4 Ground : the honour the Lord doth us, that he should take us in hand, though it be to correct us ; Job speaks of it with admiration. Job vii. 17, 18, 'Lord, what is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment ? ' It is meant of corrective dispensations, that God should spend his thoughts upon such an imworthy creature, that God should try him in a way of afHiction ; how grievous soever the chastisement be, yet that God should look after him is wonderful. If a king should undertake to form the manners of a mean subject, it is a great abasement ; so that God should look down upon us from the height of his imperial glory : Job xiv. 2, 3, ' Man cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not ; and dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one, and bringest me into judg- ment with thee P ' ' What is man ? ' saith he. Man is but a vapour, and ' dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one ? ' Wilt thou look upon such a shadow of clay ? upon such an unclean sinful creature ? We are unworthy of the very anger of God, as a beggar is unworthy the anger of a prince, or a worm of the indignation of an angel.
5. Whatever God doth to his children, it is with aims of good ; he is goodness itself, more apt to do us good than the fire to burn or the sun to shine. Consider, God's nature is most alien from other courses, he doth not 'willingly afllict or grieve the children of men.' It is for our sakes that he puts on this rigour ; the scripture speaks of it as a forced dispensation. If a friend should undertake a business that is contrary to his nature and disposition to pleasure us, we are the more obliged to him : so it is God's great condescension that he should take the rod in his hand, and that he should use it to our profit, we are bound to acknowledge it. If God doth punish, it is not that he delighteth in punishment ; but he doth punish us here that he may not punish us for ever. Who would not rejoice, that, if when he owed a debt of a thousand pound, the creditor should require but twenty shillings? It is God's mercy that we shall suffer in this world, that we may not suffer in the world to come : 1 Cor. xi. 32, ' When we are judged, we
256 A TREATISE OF SELF-DENIAL. [BoOK I.
are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.' There is often a great deal of mercy in afEiction. After the sin of Adam, there could not be a more gracious nor more wise invention than affliction to wean our affections from the delight of the senses, and to meeken the spirit And if God should not deal thus with us, we had cause to complain, as if he were too gentle ; as we have cause to complain of that physician that lets his patient die, because he will not put him to the trouble of physic ; or as Eli's children had cause to complain of their father, because he was so indulgent ; and Amnon of David. It is a great judgment to be let alone. When God was angry with Ephraim, what is his sentence ? Hosea iv. 17, ' Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.' It is an honour that God is mindful of us, that he will give us suitable corrections. If a man see a serpent creeping upon another while he is asleep, though he give him a great blow, yet it is a courtesy to him to kill that serpent that would destroy him ; so God doth but kill that serpent that would kill us. We arc chastised, but it is only to destroy and kill sin. But suppose we could, see no good in the affliction, yet we are bound to believe there is good in it, and not to have hard thoughts of God. Alexander, when his physician was accused that he would poison him in such a potion, takes the letter in one hand, and shows it his physician, and drinks off the potion in confidence of his trust and fidelity. Distrust will make lies of God, as if he meant to hurt and wrong us ; but we should say as Christ did, ' The cup that my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? ' We should trust God's potion. We are dearer to God than we can be to ourselves ; he is more solicitous for our good, than we are for our own. God loves the lowest saint infinitely more than the highest angels love God.
6. Impatience doth not lessen the evil, but double and increase it : takes not away the bitterness of the affliction, but makes it bitterer, and is the wormwood and gall of it. All the evils in the world consist in the disorder of the will, in the disagreement that is between the object and the appetite. Man's will is the cause of all his misery ; we are troubled because it falls out otherwise than we would have it. He that wills what God wills may have somewhat to exercise him, but liath nothing to trouble him. All the evils that we meet with in the world come merely from our own will.