Mat. YI. 13.] the lord's prater. 241
And in this sense God's power is more glorified than in keeping the angels ; for the angels are out of gun-shot and harm's way, and not liable to temptations. But to preserve a poor weak creature in the midst of temptation, oh, how is the power of Grod 'made perfect in weakness ! ' 2 Cor. xii. 9 : perfected, that is, gloriously discovered.
Secondly, The evil of sin is greater than the evil of affliction or trouble.
[1.] The evil of sin is the greater evil, because it separateth from God : Isa. lix. 2. It is an aversion from the chiefest good. Affliction doth not separate from God, it is a means to make us draw nigh to him. Poverty, sickness, blindness, loss of goods, let a man be never so low and loathsome, yet if in a state of grace, the Lord taketh plea- sure in him, and he is near and dear to God ; God kisseth him with the kisses of his mouth ; nothing is loathsome to God but sin.
[2.] Sin is evil in itself, whether we feel it or no ; affliction is not evil in itself, but in our sense and feeling : Heb. xii. 11. Sin is evil, whether we feel it or no ; it is worse when we do not feel it : ' Past feeling,' Eph. iv. 19, when our conscience is benumbed.
[3.] Affliction, or malum poencc, is an act of divine justice ; but malum culpce is an act of man's corruptness. For the first, affliction, Amos vi. 3, ' Is there any evil, and the Lord hath not done it ?' But sin is the devil's work in us : 1 John iii. 8, ' He that committeth sin, is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.' And John viii. 34, ' Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin.' The one cometh from a just God, the other from our corrupt hearts. The one is the act of a holy God, the other the act of a sinful creature.
[4.] The death of Christ falls more directly upon this benefit — ex- emption from sin : Mat. i. 21, ' He shall save his people from their sins ;' Acts iii. 26, ' God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities ;' not troubles or sorrows, but sins.
[5.] Afiliction is a more particular temporal evil, but sin is an infinite universal evil. Sickness depriveth us of health, poverty of wealth, &c., and every adverse providence doth but oppose some par- ticular temporal good ; but sin depriveth us of God, who is the foun- tain of our comfort ; the other but of some limited comfort.
[6.] Afflictions are sent to remove sin : Heb. xii. 11, ' Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; never- theless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby;' Isa. xxvi. 9, 'When thy judg- ments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn right- eousness: ' but sin is not sent to remove affliction. Now the end must be greater than the means, both as to prosecution and aversation. As to prosecution ; to dig for iron with mattocks of gold and silver. So in aversation ; if death were not worse than the pain of physic, no man would take physic to avoid death.
[7.] Affliction is the effect of God's love : Heb. xii. 6, ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' But to be left to sin is an effect of God's anger. God doth not always exempt from troubles ; yet if he keep
VOL. I. Q
242 AN EXPOSITION OF [Mat. VI. 13.
from spiritual hurt thereby, if lie sanctify the trouble, support us with sufficient grace, 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; if preserved from evil, howsoever tempted and exercised, it is enough.
Use 1. To reprove our folly. We complain of other things, but we do not complain of sin, which is the greatest evil. This is contrary to the spirit of God's children, who rejoice in troubles, but not in sins : 2 Cor. xii. 9, ' Most gladly therefore will I rejoice in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.' They groan bitterly under sins : Eom. vii. 23, ' 0 wretched man ! ' &c. If any man had cause to complain of afflictions, Paul had : in perils often, whipped, persecuted, stoned. But the body of sin and death was the greatest burden : lusts troubled him more than scourges ; his captivity to the law of sin more than prisons. When affliction sitteth too close, sin sits loose. In afflic- tion there is some offence done us, but in sin the wrong is done to God. And what are we to God ? Afflictions may be good, but sin is never good. The body suffereth by affliction, but the soul suffereth by sin loss of grace and comfort, which are not to be valued by all the world's enjoyments. The evil of affliction is but for a moment — like rain, it drietli up of its own accord ; but the evil of sin is for ever, unless it be pardoned and taken away. Sin is the cause of all the evils of afflic- tion ; therefore when we complain, we should complain, not so much of the smart, as of the cause of it.