A Christian Library, Chapter 37
CHAP. 37. That stripes from the Almighty, are speciall tokens and pledges of his adoption and love.
3 WEe shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort; if wee consider, that stripes from the Almighty are so far from arguing his displeasure, that contrarily there are no better tokens and pledges of the Adoption and love: As many (saith God) as I love, I rebuke, and chasten, Rev. ….19. My Son (saith the Author to the Hebrews, out of Solomons Proverbs) Despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither saint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth, hee chasteneth; and hee scourgeth every son whom hee receiveth. If you endure chastening, God offereth himself unto you, as unto sons: for what son is it whom the Father chasten…th not? If therefore yee bee without correction, whereof all are partakers; then are yee bastards, and not sons, Heb. 11.5. to 13. Prov. 3.11.12. Hee is a Thistle, and not good Corn, that cometh not under the flail. Yea, what use of the grain it self, if it pass not the edg of the sickle, the stroak of the flail, the wind of the Fan, the weight of the milstone, the heat of the oven.
Many a mans fellicity driveth him from God; and where happiness domineereth, virtue is commonly banished▪ And doth not experience shew, that fear and joy, sweet and sowr, sharp and flat, one with another, do better than either alone▪ for if you bee too …a…sh, you make the … a fool; if …oo fond… a wanton. The bridl… governs the horse, the …, hi… ; the weight upon … Iack …o, the … the …: The sayls give the speed, the … to the … of the … upon God … to us our favours and crosses in an equall ballance; and so tempers out sorrows, that they may not oppress; and our joys, that they may not transport us. Each one hath some matter of envie to others, and of grief to himself.
Thou dealest mercifully with us, lest wee should fall from thee, and despair; thou beatest us, lest wee should forget thee, and so perish, (saith Saint Austin) Hee that knows our frame, knows wee are best when wee are worst, and live holiest when wee are miserablest: wherefore by affliction hee separates the sin, that hee hates, from the sinner, whom hee loves; and wee are by much the better for this scouring. It is the wont of Fathers to hold in their Children, when they suffer the children of bond-men to go at large, and do as they list; yea, when diverse children are playing the wantons, if wee see a man take one from the rest, and whip him soundly; we conclude that alone to be his Child. Yea, wise and discreet Fathers will force their Children earnestly to apply themselvs to their study, or labour; and will not let them bee idle, although it bee holy-day: yea, constrain them to sweat, and oftentimes to weep, when their Mothers would set them on their laps, and keep them at home all day in the shadow, for burning their white. Iacob is bound Apprentice, while prophane Esau rides a hunting: of Elkanah his two wives, Hanna was in more esteem with God, yet barren, and Peninnah less, yet shee was fruitfull 1 Sam. 1. They were all gross inconsequences; for Gedeon to argue Gods absence by affliction, his presence by deliverances, and the unlikely-hood of success, by his own disability, Iudg. 6.13.15. (It is no argument, that Christ is not in the Ship: because tempests, and storms arise.) The valiant man was her… weak: weak in faith, weak in discourse; for rather should hee have inferred Gods presence upon their correction; for wheresoever God chastiseth, there hee is; yea, there hee is in mercy; nothing more proves us his, than his stripes; hee will not bestow whipping, where hee loves not: fond nature indeed, thinks God should not suffer the wind to blow upon his dear ones, because her self makes this use of her own indulgence; but none (out of the place of torment) have suffered so much, as his dear Children. If hee had said wee are Idolaters, therefore the Lord hath forsaken us, because wee have forsaken him; instead of, the Lord hath delivered us unto the Medianites, therefore hee hath forsaken us; the sequell had been as good, as now it's faulty; for sins, not afflictions, argue God absent: Yea, commonly, the measure of our sufferings is according to the measure of grace in us, and Gods love to us; Hee is a chosen vessell unto mee (saith God to Ananias touching Paul;) therefore hee must suffer great things for my sake, Act. 9.15.16. Iob, for a righteous and upright man, had no fellow; by the testimony of God himself, Iob 1.8. Yet the next news we hear of him, Iob is afflicted in his Sons, in his substance, in his body; from the crown of the head, to the soal of the foot. Saint Austin, when God called him, was far more assaulted by Satan, than Alippius; because God had endued him with greater learning and gifts, and intended him an instrument of bringing more glory to his Name. And lastly, as Christ was annointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, Psal. 45.7. so hee was annointed with the oil of sadness above his fellows: as was his back, so was his burthen,; as were his parts, so were his passions, and his stroaks, answerable to his strength.
