whom it was pen'd Probably by David when himself and the rest of the Godly Party were under a â—ore and bitter persecution by * Non est dubium quin de oppressoribus domestâ—cis â—â—quatur quorum iniqua dominatio non minus Sanctis infesto molista erat quam omnes Gentium injuriae Calv. in loc Presertim ad regnum Saulis sanguinolentum ac violentum referri potest Musc in loc Saul and others of that bloody and hypocritical faction that bare sway under him Briefly In the Psalm the Prophet doth these three things 1. He doth appeal to God for vengeance on the persecutors describing them by their pride v. 2. Prophaneness v. 3 4. their intemperate virulency of speech v. 4. Cruelty and bloody practises v. 5 6. and lastly by their Atheisticall security v. 7. 2. He diverteth to the Enemies endeavouring to convince them of the bruitishness and folly of their Atheism the Mother and Nurse of the other impieties charged on them v. 8. and that by a threefold Argument sc 1. The power and skill of God in creating the hearing and seeing Organ in Man v. 9. 2. The Soveraignty of God and the Righteousness of his Judgments which he executes in the world v. 10. the former part 3. His Wisdome and knowledge in enduing man with such an excellent intellectual faculty whereby even the creature it self is able to attain to admirable degrees of knowledge v. 10. latter part and 11. 3. He labours to comfort the godly against all the pressures and persecutions under which they did groan and languish The first Argument which the Psalmist useth to this purpose is in the Text. sc The sweet fruit which is to be gathered from the bitter root of affliction which being accompanyed with divine instruction is no longer to be esteemed a punishment but a blessing Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law This being the subject I intend to insist upon I shall without any more ado contract it into this Doctrinal point of Observation sc That man is a blessed man Doct. whose Chastisements are joyn'd with Divine Teachings or It is a blessed thing when Correction and instruction go together The Rod and the Word make up a compleat blessing I shall take chastisements here in the utmost latitude for all kindes and degrees of sufferings whether from God or Man or Satan whether sufferings for Sin or sufferings for Righteousness sake And for the Doctrinal part of the Point I shall endeavor these four things 1. To shew you what those Lessons are which God doth teach his people by his chastisements 2. What the Nature and Properties of Divine Teachings are 3. In what tendency Correction lyeth in Order unto these teachings or what Use God doth make of Affliction for the carrying on of the Work of instruction in the hearts of his People 4. I shall lay down the Grounds and Demonstrations of the Point or Considerations to evince the happiness of that man whom God is pleased to teach by his Corrections I begin with the Lessons which God doth usually teach his people in a suffering condition Amongst many which may fall within the experience of the suffering Saints of God I shall observe unto you twenty severall Lessons Cant. 6.6 most whereof like the teeth of the Spouse you shall see will bear twins or if any of them should fail the rest will more then make up the account which when I have presented at large 20 Lessons which God teacheth by affliction I shall then contract into three summary and comprehensive Instructions which will contain the substance of all The first Lesson which God teacheth by Affliction is 1. Lesson-Compassion towards sufferers Compassion towards them which are in a suffering condition Truly we are very prone to be insensible of our Brethrens sufferings when we our selves are at ease in Zion Partly by reason of that sensuality which is in our natures reigning in carnal men and dwelling even in the regenerate themselves whereby we let out our hearts so inordinately to our own comforts as to quench the tenderness and sense which we ought to have of the miseries and hardships of other men Partly out of the delicacy of self-love which makes us unwilling to sowre the rellish of our own sweet fruitions with the bitter taste of strangers afflictions Partly through sluggishness and torpor of spirit which makes us unwilling to rise up from the bed of ease and pleasure to travel in the enquiry of the state of our Brethren either abroad or at home so that as the Apostle saith in another case we are willingly ignorant and are not only strangers but are content to be strangers to their miseries and calamities One way or other even Christians themselves and such as are truly so called are more or less guilty of the sin of the Gentiles Rom. 1.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without natural affection unmerciful without bowels without compassion Hence you may find that it was one of the errands upon which God sent Israel into Egypt that in the brick-kills there their hard hearts might be softened and melted into compassion towards strangers and captives Therefore when God had turn'd their Captivity that was one of the first lessons of which he puts them in mind Thou shalt not oppress a stranger there 's the duty which though negatively exprest yet according to the Rule of interpreting the Commandments doth include all the affirmative duties of mercy and compassion and the motive follows for you know the heart of a stranger How came they to know it seeing ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt As if God had said I sent you on purpose into Egypt that by the experience of your own sufferings and miseries you might learn as long as you live to lay to heart the anguish and agonies of strangers and captives that whensoever you see a stranger in your habitations you may say O here is a poor Sojourner an Exile I will surely have mercy upon him and shew him kindness for I my self have been a stranger and a bondslave in Egypt I know by experience what a fearful trembling bleeding heart he carrieth in his bosom c. And upon this very account God still brings variety of afflictions and sorrows upon his own children he suffereth them to be plundered banished imprisoned reduced to great extremities that by their own experience they may learn to draw out their bowels towards such objects of pity that they might say within themselves I know the heart of this afflicted Soul I know what it is to be plundered to be rich one day and the very next day to be stript naked of all ones comforts and accommodations I know what it is to hear poor hunger-starved children cry for bread and there is none to give them I know what it is to be banisht from dearest relations to be like arms
to Instruction what tendency Chastisement hath to promote the Teachings of God in the Soul what use God makes of Correction to this end For it may possibly be demanded Quest Might not God as well teach his people by sin as by affliction He might Answ and doth whence that gloss of Augustin upon Rom. 8.28 All things work together for good to them that love God Aug. etiam peccatum ipsum even sin it self and in as much as he saith All things it is evident he excepteth nothing that doth not co-operate for good to the Called according to Gods purpose All things do work but all things do not work alike Sin works for good but it is by absolute Omnipotence by pure Prerogative for sin is properly the Devils creature and in its own natural tendency works meerly to destruction Melius judicavit Deus de malis bene facerequam nulla mala permittere Aug. no thank to sin that any good comes of it God beats Satan with his own weapons But Affliction is an Evil of Gods making as Amos 3.6 and he hath so temper'd the nature of it and doth so ingredient it by his divine skill that there is some fitness and disposition in it to serve and promote his own gracious designs in the children of promise It is true there is need of an arm of Omnipotence to make Chastisement to have a saving influence upon the heart and so there doth also even in the Word it self and divine Ordinances they do not save ex opere operato by any intrinsecal vertue or power of their own but yet there is a passive fitness in them to serve Omnipotence for divine and saving ends Heb. 4.12 The Word of God is quick and powerful sharper then a two-edged sword a fitness of instrumentality as there is in a Saw to cut and in a wedg to cleave c. The instrument can do nothing alone but there is a fitness in it to serve the hand of the work-man And thus it is in a proportion with Affliction It is true there is not so immediate and direct a tendency in the Rod as there is in the Word to teach and instruct the children of God yet there is in Chastisement a subserviency to prepare the heart of man and to put it into a better disposition to close with divine Teaching then naturally it is capable of The hot furnace is Christs work-house the most excellent vessels of honor are formed therein Manasseh Paul the Jaylor were all chosen in this fire as God saith I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Isai 48.10 Grace works in a powerful yet in a moral way God speaks when we are most apt to hear congruously yet forcibly by a fit accommodation of circumstances The fruit of Correction in order to divine teaching 1. It taketh down pride of heart which you may discover in these four particulars First By Correction God taketh down the pride of mans heart there is not a greater obstruction to saving knowledg then pride and self-opinion whereby man either thinks he knoweth enough or that not worth the learning which God teacheth therefore it is proclaimed before the Word Hear and give ear BE not proud for the Lord hath spoken Jer. 13.15 In divine matters as well as humane Prov. 13.10 onely by pride cometh contention It is pride which raiseth Objections against the Word and disputeth the Commands when it should obey them Ier. 43.2 The proud men in Jeremiah when they could clude the message of God by his Prophet no longer do at length stiffen into down-right Rebellion first they shift Thou speakest falsly c. Verse 2 and then they resolve As for the Word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord Cap. 44.16 we will not harken unto thee c. q. d. be it Baruch or be it God we will have none of it but we will certainly do whatsoever goeth forth out of our own mouth c. Such a master-piece of obduration is the heart of man that it stands like a mountain before the Word and cannot be moved till God come with his instruments of affliction and digging down those mountains as it is proclaimed before the Gospel Luk. 3.5 casteth them into a level and then God may stand as it were upon even ground and talk with man This pride of heart speaketh loud in the wicked and whispereth even in the godly it is a folly bound up even in the hearts of Gods children till the Rod of Correction driveth it out and the stomack broken the poor bleeding wretch cry out Lord what wilt thou have me to do Secondly 2. It softeneth the heart Affliction is Gods forge wherein he softens the iron heart There is no dealing with the Iron while it remaineth in its own native coldness and hardness put it into the fire make it red-hot there and you may stamp upon it any figure or impression you please Iob 65.10 God maketh my heart soft saith Job melted vessels are impressive to any form So it is with the heart of man naturally it is colder and harder then the northern iron and that native induration is much increas'd by prosperity and the patience of God towards sinners the iron sinew will rather break then bend It is the hot furnace onely which can make it operable and impressive to Gods Counsels which course therefore God resolveth on I will melt them and try them Jer. 9.7 and sometimes God is forced to make the furnace seven times hotter to work out that dross which renders men so unformable to the Ministry of the Word while God sends his prophets rising up early and sending them and yet they will not encline their ear but harder their necks against divine Instruction When the earthly heart of man is so dryed and hardened by a long sun-shine of prosperity that the plough of the spiritual Husbandman cannot enter Psa 65.10 God doth soften it with showres of adversity maketh it capable of the immortal seed and blesseth the springing thereof The seed falleth upon stony ground till God turn the stone into an heart of flesh Thirdly 3 It maketh man attentive to God By Chastisement man is made more attentive unto God In prosperity the world makes such a noise in a mans ears that God cannot be heard Iob 33.14 He speaks indeed once and twice again and again very often yet man perceiveth it not he is so busie in the croud of worldly affairs that God is not heeded In the godly themselves there is much unsetledness and giddiness of minde naturally our thoughts are vain and scattered the spirit slâ—ppery and inconsistent which is a great impediment to our clear and full comprehensions of spiritual things And therefore God is forc'd to deal with man as a father with his childe playing in the market-place and will not hear or minde his fathers call he comes and takes him out of
