love, I rebuke and chasten.' Seneca persuaded his friend Polybius to bear his affliction quietly, because he was the emperor's favourite, telling him, that it was not lawful for him to complain whilst Csesar was his friend. So saith the holy Christian, O my soul ! be quiet, be still ; all is in love, all is a fruit of divine favour. I see honey upon the top of every twig, I see the rod is but a rosemary branch, I have sugar with my gall, and wine with my wormwood ; therefore be silent, O my soul! and this general conclusion, that all should be for good, had this blessed effect upon the church : Lam. iii. 28, ' He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.'1
Afflictions abase the loveliness of the world without, that might entice us ; it abates the lustiness of the flesh within, which might else ensnare us ! and it abates2 the spirit in its quarrel against the flesh and the world ; by all which it proves a mighty advantage unto us.
(2.) Secondly, TJtey shall keep them humble and low ; Lam. iii. 29, ' He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.' Some say, that these words are an allusion to the manner of those that, having been conquered and subdued, lay their necks down at the conqueror's feet to be trampled upon, and so lick up the dust that is under the conqueror's feet. Others of the learned looked upon the words as an allusion to poor petitioners, who cast themselves down at princes' feet, that they may draw forth their pity and compassion towards them. As I have read of Aristippus, who fell on the ground before Dionysius, and kissed his feet, when he presented a petition to him ; and being asked the reason, answered, Aures habet in pedibus, he hath his ears in his feet. Take it which way you will, it holds forth this to us, That holy hearts will be humble under the afflicting hand of God. When God's rod is upon their backs, their mouths shall be in the dust. A good heart will lie lowest, when the hand of God is lifted highest, Job xlii. 1-7 ; Acts ix. 1-8.
(3.) Thirdly, The third soul-quieting conclusion you have in Lam. iii. 31, 'For the Lord will not cast off for ever ;' the rod shall not always lie upon the back of the righteous. ' At even-tide, lo there is trouble, but afore morning it is gone,' Isa. xvii. 13. As Athanasius said to his friends, when they came to bewail his misery and banishment, Nubecula est, citb transibit ; it is but a little cloud, said he, and it will quickly be gone. There are none of God's afflicted ones, that have not their lucida intervalla, their intermissions, respites, breathing-whiles ; yea, so small a while doth the hand of the Lord rest upon his people, that Luther cannot get diminutives enough to extenuate it ; for he calls it a very little little cross that we bear: Isa. xxvi. 20, 'Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it were for a little moment (or for a little space, a little while), until the indignation be overpast.' The indignation doth not transire, but pertransire, pass, but over-pass. The sharpness, shortness, and sudden- ness of the saints' afflictions, is set forth by the travail of a woman, John xvi. 21, which is sharp, short, and sudden.3
1 Some say, if a knife or needle be touched with a loadstone of an iron colour, it will cut or enter into a man's body, without any sense of pain at all ; so will afflictions when touched with the loadstone of divine love. 2 Qu. 'abets'? — Ed.
8 A little storm, as he said of Julian's persecution, and an eternal calm follows.
30+ Till: MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. 9.
(4) Fourthly, The fourth soul-silencing conclusion you have in Lamentations iii. 32. ' But though he cause grief, yet will he have com- passion, according to the multitude of his mercies/ ' In wrath God remembers mercy,' Hab. iii. 2. ' Weeping may endure for a night, but joy conn ill in the morning/ Ps. xxx. 5. Their mourning shall last but till morning. God will turn their winter's night into a Bummer's day, their sighing into singing, their grief into gladness, their mourning into music, their bitter into sweet, their wilderness into a paradise. The life of a Christian is filled up with interchanges of sickness and health, weakness and strength, want and wealth, disgrace and honour, crosses and comforts, miseries and mercies, joys and sorrows, mirth and mourn- ing ; all honey would harm us, all wormwood would undo us ; a com- position of both is the best way in the world to keep our souls in a healthy constitution. It is best and most for the health of the soul that the south wind of mercy, and the north wind of adversity, do both blow upon it ; and though every wind that blows shall blow good to the saints, yet certainly their sins die most, and their graces thrive best, when they are under the drying, nipping north wind of calamity, as well as under the warm, cherishing south wind of mercy and prosperity.
(5.) Fifthly, The fifth soul-quieting conclusion you have in Lament, iii. 33, ' For he doth not afflict willingly (or as the Hebrew hath it, • from his heart'), ' nor grieve the children of men.' The church con- cludes, that God's heart was not in their afflictions, though his hand was. He takes no delight to afflict his children ; it goes against the hair and the heart; it is a grief to him to be grievous to them, a pain to him to be punishing of them, a death to him to be striking of them ; he hath no will, no motion, no inclination, no disposition, to that work of afflicting of his people ; and therefore he calls it his 'work, his strange work/ Isa. xxviii. 21. Mercy and punishment, they flow from God, as the honey and the sting from the bee. The bee yieldeth honey of her own nature, but she doth not sting but when she is provoked. He takes delight in shewing of mercy, Micah vii. 18 ; he takes no pleasure in living his people up to adversity, Hosea xi. 8. Mercy and kindness tloweth from him freely, naturally ; he is never severe, never harsh ; he never stings, he never terrifies us, but when he is sadly provoked by us. God's hand sometimes may lie very hard upon his people, when his heart, his bowels, at those very times may be yearning towards his people, Jer. xxxi. 18-20. No man can tell how the heart of God stands by his hand ; his hand of mercy may be open to those against whom his heart is set, as you see in the rich poor fool, and Dives, in the Gospel ; and his hand of severity may lie hard upon those on whom he hath set his heart, as you may see in Job and Lazarus. And thus you see those gracious, blessed, soul-quieting conclusions about the issue and event of afflictions, that a holy, a prudent silence doth include.
Sixthly, A holy, a prudent silence includes and takes in a strict charge, a solemn command, that conscience lays upon the soul to be quiet and still.1 Ps. xxxvii. 7, ' Rest in the Lord' (or as the Hebrew hath it, ' be silent to the Lord'), ' and wait patiently for him.' I charge