(8.) Eighthly, If you would be silent and quiet under afflictions, then dwell much upon this, viz., That all your afflictions do but reach the tvorser, the baser, and the ignobler part of a Christian, viz., his body, his outward man : ' Though our outward man decay, yet our inward man is renewed day by day,' 2 Cor. iv. 16. As Aristarchus the heathen said, when he was beaten by the tyrants : Beaton; it is not Aristarchus you beat, it is only his shell. Timothy had a very healthful soul in a crazy body, 1 Tim. v. 23 ; and Gaius had a very prosperous soul in a weak distempered body, 3 Ep. of John 2. Epictetus and many of the more refined heathens, have long since concluded that the body was the organ or vessel, the soul was the man and merchandise. Now, all the troubles and afflictions that a Christian meets with, they do not reach his soul, they touch not his conscience, they make no breach upon his noble part ; and therefore he hath cause to hold his peace, and to lay
396 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. 9.
tiis band upon his mouth. The soul is the breath of God, Heb. xii. 9, Zecli. xii. 1, the beauty of man, the wonder of angels, and the envy of devils ; it is a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring ; it is an immortal spirit. Souls are of an angelic nature ; a man is an angel clothed in clay ; the soul is a greater miracle in man than all the miracles wrought amongst men ; the soul is a demi-semi-God dwelling in a house of clay. Now it is not in the power of any outward troubles and afflictions that a Christian meets with to reach his soul ; and therefore he may well sit mute under the smarting rod.
(9.) Ninthly, If thou wouldst be silent and quiet under the saddest providences and sorest trials, then keep up faith in continual exercise. Now faith, in the exercise of it, will quiet and silence the soul, thus,
[1.] By bringing the soul to sit down satisfied in the naked enjoy- ments of God, John xiv. 8, Ps. xvii. 15.
[2.] By drying up the springs of pride, self-love, impatience, mur- muring, unbelief, and the carnal delights of this world.
[3.] By presenting to the soul greater, sweeter, and better things in Christ, than any this world doth afford, Heb. xi. 3, Philip, iii. 7, 8.
[4.] By lessening the soul's esteem of all outward vanities. Do but keep up the exercise of faith, and thou wilt keep silent before the Lord. No man so mute, as he whose faith is still busy about invisible objects.
(10.) Tenthly, If you would keep silent, then keep humble before the Lord. Oh ! labour every day to be more humble and more low and little in your own eyes. Who am I, saith the humble soul, but that God should cross me in this mercy, and take away that mercy, and pass a sentence of death upon every mercy ? I am not worthy of the least mercy, I deserve not a crumb of mercy, I have forfeited every mercy, I have improved never a mercy. Only by pride comes contention. It is only pride that puts men upon contending with God and men ; an humble soul will lie quiet at the foot of God, it will be contented with bare commons, Prov. xiii. 16. As you see sheep can live upon the bare commons, which a fat ox cannot. A dinner of green herbs relisheth well writh the humble man's palate, whereas a stalled ox is but a coarse dish to a proud man's stomach. An humble heart thinks none less than himself, nor none worse than himself; an humble heart looks upon small mercies as great mercies, and great afflictions as small afflictions, and small afflictions as no afflictions ; and therefore sits mute and quiet under all. Do but keep humble, and you will keep silent before the Lord. Pride kicks, and flings, and frets, but an humble man hath still his hand upon his mouth. Every thing on this side hell is mercy, much mercy, rich mercy to an humble soul; and therefore he holds his peace.1
(11.) Eleventhly, If you would keep silence under the afflicting hand of God, then keep close, hold fast these soul-silencing and soul- quieting maxims or principles. As,
[1.] First, That the ivorst that God doth to his people in this world, is in order to tlie making of them a heaven on earth. He brings them into a wilderness, but it is, that he may speak comfortably to
1 Austin being asked, What was the first grace? he answered, humility; what the second ? humility ; what the third ? humility.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 397
them, Hosea ii. 14 ; he casts them into the fiery furnace, but it is, that they may have more of his company ; do the stones come thick and threefold about Stephen's ears, it is but to knock him the nearer to Christ, the corner-stone, &c, Acts vii.
[2.] Secondly, If you would be silent, then hold fast this principle, viz. That what God wills is best, Heb. xii. ] 0. When he wills sickness, sickness is better than health ; when he wills weakness, weakness is better than strength ; when he wills want, want is better than wealth ; when he wills reproach, reproach is better than honour ; when he wills death, death is better than life. As God is wisdom itself, and so knows that which is best, so he is goodness itself, and therefore cannot do any- thing but that which is best : therefore hold thy peace.
[3.] Thirdly, If thou wouldst be silent under thy greatest afflictions, then hold fast to this principle, viz. That the Lord will bear thee com- pany in all thy afflictions, Isa. xli. 10 ; chap, xliii. 2 ; Ps. xxiii. 4 ; Ps. xc. 15 ; Dan. iii. 25 ; Gen. xxxix. 20, 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. These scriptures are breasts full of divine consolation, these wells of salvation are full ; will you turn to them and draw out, that your souls may be satisfied and quieted ?
[4.] Fourthly, If you would be silent under your afflictions, then hold fast this principle, That the Lord hath more high, more noble, and more blessed ends in the afflicting of you than he hath in the afflicting of the men of the world. The stalk and the ear of corn fall upon the threshing floor, under one and the same flail, but the one is shattered in pieces, the other is preserved ; from one and the same olive, and from under one and the same press is crushed out both oil and dregs ; but the one is turned up for use, the other thrown out as unserviceable ; and by one and the same breath the fields are perfumed with sweetness, and annoyed with unpleasant savours : so, though afflictions do befall good and bad alike, as the Scripture speaks, Eccles. ix. 2, yet the Lord will effect more glorious ends by those afflictions that befall his people, than he will effect by those that befall wicked men ; and therefore the Lord puts his people into the furnace for their trial, but the wicked for their ruin : the one is bettered by affliction, the other is made worse ; the one is made soft and tender by afflictions, the other is more hard aud obdurate ; the one is drawn nearer to God by afflictions, the other is driven further from God, &c.