has done its work for which 't was laid upon you 'T is sad when Affliction goes off without doing any good to the afflicted when the Rod is like the first King that Israel had given in Gods Anger and taken away in his Wrath. When the Lord afflicts his Dispensations are mixed Checker-work Black and White Goodness and Severity together and there should be a Mixture of Holy Affections that are diverse one from the other answerably in your Hearts This is notably represented by one of our English Poets and his Verses have a great deal of Sense and Direction in them Ah my dear angry Lord Since thou dost Love yet strike Herberts Bitter-sweet P. 165. Cast down yet help afford Sure I will do the like I will complain the Praise I will bewail approve And all my four-sweet days I will lament and love Be not too eager for the removal of the stroke you smart under that removal is but a common Mercy but the Sanctification of it is peculiar kindness that which accompanies Salvation If the Plaister lies not on long enough it heals not the Sore if the Potion be cast up again assoon as taken down it works not a cure God knows when 't is fittest to remove your trouble therefore be dump with Silence and wait with Patience till this fittest time comes David did so though he was in an horrible Pit in the Miry Clay he was not over eager to be pluckt out but exercised Patience and how Happy was the issue Psal 40. 1 2 3. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry he brought me up also out of an horrible Pit out of the Miry Clay and set my Feet upon a Rock and established my goings And he hath put a new Song in my Mouth even Praise unto our God many shall see it and fear and trust in the Lord. 8. Under Affliction let there be a most profound Subjection to the Father of Spirits Lights and Mercies The Father of Spirits will take special care of Souls and consult their Health and Reace and endless welfare If the Soul be safe the Body must be safe in the same Bottom The Body that belongs to a sanctified Soul must be a Glorious Body at the Resurrection of the Just And since the Lord is the Father of Lights you may conclude he perfectly understands what is most conducive to your Interest and what kind and degree of Affliction is most expedient and best for you and because he is the Father of Mercies Mercy he delights in as a man does in his own off-spring he will deal tenderly with you Mercy shall not be forgotten in the greatest Severity Psal 103. 13. Like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame and remembreth we aye dust Subjection to God when he afflicts becomes you and besides this Subjection is the way of Life Heb. 12. 9. Furthermore we have had Fathers of our Flesh who corrected us and we gave them Reverence shall we not much rather be in Subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Subjection to God is the wisest course to have temporal Life prolonged and liv'd to purpose and Eternal Life at length vouchsafed In the second Place I am to direct you how to carry it after Affliction now is a time of great danger when the Heart is apt to shew both its Wickedness and Deceitfulness together and to grow secure as if all Peril were over therefore 1. Keep alive in your Hearts the same Apprehensions of things after Affliction which you had under Affliction Things are really as they were though we of Sick grow well again therefore our thoughts of them should not alter The great Truths revealed and so much insisted on in the Word of God in Affliction had deep Impressions upon our Spirits How clearly and concernedly did we then perceive that Christ is the onely Saviour that all things were justly to be accounted loss that he might be gained We lookt upon time as too precious a thing to be spent Idly or Wickedly The Soul was lookt upon as more worth than the whole World and more to be regarded not to be neglected for the Worlds sake Mat. 16. 26. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul How did the thoughts of Eternity affect our Hearts when we were in the depth of Affliction Our Apprehensions of this Truth were amazing That all must quickly be in Eternity and all must be unto Eternity either in Joy or Wo. Our Conceptions of these and such like things were most rectified in Affliction therefore when Affliction is removed our Judgments should still remain the same The concerns of another World should always be esteemed far greater than the highest concerns of this Seriousness well becomes us in those matters which are of Everlasting Consequence where carelesness or mistake will issue in endless ruine understanding Diligence in Eternal Happiness 2. After Affliction be very Jealous over your own Spirits which are so very prone to deal treacherously both with God and your selves You are not naturally trusty to either but unfaithful to God and unfaithful to your own Souls Hearken how the Lord complains Hos 6. 