of Correction he may drive out that folly which is in their hearts And when that is done then they shall stay no longer for their deliverance then God opens the prison doors and throws the rod into the fire and infinite mercy it is that they are not delivered till they are bettered that God will not cease chastening till they are willing to cease sinning saying I have born affliction I will offend no more that which I see not teach thou me and if I have done wickedly I will do so no more Ninthly 9 Branch Inform. How unteachable we are by nature Take notice from hence what unteachable creatures we are by nature who will not set our hearts to receive Instruction till we be whipt to it by the rod of correction and hardly then neither unless God multiply stripes it is not multiplying of precepts that will do us good there must be stripe upon stripe and affliction upon affliction as well as line upon line and precept upon precept or else it is in vain we are so brutish with Ephraim that we make God spends his rods upon us and when all is done God must turn us by main strength or else our folly will not depart from us This is a lamentation and should be for a lamentation We would say that were a very bad child that will be taught no longer then the rod is upon his back such are we we are so indocible that we put God to it as it were to study what methods and courses to take with us How shall I do for the Daughter of my people Ier. 9 7 I will melt them and try them c. Well let us judg our selves and justifie God Tenthly and lastly 10 Branch Inform. How much good hearts love Instruction It sheweth us on the contrary How much gracious hearts are in love with the Word for the improvement of their spiritual knowledg wherein they can put such an estimate upon their sufferings and account that their blessing which other men call their misery BLESSED is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest The Psalmist in another place speaketh very warmly to this purpose It is good for me that I have been afflicted Ps 119 71 why that I might learn thy Statutes He loveth the Word so dearly that for the Words sake he is in love with affliction The whip the rod the prison the wilderness any thing is precious that brings Instruction with it Carnal people can be content to dye in their ignorance so they might dye in their nest whereas gracious hearts think not much to go to School to a Bridewell and even while the blood is running down the back can say it is good because they are taught by it O the different account that Grace and Nature make of the same Dispensation It is proud disdain to scorn to be taught by the lowest of Gods Ushers The treasure is precious Vilis saepe cadus nobile nectar habet though in an earthen vessel There is none too old none too wise none too high to be put into the meanest School on this side Heaven I have done with the use of Information I come now in the second place to the Use of Exhortation And it is to four sorts of People 1. Such as are yet free from sufferings Use Exhor 2. Such as are under sufferings 3. Such as are come out of a suffering condition 4. Parents in reference to their children The first branch of Exhortation is to such as through the patience and forbearance of God are yet free from chastisement and affliction 1 Branch Exhort To them that are free from sufferings The Candle of the Almighty doth shine in their Tabernacle and they wash their steps in butter c. Why now would ye prevent chastisement and keep off the strokes of divine displeasure from your selves or families Let me commend unto you A twofold Caution from this Doctrine 1. Study these Lessons well while ye are in the School of the Word 2. Labor to be instructed by the chastisements and afflictions which you see upon other men First 1 Caution To prevent affliction labor to profit by the Word If you would prevent chastisement study these and the like Lessons well while ye are under the Teachings of the Word Therefore doth God send us into the School of affliction because we have been non-proficients in the School of the Gospel because we will not hear the Word we force God to turn us over to a severer Discipline and to have our ears bored with affliction and then saith God now hear the rod and who hath appointed it O my beloved labor I beseech you to profit much by the Teachings of Jesus Christ in the Gospel set your hearts to all the truths and counsels of God revealed to you therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 I am 1.13 The Gospel is the model or platform of sound words able to make you sound Christians wise to Salvation O let your profiting be made known to all men In special set your hearts to those Instructions or Lessons propounded in the Doctrinal part of this subject for the neglect whereof God is fain to send his people into captivity that there he may teach them with the bryars and thorns of the wilderness In particular 1. Learn in the time of your peace and tranquillity to lay to heart the sufferings of the rest of your brethren that are in the world Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them Heb. 3.13 Think of them that are in prison whose feet are hurt in the stocks and the irons do enter into their soul with the very same affection and affliction of spirit as if you your selves lay bound in chains by them in the same dungeon put your Souls in their Souls steads and content not your selves with those loose and fruitless and transient glances which those that are at ease in Sion do usually cast upon men in misery Be thou warmed and filled Iam. 2.16 a cold Lord have mercy on them and there 's an end Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and that you may know you are not to confine your compassion to prisoners onely it follows And them that suffer adversity c. Learn to sympathize with all the people of God under any adversity whatsoever hide not your eyes and shut not up your bowels of compassion from any that are in a suffering condition and that upon this account As being your selves in the body If the duty respect thy brother the motive respects thy self thou art yet in the body and while you remain in the flesh you cannot promise your selves one hours exemption from troubles but are exposed to the same common calamities which attend a state of mortality as it is an argument of comfort to them that are in affliction 1 Cor. 10 13 that their temptations and tryals are common to men God doth not
of the ungodly but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night Psa 1â— 1 2 But what through distraction without and distemper within the children of God many times grow strangers to their Bibles they suffer diversions to interpose between the word and their hearts and as they pray arbitrarily so they read arbitrarily and suffer their Bibles to ly by the walls while they are taken up with other entertainments in the world and therefore God is forced to deal with them as we do with our children to whip them to their books by the rod of correction It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes When they are cast out by the world then they can run to the World Psal 119.23 Princes did sit and speak against me i. e. they sat in Councel to take away his life that they might condemn him as a traitor against Saul and what did he in the mean time it follows but thy servant did meditate in thy Statutes Ver. 161. And again Princes have persecuted me without a cause but my heart standeth in aw of thy word While the persecutors are consulting with the oracles of hell to sin against David David is consulting with the oracles of heaven that he might not sin against God My heart standeth in awe of thy Word while they sinned and feared not David fears and sins not 2. They learn by affliction to understand the Word more clearly As it was with the Disciples in reference to Christ his Resurrection the Resurrection of Christ was a lively Comment upon the Prophecies of Christ Ioh. 12.16 These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Jesus was glorified then remembred they these things i. e. they remembred them understandingly they remembred them beleevingly they knew what they meant So it is with the people of God many times in reference to affliction the Rod expounds the Word Providence sometimes interprets the Promise The children of God had never understood some Scriptures had not God sent them into the School of affliction then they can remember how it is written c. they can bring Gods Word and Gods Works together 3. Affliction makes them relish the Word more sweetly In prosperity many times we suffer the luscious contentments of the world so to distemper our palates that we cannot relish the Word taste no more sweetness in it then in the white of an egg as Job speaks in another case but when God hath kept them for weeks months and years it may be fasting from the worlds dainties when they are throughly hunger-bitten in the creature then How sweet are thy words to my taste Psalm 119 103 sweeter then honey to my mouth They are the words which David spake in his affliction witness Vers 23. cum 24. Princes did sit and speak against me but thy servant did meditate in thy Statutes and what follows thy Testimonies are my delight And vers 161. with 162. Princes have persecuted me without a cause c. I rejoyce at thy Word as one that findeth great spoyl The Rod did sweeten the Word It is my delight my joy a nest of sweetnesses Prov. 27.7 The full Soul loatheth the Honey-comb When we are fill'd with Creature-comforts we nauseate many times the very Word it self which is sweeter then the honey or honey-comb but to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet Let God famish the world round about us then how cordial is Scripture-consolation How precious are the Promises Oh said a gracious woman reduced to great straits I have made many a meals meat upon the Promises when I have wanted bread The Word is never so sweet as when the world is most bitter and therefore doth God lay mustard upon the teats of the world that we might go to the brests of the Word and there suck and be satisfied with the milk of consolation Isai 66 11 This is my comfort in my affliction Ps 119.50 for thy Word hath quickened me Blessed be God for that Correction which sweetens the Word unto us 8 Lesson The need of sound Evidence for Heaven Eightly God by bringing his people into troubles especially if lifethreatening dangers doth shew them the necessity of sound evidence for Heaven and Happiness Alass with what easie and slight evidences do we often content our selves in the time of our prosperity when the Candle of the Almighty doth shine in our Tabernacles when all is peace and quiet round about us The heart being taken up with other fruitions we want either time or will to pursue the tryal of our own estates People minde onely what will serve their turn for the present and quiet their hearts that they may follow their pleasures and profits with the less regret and therefore to save themselves a labor they take that for evidence which the sluggish carnal heart wisheth were so But now in the hour of temptation fig-leaves will cover nakedness no longer nothing will serve the turn but what will be able to stand before God and endure the tryal of fire in the day of Christ Oh then one clear and unquestionable evidence of interest in Christ and the of love of God wil be worth ten thousand worlds Shadows and appearances of grace will vanish before the Searcher of hearts It must be perfect love that will cast out fear 1. Iohn 4 17 Truth and soundness of grace onely can give boldness in the day of Judgment Ah what idle and deceitful hearts have we in the midst of us that can take up with loose conjectures go to the Word and Sacrament with these evidences upon which we dare not venture to dye And yet good and upright is the Lord that will teach sinners his way Psal 25 8 that by the thunder-claps of his righteous judgments will awaken the vain creature out of these foolish dreams in which if they should dye they were undone for ever Well let us be still urging and pressing this question upon our own Souls Will this faith save me when I come to stand before the Throne of the Lamb Will this Love give me boldness in the Day of Judgment Will this Evidence serve my turn when I come to dye Oh Christians let us be afraid to lie down with that Evidence in our beds wherewith we dare not lie down in our graves 9 Lesson What an evil thing it is to grieve the Spirit A ninth is this In the time of our trouble God causeth us to see what an evil and a bitter thing it is to grieve the good Spirit of God When we are in the bitterness of our spirits and want the Comforter then we begin to call to minde how oft we have grieved the Spirit which would have been a Comforter to us and have sealed us up to the day of Redemption and say within our selves in reference to
comes forth singing 1 Sam. 15 32 33 Surely the bitterness of death is past when behold he is going to his execution both he and his hopes are hewen in pieces before the Lord. David himself looked on his right hand and beheld and there was no man that would know him Peter-like they knew not the man they made as if they had never seen him before So that Churl 1 Sam. 25 10 Who is David and who is the son of Jess some Run-agate some idle fellow that hath broken away from his master c. And it was not Nabal only that stood at this distance from him his neerest and dearest acquaintance cast him off Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness Psal 88.18 Refuge failed me no man cared for my Soul Psa 142.3 4 or as the Hebr. hath it no man sought after my Soul Saint Paul was in no better condition in the persecution which befell him at Rome At my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me not a man of all them that sat under that famous Apostle's Ministry that would or durst appear to speak a word for him or to him Oh bitter disappointment had not he had faith to support him under it And truly such is our expectation Isai 20.6 whither we flee for help to be delivered c. Sorrow and shame is the fruit of creature-expectation But now on the contrary They looked unto the Lord Psal 34.5 and were enlightened and their faces were not ashamed Faith meets with no disappointment God is always better then our expectation 2 Tim. 4 17 Nevertheless the Lord stood with me and strengthened me c. and I was delivered from the mouth of the Lion By such experiences do we learn the necessity of living by Faith I had perished in my affliction unless thy Law had been my delight i. e. unless David had learned to live by a promise he had been but a dead man Surely he dyeth oft whose life is bound up in the dying Creature as oft as the Creature fails his hope fails and his heart faileth when the creature dyeth his hope giveth up the ghost He onely lives an unchangeable life that by Faith can live in an unchangeable God We hear such things indeed in the Word but we beleeve them not till our own experience convinceth us of our infidelity A long time do we stick totally in the creature knowing no other life then of Sense and Reason Sacrificing to our own nets and burning incense to our own drags and because the Word tells us much of living by Faith we would fain patch up a life between Faith and Sense which indeed is not a life of Faith we do not live at all by faith if we live not all by faith though we may use means we must trust God and trust him solely and therefore to bring us to this God suffers us to be tired and vext with the mockery of second causes and when we have spent all upon these physicians of no value then and never till then we resolve for Christ When David had experienc'd sufficiently the falseness and hypocrisie of Saul and his Parasites They delight in lyes they bless with their mouth but they curse inwardly Psa 62.4 then he resolves never to trust creature more My Soul wait thou only upon God He onely is my Rock and my Salvation Vers 5 6. Unmixt trust in God is the fruit of our experience of the creatures vanity we never resolve exclusively for God till with the Prodigal we be whipt home stark naked to our Fathers house When the Church had run her self * Jer. 2.25 barefoot in following her Lovers who answered her expectation with nothing but fear and sent her away with shame in stead of glory Isai 20.6 then she can go home and confessing her Atheism and folly gives up her self purely to divine protection Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands Ye are our gods Hos 14.3 for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy 2. 