xlUSBANDMEN having to do with divers sorts of grain, some more tough and stubborn, others more free and tender, do not beat all alike on the threshing-floor ; but as they have threshals of several sizes, so they bestow on some grain more, on others fewer strokes, according to the different qualities of the grain to be threshed. This observation the prophet Isaiah hath, chap, xxviii. ver. 27. " The fit- " dies are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is the " cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin, but the fitches are " beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.'"* The man- ner of beating out the corn in former times was far different from that which is now in use among us : they had the cart-wheel, which was full of iron spokes or teeth, and the hoofs of beasts for the harder sort of grain, as wheat, rye, and barley ; a staff or flail for the fitches, and a rod or twig for the cummin ; all which instruments were proportioned according to the nature of the grain.
VJf OD having to do, in a way of correction, with divers sorts of offenders, doth not use the like severity with them all, but propor- tions his corrections to their abilities and strength, Jcr. xxx. 11. " I will not make a full end of thee, [but will correct thee in mea- " sure] and will not leave thee altogether unpunished f (q. d.) Afflicted thou must be ; my respect to my own glory, and thy good, puts a necessity upon that ; but yet I will do it moderately : I will not lay on without measure or mercy, as I intend to do upon the ene- mies ; but will mete out your sufferings in a due proportion, even as a careful physician, in prescribing pills or potions to his patient, hath regard as well to the ability of the patient, as to the nature and qua- lity of the disease ; even so thy God, O Israel, will not afflict thee according to the greatness of his power, and his wrath answerable thereunto, Psal. xc. 11. That would break thee to pieces, Psal. Ixxviii. 38. Nor yet will he afflict thee according to the demerit of thy sin : as it shall be much less than what I could inflict, so it shall be less than thine iniquities deserve, Ezra ix. 13. Neither my power nor thy desert shall be the rule of my proceedings ; but I will do it with moderation and mercy, as thou art able to bear. I that have in- structed the husbandman to proportion his instrument to the quality of the grain before him, will exercise the like wisdom and mildness
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towards thee. And the siinllitude betwixt the husbandman's thresh- ino- bis corn, and the Lord's afflicting his people, stands in these particulars.
1. The husbandman's end in threshing the corn is, to separate it from the husks and chaff; and God's end in afflicting his people isj to separate them from their sins, Isa. xxvii. 9. " In measure when " it shooteth forth, he will debate with it,"" (i. e.) he will moderately- correct them ; and what the ends of those corrections are, the next words inform us, " By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be " purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin." God uses afflictions as we use soap^ to cleanse away filthiness, and fetch out spots, Dan. xi. 35. He aims not at the destruction of their persons, but of their lusts.
2. If the husbandman have cockle, darnel, or pernicious tares be- fore him on the floor among his corn, he little regards whether it be bruised or battered to pieces by the thresher or not ; it is a worthless thing, and he spares it not. Such cockle and tares are the enemies of God ; and when these come under his flail, he strikes them with- out mercy ; for these the Lord prepares a new sharp threshing in- strument, having teeth, which shall beat them to dust, Isa. xli. 15. " The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor ; it is time to *' thresh her," Jer. li. 33. And when that time is come, then (in allusion to the beast that was to tread out the corn) " Zion's horn " shall be of iron, and her hoofs brass," Mic. iv. 13. He smites not his people according to the stroke of them that smote them ; the meaning is, his strokes on them shall be deadly strokes : they shew- ed no mercy to Zion ; and God will shew no mercy to them.
3. When the husks and chaff are perfectly separated from the grain, then the husbandman beats it no more. When God hath perfectly purged and separated the sins of his people, then afflictions shall come to a perpetual end ; he will never smite them again : there is no noise of the threshing instrument in heaven ; he that best them with his flail on earth, will put them into his bosom in heaven.
4. Though the husbandman lays on, and beats his corn as if he was angry with it, yet he loves and highly prizes it ; and though God strike and afflict his people, yet he sets a great value upon them ; and it is equally absurd to infer God's hatred to his people from his afflicting of them, as the husbandman's hatred of his corn, because he threshes and beats it ; Heb. xii. 6. " Whom the Lord loveth " he correcteth, and chasteneth every son whom lie receiveth."
5. Though the husbandman thresh and beat the corn, yet he will not bruise or hurt it, if he can help it ; though some require more and harder strokes than others, yet none shall have more than it can endure. And though the Lord afflict his servants, yet he will do them no hurt, Jer. xxv. 6. Some need more rods than others, but none shall have more than they can bear ; the Lord knows the mea-
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sures and degrees of his servants faith and patience, and accordingly shall their trials be, Psal. ciii. 13, 14. " Like as a father pities his " children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; for he knows '' their frame, he remembers they are but dust;"** " He makes a '' way to escape, that they may be able to bear it," 1 Cor. x. 13. This care and tenderness over his afflicted, is eminently discovered in three particulars.
(1.) In not exposing them to, until he hath prepared them for, their trials, Luke xxiv. 49. " Tarry ye at Jerusalem, until ye be " endued with power from on high." He gives them sometimes eminent discoveries of his love immediately before, and as a prepa- rative to their suiferings, in the strength whereof they are carried through all.
(2.) Or if not so, then he intermixeth supporting comfort with their troubles ; as you sometimes see the sun shine out while the rain falls. It was so with Paul, Acts xxvii. 23. " This night, (and *' it was a sad night indeed) there stood by me the angel of the Lord, " whose I am."