7. They like men have transgressed the Covenant they have dealt treacherously against me You do not know your selves to be men if you don't know your selves to be treacherous and strongly inclined to break through all obligations in Point of Duty Gratitude and Interest it self which you are under ever since the first Adams Apostacy and fall from God his Posterity have a vehement Propension to start aside alike deceitful bowes A notable instance of the Hearts treachery in Afflictions and instability upon the removal of it you have Psal 78. 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned and inquired early after God they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer nevertheless they did flatter him with their Lips and lied unto him with their Tongues for their Heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Mens Resolutions in Afflictions are like Nautarum Vota the Vows of Marriners in a Storm the first things that are broken when once they get safe to Shore Be sure therefore to check your hearts and lift them up to God to secure them when first you perceive them so much as begin to start aside Apostacy begins in the Heart that does first turn back from God then afterwards the steps decline from his ways distrusting therefore your own Hearts follow Solomons Counsel Prov. 4. 23. And keep them with all diligence and unto your own strictest Vigilancy add fervent Prayer that the Lord would make your Hearts clean Hearts and that he would renew and keep your Spirits right with him Psal 51. 10. 3.
Christ Jesus therefore they must needs be good for them for nothing comes to them through Him that is otherwise He has born the Saints sins so that they are neither condemned nor commanded by them He unstings death before it seizes upon any of his Members so that the venom and poison of death which is sin is gone and death without a sting is not to be dreaded And Christ has also born the Saints Sicknesses and Infirmities Mat. 8. 17. and so the cause of them is removed God does not demand satisfaction to his Justice in the Afflictions of his People for Christ by his Sufferings has made full Satisfaction He does not exact Law Payment of them for Christ was made under the Law and fulfilled it and bare the Curse due to Believers for transgressing of it The Blood of Jesus Christ how does it alter Afflictions it turns them into profitable and healing Medicines Oh Blessed Troubles in which Christ himself Sympathizes with Souls that are troubled Isa 63. 9. In all their Afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his Presence saved them 'T is certainâ—y good to be in the Furnace if the Son of God be there with us to mitigate the heat of it and to consume the dross only while the Metal is secured and purified 4. Afflictions make the Saints Conformable to Christ their Head and 't is never better with the Members than when there is the greatest resemblance in them to their Head and Lord. He was perfected as Mediatour through Sufferings At length he suffer'd so much that he cried out It is finished he paid a full Price for his Churches Redemption and made her Everlasting Peace His Members also must be perfected in Mortification and Holiness by Sufferings also these help to pull down Pride and Self-confidence to tame the Flesh and to check and kill the Affections and Lusts of it Happy Afflictions which make afflicted Believers more like to their Lord in whom they do believe In Conformity to Christ lies our Excellency and Safety This Conformity is in a special manner designed Rom. 8. 29. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born among many Brethren The Image of the Earthly Adam is our Shame the Image of the Heavenly Adam is our Glory 5. The Afflictions of the Saints are under a Promise that they shall work for good The Medicines which the great Physician of Souls gives to Believers do Work well as they are very proper so very Effectual Rom. 8. 28. We know says the Apostle we are assured of it by Faith and we find it true by Experience That all things Work together for good to them that love God who are called according to his purpose God himself will Work along with Calamities and Troubles of all sorts and bring forth much good out of the very worst of them They work upon the Hearts of the Saints and better the frame and temper and Inclinations of them They work upon their Tongues and lay a Bridle upon them and bring them under the Law of Holiness Love and Kindness they work upon the Actions making them more agreeable to that Rule which whosoever walk according to Peace and Mercy shall be upon them Nay Afflictions work no less than Glory and when the Apostle considered the Weight and Eternity of that Glory he made light of the heaviest Afflictions the Benefit is unconceiveably vast that quickly is reaped from them 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory Not that Affliction and Suffering though for Righteousness sake does deserve this Glory but it makes it the more Minded and Desired and is a means to make us meet for the Enjoyment of it and the Promise is sure that if we suffer according to the Will of God we shall also Reign with him 6. Afflictions must needs be granted to the Saints for they purge out the worst evil of all and that is Sin Oh! 