despair and not a few of them multitudes brake in upon me and even swallowed me up but thy comforts were light and life and delight to my Soul my thoughts did not sink me so deep but thy comforts raised me up as high my thoughts were an hell but thy comforts were an heaven within me The Soul hears of Gods mercy in prosperity but it tastes of Gods mercy in affliction and as it were â—pprest with delights can call to others O taste and see how good the Lord is Hence it is that of all the days of the year the Apostle would chuse as it were a Good-Friday a passion day to rejoyce in God forbid I should rejoyce in any thing but in the Cross of Jesus Christ Christs sufferings for him and his sufferings for Christ The Al sufficiency of God is the last Attribute I mentioned Alsufficiency in delivering out of affliction which God proclaims before his suffering people Now thou shalt see saith God to Moses what I will do to Pharaoh Exod. 6.1 Hitherto thou hast seen what Pharaoh hath done to Israel now thou shalt see what I do to Pharaoh and so they did The doubling of their burdens was the dissolving of their bondage the extinguishing of their line was the multiplying of their seed The same waters which were Israels rocks were the Egyptians grave Exod. 15 9 I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy so boasts the proud Tyrant I will I will I will c. nay not so fast Pharaoh let God speak the next word Verse 10 Thou didst blow with thy wind the sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters Oh sudden turn there lieth Pharaoh and his six I will 's and I shall 's drowned in the Sea Thus did God appear to his oppressed Israel in the very nick of their extremities In the thing wherein they delt proudly Exo. 18 11 God was above them And Israel SAVV that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians and the people feared the Lord and his servant Moses Exod. 14.31 Israel SAVV in prosperity God works but we see him not affliction openeth our eyes when we see our dangers then we can see God in our deliverances God could have brought Israel to the Land of Promise a shorter cut in fourty days but he leads them about in an howling wilderness fourty years not a like place in all the world to have starved them and their flocks Deut. 8.3 and why but to proclaim to Israel and all succeeding generations that man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord c. Israel learn'd more of Gods Alsufficiency in a Land of drought then she could have learn'd in the Land flowing with milk and hony namely that God can feed without bread and satisfiâ— thirst without streams of waters that he can make the clouds rain bread and the rock give out rivers that the creature can do nothing without God but God can do what he please without the creature Instances are endless In a word the suffering time is the time wherein God makes his Attributes visible The Lord will be a refuge to his people a refuge in time of trouble Psal 9.9 and what follows And they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee Vers 10. In the School of Affliction God reads Lectures upon his Attributes visible Lectures and expounds himself unto his people so that many times they come to know more of God or more experimentally by half a years sufferings then by many years Sermons A fifteenth Lesson 15 Lesson God teacheth them in a suffering condition to mind the duties of a suffering condition to study duty more then deliverance seriously to enquire what it is which God calls for under the present Dispensation The Soul cryeth out with Paul Acts 9.6 when layd for dead at Christs feet Lord what wilt thou have me to do There is no condition or tryal in the world but it gives a man opportunity for the exercise of some special grace and the doing of some special duty and that is the work of a Christian in every new state and in every new tryal to mind what new duty God expects what new grace he is to exert and exercise To minde deliverance onely is self-love which is natural to man The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not dye in the pit c. Man in affliction would fain be delivered have the burden taken off the yoke broken men make more haste to get their afflictions removed then sanctified but this is not the work God looks for No nor to think onely what a man would do if he were delivered Oh thinks a man if God would deliver me out of this sickness out of this distress I would walk more close with God I would be more abundant in family-duties I would be more fruitful in my converse I would do thus and thus c. Why now I say though men should sit down in their afflictions consider their ways and make new resolutions for better things if God shall give better times yet if this be all it may be nothing else but a wile of the deceitful heart a temptation and snare of the Devil to gain the time as it were of God a meer diversion to turn aside the heart from the present duty which God expects And therefore when God intends good and happiness to the Soul by the present chastisement he pitcheth the Soul upon the present duty which is to a Mica 6.9 hear the rod and who hath appointed it to discern Gods aym and to finde out the meaning of the present Dispensation to say to God Job 34 31 32 I have born chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more To reflect upon our ways and spirits to complain of sin and not of punishment Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. To think the present condition the best Phil. 4 11 I have learned in what ever state I am therewith to be content In our patience to possess our Souls Luk. 21.19 Ro. 5.2 3 to rejoyce in God yea to rejoyce in tribulation To minde the publique calamities of the Church more and our private sufferings less to pray for the welfare of Sion In thy good pleasure do good unto Sion Psa 51.18 To lift up Jesus Christ and to make him glorious by our afflictions That Christ may be magnified in our bodies Phil. 1.20 whether it be by life or by death Paul studied more how to adorn the Cross then to avoyd it how to
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
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
