions then it is good for a man to beare the yoke in his youth Lam. 3.27 The sooner wee be afflicted the better for us If these bee the ends of Gods afflicting us are wee not shrewdly hurt when the Lord corrects us is there any cause of mourning Vnlesse it be for our rebellion and stubbornnesse which puts the Lord as it were out of his course besides himself if wee may so say with reverence to his Majestie to do his work his strange work his act his strange act Esay 28.21 Have wee then any cause to bee angry or do wee well to be angry as the Lord asked Jonah 4.9 When as the Lord hath more cause to bee angry with us for putting him to that trouble and grieving him with out sinnes No no let us rather be angry with our sinnes which provoke the Lord to afflict us and let us be comforted in all our tribulation that wee may bee able to comfort them which are in any affliction by the comfort wherewith wee our selves are comforted of God 2. Cor. 1.4 Bee cheerfull therefore in thine affliction say as David Psalm 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Think not the worse but the better of thy self for the Lords correcting of thee Thy case is no other then the case of Gods deare children yea of Christ himselfe There hath no tentation taken hold of thee but such as appertaineth to man 1. Cor. 10.13 Affliction is the beaten path of all the Lords people Which of the godly and faithfull before us have not drunk of this cup and been baptized with this baptisme This being a common case me thinks it should be a common comfort Why should any man that loves or feares God or is any way desirous to honor God in that condition the Lord hath set him seek and with a priviledge above all the children of God that ever were yea above Christ Jesus the sonne of God himselfe Is it not a favor is it not a mercie nay is it not an honor to be used and to be dealt withall as Christ and all the godly have been before us And should not the consideration of this comfort us It may be the Lord hath taken away thy goods thy plenty from thee and brought thee to a morsell of bread It may be he hath taken away thy health and welfare and doth afflict thee with deseases and sores and aches so as thou hast no rest day nor night Was not this Jobs condition who lost more goods and substance in one day then thou hast in all thy life besides hee had painfull dayes and long nights of sorrow And art thou better then he was It may bee the Lord hath cast thee into prison and spoiled thee of thy liberty Was not faithfull Joseph unjustly kept divers yeares in prison where they held his feet in the stocks and he was laid in Iron untill his appointed time came and the counsell of the Lotd had tried him Psalm 105.18 19. It may be thou hast many great and malicious enemies which without any just cause of thine who doe backbite thee slander thee speake all manner of evill of thee and with more then Vatinian hatred doe persecute thee Was not this the case of Christ and did not he tell his Apostles John 15.18 19. that they should meete with the same entertainment in the world that he had found amongst them It may be the Lord doth exercise thee with gracelesse stubborn and rebellious children This cannot be but a great griefe to the heart of a parent especially if he be one fearing God but have not Gods deere children been thus tryed Had nor Noah that just and upright man a wretched Cham that discovered and scoffed at his fathers infirmities Gen. 9. Had not good Isaack a prophane Esau as he is termed Heb. 12.16 who of set purpose to vex his parents tooke unto him wives of other nations which was a griefe of minde unto Isaack and Rebâ—ckah Gen. 26.35 What wicked children had Ely the Priest and judge of Israel such as abused the women that assembled at the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation that men abhorred the offering of the Lord the sin of the sonnes of Ely was so great before the Lord. It may be the Lord hath taken unto himself some of thy children which were as deer and neer unto thee as thine own soule But what if the Lord had taken them away by the sword of the enemies as he did Fly his sonnes 1. Sam. 4.11 Or by fire from heaven as he did the sonnes of Aaron Lev. 10.2 Nay what if the Lord should have taken away ten of thy children all of thy children at one blow by overwhelming the house upon them where they were eating and drinking as he did Jobs children Job 2.19 And to conclude what if the Lord should raise up evill in thy family suffering one child to defloure and to devoure each other yea to seeke thy life as Davids children did Were thy case and condition in any of all these â—oâ—e afflictions worse then those of Gods deer and faithfull servants of the Lord who have been thus exercised and afflicted yea and now are Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethâ—en that are in the world 1 Pet. 5.9 Let us therfore learne to judge wisely of our selves conflicting with afflictions Afflictions though they be judgements upon us for our sinne yet are they not judgements upon us unto condemnation We shall then adde unto our affliction and sorrow and needlesly increase our griefe if we condemn our estate because the Lord corrects us for our transgressions If we cast off our hope of happinesse in heaven because we be recompensed with judgements on earth we shall both wrong God and our selves Therfore he will have us to rejoyce in tribulation Romans 5.3 Though he visit our iniquities with rods Psal 89.32 33. Yet his loving kindnesse will he not utterly take away from us nor suffer his faithfulnesse to faile Therefore beware of charging the Lord with any hardnesse or unreasonable dealing with us as if he marred his gold by casting it into the fornace to refine it But let us rather look into our own hearts and mourne for our own stubbornnes and rebellion which hath moved the Lord thus to shackle and hamper us that he might take down our proud hearts O proud hearts of ours subdue our stubborn and rebellious wils and make us vile and
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
right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 And which is the summe of all wee shall have everlasting communion with the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost and with all the quyre of heaven all those blessed Saints and Angels singing and praising the name of the Lord for evermore Vse 8 Eightly and lastly Is it so that Gods dearest children go not without affliction then woe to those whom God afflicts not Which live at ease and in fulnesse Wallowing in their sports and pleasures And are not in trouble like other men neither plagued like other men Psal 73.5 These carry a black brand being marked for wicked ones Loe these are the wicked they alwayes prosper and increase in riches vers 12. The houses of the wicked saith Job are peaceable without feare and the rod of God is upon them Job 21.9 Which shewes that they are but as Oxen fatted against the day of slaughter For if judgement begin at the house of God what shall the end be of them which obey not the Gospel of God 1. Pet. 4.17 If Gods dear children if his faithfull servants who are zealous for the Lord whose soules do mourn in secret for their own sinnes and the abominations of the time and place where they live Who labor to walk before the Lord in truth and with a perfect heart who desire and indeavor to do the will of God in all things and to yeeld a cheerfull obedience unto his Commandments bee so often so many wayes so sharply many times corrected and afflicted what will become of profane foul-mouth'd blasphemers of scoffers and scorners of piety and godlinesse of proud and voluptuous persons of covetous earth-wormes of gluttons drunkards fornicators unclean persons such as take no other thought but to fulfill the lusts of the flesh certainly if the Scripture be true and God bee just these shall one day have the full viols of Gods heavie wrath and eternal vengeance powred out upon them If Gods own deare children must drink of that bitter cup of his displeasure Surely all the wicked of the earth shall wring out and drink the dregges thereof Psal 75.8 Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth how much more the wicked and the sinner Pro. 11.31 If it be true that God chastiseth every sonne whom he received What will become of those whose bones are full of the marrow of sinne who sing to the viol who drink wine in bowls unto whom wickednesse is as sugar in their mouthes and wantonnesse like oyle doth make them look with a merry countenance whose life is spun with such an even thred both warpe and woofe as scarce a knot to bee seen No breach in their estate No crosses no losses but all things go as they would have them surely these are in a pittiful in a fearfull condition For howsoever they put farre away the evill day and approach to the seat of iniquitie Amos 6.3 Howsoever they may vaunt it and flatter themselves as Babel doth Revel 18.7 saying I shall see no mourning yet when they say peace and safety that is think themselves to be most secure and farthest off from evil then shall come upon them sudden destruction as the travail upon a woman with childe and they shall not escape 1. Thessal 5.3 For God useth slow but sure punishment it is long in comming but when he strikes the wicked hee will pay them home for all their wickednesse and hee will make good the slownesse of his revenge by the greatnesse of their punishment when it lighteth upon them The higher the Lord lifteth up his hand to strike the longer it is ere it fals but when it fals it fals more heavily The longer it is that Gods justice is boiling upon the fire of his wrath the more scalding hot it shall be powred upon the pates of the wicked For though the Lord be slow to anger yet is he great in power and will not surely cleare the wicked Nahum 1.3 They have not vengeance presently executed but the Lord reserveth wrath for them as in the verse before If the Lord be pleased to continue his heavie hand and that a long time upon his deare children how heavie how long and continuall shall those tortures and torments be which are prepared for stubborn rebellious and impenitent sinners If humble meek-hearted dutifull and obedient children lie many times in lingring and languishing afflions how smarting I intolerable shall those judgements be which one day the wicked and ungodly shall endure If the Lord seems many times not to regard the teares nor cries of his children that they seem as it were to welter in their sorrowes how are impenitent stiffe-necked and hard-hearted sinners like to speed when they shall cry and roar againe Surely he will laugh at their destruction and mock them when feare and trouble comes upon them Prov. 1.26 Then shall that wrath which they have treasured up unto themselves come upon them to the uttermost Woe be unto thee whosoever thou art that fearest not the Lord. Woe bee to those that revell and Jove it as if they feared neither God nor Devill as if they regarded neither Heaven nor Hell The Lord is tempering of some bitter potion for them which one day they shall drink down to their eternall woe If God humble his dear ones under his hand he will trample his enemies underneath his feet If the Israelites must be baptized in the red sea the Egyptians shall bee overwhelmed and drowned in it If Lot must lose all his goods and substance in Sodome the Sodomites shall lose both goods and lives too If Gods finger lie heavie upon his children here on earth with the weight of his loines hee will presse downe the wicked into Hell hereafter Object But doe wee not see the wicked flourish and prosper in their wayes and enterprises Answ Yes for I have seen the wicked strong and spreading himselfe like a green bay-tree but his glory lasted not long hee passed away and loe hee was gone Psal 37.35 36. Object But are not the wicked honored and advanced Answer Yes but though his excellencie mount up unto the Heaven and his head reach up unto the cloudes yet shall hee perish for ever like his dung and they which have seen him shall say Where is hee Job 20.6.7 Object But are not the wicked mighty and of great riches Answ Yes yet neither their silver nor their gold shall bee able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath Zep. 1.18 Object But they are allied unto great personages and have great ones in league and confederacie with them Answ It may bee so yet though hand joyne in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished Pro. 11.21 Object But they have deepe reaches unfathomed plots and projects they combine themselves together and consult how to escape from the power of evill Answ And what of this though they take counsell together yet it shall be brought to nought though they pronounce
