Solid. 1 answer — It is true there is a difference between afflictions from the hand of God, and persecutions from the violence of men. God's hand is just, and guilt will make the soul less cheerful ; but remember the apostle's word is divers trials ; and sickness, death of friends, and such things as come from an immediate providence, are but trials to the children of God. In these afflictions there is required not only mourning and humbling, but a holy courage and confi- dence : Job V. 22, ' At destruction and ffimine shalt thou laugh.' There is a holy greatness of mind, and a joy that becometh the sad- dest providences. Faith should be above all that befjilleth us ; it is its proper work to make a believer triumph over every temporary acci- dent. In ordinary crosses there are many reasons of laughing and joy ; as the fellow-feeling of Christ ; if you do not suffer for Christ, Christ suffereth in you, and with you. He is afflicted and touched with a sense of your afflictions. It is an error in believers to think that Christ is altogether unconcerned in their sorrows, unless they be endured for his name's sake, and that the comforts of the gospel are only applicable to martyrdom. Again, another ground of joy in ordi- nary crosses is, because in them we may have much experience of grace, of the love of God, and our own sincerity and patience ; and that is ground of rejoicing: Eom. v. 3, 'We rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience.' The rule holdeth good in all kinds of tribulations or sufferings; they occasion sweet discoveries of God, and so are matter of joy. See also 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10, ' I glory in infirmities,' and ' take pleasure in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.' They are happy occa-
^ ' Magis damnati quam absoluti gaudemus.' — I'crtul. ui Apol.
26 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 2.
sions to discover more of God to us, to give us a greater sense and feeling of the power of grace ; and so wo may take pleasure in them. Lastly, all evils are alike to faith ; and it would as much misbecome a Christian hope to be dejected with losses, as with violence or per- secution. You should walk so that the world may know you can live above every condition, and that all evils are much beneath your hopes. Well, then, from all that hath been said we see that we should with the same cheerfulness sufler the will of Christ as we should suffer for the name of Christ.
Obs. 4. From that, uiien ye fall, observe that evils are the better borne when they are undeserved and involuntary ; that is, when wafall into them, rather than draio them upon ourselves. It was Tertullian's error to say that afllictions were to be sought and desired. The crea- ture never knowcth when it is well ; sometimes we question God's love, because we have no afllictions, and anon, because we have no- thing but afllictions. In all these things we must refer ourselves to God's pleasure, not desire troubles, but bear them when he layeth them on us. Christ hath taught us to pray, ' Lead us not into tempta- tion; ' it is but a fond presumption to cast ourselves upon it. Philas- trius speaketh of some that would compel men to kill them out of an affectation of martyrdom ; and so doth Theodoret.^ This was a mad ambition, not a true zeal ; and no less fond are they that seek out crosses and troubles in the world, ratlier than w\iit for them, or by their own violences and miscarriages draw just hatred upon them- selves. Peter's rule is: 'Let none of you suffer as an evil-doer,' 1 Peter iv. 15. We lose the comfort of our sufferings wdien there is guilt in them.
Obs. 5. From that divers, God hath several ways wherewith to exercise his people. Divers miseries come one in the neck of another, as the lunatic in the gospel ' fell sometimes in the water, sometimes in the fire ;' so God changeth the dispensation, sometimes in this trouble, sometimes in that. Paul gives a catalogue of his dangers and sufferings : 2 Cor. xi. 24-28, 'In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the city, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.' Crosses seldom come single. When God beginneth once to try, he useth divers ways of trial ; and indeed there is great reason. Divers diseases must have divers remedies. Pride, envy, coveteous- ness, worldliness, wantonness, ambition, are not all cured by the same physic. Such an affliction pricks the bladder of i)ride, another checks our desires, that are a])t to run out in the way of the world, &c. Do not murmur, then, if miseries come upon you, like waves, in a continual succession. Job's messengers came thick and close one after another, to tell of oxen, and house, and camels, and sons, and daughters, and all destroyed, Job i. ; messenger upon messenger, and still with a sadder story. We have ' divers lusts,' Titus iii. 3, and, therefore, have need of ' divers trials.' In the (jth of the Revelations one horse cometh after another— the white, tlie ])ale, the black, the red. When the sluice is once opened, several judgments succeed in order. In tlie 4th of Amos, the prophet speaks of blasting, and mildew, and clean- 1 Theod. lib. iv. Haeiet. Fabul.