* Timeo dicere, sed dicendum est ; martyrmm ipstim si idea fiat ut admrrafioni et landi haheatiir afratribus ; frustra sanguis effusns est. Hier.
548 ADVERSITY A FURNACE TO THY OLE GRACES.
gone, Jer. xxxvii. 9. See the like in Ahaz, in a sore plunge and distress, he courts the king of Assyria for help, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22, 23. That project failing, why then he will try what the gods of Damascus can do for him ; any way rather than the right way. Fleeter e si nequeam super os^ Acheron fa movebo.
So it is with many others : if one child die, what do they do, run to God, and comfort themselves in this, the Lord liveth, though my child die. If an estate be lost, and a family sinking, do they with David comfort themselves in the everlasting covenant, ordered and sure ? No ; but if one relation die, there is another alive ; if an estate be lost, yet not all ; something is left still, and the case will mend.
As long as ever such men have any visible encouragement, they will hang upon it ; and not make up all in Christ, and encourage themselves in the Lord. To tell them of rejoicing in the Lord, when the fig-tree blossoms not, is what they cannot understand.
5. Fifthly^ To conclude ; an unsound heart never comes out of the furnace of affliction purged, mortified, and more spiritual and holy than when he was cast into it ; his scum and dross is not there sepa- rated from him ; nay, the more they are afflicted, the worse thev are. " Why should ye be smitten any more ? ye will revolt more *' and more,"" Isa. i. 5. And, to keep to our metaphor, consult Jer. vi. 29. God had put that incorrigible people into the furnace of affliction, and kept them long in that fire ; and what was the issue ^ Why, saith the prophet, " The bellows are burnt, the lead is con- " sumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain, &c. reprobate silver " shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.""
If the fire of affliction be continually blown till the very bellows be burnt, that is, the tongue, or rather the lungs of the prophet, which have some resemblance ; though these be even spent in reproving, and threatening, and denouncing woe upon woe, and judgment upon judgment; and God fulfils his word upon them ; yet still they are as before ; the dross remains : though Jerusalem be made a pot, and the inhabitants the flesh boiling in it, as is noted (pertinently to my discourse) in Ezek. xxiv. 6, 13. the scum remains with them^ and cannot be separated by the fire ; and the reason is plain, because no affliction in itself purges sin, but as it is sanctified, and works in the virtue of God's blessing, and in pursuance of the promises.
O think on this you that have had thousands of afflictions in one kind and another, and none of them all have done you good ; they have not mortified, humbled, or benefited you at all : And thus you see what the effects of adversity are, when it meets with a graceless heart.
X3y this time, reader, I suppose thou art desirous to know what effects adversity and affliction use to have when they meet with an honest and sincere heart : Only, before I come to particulars, I
ADVERSITY A FURNACE TO TRY OUJl GRACES. 549
think it needful to acquaint thee, that the fruits of afflictions are mostly after-fruits, and not so discernible by the Christian himself under the rod, as after he hath been exercised by it, Heb. xii. 11. and calmly reflects upon what is past ; nor doth every Christian attain the same measure and degree ; some rejoice, others commonly submit ; but I think these seven effects are ordinarily found in all upright hearts that pass under the rod.
1. Firsts The sincere and upright soul betakes itself to God in af- fliction ; Job i. 20. When God was smiting, Job was praying ; when God afflicted, Job worshipped: So David, Psalm cxvi. 3, 4. " I *' found sorrow and trouble, then called I upon the name of the ** Lord." And when the messenger of Satan buffeted Paul. " For " this cause (saith he) I besought the Lord thrice," .2 Cor xii. 8. Alas ! whither should a child go in distress, but to its father ?
2. Secondly^ He sees and owns the hand of God in his afflictions, how much or little soever of the instruments of trouble appear. The Lord hath taken away, saith Job, Job i. 21. God had bidden him, saith David, 2 Sam. xvi. 10. If the blow come from the hand of a wicked man, yet he sees that wicked hand in God's righteous hand. Psalm xvii. 14. And this apprehension is fundamental to all that communion men have with God in their afflictions, and to all that peaceableness and gracious submission of their spirits under the rod : He that sees nothing of God in his troubles, hath nothing of God in his soul.
3. Thirdly, He can justify God in all the afflictions and troubles that come upon him, be they never so severe. " Thou art just in all " that is brought upon us," saith Nehemiah, Neh. ix. 33. " Thou " hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve," saith Ezra, Ezra ix. 13. " It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed," saith the church. Lam. ill. 22. Are we in Babylon ? It is a mercy we arc not in hell. If God condemn him, yet he will justify God ; * If God cast him into a sea of trouble^ yet he will acknowledge, in all that sea of trouble, there is not one drop of injustice. If I have not de- served such usage from the hands of men, yet I have deserved worse than this at the hands of God.
4. Fourthly, Afflictions use to melt and humble gracious hearts ; there is an habitual tenderness planted in their spirits, and a just oc- casion quickly draws it forth : And so usual a thing it is for gracious hearts to be humbled under the afflictings of God, that affliction is upon that score called humiliation : The effect put for the cause, to shew where one is, the other will be, 2 Cor. xii. 21. My God K'ill humble me, i. e. he will afflict me with the sight of your sins and dis- orders; and if a gracious soul be so apt to be humbled for other men's sins, much more for his own.
5. Fifthly, The upright soul is inquisitive under the rod, to find out that evil for which the Lord contends with him by aflhction ; Job X. 2. Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me :" And
550 ADVERSITY A FURNACE TO TRY OUR GRACES.
Job xxxiv. 32. " That which I see not, teach thou me : If I have « done iniquity, I will do no more.'' So Lam. iii. 89, 40. " Let us " search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord." In afflicting, God searches them, and under affliction they search them- selves: Willing they are to hear the voice of the rod, and glad of any discovery it makes in their hearts.
6. Sixtldij^ The upright heart chooseth to lie under affliction, ra- ther than to be delivered from it by sin. I say, this is the choice and resolution of every upright heart, however it may be sometimes over- borne by the violence of temptation, Heb. xi. 85. Not accepting deliverance^ viz. upon sinful terms and conditions.