6. Affliction may be good, but sin is never good, the nature of it cannot be altered : Bom. viii. 28, ' All things shall work together for good to them that love God ; ' so Ps. cxix. 71, ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted.' It is a medicine to the godly. But we cannot say, It is good for me that I have sinned against thee ; but 'Woe unto us, for we have sinned,' Lam. v. 16. A man may rejoice in his troubles because they may be good, and tend to good, but he cannot rejoice in his sins. New creatures have approved of afflictions, but they never approved of their sins ; the children of God have ever groaned bitterly under their sins ; as Paul : Rom. vii. 24, ' 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' If any man had cause to complain of affliction, Paul had ; he was in perils often, in hunger, thirst, and nakedness ; he was whipped, imprisoned, &c. But Paul doth not cry out. When shall I get rid of my affliction ? but, Oh ! when shall I get rid of this body of death ? His lust troubled him more than his scourging ; and his captivity to the law of sin was worse to him than a prison.
7. There is nothing that debaseth a man more than sin. It de- gradeth him from the dignity of his nature, which afflictions do not. 1 Cor. X. 13, the apostle" speaking of affliction saith, 'No temptation hath taken us but what is common to man ; ' but he that sins, he is
VeR. 25.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 453
as 'a beast that perisheth,' Ps. xlix. 20 ; and Ps. Ixxiii, 22, ' I was as a beast before thee.' It was not so bad for Daniel to be put into the lion's den, nor such a judgment for Nebuchadnezzar to have the heart of a beast, and be turned out among beasts. Here was no degrading of his nature ; and therefore to be wicked is more than to be afflicted. Natural evils are less than moral : there is a violence offered to a principle of reason by sin, the nature of man is altered by it ; our outward interest is only infringed by affliction.
8. Afflictions come from God, but sins from the devil. Afflictions are God's penal dispensations, the act of his justice ; but sin is the deWl's work ; therefore it is said, Christ came ' to destroy,' or to dis- solve, 'the works of the devil,' that is, the sins of men ; and they are called his lusts : John viii. 44, ' Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.' Affliction comes from the Lord, it springs not out of the dust : Amos iii. 6, ' Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it ? ' This comes from a holy and just God ; and the other from our naughty heart, and from the temptations of Satan. One are the acts of God's justice, and so they are good ; the other are the acts of a sinful creature.
9. Affliction is sent to prevent sin ; but sin must not be committed to prevent affliction. Tlie use and intent of God in affliction is to purge away sin : Isa. xxvii. 9, ' By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin.' The Lord thrasheth us that our husk may go off.
10. The evil of suffering is but for a moment : 2 Cor. iv. 17, ' Our light affliction, which is but for a moment,' &c. ; but the evil of sin is for ever. Affliction, like pain, dries up of its own accord ; within a little while nubecula est, cito fransitura, it is like a cloud or storm that is soon blown over. The evil of suffering is but for the present : Isa. liv. 8, ' In a little wrath have I hid rny face from thee for a moment ;' Ps. XXX. 5, ' Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' If it should continue throughout our lives, it is but a little moment in comparison of eternity : Gen. xlvii, 9, ' Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,' If they are evil, it is a great comfort they are but few, and do not last long. Men will endure a little pain, to have their flesh torn and cut, to be rid of a lasting torment. Hie ure, hie seca, Domine, modo ijarcas in eternurii; Lord, burn me here, cut me here, that I may not be punished for ever. 1 Cor. xi. 32, ' We are cliastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.' Better endure a little affliction than lie under the evil of sin for ever. The evil of sin is for ever, the delight passeth, but sin remaineth ; though the act be over, yet the guilt and punishment still remains for ever in the conscience. We read of ' a worm that doth never die, and of fire that never is quenched,' Mark ix. 44. The fuel abides for ever, and the breath of the Lord that kindles it. At the best, affliction is but during our abode in the world ; and therefore it cannot be so great an evil as the least sin, that in it.^elf renders us obnoxious to the wrath of God.