2 COK. II. 11.] AGAINST SATAN'S DEVICES. 49
wait to mischief him.1 If afflictions did not put us out of our way, we should many times meet with some sin or other that would mis- chief our precious souls.
Again, They will work the saints to be more fruitful in holiness : Heb. xii. 10, 11, ' But he afflicts us for our profit, that we might be par- takers of his holiness.' The flowers smell sweetest after a shower; vines bear the better for bleeding ; the walnut-tree is most fruitful when most beaten. Saints spring and thrive most internally when they are most externally afflicted. Afflictions are called by some ' the mother of virtue.' Manasseh his chain was more profitable to him than his crown. Luther could not understand some Scriptures till he was in affliction. The Christ-cross is no letter, and yet that taught him more than all the letters in the row. God's house of correction is his school of instruction.2 All the stones that came about Stephen's ears did but knock him closer to Christ, the corner-stone. The waves did but lift Noah's ark nearer to heaven ; and the higher the waters grew, the more near the ark was lifted up to heaven. Afflictions do lift up the soul to more rich, clear, and full enjoyments of God :3 Hosea ii. 14, ' Be- hold, I will allure her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her' ; (or rather, as the Hebrew hath it) ; 'I will earnestly or vehe- mently speak to her heart.'4 God makes afflictions to be but inlets to the soul's more sweet and full enjoyment of his blessed self. When was it that Stephen saw the heavens open, and Christ standing at the right hand of God, but when the stones were about his ears, and there was but a short step betwixt him and eternity ? And when did God appear in his glory to Jacob, but in the day of his troubles, when the stones were his pillows, and the ground his bed, and the hedges his curtains, and the heavens his canopy ? Then he saw the angels of God ascending and descending in their glistering robes. The plant in Nazianzen grows with cutting ; being cut, it flourisheth ; it contends with the axe, it lives by dying, and by cutting it grows.5 So do saints by their afflictions that do befall them ; they gain more experience of the power of God supporting them, of the wisdom of God directing them, of the grace of God refreshing and cheering them, and of the goodness of God quieting and quickening of them, to a greater love to holiness, and to a greater delight in holiness, and to a more vehement pursuing after holiness.
I have read of a fountain, that at noonday is cold, and at midnight it grows warm ; so many a precious soul is cold God-wards, and heaven- wards, and holiness-wards, in the day of prosperity ; that grow warm God -wards and heaven-wards, and holiness- wards, in the midnight of adversity.
Again, Afflictions serve to keep the hearts of the saints humble and
1 Confessions.— G. 2 Schola crucis, schola lucis.
3 Cf. ' Epistle' prefixed to Durant's Altum Silentium, by Brooks. — G.
4 n^1? ^y. • • • TrOII Vedibbartignal libbab.
8 It is reported of Tiberius the emperor, that passing by a place where he saw a cross lying in the ground upon a marble stone, and causing the stone to be digged up, he found a great deal of treasure under the cross. So many a precious saint hath found much spiritual and heavenly treasure under the crosses they have met withal.
50 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
tender : Lam. iii. 19, 20, ' Kemcmbcring my affliction and my misery, i he wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me,' or bowed down in me, as the original hath it.1 So David, when he was under the rod, could say, ' I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it/ Ps. xxxix. 4.
1 have read of one [Gregory Nazianzen], who, when anything fell out prosperously, would read over the Lamentation of Jeremiah, and that kept his heart tender, humbled, and low. Prosperity doth not contri- bute more to the puffing up the soul, than adversity doth to the bowing down of the soul. This the saints by experience find ; and therefore they can kiss and embrace the cross, as others do the world's crown.2
Again, They serve to bring the saints nearer to God, and to make them more importunate and earnest in prayer with God. ' Before I was afflicted, I went astray ; but now have I kept thy word.' ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.' ' I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away : I will take away, and none shall rescue him/ ' I will go and return to my place, till they acknow- ledge their offence, and seek my face : in their affliction they will seek me early.' And so they did. ' Come,' say they, ' and let us return unto the Lord : for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smit- ten, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us : in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.'3 So when God had hedged up their way with thorns, then they say, ' I will go and return to my first husband ; for then was it with me better than now,' Hosea ii. 6, 7. Ah the joy, the peace, the comfort, the delight, and content that did attend us, when we kept close communion with God, doth bespeak our return to God. ' We will return to our first husband ; for then was it with us better than now.'
When Tiribazus, a noble Persian, was arrested, he drew out his sword, and defended himself; but when they told him that they came to carry him to the king, he willingly yielded.4 So, though a saint may at first stand a little out, yet when he remembers that afflictions are to carry nearer to God, he yields, and kisses the rod. Afflictions are like the prick at the nightingale's breast, that awakes her, and puts her upon her sweet and delightful singing.
Again, Afflictions they serve to revive and recover decayed graces ; they inflame that love that is cold, and they quicken that faith that is decaying, and they put life into those hopes that are withering, and spirits into those joys and comforts that are languishing.5 Musk, saith one, when it hath lost its sweetness, if it be put into the sink amongst filth it recovers it. So do afflictions recover and revive de-
- The more precious odours and the purest spices, are beaten and bruised, the sweeter scent and savour they send abroad. So do saints when they are afllicted.
3 Ps. cxix. 67, 71. Hosea v. 14, 15 ; vi. 1, 2.
* C{. Diodorus xv. 8-11 : Plutarch, Artaxerxes, 24, 27, 29.— G.
5 M >8t men are like a top, that will not go unless you whip it, and the more you whip it the better it goes. You know how to apply it. They that are in adversity, saith Luther, do better understand Scriptures ; but those that are in prosperity, read them as a verse in Ovid. Bees are killed with honey, but quickened with vinegar. The honey of prosperity kills our graces, but the vinegar of adversity quickens our graces.