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of measure sinful Sin No Name so bad as thy own No Evil so great as thou art Let all the Calamities of the Earth and all the Miscries of Hell be put into the One Scale together and Sin into the other as Sin is the Cause of them all so it will outweigh them all 'T is the abominable thing which Gods Soul hates 'T is the great Evil and Enemy whereby Mans Soul is ruined How much is Affliction good for since 't is a Soveraign means whereby such an Evil as Sin is purged away Isa 27. 9. By this therefore shall the Iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the Fruit to take away his Sin 7. The Afflictions of the Saints are means to prevent their Eternal Sufferings in the other World The Rod is of their Fathers own Appointment to deliver his Childrens Souls from Hell Present Castigation prevents Eternal Condemnation 1 Cor. 11. 32. But when we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we might not be condemned with the World Not that Sin has not ill demerit enough to make us obnoxious to Sufferings in both Worlds not that Chastizement makes satisfaction for Transgression But it makes the Saints to fly to the Lord Jesus for the making up of all breaches between God and them which Sin has made and 't is effectual to make them truly Humble and Penitent Now Faith and Repentance have the Promise of Life annexed to them Whosoever believes on the Son of God shall not perish but have Everlasting Life Joh. 3. 16. And Repentance is said to be unto Salvation and consequently not be repented of 2 Cor. 7. 10. 8. Afflictions bring the Saints nearer to God and to be near to Him how good is it for them Psal 73. 28. God expects a more serious seeking and a nearer approach when he afflicts his People Hos 5. 15. I will go and return to my Place till they acknowledge their Offence and seek my Face in their Affliction they will seek me early And his People Answer his Expectation Hos 6. 1. They say Come and let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he has smitten and he will bind us up Afflicted Saints inquire after God they come with their Penitential Acknowledgments and desire more fully to know wherefore it is that he Contends that the ground of the Controversie may be removed It is meet that the Afflicted Saint should say and with his Heart he does say it unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me if I have done Iniquity I will do no more Job 34. 31 32. All that is within him now yields unto God and being melted in the Furnace of Affliction he desires to be cast into the mould of his Word Happy blows which drive the
Saints to God and strengthen their Resolutions to abide with God! Thus have I demonstrated that Saints are afflicted for their good In the Second Place I am to specifie that good which accrews to the Saints by Affliction 1. One good consequent of Affliction is a greater Power of Spiritual Discerning Prov. 29. 15. The Rod and Reproof give Wisdom If Mans Rod does so then it follows that the Rod of God does it much more Gods Teaching accompanies his Chastning and who Teaches like him Afflictions clear the Eye of the Soul so that it is more Single and Piercing It sees now plainly through the deceitfulness of Sin It sees the Worlds emptiness and Vanity and an End of all its Perfection It sees the Subtilty of the old Serpent and how much it concerns all neither to believe nor follow him It discerns the Insufficiency Weakness and Wickedness of Self and that 't is neither to be trusted in sought or pleased It sees the greatness of that Salvation which is in Christ and what an All-sufficient and Eternal Portion the Lord Jehovah is And the Afflicted Saints Knowledge of all this is more than Notional He knows by Experience as well as Speculation the Evil of Sin and the unsuitableness of the World is plain to his Spiritual Sense and so is the Power of the Grace of Christ In Affliction the other World opens and the Eye looks into it and what a Cypher then is this whole Globe of Earth and Waters The Apostles outward Man perished He was exercised with Affliction and what clear views had he then of things unseen 2 Cor. 4. 16 18. