5th. And this is backed with a reason, which makes a fifth benefit — a further increase of patience : ' Tribulation worketh patience.' Grace is so welcome that they are willing to exchange outward com- forts for inward grace. By nature we are like untamed heifers, very unruly at first yoking, but after a while we come quietly to bear the yoke : James i. 3, ' Knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh patience.' At first a new cart squeaks and creaks, but afterwards goes away silently under a heavy load. At first we complain the cross is very heavy and burdensome to us, but afterwards we quietly submit to the will of God.
6th. And this bringeth on another benefit, and that is experience : ver. 4, ' And patience, experience.' We learn many sweet experiences of God by afflictions. A man that hath been at sea, and endured storms and tempests in foul weather, is not so easily dismayed nor afraid of the rolling of every wave and the tossing of the ship as one that never hath been at sea. So when we have had experience of God and ourselves, and of the course and issues of things, we are not so easily discouraged as others are.
7th. The hopes of everlasting life are increased and strengthened, and so we are the better able to bear the inconveniences of the present life. If a poor man be robbed of twenty or thirty shillings, no wonder if he cry and take on, because he hath no more to help himself with ; but now, if a rich man be robbed of such a sum, he is not much troubled, because he hath more at home. So a man that is justified by faith, and hath assurance of the favour of God, he can comfortably bear up against all the troubles and crosses he meets with in his way to heaven.
64 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
^th. Sweet tastes of God's fatherly love : ver. 5, ' The love of God is shed abroad in their hearts/ God hath his comforts for his afflicted ones. His people are never so assured of his love as then, for there is love seen in their afflictions. Oh ! it is no mean thing to live by faith. Come and see ; will you be a stranger to all this ?
[2.] If the heart be dejected and comfortless —
(1.) Consider what grounds we have to hope for pardoning mercy from the Lord. Partly from the nature of God : ]\Iicah vii. 18, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that ijardoneth iniquity, and i)asseth by the trans- gression of the remnant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.' Never did we take more pleasure in the acting and committing of sin, than he in the pardon of it. No man is backward to do that he delights in. God's i)urpose is to make his grace glorious : Eph. i. 6, ' To the praise of the glory of his grace.' He everlastingly purj)osed this within himself, and, as a wise God, accordingly hath suited means to that end. His justice cannot com- plain, having received full satisfaction in Chiist, who paid the full price: Rom. iii. 24, 'Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ;' Isa. xxx. 18, ' Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you ; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you : for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.' And partly from the name of God : Isa. 1. 10, ' Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light ? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stny himself upon his God.' Now the name of God is at large described : Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7, ' The Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, long-suftering, and abundant in goodness and truth,' &c. These names are given to God that we may take notice of his graciousness, and that we might stay our hearts on the name of God. Why doth he invite us witli such earnestness ? He that waited upon thee when thou wentest astray, will he not pardon thee when thou returnest ?
(2.) To answer all discouragements : What is it that keepeth thee .off? Thy unworthiness ? that indeed maketh us the fitter objects of his grace and mercy. God giveth this freely without worth ; for grace doth all things gratis, without any worth in us. If vve were not un- worthy, how should God show forth the riches of his grace ? And when we have a sense for it, and a heart broken for it, it is a good preparation to the work. If any man were bitten with the fiery ser- pent, he might look up to the brazen serpent and be healed. It mat- ters not what the disease be, so Christ be the physician. If any feel sin a burden, and do truly and earnestly desire to be eased of it, he is invited to ask, tliat by asking he may receive : Mat. xi. 28, ' Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Oh ! but, saith the poor troubled, humbled soul, I am not hum- bled enough. Remember, it is not the deepness of the wound, but the soundness of the cure that we should look after. If you are weary of sin, and unfeignedly willing to part with it, and everything that would separate between you and Christ ; if Christ be precious to you, and you are willing to give up yourselves to the Lord's use, the end is wrought. Humiliation is not required for itself, but for these ends.