Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 48
SERMON XLVIII.
Preached at St. Dunstans.
LAMENT. 3. 1.
I am the man, that hath seen affliction, by the rod of his wrath.
YOU remember in the history of the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, there was an Ecce homo, a shewing, an exhibiting of that man, in whom we are all blessed.Ioh. 19. 5. Pilat presented him to the Jews so, with that Ecce homo, Behold the man. That man upon whom the wormwood and the gall of all the ancient Prophecies, and the venome and malignity of all the cruell instruments thereof, was now poured out; That man who was left as a tender plant, and as a roote out of a dry ground, without forme, or beauty, or comelinesse, that wee should desire to see him, Esay 53. 2.as the Prophet Esay exhibits him; That man who upon the brightnesse of his eternall generation in the bosome of his Father, had now cast a cloud of a temporary and earthly generation in the wombe of his mother, that man, who, as he entred into the wombe of his first mother, the blessed Virgin, by a supernaturall way, by the overshadowing of the holy Ghost, so he vouchsafed to enter into the wombe of her, whom he had accepted for his second mother, the earth, by an unnaturall way, not by a naturall, but by a violent, and bitter death, that man so torne and mangled, wounded with thornes, oppressed with scornes and contumelies, Pilite presents and exhibits so, Ecce homo, Behold the man, But in all this depression of his, in all his exinanition, and evacuation yet he had a Crown on, yet he had a purple garment on, the emblems, the Characters of majesty were always upon him. And these two considerations, the miseries that exhaust, and evacuate, and annihilate man in this life, and yet, those sparkes, and seeds of morality, that lie in the bosome, that still he is a man, the affilictions that depresse and smother, that suffocate and strangle their spirits in thier bosomes, and yet that unsmotherable, that unquenchable Spirit of Adoption, by which we cry Abba Father, that still he is a Christian, these Thornes, and yet these Crownes, these contumelies, and yet this Purple, are the two parts of this text, I am the man, that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. For, here is an Ecce, behold; Ieremy presents a map, a manifestation of as great affliction, as the rod of Gods wrath could infflict; But yet it is Ecce homo, Behold the man, I am the man, he is not demolished, he is not incinerated so, not so annihilated, but that he is still a man; God preserves his children from departing from the dignity of men, and from the soveraigne dignity of Christian men, in the deluge, and inundation of all afflictions.
And these two things, so considerable in that Ecce homo, in the exhibiting of Christ, that then when he was under those scornes, and Crosses, he had his Crownes, his purples, ensignes of majesty upon him, may well be parts of this text; for, when we come to consider who is the person of whom Ieremy says, I am the man, we finde many of the ancient Expositors take these words prophetically of Christ himself; and that Christ himselfe who says,1. 12. Behold and see if there be any sorrow, like unto my sorrow, says here also, I am the man, that hath seen affliction, by the rod of his wrath. But because there are some other passages in the Chapter, that are not conveniently appliable to Christ, (it is not likely that Christ would say of himself;verse 8. That his Father shut out his prayer, even then when he cryed and shouted; 10.not likely that Christ would say of himselfe, That his Father was to him, as a Beare in the way, and as a Lion in secret places; 17.not likely that Christ would say of himselfe, That his Father had removed his soul far from peace) therfore this chapter, and this person cannot be so well understood of Christ. Others therefore have understood if of Ierusalem it selfe; but then it would not be expressed in that Sex, it would not be said of Ierusalem, I am the man. Others understand if of any particular man, that had his part, in that calamity, in that captivity; that the affliction was so universall upon all of that nation of what condition soever, that every man might justly say, Ego vir, I am the man that have seen affliction. But then all this chapter must be figurative, and still, where we can, it becomes, it behooves us to, maintain a literall sense and interpretation of all Scriptures. And that we shall best do in this place, if we understand these words literally of Iermy himselfe, that the Minister of God, the Preacher of God, the Prophet of God, Ieremy himself, was the man; the Preacher is the text, Ego vir, I am the man: As the Ministers of God are most exposed to private contumelies, so should they be most affected with publique calamities, & soonest come to say with the Apostle, Quis infirmatur who is weake, 2 Cor. 11. 29.and I am not weake too, who is offended, and I am not affected with it? when the people of God are distressed with sicknesse, with dearth, with any publique calamity, the Minister is the first man, that should be compassionate, that should be compassionate, and sensible of it.
