advantage. "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good," 1 Sam. iii. 18. If but as a creature, O God, thou hast full right to dispose of me as thou wilt; I am thy clay, fashion me as thou pleasest: but, as thy redeemed one, as thine adopted one, I have full and dear interest in thee as a Father, and thou canst be no other than thyself. Let it not be enough for me to hold my peace, because thou, Lord, hast done it; but let me break silence in praising thy name, for that "thou in very faithfulness hast afflicted me," Ps. cxix. 75. The fathers of our flesh, even though they whip us unduly and out of passion, yet we kneel to their persons, and cling to their knees, and kiss their rods; how much more should I adore thine infinite goodness in all thy holy, righteous, merciful corrections! It is for a slave to grudge at the scourges of a cruel master: he is not worthy to pass for thy child, who receives not thy stripes with a reverent meekness. Tears may be here allowed, but a reluctant frown were no better than rebellion. Let infidels then and ignorants, who think they suffer by chance, and impute all their crosses to the next hand, looking no higher than their own heads, repine at their adversities and be dejected with their afflictions: for me, who know that I have a Father in heaven, full of mercy and compassion, whose providence hath measured out to a scruple the due proportions of my sorrows, counting my sighs and reserving the tears which he wrings from me in his bottle; why do I not patiently lie down, and put my mouth in the dust, meekly submitting to his holy pleasure, and blessing the hand from which I smart.'

SECTION IV.

THE intent of the agent must needs work a great difference, in our construction of the act.

An enemy, we know, strikes with an intention to wound, and kill: no father means to maim his child, in beating him; his tender heart is far from intending any bodily hurt to the fruit of his loins. The chirurgeon and the executioner do both the same act; both cut off the limb;

but the one, to save a patient; the other, to punish an offender.

O Father of mercies, since it is thou that strikest me, I know thou canst have no other thoughts but of love and compassion to my soul. O thou heavenly Physician, if thou hast decreed me to be blooded or cauterized, I know it cannot be but for my health: and if, for my bodily cure, I do not only admit of these painful remedies, but reward them, how should I bless thee for this beneficial pain thou puttest me to for my spiritual and eternal welfare! What an unthankful wretch shall I be, if I be not more sensible of thy favour, than of my own complaint!

Thus much of thy will, O God, hast thou revealed to us, as to let us know, that all thine intentions in the afflictions of thy chosen ones, have respect either to thyself or to them to thyself, in the glory that redounds to thy name in their sustentation and deliverance; to them, whether for their trial or their bettering.

1. Thine Israel, O God, had never endured so hard a bondage under Pharaoh, as to be over-swelted in the Egyptian furnaces, to be laden with merciless stripes, to be stinted unto impossible tasks, had it not been to magnify thy Almighty power in supporting them against the rage of tyranny; and revenging their wrongs upon their oppressors, by miraculous plagues and an unexampled destruction.

When thy disciples, O Saviour, upon the sight of the poor blind-born beggar, took the boldness to ask thee who had sinned, "this man or his parents, that he was born blind," it pleased thee to return them this quick answer, "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him," John ix. 3. Surely the event justified thy words. All the eyes of the beholders of this poor dark soul did not win so much glory to thee, as this man's want of eyes so omnipotently supplied by thy divine power. Restoring of sight was nothing in comparison of creating it! nature and art have that; none but the God of nature could effect this. doubt, this now-seeing beggar could not but bless thee for his blindness, that gave thee occasion of shewing this miraculous proof of thy Deity; and applauded his own

No

happiness, in being made the subject of so convincing a miracle.

Had not Lazarus sickened, and died, and smelt of the grave, where had been the glory which accrued to thee by his resuscitation? Had not Daniel lodged in the lion's den, and the three children taken possession of the fiery furnace, where had been the glory of their admired preservation?

Most just it is then, O Lord, that thine eye should be most upon thine honour in our suffering; and just cause have we to rejoice and sing to thy praise, if thou have vouchsafed to make us, in any sort, examples of thy power and mercy.

2. But, withal, it pleases thee, in the intentions of our afflictions, to cast some glances of respect upon us thy weak servants upon earth.

(1.) For our trial and probation.

