three champions, would never have been fit for so high a rule, had they not been first cast into the fiery furnace, Dan. iii. 29, 30. Nor Daniel, for that exceeding high honour, and glory, and greatness to which he was exalted, had he not been first cast among the lions, Dan. vi. 25, et seq. And so had Esther never been a poor captive maid, she had never been a queen, and so had never been instrumental in the pre- servation of the church of God in her day. Heman was one of the best and wisest men in the world in his day, 1 Kings iv. 31 ; and this God brought him to by training of him up in the school of affliction, as you may evidently see in that 88th psalm. That of the apostle in 2 Cor. i. 4, deserves to be written in letters of gold, * Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves ai-e com- forted of God.' Mark that word oitle. Oh, it is one of the hardest and noblest works in all Christianity to be able divinely to comfort others that are in troubles ; and yet by sufferings God fits and prepares his people for this noble and difficult service.
Luther was of opinion that to comfort a distressed conscience was a greater work than to raise the dead to life. And yet by inward and outward sufferings, God fits his people for this great work.
And thus you see in what respects afflictions are compared to a rod.
II. The second thing I am to do is to shew you those special lessons that you are to learn by the rod, or if you please, by the raging pesti- lence.
(1.) The first lesson that you are to learn by the rod or by the raging pestilence, is, to know what the particular message or errand is which the rod hath to deliver to you in the day of your distress and trouble. Your first work is to do as David did, in that 2 Sam. xxi. 1. He humbly inquires of the Lord to know the particular reason why he sent a famine amongst them. You must do as Job doth : Job x. 2, ' Shew me, O Lord, wherefore thou contendest with me.' Job would fain know the reason of the controversy between God and him. One well observes on the text, * that Job was very desirous to know whether God did afflict him for sin or for trial, not to satisfy his curiosity, but his conscience.'^ Elihu's counsel to Job must here take place : Job, xxxiv. 31, 32, ' Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more. That which I see not teach thou me ; if I have done iniquity, I wiU do no more.' Job it seems was yet in the dark as to the particular cause or reason why the Lord had so grievously afflicted him ; and therefore he is very importunate with God that he would graciously point out the sin for which he had so sorely smitten him. Thy proceedings, saith Job, to my understand- ing seem to be very strange and severe. I am more afflicted than others, and yet I do not know wherein I have sinned more than others ; why I should be condemned and cast without a trial ; why thou art so hot against me, and why thou hast multiplied so many unheard of miseries against me ; and why thou hast so greatly subjected me to the saddest and sourest censures of others, as if I were the worst of siniiers and the basest of hypocrites, I know not ; and therefore, O * Trapp in loco makes the observation from another. — G.
150 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN.
Lord ! I humbly desire that thou wouldst not deal with me according to thy absolute power, but let me know the true grounds and causes of all my heavy sorrows and miseries. And so he is at it again, in that Job xiii. 23, ' How many are mine iniquities and sins ! make me to know my transgression and my sin.' My plagues, 0 Lord ! are unparalleled ; if my sins are such, let me know it, saith Job. My calamities transcend the calamities of all others ; if my sins do so, let them not be hid from mine eyes, 0 Lord ! My load, O Lord ! is heavier than others ; and therefore if my sins are greater than others, let me see them, let me understand them. Infirmities and weaknesses, I confess, do hang upon me ; they are inherent in me, and they do too often issue and flow from me ; but as for enormities or wickednesses, neither my censorious friends, nor yet my worst enemies, no, nor yet my own conscience, will ever be able to make any just or clear proof against me. O Lord ! I have many spots upon me, but if there be any upon me that are not the spots of thy people, let me see them, let me know them, that I may abhor myself, and justify thee, and that I may say my friends are righteous in their censures, and I have done wickedly before the Lord. Sometimes afflictions are sent only for trial and instruction, and not at all for sin. This is evident in the case of Job, and in the case of the blind man, whose afflictions, though they were very great and grievous, yet were they not for sin but for trial, John ix. 1, et seq.
Now, though this be true, yet it must be granted that commonly sin is the meritorious cause, the procuring cause, of all afflictions, Micah i. 5-10, Amos ii. 4-6. Sin ordinarily is the original foundation of all our troubles and chastisements : Ps. Ixxxix. 30-32, * If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes ;' Jer. ii. 19, ' Thine own wicked- ness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know, therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast for- saken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts ;' Amos iii. 2, ' You only have I known of all the famihes of the earth ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.'
Quest. But what course must we take ? what means inust we use, to find out that 'particular sin, for which God corrects us, or which hath brought the rod upon us ?
Ans. 1. Observe what that sin is, that thy conscience doth most upbraid thee with, and check thee for. Conscience is God's preacher in the bosom, Gen. xlii. 21, 1. 15-17. Now, observe what that particular sin is, that conscience doth most smartly and roundly correct and chas- tise thee for ; for it is ten to one but that is the sin that hath brought the rod upon thee. The voice of conscience, and the voice of the rod, do usually echo one to another. It is very rare to find a difference between the language of conscience and the language of the rod. Conscience is God's deputy, God's spy, God's notary, God's viceroy ; and therefore do not despise the voice of conscience, do not turn off con- science, as Felix turned off" Paul, Acts xxiv. 25. If the secret cry of conscience be, Oh, this is for thy pride, or this is for thy passion, or this is for thy self-love, or this is for thy earthliness, or this is for thy carnalness, or this is for thy hypocrisy, or this is for thy formality.
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. ISl