many of his deare children groane under many long and tedious sharp and biting afflictions Answ The Lord hath many ends in dealing thus with his children First because they have been a long time delighted with some sinne which through custome is become as it were naturall and being so will not easily will not quickly be purged out of them That which is gotten to the bone will not easily be had out of the flesh Hard knubbs and knurles must have great and long wedges driven in to them many hard and great stroaks given them before they will yeeld Many hard and stony hearts will not be broken with little and short afflictions some kinde of mettles must be kept a great while longer in the furnace then others or else they will never be dissolved even so it fareth with some natures little and short afflictions work not upon them no whit at all molifie nor soften their hard and stony hearts therfore the Lord is forced to keep them down the longer Many men when any trouble befals them think to out-growe it or to beare it off by head and shoulders and to make as good a shift as they can never looking up to God whom they have offended and provoked by their sinnes but let these know that God will bow them or else he will breake them The Lord is the Lord of hosts he can send crosses thick and three-fold upon us to abate our lofty and proud spirits to break our rocky and stony hearts Gods wrath is answerable to his power as this is infinite so he can make the other insupportable Many are stiffe and stubborn as the Lord complaines They obeyed not neither inclined their eares but made their necks stiffe and would not heare nor receive correction Ier. 17.23 Little and short afflictions will not serve to reclaime such as these are therefore the Lord keeps them longer under his hand Againe the Lord doth thus deale with many of his children to work their hearts to a greater dislike of their sinne as that which hath brought upon them all those troubles which now lye upon them therfore in the time of our affliction we should fall upon our sinne upbraiding it and charging it with all our crosses Ah thou vile and loathsom sinne I may thank thee for this expence for this reproach and shame Ah cursed sin how hast thou heretofore domaniered over me Thou hast hitherto been too strong for me but God by this affliction I trowe will tame and hamper thee Is this the fruit I reape by entertaining thee Oh cursed be the time that ever I knew thee that ever I was ruled by thee The more grievous our affliction is the greater hatred we should beare our sinnes the causes of them and the more fearfull should we be for time to come of medling any more with them We say The burnt child dreads the fire Ephraim had been a long time polluted with idolatry The Lord stops her way with thorns and makes a wall that she may not finde her pathes Hos 2.6 exerciseth her with long affliction untill shee come to say What have I any more to do with Idols Hos 14.9 If I must buy my sinne at so deare a rate if thus long I must be afflicted for my sinne away with all I will no more of it Theirdly the Lord doth oft-times keepe the rod long upon his children for their greater and deeper humiliation Great sinnes must bee greatly repented of Great transgressions require great and long humiliation Davids sinnes of adultry and murder killing the husband with the sword that he might injoy his wife were great sinnes and those which caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme therefore the Lord threatned him with long affliction The sword shall never depart from thine house 2. Sa. 12.10 Neither will the Lord give us over or cease to afflict us one way or other untill hee hath brought us upō our knees broken our hard hearts and sufficiently humbled us under his hand For if we walk stubbornly against him he will walke stubbornly against us then their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled and they shall willingly beare the punishment of their iniquity Lev. 26.41 Remembering mine affliction and my mourning the wormwood and the gall my soule hath them in remembrance and is humbled in mee Lament 3.19 20. Fourthly the Lord by continuing his hand of affliction long upon his children doth hereby make known the strength of his Grace which is sufficient to support his children under long and tedious afflictions A wise builder will lay the heaviest burden upon that peece of timber which is most heart and most able to beare it Greatest peeces are put to greatest stresse because little peeces would warpe and yeeld if not break asunder Even so where there is most strength of Grace there the Lord oft times laies on the greatest load of affliction which as it makes for the praise and glory of his Grace so doth it serve much for example unto all that are neer unto them that they may live by faith and hope that if ever they come into the like trial the Lord as he is able to support and strengthen them so he will doe it and graciously stand by them even in long and sharpe afflictions as he hath upheld others in the like case Fiftly and lastly the Lord doth this that so he may afterward replenish the hearts of his children with aboundance of inward and spiritual joy After they have tasted of more gall then others they shall eate of more hony then others Heavines hath some long time sojourned in their hearts but joy and gladnesse followeth after to inhabit in them for ever The spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Esay to comfort all that mourne appoint unto them that mourne in Sion and to give unto them beauty for ashes the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heavinesse that they may bee called trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Esay 61.2 3. Yee shall sorrow saith Christ but your sarrow shall be turned into joy Iohn 16.20 If thy sorrows and afflictions have been longer then ordinary they shal make way for more then ordinary joy and thankfulnes for issue and deliverance according to that which the Church uttered Lam. 3.21 22. I consider this in mine heart therefore have I hope It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not Have wee not then good cause to bee patient in afflictions although they bee sharp and tedious seeing they proceed from the hand of our pitifull and mercifull father To helpe forward and further your patience do but consider of these 4. things First how exceedingly we have a long time provoked the Lord by our sinnes amongst which our unbeliefe is that which hath most offended him If the Lord should deale unto us our weight and measure that is punish us according to our deserts what would become of
us If the Lord should dispute with us wee could not answer him one thing of a thousand When hee visiteth what shall I answer him said Iob 31.14 Whereupon David saith Psalm 130.3 If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand The least sinne wee commit makes us liable to the vengeance of eternall torments How grear a measure of punishment do wee then deserve for our many for our grievous sinnes our sinnes being like unto the sand by the sea shore which is innumerable What ever our afflictions are or may be they come short of our sinnes they fall short of that which wee have deserved and that which the Lord may justly without any wrong to us lay upon us Amongst many other one maine cause why we are so troubled and vexed with affliction is because we are so little galled with our sinnes a true sense of these would make our afflictions to be more easie and us lesse sensible of them then many times we are Do we not see it by experience that when the stone and the gout or some other bodily malady meet together the paine of the stone being the more grievous alaies if not takes away the sense pain of the gout even so would it be here when sinne and affliction are both upon us at once the consideration of our sinnes deserving farre greater punishment then we beare should so grieve us that the punishment it selfe should not move us much lesse stirre us up to impatience Is there not then great cause that we should willingly and patiently bear Gods chastisements as the Church resolved Mica 7.9 I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him And confesse with the good theef in the Gospell We indeed are justly here for we receive the due reward of our deeds Luke 23.41 And thus did that Emperor Mauritius who beholding his wife and children murthered before his face cried out just art thou o Lord and just are thy judgements And thus David confessed I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou hast afflicted me justly Ps 119.75 Secondly compare thine afflictions with the sufferings of many of the Lords Worthies and thou hast great cause to be patient Looke but into the 11. Chap. to the Heb. ver 35 36 37. and tell mee if thine afflictions be answerable or sutable to their fiery trials Looke into the sufferings of Christ Consider him that indured such speaking against of sinners lest you should be wearied and faint in your mindes ye have not yet resisted unto blood Heb. 12.3 4. If the Lord deal so sharply with many of his deare children and with thee so mildly so gently wonder at Gods clemency and lenity lay thy hand upon thy mouth and bee patient Thirdly consider how short thine affliction will bee in comparison of that eternall torment the Lord might lay upon thee our afflictions are but light and moment any as Paul calls them 2. Cor. 4.17 The Lord himselfe saith Esay 54.8 For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee for a little season but with everlasting love have I had compassion on thee Who would not bee content with a course of physick for a few daies though the physick be untoothsome and very bitter in hope of health for ever after What if thou hast indured months of sorrow and painfull nights have beene appointed unto thee as they were to Job 7.3 What are they in comparison of those eternall torments the Lord might throw thee into in which there will be no ease out of which there shall be no release A great cause of impatience and storming at afflictions is the ignorance of our selves and of the desert of our sinnes which if we knew aright we would confesse with Ezra let our miseries and troubles be what they will that the Lord hath punished us lesse then our iniquities have deserved Ezra 9.13 I will beare the wrath of the Lord saith the Church Mic. 7.9 I will not repine at his dealing with me I wil not open my mouth by way of complaint or murmuring but from what doth this holy resolution and patience proceed It followeth in the same verse because I have sinned against him I have carried my selfe proudly stoutly and rebelliously against him I have provoked the eyes of his glory I have many waies many times broken his holy lawes I have deserved farre more farre greater