2 The excellency of a life of Faith By the mutability and disappointment of the creature God teacheth his people the excellency of the life of Faith David when he learn'd it in the School of Affliction prints it and publisheth it to all the world Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God Psa 146 5 He had before Vers 3. entred a Caveat against creature-confidence Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man and gives the reason of it there is no help or salvation in the best of men nor in the son of man in whom there is no help alass he is but a little breathing clay and when that breath goeth forth he returns to his earth when the breath is gone there is nothing but a little clay remaining In that very day his thoughts perish when the man dyeth all his counsels and plots and projects dye with him And having thus put in his Caution against creature-dependance and given in the account of the vanity thereof he shews the difference between trust in a dying man and a living God Trust in God is onely able to make a man happy they may seem happy who have the great men of the world to trust to but he onely is happy who hath the God of Heaven to trust to Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his help why so because while they that trust in Princes shall be disappointed he that trusts in God shall never be disappointed For 1. He is Jehovah whose hope is in the Lord or in Jehovah his God Isai 26.4 Jehovah a Fâ—untain of Beings He gave a Being to Heaven and Earth Psa 146.6 He made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is and he that gave Being to every creature can give Being to his promise also Can any thing be too hard for a creating God and as he can so he will for He keepeth Truth for ever Heaven and Earth may pass away but not one jot or one tittle of his promise shall pass away till all be fulfilled Mat. 5 18. Men may prove unfaithful but God will never prove unfaithful He keepeth Truth for ever Faithful is he that hath promised Heb. 10.23 And thus the soul comes to see the sweetness and excellency of a life of Faith while others are mock'd and abus'd and slain by disappointment from the second causes He is kept in perfect peace Isai 26 3 whose minde is stayd on God because he trusteth in him He liveth indeed that liveth in him to whom Always is essential The excellency of a life of Faith discovers it self in these four particulars 1. It is a secure life 2. It is a sweet life 3. It is an easie life 4. It
represent the exceeding sinfulness that is in sin the stain and spot whereof could be washt out with no other element but the blood of the Son of God for as it was purchasing blood so it was expiating blood He hath loved us and washed us with his own blood Rev. 1 6. But though this be the purest glass yet God doth make frequent and great use of the third glass also sc afflictions and chastisements for sin to discover to the Children of promise the greatness of that evil which is in sin It is very notable how God brings the Israelites this glass in their affliction and bids them as it were see their face in it Jer. 2. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my feare is not in thee saith the Lord God of Hosts verse 19. In this glass he discovers to them a fourfold evil in sin 1. As it is cause of all other evils of punishment verse 17. Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken me c. he bids them read all their sins in their punishments he bids them look upon sin as a Mother-evil that hath all other evils in the womb of it q. d. Thank thy self for all the affliction that is upon thee thou hast procured this unto thy self art thou in captivity in prison in distress c. Thank thy Idolatry and thy Adulteries whereby thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Thank thy self for all the misery that is upon thee every mans heart may say to him as Apollodorus his heart cryed to him out of the boyling Chaldron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut I have bin the cause of all this As Lust when it hath conceived brings forth sin so sin when it is finished when it is perfected Iames 1.15 will bring forth death sin is the Child of Lust and the Mother of Death 2. In this glass God represents sin to their view as an evil in it self know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter that sin doth not only bring evil but is evil it is an evil thing not only that it works bitterness but is bitterness it is a bitter thing it hath a bitter root as well as it brings forth bitter fruits God leads the sinner by affliction to take notice not only what sin doth but what sin is It is evil Yea 3. That it is a pure unmixt evil It is an evil thing the whole being of sin is evil In the evil of affliction there is some good for it hath God for the Author Is there an evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3 6 Rom. 8 28. Psal 119.71 And it hath good for its end all things shall work together for good to them that love God It is good for me saith David that I have been afflicted But now sin is a simple uncompounded evil 1 Iohn 3.8 Rom. 6.23 for it hath the Devil for the Author he that committeth sin is of the Devil and death for its end the wages of sin is death death in its vastest comprehension sin is evil all over 4. The glass represents it yet worse that is as it is an evil against God It is a departure from God thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God verse 17. and so again v. 19. Sin is averstâ—a deo conversio ad creaturam Ier. 2.13 thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God my fear is not in thee Sin as the Schools define it is an aversion from God and a conversion or turning to the Creature My people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and shewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water Sin is not only an unmixt evil but a twisted multiplyed evil It is a departure from the fountain of life and glory and a turning to a scanty and a broken Vessel which leaks out as fast as it is poured in Now here is the exceeding sinfulness of sin that it is an evil against God punishment is but an evil against the Creature thou hast procured this unto thy self affliction is but a contradiction to the will of the Creature but sin is a contradiction to the will of God whence we may safely conclude that there is more evil in the least sin then there is in the greatest punishment even Hell it self the Hell that is in sin is worse then the Hell that is prepared for sin Yea and behold one evil more in this glass the aggravation of all the rest and that is 5ly that sin is a causless evil a causless departure thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way v. 17. when he led thee as a Guide to direct thee lead thee as a stay to support thee he put underneath thee his everlasting arms he led thee as a Convoy to guard thee led thee as a Father to provide for thee Thou wantedst nothing and yet thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God This is the aggravation verse 31. O generation Generation of what why of what you will God leaves a space as it were that they may write down what they please Generation of Vipers Generation of Monsters any thing rather then the Generation of his children O Generation see the word of the Lord still he holds the Glass before their eyes and what are they to behold there why their causeless Apostacy and rebellions for so it follows have I been a barren Wilderness a Land of darkness have ye wanted any thing wherefore then say my people we will come no more unto thee oh this departure is causeless and wilful God saith to the sinner as Pharaoh said to Jeroboam when he would be gone from him 1 Kings 11.22 But what hast thou lacked with me that behold thou seekest to be gone from me and the sinner seemeth to answer God as Jeroboam there answered Pharaoh nothing howbeit let me go in any wise Jeroboam could come to Pharaoh when he was in distress but when the storm was over at home he will be gone again though he cannot tell why and so deals the treacherous heart with God and this causeless departure from God is an high aggravation of sin God is often upon it as Isa 1.2 and Amos 6.3 4 5 c. The soul sinneth only because it will sin In a word Affliction is one of Gods tribunals where the sinner is arraigned evicted and condemned As many as I love I rebuke and chasten the Greek words signifie to convince and correct Rev. 3 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. by correction to convince of sin truly in affliction sin is laid open before a mans eyes in such sort as he is inforced to plead guilty God sits as Judg Conscience is witness a thousand witnesses sin the inditement affliction both evidence and execution Hence it is that sooner or
1 Tim. 3.6 for now in Christ it is God manifest in the flesh the humane nature of Jesus Christ hath made God visible In this face now of Jesus Christ do they whom God teacheth by a saving Gospel-teaching see divine truth i. e. they see it now not only by borrowed representations and natural resemblances Ephes 4.21 but in its own native beauty and lustre as the truth is in Jesus He hath shined into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ 2 property clear convincing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist A Syllogisme whereby the respondent is forced to contradict himself either concessa negando or per negata concedendo This is the first property of Divine Teaching It is inward and that both in respect of Subject Object 2. Divine Covenant-teaching is a clear convincing teaching so our Saviour of the spirit when He is come he shall CONVINCE the world c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifieth a clear demonstrative conviction so the Apostle defines faith to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence or demonstration the evident demonstration of things not seen The Holy Ghost in his teachings brings in divine Truths with such a clear and convincing light that the soul sits down under it fully satisfied it is not only convinc'd to silence but to assurance it doth sweetly and freely acquiesce in the present truths Now I know saith Moses Father-law that the Lord is greater then all Gods He had heard of God before Exod. 13.11 but that bred but opinion only but now he is throughly convinced I know that the Lord is greater then all Gods So David concerning his afflictions Psal 119.75 I know Lord that thy judgments are right and that of faithfulness thou hast afflicted me He was fully satisfied both of the equity and fidelity of Gods chastisements right in respect of the merit and faithful in respect of the end And thus in all the Lessons before presented to your view and in all other what God teacheth he teacheth with such a clear evidence of truth that the soul is set beyond all peradventure 1 Thes 1.5 Our Gospel came unto you not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much full assurance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word hath a double and a treble emphasis assurance full assurance and much full assurance such are the teachings of the Holy Ghost Common teaching may convince to silence but the understanding may remain doubtful still Formido oppositi there is that which the Schools call suspence or hesitancy in the understanding there is not a full and clear assent in the understanding to the truths propounded but a man remains in the Apostles Language a double minded man or as the word signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double-sould man duplex amino a man of a double or doubtful or divided spirit floating between different opinions one soul as it were beleeveth this way and another soul beleeveth that way one while he beleeveth there is a God and anon the fool saith in his heart there is no God sometimes he calls sin evil and anon again he thinks it good He beleeveth and he beleeveth not sometimes what he heareth from the word is truth sometimes he thinks again it is but an invention of man there may be some mistake in it But now the teachings of God set a man beyond all those fluctuations and unsetledness in judgment there is that which the Apostle calls the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God Assurance of principles Col. 2.2 even when the soul may possibly want the assurance of application A third property of divine teaching It is an experimental teaching 3d property experimental The soul can speak experimentally of the truths it knows it is good for me saith David Psal 119.71 that I have been afflicted why but may not any man say as much as that yes few men there are but