Use 2. Is caution. 1. Against misconstruction of providence ; 2. Against non-improvement.
1. Against misconstruction of providence. There may be a seeming harshness in some of God's dealings, but, all things considered, you will find them full of mercy and truth, Ps. xxv. 10. If there be a seeming contradiction between his word and providence, you must not always in- terpret the word by providence, but providence by the word : Ps. Ixxiii. 17, ' Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end."
2. Against non-improvement. Let us not lose the benefit by our negligence and folly ; let us observe how we may profit of everything ; God would not send this affliction, did he not know how it would be good for me. Therefore to this end —
[1.] Take these motives.
[2.] Consider what profit is to be gotten by afflictions.
[l.J Motives.
(1.) It is not enough to be good in the affliction, but we must get good hy the affliction. Carnal men are somewhat good in the affliction ; more modest when God's hand is heavy upon them, and they are somewliat disabled or discouraged from following their lusts ; yea, and may make great promises of reformation when God hath them under ; but as soon
268 ' SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIIL [SeR. XXXVIL
as they are delivered, they encourage themselves in the practice of their old sins ; as metals are melted while they are in the furnace, but as soon as they are taken out they return to their natural hardness again. But the godly are the better afterwards ; they cannot forget their old smart by sin : Josh. xsii. 17, ' Is the iniquity of Poor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed unto this day ? ' They remember what was the great burden in their troubles, and what was the great comfort and support under them, and are the better all their lives. But others are of another temper : Ps. Ixxviii. 34, ' When he slew them, then they sought him, and inquired early after God.' The sense of pre- sent smart, and the terror of an angry God, may frighten them into a little religiousness for the present, or drive them into a temporary repentance and seeking friendship and favour with God, and they leave off their sins for a time ; but as soon as they are delivered, are as bad as ever. When affliction produceth temporary repentance, we are good in it ; but when it produceth constancy of obedience, then we get good by it ; it hath but some weak effect on us when we are good in it, ,but a saving effect when good by it
(2.) The affliction cometh as a blessing where it is improved to good. It is a great advantage to observe whether our afflictions come as a cross only, or as a curse. Where they leave us worse rather than better, they are the beginnings of sorrows either in this life or the next ; sometimes in this life, the cross goeth with a mind to return, or else some worse thing cometh in its place : John v. 14, ' Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.' God, that letteth a sinner escape one trouble, can easily reach him again, if he neglect God and his soul's good. If when the smart of the rod is gone, we return again to our old vanity, the Lord can easily put us into a worse condition than before ; he can heat the furnace seven times hotter, and that which cometh after is the most grievous. But especially in the next world, when God sendeth eternal punishments instead of temporal ; as sometimes God breaketh up the course of his medicinal discipline, letteth a people go uncorrected and unreclaimed for their greater condemnation : Isa. i. 5, ' Why should you be stricken any more ? ye will revolt more and more ;' that is, it is in vain to seek to amend you by chastise- ments. When men wax the worse for all their afflictions, and will not be brought home to God, they are given over as incorrigible ; a brand is put upon Ahaz : 2 Chron. xxviii. 22, ' In the time of his dis- tress did he trespass yet more against the Lord ; this is that king Ahaz ' — mark him for an obstinate and obdurate sinner. Now such God leaveth to themselves : Hosea iv. 17, ' Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.' They are desperate and irrecoverable, and reserved for eternal torments ; this is the sorest judgment, to be given up to our own ways, without any check from divine providence. On the other side, God doth correct us in love, not in anger, when he doth bring good out of it and by it ; if it produce a thorough repentance and change, it is a pledge of God's love, and our eternal glory. God's faith- fulness may be then observed : Ps. cxix. 75, ' I know, 0 Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afHicted me ;' that he is pursuing his covenant-love, and carrying on your salvation, though by a way not so pleasing to the flesh.