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
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
render persecution amiable and if he must suffer for Christ yet that Christ might not suffer by him that Christ might be exalted and the Church edified Col. 1.24 2 Tim. 1 10 1 Pet. 4 19 This God taught him I have learned c. And lastly to commit the keeping of our Souls to God in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator The sixteenth Lesson is like unto it and that is The priviledg of a suffering condition In the School of Affliction one Lecture which the Holy Ghost readeth is the fruits and advantages of a suffering condition There is in every state of life a snare and a priviledg and it is the folly and misery of man left to himself that he willingly runs into the snare and misseth of the priviledg he is onely able to add to his own misery and to make his condition worse then he findes it Those whom God loveth he teacheth he teacheth them to study as the duty of their present state so the advantage When God takes away creature-comforts he doth not onely necessitate but by the secret impressions of love upon the heart he emboldens the Soul to look out for reparations and to urge God for a recruit in some richer accommodations Lord saith Abraham What wilt thou give me Gen. 15.2 seeing I go childless God had denyed Abraham a childe and He must make Abraham amends for it In like manner Lord what wilt thou give me saith a suffering Saint since I go wifeless and friendless and landless and houseless c. yea Lord what wilt thou give me since I go Ordinance-less Sermon-less Sacrament-less c. So the Disciples Mat. 10.28 Lord we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore Faith may be a loser for Christ but it will not be a loser by Christ and accordingly Christ maketh an answer of faithfulness to this demand of Faith Verily I say unto you ver 29 30 there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sistors or father or mother or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time c. Advantage enough an hundred for one was the best year that ever Isaac had Gen. 26.12 I but how shall this be made good why with persecution Houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands WITH PERSECUTION Persecution must make up the account It is very observable That year wherein Isaac received his hundred fold was Isaac's suffering year the year wherein famine had banish'd him from his own Country to sojourn with Abimelech in Gerer Gen. 26.1 Isaacks best harvest was in a year of famine and this was Typical to all the Children of promise they must receive Isaacks increase upon Isaacks account an hundredfold with persecution And I conceive our Saviour may allude to this Type in this promise In persecution the people of God find their hundredfold when they make a Scripture inquiry they find sufferings especially those for Christs sake to be their letters testimonial for Heaven Luk. 21.13 The pledge of Adoption Heb. 12.6.7 A purge for corruption Isa 27.9 The improvement of Holiness Heb. 12.10 A fining pot to faith 2 Pet. 1.7 Communion with Christ. 1 Pet. 4.13.14 The presence of the spirit of God and of Glory 1 Pet. 4.13.14 The Churches Treasury Colos 1.24 Weak Christians strength Phil. 1.13 14. In both the Gospels advantage Strong Christians confidence Phil. 1.13 14. In both the Gospels advantage And lastly The inhancement of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 18. here 's the hundred fold with advantage In a word what ever the affliction be that it shall be the souls gain Rom. 8.28 all things work together for good to them that love God This God teacheth his people it is the very design of the eight to the Romans and of the twelve first verses of the twelfth to the Hebrews to shew that Gods Rod and Gods Love go both together And this is a sweet and blessed Lessen indeed for this quiets the heart and supports the soul under its burden for this cause we faint not why because though our outward man perisheth yet the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 q. d. what we lose in our bodies we gain in our soules what we lose in our estates we get in grace thus they bear up and comfort themselves in their deepest sorrows while they that lie poring upon their afflictions and are witty only to aggravate every circumstance of a suffering condition sink their own spirits vex their soules dishonour God by slandering his dispensations and bring up an evil report upon the Crosse of Jesus Christ The spiritual priviledges of Gods suffering people are therefore call'd the peaceable fruits of righteousness Heb. 12.11 because the tast of this fruit brings in such peace and comfort into the soul as it makes it rejoyce not in God only but in tribulation and in all these things to account it self more then Conqueror through him that hath loved us Rom. 8.37 This is the sixteenth Lesson A seventeenth Lesson which God teacheth by his chastisements 17 Lesson The one thing necessary Luk. 10 42. is that which Christ taught Martha sc what is the one thing necessary affliction discovereth how much we are mistaken about our must bee's our necessaries In our health and strength and liberty we think this thing must be done that thing must be done we think Riches necessary Honours necessary and a Name in the World necessary we must get Estates Psal 49.11 and we must lay up large portions for our Children and we must raise our Families and call our Lands after our own names and the like But in the day of adversity when death looks us in the face when God causeth the horror of the Grave the dread of the last judgment and the terrors of eternity to passe before us then we can put our mouths in the dust smite upon our thigh and sigh with the breaking of our loynes oh how have I been mistaken how have I fed upon ashes and a deceived heart turned me aside Isa 44.20 so that I could not deliver my soul nor say is there not a lie in my right hand Fool how have I been deceived and made the By the main and the main the By. Then we can see that pardon of sin interest in Christ evidence of that interest sence of Gods love a life of Grace and assurance of glory c. are the only indispensibles In a word that Christ alone is the Vnum necessarium the one thing necessary and that all other things at the best are but may-bees yea but losse and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus the Lord Phil. 3.8.9 and of interest in him and in his righteousness without which the soul is undon to all eternity And therefore oh that Christians would be wise that they would not spend their mony