In these words then,Divisio. (I am the man &c.) these are our two parts; first the Burden, and then the Ease, first the waight, and then the Alleviation, first the Discomfort, and then the Refreshing, the sea of afflictions that overflow, and surround us all and then our emergency and lifting up our head above that sea. In the first we shall consider, first, the Generality of afflictions; and that first in their own nature, And then secondly in that name of man. upon whom they fall here, Gheber, Ego vir, I am the man, which is that name of man, by which the strongest, the powerfullest of men are denoted in the Scriptures; They, the strongest, the mightiest, they that thought themselves safest, and sorrow-proofe, are afflicted. And lastly, in the person, upon whom these afflictions are fastned here, Ieremy the Prophet, of whom literally we understand this place: The dearliest beloved of God, and those of whose service God may have use in his Church, they are subject to be retarded in their service, by these afflictions. Nothing makes a man so great amongst men, nothing makes a man so necessary to God, as that he can escape afflictions. And when we shall have thus considered the generality thereof, these three wayes, In the nature of affliction it selfe, In the signification of that name of exaltation Gheber, And in the person of Ieremy, we shall passe to the consideration of the vehemency and intensnesse thereof, in those circumstances that are laid down in our Text, First, that these afflictions are Ejus, His, The Lords, And then they are in virga, in his rod, And again, In virga irae, in the rod of his wrath. And in these two branches, the extent and the weight of afflictions, and in these few circumstances, that illustrate both, we shall determine our first part, the burden, the discomfort. When we shall come at last, to our last part, of comfort, we shall finde that also to grow out into 2 branches; for, first, Vidit, he saw his affliction, (I am the Man that hath seen affliction) Affliction did not blinde him, not stupefie him, affliction did not make him unsensible of affliction, (which is a frequent, but a desperate condition) vidit, he saw it; that is first; And then, Ego vir, I am the man that saw it, he maintained the dignity of his station, still he played the man, still he survived to glorifie God, and to be an example to other men, of patience under Gods corrections, and of thankfulnesse in Gods deliverance. In which last part, we shall also see, that all those particular that did aggravate the affliction, in the former part, (That they were from the Lord, from his Rod, from the Rod of his wrath) doe all exalt our comfort in this, That it is a particular comfort that our afflictions are from the Lord, Another that they are from his Rod, and another also, that they are from the Rod of his wrath.
First then in our first art,1 Part. and the first branch thereof, The Generality of affliction, considered in the nature thereof: Generalitas.We met all generally, in the first Treason against our selves; without exception all; In Adams rebellion, who was not in his loins? And in a second Treason, we met all too; in the Treason against Christ Iesus, we met all; All our sins were upon his shoulders. In those two Treasons we have had no exception, no exemption. The penalty for our first Treason, in Adam, in a great part, we doe all undergoe; we doe all die, though not without a lothnesse and colluctation at the time, yet without a deliberate desire to live in this world for ever. How loth soever any man be to die, when death comes, yet I thinke, there is no man that ever formed a deliberate Prayer, or wish, that he might never die. That penalty for our first Treason in Adam, we do bear. And would any be excepted from bearing any thing deduced from his second Treason, his conspiracy against Christ, from imitation of his Passion, and fulfilling his sufferings in his body, in bearing cheerfully the afflictions and tribulations of this life?Gen. 6. 12. Omnis caro corruper at; and thou art within that generall Indictment, all flesh had corrupted his way upon Earth. Statutum est omnibus mori; Heb. 9. 27.and thou art within that generall Statute, It is appointed unto all men once to die. Anima quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur: and thou art within that generall Sentence, and Judgement, Every soul that sinneth shall die, The death of the soul. Out of these generall Propositions thou canst not get;Ezek. 18. 4. And when in the same universality there commeth a generall pardon,1 Tim. 2. 4. Deus vult omnes slavos, God will have all men to be saved, Because that Pardon hath in it that Ita quod, that condition, Omnem filium, Hee sc…urgeth every sonne whom he receiveth, Heb. 12. 6.wouldst thou lose the benefit of that Adoption, that Filiation, that Patrimony and Inheritance, rather then admit patiently his Fatherly chastisements in the afflictions and tribulations in this life?Col. 2. 14. Beloved, the death of Christ is given to us, as a Hand-writing: for, when Christ naild that Chirographum, that first hand-writing, that had passed between the Devill and us, to his Crosse, he did not leave us out of debt, nor absolutely discharged, but he laid another Chirographum upon us, another Obligation arising out of his death. His death is delivered to us, as a writing, but not a writing onelyonly in the nature of a peece of Evidence, to plead our inheritance by, but a writing in the nature of a Copy, to learne by; It is not onelyonly given us to reade, but to write over, and practise; Not onelyonly to tell us what he did, but how we should do so too.
All the evills and mischiefes that light upon us in this world, come (for the most part) from this, Quia fruimur utendis, August.because we thinke to injoy those things which God hath given us onelyonly to use. God hath given us a use of things, and we set our hearts upon them. And this hath a proportion, an assimilation, an accommodation in the death of Christ. God hath proposed that for our use, in this world, and we think to enjoy it; God would have us doe it over again, and we think it enough to know that Christ hath done it already; God would have us write it, and we doe onelyonly read it; God would have us practise the death of Christ, and we do but understand it. The fruition, the enjoying of the death of Christ, is reserved for the next life; To this life belongs the use of it; that use of it, to fulfill his sufferings in our bodies, by bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life.Ambros. For, Priùs Trophaeum Crucis erexit, deinde Martyribus tradidit erigendum; first Christ set up the victorious Trophee of his Crosse himself, and then he delivered it over to his Martyrs to do as he had done. Nor are they onelyonly his Martyrs that have actually died for him, but into the signification of that name, which signifies a Witnesse, fall all those, who have glorified him, in a patient and constant bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life. All being guilty of Christs death, there lies an obligation upon us all, to fulfill his sufferings. And this is the generality of afflictions, as we consider them in their own nature.
