1. Internally, by the Spirit of grace dwelling and acting in them^ this is a choice privilege to them in the day of affliction : for hereby they are instructed and taught the meaning of the rod, Psal. xciv, 12. " Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, and teachest him *' out of thy law." O it is a blessed thing to be taught so many les- sons by the rod, as the Spirit teacheth them ! Surely they reckon it an abundant recompense of all that they suffer. " It is good for me " that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes," Psal. cxix. 71. Yea, he refreshes as well as teaches, and no cordials revive like his. " In the multitude of the thoughts I had within me, thy '' comforts delight my soul," Peak xciv. 19-
Yea, by the presence and blessing of his Spirit, our afflictions are sanctified to subdue and purge out our corruptions. "By this shall the *' iniquity of Jacob be purged, andthis is all the fruit to takeaway sin,'' Isa. xxvii. 9. Now, if a man be instructed in the ends and designs of the rod, refreshed and comforted under every stripe of the rod, and have his sins mortified and purged by the sanctification of the Spirit upon his afflictions ; then both the burdensomeness and bitterness of his afflictions are removed, and healed by the internal presence of the Spirit of God with his afflicted ones.
2. Besides this, God is providentially present with his people, in all their troubles, in a more external way; ordering all the circumstances of their troubles to their advantage. He orders the degree and ex- tent of our afflictions, still leaving us some mercies and comforts to support and refresh us, when others are cut off. In measure doth he debate with his covenanted people, staying the rough wind in the day of the east-wind, Isa. xxvii. 8. He might justly smite allour outward comforts at once, so that affliction should not rise up the second time: for what comfort soever hath been abused by sin, is thereby forfeited into the hand of judgment. But the Lord knows our inability to sustain such strokes, and therefore proportions them to our strength. We have some living relations to minister comfort to us when mourning over our dead : He makes not a full end of all at once. Yea, and his providence supports our frail bodies, enabling them to endure the shocks and storms of so many afflictions, without ruin. Surely there is as much of the care of Providence manifested in this, as there is in preserving poor crazy leaking barks, and weather- beaten vessels at sea, when the waves not only cover them, but break into them, and they are ready to founder in the midst of them.
APPLIED TO AFFLICTED SAINTS. 103
O what a singular mercy is the gracious presence of God with men ! even the special presence of that God, " who is ubove all, and through " all, and in you all," as the apostle speaks, Eph. iv. 6. Ahmw all, in majesty and dominion ; through all, in his most efficacious provi- dence ; and in you all, by his grace and Spirit. As he is above all, so he is able to command any mercy you want, with a word of his mouth ; as he is through all, so he must be intimately acquainted with all your wants, straits, and fears; and as he is in you all, so he is engaged for vour support and supply, as you are the dear members of Christ's mystical body.
Objection. But methinks I hear Gideon's objection rolled into the way of this sovereign consolation : " If God be with us, why is all " this evil befallen us ?"
Solution. AXUvhai? If it had been all this rebellion and rage against God, all this apostasy and revolting more and more, all this contu- macy and hardness of heart under the rod ; then it had been a weighty and stumbling objection indeed : but to say, If God be with us, why are all these chastening corrections and temporal crosses be- fallen us ? why doth he smite our bodies, children or estates ? is an objection no way fit to be urged by any that are acquainted with the scriptures, or the nature and tenor of the covenant of grace. Is afflicting and forsaking all one with you ? must God needs hate, be- cause he scourgeth you ^ I question whether Satan himself hath impudence enough to set such a note or comment upon Heb. xii. 6. *' For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every '* son whom he receiveth.*'*
No, no. Christian, it is not a chastening rod, but the denying of such a favour, and suffering men to sin with impunity, and go on prosperously in the way of their own hearts, that speaks a rejected man, as the next words, ver. 7. inform you. As he never loved you the better for your prosperity, so you may be confident he loves you never the less for your adversity : and will not this close and heal the wounds made by affliction ? What, not such a promise as this, / will he with him in trouble, Psal. xci. 15. Will not such a presence revive thee ? What then can do it ! Moses reckoned that a wilderness with God, was better than a Canaan without him, '' If thy presence go " not with me, (saith he) then carry us not hence,'' Exod. xxxiii. 15. And if there be the spirit of a Christian in thee, and God should give thee thine own choice, thou wouldst rather chuse to be in the n^.idst of all these afflictions with thy God, than back again in all thy pros- perity, and among thy children and former comforts, without him.
Arg. V. As this covenant assures you of God's gracious and special presence, so it fully secures all the essentials and substantial of your happiness, against all hazards and contingencies ; in which security lies your full relief and complete remedy against all your troubles for the loss of other things.
There be two sorts of things belonging to all God's people, viz,
104 THE BALM OF THE COVENANT
1. They have some things which are essential to their happiness ; such are the loving-kindness of God, the pardon of sin, union with Christ, and eternal salvation. And they have other things which are accidentals, that come and go, live and die, without affecting or altering their happiness ; such are health, estates, children, and all sorts of relations and earthly comforts. These are to our happi- ness, as leaves are to the tree, which fade and fall away without endangering the tree ; but the other as the vital sap, without which it withers and dies at the very root. Now if it can be made out that the covenant fully secures the former ; then it will strongly follow, that it therein abundantly relieves us under all our sorrows for the latter : And that it doth so, will evidently appear by reviewing the covenant, wherein you shall find all these substantial and essential mercies of believers, fully secured against all hazards and contin- gencies whatsoever.