Never any have had so bitter draughts upon earth, as those he loves best: and that of Saint Austin, is a sure rule, whom God smites not, hee loves not: If hee do not think thee worthy of his Rod, he will never think thee worthy of his Crown. Yea, where he uses not the Rod, he means to use the Sword. Never was Ierusalems condition so desperate, as when God said unto her, My fury shall depart from thee, I will bee quiet, and no more angry. Ezek, 16.42. Thus not to bee angry, was the greatest anger of all. Never were the Iews more to bee pitied, than when their Prophet delivered these words from the Lord, Why should yee bee stricken any more? Isa. 1.5. Not to …e afflicted, is to be forsaken: And as the sick man is in small hope of his life, when the Physitian giveth him over; so his soul is in a desperate case, whom God forbeareth to chastise for his sins. As many there be, who never knew what any sorrow meant, unless it were such as Amnons, such as Ahabs, when they are crossed in their corruptions, curbed in their lewd courses, or restrained of their wicked wills. But let them take it for a fearfull signe of som sore judgement to come: Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Millain, as Paulinus relates, took into a Rich mans house as hee travelled, who, that he might bid him throughly welcom, entertained him both with great cheer, and curteous discourses: and amongst other matters, told of his continued happiness, and that hee never suffered any ill all his days, but had all things as hee would; and happiness so flowing in upon him, that hee knew not what calamity meant: which conference did so startle Saint Ambrose, that presently hee took his leave, telling his company that hee feared to stay in that place, which never felt any disaster; and was no sooner gon thence, but suddenly the house fell down, and proved a grave to all her inhabitants. Polycrates, King of the Samians, never felt any ill all his life, his hopes never fell short of his expectation, he could not wish for the thing which was not fulfilled; what hee willed, hee did: Yea, having but once a King of excellent rarity that fell into the water, this loss was recovered; for the Fish was taken which had swallowed it, and was presented to Polycratus: but at length all this his happiness epilogized in a gallowes. None more happy than great Pompey all his life, yet at last hee was made to drink his own blood by the hands of the Executioner. Who but Andronicus, Emperour of the East for many years? but at length hee was set upon a scabbed Chamelt, with a Crown of Onions platted on his head, and in great mockery car…ied in triumph through the City. And dots not sacred Writ certifie, how Haman, whose command ere while almost reached to Heaven, was instantly adjudged by the King to the Gibbet; while Mordecai who was condemned to the …alter, was all of a suddain made second in the Kingdom.
Nevertheless, as Haman rejoiced in his pre…rment to the …, Ban…t, which was the … way to his destruction: so, many … onelyonly argument of Gods love, and that they are in favour with him, because they prosper in all their ways: which would make a wise man the more suspicious, for, (as Seneca that wise Roman saith) he that hath been longest happy, shall at length have his portion of misery; and who so seemeth to bee dismissed▪ is but deferred.
And commonly their change is not more dolefull, than sudden; for as it often hapneth, that in very fair weather a storm doth arise: and as I have read of certain Trees, which on Munday have been growing in the Forrest, and before Sunday following, under sail on the Sea: so the same hour hath seen the knee bowing to the head; and again, the head stooping, and doing reverence to the knee, as every age gives instance: for else I might muster up a multitude of examples for proof of the point▪ Or in case it seems better, yet it is worse with them when their life and happiness ▪ shall end together: as it fared with Belshazzar, who was sitting at a Feast … ly, while on a sudden, Death came like a Voyder to take him away. And Pope Adrian, who when hee was to dye; brake out into this expression: Oh my soul, whither art thou going? thou shalt never bee merry again.
Neither are men of this world, whose bellies God filleth with his hid treasure, upon occasion of their outward prosperity, onelyonly apt to bee brought into a fools Paradise, of thinking themselvs to bee the speciall darlings of God: but even the godly themselvs have oftentimes their eyes so dazled, with the outward glittering and flourishing estate of the wicked, that thereupon they are ready to say of them, The generation of Gods children, as it fared with David, Psal. 73.15. But these are not sober thoughts, yea, they are rather the dreams of men, drunk with the love of the World: for although it bee as common a phrase, as it is foolish, when any great matter falls to a man, O he is made! yet experience proves, that it rather marr… than makes him; for not seldom do men possess riches, as sick men do fevers, which indeed rather possess them. And certainly, if riches were such pearls, as most men esteem them, it is not likely the Lord would cast them to sub Swine, as mostly hee doth: If such happy things, hee would not throw them to such Dogs. As what saith Luther of the whole Turkish Empire? it is but a crum of bread, which the master of the house, throweth to his Dogs. And the truth is, what men think most pleasing, (viz. to have thei… wills, and their lusts granted) is most plaguing, Psal. 81.12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts, and they walked in their own counsels; so that the greatest temtation, is to bee without temtation: and the greatest affliction, not to be afflicted, 2 Cor. 12.7.
Wherefore lift up your hands which hang down, because of some sore affliction, and your weak knees, Heb. 12.12. and know, that the worst of temporall afflictions, are an insufficient proof of divine displeasure: yea, that stripes from the Almighty, are tokens of his love, and seals of his Son-ship.