Now,Gheber. Vir. this generality is next expressed, in this word of exaltation, Gheber, Ego vir, I am the man; It was that man, that is denoted and signified in that name, that hath lien under affliction, and therefore no kinde of man was likely to scape. There are in the Originall Scriptures, four words, by which man is called; four names of man; and any of the others, (if we consider the origination of the words) might better admit afflictions to insult upon him, then this, Gheber, vir, I am the man. At first, man is called Ishe; a word, which their Grammarians derive à sonitu, from a sound, from a voice. Whether mans excellency be in that, that he can speak, which no other creature can doe; or whether mans impotency be in that, that he comes into the world Crying, in this denomination, in this word, man is but a sound, but a voyce, and that is no great matter. Another name of man is Adam, and Adam is no more but earth, and red earth, aud the word is often used for blushing. When the name of man imports no more but so, no more but the frailty of the earth, and the bashfull acknowledgement and confession of that frailty, in infinite infirmities, there is no great hope of scaping afflictions in this name, Adam. Lesse in his third name, Enosh: for Enosh signifies aegrum, calamitosum, a person naturally subject to, and actually possest with all kindes of infirmities. So that this name of man, Enosh, is so farre from exempting him, as that it involves him, it overflows him in afflictions: He hath a miserable name, as well as a miserable nature, Put them in fear,Ps… 9. 20. O Lord, (says David) that they may know they are but men; but such men, as are denoted in that name of man, Enosh, (for there that name is expressed) weak and miserable men. Now, (to collect these) as man is nothing but a frivolous, an empty, a transitory sound, or but a sad and lamentable voice, (he is no more in his first name Ishe) As man is nothing but red earth, a moldring clod of infirmities, and then, blushing, that is, guilty, sensible, and ashamed of his own miserable condition, (and man is no more, as hee is but Adam) As man is nothing but a receptacle of diseases in his body, of crosses in his estate, of immoderate griefes for those crosses in his minde, (and man is no more as hee is but Enosh) so there is no wonder, why man in generall should be under affliction, for these names import, these names inforce it: As Adam gave names to the creatures according to their natures, so God hath given names to man, according to his nature, miserable names, to miserable wretches. But when man is presented in this Text, in this fourth and great name, Gheber, which denotes excellency, Excellency in virtue, (his minde rectified) Excellency in wealth, (his estate enlarged) Excellency in power, (his authority extended) Excellency in favour, (all seas calm on the top, and foordable at the bottome to him) when man is expressed in that word,Gen. 27. 29. which Isaac used to Iacob, in his abundant blessing, Be Lord over thy brethren, and let thy mothers sonnes bow down to thee: And then, in this heighth, this heighth of vertue and merit, of wealth and treasure, of command and power, of favour and acclamation, is thrown down into the pit of misery, and submitted to all afflictions, what man can hope to be exempted? Man carries the spawn and seed and egges of affliction in his own flesh, and his own thoughts make haste to hatch them, and to bring them up. We make all our worms snakes, all our snakes vipers, all our vipers dragons, by our murmuring. And so have you this generality of affliction, considered in this name of Exaltation Gheber.
Now,Ieremy. in our third consideration of this extent of affliction, in that this person, this Prophet Ieremy, (for, of him literally we understand these words, Ego vir, I am the man) is thus submitted to these extraordinary afflictions,Nemo necessarius Deo. we see first, that no man is so necessary to God, as that God cannot come to his ends without that man; God can lack, and leave out any man in his service. If Christ had revealed to his Apostles, before he called them to be Apostles, or qualified them for that service, that he had a purpose to subdue and convert the whole world, by the labour and the meanes of twelve men, would it ever have faln or entred into their imaginations, that any of them, should have been any of those twelve? Men of low rank, and estimation, men disfurnished, not onelyonly of all helps of learning, but of all experience in Civill or in Ecclesiasticall affairs? And as Christ infused new abilities into these men that had none, so can he effect his purposes without them, who think they have all. And therefore, when he had chosen his twelve Apostles, and had endowed and qualified them for that service, when in their sight some of his Disciples forsook him, because he preached Duros sermones, Doctrines hard to flesh and bloud,Iob. 6. …7. Christ was not afraid to say to the twelve, Numquid & vos vultis abire, Will ye also goe away? Hee says it to the twelve; and hee does not say, Will any of you, but will you, you twelve, all, goe away? I can doe my work without you. And therefore let no man goe about to promove or advance his own fancies, his own singularities, his own Schismaticall opinions, because he hath done God service before, because he hath possessed himself of the love of that Congregation, because no mans preaching is so acceptable there, as his, and that the Church cannot be without him; for, no man hath made God beholden to him, so far, as that he should be afraid to offend him. So also let no man be disheartned nor discouraged, if hee have brought a good conscience, and faithfull labour to the service of God. Let him not thinke his wages the worse paid, if God doe mingle bodily sicknesse, temporall losses, personall disgraces, with his labours; Let him not think that God should not doe thus to them that wear out themselves in his service; for the best part of our wages is adversity, because that gives us a true fast, and a right value of our prosperity. Ieremy had it; the best of his rank must.