have the Notion in their heads in their lips I but mark I pray the Psalmist speaks experimentally to the point and doth instance the good which he had gained by affliction I have learned thy statutes He had learned more acquaintance with the word more delight in the word more conformity to the word He knew it more and loved it better and was more transformed into the nature of it then ever c. So Psal 116.6 The Lord proserveth the simple i. e. God stands by his upright hearted ones to secure them from violence a good notion but any man may have it in the proposition I but David hath it in the experience I was brought low and he helped me my faith was brought low and my comfort was brought low and my resolutions were brought low my feet had welnigh slipt Psal 73.2 but God helpt my faith revived my comfort strengthened my resolutions and stablisht my feet thou hast holden me by my right hand 2 Tim. 1.22 vers 23. Thus St. Paul I know whom I have beleeved c. I have experienc't his faithfulness and his All-sufficiency I dare trust my All with him I am sure he will keep it safe to that day And thus they that are taught of God in affliction can speak experimentally in one degree or other of the gains and priviledges of a suffering condition they can speak experimentally of Communion with God though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death Psal 23 4 I will fear no evil why for thou art with me I have had comfortable experience of thy upholding councelling comforting presence with me in my deepest desertions so of other fruits of affliction this I had Psal 119.56 this I have got by my sufferings I bless God I have learned more patience humility self-denial c. to be more sensible of my Brethrens sufferings to sit looser to the World to minde duty and to trust safely with God to prepare for death and to provide for eternity one way or other it is good for me I could not have been without this affliction c. Common knowledg rests in generals lieth more in propositions then in application but they that are taught of God can say as we have heard so have we SEEN they can go along with every truth and say It is so I have experienc'd this Word upon mine own heart Iohn 3.33 they can set to their seal that God is true 4. 4 Property Powerful Divine Covenant teaching is a powerful teaching After a man hath got many truths into the understanding the main work is yet to do and that is to bring down holy truths to action to draw forth divine principles into practice a natural man may know much he may have an heap of truths in his understanding but they all lie strengthless in the brain he
hath no power to live the truths he knows Covenant-teachings convey strength as well as light and do what they teach Isa 8.11.12 The Lord spake to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying say ye not a confederacy to them who say a confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself c. It is a most sweet and comfortable Scripture and that in two respects 1. In respect of what it implieth 2. In respect of what it expresseth First it implieth thus much sc that even the Holy Prophet himself had no small combate and conflict within himself what to do in such a juncture of time as that was when it was told the house of David Chap 7.8 saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim that is that both those Kingdoms had made a League together and were now upon their march with their combined forces to make War against the House of David it was sad news and the Text saith The heart of Ahaz and the heart of the people was moved as the Trees of the Wood are moved with the Wind i. e. They were terribly afraid even ready to die for fear and in that fear abundance of the people fell off to the enemy and engaged with them as it is intimated Chap. 86. They refuse the waters of Shiloh that go softly i. e. they lookt upon the forces of Jerusalem as poor and inconsiderable Câ—m suâ—n paâ—citatem tenuitatem iâ—tuâ—bantar trepidabaâ—t c. putabant se tutisâ—imâ—s sore si tam potenâ— ipsis Râ—x contigissâ—t quam Isralitis e Calv. in loc no ways able to oppose and engage so potent an adversary as came against them and so deserted their own party and rejoyced in Rezin and Remaliah's Son they rejoyced in them i.e. to cover their defection from their true Soveraign they cryed up the invaders as their best friends who cam to rescue them from the tyranny oppression of Ahaz And it seems the Prophet Isaiah himself was surprized with fear too for a time and began to dispute the matter within himself whither it were not best for him to strike in with the stronger side and to engage in the confederacy with those two Princes as the multitude did there wanting not probably fair and specious pretences to justifie that defection It seems I say that the Prophet had a sore temptation upon his spirit about this matter and was even ready to determine the question on the affirmative till God came in and instructed him c. And that is the second thing the comfort exprest in these words while the Prophet was thus conflicting and fluctuating in his own thoughts God came in and by strength of hand rebuked his Fears silenc'd his Objections quieted his spirit determined the dispute and instructed him what course to take which was not to comply but to beleeve to study duty and leave safety with God fear not their fear nor be afraid sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself c. Power went forth with instruction taught him what to do and enabled him to do what it taught Blessed be God who hath an Hand to teach his people with as well as a mouth an Hand of power as well as a mouth of instruction had it not been for this the Prophet himself had been certainly carried down the torrent of that apostacy as well as others And there is caution in this instance as well as comfort in reference to our selves and our Brethren and that is in case of surprise by some suddain gusts of fear and temptation not rashly to judg our selves or our Brethren but wisely and calmly to consider 1 Cor. 10.13 it is no other temptation then what is common to man yea to the best of men Iob and David and Ieremiah and Habbakkuk and Peter and here Isaiah were all nonplust and staggerd for a time and recovered only by a powerful word from Heaven and therefore in such cases it becoms Christians to pity rather then to insult and to study to heal rather then to reject Gal. 6.1 considering themselves lest they also be tempted This is the priviledg of the Children of promise strength goeth out from the Covenant with instruction the Lord who commandeth light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts q. d. God hath taught us by such a word as that whereby he made the World a creating word a word that giveth strength as well as Councel And this teaching it is which the Prophet David so frequently importuneth in his prayers Psal 119.33 cum 35. Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes make me to Go in the paths of thy Commandments Psal 143.10 Teach me to do thy will mark that not only teach me the way but teach me to go not only teach me thy will but teach me to do thy will Common teaching may teach an Hypocrite the way but saving teaching only teacheth the soul to go in that way an unregenerate man may know the Will of God Nehem. 8 10. but he knoweth not how to do that Will. The joy of the Lord is our strength This is the fifth property A fifth property 5 Property Sweet The Teachings of God are sweet and pleasant teachings Psal 119.102 Psal 119 102 Thou hast taught me what followeth How sweet are thy words unto my taste sweeter then hony unto my mouth He rolled the Word and Promises as Sugar under his tongue and sucked from thence more sweetness then Samson did from his hony-comb Luther said Cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere Luth. Tom. 4. oper lat he would not live in Paradise if he must live without the Word but with the Word saith he I could live in Hell it self When Christ puts in his teaching-hand by the hole of the door to teach the heart Cant. 5.5 his fingers drop sweet smelling myrrhe upon the handles of the Lock The Teachings of Christ leave a sweet remembrance of himself behinde them Cant. 1.4 We will remember thy Love more then wine As people when they are drunk with wine wherein is excess are apt to sing and hollow so those that are filled with the Spirit cannot but insult and triumph in the wonderful things which they taste and see in the Word There cannot be but much spiritual joy in divine Teaching because the Spirit doth accompany the Truths and so irradiate them with his own beauty and glory the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Christ that they do not onely affect but ravish the heart Psal 119 140 Sunt Scripturae tuae Deliciae meae Aug. Thy Word is pure therefore thy servant loveth it The Prophet saw a beam of divine excellency sitting upon the Word and that did ensnare his Soul Truth is burdensom to unsound spirits because convincing and they labor
to extinguish that light which distrubeth their quiet Rom. 1 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies forcibly unjustly to withhold They hold the truth in unrighteousness Gr they imprison the Truth and will not suffer it to do its office But saving Teaching is sweet and delightful because it is suitable to the renewed part to which it comes in with fresh succors to relieve and fortifie it against the assaults of opposite corruption I say it is always sweet in that respect but never more sweet then in affliction the bitterness of adversity giving a more delicate rellish unto the Word by healing the distempers of the spiritual palate and then the Soul cryeth out with Jeremy in the prison Thy Words were sound and I did eat them and thy Word was unto me the joy and the rejoycing of my heart Jerem. 15.16 6. And lastly 6 Property Abiding Divine Teaching is an abiding Teaching The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you 1 Joh. 2.27 Notional knowledg where it is no more is flitting and inconsistent and leaveth the Soul dubious and uncertain Observe how the Apostle S. James expresseth it speaking of the meer notional hearer Jam. 1.24 He beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what man he was Observe he doth not onely forget what he heard but he forgets what he was The glass whether Word or Affliction discovered to him his spots shewed him his pride his covetousness the impurity of heart and life c. but he goeth away and forgetteth what manner he was he forgets the Word he forgets the Rod and what both Word and Rod discovered to him together with the resolutions and promises made to God in both A godly man may forget the Word a gracious heart may have a bad memory but he will not so easily forget himself he doth not forget his spots and that keeps him in continual work to wash and PURGE himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Remembering mine affliction and my misery Lam. 3.20 the wormwood and the gall My Soul hath them STILL IN REMEMBRANCE and is humbled in me The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways Iam. 1.8 Humane Teaching beget at best but opinion not faith the Word implieth one that is distracted and divided in his thoughts floating betwixt two contrary Opinions There be notions contradicting notions and principles fighting against principles and such knowledg is not abiding knowledg this unfixedness in principles produceth instability in practice if a man be double-minded in his principles he will be unstable in all his ways none are so constant in the profession of any truth as they that are fully convinced and assured of it none so stable in their conversation as they that are rooted and stablished in the present Truth This is the effect of Gods Teaching it keeps the judgment steady and the heart stable Teach me O Lord Ps 119.33 the way of thy Statutes and I will keep it unto the end He dares promise Perseverance if God will undertake Instruction and accordingly he made good his promise upon this very account I have not departed from thy Judgments for thou hast taught me Observe it He doth not say I will keep thy Statutes but he can say and that many years after I have kept thy Statutes Many will say in their affliction I will keep thy Statutes promise fair if God will but deliver them but how few can say with David I have kept I have not departed from thy Judgments Of old time saith God I have broken thy yoke and burst thy bonds and thou saidst I WILL NOT transgress Jer. 2.20 when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest playing the harlot Good words in trouble but poor performance out of trouble no sooner out of affliction but they fall again to their old trade of spiritual Adultery against God no sooner their old hearts and their old temptations meet but they close and embrace one another they started aside like a broken bow I but David was taught of God and therfore he is as careful to make good his vows as to make good vows I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered Psal 66 and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble The after part of Davids life was much more severe and exact then the former I have not departed from thy Judgments for thou hast taught me These are the properties of Divine Teachings but lest I should lay a snare before the blinde and make the heart sad which God would not have made sad I must of necessity lay in a few brief Cantions When we say God teacheth 1. Inwardly 2. Clearly 3. Experimentally 4. Powerfully 5. Sweetly 6. Abidingly It is not so to be understood Cantions First 1. God teacheth not all at first As if God taught All at first viz. either All Truths or All of any truth God doth not teach all his Lessons at the first entrance into the School of Affliction at least not usually for we dare not limit God The fruit of Affliction is not gathered presently No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Heb. 12.11 nevertheless afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Teaching is the fruit of affliction and fruit is not gathered presently it must have a ripening time And therefore O thou discouraged Soul say not God doth not teach thee at all if he do not teach thee all at once The entrance of thy Word giveth light God lets in light by degrees Usually God teacheth his children as we teach ours now a little and then a little Isa 28.10 somewhat this week and more next week somewhat by this affliction and more by the next affliction and more by a third c. It is not to be despised if God discover to the Soul the need of divine Teaching and engage the heart in holy desires and longings after it so that the afflicted Soul can say in sincerity My Soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times Ps 119.20 Secondly 2 Caution nor all Alike When we say that God teacheth whom he chasteneth and teacheth them thus and thus it is not to be understood as if he taught All alike God hath several Forms in the School of Affliction as well as in the School of the Word There be fathers for experience 1 Ioh. 2.12 young men for strength and babes for the truth and being of Grace And therefore if God have not taught thee so much as another say not here again he hath not taught me at all As one Star differeth from another in glory so also is the School of Christ it is free grace thou art a star though thou art not a star of the first or second magnitude that God hath let in some divine light though not so
