Obj. But some carnal wretch will say, I thank God I never suffered in my life, but have enjoyed peace and prosperity, and my heart's content in everj-thing.
Ans. In the best estate there u'ill be stiffering one rcay or other. Then, suspect thyself to be in a bad estate, for every true Christian suffers in one kind or other, either from without or within. Sometimes God's children are troubled more with corruption than with aiSiction ; at other times their peace is troubled both with corruption within and with affliction without; at the best, the;/ have sufferings of sympathy. Shall the members of Chiist suffer in other countries, and we profess ourselves to be living members, and yet not sympathise with them ? We must be conformable to our Head before we can come to heaven. But the dispensation of our suffering is according to the vdll of God, where note two things.
1. That it is GocVs will ive should suffer.
2. When ice siffer rre suffer according to his will.
To pass briefly over these, as not being the thing I aim at,
God's will concerning our suffering is peiTuissive in respect of those that do us harm; but in regard of oiu: patient enduring injm'ies, it is his ap- proving and commanding will. We are enjoined to suffer, and they are per- mitted to wrong us.
Obj. It seems, then, there is some excuse for those that persecute the saints. They do but according to God's uill ; and if it be so, who dares speak against them?
A71S. It is not God's commanding will, but his suffering will. He useth their malice for his own ends. God lets the rein loose upon theii' necks. As a man is said to set a dog upon another when he unlooseth his chain, so God is said to command them when he lets them loose to do mischief. They are full of malice themselves, which God useth as physicians do their poison to cure poison. God and they go two contrary waj^s, as a man in a ship walks one way, but is carried another. In the death of Christ the will of Judas and the rest went one way, and God's will another. So, in all oiir sufferings, when God useth wicked men, their will is destructive and hostile, but God's will is clean otherwise, aiming at the good of his people in all this. Nebuchadnezzar did the will of God in carnjinrf the people captive. However, he thought not so, Isa. x. 7. Every sinful wretch that offers violence to the poor saints, imagine they do God good service in it, whenas, indeed, they do but execute the malice and venom of their own hearts. In the highest heavens, as they say in philosophy, the first thing moved is by a violent motion. Tlic sun is carried about the heavens violently against its own proper motion, which inclines to a clean contrary course. So God dealeth with wicked men ; he carries them they know not whither. They are set to do mischief, and God useth their sinful dispositions for his own ends, which plainly shews that God is without all fault, and they without all excuse.
Obs. But observe farther, that ice never svffcr but when God uill. And,
THK saint's hiding-place IN THE EVIL DAY. 403
beloved, his will is not that we should always suffer, though generally our estate be so in one kind or other. God is not always chiding, Ps. ciii. 9, but hath times of breathing and intermission, which he vouchsafes his children for their good. He knows if we had not some respite, some refresh- ment, we should soon be consumed and brought to nothing. ' The Lord knows whereof we are made, and considers we are but dust,' Ps. ciii. 14, Therefore he saith, ' Though for a season you are in heaviness, yet rejoice,' &c., 1 Pet. i, 6.
And this the Lord doth out of mercy to his poor creatm-es, that they might not sink before him, but gather strength of grace, and be the better fitted to bear further crosses afterwards. You know. Acts ix. 31, after Saul's conversion, when he was become a Paul, then the church had rest, and increased in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. God gives his people pausing times, some lucida inter valla (a). Our time of going into trouble is in God's hands; our time of abiding trouble is in God's hands; our time of coming out is in God's hands. As in our callings he preserves our going out and our coming in, so in every trouble that befalls us we come in and tariy there, and go out of the same when he pleaseth. He brings us to the fire as the goldsmith puts his metals and holds them there, till he hath re- fined them and pm'ged out the dross, and then brings them out again. ' Our times,' as David saith excellently, ' are in thy hands, 0 Lord,' Ps. xxxi. 15. Beloved, if our times wei'e in our enemies' hands we should never come out. If they were in our own hands we should never stay in trouble, but come out as soon as we come in ; nay, we would not come into trouble at aU if we could choose. Beloved, everything of a Christian is dear unto God ; his health is precious, his blood is precious ; especially precious to the Lord is the death of his saints, Ps. cxvi. 15. Do you think, there- fore, he will let them suffer without his will ? No ; he will have a valuable consideration of all those that are malignant persecutors of his people at last. And it is for matters better than life that God lets his children suffer here ; for, alas ! this life is but a shadow, as it were, nothing. God regards us not as we are in this present world, but as strangers ; therefore, he suffers us to sacrifice this life upon better terms than life, or else he would never let us suffer for his truth, and seal it with our dearest blood, as many of the saints have done.