In his example,Non excusamur à futuris per praeterita. 1 Reg. 19. 4. we have thus much more, that no man is excused of subsequent afflictions, by precedent, nor of falling into more, by having born some already. Elias reckoned too hastily, when he told God, Satis est, now it is enough, Lord take away my life; God had more to lay upon him. A last years fever prevents not this, nor a sicknesse in the fall, another in the Spring. Men are not as such Copises, as being felled now, stand safe from the Axe for a dozen year after; But our Afflictions are as beggers, they tell others, and send more after them; Sicknesse does but usher in poverty, and poverty contempt, and contempt dejection of spirit, And a broken spirit who can bear? No man may refuse a privy seal, because he hath lent before. And, though Afflictions be not of Gods revenue, for, Afflictions are not reall services to God) yet they are of his Subsidies, and he hath additionall glory out of our Afflictions; and, the more, the more. Ieremy had been scornfully and despitefully put in the stocks by Pashur, Cap. 20. 1. 32. 2. 38. 9.before; He had been imprisoned in the Kings house, before; He had been put in the dungeon, & almost starved in the mire, before; And yet he was reserved to this farther calamity. Affliction is truly a part of our patrimony, of our portion. If, as the prodigall did, we wast our portion, (that is, make no use of our former affliction) it is not the least part of Gods bounty and liberality towards us, if he give us a new stock, a new feeling of new calamities, that we may be better emproved by them, then by the former; Ieremies former afflictions were but preparatives for more; no more are ours.
And,Publicavit. in his example wee have this one note more, That when the hand of God had been upon him, he declared, he published Gods hand-writing: not onelyonly to his owne conscience, by acknowledging that all these afflictions were for his sins, but by acknowledging to the world, that God had laid such and such afflictions upon him. There is not a neerer step to obduration, nor a worse defrauding of God of his glory, then to be loth to let the world know, what God hath laid upon us. Say to your selves, These afflictions are for my sins, and say to one another, Ego vir, I am the man whom God hath thus, and thus afflicted. For, as Executions in Criminall justice, are done as much for example of others, as for punishment of delinquents, so would God faine proceed that cheap way, to make those afflictions which he lays upon thee, serve another too; as they will, if thou be content to glorifie God, in letting others know, how he hath afflicted thee. Shut we up this first branch of this first part (The extent and universality of afflictions) which we have considered first in the nature of the case, (we have all contributed to the afflictions of Christ, and therefore must all fulfill his sufferings in our flesh) And then secondly, in this name of Exaltation, Gheber, (man, in the highest consideration of man, is the subject of affliction) And lastly, in the person of Ieremy, in whom we have made our use of those three observations; First, That no man is so necessary to God, as that God cannot be without him, Then, That no man is excused of future calamities, by former, And lastly, That he whom God hath exercised with afflictions, is bound to glorifie God in the declaration thereof; shut wee up this branch, with that story of S. Ambrose, who, in a journey from Milan to Rome, passing sometime in the evening with his Host, and hearing him brag that he had never had any crosse in his life, S. Ambrose presently removed from thence to another house, with that protestation, That either that man was very unthankfull to God, that would not take knowledge of his corrections, or that Gods measure was by this time full, and hee would surely, and soundly, and suddenly poure down all together. And so we passe to our other branch of this first part, from the extent and generality of afflictions, to the weight and vehemence of them, expressed in three heavy circumstances, That they are His, the Lords, That they are from his Rod, That they are from the Rod of his wrath: I am the man, that have seen afflictions, by the rod of his mouth.
First,Ejus. they are aggravated in that they are Ejus, His, The Lords. It is ordinary in the Scriptures, that when the Holy Ghost would expresse a superlative, or the highest degree of any thing, to expresse it, by adding to it, the name of God. So, in many places, fortitudo Domini, and timor Domini, The power of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord, doe not import that power which is in the Lord, nor that fear which is to be conceived by us of the Lord, but the power of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord denote the greatest power, and the greatest fear that can be conceived. As in particular, when Saul and his company were in such a dead sleep, as that David could enter in upon them, and take his speare, and his pot of water from under his head, this is there called sopor Domini,1 Sam. 26. 22. the sleep of the Lord was upon him, the heaviest, the deadliest sleep that could be imagined. so may these Afflictions in our Text be conceived to bee exalted to a superlative heighth, by this addition, that They, and the Rod, and the wrath, are said to be His, The Lords. But this cannot well be the sense, nor the direct proceeding, and purpose of the Holy Ghost, in this place, because where the addition of the name of God constitutes a superlative, that name is evidently and literally expressed in that place, as fortitudo Det, sopor Dei, and the rest; But here, the name of God is onelyonly by implication, by illation, by consequence; All necessary, but yet but illation, but implication, but consequence. For, there is no name of God in this verse; but, because in the last verse of the former chapter, the Lord is expresly named, and the Lords Anger, and then, this which is the first verse of this chapter, and connected to that, refers these afflictions, and rods, and wrath to Him, (The rod of his wrath) it must necessarily bee to him who was last spoken of, The Lord, They are Ejus, His, and therefore heavy.