the noise of the tumult carries him into his Counting-house lays him upon his knee with the rod in his hand and then the father can be heard So doth God I say Verse 6 with his children He openeth their ears Hebr. He uncovereth their ears which the Worlds vanity had stopped and then instruction will enter When Joab would not come to Absalom he sets his field on fire 2 Sam. 14.30 And thus after neglects God brings us to treat with him by affliction God saith as it were Come let us reason together and the Soul eccho's back again Speak Lord for thy servant heareth and when the Soul is thus silent unto God He cometh and sealeth Instruction by his Spirit Fourthly and lastly 4. Affliction is an Eye-salve Affliction is an Eye-salve whereby God openeth the eye of the Soul to see the need of divine Teaching by the discovery of its own brutish ignorance of God and of his ways under all divine Administrations as Ephraim once bemoaned himself to the Lord I have been as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke the Prophet David will English it So foolish was I and ignorant Psa 73.22 and like a beast before thee And by means of this discovery God draws out the heart into humble and holy supplication for Divine Teaching Iob 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more When or how cometh the Sinner thus to put in for Instruction why Vers 31. I have born chastisement Correction discovered the need of Instruction That which I see not teach thou me And thus Ephraim Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised but blows alone will not do it therefore it follows Turn thou me and I shall be turned though Chastisement could not turn Ephraim yet it made him see an absolute necessity of divine power to his conversion less then Omnipotence would not serve the turn And when God hath brought the heart once into this frame sc to see and be affected with the sense of its own ignorance and impotency and to lie in the dust at Gods feet humbly importuning an effectual Teaching from Heaven if God should withhold it he should fail not his promise onely but his own counsel and project in reference to which God cannot lye but when he hath prepared the heart to pray Psa 10 17 He will cause his ear to hear When God hath engaged the heart in holy desires of saving Instruction it is not mercy onely in God but faithfulness to satisfie the desire of his own Creation Psal 25 8 Good and UPRIGHT is the Lord and therefore he will teach sinners in the way Thus much for the third particular thing propounded for the opening of the Doctrine I come now to The fourth and last c. Grounds or Demonstrations of the point The Grounds and Demonstrations of the Point Of which in a few words and then I shall come to the Use and Application It must needs be a blessed thing when Correction and Instruction meet if we consider 1. The Lâ—ssons which God 〈◊〉 cheth are so many Blessednesses First The Lessons themselves which God teacheth his Ephraim's in the School of Affliction exâ—gra Is it not a blessed thing to be taught how to compassionate them that are in a suffering condition yea â—aith the Psalmist Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble the Lord will preserve him Psa 41.1 2 and keep him alive and he shal be blessed upon earth c. he is blessed and he shal be blessed not in heaven onely but upon earth also and that with a multiplyed blessing see a troop follows Thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of his languishing Vers 2 3 thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness oh the blessedness of a compassionate heart towards afflicted ones how easie must that bed be which God maketh And 2ly is it not a blessed thing to know how to value our earthly comforts without doating upon them to be thankful and yet not to surfeit blessed is he that feareth alwayes i. e. that feareth a snare in all his earthly contentments And 3ly if it be a blessedness to be conformed to Jesus Christ then surely self-denyal is a lesson which will make one blessed If any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and follow me saith our Saviour Matth. 16.24 And 4ly Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of heaven Mat. 5 3 5 and blessed are the meek for they shal inherit the earth if heaven and earth can make one blessed then Humility is a blessed Lesson And so it is 5ly To have our hearts discovered to our selves corruption is matter of humiliation but sight and sense of corruption is matter of comfort and rejoycing it is a miserable thing indeed to be poor and not to see ones poverty Thou sayst thou art rich Rev. 3.17 but knowest not that thou art poor and miserable but happy is that man to whom the Lord first discovers the hidden corruption of his heart and then teacheth him to mourn over it Mat. 5.4 blessed are they that mourn for they shal be comforted 6ly A man is never in a happier condition then when his heart is in a praying frame It is a mercy with a note of observation Acts 9.11 Behold he prayes a man is never miserable but when he cannot pray And 7ly what think ye of the Word surely he is a blessed man that by affliction is brought acquainted with his Bible which is nothing else but a treasury and Magazeen of blessings blessed is the man whom thou chastisest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law it is your text and the first Psalm is your comment His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night v. 2. And 8ly blessed are they whom the Lord teacheth to clear out their evidences for heaven to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 11 for so an abundant entrance shal be administred unto them into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when others shall but creep to heaven as it were upon all four they shal ride as in a triumphant charet into the gates of the New Jerusalem 9ly Blessed are they who weep over their grievings of Gods Spirit for God shal wipe off those tears from their eyes and He will comfort them whom they have grieved And 10ly what is the blessedness of heaven it self but Communion with God! 11ly The exercise of Grace 12ly The Life of Faith 13ly Trust in God that raises the dead and cals things which are not as though they were 14. a clearer discovery of Gods Excellencies what are these but heaven begun on this side heaven glory antidated John
which the Apostle after he presented them with a large catalogue and list of the primitive Martyrs before Christ in the eleventh Chapter bestows the twelve first verses of the twelfth Chapter sc to prove by reasons drawn from nature c. instances taken out of Scripture the first whereof is that unparalleld and astonishing instance of Jeâ—us Christ the firstborn the * Unum habuit Deus filium sine flagitio nullum sine flagello Son of Gods loves and delights I say to establish this as a Conclusion of unquestionable verity namely That Gods LOVE and Gods ROD may stand together The truth is my Brethren there is nothing can make a man miserable but sin It is sin that poysons our afflictions The sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15 56 and so we may say of all other evils which militate under Death as Soldiers under their General The sting of sickness is sin and the sting of poverty is sin and the sting of imprisonment and banishment is sin sic in caet Take the sting out which is purchas'd by the blood of Christ and evidenced by Divine Teaching and they cannot hurt nor destroy in all Gods holy mountain Isai 11.4 And therefore let no children of God be rash to conclude hard things against themselves and take heed of making evidences of Wrath where God hath made none Let Christians on both sides look further then the affliction it self the Holy Ghost having long since determined this controversie by a peremptory decision Eccles 9.1 No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them i.e. no man can make a judgment either of Gods love or hatred towards him by any of these outward Dispensations He causeth his Sun to shine upon the evil Mat. 5.45 Bonis brevibus mala aeterna malis brevibus bona aeterna succedunt Lactant. Div. Inst and upon the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust The sun of prosperity shineth upon the dunghil as well as upon the bed of spices and the rain of adversity falleth upon the fruitful garden as well as upon the barren wilderness he judgeth truly of his estate that judgeth by the Word and not by Providence Evidences of Grace consist in inward impressions not in outward dispensations Thirdly 3 Branch Informat Deliverance not enough to argue a man happy That Deliverance out of trouble is not enough to evidence or make a man happy It is not said Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord AND DELIVEREST HIM out of trouble but Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest A man may get rid of the affliction and yet miss of the blessing All the bread which men may eat without the sweat of their brows is not therefore hallowed abundance may flow in without labor and yet not without a curse A woman may be delivered from the pain of child bearing and yet lie under the curse of child-bearing an easie travel is not an infallible symptome of a state of reconciliation 1 Tim. 2.15 If there be not faith in Christ who hath born and born away the Curse a speedy and easie deliverance is no more then God indulgeth the bruit creatures for by him the Hindes do calve and the wild Asses bring forth their young * Hos 9.14 Calvin understands it as a prayer for them not an imprecation against them hic coram Deo se offâ—rt 〈◊〉 quasi deprecatorem In Loc. A miscarrying womb may be a mercy when a mature and facile birth may be in judgment A man may leave his chains and his blessing behinde him in prison and the fire of a Feaver may be extinguish'd when the fire of Hell is preparing for the sinner It is good to be thankful for but extreamly dangerous to be contented with a bare deliverance I shall conclude this branch with this note which alone might have stood for a distinct observaetion or corollary That those prayers in troubles are not best heard which are answered with deliverance but those prayers are best heard which are answered with instruction Even of our blessed Saviour it is said In the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able taâ— save him from death and WAS HEARD Sancti ad salutem per omnia ex audiuntur sed non ad voluntatem Aug. in Epist Johan tract 6. in that he feared Hebr. 5.7 How was he heard not in that save me from this hour Joh. 12.27 but in that Father glorifie thy name Vers 28. not in deliverance but in instruction for for that he giveth thanks Psal 16.7 〈◊〉 will bless the Lord who hath GIVEN ME COUNSEL My REINS ALSO INSTRUCT ME in the night season His Father taught him and strengthened him vers 8.9 10 11. in his passion and this was the hearing of his supplications That is the best return of prayers which works our good when not our wills and when God doth not answer in the Letter if he answer in the Better we are no losers by our prayers even * Etiam daemones exaudiâ—isunt ad porcos quos petiveranti remissi sunt Idem Devils themselves are heard to the letter when his own son is not yet heard in that be feared and therefore when we have pray'd let us refer it unto God to determine the answer Fourthly 4 Branch Informat How to judg of our afflictions and deliverances Hence we may learn â—ow to judg of our afflictions and of â—ur deliverances from them and it may serve in stead of an Vse of Exâ—mination by this I say we may know when our sufferings come in wrath and when in love You need not as the Scripture speaks in another case say Who shall ascend up into Heaven to look into Gods book of Life and Death or who shall descend into the deep the deep of Gods secret Counsels to make report hereof unto us But what saith the Scripture the Word is nigh thee the word of resolution to this enquiry it is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that â—s to say if thou canst evidence this to thine own soul That Instruction â—ath accompanyed Correction That God hath taught thee as well as chaâ—tened thee thou art a blessed man thou shalt be saved thou hast the Word of him who is the Author of blessedness and BLESSEDNES IT SELF Blessed is the man whom the Lord chasteneth and teacheth him out of his Law And therefore peruse I beseech you that model of divine Instructions or Lessons presented to you in the Doctrinal part of this Discourse either at large in those twenty particulars or in the abridgment the three great heads to which they were reduc'd And then withall set before your eyes those six Preperties of Divine Covenant-Teaching and compare your hearts and those Lessons together Ask your own Souls Hath God taught you those Lessons or any of them
