struggling, and striving is there for those things that the great ones of the earth do highly prize ! Ah ! what stretching of wits, interests, and consciences is there this day, to gain and hold up that which justice will cast down ! how much better would it be, if all persons would in good earnest struggle and strive, even as for life, after a quiet and silent spirit, which the great and glorious God sets so great a price upon ! This is a pearl of greatest price, and happy is he that purchases it, though it were with the loss of all. But,
b\ Sixthly, Consider, That if you sit not silent and quiet under your greatest troubles and your sorest trials, you will be found lighters against your own prayers. How often have you prayed that the will of God may be done, yea, that it may be done on the earth, as the angels, those glistering courtiers, those princes of glory, do it now in heaven ! Mat. vi. 10. When troubles and afflictions come upon you, the will of God is done, his will is accomplished ; why then should you fret, fling, and fume, and not rather quietly lie down in his will, whose will is a perfect will, a just and righteous will, a wise will, an overruling will, an infinite will, a sovereign will, a holy will, an immutable will, an uncontrollable will, an omnipotent will, and an eternal will ? Cer- tainly you will but add affliction to affliction, by fighting against your own prayers, and by vexing and fretting yourselves when the will of God is done. It is sad to see a man to fight against his friends, it is sadder to see him fight against his relations, it is saddest of all to see him fight against his prayers ; and yet this every Christian doth, who murmurs and mutters when the rod of God is upon him.1 Some there be that pray against their prayers, as Augustine, who prayed for con- tinency with a proviso, Lord ! give me continency, but not yet ; and some there be who fight against their prayers, as those who pray that the will of God may be done, and yet when his will is done upon them, they are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, they are still fretting against the Lord. Ah, Christians! have you not sins to fight against, and temptations to fight against, and a devil to fight against, yea, a whole world to fight against? Why then should you be found fighting against your owu prayers ? But,
7. Seventhly, Consider, A holy silence under the heaviest burdens, the greatest afflicti<ms, the saddest providences and changes^will make all tolerable and easy to a Christian. The silent soul can bear a burden without a burden. Those burdens and troubles that will break a fro- wan I man's back, will not so much as break a silent man's sleep ; those afflictions that lie as heavy weights upon a murmurer, will lie as light as a feather upon a mute Christian, Micah vii. 7-10, Ps. xcii. 1,6; that bed of sorrow, which is as a bed of thorns to a fretful soul, will be as a bed of down to a silent soul. A holy silence unstiugs every afflic- tion, it takes off the weight of every burden, it adds sweet to every bitter, it changes dark nights into sunshiny days, and terrible storms into desirable calms. The smallest sufferings will easily vanquish an unquiet spirit, but a quiet spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest sufferings. As little mercies are great mercies, so great sufferings are but little sufferings, in the eye of a silent soul. The silent soul oev< r
' Voluntas Dei necessilas rei. Every gracious soul should say Amen to God's Amen ; be should put \nsjiat, his placet to God's, go it never so much against the hair with him.
Ps. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 331
complains that his affliction is too great, his burden too heavy, his cross too weighty, his sufferings too many ; silence makes him victorious over all. And therefore, as ever you would have heavy afflictions light, and be able to bear a burden without a burden, labour as for life after this holy silence.
8. Eighthly, Consider that a holy silence under afflictions will be your best armour of proof against those temptations that afflictions may expose you to. Times of afflictions often prove times of great temptations, and therefore afflictions are called temptations •} James i. 12, 'Blessed is the man which endureth temptations, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life,' &c. The Greek word 'Kngaaiih, is to be understood of temptations of probation, of afflicting tempta- tions, and not of temptations of suggestion, of seduction ; for they are not to be endured, but resisted and abhorred, James iv. 7, 1 Peter v. 9. Now, affliction is called temptation,
(1.) Because, as temptation tries what metal a Christian is made of, so do afflictions.
(2.) Because, as Satan usually hath a great hand in all the tempta- tions that come upon us, so he hath a great hand in all the afflictions that befall us ; as you see in that great instance of Job.
(3.) Because, as temptations drive men to God, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8, so do afflictions, Isa. xxvi. 16, Hosea v. 15 ; but mainly because Satan chooses times of afflictions as the fittest seasons for his temptations. When Job was sorely afflicted in his estate, children, wife, life, then Satan lets fly, and makes his fiercest assaults upon him. Now, Satan tempts him to entertain hard thoughts of God ; to distrust, to impatiency, to mur- muring and muttering. As when Israel was feeble, faint, and weary, Amalek assaulted them, and smote the hindmost of them, Dent. xxv. J 7, 18; so when Christians are most afflicted, then usually they are most tempted.2
Luther found this by experience when he said, I am without set upon by all the world, and within by the devil and all his angels. Satan is a coward, and loves to strike us and trample upon us when afflictions have cast us down. When besieged towns, cities, and castles are in greatest straits and troubles, then the besiegers make their fiercest assaults ; so when Christians are under the greatest straits and trials, then Satan assaults them most, like a roaring lion. Now, silence un- der afflictions is the best antidote and preservative against all those temptations that afflictions lay us open to. Silence in afflictions is a Christian's armour of proof ; it is that shield that no spear or dart of temptation can pierce. Whilst a Christian lies under the rod, he is safe. Satan may tempt him, but he will not conquer him ; he may assault him, but he cannot vanquish him. Satan may entice him to use sinful shifts to shift himself out of trouble ; but he will choose rather to lie, yea, die, in trouble, than get out upon Satan's terms. But,
9. Ninthly, Consider, That holy silence under afflictions and trials will give a man a quiet and peaceable possession of his own soul : ' In patience possess your souls/ Luke xxi. 19.3 Now, next to the pos-
1 Luke xxii. 31-34, Mat. iv. 1, 13.
2 Many saints have experienced this truth, when they have been upon their sick and dying beds. 3 Vide Greg, in Evang. Horn. 35.