judgements then he hath laid upon me it is his mercy that I am not confounded that I am of this side hell Fourthly and lastly the consideration of the blessed end that God for the most part makes of the afflictions of his servants will further our patience After they have endured any great fight in affliction he doth usually bestow some speciall favor or other upon them yea proportionable to the measure of the affliction hath the recompence and the blessing been such as have had the bitterest crosses have received the sweetest comforts Ye have heard of the patience of Job and what end the Lord made Jam. 5.11 What this end was is recorded Iob. 42. where it is said that the Lord turned a way the captivitie of Iob and gave him twice as much as he had before So the Lord blessed the last daies of Iob more then the first Iob 42.12 This hope of future mercy kept David from fainting in his affliction Psal 71.20 21. Thou hast shewed we great troubles and adversities but thou wilt return and revive me and wilt come againe and take me from the depth of the earth Thou wilt increase mine honnor and receive and comfort me if not with temporall assuredly with spirituall comfort here for they bring forth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse unto them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12.11 They are occasions as hath been formerly proved of purging our corruption and bringing of us neerer God and into more conformity with Christ and should not this comfort us Besides they make way for glory and endlesse comfort They that sow in teares shall reape in ioy Psalm 126.5 Afflictions cause unto us a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory 2. Cor. 4.17 Art thou in any affliction thou art but under a short cloud it will quickly blow over and thou shalt have a faire season a most comfortable and glorious sun-shine when all teares shall be wiped away from thine eyes Rev. 7.17 After two dayes hee will revive us and in the third day he will raise us up and wee shall live in his sight Hos 6.2 Art thou in affliction be patient the third day is comming wherein the Lord will deliver thee There must be a time for thee to sow thy prayers in and a time for thee to water them with the teares of true repentance and then presently comes the joyfull harvest in due season thou shalt reape if thou thou bee patient if thou faint not Gal. 6.10 What made Steven in his martyrdome to bee so patient and chearefull but
because our safety and security lieth in it As God loveth a cheerfull doer so hee loveth a cheerfull sufferer A childe that is willing to kisse the rod wherewith it was beaten gives great content unto the parent which corrected it and makes halfe amends for the fault it hath committed Christ will have every one of his to take up his Crosse daily Luk. 9.23 the taking up of our crosse implyeth willingnesse and cheerfulnesse in the bearing of it Many a childe of God is content to beare his crosse when the Lord hath laied it upon his shoulders as the Prophet Jeremiah speakeath Woe is me for my destruction and my grievous plague But I thought yet it is my sorrow and I will beare it Jerem. 10.19 Hee dares not mutter or repine at the Lords doing but here was no rejoycing in tribulation Whereas James tells us that wee must count it exceeding joy when wee fall into divers afflictions Jam. 1.2 When the Lord commeth as it were in open hostilitie against us mustering his forces towards us when one affliction comes upon the neck of another when wee fall into divers afflictions even then we have cause of rejoycing For our afflictions comming from the hand of our loving Father cannot be hurtfull but profitable unto us Hee chasteneth us for our profit that wee might he partakers of his holinesse Hebr 12.10 Indeed if our afflictions brought God out of love with us or us more in love with sinne which God hates and is hurtfull unto us if our afflictions were sent unto us as curses wee had cause to mourn in them But when the Word of truth so often pronounceth us blessed in them as Psalme 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest O Lord. Have wee not then great cause of rejoycing in them especially seeing our Heavenly Father hath the ordering and disposing of all our afflictions both in respect of their kinde and nature and also in respect of their measure either of quantity or continuance First in regard of their kind If you would know why this affliction befalls thee rather then another it is because the Lord the only wise and soveraign Physitian knows how to strike thee in the right veine hee knowes thy heart and the nature of thy corruption and therefore applieth such medecines unto thee as will bee most available for thy cure Which thing Job teacheth us Behold hee will break down and it cannot be built he shutteth a man up and hee cannot be loosed Behold hee withholdeth the waters and they drie up but when he sendeth them out they destroy the earth with him is strength and wisedom Job 12.14 15 16. Yea hee is mighty in strength and wisedom Job 36.5 Which he could not be said to be if any other course were better for us then that which he taketh with us The Lord is perfect wisedom and therefore will not cannot but go the best the safest and wisest way to worke for the good of his children Some peradventure may think that some other kind of affliction might have been better for them then the present some other they thinke would have done them more good then this can do But they speak they know not what And I may say unto them as Christ to his Disciples Luk. 9.55 Yee know not of what spirit yee are The choosing of the rod belongeth unto him that is to give the correction not to him that taketh it Indeed the Lord did once put David to his choice 2. Sam. 24.12 I offer unto thee three things chuse thee which of them I shall do unto thee But this was an extraordinary favor shewed unto David first to make triall of his Faith whether he had rather fall into the hand of the Lord then into the hand of man and secondly to let him know that the Lord would correct him in mercy in that hee gave him libertie to make choise of the punishment The Lord knew that either of those rods would bee sufficient to scourge David withall And none knows so well as the Lord how to meet with our corruptions or what afflictions are meet for us If thou canst not profit by that affliction which the Lord appointeth unto thee thou wilt profit by none To say some other kind were better for thee were to controll the judgement of the wise God as if hee knew not better then our selves to order and dispose of us Is it fit the patient should prescribe his Physitian what course to take with him wilt thou teach him what he shall administer unto thee this were to dishonor the Physitian therefore thou submittest to his judgement and takest what hee prescribeth thee resting upon his skill And wilt thou dare so highly to dishonor God as to question his wisedome and knowledge as if some other affliction were better for thee then this which hee is pleased to administer unto thee No no say as Ely did 1. Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Secondly the Lord hath the disposing of our afflictions for quantitie for hee doth order all things in their measure number and weight but especially the afflictions of his children Jerem. 30.11 I will not utterly destroy thee but correct thee in judgement or in measure as the new translation hath it God therefore metes out unto his children not according to their merit but in mercy according to their strength looking more what they are able to undergoe then what they do deserve to be laid upon them Hee correcteth in judgement that is wisely proportioning our affliction to our strength and not in anger least he bring us to nothing Jere. 10.24 Feare not therefore O Jacob my servant saith the Lord for I am with thee I will not utterly destroy thee but correct thee by judgement and not utterly cut thee off Jerem. 46.28 Comfort thy selfe therefore in this that God is faithfull who will not suffer thee to be tempted above that thou art able to beare but will with the tentation make a way to escape that thou maist be able to beare it as was formerly spoken Thirdly and lastly the Lord disposeth of all our afflictions in respect of their time and continuance which he hath promised shall be but short For the rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous Psal 105.3 Hee indureth but a while in his anger Weeping may abide at the evening but joy commeth in the morning Psal 30.5 Who is a God like unto thee saith Micah that taketh away iniquitie and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his wrath for ever because mercy pleaseth him Mic. 7.18 Therefore wait patiently upon the Lord for issue out of thine affliction which in due time thou shalt bee sure of For the Lord deals not with his children as the Devill doth with his servants bringing them into the briars and there leave them to scratch and rent and teare themselves but the
shall suffer and bee afflicted Revel 2.10 Yee shall suffer tribulation ten dayes This time thou canst not shorten but lengthen it thou mayst through thy impatience As an earthly father correcting his childe for some fault doth resolve with himself to give him but a lash or two to keep him but a while under the rod if hee take his correction patiently but if he kicke or murmurre hee resolves to hold him down the longer and give him the more stripes Even so our heavenly Father deales with his children the more patiently wee take our affliction the sooner wee are like to come out of it The patient abiding of the righteous shall be gladnesse Prov. 10.28 Trust in the Lord and thou shalt bee safe Hee that beleeveth maketh not haste Esay 28.16 But is content to tarry the Lords leisure Many are ready to compound and indent with God thus long they will wait thus long they will pray and if by that time no helpe nor deliverance come they will give over in their impatient mood as the messenger of the King of Israel said Behold this evill commeth of the Lord should I attend the Lord any longer 2. Kings 6.33 O beware of such thoughts but let thy heart bee in the feare of the Lord continually for surely there is an end and thy hope shall not be cut off Prov. 23 17 18. Wee cannot denie but The hope that is deferred is the fainting of the heart but when the desire commeth it is a tree of life Prov. 13.12 The longer the Lord delaies our deliverance the sweeter will it bee when it comes Wait therefore with patience seeing the Lord by his writing seal and oath hath promised to deliver us out of all our troubles And what hee hath promised hee will most certainly perform for though God may bee angry with us for our sinnes yet he cannot be unfaithfull though he may like Joseph conceale his affection for a time yet impossible it is that he should shut up his compassions and renounce the protection of such as depend upon him or denie deliverance to such as do seek aright unto him Therefore Who is there amongst you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Esa 50.10 By darknesse is heere understood affliction out of which the Lord will assuredly bring all such as seek unto him and rest upon him Beware of making more haste then good speed to procure freedom from our deliverance out of troubles by unlawfull and sinfull courses Wee rob the Lord of a great deal of honor and our selves of a great deal of comfort which wee should reap by waiting upon the Lord. Too many are ready to thinke that if they have some little time besought the Lord that hee forsooth is bound presently to answer them As those hypocrites Esay 58.3 expostulated the matter with the Lord saying Wherefore have wee fasted and thou seest it not wee have punished our selves and thou regardest