fall into divers temptations what a deal of self-love pride distrust in God Creature-confidence discontent murmur rising of heart against the holy and righ teous dispensations of God is there boyling and fretting within me Wo is me what an heart have I And besides all this in the hour of temptation God brings old sins to remembrance We are verily guilty concerning our brother could Iosephs brethren say Gen. 42.21 twenty yeers after they had sold him for a slave when they were in danger to be questioned for their lives as they feared and thus when the Israelites cry to God in their sore distress for rescue and deliverance God puts them in minde of their old Apostacies Ye have forsaken me and served other gods c. Judg. 10.13 14 go and cry to the gods whom ye have chosen Suffering times are times of bringing sin to minde i Kin. 8.47 If they bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives Heb. If they bring back to heart Captivity is a time of turning in upon our selves and bringing back to heart our doings which have not been good in Gods sight Thus David under the rod could call himself to account I thought on my ways Psa 119.19 and turned my feet c. This now is another lesson which God teacheth by affliction and it is of great use to humble us and to empty and out us of our selves to make us fly to Jesus Christ for righteousness and strength Isa 45.24 In a word God lets us see what is crooked that we may streighten it what is weak that we may strengthen it what is wanting that we may supply it what is lame that it may not be turned out of the way but that it may rather be healed Sixthly 6 Lesson Prayer In the School of affliction God doth teach us to pray They that never prayed before will pray in affliction Isa 26.16 Lord in trouble they have visited Thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening is upon them They that kept their distance with God before yea that said to the Almighty depart from us in their affliction can bestow a visit upon God in trouble they have visited thee and they that never prayed before or at least did but now and then drop out a sleepy sluggish wish can now pour iout a prayer when chastisement is upon their loins a Psa 107.11 Râ—bells b 17 Fools c 23 Mariners even the worst of men can cry to God in their trouble The very Heathen-mariners fall to their prayers in a storm and can awaken the sleepy Prophet to this duty Ionah 1.5 6 What meanest thou O sleeper arise and call upon thy God Hence we use to say He that cannot pray Qui nescit orare discat navigarâ— let him go to sea Thus I say affliction opens dumb lips and untyeth the strings of the tongue to call upon God But whom God teacheth in affliction they learn to pray in another manner more frequently more fervently First More frequently Gods people are vessels full of the spirit of prayer and affliction is a piercer whereby God draws it out For my love they are my adversaries but I give my self unto prayer Psal 109.4 David was always a praying man but now under persecution he did nothing else I give my self unto prayer as wicked men give themselves up to their wickedness so David gave himself up to prayer he made it his work Hence you may observe that most of all the Psalms are nothing else almost but the runnings out of Davids spirit in prayer under variety of afflictions and persecutions as his troubles were multiplied so his prayers did multiply The holy man was never in that condition wherein he could not pray c. Alas it is sad to consider that in our peace and tranquility we pray arbitrarily by fits and starts many times we suffer every trifle to come and justle out prayer but in affliction God keeps us upon our knees and as it were tyeth the sacrifice to the horns of the altar And as he teacheth us to pray more frequently so also to pray more fervently Even of Christ himself it is said Luk. 22.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intentius that being in an agony he prayed more earnestly more intensively he prayed till he sweat again yea till he sweat great drops of bloud he sweltred out his soul through his body in prayer the reason whereof was because he had not only the pangs of death but the sense of his fathers wrath to conflict withall and so it is with believers many times outward afflictions are accompanied with inward disertions So it was with David Psal 22. and Psal 116.3 4 c. And then he gathers up all his strength to prayer and like a true son of Iacob wrestleth with God and will not let him go till he gets the blessing Psalm 143. vers 6 7. c. Truly Christians those prayers wherewith you contented your selves in the day of your peace and prosperity will not serve your turn in the hour of temptation then you will call to mind your short slight cold dead sleepy formal devotions in your families and closets and be ashamed of them Then you will see need of praying over all your prayers again and stir up your selves to take hold upon God Isa 64.7 Indeed for this very end God sends his people into captivity that he may draw out the spirit of prayer which they have suffered to ly dead within them Oh my dove that are in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs Cant. 2. let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comly Christs dove never looks more beautiful in his eies then when her cheeks are bedewed with tears nor ever makes sweeter musick in his ears then when she mourns to him out of the rock and from under the stairs in a dark and desolate condition then saith Christ thy countenance is comly and sweet is thy voice Seventhly 7 Lesson Acquaintance with â—he word By correction God brings the Children of promise into more acquaintance with the Word He teacheth them out of his Law As here It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes God sent David into the School of affliction there to learn the Statutes of God By Correction the people of God learn 1. To converse with the Word of God more abundantly 2. To understand it more clearly 3. To relish it more sweetly First By affliction they come to converse with it more abundantly It is their duty a all time to study the Word Colos 3.16 To let it dwell richly in them in all wisdom Iob esteemed the words of Gods mouth more then his necessary food And it is their happiness as well as their duty Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
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
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
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
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