The Golden Scepter Held Forth to the Humble, Treatise · Doctrine 7 – Doctrine 8
The next point from these words is:
That if the calamity bee removed, and the sinne bee Doct. Calamities may bee removed in judgementnot healed, it is never removed in mercy, but in judgement.
Hee doth here promise first to forgive the sinne, and then to heale the Land; so as if hee should have healed the Land without forgivenesse, it had beene no mercy.
Because sinne is worse than any crosse whatsoever. If therefore hee takes away the crosse, and Reas. 1.leaves the sinne behinde, it is a signe thou art a man whom the Lord hates. When a Physician takes away the medicine, and leaves the disease uncured, it is a signe the parties case is desperate; or that the Physician meanes to let him perish.
Because the Lord doth nothing in vaine; if therfore Reas. 2.an affliction doth a man no good, it must needes doe him hurt; for that which doth neither good nor hurt, must needes be in vaine. That was a property of the Idols of the Heathens (which are called the vanities of the Heathen) that they did neither good nor hurt: And such should Gods actions bee. Therefore if the crosse doth a man no good by healing his sinne, it must needs do him hurt. You will aske what hurt? It doth aedificare ad Gehennam, builds thee up to destruction. If you saw a corrasive applyed to the live flesh, and to eate out that, and not the dead, you would say it were applyed for hurt: So if you see an affliction that workes upon the live flesh, that wounds the heart with sorrow, but takes not away the sinne, such a crosse you would reckon not the medicine of a friend, but the wound of an enemy.
By this thou maiest judge of thine estate, and of Vse. How to judge of our estate.Gods love to thee, by the issue of thine afflictions. Tis true, that all kindes of crosses fall alike to all, sicknesse, poverty, &c. upon the godly and the wicked; the difference is onelyonly in the issue: The same Sunne sh…nes upon all, but it hardens one, and it softens another; and the same winde blowes upon all, but it carrieth one Ship into an Haven, and dasheth another against a rock. Consider therefore whether thy afflictions brings thee home to the Lord, or whether it drives thee from the Lord upon the rockes. Tis a common observation, that when physicke works not, you say the party is mortally sicke: So when afflictions worke not, it is a signe hee is a man of death. If, as Matth. 7. Hee that takes not an admonition from his brother, is desperately wicked, either as a Swine to trample on it, or as a Dog to devour: How much more, when a man is admonished by God himselfe, and is worse after it? Now every affliction is an admonition from the Lord. In the fifth of Esay when God had pruned his Vineyard, and it did it not good; it was then at the next doore to destruction, and laying wast. If therefore thou hast had some great affliction, and now it is off; thinke with thy selfe what profit and good came to thee by it. Did it come from Gods providence, or not? if it did, there was somthing he intended, and which it did imtimate to thee: If thou then didst suffer it to passeby without taking any notice of God in it, or if thou didst, yet art not reclamed, God must needs be exceedingly provoked, he will suffer the tree to stand one yeare or so, to see if it will bring forth fruit, but if it doth not, then says, cut it downe.
There are certaine times wherein the LORD by affliction, sh…wes himselfe (as it were) to a man, makes apparitions, so as a man may grope after him and feele him, and take notice what hee would have. If such passe away, and no good is done, it is no presage of health, as is that sicknesse which comes by physicke, but of destruction; 'tis but as a drop of wrath fore-running the great storme, a crack fore running the ruine of the whole building. Seeke not therefore in distresse, so much to have the crosse removed, as the sin, Iames 1. Rejoyce, sayes the Apostle, when you fall into sundry tentations; which hee would not have said, if healing the sin had not been the greater mercy, than the induring the affliction is grievous and dolorous; and if thou hast an affliction on thee, say, 'tis best, I will be content to indure it still, for God meanes me good by it: on the contrary, if thou lashest out, and yet art in health and prosperity, &c. and thy sins still continue, but thou art not afflicted, and God suffers thee to thrive in sinne; it is a signe God will destroy thee, that hee leaves thee wast as a vineyard, to bee overgrowne with briars and thornes.
And the last doctrine is,
That, take away the sinne, the crosse will surely follow, and bee taken away also: either it, or the sting of Doct. 3. Sin removed, calamity removed.it; so as it shall be as good as no crosse. An Affliction consists not in the bulke of it, but in the burthen. What is a serpent without a sting? what is a great bulk, if it have no waight? God can so fashion the heart, as that it shall not feele the burden of it.
1. Because crosses do come for sinne. Indeed, some are not for sinne, but for triall, for the confirmation Reas. 1.of the Gospell; some for the glory of God, as that blindnesse in the blind man; some for triall onelyonly, as Abrahams offering up his sonne, yet for the most part they come from sinne.
2. God never afflicts but for our profit: so says Reas. 2.the Apostle, Heb. 12. Our fathers after the flesh corrected us, not alwayes for our profit, but they out of passion oftentimes; but, He for our profit: Now when he hath thereby made us partakers of his holinesse, and so we have ceased from sinne, then he will cease to afflict.
It was otherwise (you will say) with David: his Object.sinne was forgiven, as Nathan told him, and yet the crosse was not removed, for his child died, and the sword departed not from his house.
There is an exception in these two cases.
1. Of scandall, when the name of God is blasphemed: Answ.then though he forgive the sinne, yet he may go on to punish for his names sake.
2. When we are not throughly humbled: for there may be true repentance, when our lusts are not enough mortified: God doth it, that the heart may be the more cleansed. Thus David Psal. 51. cries out of his broken bones, and why? his heart (he sayes) was not cleansed, and therefore hee prayes for a cleane heart and a right spirit.
This affords matter of comfort. When any Vse. Comfort in afflictions.judgement is upon us, we are apt to thinke we shall never be rid of it: but if thou canst get but thy heart humbled, and thy lusts mortified, God will take away the crosse. It is our fault to say, when we are afflicted, that we shall never see better daies: why so? is not God able to remove it? and if the sinne be removed, he will be willing also. No man is in an hard case, but he that hath an hard heart: we are apt to think in all conditions, that what is at present, will alwaies continue; if we be in prosperity, we are apt to think as they in the Prophet, that to morrow will be as to day, and much more abundant; so if in affliction, to say also, that as it is to day, it will be to morrow, and so for ever. But know, that if you humble your selves, and turne from the evill wayes, God will take away the calamity. There is an excellent place for this, 1 Pet. 5. 6. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God, and he shall exalt you in due time. When a man is humbled by God, let him humble himselfe, and then God will exalt him; that is the due time, and he will not stay one jot longer. And that which I say of present affliction, I say also of crosses for the future, which you may feare, that your sinnes will bring; That if you humble your selves, and turne from your evill wayes, God will be mercifull to you, and heale you.
FINIS.
End of the text · John Preston, The Golden Scepter Held Forth to the Humble (1638)