it not Some are ready to cry with David How long how long Lord wilt thou forget me for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from mee Psal 13.1 Againe Have mercy upon mee O Lord for I am weake O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed My soul is also sore troubled but Lord how long wilt thou delay Psal 6.2 3. Beware of measuring the Lord by thine own line and plummet let not thy carnall reason or fleshly wisdom seem to direct or limit Gods Providence thou maiest not joyn thine own fantasies to Gods will but what thou seekest at his hands thou must commend it to his good pleasure without saying to thy selfe Let it be thus or so God doth many times delay his children and not by and by afford them that helpe and comfort which he intendeth them yea sometimes he suffers them to be ready to sink before he saves them As he dealt with his Disciples who were tossed up and down of the waves the ship reeling too and fro and ready to be overwhelmed before hee would awake and bid the tempest be still yet when he saw time hee rebuked the winde and seas and delivered his Disciples from their danger and feare Know and beleeve that the measure and issue of any tentation belongeth unto God Therefore howsoever the case standeth with thee expostulate not with God entertain no hard conceits of him The Lord in wisdom may delay our deliverance out of affliction because haply hee sees that it hath not as yet throughly wrought upon us nor done us that good he intendeth us Do Goldsmiths use to take their mettall out of the fornace before it be fined from the drosse There be some kind of plaisters applied to the bellies of children which will sticke fast so long as the wormes bee alive but if the bed of them be broken and they killed the plaister will fall off and so of many sores If affliction still cleave unto thee it is because sinne is not yet killed in thee This plaister lieth on us no longer then till the sore be whole and the disease be cured in us It may be the Lord sees wee are not fit for deliverance wee would too quickly forget the rod and return to our own byas if hee should by and by ease us as soon as wee cry unto him It may be the Lord sees wee would not be thankfull enough for deliverance if it should bee granted upon the first request Things lightly attained unto are oft times slightly regarded Whereas those things which we get through the pikes wee prize at a high rate Therefore thou forgettest thy selfe and the Word of truth in saying God hath forgotten to be mercifull and gracious because he doth not by and by answere thee Can a woman forget her childe and not have compassion on the son of her wombe Peradventure there may bee some such unnaturall monsters that cast off all naturall affection and lay violent hands upon their children but though they forget yet will I not forget thee saith the Lord and for assurance hereof Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands Esay 49.15 16. When wee are afraid wee shall forget a thing we tye a thred about our finger for our better remembring thereof but when wee tie threds upon both hands wee then make sure wee will not forget it thus doth the Lord set down his children in the palmes of both hands that they may not be forgotten Therefore still wait and deliverance will come when thou dost least think of it Object I have no hope I cannot thinke I shall be delivered Answ Gods thoughts are not your thoughts Esay 55.8 You know your own thoughts you know not Gods Jerem. 29.11 I know the thoughts that I thinke towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evill to give you an expected end Object But I see no way no
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
to rob thee of that good hee sees thine affliction is like to do thee and that thou art not so distrustfulll of Gods love nor so unbeleeving as the Devill doth beare thee in hand thou art But admit it bee so and that thou art as thou speakest of thy selfe wilt thou judge of the good effect of thy bodily physicke or the skill and love of thy Physician by the sick and painfull working of the Physick What wise man would so do This were all one as if a man should judge of his future strength or a woman of her beautie by their present condition of sicknesse Therefore howsoever no good by affliction may appeare at first but the contrary rather there being much impatience infidelity c. Yet know thou that no mans grace is to be judged of in the time of temptation for certainly many even of the Lords deare children when the hand of God is upon them especially if it lie more heavily and longer then ordinary do doubt of Gods love and favour and do bewray much corruption by their unadvised and inconsiderate words by their sowre and lumpish cariage in the time of their afflictions The Scripture commendeth Moses for faith and obedience yet being perplexed and vexed with the dogednesse and rebellion of the Israelites hee so offended the Lord by his unbeliefe that the Lord did cut him short of Canaan and would not suffer him to set foot on that promised land Because yee beleeved mee not to sanctifie mee in the presence of the children of Israel therefore yee shall not bring this people into the land that I have given them Numb 20.12 Admirable and invincible was the patience of Job Yet when the hand of God was first upon him how did hee curse the day of his birth wishing that hee had died as soon as he was born Let that day perish wherein I was born c. Job 3.3 And afterward againe Oh that God would destroy me that he would let his hand go and cut mee off Job 6.9 Was not David beloved of God and a man after his own heart yet hee was so overwhelmed with the cloud of afflictions and so battered with the storme of adversity that he could not discerne the love of God towards him but hee cries out Will the Lord absent himselfe for ever and will hee shew no more love or favor Psal 77.7 And againe Lord why dost thou reject my soul and hidest thy face from mee Thine indignations go over mee and thy feare hath cut me off Psal 88.15 16. I alledge not these examples for the fostering of any in their impatience and unbeliefe nor that any should take libertie from hence for the like behavior in the time of affliction but I speak this the rather partly to uphold and comfort weak beleevers that they listen not to Satans temptations who will be ready to buâ—e it into their eares that none of Gods children do question his love in the time of triall or shew any impatience under the rod and partly to stop the mouthes of the wicked and to stay their uncharitable censure from going too farre they being so ready to measure the child of God either by his afflictions or by his behavior in them Objects But may Gods children be sad and heavie in time of affliction Answ No doubt they may for doth not Saint Peter say now for a season if need require yee are in heavinesse through manifold tentations 1. Pet. 1.6 but in our heavinesse these cautions must be observed First our sorrow must be greater for our sinne which brought the affliction then for the affliction it selfe Secondly wee must not bee excessive but moderate in our heavinesse Object But how may wee know that our sorow for afflictions is moderate Answ First if it exceed not the measure of our sorrow for sinne If our sinnes bee our greatest heart-smart our sorrow for affliction is moderate Secondly if our sorrow for affliction hurt us not that is drieth not up our bones impaireth not our strength or make us unfit for publique imployment Thirdly and lastly if it withdrawes not the heart from God and the dueties of his worship and service Object But the weake beleever will still object and say If my troubles and afflictions were only bodily and outward I make no question but I should see Gods love in them but my wound and griefe is inward and spirituall I cannot finde or feel the sweet comforts of Gods Spirit I see the angry countenance of God bent against me for my sinnes God mee thinkes lookes not now upon mee with the amiable countenance of a loving Father but with the face of a severe and strict judge ready to take vengeance upon mee for my sinnes how can I then be perswaded either or Gods love or that my case is good or that good is intended mee by this affliction Answ Howsoever these inward and spirituall afflictions be the sorest of all trials for the spirit of a man may sustaine his bodily infirmities but a wounded spirit who can beare Prov. 18.14 Yet I would have thee know that even these inward and sad afflictions are no other then are incident unto the best of Gods children and wherewith the Lord in love doth afflict them For the Lord seeth as wee have spoken before what his children stand in most need of out of his deep and unsearchable wisedome hee singles out and makes choice of those tryalls which shall make most for our spirituall good the Lord ever pitcheth upon that affliction which shall worke best upon us and serve most punctually to humble and awe us Some he afflicts with varietie of worldly crosses as in their children or outward estate Some he doth extraordinarily exercise with spirituall conflicts and troubles of conscience thus sorting out unto his children those severall crosses and corrections which out of his unsearchable wisedome and their spirituall necessitie hee sees most expedient for them Therefore of what nature soever thy crosse be do thou take it up seeing it pleaseth our wise God to exercise thee with it as thy portion It may be thou thinkest that no outward and worldly crosse could go so neere thee as doth this inward tentation but who knowes what thou wouldst be if this tryal were removed It may bee the Lord sees that without it thou wouldest grow worldly or waspish or secure or proud now high spirits must be abased low and the Lord sees that these inward and spirituall conflicts are the best and surest way to humble us and to bring us out of love with sinne and our selves and more in love with his majestie He breaks up hee rents and teares the heart and conscience with fears and terrors that so it may bee made more plyable and gentle more fit to receive and to retaine that seed of grace which the Lord is now casting into them Therefore assure thy selfe that it is not for any want of love that the Lord doth lay so heavie