Then is an Affliction properly Gods Affliction, when thou in thy Conscience canst impute it to none but God. When thou disorderest thy body with a surfeit, nature will submit to sicknesse; When thou wearest out thy selfe with licentiousnesse, the sin it self will induce infirmities; when thou transgressest any law of the State, the Iustice of the State will lay hold upon thee. And for the Afflictions that fall upon thee in these cases, thou art able to say to thy selfe, that they would have falne upon thee, though there had been no God, or though God had had no rod about him, no anger in him; Thou knowest in particular, why, and by whose, or by what means, these Afflictions light upon thee. But when thou shalt have thy Conscience clear towards such and such men, and yet those men shall goe about to oppresse thee, when thou labourest uprightly in thy calling, and yet doest not prosper, when thou studiest the Scriptures, hearkenest to Sermons, observest Sabbaths, desirest conferences, and yet receivest not satisfaction, but still remainest under the torture of scruples and anxieties, when thou art in S. Pauls case, Nihili conscius, That thou knowest nothing by thy selfe,1 Cor. 4. 4. and yet canst not give thy selfe peace, Though all Afflictions upon Gods Children, be from him, yet, take knowledge that this is from him, more intirely, and more immediately, and that God remembers something in thee, that thou hast forgot; And, as that fit of an Ague, or that pang of the Gout, which may take thee to day, is not necessarily occasioned by that which thou hast eaten to day, but may be the effect of some former disorder, so the affliction which lights upon thee in thine age, may be inflicted for the sinnes of thy youth. Thy affliction is his, The Lords; And the Lord is infinite, and comprehends all at once, and ever finds something in thee to correct, something that thou hast done, or something that thou wouldest have done, if the blessing of that correction had not restrained thee. And therefore, when thou canst not pitch thy affliction upon any particular sinne, yet make not thy selfe so just,August. as that thou make God unjust, whose Judgements may be unsearchable, but they cannot be unjust.
This then is the first weight that is laid upon our afflictions,In Virga. that they are His, The Lords; and this weight consists in this, That because they are his, they are inevitable, they cannot be avoyded, And because they are His, they are certainly just, and cannot be pleaded against, nor can we ease our selves with any imagination of an innocency, as though they were undeserved. And the next weight that is laid upon them, is that they are, In virga ejus, in his rod. For, though this Metaphore, the Rod, Prov. 23. 13.may seeme to present but an easie correction, such as that, If thou beat thy childe with a rod, be shall not dye, (It will not kill him) yet there is more weight then so in this Rod;Exod. 21. 20. for the word here is Shebet, and Shebet is such a Rod as may kill; If a man smite his servant with a Rod, so that he dye under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Beloved, whether Gods Rod, and his correction, shall have the savour of life unto life, or of death unto death, consists much in the hand, that is to receive it, and in the stomach that is to digest it. As in Gods Temporall blessings that he raines downe upon us, it is much in our gathering, and inning, and spending them, whether it shall be frumenti, or laqueorum, whether this shall prove such a shoure, as shall nourish our soule spiritually, in thankfulnesse to God, and in charitable workes towards his needy Servants,Psal. 11. 6. or whether it shall prove a shoure of snares, to minister occasions of tentations; so when he raines afflictions upon us, it is much in our gathering, whether it shall be Roris, or Grandinis, whether it shall be a shoure of fatning dew upon us, or a shoure of Fgyptian haile-stones, to batter us in peeces, as a Potters Vessell, Ierem. 19. 11.that cannot be renewed. Our murmuring makes a rod a staffe, and a staffe a sword, and that which God presented for physick, poyson. The double effect and operation of Gods Rod, and Corrections, is usefully and appliably expressed in the Prophet Zachary: 11. 7.where God complaines, That he had fed the sheep of slaughter, that he had been carefull for them, who would needs dye, say he what he could. Therefore he was forced to come to the Rod, to correction. So he does; And I tooke unto me, sayes he there, two Staves, the one I called Beauty, the oth…r Bands; Two wayes of correction, a milder, and a more vehement. When his milder way prevailed not, Then said I, I will not feed you; I will take no more care of you; That which dyeth let it dye, (sayes he) and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; And I tooke my staffe of Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might breake my Covenant, which I had made with them. Beloved, God hath made no such Covenant with any State, any Church, any soule, but that, being provoked, he is at liberty to break it. But then, upon this, when the stubborne, and the refractory, the stiff-necked and the rebellious were cut off, The poore of the sheep (sayes God) that waited upon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. It is not every mans case, to mend by Gods corrections; onelyonly the poore of the sheep, the broken hearted, the contrite spirit, the discerner of his owne poverty and infirmity, could make that good use of affliction, as to finde Gods hand, and then Gods purpose in it. For, this Rod of God, this Shebet, can kill; Affliction can harden, as well as mollifie, and entender the heart. And there is so much the more danger, that it should worke that effect, that obduration, because it is Virga Irae, The rod of his wrath, which is the other weight that aggravates our afflictions.
