Ver. 4.] AFFLICTIONS A SOURCE OF DISQUIETMENT. 581
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the head of the church, had all afflic- tions gathered into a head in him, and yet the Father always loved him, and was always well pleased with him.
When God solemnly renewed his covenant with Abraham, and he had prepared the sacrifice whereby it was to be ratified and confirmed, God made a smoking furnace to pass between the pieces of the sacri- fice. Gen. XV. 1 7. It was to let him know that there was a furnace of affliction attending the covenant of grace and peace. And so he tells Zion that he " chose her in the furnace of affliction/' Isa. xlviii. 10; — that is, in Egyptian affliction ; burning, flaming afflictions ; " fiery trials," as Peter calls them, 1 Pet. iv. 12. There can, then, no argu- ment be drawn from affliction, from any kind of it, from any aggra- vating circumstance wherewith it may be attended, that should any way discourage the soul in the comforting, supporting persuasion of an interest in the love of God and forgiveness thereby.
2. Ifo length or continuance of afflictions ought to be any impeach- 'inent of our spiritual consolation. Take for the confirmation hereof the great example of the Son of God. How long did his afflictions continue? what end or issue was put to them? No longer did they abide than until " he cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost." To the moment of his death, from his manger to his cross, his afflic- tions still increased, and he ended his days in the midst of them. Now, he was the head of the church, and the great representative of it, unto a conformity with whom we are predestinated. And if God will have it so with us even in this particular, so as that we shall have no rest, no peace from our trials, until we lie down in the grave, that Avhatever condition we pass through they shall be shut out of none, but only from immortality and glory, what have we herein to com- plain of?
3. Where the remembrance and perplexing sense of past sins is revived by present afflictions, separate them in your minds and deal distinctly about them. /So long as you carry on the considera- tion of them jointly, you will be rolled from one to another, and never obtain rest unto your souls. They will mutually aggravate each other. The sharpness of affliction wall add to the bitterness of the sense of sin; and the sense of sin will give an edge to affliction, and cause it to pierce deeply into the soul/ks we showed in the former instances. Deal, therefore, distinctly about them, and in their proper order. So doth the psalmist here. He had at present both upon him ; and together they brought him into these depths, con- cerning which he so cries out for deliverance from them: see Ps. xxxii. 3-5. And what course doth he take? He applies himself in the first place to his sin and the guilt of it, and that distinctly and separately. And when he hath got a discharge of sin, which lie
582 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. fVer.4.
waited so earnestly for, his faitli quickly arose above his outward trials, as appears in his blessed close of all : " ' He shall redeem Israel out of all his trouble;' the whole Israel of God, and myself amongst them." This do, then : — Single out the sin or sins that are revived in the sense of their guilt upon the conscience; use all diligence to come to an issue about them in the blood of Christ. This God by your affliction calls you unto. This is the disease, whereof your trouble is but the symptom. This, therefore, in the cure you seek after, is first and principally to be attended unto; when that is once removed, the other, as to any prejudice unto your soul, will depart of itself The root being once digged up, you shall not long feed on the bitter fruit that it hath brought forth ; or if you do, the wormwood shall be taken out of it, and it shall be very pleasant uuto you, as well as wholesoma How this is to be done, by an application unto God for forgiveness, hath been at large declared. But if men will deal with confused thoughts about their sins and their troubles, their wound will be in- curable and their sorrow endless.
4. Remember that a time of affliction is a time of temptation. Satan, as we have showed, will not be wanting unto any appearing opportunit}^ or advantage of setting upon the soul. When Pharaoh heard that the people were entangled in the wilderness, he pursued them ; and when Satan sees a soul entangled mth its distresses and troubles, he thinks it his time and hour to assault it. He seeks to winnow, and comes when the corn is under the flail. Reckon, there- fore, that when trouble cometh, the prince of the world cometli also, that you may be provided for him. Now is the time to take the shield of faith, that we may be able to quench his fiery daits. If they be neglected, they will inflame the soul. Watch, therefore, and pray, that you enter not into temptation, that Satan do not represent God falsely unto you. He that durst represent Job falsely to the all-seeing God will with much boldness represent God falsely unto us, who see and know so little. Be not, then, ignorant of his devices, but every way set yourselves against his interposing between God and your souls in a matter which he hath nothing to do withal. Let not this make-hate by any means inflame the difference.