(7.) Seventhly, If thou art willing to lie in the furnace fill thy dross be consumed ; if thou art willing that the plaster should lie on, though it smart, till the cure be wrought; if thou art willing that the physic should work, though it makes thee sick, till the humours be expelled ; all is in love, Job xxiii. 10, Micah vii. 9. Cain, and Saul, and Pharaoh, were all for the removing away of the stroke, the affliction ; they cry not out, ' Our sins are greater than we are able to bear/ but they cry out, ' Our punishment is greater than we are able to bear ;' they cry not out, ' Lord, take away our sins/ but ' Lord, remove the stroke of thy hand.'2 Oh ! but when an affliction comes in love upon a soul, the language of that soul is this: Lord, remove the cause rather than the effect, the sin rather than the punishment, my corruption rather than my affliction. Lord ! what will it avail me to have the sore skinned over, if the corrupt matter still remain in? there is no evil, Lord, to the evil of sin ; and therefore deliver me rather from the evil of sin than the evil of suffering. I know, Lord, that affliction cannot be so displeasing
1 Socrates, 1. ii. c. 18. * Gen. iv. 13; Isa. xxviii. 1, 6, lix. 9-17; Exod. vii.-x.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 345
to me as sin is dishonourable and displeasing to thee ; and therefore, Lord, let me see an end of my sin, though in this world I should never see an end of my sorrows ; oh, let me see an end of my corruptions, though I should never see an end of my corrections ; Lord, I had rather have a cure for my heart than a cure for my head, I had rather be made whole and sound within than without, I had rather have a healthy soul than a healthy body, a pure inside than a beautiful outside. If this be the settled frame and temper of thy spirit, certainly thy afflictions are in love.
There was one who, being under marvellous great pains and torments in his body, occasioned by many sore diseases that were upon him, cried out, Had I all the world I would give it for ease, and yet for all the world I would not have ease till the cure be wrought. Sure his afflictions were in love. The first request, the great request, and the last request of a soul afflicted in love, is, A cure, Lord ! a cure, Lord ! a cure, Lord ! of this wretched heart, and this sinful life, and all will be well, all will be well.
(8.) Eighthly and lastly, If you live alife of faith in your afflictions, then your afflictions are in love. Now, what is it to live by faith in affliction, but to live in the exercising of faith upon those precious pro- mises that are made over to an afflicted condition?1 God hath pro- mised to be with his people in their afflictions, Isa. xliii. 2, 3 ; he hath promised to support them under their affliction, Isa. xli. 10 ; he hath promised to deliver his people out of their afflictions, Ps. 1. 15 ; he hath promised to purge away his people's sins by affliction, Isa. i. 25 ; he hath promised to make his people more partakers of his holiness by affliction, Heb. xii. 10 ; he hath promised to make affliction an inlet to a more full and sweet enjoyment of himself, Hos. ii. 14 ; he hath promised that he will never leave nor forsake his people in their afflic- tions, Heb. xiii. 5, 6 ; he hath promised that all their afflictions shall work for their good, Zech. xiii. 9, Rom. viii. 28. Now if thy faith be drawn forth to feed upon these promises, if these be heavenly manna to thy faith, and thy soul lives upon them, and sucks strength and sweet- ness from them, under all the trials and troubles that are upon thee, thy afflictions are in love.
A bee can suck honey out of a flower, which a fly cannot. If thy faith can extract comfort and sweetness in thy saddest distresses, out of the breasts of precious promises, and gather one contrary out of another, honey out of the rock, Deut. xxxii. 13, thy afflictions are in love. The promises are full breasts, and God delights that faith should draw them2 ; they are pabulum fid ei, et anima fidei, the food of faith, and the very soul of faith ; they are an everlasting spring that can never be drawn dry ; they are an inexhaustible treasure that can never be exhausted ; they are the garden of paradise, and full of such choice flowers that will never fade, but be always fresh, sweet, green, and flourishing ; and if, in the day of affliction, they prove thus to thy soul, thy afflictions are in love. Sertorius3 paid what he promised with fair
1 These following promises have been choice cordials to many Christians under sore distresses. Isa. lvii. 15, xli. 10; 1 Tim. i. 15; John x. 27-29; Isa. xxvi. 3; Mat. xi. 28; 1 John iii. 14.
" As the mother delights that the child should draw hers. 3 Plutarch^ Sertorius. — G.
346 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. J).
words, but so doth not God. Men many times eat their words, but God will never eat his; all his promises in Christ are yea and in him amen, 1 Cor. i. 20. Hath he spoken it, and shall it not come to passl It' in all thy troubles thy heart be drawn forth to act faith upon the promises, thy troubles are from love. And thus much by way of answer to the first objection.
Ohj. 2. Oh, but, sir ! the Lord hath smitten me in my nearest and dearest comforts and contentments, and how then can I hold my peace ? God hath taken away a husband, a wife, a child, an only child, a bosom- friend, and how then can I be silent ? &c.
Ans. To this I answer,
(I.) First, If God did not strike thee in that mercy which was near and dear unto thee, it would not amount to an affliction. That is not worthy the name of an affliction that does not strike at some bosom mercy ; that trouble is no trouble that doth not touch some choice con- tentment ; that storm is no storm that only blows off the leaves, but never hurts the fruit ; that thrust is no thrust that only touches t lie clothes, but never reaches the skin ; that cut is no cut that only cuts the hat, but never touches the head ; neither is that affliction any affliction that only reaches some remote enjoyment, but never reaches a Joseph* a Benjamin, &c.
(2.) Secondly, The best mercy is not too good for the best God. The best of the best is not good enough for him who is goodness itself ; the best child, the best yoke-fellow, the best friend, the best jewel in all thy crown must be readily resigned to thy best God. There is no mercy, no enjoyment, no contentment worthy of God, but the best. The milk of mercy is for others, the cream of mercy is due to God. The choicest, the fairest, and the sweetest flowers, are fittest for the bosom of God ; if he will take the best flower in all the garden, and plant it in a better soil, hast thou any cause to murmur ? Wilt thou not hold thy peace ? Mai. i. 13, 1+.