thought of them Then feare not they shall not be layd to thy charge Assure thy selfe those sighes and groans which proceed from thy perplexed soul shall find so much grace and favor with God as they shall be able to prevaile with him for that blessing thou hast begd and standst in need of And although thou canst not pray as thou wouldst yet sigh and groane as thou shouldst and hee which knowes the secrets of all hearts will be able to understand the meaning of thy sighs and groans of the spirit within thee which doth plead and speak to God for thee Object But I feare the Lord doth abominate my sacrifice and service as loathsome hee may cast it as dung in my face and lay some judgement upon mee for offering up such a strange sacrifice unto him Answ If God hath given thee a heart to mourne for sinne he hath made thee able to offer him such a sacrifice as hee is well pleased with and therefore he can not but accept of thy person whatsoever thy failings have been Thy grieved soul and sorrowfull spirit is a sacrifice which casts a sweet savor in the Lords nostrills Psalm 51.17 And would God accept of thy sacrifice if hee had rejected thee No no assure thy selfe that God hath accepted of thy person if hee accepts of thy sacrifice The Lord had 〈…〉 and to his offering Gâ—â—e 4.4 The melting of thy soul and the kindly mourning over him whom thou hast pierced with thy sinne is a most infallible evidence of Gods love towards thee and of the saving presence of his holy Spirit abiding in thee Therefore let thy spirit rejoyce in that thou art able to mourne for sinne Those teares which proceed from a grieved soul and wounded spirit may be compared unto Aprill showers which bring on May-flowers although these showers wet where they fall Yet through the heat of the Sunne working with them they produce a great deale of sweetnesse in those plants and hearbs which they fall upon There is abundance of joy in all godly sorrow As the harvest is potentially in the seed so the harvest of true and sound joy growes out of this seed of sorrow Psalm 126.5 They that sow in teares shall reap in joy Why is thy soul then so troubled within thee why art thou still so sad so heavie and dejected Object Howsoever I grieve and mourn yet I can not beleeve that there is any truth of grace in mee in that I am not so fruitfull and profitable in my place and calling as I should and faine would bee I am a barren fruitlesse tree one that cumbers the earth fit for nothing but the fire Answ But is it not with thee as it fareth with some covetous earthly gripple-minded persons which spend their time in scraping and raking together these outward things pinch their bodies and are ever and anon whining and complaining that they have nothing when as their chests are full of good linnen their houses stored and stuffed full of utensills and their purse full of money but being blinded with the love of the world think they have nothing because they have not so much as their covetous eye would look over and therefore do neither thankfully acknowledge what they have received nor profitably improve any thing they do enjoy either to Gods glory their own comfort or others good Even so many afflicted souls being overladen with anguish of mind and deluded by Satan oft times complaine of the want of grace in the midst of plentie not seeing as the saying is wood for trees and thus do bely both God and themselves And it is just with the Lord somtimes to hold his children down with feares and doubtings because they have not been sufficiently thankfull to God for that rich grace they have received from him Our unthankfulnesse is not only as a great fogg and mist which doth exceedingly obscure and darken the grace of God in his children but is also as a worme or canker which eats into the sap and heart of grace so as it thrives not nor fructifies as otherwise it would do But such as are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God Psalm 92.13 Doth not the Prophet Jeremiah also tell us that those that trust in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is shall be as a tree planted by the water which spreadeth out her roots shall not care for the yeere of drought neither shall cease from yeelding fruit Jere. 17.8 Answ And is not this good fruit to bemoane thy barrennesse Admit that for the present thou dost not increase thy spirituall stock as thou desirest thou dost not perceive grace to thrive and grow in thee as thou dost behold it in others must it needs follow that thou are therefore utterly destitute and void of grace A man whiles hee is asleep makes no use of many good things hee hath a hand benummed with cold feels not that which it holds fast It may so fall out that grace may be somthing chilled in thee doth it therefore follow that it is quite killed in thee Thou must learn to put a difference betwixt no grace and grace some way infeebled for the present It fares with grace in the hearts of many of Gods children as it doth with the Moon somtimes in the full and somtimes in the wain or as with the Sea which somtimes flowes and sometimes ebbs even so through Satans malice and our own frailtie grace may seem somtime to ebbe in us and then no wonder if the heart be deaded and out inward peace disturbed through feares and doubtings Assure thy selfe this off and on this up and down this heat and cold ariseth from those principles of grace and corruption abiding in all the Lords people Corruption somtimes prevailes and this royles and troubles these living waters within us and makes them thick and muddy so as little good appeares in us but anon when the wind of the spirit blowes againe with its holy blast it cleanseth and refineth these troubled waters whose cleernesse may again be seen and whose goodnesse may be tasted Object But my case is worse then ordinary for I have returned with the dogge to lick up my old vomit after repenting and cleansing yea covenanting with God for ever to renounce and abandon my former sinnes I have with the swine wallowed in the old mire of filthinesse and therefore I cannot think that ever grace was in truth begun in mee Answ If it be so thy case is the more lamentable and fearefull but yet it is not desperate For divers of the Lords people many worthie ones have relapsed have fallen back unto old sinnes and yet by the goodnesse and mercie of God have recovered themselves againe and gained the love and favor of God Did not Abraham sinne the matter of Sarah his wife hazarding her chastitie by a poore plot yea a sinfull pollicie exposing his wife to adultrey for his own outward peace
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
of whom I spake even now being brought to that extreame want that hee would faine have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eate but no man gave him them then hee came to himselfe Luk. 15 16 17. Being before as it were out of his right wits that is ignorant of that miserable and wicked condition into which through sinne he had brought himselfe How many of Gods people have forgotten the Lord and themselves untill such time as the Lord hath remembred them with some affliction wee never come to a thorow understanding and knowledge of our own hearts untill affliction hath gaged and sounded them In prosperitie wee can carry our selves moderately and cheerefully towards God and man for the corruption that is within us lieth still and is not stirred and therefore not seene or discerned as the stinking smell and savor of some dunghill or bumby is kept in and not smelled untill it be stirred but if once you meddle with it then it casts up those stinking vapors that are in it even so let God lay affliction upon us then that corruption which before lay hid is now manifested Wee never come to make experience as was said before of our impatience testinesse rebellion infidelity love of the world and the like untill affliction come unto us Wee are so blinded with selfe-conceit and privie pride that when wee heare of or see others distempered with affliction wee can be ready to condemne them and in our own breasts justifie our selves and thinke that wee would beare out the affliction more manfully then so if the same or the like should befall us Whereupon the Lord to humble us and take us down sendeth us some affliction or other that so wee may thinke no better of our selves then there is just cause for when affliction comes wee can doubt of Gods promise wee can question his Providence wee can murmurre and repine or at the least hang down the head in a discontented and suâ—len manner as if wee had neither faith nor hope nor any dramme of grace in us Reason 2 Secondly by affliction wee come to judge aright of sinne as well as of our selves It is that which will make sinne as heinous and odious in our own view as it is in its own nature Did not the God of this world cast a mist before our eyes or else shew us our sinnes in false glasses wee would be so farre from pleasing our selves with any sinne that upon the committing of it wee would cry out with the leper in the law I am unclean I am unclean Lev. 13.45 Wee would abhorre our selves in dust and ashes if wee saw how loathsome sinne hath made us in Gods eye and this wee seldome see but when affliction opens our eyes Indeed afflictions of themselves can not do this it is the Word of God which inlightens us and brings us to the knowledge of our estates But wee seldome find instructions to enter home untill afflictions have sharpned them Those that live in prosperitie ease and fulnesse are ready to passe by rebukes and to slight reproofe as unseasonable and as that which belongs not unto them but when the chastisements of God have seazed upon them awakened their consciences and mollified and humbled their hearts then rebukes have a keener edge and pierce more deeply Instructions are the light that guides us in the way but corrections joyned with them do make our eye-sight more cleere and cause us more heedfully to follow the directions of the Word Affliction makes us to heed that which before wee regarded not As our eares are opened by correction which were formerly sealed Job 33.16 so also our eyes are enlightned which were formerly darkned After the Lord had smitten down Paul to the ground as hee was journeying towards Damascus it is said that there sell from his eyes as it had been scales and suddenly hee received sight and arose and was baptized Acts 9.18 untill affliction had seized upon Paul hee could never be brought to see the oudiousnesse of his sinnes If the Lord should alwayes sit still and never come forth to judge us for our sinnes many would not only flatter themselves in their evill wayes not only justifie themselves but condemne the Lord in being ready to thinke that the Lord himselfe were well enough pleased with them and their practise These things thou hast done and I held my tongue therefore thou thoughtest that I was like thee but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thee Psal 50.21 Impunity and prosperity makes many think that sinne is not so dangerous a thing nor so foul an evill as many Preachers would beare them in hand it is whereupon they take heart and are emboldned to the committing of sin and continuing in it as the Preacher saith Eccle. 8.11 Because sentence against an evill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set in them to do evill Whereupon to beat us out of these wicked conceits the Lord sendeth some affliction or other home unto us to be an eye-salve to anoint our eyes that wee may see both the nature and the danger of our sinnes how odious and hateful they are unto the Lord How noxious and hurtfull they will one day prove unto us if by speedy repentance we do not turn away from them especially from those sinnes for which chiefly the Lord doth afflict us Naturally wee are all children of darknesse so blind and blockish that many know not like blindfolded people who smote them nor yet wherefore they are smitten In afflictions for the most part wee are like blind men or those that grope up and downe in the dark to feele the doore but cannot find the way out It is a master-peece of Satans pollicie to delude our understandings and judgements with carnall reasonings that so when God afflicts us to bring us unto the sight of our sinne wee should either hold on our old course or else do more wickedly by not seeing and so not amending that sinne for which we are punished that by sinne wee might be plunged into punishment and for want of repentance our punishment continued increased Object But how may I be certified what sinne it is for which I am corrected of the Lord Answ First of all look upon thine affliction and weigh well with thy selfe the nature and quality of the same for oft times the Lord meets with us in our own kind and paies us home with judgements sutable unto our sins Adonibezek had cut of the thumbs of the hands and feet of divers Kings and therefore God rewarded him as hee had done to others Judges 1.7 If David will kill Vriah with the sword the sword shall never depart from his house 1. Samu. 12.9 10. Thus wee see how the Lord oft times meets with sinners in the same kind wherein they have sinned what may wee say is the cause of this sore and baiting famine
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.