into prison arraigned condemned executed in a most shameful and an accursed manner oh what was it for him to endure all this contradiction of sinners rage of the Devil and wrath of God in comparison of whom the most righteous person that ever was may say with the good Theif on the cross And we indeed justly Isa 53.9 but He what evil hath he done He made his Grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth Blessed be God my prison is not Tophet my burnings are not unquenchable flames my cup is not fild with wrath in a word this is not Hell Blessed be God for Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.10 by whom I am delivered from wrath to come And thus as the Lord Jesus by the sensible experience of his own passion came perfectly to understand what his poor members suffer while they are in the body so we by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remainders of his cross which he hath bequeathed us as a Legacy come in some measure to understand the sufferings of Christ or at least by comparing things of such vast disproportion to guess at what we cannot understand The twentieth and the last Lesson which God teacheth by affliction 20 Lesson is How to prize and long for Heaven In our prosperity when the Candle of God shines in our Tabernacles when we wash our steps in butter and the Rock powreth us out Rivers of Oyl Iob. 29.6 we could set down with the present World and even say with the Disciples Eccles 41.1 though not upon so good an account It is good for us to be here let us here build us Tabernacles while life is sweet death is bitter and Heaven it self is no temptation while the World gives us her friendly entertainments But when poverty imprisonment reproach and persecution sickness and sore Diseases do not only pinch but vex our hearts with verietie of aggravations we are not so fond of the Creature but we can be content to entertain a partly with death and take Heaven into our considerations Not that meerly to defire to be in Heaven because we are weary of the World is an Argument of grace or a Lesson that needs divine teaching self-love will prompt as much as that comes to But because like foolish Travellers we love our way though it be troublesom rather then our Countrey God by this Discipline taketh off our hearts by degrees from this present World and maketh us look homeward being burdened we groan 2 Cor. 5.4 and with the Dove we return to the Ark when the World floats round about us when David was driven from his Palace then wo is me that my Pilgrimage is prolonged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint renders it We should be contented like the Israelites with the Garlick and flesh-pots of Egypt if God did not set cruel Taskmasters over us to double our Burdens and when God hath thus lessened our esteem of the World he discovers to us the excellency of heavenly comforts and draws out the desires of the soul to a full fruition when shall I come and appear in thy presence EVEN SO come Lord Jesus Affliction puts Heaven into all those notions which make it Heaven indeed To the weary it is rest Isa 57.2 Revel 14.13 To the banished it is Home 2 Cor. 5.6 To the scorned and reproached it is glory Rom. 5.2 To the Captive it is liberty Rom. 8.21 To the conflicting soul it is Conquest Rom. 8.37 And to the Conqueror it is a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Righteousnes 2 Tim. 4.8 Glory 1 Pet. 5.4 To the Hungry it is hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 To the thirty it is the fountain and waters of life and Rivers of pleasure Rev. 22.17 Psal 36.8 9. To the grieved soul whither with sin or sorrow it is fulnes of joy and to the mourner it is pleasures for evermore Psal 16.12 In a word to them that have lain upon the Dunghill and kept their integrity it is a Throne on which they shall sit and reign with Christ for ever and ever Rev. 3.31 and 22.5 Surely beloved Heaven thus proportioned to every state of the afflicted soul cannot chuse but be very precious and will make the soul with a stronger or weaker impulse desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. ◠23 which is best of all A Christian indeed is comforted by Faith but not satisfied or if satisfied it is in point of security not of desire because here we are absent from the Lord and walk by Faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5 6 7. Hope though it keep life in the soul yet it is not able to fill it he longs and thinks every day a year till he be at home in his Fathers Arms and sit down on his Fathers Throne crowned with his Fathers Honour and glory They that walk by Faith cannot be quiet till they be in the sight of those things which they beleive Jacob when he heard that Joseph was alive though he did beleive it yet could not be satisfied with hearing of it but saith he I will go and see him before I die so the beleiving soul He whom my soul loveth was dead but is alive and behold he liveth for evermore Rev. 1.18 I will die that I may go and see him as Augustine upon that answer of God to Moses thou cast not see any face and live Exod. 33.20 makes this quick and sweet reply then Lord let me die that I may see thy face Thus I have presented you with those 20 several Lessons which Jesus Christ the great Prophet of his Church teacheth his afflicted ones to take out in the school of affliction And now as I told you in my entrance upon this subject all these 20. Lessons may be reduc'd to three great summary comprehensive Instructions c. 1. The sinfulness of sin 2. The emptiness of the Creature 3. The fulness of Jesus Christ 1 Summary Lesson The sinfulness of sin The first summary comprehensive Lesson is the sinfulness of sin sin is alwayes very sinful but in our prosperity we are not so sensible of it the dust of the World doth so fill our eyes that we cannot make a clear and distinct discovery of the evil that is in sin but now by the sharp and bitter waters of affliction God doth wash out that dust and clears the Organ to make a perfect discovery and to discern sin as it is and not as usually it doth appear sin becomes exceeding sinful Rom. 7 13. God hath four Classes wherein he discovers to the soul the evil that is in sin 1. The Glass of the Law Jam. 1.23.24 2. The blood of Christ Rev. 1.6 3. Afflictions and chastisements in this present World 4. The torments of Hell Mat. 25.41 Indeed of all these Glasses the blood of Christ is the clearest and doth most fully perfectly
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
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
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
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