4th INIeans, let us labour to have our co- venant-interest cleared, to know that God is our God, Ps. xlviii. 14., " This God is our God." He whose faith does flourish in assurance, that can say, God is his, will say, " Thy will be done." A wicked man may say, God hath laid this affliction upon me, and I cannot help it ; but a believer saith, my God hath done it, and I will submit to it. He who can call God his, knows God loves him as he loves Christ, and designs his salvation ; therefore he will, with St. Paul, take pleasure in reproaches, 2 Cor. xii. 10. And in every adverse providence yield to God, as the wax to the impression of the seal.
5th Means to submission to God in af- fliction, get an humble spirit : a proud man will never stoop to God, he will rather break than bend; but when the heart is humble, the will is pliable. Wliat a vast difference was there between Pharaoh and Eli ? Pha- raoh cries out, " Who is the Lord, that I
should obey his voice ?" Exod. v. 2. But Eli saith, " It is the Lord, let him do what seems good in his sight," 1 Sam. iii. 18. See the difference between an heart that is swelled with pride, and that which is bal- lasted with humility ; Pharaoh saith, " Who is the Lord ?"— Eli, " It is the Lord." An humble soul hath a deep sense of sin, — he sees how he hath provoked God, — he won- ders he is not in hell ; therefore, whatever God inflicts, he knows it is less than hia iniquities deserve; this makes him say, " Lord, thy will be done," O get into an humble posture, the will is never flexible till the heart be humble ! «
6th Means, get your hearts loosened from things below; be crucified to the world. Whence is children's frowardness, but when you take away their play-things ? When we love the world, and God takes away these things from us, then we grow froward and unsubmissive to God's will. Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd ; and when God smote it, he grew froward, and because God had killed his gourd, kill me too, saith he, Jonah iv. 8. He who is a lover of the world, can never pray this prayer heartily, " thy will be done ;" his heart boils with anger against God ; and when the world is gone, his patience is gone too. Get morti- fied affections to these sublunary things.
7th Means for submission to God's will, get some good persuasion your sin is par- doned. Feri, Domine, fieri, quia peccata mea condonata stmt, — ' smite. Lord, smite where thou wiltj' said Luther, ' because my sins are pardoned.' Pardon of sin is a crown- ing blessing ; hath God forgiven my sin, I will bear any thing, I will not murmur but admire ; I will not complain of the burden of affliction, but bless God for removing the burden of sin ; the pardoned soul saith this prayer heartily, " Thy will be done." Lord, use thy pruning-knife, so long as thou wilt not come with thy bloody axe to hew me down.
8th INIeans, if we would have our wills submit to God, let us not look so much on the dark side of the cloud as the light-side ; that is, let us not look so much on the smart of affliction, as the good of affliction. 'Tis bad to pore all on the smart, as 'tis bad for sore eyes to look too much on the fire ; but
OF THE FOURTH PETITION IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
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we should look on the jj^ood of affliction ; Samson did not only look on the lion's car- cass, hut on the honey-comb within it, Judges xiv. 8., " He turned to see the car- cass of the lion, and behold, there was ho- ney in the carcass." Affliction is the fright- ful lion, but see what honey thei'e is in it ; affliction humbles, purifies, fills us with the consolations of God ; here is honey in the belly of the lion ; could we but look upon the benefit of affliction, stubbornness would be turned into submissiveness, and we should say, " thy will be done."
9th Means, pray to God that he would calm our spirits, and conquer our wills. It is no easy thing to submit to God in afflic- tion, there will be risings of the heart ; therefore let us pray that what God inflicts righteously, we may bear patiently. Pray- er is the best spell or charm against impa- tience ; prayer doth to the heart as Christ did to the sea, when it was tempestuous, he rebuked the wind, and there was a great calm ; so, when the passions are up, and the will is apt to mutiny against God, prayer makes a gracious cal m in the soul ; prayer doth to the heart as the spunge doth to the cannon, when hot, cools it.
10th Means, if we would submit to God's will in affliction, let us make a good inter- pretation of God's dealings, take all God doth in the best sense. We are apt to mis- construe God's dealings, and put a bad in- terp^tation upon them, as Israel, Numb. xx.