How remarkable a proof whereof hast thou given us in that great pattern of patience, who had never been brought forth into the theatre of the world to encounter with so prodigious calamities, had it not been to make good his. challenged integrity! It was thy pleasure, in a holy kind of gloriation, to assert the sincerity of that gracious servant of thine. The envious spirit, as impatient of so much goodness to be found in man, maliciously traduces that piety as mercenary; thou, who knowest what grace thou hadst given him, yieldest to have it put to the test. The probation is, beyond all example, painful, but glorious. Job pays dear for the conviction of that lying spirit. His innocence and truth triumph over malice, shame the adversary, win honour to thy name, and render him a rare and memorable example of mercy.

What are heresies, but the spiritual distempers of the church, the bane of religion, flashes of hell or breaking out for disturbance and destruction? Yet there "must be heresies," saith the apostle to his Corinthians, "that those which are approved, may be made manifest among you," 1 Cor. xi. 19. Lo, if there were no falsehood, truth would want much of her lustre: and, if there were no enemy, what place would there be for victory?

Goodness is so conscious of its own worth and pureness,

that it rejoiceth to be tried home. Hence it is that the man after God's own heart makes it his earnest suit to his God, "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart; for thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth," Ps. xxvi. 2, 3.

There is much forgery in the world, neither is there any virtue under heaven whereof there are not many counterfeits. Hypocrisy makes a more glorious shew, than the truest piety; and many a real saint is branded with simulation.

The most wise God knows how to discover the true state of all hearts, by affliction. Every face thus appears in its own hue; and then no marvel if the sincere and upright soul rejoice to have her truth and innocence gloriously vindicated, and made conspicuous to all eyes: "That the trial of" her "faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried by fire, may be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 7.

(2.) But the far more excellent and gracious drift of our afflictions, is the bettering of our souls.

He that could say, "Remember David and all his troubles," could also say, "It is good for me, that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes," Ps. cxix. 71.

Well therefore did the angel that spake to Daniel, put these two together, telling him that those persecutions which should befal God's people, should "try them, and purge them, and make them white," Dan. xi. 35; according to that which the Lord speaks by his Prophet Zechariah, "I will bring the third part through the fire; and will refine them, as silver is refined; and will try them, as gold is tried; they shall call upon my name, and I will hear them," Zech. xiii. 9.

How justly then doth the apostle profess to glory in tribulation; as knowing," that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed!" Rom. v. 3-5.

O the sweet and happy fruit of affliction! Who would not welcome that pain of body, which works health to the soul? that loss of goods or temporal estate, which enriches the soul? that trouble and disquiet, which brings a sweet peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost?

How many have we seen, who with Jeshurun, have "waxed fat, and kicked" against the Almighty in the pampered time of their prosperity; who, in the time of their trouble, have, with broken hearts and bended knees, sought their God and found him to their unspeakable comfort! How many, who have been fast galloping towards hell in the lawless course of their wilful sins, have, in the midst of their career, been stopped by the hand of a good God through a sudden affliction!

O the indulgent strokes of a gracious God, who whips us here, "that we should not be condemned with the world!" "Let the righteous" God "thus smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head," Ps. cxli. 5.

SECTION V.

ACCORDING to the merciful intentions of the Almighty, thus healing and sovereign is affliction in the very nature of it, to all God's dear ones upon earth; as being only a fatherly chastisement, not a severe punishment, wherever it falls. Even then therefore, when he seems to frown upon them, he comes to them, not with a sword in his hand, but with a rod; not for his own revenge, but for their emendation.

The best of us is deeply sin-sick. This bitter potion is it, that can only purge out all our peccant humours, and restore us to that good temper of spiritual health, wherein we may comfortably enjoy God and ourselves. We all, as vessels of impure metal, through long security and disuse of holy duties, have contracted much rust; it is the gentle fire of seasonable affliction, that must cleanse us, and make us fit for the service of our Maker: as he speaks of his peculiar people by the mouth of his prophet: "Behold, I have refined thee; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction," Is. xlviii. 10.

O that my soul could bless thee, my God; and adore thy justice and mercy, in the differences of thy proceedings with the sons of men! For wicked men and

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