In all afflictions that fall upon us from other instruments,Virga Irae. there is Digitus Dei, The finger of God leads their hand that afflicts us; Though it be sicknesse, by our intemperance, though it be poverty, by our wastfulnesse, though it be oppression, by the malice, or by our exasperation of potent persons, yet still the finger of God is in all these. But in the afflictions which we speake of here, such as fall upon us, when we thinke our selves at peace with God, and in state of grace, it is not Digitus, but Manus Dei, the whole worke is his, and man hath no part in it. Whensoever he takes the Rod in hand, there is a correction towards; but yet, it may be but his Rod of Beauty, of his Correction, not Destruction. But, if he take his Rod in anger, the case is more dangerous; for, though there be properly no anger in God, yet then is God said to do a thing in anger, when he does it so, as an angry man would do it. Upon those words of David,Psal. 6. 1. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, Saint Augustine observes, that David knew Gods rebukes and corrections were but for his amendment; but yet, In Ira corrigi noluit, in Ira emendari noluit, David was loth, that God should go about to mend him in anger; afraid to have any thing to do with God, till his anger were over-passed. Beloved, to a true anger, and wrath, and indignation towards his children, God never comes; but he comes so neare it, as that they cannot discerne, whether it be anger, or no. A Father takes a Rod, and looks as angerly, as though he would kill his childe, but means nothing but good to him. So God brings a soule to a sad sense of an angry countenance in God, to a sad apprehension of an angry absence, to a sad jealousie and suspition that God will never returne to it againe; And this is a heavy affliction, whilst it lasts. Our Saviour Christ, in that case, came to expostulate it, to dispute it with his Father, Vt quid dereliquisti, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Do but tell me why. Fo…, if God be pleased to tell us, why he is angry, his anger is well allayd, and we have a faire overture towards our restitution. But, in our infirmity, wee get not easily so farre; we apprehend God to be angry; we cannot finde the cause, and we sinke under the burden; we leave the disease to concoct it self, and we take no Physick. And this is truly the highest extent, and exaltation of affliction, That in our afflictions we take God to be angryer then he is. For, then is God said to take his Rod in anger, when he suffers us to thinke that he does so, and when he suffers us to decline, and sinke so low towards diffidence, and desperation, that we dare not looke towards him, because we beleeve him to be so angry. And so have you all those peeces which constitute both the branches of this first part, The generality and extent of afflictions, considered in the nature of the thing, in the nature of the word, this name of man, Gheber, and in the person of Ieremy, the Prophet of God, And then the intensene…e, and weight and vehemency of afflictions, considered in these three particulars, That they are His, The Lords, That they are from His Rod, And from the Rod of his anger. But to weigh down all these, we have comforts ministred unto us, in our Text, which constitute our other part.
Of these the first is Vidi,2 Part. Vidi. I have seen these afflictions, for this is an act of particular grace and mercy, when God enables us to see them: for, naturally this is the infirmity of our spirituall senses,Eph. 1. 18. 4. 18. that when the eyes of our understanding should be enlightened, our understanding is so darkened, as that we can neither see prosperity, nor adversity, for, in prosperity our light is too great, and we are dazeled, in adversity too little, none at all, and we are benighted, we do not see our afflictions. There is no doubt, but that the literall sense of this phrase, To see afflictions, is to feele, to suffer afflictions.Psal. 89. 48. 16. 10. As, when David sayes, What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death, and when Christ sayes, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption, to see death, and to see corruption, is to suffer them. But then, the literall sense being thus duly preserved, That the children of God shall certainly see, that is, certainly suffer afflictions, receive we also that sweet odour and fragrancy which the word breaths out, That they shall see it, that is, understand it, consider it: For, as when the wicked come to say,Psal. 4. 7. The Lord does not see it, it is presently added, Neither doth the God of Iacob regard it, (It is a seeing that induces a regarding) so when the godly come to see their afflictions, they come to regard them, to regard Gods purpose in them. Vidisti Domine, ne sileas, 35. 22.sayes David, All this thou hast seen, O Lord, Lord do not hold thy peace. David presumed, that if God saw his afflictions, he would stirre in them; when we come to see them, we stir, we wake, we rise, we looke about us, from whence, and why these afflictions come; and therein lyes this comfort, Vidi, I have seen afflictions, I have been content to look upon them, to consider them.
The Prophets in the Old Testament, doe often call those sights, and those prenotions which they had of the misery and destruction of others, Onus visionis, Onus verbi Domini, O the burden of this sight, O the burden of this message of God. It was a burden to them, to see Gods judgements directed upon others; how much more is it a burden to a man, to see his own affliction, and that in the cause thereof? But this must be done, we must see our affliction in the Cause thereof. No man is so blinde, so stupid, as that he doth not see his affliction, that is, feele it; but we must see it so, as to see through it, see it to be such as it is, so qualified, so conditioned, so circumstanced, as he that sends it, intends it. We must leave out the malice of others in our oppressions, and forgive that; leave out the severity of the Law in our punishments, and submit to that; and looke intirely upon the certainty of Gods judgement, who hath the whole body of our sins written together before him, and picks out what sin it pleaseth him, and punisheth now an old, now a yesterdayes sin, as he findeth it most to conduce to his glory, and our amendment,Dan. 5. 51. and the edification of others, We must see the hand of God upon the wall as Belshazzar did, (for even that was the hand of God) though wee cannot read that writing, no more then Belshazzar could. Wee must see the affliction, so as we must see it to be the hand of God, though wee cannot presently see, for what sinne it is, nor what will be the issue of it. And then when we have seen that, then we must turn to the study of those other particulars, for, till we see the affliction to come from God, we see nothing; There is no other light in that darknesse, but he. If thou see thy affliction, thy sicknesse, in that glasse, in the consideration of thine own former licentiousnesse, thou shalt have no other answer, but that soure remorse, and increpation, you might have lived honestly. If thou see thy affliction, thy poverty, in that glasse, in the malice & oppression of potent adversaries, thou wilt get no farther, then to that froward and churlish answer,Psal. 55. 23. The Law is open, mend your selfe as you can. But Iactate super Dominum, saith David, Lay all thy burden upon the Lord, and hee will apply to thee that Collyrium, that soveraigne eye-salve,Apos. 3. 18. whereby thou shalt see thy afffiction, (it shall not blinde thee) And see from whence it commeth, (from him, who, as hee liveth, would not the death of a sinner) And see why it commeth, (that thou mightest see and taste the goodnesse of God thy selfe, and declare his loving kindnesse to the Children of Men.) And this is the comfort deduced from this word Vidi, I have seen affliction.