4.31 At the end of those dayes I Nebuchadnezzar lift up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding was restored unto mee being a blinde beast before afflictions came Object But what if neither my conscience telleth me of any great sinnes committed by me nor the Lord revealeth unto me any sinne which hath provoked him to punish mee Answ Then thou must know and beleeve that thy affliction and crosse is for tryall for example for prevention and not for punishment The Lord will have the truth and strength of thy grace tryed God will have thee to bee a pattern unto others of obedience and patience or else by this affliction as hath been said he intendeth to prevent some sinne which if thou wert let alone thou wouldest fall into Reason 3 Thirdly it must needs bee that God by afflicting of us intendeth the bettering of us because by afflictions hee workes our hearts to a holy feare of his Majestie The judgements of the Lord make the very wicked oft to tremble as it is evident in divers places of the Scripture Egypt shall be like unto a woman for it shall be afraid and feare because of the moving hand of the Lord of hosts which hee shaketh over it Esay 19.16 The shaking of Gods rod makes many oft to tremble That all Israel may heare and feare and do no more any such wickednesse among you Deutr. 13.11 God whips his own to keep them in awe that the feare of God may ever be in our hearts not such a feare as is in the wicked who dread him only because of his power and will to punish them for sin and is therefore called a servile or slavish feare because it hath not the love of God or the hatred of sinne annexed unto it but a holy and a pious feare of God such a feare as is joyned with the hatred of evill Prov. 8.13 and so causeth an eschewing of evill as it is said of Job hee was one that feared God and eschewed evill Job 1.1 This is that feare the Lord wisheth might take up the hearts of his people Deut. 5.29 Oh that there were such an heart in them to feare mee and to keep all commandments alway Which feare the Lord increaseth in the hearts of his children by afflicting them 1. Sam. 12.18 The Lord sent the Israelites thunder and rain in harvest and the people feared the Lord. Prosperity and immunity from affliction makes many people secure careles fearelesse Because they have no changes therefore they feare not God Psal 55.19 Implying by these words that the want of the feare of God groweth from the want of affliction So Psal 73. the prosperity of the wicked is made the ground of their iniquitie There are no bands in their death they are lusty and strong They are not in trouble as other men neither plagued with other men Therfore pride is as a chain unto them They are licentious they speak wickedly they talke presumptuously c. These are the wicked who although they be long spared shall in the end be destroyed perish and horribly consumed because they did not chuse the feare of the Lord. Prov. 1.29 If then affliction is the means of working this feare in us it must needs be that God in-intendeth our great good by afflicting of us for no good thing shall be wanting to those that feare him Psal 34.9 The feare of God may bee compared unto the needle which makes way for the thred and drawes it after it even so the feare of the Lord makes way for much good and as it were draws it along withall First it is a means of our humiliation it will take downe our high thoughts and abate and abase our lofty spirits Jacobs feare of Esau made him to bow seven times unto his brother Esau High-mindednesse and feare are opposite one to the other hence Paul exhorteth us Rom. 11.20 Be not high-minded but feare Secondly the feare of God is as a bridle unto our unruly wills and as a curbe unto our disordered affections to represse sinne This kept the mid-wives from murdering the infants of the Hebrew women Exod. 1.21 This kept Joseph from yeelding to the lust of his adulterous Mistris How can I do this great wickednesse and so sinne against God Genes 39.9 Thirdly the feare of the Lord will make us couragious in Gods cause so as wee shall not feare the face of man Say not a confederacy neither feare you their feare nor be afraid of them sanctifie the Lord of hosts and let him be your feare and your dread Esa 8.12 13. There be amongst us too many face-fearers who had rather sinne against the Lord then displease sinfull men these I may compare unto little children which are afraid oft times to touch toyes and bables yet will be bold to put their finger into the fire But those that feare man more or before the Lord 〈◊〉 look to meet with the Judgement of God Jere. 1.17 Therefore let us feare the Lord and this will swallow up all needlesse feare of men as Aarons rod devoured the rod of the inchanters for the feare of the Lord procureth a good conscience and where a good conscience is there is holy courage and boldnesse the righteous are bold as a Lyon Prov. 28.1 Fourthly the feare of God keeps the heart and conscience waking and watchfull it leaves no place for security Hence the Apostle exhorts the Philipians to work out their salvation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 Serve the Lord in feare and rejoyce in trembllng Psal 2.11 Hee that feareth the Lord considereth that Gods eyes do alwayes behold him that whatsoever hee goes about though in secret or in darknesse yet all things are open and manifest unto the Lord Yea that he understands the thoughts and secrets of every heart Psal 139.2 and that nothing is hid from him The consideration whereof will make us to watch over our very thoughts seeing wee are lyable to Gods Judgements for evill thoughts as well as for evill words and workes Rom. 2.16 Fiftly and lastly the feare of God will make us happy for wonderfull are the benefits both temporall and spirituall which the feare of God procureth to us and ours Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord his generation shall be blessed riches and treasure shall be in his house Psalm 112.1 2 3. Such as feare the Lord have a promise of great prosperity Deut. 5.29 How great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that feare thee Psalm 31.19 Not onely temporall good things but spirituall also for the secrets of the Lord are with them that feare him Psalm 25.14 Yea the Angels of the Lord do pitch and tent about those that feare him Psal 34.7 Great are the priviledges of such as feare God which in this life they partake of but the priviledges and mercies of another life are so great as wee are no way able to conceive of them May wee not then safely conclude
That the end of Gods afflicting of us is the bettering of us When as by affliction hee brings us to a thorow knowledge and understanding of our selves to judge aright of the nature of sinne and so to come to abhorre and detest it and last of all by affliction wee are brought to feare the Lord. Not that afflictions of themselves do work this good in any for they only make the wound they do not heal they only cast us down but cannot raise us up againe they are as a Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ they bring not Christ into the heart of a sinner It prepares the heart and makes a way for good it is only the spirit of God working with the Word and helping us to apply the same aright unto our selves which is the efficient cause of all good that betideth us yet because the Lord doth work good by affliction that thing is figuratively applyed unto affliction which is the proper worke of Gods Spirit in the hearts of his children Vse Is it so that the chiefe end of the Lords afflicting of us is the bettering of us Then are the Romanists grosly mistaken who say that God hath another end in correcting of us and that is say the Papists for the punishment of our sinnes and the satisfying of Gods Justice All sinne doth deserve a double punishment both temporall and eternall This latter say they Christ hath undergone for all his members but the former the temporall punishment lyeth upon our necks and must be undergone by us as a satisfaction to be made of our parts to the Justice of God And for proofe hereof they alledge the example of David who howsoever hee was received into mercie upon his humiliation and contrition and so freed from eternall punishment yet was hee not quit of that satisfaction which he was in his own person to make unto God for his offences therefore did hee say they indure temporal punishments A foul and a grose error and that which doth not only derogate from the all-sufficiencie of Christ his merrit and satisfaction for with one offering hath hee consecrated for ever them that are sanctified Hebrewes 10.24 But it also takes much from the goodnesse of God his love and mercie is wonderfully clouded eclipsed by their doctrine For whereas the Lord telleth us that hee doth afflict us in great love for the bettering of us for the beating of sinne down in us and driving it away from us they say that God correcteth us for the punishment of sinne in us and the satisfying of his justice Away therefore with their blasphemous doctrine and beleeve wee the Word of truth and be wee assured that our afflictions are rather furtherances of sanctification then any helps or means of satisfaction administred unto us rather as medicines and preservatives to help us then as swordes to wound or hurt us For the Lord in afflicting of us seeks us not himselfe alone and rather the bettering of us then the satisfying of his own minde for hee goeth unwillingly to punish Lam. 3.33 And yet how ready are wee to turn the truth of God into a lie wee are ready to think that the Lord doth punish us to ease his mind of us and that wee suffer to satisfie Truth it is that the Lord doth punish the wicked his enemies to ease himselfe and to be avenged of them Esay 1.24 But hee hath other ends as we have heard in afflicting his children therefore wee may not say by our temporall punishments wee are any way able fully to satisfie the justice of God for one sinne If this debt had not been discharged by Christ our surety wee should be cast into prison wee should perish everlastingly Vse 2 Therefore hold wee this as an undoubted truth that God may forgive us our sins yet here punish our persons not to exact any satisfaction of us as if Christ his satisfaction were insufficient and wee reconciled unto God by halves but to make us better for time to come Secondly if the end of Gods correcting us bee the bettering of us wee may take notice of our perverse and crooked nature and temper with whom gentle and faire means that is the Word of God and benefits bestowed upon us cannot prevail but that the Lord must bee forced to take this tart and unpleasing course with us namely correcting us for our amendment The Lord as hee proclames himselfe is a father of mercies slow to anger and of great patience long in his long-suffering one that delights