1. Inwardly 2. Convincingly 3. Experimentally 4. Powerfully 5. Sweetly 6. Abidingly for even an hypocritical Ahab can humble himself for a time walk in sackloth and go softly a bulrush can hold down its head for a day And if the Spirit of God can bear witness to thy spirit that thou art thus taught happy art thou bless the Lord for the Lord hath blessed thee thou mayst sing Davids song I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel my Reins also instruct me in the night season Psal 16.7 And again I know Lord thy Judgments are right and that of faithfulness thou hast afflicted me If I had been less afflicted I had been less blessed But now on the other side when there is no Interpreter to accompany affliction to shew unto man the meaning of the Almighty in his chastisements when there is not a divine sentence in the lips of Correction when the rod is dumb A dumb rod is a great judgment or the creature deaf and cannot hear the Rod and who hath appointed it it is much to be feared the stroke is not the stroke of Gods children O my Brethren it is sad when men come out of affliction the same they went in when affliction leaves them as it found them as ignorant as unhumbled as unsensible of sin as bowelless towards their suffering Brethren as worldly as proud as impatient as unsavory as much strangers to Christ and their own hearts as regardless of Eternity In a word as fit for sin as they were before This I say is exceeding sad And yet it is much sadder when it may be said of a man as once it was said of Ahaz In the time of his distress he did trespass yet more against the Lord 2 Chro. 28 22 It was an aggravation of wickedness concerning which we may say as our Saviour of the Alabaster box poured on his head Where ever the Scripture shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this which this man did be published THIS IS THAT KING AHAZ Surely it is a standing monument of reproach and infamy unto him to all generations Christians it is sad and dangerous beyond all expression when affliction serveth but as a gage to give vent to the pride and murmur the atheism and enmity which is in mens spirits against the Lord when afflictions are but as oyl to irritate corruption and make it blaze more fiercely to continue in wonted sins against such insensible and real proclamations to desist is professed rebellion against God an heavy inditement which the Prophet bringeth against Jerusalem Ier. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder then a rock they have not refused to return In such cases it is to be feared the cup of affliction is a vial of wrath and the plagues of this life nothing else but some previous drops of that storm of fire and brimstone wherein impertinent sinners shal be scorch'd and tormented for ever That Scripture speaks dreadfully to this purpose Jer. 6.28 They are all grievous revolters walking with slanders they are all corrupters The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the Founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucked away Reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them They are all grievous revolters i. e. as the Prophet Isaiah expounds it Isai 1 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 additis defectionem ye revolt more and more Heb. They encrease revolt walking with slanders they do not onely revolt but slander those that reprove their revolting They hate him that reproveth in the gate Amos 5 10 they slander the Prophets and their words nay God himself doth not escape the lash of their tongues they say Ezek. 18 The way of the Lord is not equal when they should condemn their own ways they censure Gods The way of the Lord is not equal They are brass and iron They would pass for silver and gold a sincere and holy people while they are a degenerate and hypocritical generation They are all corrupters Micah 9.9 They have deeply corrupted themselves they have corrupted all their doings Zâ—ph 3.7 Mal. 2.8 they have corrupted the Covenant of Levi sc the worship the ordinances the truths of God The bellows are burnt in the fire i. e. The Lungs of the Prophets which have preach'd unto them in the name of the Lord rising up early and lifting up their voyces like trumpets to tell Israel their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins and stretching forth their hands unto them all the day long they are spent The Lead is consumed i. e. All the melting judgments and chastisements which as Lead is cast into the furnace to make it the hotter God added to the Ministry of the Prophets to make the Word more operative they will do no good All this while The Founder melteth in vain whether God the Master-Founder or the Prophets Gods Co-founders or fellow-workmen as the Apostle calls them they all melt in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 all their labor is lost neither word nor rod neither judgments nor ordinances can stir them they refuse to receive correction they will not be taught * Men wil god the hearing but are resolved on their own courses The wicked are not plucked away They are the same that ever they were the swearer is a swearer still and the drunkard is a drunkard still and the unclean person is unclean still Isai 32.6 The vile person will speak villany and his heart will work iniquity to practise hypocrisie and to utter error against the Lord the unjust are unjust still and the ignorant are ignorant still nothing will better them wicked they are and wicked they will be What follows a formidable sentence Reprobate silver shall men call them They would be counted silver but it is reprobate silver refuse silver dross rather then pure mettal and their hypocrisie shall be made known to all men Reprobate silver shall MEN call them and happy they if it were but the censure of mistaking men onely nay but the Searcher of hearts hath no better thoughts of them men do but call them so because God call'd them so first Reprobate silver shal men call them because the LORD hath Rejected them God hath cast them out as the Founder casts out his dross to the dunghill and they shall never stand among the vessels of honor in whom the Lord will be glorified A fearful sentence the sum whereof is this That when Teaching goeth not along with Correction when men come out of the furnace and lose nothing of their dross it is a sad indicium of a reprobate spirit without timely and serious reflection nigh unto cursing O consider this you that forget God and his chastisements lest he tear you in pieces Psa 50.22 and there
rod and who hath appointed it It is the great mistake and folly of men that they make more haste to get their afflictions removed then sanctified The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not dye in the pit c. q. d. men would fain break prison or leap 〈…〉 the window before God open 〈…〉 But this their way is their folly so the following words imply But I am the Lord thy God that divided the Sea whose waves roared Verse 15. the Lord of Hosts is his Name q. d. Men would fain be delivered but they take not the right course Deliverance belongs unto me I am the Lord thy God that divided the Sea and made it a way for my ransomed to pass over and that when it was most tempestuous when the waves thereof roared When I will deliver no obstruction can stand in the way and yet Israel now in captivity will not look to me I am the Lord of Hosts that have all the Armies in Heaven and Earth at command and yet when they are besieged with troubles and dangers I cannot hear from them they run to the creature and neglect God or if they cry to me in their distresses it is for deliverance only but not for teaching though I have put my words in thy mouth vers 16. that is I have given them my Laws and Statutes wherein I have made known my design in affliction why I send them into captivity namely that there I might TEACH THEM that I might humble them and prove them and make them know what is in their heart This is the shortest way to deliverance and in this path if they had trod I would have planted the Heavens and layd the foundations of the Earth vers 16. even the NEVV HEAVENS and the NEVV EARTH of Ierusalems Restoration and say to Sion Thou art my people in the same verse This is Cods method wherein he will own his people and wherein if they meet him they shall not stay long for their deliverance And therefore be wise O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted Isai 54.11 be instructed lest Gods Soul depart from thee make more haste to be taught then to be delivered and chuse rather to have thy affliction sanctified then removed Consider 1. That this is Gods design 1. If we cross Gods project God will cross ours that he might teach thee by his chastisements and if thou crossest Gods design God will cross thy design if thou wilt not let God have his end in instruction he will not let thee have thy end in enlargement The only way to retard deliverance is to make too much haste to be delivered and he that beleeveth will not make haste 2. Consider 2. Deliverance is not the Blessing That bare deliverance is not the Blessing I told you before that deliverance alone is but the fruit of common bounty I le tell you more now Deliverance alone may be the fruit of the Curse a man may be delivered in wrath and not in love Deliverance from one affliction may but make way for another for a greater Affliction may return like the unclean spirit with seven more worse then it self So God threatens an unteachable people If by these things ye will not be reformed but will walk contrary to me cross my design in my chastisements then will I walk contrary to you Levit. 26.23 24. I will cross your design and in stead of deliverance I will punish you yet seven times more for your sins The blessing of correction is instruction O let not God go till he bless thee It is a sad thing to have affliction but not the blessing of affliction to feel the wood of the Cross but not the good of the Cross to taste the bitter root but not the sweet fruit of a suffering condition the Curse but not the Cordial Truly in such a case one affliction may not only make way for another for more for greater but affliction here may make way for damnation hereafter and as one saith wittily by all the fire of affliction in this world a man may be but perboild for Hell And therefore mind instruction study the Lessons of a suffering condition ut sup and be importunate for nothing so much as to be taught of God and to be taught not with a common teaching but that special Covenant saving teaching which changeth the Soul into the nature of the Truth and makes it holy as it is holy and pure as it is pure and heavenly as it is heavenly He for our profit Heb. 12.10 that we might be partakers of his holiness Third Branch of Exhortation 3 Branch of Exhort to such as are come forth of affliction To them that are come out of affliction and fiery tryals Sit down Christian and reflect upon thy self turn in upon thine own heart examine thy self Have teachings accompanied chastisements hath the rod budded cast up thy accounts What hast thou learn'd in the School of Affliction Not to go over the larger Catechism of those twenty Lessons again view the abbreviate Hath God discovered to thee the sinfulness of sin the emptiness of the creature the fulness of Christ Is no evil like to the evil of sin * Fornicatur anima quae avertitur abs te quaerit extra te ea quae pura liquida non invenit nisi cum redit ad te Aug. Confess l. 2. c. 5. no good like to Iesus Christ Is the world become an empty vanity a mockery a nothing in thine eyes Canst thou say it is good I have been afflicted and canst thou point out that good and say This I had this I have got by my sufferings I know divine Truth more inwardly more clearly more experimentally more powerfully more sweetly then ever it hath a more abiding impression upon my heart I would speak a word 1. To them that can evidence these teachings to their own Souls 2. To them that cannot First To those who through grace do find the fruit of affliction in the savory and saving teachings of God upon their hearts let me by way of Exhortation commend a threefold duty to you 1. Three duties Study to be thankful 2. Labor to preserve the teachings of God upon thy spirit 3. 1 Duty Thankfulness The priviledges of being taught as well as corrected Learn to pray for them that are afflicted and what to pray First Study to be thankful Hath God taught thee as well as chastised thee O say with David What shall I render to the Lord For consider how great things God hath done for thy Soul 1. 1. It is more better then deliverance God hath done more for thee then if he had never brought thee into affliction and trouble or then if he had brought thee out the same day on which he sent thee in if he had delivered thee upon the first prayer that ever thou madest in thine affliction