And this leadeth us to our other Comfort,Ego vir. That though these Afflictions have wrought deepe upon thee, yet thou canst say to thy soule, Ego vir, I am that man; Thy Morality,vers. 22. thy Christianity is not shaked in thee. It is the Mercy of God, that wee are not conumed, saith Ieremy here; And it is a great degree of his mercy, to let us feele that wee are not consumed, to give us this sense, that our case is not desperate, but that Ego vir, I am the man, that there remaineth still strength enough to gather more; That still thou remainest a man, a reasonable man, and so art able to apply to thy selfe; all those medicines and reliefs, which Philosophy and naturall reason can afford. For, even these helps, deduced from Philosophy and naturall reason, are strong enough against afflictions of this world, as long as we can use them, as long as these helps of reason and learning are alive, and awake, and actuated in us, they are able to sustain us from sinking under the afflictions of this world, for, they have sustained many a Plato, and Socrates, and Seneca in such cases. But when part of the affliction shall be, that God worketh upon the Spirit it selfe, and damps that, enfeebles that, that he casts a sooty Cloud upon the understanding, and darkens that, that he doth Exuere hominem, devest, strip the man of the man, Eximere hominem, take the man out of the man, and withdraw and frustrate his naturall understanding so, as that, to this purpose, he is no man, yet even in this case, God may mend thee, in marring thee, hee may build thee up in dejecring thee, hee may infuse another, Ego vir, another Manhood into thee, and though thou canst not say Ego vir, I am that Morall man, safe in my Naturall Reason and Philosophy, that is spent, yet Ego vir, I am that Christian man, who have seen this affliction in the Cause thereof, so farre off, as in my sinne in Adam, and the remedy of this affliction, so farre off, as in the death of Christ Iesus I am the Man, that cannot repine, nor murmure, since I am the Cause; I am the man that cannot despair, since Christ is the remedy. I am that man, which is intended in this Text, Gheber. Not onelyonly an Adam, a man amongst men, able to convince me, though they speak eloquently against me,Iob 16. …. and able to prove that God hath forsaken me, because he hath afflicted me, but able to prevail with God himself,Gen. 32. 24. as Iacob did, and to wrastle out a blessing out of him, &, though I doe halt, become infirm with manifold afflictions, yet they shall be so many seals of my infallibility in him. Now this comfort hath three gradations in our text, three circumstances, which, as they aggravated the discomfort in the former, so they exalt the comfort in this part, That they are His, The Lords, That they are from his rod, That they are from the rod of his wrath.
We may compare our afflictions that come immediately from God, Ejus.with those that come instrumentally from others, by considering the choice and election which David made, and the choice which Susanna made in her case. The Prophet G…d offers David his choice of three afflictions,2 Sam. 24. War, Famine, or pestilence. It does not appeare, it is not expressed, that David determined himself, or declared his choice of any of the three.2 Sam. 12. 13. Hee might conceive a hope, that God would forbear all three. As, when another Prophet Nathan had told him, The childe shall surely die, yet David said, for all that determined assurance, Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live, and he fasted a fast, and mourned and prayed for the childes life; Beloved, no commination of God, is unconditioned, or irrevocable. But in this case David intimates some kinde of election, Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are exceeding great, and not into the hands of men. Susanna, when shee was surprised, (and in a straight too, though of another kind) she resolves that it is better for her to fall into the hands of men, (let men defame her, let men accuse her, condemn her, execute her) rather then sin in the sight of God, and so fall into his hands. So that, if wee compare offences, wee were better offend all the Princes of the earth, then offend God, because he is able to cast body and soul into hell fire. But when the offence is done, for the punishment which follows, God forgives a treason, sooner then thy neighbour will a trespasse; God seales thee a Quietus est, in the bloud of his Son, sooner then a Creditor will renue a bond, or withdraw an Action; and a Scandalum magnatum, will lie longer upon thee here, then a blasphem… against God, in that Court. And therefore, as it is one degree of good husbandry, in ill husbands, to bring all their debts into one hand, so doest thou husband thy afflictions well, if thou put them all upon thy debts to God, and leave out the consideration of Instruments; And he shall deale with thee,2 Sam. 24. 18. as hee did with David there, that plague, which was threatned for three days, he will end in one; In that trouble, which, if men had had their will upon thee, would have consumed thee, thou shalt stand unconsumed. For, if a man wound thee, it is not in his power, though hee be never so sorry for it, whether that wound shall kill thee, or no; but if the Lord wound thee to death, he is the life, he can redeem thee from death, and if hee doe not, he is thy resurrection, and recompenses thee with another, and a better life. And so lies our first comfort, that it is Ejus, His, The Lords, And a second is, that it is In virga ejus, In his rod.