not in our griefes but is rather grieved for our miseries Judges 10.16 and his bowels are troubled for us Jeremie 31.20 Object If the Lord were so unwilling to punish his children and so grieved for their sorrow and miserie as the Scripture telleth us why doth hee not which if it please him he might spare himselfe that labor and us those paines hee putteth us unto Answ His love and your good constraineth him so to deal with you Suppose thou hadst a childe that had broken his leg what course wouldst thou take with him for the helping and healing of him wouldst thou not bind him hand and foot tye him down to some place or other c Thy childe it may be cries out good father let me alone you hurt me c. Wouldst thou give over because of his cry Dost thou not rather cry with him to consider what paine thou art constrained to put him unto Wouldest thou not tell him O childe I may not let thee alone for then thou wilt be lame for ever yet still thy childe renews his cries good father if you love me let me alone Wouldst thou not reply againe O childe because I love thee I cannot let shee alone for then thou wert spoil'd for ever Even thus dealeth the Lord with us it is for our good and in love that hee doth any way chasten us this course hee must take with us unlesse hee should suffer us to perish which thing his love will not give him leave to do He smites us with the rod that wee die not and that our soules may bee delivered from hell Proverbes 23.13.14 Oh the wickednesse of our hearts and the rebellion of our wils that wee must bee thus hampered and handled before we can be bettered We may see and confesse if wee were not blind and hardned that corruption is deeply setled in us in that such sharp physick such bitter and unpleasing potions must be administred and that again and again unto us before we can be cleansed from that filthinesse of the flesh and spirit which is innated and setled in us Vse 3 In the third place wee are to be admonished from hence to profit by those light and gentle afflictions wherewith it shall please the Lord to exercise us For if little ones will not serve the turn to reclaim us greater shall bruise if not breake us If we shal dare to walke stubbornly against the Lord Then will he
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
companions of our sorrow to have those that fellow-feele with us cannot but be a comfort to any that are in misery Little do you think what refreshing if not ease it is to one in affliction to heare or see another to pittie his case to weep with those that weep and mourn with those that mourn doth excedingly abate though not remove and take away the smart of their affliction We shall be the more ready and willing to put forth our hand of comfort to lift our neighbor out of the ditch if wee consider how soone his case may be ours and our selves before it be long may stand in as much need of pitty and comfort as our neighbor now doth What measure you meat it shall be measured to you againe Matt. 7.2 Therefore denie not unto the afflicted any comfort which thou art able to afford him But above all beware as I said before of insulting over those that are afflicted This was the sinne of the Edomites which the Lord reproveth and threatneth by the Prophet Obadiah Thou shouldest not have rejoyced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of their affliction As thou hast done it shall be done to thee thy reward shall returne upon thine head Obadiah vers 15. The Lord will not have any to solace themselves with others sorrow nor make themselves merry at others misery though hee were our enemie Bee not thou glad when thine enemie falleth and let not thine heart rejoyce when hee stumbleth least the Lord see it and it displeaseth him and hee turn his wrath from him towards thee Prov. 24.17 18. But rather pitty those that are afflicted and then no doubt but the Lord will stirre up the hearts of others to extend mercy and bowels of compassion towards thee when thou art in affliction And if there be no man to pittie thee here the Lord himselfe will most certainly remember and recompense thy kindnesse hereafter in that day wherein hee will reward every one according to his workes and will say unto the mercifull Come yee blessed of my Father inherit yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World for I was an hungry and yee gave me meat I thirsted and yee gave me drink I was a stranger and yee lodged me I was naked and yee clothed me I was sicke and yee visited mee I was in prison and yee came unto mee for as much as wee have done these things to the least beleever yea if wee do them to a bad liver for Christs sake wee have done them unto Christ who will abundantly recompense us Vse 5 Fiftly is this the end of God afflicting of us that hee may better us Then let faith perswade thy heart and wait in hope of a blessed and happy issue and end of thy affliction Though thou hast not wisedome enough to make good use of thy chastisments yet thy God who is perfect wisedome will make good his promise and perfect his own handy-wotke so as if thou beleeve thou shalt finde thy selfe one day much bettered by thy affliction If thou beleeve thou wilt patiently wait for the fulfilling of Gods promise a beleeving patient had rather be held to a long and continuall course of physick in hope of future health then to be in danger of his life by interrupting his course of Physick And for asmuch as our understandings are exceedingly blinded through ignorance and selfe love and much darkned with fleshly lusts as you shal see a looking glasse to be sometime covered with dust that we can neither see what is amisse in our selves nor yet amend on the suden what we find amis in us we had need to exercise our faith in praier in patience to wait for the accomplishing of that good the Lord intends us by afflicting us For as God prescribes the physick so he must cause it to work blesse it unto us we of our selves are like children who being taken in som fault and feeling the smart of the rod are ready to promise amendment but presently forget both the fault the punishment and our promise Faith will teach us not only to beg grace from God to amend our lives but also help and strength from him to walke more closly with him For as no force of the hammer can worke the Iron unto any forme unlesse it be softned by the fire even so afflictions will beat in vaine upon us until God by his spirit molifie and soften these hard hearts of ours and teach us to profit by our afflictions And although thou dost not presently finde or feel that good to be wrought in thee which the Lord intendeth yet live by faith and wait with patience and in the end thou shalt confesse that God hath shewed thee his love made good his promise and much bettered thee by afflicting thee Vse 6 Lastly if the end of Gods afflicting of us bee the bettering of us be wee then both thankfull to the Lord for our afflictions and joyfull in them Suppose thou wert fallen into some dangerous pit or quagmyre in danger of perishing wouldst thou not be glad to see any comming neere to help thee wouldest not bee thankfull to that person that should bee a meanes of thy deliverance though it were by putting some hook into thy flesh which may for the present hurt and wound thee Sinne is a dangerous pit and gulfe wherein many soules do perish When the Lord afflicts thee he doth cast a cord unto thee to lay hold of or it may bee hee strikes some hooke into thy flesh some sore affliction by which he desires to pull thee out of thy sinne hast thou not then great cause of thanks and rejoycing offered unto thee when the Lord afflicteth thee If wee had wisedome and understanding to consider aright of Gods goodnesse and love toward us there would be more thanks for and cheerfulnesse in affliction and lesse repining and mourning amongst us then there is If wee were not poysoned with infidelity and distrust it could not be but wee should be more joyfull in afflictions and thankfull for them then wee many times seeme to bee Some when the hand of God is upon them are like to a man cast into a deep lethergie which is a drousie and forgetfull sicknesse when the use of memory and reason is almost or altogether taken from us so they are like stocks and stones insensible of their afflictions they have neither hearts nor eyes to consider of or see their sinnes which have pulled this judgment upon them nor yet the end which God aimes at in smiting them And there be other some of a contrary temper and these are like to a man in a phrensie hee rages and stormes if not blasphems the hand of God upon him kicking and spurning against the Lord unwilling to beare that burthen the Lord is willing should lye upon him of both these sorts of people the
the gold Behold saith the Lord I have fined thee I have chosen thee in the fornace of affliction Esa 48.10 The Lord compares affliction unto a fornace into which the Gold-smith doth cast his metals to fine them to purge them from that dirt and drosse which is mingled with them Prosperitie health ease libertie are occasions of contracting and gathering soyle and drosse therefore the Lord who loves to see his children clean will bring them thorow the fire and will fine them as Silver and trie them as Gold is tryed Zach. 13.9 Hence it is that the Apostle Peter saith Wee are in heavinesse through manifold temptations that the trial of our faith being much more precious then gold that perisheth might be found to our praise 1. Pet. 1.6.7 He doth chasten us for our profit that wee might be partakers of his holinesse Hebr. 12.10 Which we cannot be unlesse wee be washed and clensed from the filth of sinne Let us clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and grow up into full holinesse in the fear of God 2. Cor. 7.1 Hence it is that David Professeth It is good for me that I have been afflicted Psal 119.71 Afflictions oft times make a bad man good they always make a good man better Therefore take this for a sure ground That the Lord never afflicts the body but for the souls good he never brings any evill upon our bodies but with an intent to better the soul When the Lord doth afflict us he is in a course of Physick with us to purge out those malignant humors which in the daies of our prosperity wee have contracted unto our selves Therefore as wee are content to receive bitter pils sick vomits and unpleasing potions for our bodily health striving to take them down though they go sore against our stomack As wee endure sharpe salves and strong eating plaisters and powders to be applied to bodily sores for the taking down of our proud and eating out our dead flesh so must wee be patient in the time of affliction seeing it is a means of helping and curing our sick distempered souls Sinne is the souls sicknesse and affliction is that physick which the Lord that wise and good Physician sees meet to be applied unto us for our health and recovery Therefore as that mans body is in a dangerous if not desperate case upon which physick will not work or working but a little doth little or no good unto him so as still the dissease prevaileth and the body languisheth even so it fareth with our souls if afflictions cannot better us our case is desperate Eze. 24.13 Thou remainest in thy filthinesse and wickednesse because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse till I have caused my wrath to light upon thee Gods corrections are for our reformation and amendment but if they cannot reform us they make way either for greater judgements as Levit. 