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish our inward man is renewed day by day While we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen for the things that are seen are Temporal but the things that are not seen are Eternal 2. Another good Consequent of Affliction is a more Pure and tender Conscience How great a Misery is it to have a stupid Conscience that is without or past feeling When a man has all his own Guilt and the Wrath of God abiding upon him not a Promise in the Bible belonging to him all the threatnings full charged with Curses and Woes just ready to be discharged at him And He himself is upon the very brink of Hell just ready to tumble in every Moment and yet is altogether unsensible of any danger Such a senseless Conscience is a deadly Sign it argues Spiritual Death to have full Power and Eternal Death to be at the door In the depths of Despair there is more Probability of Salvation than in the heighth of Presumption But Affliction startles the Conscience how quick is its Sight and Sense then The Saints have recourse to the Blood of Christ to purge their Consciences from all the Dead works in which they have been formerly employed And that Blood is sufficient for their Purgation and Peace Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered up himself without Spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God! And afflicted Saints are exceedingly afraid of making new wounds in their Consciences since the Smart of former wounds in their Spirits was so intolerable Lam. 3. 19 20. Remembring my Affliction and my Misery the Wormwood and the Gall my Soul has them still in remembrance and is humbled in me 3. Another good Consequent of Affliction is the Mortification of the Sin of Pride Pride is a Sin hateful to God it strikes at his Glory which God aims at in every thing he does And Pride is very hurtful to man 't is the hindrance of the Help which Divine Grace affords for God who gives Grace to the Humble instead of assisting does resist the Proud 1 Pet. 5. 5. And this Pride is the forerunner of falls into Sin and Ruine therefore says Solomon Pride goes before Destruction and an haughty Spirit before a fall The Lord cannot endure this Pride in his Saints and Affliction is sent to kill it The Troubles which the Israelites met with in the Wilderness when they were encountred with Fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought and many other Calamities the end of them all was to Humble them and Prove them and to do them good in the latter end Deut. 8. 15 16. A Saint who comes out of the Fire of Affliction with a Meek and humble Spirit his high Conceits and Thoughts of himself all cast down seeing himself to be nothing but what he is by the Grace of God this man looks like Silver coming out of a Furnance of Earth purified seven tunes and what a shining brightness and lustre is upon him 4. Another good Consequent of Affliction is a more perfect Subjection of the whole Man to God There is a Submission to Him by a Penitential Acknowledgment of Offences against him and justifying of him in his severest Dispensations Neh. 9. 33. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done Right but we have done Wickedly There is a Submission to his Righteousness a great sense that 't is by the Righteousness of One onely the second Adam that the Free Gift comes upon all that are in him unto Justification of Life Rom. 5. 18. So Rom. 10. 4. Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth There is likewise a Subjection of Body and Soul unto the commands of God which reach the whole man and require service from the whole And Affliction quickens Desires after Grace to keep these Precepts better so that there may not be a wandring from them Psal 119. 10. With my whole Heart have I sought thee oh let me not wander from thy Commandments Sin 's service becomes more irksome the Law of Sin more grievous but the Lords service is accounted Liberty and Life Rom. 6. 22. But now being made free from Sin and become Servants to God ye have your Fruit unto Holiness and the end Everlasting Life 5. Another good Consequent of Affliction is greater Exactness and Spirituality in Duty and Obedience Affliction causes Saints to Eye their Hearts more which God does Eye Principally Lip Labour Bodily Exercise outward Ceremonies are perceived to be when alone altogether insignificant Afflicted Saints give God their very Hearts The Strength and Vigour of their Spirits and Affections 't is very evident to them that He alone is Worthy of them And Christ not Self has their Confidence Phil. 3. 3. We are the Circumcision who Worship God in the Spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no Confidence in the Flesh Afflicted Saints lift up their Souls to God in his hand they are safe and this is the Way to have them satisfied and fill'd with Joy Psal 86. 4. Rejoice the Soul of thy Servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my Soul Duties to God are performed with more Grace