Iob would fain have come to a cessation of arms,In Virga. 9. 34. before hee came to a treaty with God; Let the Lord take away his rod from me, sayes he, and let not his fear terrifie me; Them would I speak. As long as his rod was upon him, and his fears terrified him, it was otherwise; he durst not. But truly his feares should not terrifie us, though his rod be upon us; for herein lies our comfort, That all Gods rods are bound up with that mercy, which accompanied that rod that God threatned David, to exercise upon his son Solemon,2 Sam. 7. 14. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men; (I will let him fall into the hands of men) This was heavy; Therefore it is eased with that Cordiall, But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul. But for this mercy, the oppressions of men were mercilesse; But all Gods rods are bound up with this mercy; and therein lies our comfort. And for the rods of other men, O my people be not afraid of the Assyrian, Esa. 10. 24.says God. Why, blessed Lord, shal… the Assyrian doe thy people no harm? yes, says God there, He shall smite them with a rod, and he shall lift up his staffe against them; Some harm he shall doe; (He shall smite them with a rod) And he shall threaten more, offer at more (he shall lift up his staffe) where then is the peoples reliefe,V. 26. and comfort? In this; The Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him. God shall appear in that notion of power, The Lord of Hosts, and he shall encounter his enemies, and the enemies of his friends, with a scourge upon them, against their rod upon us. Gods own rods are bound up in mercy, (they end in mercy) And, for the rods of other men, God cuts them in pieces, and their owners, with his sword. Gods owne rods, even towards his owne Children, are sometimes, as that rod which he put into Moses hand was,Exod. 7. 12. chang'd into Serpents. Gods owne rods have sometimes a sting, and a bitternesse in them; but then, they are chang'd from their owne nature; Naturally Gods roddes towards us, are gentle, and harmlesse: When Gods rod in Moses hand, was changed to a Serpent, it did no harme, that did but devoure the other Serpents: when Gods rods are heaviest upon us, if they devoure other rods, that is, enable us to put off the consideration of the malice and oppression of other Men, and all displeasure towards them, and lay all upon God, for our sinnes, these serpentine rods have wrought a good effect: When Moses his Rod was a Serpent, yet it return'd quickly to a Rod againe; how bitter so ever Gods corrections be, they returne soone to their naturall sweetnesse, and though the correction continue, the bitternesse does not: with this Rod Moses tam'd the Sea, and divided that; but he drowned none in that Sea, but the Aegyptians. Gods rod will cut, and divide between thy soule, and spirit, but he will destroy nothing in thee, not thy Morality, not thy Christianity, but onelyonly thine owne Aegyptians, thy Persecutors, thy concupiscencies.
But all this while,Quia Virga. we have but deduced a comfort out of thy Word, Quia Virga, though that be a rod; but this is a comfort Quia Virga, therefore, because that is a Rod: for, this word which is here a Rod, is also, in other places of Scriptures, an Instrument, not of correction, Mich. 7. 14.but direction: Feed thy sheep with thy Rod, saies God; and there it is a Pastorall Rod, the direction of the Church; Virga rectitudinis virgaregni tui, Psal. 45. 7.saies David; The Scepter of thy kingdome is a right Scepter; and there its a royall rod, the protection of the state: so that all comforts that are deriv'd upon us, by the direction of the Church, and by the protection of the State, are recommended to us, and conferr'd upon us in this His Rod. Nor is it onelyonly a Rod of comfort, by implication, and consequence;Psal. 23. 4. but expresly and literally it is so: Though I should walke thorough the valley of the shadow of death, I will feare no evill; Thy rod, and thy staffe, they comfort me. He had not onelyonly a comfort, though he had the rod, but he had not had so much comfort, except he had had it; we have not so good evidence of the joyes of the next life, except we have the sorrowes of this.
The discomfort then lies not in this,Virga Irae. That the affliction is ejus, his, the Lords, (for we have an ease in that) nor, that it is In Virga ejus, in his rod, (for we have a benefit by that) but it is In virga irae, in that it is the rod of his wrath, of his anger. But truely, beloved, there is a blessed comfort ministred unto us, even in that word; for that word foreignGnabar, which we translate Anger, wrath, hath another ordinary signification in Scripture, which, though that may seem to be an easier, would prove a heavier sense for us to beare, than this of wrath and anger; this is, preteritio, conniventia, Gods forbearing to take knowledge of our transgressions; when God shall say of us, as he does of Israel,Esa. 1. 5. Why should ye be smitten any more? when God leaves us to our selves, and studies our recovery no farther, by any more corrections; for, in this case, there is the lesse comfort, because there is the lesse anger show'd. And therefore S. Bernard, who was heartily afraid of this sense of our word, heartily afraid of this preterition, that God should forget him, leave him out, affectionately, passionately embraces this sense of the word in our Text, Anger; and he sayes, Irascaris mihi Domine, Domine mihi irascaris, Be angry with me ô Lord, O Lord be angry with me, lest I perish! for, till we have a sense of such an anger in God, towards us, as Children have from their Parents, that not onelyonly they correct them, but deny them some things that they aske, and keep them some time from their sight and presence, till we be made Partakers of this blessed anger of God, (for we doe not pray, that God would not be angry, but that he would not be angry with us for ever) till then we come not to see an affliction, that is, to discerne, what, and whence, and why that comes: Nor we see that not like Men, like such Men, like Christian Men, not with a faithfull and constant assurance, that all will have an end in him who suffered infinitely more for us, than he hath layd upon us.