With your lives live his praise hath God taught thee If thou wouldst glorifie God go and put all the Lessons which thou hast learned into print shew forth the graces of him that hath called thee out of darkness into his marvelous light 1 Pet. 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the excelencies print them in such a legible character that who so runs may read Lip-praise is good but life-praise is better He that offers me praise glorifieth me and to him that ORDERETH HIS CONVERSATION ARIGHT will I shew the Salvation of God Psa 50.23 It is good to speak so Loquere ut te videam that men may see that standers by may be Gods witnesses and yours that you are taught of God and say Lo what hath God wrought how holily and humbly and fruitfully and self-denyingly do these servants of God walk since they came out of tribulation Live so that you may take off the scandal of the Cross of Christ and bring men into love with a suffering condition Mat. 5.16 Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven * Caelum quoddam luci dissimis virtutum stellis exornatum that you may be a little Heaven-sparkling with bright stars of divine graces as it was said of Joseph 3. Now God hath taught thee 3. Be ready to teach others be thou ready to teach others It is a debt which thou owest to all thou conversest with When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren Communicate what God hath taught thee to thy yoke-fellow children servants friends upon all seasonable opportunities Sanctified knowledg is communicative Freely thou hast received freely give * Mark 4.21 God never lighttd this candle that it should be put under the bed or under the bushel the bed of pleasure or the bushel of profit but that it may be put into the candlestick of thy conversation and so shine before men that they may see and glorifie thy Father which is in Heaven This is indeed to glorifie God And thus much for the first Duty I come to the second Duty and that is Labor to preserve the teachings of God upon thy Spirit 2 Duty To preserve a good frame of spirit Study how to maintain that sweet gracious frame of heart into which God hath taught thee by affliction It is the duty which Christians should practise as oft as they come from the Word or any other divine Ordinance When we come out of a Sabbath we should sit down and observe with what frame of spirit God sends us away from the Ordinance If the Ordinance hath left no savory gracious impression upon the heart to lie in the dust and mourn and commune with our own hearts and lament after God If there be an Ordinance-frame we should rejoyce in it bless God for it and labor to keep up such a frame upon the heart till the next solemn approach to God Christians how much more should this be our care and study when we come out of Gods furnace that solemn Ordinance of affliction to labor to maintain that melting frame of heart that warmth and heat that life and vigor which we have brought with us out of affliction 2 John 3 Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which God hath wrought in you To that end take a few Means or Helps First Means to preserve a good frame of heart 1. Be often perusing your Lessons Be often reading over the LESSONS which God hath taught you frequently revive the remembrance of them in your heads and work the impressions of them upon your hearts labor not onely to say them without book but indeed to get them by heart I tell you Christians you had need to take much pains with your selves to keep the Teachings of God alive upon your spirits For be sure of this that you will finde a great difference between your hearts yet under affliction and when the affliction is taken off and without infinite watchfulness your hearts will be too hard for you The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Jer. 17.9 There is much of a Pharaoh-like disposition in every man very prone to harden when the storm is over It is sad and wonderful to consider how a corruption will lie as if it were quite dead while danger and death are before us and how suddenly and powerfully it will revive and without special take-heed betray the Soul when the danger is over That Caution which God by Moses gave the Israelites in the wilderness may make every wise Christian to tremble Deut. 31 21 I know their imaginations which they go about EVEN NOVV BEFORE I have brought them into the Land which I sware Their hearts were secretly projecting for their lusts even while they were yet smarting under the rod and in the howling wilderness they are forecasting hwo to satisfie sense and serve their carnal interests when they should come into the Land that flowed with milk and honey Possibly these were not down-right resolves but saith the Lord I know their imaginations O my Brethren we should harken to the whisperings of Lust in our own bosoms and labor to suppress them to crush the Serpent while it is in the shell for if there be such floatings of sin in the imagination while yet in durance what projecting and contrivements will there be in the heart when liberty and enlargement shall present temptations and opportunities And therefore keep we our hearts with all diligence Prov. 4 23 or as the Hebrew phraseth it of all keepings keep our hearts Hic sons boâ—â— peccandi â—â—igo Hieron for out of them come the issues of life and when the days of affliction and trouble are gone work Truths and Counsels received frequently and fixedly upon your Consciences that you may like good Scribes instructed to the Kingdom of God Mat. 13 52 bring out of your treasures things new and old and have always in a readiness wherewith to oppose and check temptation and may practise every Lesson which God hath taught you in the season thereof Secondly Renew also 2 Help Renew the remembrance of the affliction often upon your Souls the remembrance of the sharpness and bitterness of the affliction it will be a notable corrective to sensuality and give check to sinful excesses The flesh will quickly grow wanton when it findeth ease Jesurun when the neck was got from under the yoke quickly waxed fat Deut. 32 15 Psal 106 13 and kicked They soon forgat his works they waited not for his counsel but lusted exceedingly WORKS and COUNSEL CHASTISEMENTS and TEACHINGS were quickly forgotten when once the affliction was over They quickly forgot a barren wilderness in a Land that flowed with milk and hony They waited not for his Counsel they grew weary of Counsel when once free from Correction and chose rather to walk by the
my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Lord through grace assisting I will be as ready to pay my vows now I am well as I was to make vows when I was sick c. Psa 56.12 THY VOVVS are upon me I will render praises unto thee When you have made good Vows be as careful to make good your Vows unto the Lord Vow Psa 76.11 and PAY unto the Lord your God In the fifth place 5 Means Attend upon the Word If you would preserve the teachings of God upon thy heart attend constantly and conscionably upon the Ministry of the Word The truth is the Word and the Rod teach the same Lessons The Rod many times is but the Words REMEMBRANCER And therefore as the Rod quickens the Word so the Word back again will revive and sanctifie the teachings of the Rod They mutually help to set one another with deeper impressions And therefore hear WISDOM watching dayly at her gates Prov. 8.34 waiting at the posts of her doors if thou wouldst be blessed It will be of a twofold advantage 1. It will help your memories As the Rod repeateth the Word so the Word will repeat the instructions of the Rod the Gospel will bring to remembrance what you have learned in the School of Affliction 2. It will quicken affection To hear that repeated by the still sweet voyce of the Gospel which before God taught you in the voyce of thunder this cannot but affect and make you bespeak the Gospel as once the Israelites did Moses Deut. 5 25 26 Speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it but let us not hear the voyce of God any more that terrible voyce of Judgment lest we dye And certainly God will take it was well at your hands as he did at Israels and will answer in some such language I have heard the voyce of this people they have well said all that they have spoken O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me Verse 29. and keep my Commandments that it might be well with them and that I might not bring upon them such evils as I have done any more 6. 6 Means Feed a good frame of heart Be often feeding that frame of heart which God hath taught thee into do by it as thou dayly beggest God would do by thee Give it day by day its dayly bread Meditations suitable to the nature of that grace which thou wouldst maintain threatenings promises truths Scripture-considerations agreeable to the Lesson Take heed of feeding corruption with thoughts of the sweetness that is in sin Take heed of starving grace by withdrawing from it suitable aliment You will require the blood of your Infants that are starved at the Nurses hands Will not God be much more jealous over the births and issues of his own Spirit Meditate much upon the Sinfulness of Sin the Emptiness of the Creature the Fulness of Christ the exquisiteness of his Sufferings the severity of the last Judgment the torments of Hell the Joys of Heaven the infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature Me litatio q. mentas dictatio and the horror of Eternity Rich in Meditation and rich in grace 7. 7 Help And lastly Be much in prayer As it was not enough for God to make the first Creation but he must uphold it by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 or else it would quickly have returned into its first Nothing So it is with the second Creation Hebr. 12.3 Christ is the Finisher as well as the Author of grace Phil. 1. He that hath begun a good work in you must perfect it Stability onely comes from the unchangeable God and therefore pray that God would put of his unchangeableness upon you Pray as Luther was wont to pray Act. Mon fol. 777. Confirm O Lord in us what thou hast wrought and perfect the work thou hast begun in us to thy Glory so be it which he seems to have taken out of Psal 68.28 Strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought in us Pray that prayer which David prayed over that liberal frame of heart which God had formed in his people for the service of the Temple O LORD God of Abraham 1 Chron. 29 18. and Isaac and Jacob our Fathers KEEP THIS FOR EVER in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and PREPARE their heart unto thee or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 STABLISH their heart Oh be earnest with God for stability of heart Hosea 6.4 that thy goodness may not be as a morning cloud and as the early dew but that it may in some proportion resemble the Author of it and be Yesterday Heb. 13.8 and to day and the same for ever In a word By all these means and helps and what other God hath sanctified for this gracious end labor Christians to be such out of your afflictions Possum ergo quod pluribus verbis pluribus eliam voluminibus philosophi docere conantur ipse breviter tibi mihique precipere ut tales esse sani perseveremus quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi Plin. ep 26 l. 7. ad max as you promised God and your selves to be when you were in that neither God nor your own Souls may have cause to repent of your sufferings that the fruit of chastening may be †2 Cor 7 Repentance never to be unrepented of i.e. * Marbury of Repent 3 Duty Pray for the afflicted never to fall back again Having in your troubles repented of your sins take heed when you are delivered that you repent not of your repentance and he that doth not repent of his repentance now shall never have cause to repent for his repentance hereafter And thus I have done with the second Duty of those who through grace do find they have been taught by affliction I come now to the Third Duty Pray for the afflicted and when you pray say Lord teach them as well as correct them that they may be blessed O pray thus for ENGLAND she hath been a long time sorely chastised of the Lord and yet hath been all this while like a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke O pray Turn us Lord and we shall be turned thou art the Lord our God Pray that God would teach ENGLAND in this day day of her visitation the things of her peace before they be hid from her eyes Luk. 19.42 Ier. 6.8 O pray that we may be INSTRUCTED lest Gods Soul depart from us If Correction go not forth into Instruction if England be not at length reformed by all the judgments of God upon her she hath seen her best days and may expect to be made desolate a Land not inhabited Ier. 6.8 there is no balm for our pain neither any Physician that
can heal our malady Pray thus for all your friends who are or have been in the furnace of affliction pray that they may come forth as gold purified seven times in the fire that they may lose nothing there but their rust Pray Lord what they see not teach them and if they have done wickedly let them do so no more One great use which Christians should make of reading the Scripture is to learn from thence the language of prayer And oh that the professors of this age would in this particular learn what to pray and how to pray for their brethren in tribulation O that they would censure less and pray more and in stead of speaking one of another speak more one to another and one for another that was the good old way Mal. 3.16 THEN they that feared the Lord spake often one To another But oh the tender praying healing restoring SPIRIT is departed and if Christians stir not up themselves to call it back again it is a sad presage that God is departing too Hos 9.12 and wo unto us when God departeth from us We are like water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up again We judg before we enquire and reject before we admonish Our Brethren upon vain surmises are to us as Heathens and Publicans before we have been to them as Christians and fellow-members And this we think becometh us and we take a kind of pride and contentment in it But oh to inform to convince Gal. 6.1 Mat. 18.15 16 17. to exhort to pray to put the bone if out in joynt again this were done like the Disciples of Christ Violentia Sancta obtabilis rapina to shew our selves Christians indeed Professors not of the letter but of the Spirit and would gain our Brethren in stead of blasting them Consider what I say and the Lord give you a right understanding in all things And thus much for such as are come out of affliction and find that it hath been through free grace a teaching affliction But now secondly Exhort to them that have been corrected but not instructed To such as cannot evidence to their own Souls that chastening hath been accompanied with divine teaching in any Gospel-proportion or at least are not deeply sensible of the want of it here is a word of Exhortation for them suffer it I beseech you Roul your selves in the dust before the Lord smite upon your thigh sigh with the breaking of your loyns and cry out with Ephraim Thou hast chastised me Reader excuse the frequent use of this Scripture Ier. 31.18 Nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis discitur that cannot be too often spoken which cannot be sufficiently learned Sen. Epist