26.21 Where the Lord telleth us that if wee walk stubbornly against him will not obey him he will then bring seven times moe plagues upon us according to our sinnes Or else they prepare us for confusion destruction for he that hardneth his neck when he is rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed and cannot bee cured Prov. 29.1 Some by accustoming themselves to sinne are brought at last into an incurable condition so that wee may say of him and to him as it was spoken to the King of Ashur There is no healing of thy wound Nahum 3.19 To be never the better for affliction is to bear the brand of a wicked person This is King Ahaz who in the time of his tribulation did yet trespasse more against the Lord. 2 Chro. 28.22 And this will seal up unto all incorrigible persons Gods heavier judgements which he will one day bring upon them True it is that many are so farre in league with sinne that none of those blowes which God giveth them will break that cursed league betwixt them and their sinne all that the Lord doth unto them is little enough to bring them to a sight of sin But God will have sinne out of request with us and us out of love with it that sinne may stink in our nostrills as it is unpleasing to the Lord. Many having a stinking disease in them or upon them seek not out for cure because it savors not amisse to them the smell thereof is not offensive unto them but when once they begin to be annoyed with their own stinck then they seek out for helpe and remedy Affliction searcheth sinne to the quick stirres up the bottome of our corruption makes it stink in our nostrils so as wee begin to grow out of love with that evill which somtime hath been most delightful and pleasing unto us Therefore if iniquitie be in thy hand put it far away and let not wickednesse dwell in thy tabernacle said Zophar Iob. 11.14 This was good counsell given to Job in his affliction he must purge his hand house yea and heart too of all wickednes then he should lift up his face without spot he should be stable and not feare Job 11.15 then should he be justified of the Lord freed from the staine of his sinne and be without all feare of judgement yea saith Zophar Thou shalt forget thy misery Not onely be an end of troubles but ease and joy shall come in the place of them Reason 3 Thirdly as affliction serves to finde out sinne past and to purge sinne present so also to prevent sinne to come which the Lord who knows us better thē we know our selves seeth wee would run into Hence it was that a thorne in the flesh the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet Paul lest he should be exalted above measure 2. Cor. 12.7 The Lord was pleased so highly to honor Paul as to take him up into Paradice where he heard words which cannot be spoken which are not possible for man to utter whereupon least Paul should grow too high in the instep and thinke better of himself then there was cause the Lord in wisedom takes him down a peg sendeth a satanicall messenger to buffet him that so hee might not be exalted The Lord sees we are ready to cast our selves into some perils and dangers or to run into some evils which would tend to the dishonor of his name or the scandall of our profession therefore by affliction as with a bit or bridle put into our mouthes he doth restrain us and so wisely prevents those sins which if affliction were not we should fall into God in his afflicting of his children lookes not alwayes backward upon their sinnes past but sometimes forward upon sinnes to come and makes them his principall aime and end of afflicting his children There is a preventing Phisicke for preservation of our health as well as Phisick for recovery out of some desease already grown upon us And yet I would have none
Lord as he bringeth afflictions upon us so will hee also in due season bring us out of them Great and many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all Psalm 34.19 Vse 5 To draw to a conclusion of this point Is it so that all our afflictions come from Gods hand be we then in the fift and last place exhorted to have recourse unto the Lord in all our troubles both for strength and comfort in them and also for issue and deliverance out of them The Prophet complained of the way wardnesse and stubbornnesse of the people in his daies Esay 9.13 The people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of hosts This was Asa his folly who though his disease was extream yet hee sought not the Lord in his disease but to the Physitians 2. Chron. 16.12 Such is the folly and madnesse of some people that they will seek to any body yea to the Devill running to his cunning rather couzening man or that woman in their afflictions before they seek unto the Lord. As if any hand could take off that affliction which the Lord layeth upon us Deliverance out of trouble is a prerogative royall and belongs wholly unto the Lord For hee saith Moses will take away from thee all infirmities Deut. 7.15 Call upon mee in the day of trouble saith the Lord so will I deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Psalm 50.15 Whereupon the Prophet Jeremiah set his eyes towards the Lord Thou art my force and strength O Lord and my refuge in the day of affliction Jerem. 16.19 Such as seek unto others and not unto the Lord in affliction do wait upon lying vanities and forsake their own mercy Ion. 2.8 They have inherited lies and vanity wherein there was no profit Jere. 16.19 Therefore if thou desirest abilitie and strength to beare thine afflictions go unto the Lord for it Power belongeth unto God Psalm 62.11 The God of Israel is hee that giveth strength and power unto his people Psalm 68.35 And so the Prophet Esay speaketh Hee giveth strength unto him that fainteth and unto him that hath no strength hee increaseth power Esay 40.29 Say not therefore in time of trouble mine affliction is greater then I can beare for though thou beest weak and ready to sink under thy burthen yet the Lord hath made thee a promise that hee will uphold thee with his hand So that though thou canst do little of thy selfe thou maist be able to do all things through the help of Christ which strengtheneth thee Phil. 4.13 Go therefore boldly to the throne of grace that so thou maist receive mercie and find favor to help thee in the time of thy need Trust in the Lord and he will helpe and save thee for who ever hoped in God and was ashamed Commit thy selfe and thy condition to God and he will stand by thee and helpe thee he will not be absent from thee over long Fall down at his footstoole make him thy hope and fortresse in whom thou wilt alwayes trust and he will imbrace thee in love he will lay thee upon the shoulders of his gracious Providence and protection hee will bind up all thy wounds he will heale and cure all thy diseases hee will refresh thy feeblenesse he will comfort thine afflicted spirits he will put under his hand so as thou shalt not faint under thy burden and in his good time will put away all pensivenesse and mourning from thee Therefore if thou bee able to hold up thy head in any storme if thou faintest not in the day of adversitie if thou standest fast and quit thee like a man say not my power or my strength hath carried mee thorow this affliction or made mee able to stand under this burthen but as Moses speakes to the Israelites concerning their outward substance Remember the Lord thy God for it is be that giveth thee power Deut. 8.18 So must thou say I have no ability to undergoe any affliction but that which the Lord is pleased to help me withall Object But will some poore weather-beaten soul say Hitherto the Lord hath supported mee but my heart now begins to faint I feel my spirits to abate and my strength begins to decay therefore if the Lord do not speedily deliver mee and send me ease the sooner I feare I shall sinke under mine affliction I can beare it no longer Answ What is the Lords hand shortened Numb 11.23 Is the Lords power weakened that hee cannot helpe thee for time to come as well as he hath hitherto supported thee Is the Lords staffe so weake that thou durest not trust unto it Or is the Lord unfaithfull to leave thee and forsake thee No no the Lord is where he was as ready at hand as willing and as able to helpe thee and stand by thee as ever hee was if thou by thine unbeleef do not put his strength from thee for if ye beleeve not surely ye shall not he established Esay 7.9 Whereas if yee put your trust in the Lord your God yee shall be assured 2. Chron. 20.20 For I am the Lord I change not and yee sonnes of Jacob are not consumed Malac 3.6 Therefore though thy flesh faileth and thine heart also as Davids did yet God is the strength of thine heart and thy portion for ever Psalm 73.26 Trust therefore in the Lord and still wait upon him for they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall lift up their wings as the Eagles they shall runne and not bee weary and they shall walke and not faint Esay 40.31 Againe if all our afflictions come from God it will bee our wisdom to go unto him for issue and deliverance out of them Call upon me in the day of trouble so will I deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Psalm 50.15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord for he will bring my feet out of the net Psal 25.15 Joseph was unjustly cast into prison by his too credulous and unrighteous master but God was with him and delivered him out of all his afflictions Act. 7.9.10 If ever thou hopest to be healed or helped out of or in any affliction it must be by the Lord his hand Refuse not the chastening of the Almighty saith Eliphaz for he maketh the wound and bindeth it up he smiteth and his hands make whole Hee shall deliver thee in six troubles and in the seventh the evill shall not touch thee Job 5.17 18 19. Hereupon they call one to another Hos 6.1 Come let us return to the Lord for he hath spoiled us and hee will heale us hee hath wounded and hee will bind us up As the Lord took his time to bring thee into trouble so hath he his time set for thy deliverance To all things there is an appointed time and a time to every purpose under heaven Eccles 3.1 Gods Providence hath set and limited the time how long his children