VeR. 67.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 229
therefore we need to be disturbed, to have the world crucified to us, Gal. vi. 14, that the cumber of the world may drive us to seek for rest where it is only to be found, and to humble us by outward defects, that we may look after inward abundance, that, by being poor in this world, we may be rich in faith, James ii. 5, and having nothing in the creature, we may possess all things in God, 2 Cor. vi. 10, and be enlarged inwardly as we are straitened outwardly ; in short, that we may be oftener with God. God sent a tempest after Jonah. Absalom set Joab's barley-field on fire, and then he came to him, 2 Sam. xiv. 30. Isa. xxvi. 16, ' Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them ;' Hosea v. 15, ' In their affliction they will seek me early.' It were endless to run out in discourses of this nature.
5. The affliction of itself doth not work thus, but as sanctified and accompanied with the Spirit of God. If the affliction of itself and by itself would do it, it would do so always, but that we see by experi- ence it doth not. In itself it is an evil and a pain that is the conse- quent and the fruit of sin, and so breedeth impatience, despair, murmuring, and blasphemy against God. As it is a legal curse, other fruit cannot be expected of it but reviving terrors of heart and repin- ings against the sovereignty of God. "We see often the same affliction that maketh one humble, maketh another raging ; the same poverty that maketh one full of dependence upon God, maketh another full of shifts and evil courses whereby to supply his want. No ; it is under- stood of sanctified crosses, when grace goeth along with them to bless them to us : Jer. xxxi. 19, ' Surely after that I was turned, I repented ; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth ;' after God had wrought a gracious change in him by his afflicting hand and Spirit working together. So Ps. xciv. 12, ' Blessed is he whom thou chastenest, and instructest out of thy law.' The rod must be expounded by the word, and both must be efiectually applied by the Spirit. Grace is God's immediate creature and pro- duction ; he useth subservient means and helps, sometimes the word, sometimes the rod, sometimes both ; but neither doth anything without his Spirit.
6. This benefit, though gotten by sharp afflictions, should be owned, and thankfully acknowledged as a great testimony and expression of God's love to us. So doth David to the praise of God. It is a branch that belongeth to the thanksgiving mentioned ver. 65, ' Thou hast done well with thy servant, according to thy word ; ' — the first of this octonary. We are prejudiced against the cross out of a self-love, a mistaken self-love ; we love ourselves more than we love God, and the ease of the body more than the welfare of the soul, and the world more than heaven, and our temporal pleasure and contentment more than our spiritual and eternal benefit ; and therefore we cannot endure to hear of the cross, much more to bear it. Oh ! this doth not become men ; surely it doth not become Christians ! Would you have your consolation here ? Luke xvi. ; your portion here ? Ps. vii. Would you value yourselves by the flourishing of the outward man, or the renew- ing of the inward man ? 2 Cor. iv. 16. Should we be so impatient of
230 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LXXVI.
the cross ? Afflictions are bitter to present sense, but j^et they are healthful to the soul : they are not so bitter in present feeling as they will be sweet in the after-fruits. Now, we are greatly unthankful to God, if the bitterness be not lessened and tempered by this fruit and profit. Consider, when are we most miserable ? When we go astray, or when we are reduced into the right way ? when we are engaged in a rebellion against God, or when brought into a sense of our duty ? Hosea iv. 17, ' Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone.' Let Mm alone is the heaviest judgment that can be laid upon a poor creature. Providence, conscience, ministry let him alone ; the case is desperate, and we are incorrigible when we are left to our own ways. There needeth no more to make our case miserable and sad than to be suffered to go on in sin without let and restraint ; there is no hope of such : God seemeth to cast them off, and to desert and leave them to their own lusts. It is evident he.mindeth not their salvation, but leaveth them to the world, to be condemned with the world. Well, then, doth God do the elect any harm when he casts them into great troubles ? If we use violence to a man that is ready to be drowned, and, in pulling him out of the waters, should break an arm or a leg, would he not be thankful ? Yes, saith he, I can dispense with that, for you have saved iTiy life. So may God's children bless his name. 0 blessed ]n-ovidence ! I had been a witless fool, and gone on in a course of sin, if God had not awakened me. A philosopher could say that he never made better voyage than when he suffered sliipwreck, because then he began to apply himself to the study of wisdom : surely a Christian should say. Blessed be God that he laid his chastenings upon me, and brought me to a serious heavenly mind : I should otherwise have been a carnal fool, as others are. Wicked men are left to their own swing. When the case of the sick is desperate, physicians let them alone, give them leave to take anything they have a mind unto. The apostle speaketh much to this purpose : Heb. xii. 6, ' Whom the Lord lovetli he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' Sharp afflictions, which in their visible appearance seem tokens of God's hatred, are rather tokens of his love. There is a twofold love of God — ■ Amor henevolentice et complacentice — the love of good-will, whereby the Lord out of the purposes of his own free grace doth regenerate us, and adopt us into his family ; and having loved us, and made us amiable, he doth then delight in us. The text alleged may be expounded of either. Oh ! then, why do not we more own God in our afflictions ? If he use us a little hardly, it is not an argument of his hatred, but his love. Thou darest not pray. Lord, let me have my worldly comforts, though they damn me ; let me not be afflicted, though it will do me good. And if thou darest not pray so, will you repine when God seeth this course necessary for us, and taketh away the fuel of our lusts ? Is it not a good exchange to part with outward comforts for inward holiness ? If he take away our quiet, and give us peace of conscience, our worldly goods, and give us true riches, have we cause to complain ? If outward wants be recompensed with an abundance of inward grace, if we have less of the world that we may have more of God, a healthy soul in a sickly bod}^ it is just matter of thanksgiving : 3 John 2, ' I wish, above all things, that thou