Hosea 9.11 Psal 58.8 and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke I have felt the blows of God but that is all I have received no more instruction by all my correction then a brute beast or if I had I have quickly lost it it is fled like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception It is like the untimely fruit of a woman that never saw the Sun Truly thou hast cause to sit down and even wish for thy affliction again God had put himself into thy hands as it were and thou hast let him go without THE Blessing the blessing of saving Instruction how mayst thou even wish I say O that I were in prison again in my sick bed again in banishment again et sic in caet However humble thy self greatly before the Lord and wrestle mightily for the AFTER TEACHINGS of God upon thy heart pray Turn me Lord and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God what affliction hath not done Lord do thou set Omnipotency on work and it shall be done turn me and I SHALL BE turned that so thy Soul may yet speak to the praise of free grace AFTER that I returned I repented Ier. 31.19 and AFTER that I was instructed I smote upon the thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Urge the Lord as Sampson did after his victory Judg. 15.18 Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant and shall I now dye for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised Say thou Lord thou hast given thy servant this great deliverance from danger and death and shall I now perish for want of teaching and go down to Hell among the uncircumcised TEACH me thy way Psal 86.11 O Lord I will walk in thy truth Vnite my heart to fear thy Name TEACH me to do thy will Psa 143 10 for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of uprightness In a word desire the Lord that He would do all the work and then take all the glory Say Lord teach me as well as deliver me and I shall be blessed The fourâ—h and last Branch of Exhortation is to Parents and Governors To exhort them in the Education of their Children to imitate God Exhortat to Parents and that in two things 1. In affording their children due correction 2. To Correction to add Instruction First 1. Exhort Withhold not due correction Prov. 19.18 Afford your Children due correction It is the counsel of the Holy Ghost CHASTEN thy son while there is hope and let not thy Soul spare for his crying Behold God counselleth you that are Parents or in stead of Parents to do with your children as He doth with his wisely to use the discipline of the rod before vicious dispositions grow into habits and folly be so deeply rooted Pro. 22 15 Mr Trapp in his Comment on Prov. in locum that the Rod of Correction will not drive it out Error and folly saith one very well be the knots of Satan wherewith he ties children to the stake to be burnt in Hell and these knots are easiliest cut betimes or if you should make the child bleed in cutting of them let it not cause you to withdraw your hand for so it followeth Chasten thy son c. and let not thy Soul spare for his crying It is not only foolish but cruel pity to forbear correction for a few childish tears to suffer the child to howl in Hell for sin father then to shâ—d a few tears for the preventing of it Foolish fathers and mothers call this love but the Father of spirits calls it hatred He that spareth the rod Hateth his son Prov. 13.24 Surely there is nothing so ill spared as that whereby the child is spoiled such sparing is hatred and because you hate your children in not correcting of them they come afterward to hate you by not correcting of them But that is not all * Valde inutiliâ—â—er valdc perniciose sentiet filius patris lenitatem ut postea juste sentiat Dei severitatem Aug. in Psa 50. Ad interficiendum Pagn deriving the
have layd the foundation of their own forrows their childrens ruine and the desolation of the Nation in the looseness and delicacy of their education and yet are not sensible of it to this day We have not corrected our children and therefore God is correcting us in our children We * God makes our children our rods because we have withheld the rod from them We gave them too much rest and therefore they give us none Pro. 29 17 Levit. 26 have not cross'd them in their wills and therefore God doth cross us in our wills We have walked even in this point exceedingly contrary to God and to his Discipline and therefore God is walking contrary to us and is punishing us seven times more for this iniquity And therefore Oh that Parents would at length awaken themselves to follow both the pattern and precept of their heavenly Father who as he correcteth whom he loveth so he commands them to correct Melius est perire in virga patris quam in blandimentis perire praedonis if they love their children Withhold not correction from the child for if thou correct him with the Rod he shall not dye If the Rod draw blood should need be it is ad salutem it is as the Physician deals with them to prevent a feaver a feaver of boyling passions here and of boyling fire and brimstone hereafter it is to cure not to kill yea thou killest if thou dost not wound and therfore again I say withhold it not Give the rod unto thy childe and he will one day give thee thanks for it Yea it is worth observation that the same word in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated withhold signifieth also to forbid meeting with another distemper in Parents who as they will not correct their children themselves so also they forbid others to correct them under whose tuition they put them As if they were afraid their children would not have sin enough here nor hell enough hereafter they lay in Caveats against the means which God hath sanctified for their reclaiming What tears of blood are sufficient to bewail this folly You that are godly-wise and wisely-loving take heed of it and when you commit your children to others hands do not in the mean while hold their hands if thou judgest them not wise why dost thou chuse them if thou chuse them why dost thou not trust them Well then if the rod be in thine own hand withhold it not if in thy friends hand forbid it not Certainly there is great need of this duty which the Spirit of God doth frequently inculcate all along the Proverbs I will conclude this branch of the Exhortation with inverting the Counsel of our Saviour In this sence be ye not merciful that you may be the children of your heavenly Father Mat. 5.44 45 for whom he loveth he correcteth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Go thou and do likewise and this shall be your mercy and love to your children He that spareth the rod hateth his son Pro. 13.24 but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes Secondly 2 Exhort Add Instruction to Correction You that are Parents or in stead of Parents If you would have your children happy Add Instruction to correction imitate God in this part of patternal Discipline also let Chastisement and Instruction go together It is that which the Holy Ghost urgeth upon you Bring them up in the NURTURE and ADMONITION of the Lord Eph. 6.4 There be two words relating to both these Parental duties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in * Qua Pater erudit filium Bez. castigatione in the Chastisement or Correction and it is added of the Lord that is either in the Chastisement wherewith the Lord exerciseth his children or in the Chastisement which the Lord commandeth earthly Parents to exercise towards their children this is the first duty of which already And then there is another word which holdeth forth the end and design of Parental Correction and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Monitis ex verbo Dei petitis sive sanctis Deo acceptis Bez. in the Admonition and Instruction of the Lord i. e. in Counsels and Instructions taken out of the Word of God or such as are approved of by God The sum is this That while we chasten the flesh Proprie fignificat admonitionem non simpliciter sed talem qualem in mentem pueri ponas ingerasquae sunt illi ad salutem necessaria Zanch. in loc we should labor to inform and form the minde and spirit by infusing right principles pressing and urging upon their tender hearts counsel reproof and instruction as the matter requireth This is the duty of Parents to imitate God to let Instruction expound Correction and with a rod in the hand and a word in the mouth to train up their children to life eternal A dumb rod is but a brutish Discipline and will leave the child as brutish as it found him Chastisement without teaching may sooner break the bones then the heart it may mortifie the flesh but not corruption extinguish nature but never beget grace But the Rod and REPROOF give wisdom Pro. 29.15 Instruction added to Correction as it makes excellent Christians so it makes good Children There be Parents that are severe and curst enough to their children they spare for no blows in stead of breaking them of their wills by a wise and moderate correction they are ready to break their bones and their necks too sometimes in their moods and passions But they never minde the other branch of Paternal Discipline sc Instruction and Admonition of such Parents I suppose the Apostle speaketh Heb. 12.9 10. We have had Fathers of our flesh who corrected and chastened us after THEIR OVVN PLEASURE He speaketh not of all Parents but his meaning is there be such men and women in the world who are most unlike to God and in smiting their children rather please themselves then profit their children He for our profit but they after their own pleasure to give vent to their passion and satisfie their vindictive rage and fury and when is that truly when the Rod and Reproof do not go together it is an argument there is more passion then judgment more lust then love in such chastisements Such Parents do rather betray their own folly then take a course to make their children wise Schola Crucis Schola Lucis The Rod and Reproof give wisdom neither alone will do it the Rod without Reproof will harden the heart and teach the children sooner to hate the Parent then to hate sin Absque afflictione nulli utilia discunt and Reproof without the Rod will leave no impression Reproofs of instruction are the way of life Pro 6.23 or Corrections of instruction a lesson set on with a whiping is best remembred It is divine truth that must be the instrument of working saving grace
in the heart Ioh. 17.17 Sanctifie them with thy truth thy Word is truth It is the commendation of Timothy his Mother that from his very infancy she instructeed him in the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 cum cap. 2.5 Hierom. Chrysost Theoph. docent ex hoc loco Parentes etiam de Scripturis dehere instituere liberos suos That Parents ought to instruct their children in the holy Scriptures 2. Tim. 4.3 which were able to make him wise to Salvation When there is a divine sentence in the mouth of the Rod it brings wisdom and life with it And therefore O that Parents would imitate the Father of spirits in this blessed art of Paternal Discipline joyn the Word of Instruction to the Rod of Correction teach as well as chastise Reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine It is true it is enjoyned Timothy as a Pastoral duty but it is as true that every Parent is a King a Prophet and a Priest A King to govern and chastise a Prophet to teach and instruct and a Priest to offer up spiritual sacrifice to God Prayer and Praise with and for the Family O that every childe might have cause to give their Parents that commendation Illa magis satagebat ut tu mihi pater esses quoniam sempiternam salutem charius parturiebat Confess l. 1. c. 11 which once Augustin gave his Mother in reference to his Baptism My mother saith he made it her business to make God my Father because she travelled with my everlasting salvation with more tenderness and sorrow then ever she did with my first birth O that natural Parents could bespeak the fruit of their loyns as S. Paul bespeaks his Galatians My little children Gal. 4.19 of whom I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you that so they might rejoyce in the second more then ever they did in the first birth Why this is done by the Word and the Rod. Pro. 29.17 Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest yea he shall give delight unto thy Soul Correct how the 15 verse answers The Rod and Reproof give wisdom Thus give your Children correction and they shall give you rest and delight Though correction for the present do not give them rest for no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous yet it will make them give you rest and though correction doth not delight them yet it shall make them give delight to you 3 John 4 What greater delight then to see your children walking in the Truth and to think thus with your selves Quot dedit familiaâ— juvenes totredâ—idit curiae consulares not as Cassiodor expresseth it that so many sons so many Counsellors to to the State but that so many children God hath given you so many children you have brought up for God and so many heirs for the Kingdom of Heaven Well Chastise and teach them out of the Law of God and thy Children shall be Blessed Which that they may indeed take one short CAUTION more and that is Add Prayer to Instruction Last Cautios Add Prayer to Instruction As Teaching should accompany Chastisement so Prayer should accompany Teaching God need use onely the Rod and the Word because the blessing is in his own hand he can command a blessing It is not so with us As Paul may plant and Apollo may water but God must give the increase so the Father may correct the Mother may instruct both may do both but God must give the Blessing and therefore Christian Parents while they add Instruction to correction should add Prayer to Instruction Ora labora Pray and labor Means are ours Success is Gods and therefore let us put the Rod into the hand of Instruction Instruction into the hand of Prayer and all into the hand of God Pray and teach your Children to pray that God would so bless Correction and Instruction that both may make you and your Children BLESSED Amen FINIS