Yea, since hee that hath most grace, commonly complains of most discomfort, confess that the palate is but an ill Judge of the favours of God: as it is in great love no doubt, however it bee taken, that the tender Father medicines his Child for the Worms, gives him Aloes, or the like: the Child cries, and sputters, and kecke…, as if it were poisoned, yet still the Fathers love is never the less: say it be bitter, yet bitter poisons bring sweet health, and who will not rather take a vomit, then hazard life? In the Sweating sickness in England, their friends would stand by them and strike them over the faces with sprigs of Rosemary, to keep them awake: the poor souls faint, and full of pain, would cry out you kill mee, but yet they must do it, or else they kill'd them i…deed: for all that slept, dyed. Look wee (saith Saint Ambrose) wi…h the eyes of our body, upon Lazarus estate, and wee think it miserable; but, if with the eyes of the mind, it will bee otherwise; for how did the Angels do by him? but as Nurses are wont to do by their little children, all the day long they carry them about in their arms, and at ni…ht they lay them down in their beds to …est.
But the supernaturall works of God, when wee look upon them with our own eyes, are subject to a dangerous misprision; the Sun-beams, to whom wee are beholding for our sight, if wee eye them directly, blind us. Miserable men! we are ready to suspect truths, to run away from our safety, to bee afraid of our comforts, to mis-know our best friends.
Wee usually think it a great signe of God displeasure, when hee ruines our estate, and brings us to nothing; when hee in his wisdome knows, that these riches would shipwrack the soul, were they not cast over-board: and his love onelyonly forces him to it. A Mother seeing her little Son brustled at by Turcki-cocks catcheth him up, and strippeth him of his red coat, at which those Ei…des are offended; the child cries for his coat, but shee regarding his good, letteth him weep, but satisfieth him not. And the like of Enemies, wee think our selvs mightily wronged by them: But God finds it to fare with us, as it doth with the Oak, which gains by the maims and wounds given it, and thereupon spreadeth out thicker than before. Whence it is, God suffers them to live, and domineer, as some Countries suffer Ravens, enacting Laws to prohibit the killing of them; th…t they may devour the Carrions, which else would corrupt the air. And so in all o…her trials: for, bee the root of this tree never so bitter, yet the fruit is pleasant. Well may wee catch a maim as Iacob did, but such a blessing come withall, that wee would not (if wise) bee without it. Say it bee a sore and fiery citall, yet better this fire to purge us, than Hell fire to burn us. But all the skill is in making men see this; wherefore hee that opened the eyes of Paul, open ours.
But furthermore, as not to bee afflicted, argues an absolute defect of goodness; so if our troubles bee light and few, it is because wee are weak and tender▪ for therefore God imposeth no more upon us, because hee … wee can bear no mo…e▪ The Physitian will not suffer a milke-so… to see his vein opened, but makes him wink or look another way: The Master giveth not to his sick servant strong meats, as hee doth to the rest, but more dainty …ar… ; not because hee is worthier than the rest, but because hee is … and in greate… need. The skilfull Armour…r tryeth not an ordinary Peece with musket-shot. The wise Lapidary brings not his softer stones to the Stithy.
So that freedom from affliction is not a signe of potency, but of impotency. Wherefore, when I am stronger, I will look for more; when I am a vessell fit for this strong and new wine, I shall bee filled with it; but not before, Mark 2.22.
Indeed, the calling of God never leavs a man unchanged, nor does hee imploy any in his service, whom hee does not enable to the work hee sets them about. Will any make choyce of a weak Champion? no more will God: hee will either find us fit, or make us fit to discharge the place hee puts us in; as when hee called Saul to bee a King, hee gave him a Kings heart, 1 Sam. 10.9 And when hee called the Apostles to that function, hee gave them gifts answerable; so when hee calls any to suffer for him, bee it Martyrdom; hee giveth them the courage of Martyrs, as the times of Queen Mary, witness. But yet for the most part hee …rains us up by degrees; (as we eat diverse things by morsels, and easily digest them; which if we should eat whole, would choak us) and doth not make us fit to undergo great matters on a suddain. Wee must learn to fence in the School, before wee fight in the Field; and with wooden weapons men learn to fight at the sharp; wee must encounter with some beasts or other, (I mean unreasonable men) before wee fight with that fearfull Goliah, death. And indeed, if wee do not learn to give entertainment to smaller crosses, the harbingers, messengers and servants of death; how shall wee bee able to entertain the Lord and Master, when hee cometh? Wherefore, as Iehoram said to Iehu, when hee marched furiously; Comest thou peaceably? As if hee should say, if thou comest peaceably, march as furiously as thou wilt… so let us say unto God, provided, thy afflictions and chastisements bee directed to us as messengers of peace, and love; let them march towards us as furiously as thou pleasest, but in any case, let us not bee without correction: for as Mariners at Sea, find, that of all sto…ms, a Calme is the greatest; so wee; that, to bee exempt from misery, is the most miserable condition of all other.
Object. But thou fearest that G…d hath not pardoned thy sins, and this makes him so severe against thee.
Answ. Many time… after the remission of the sin, his very chastisements are deadly; as is cleer by Davids example: and Lots, who had a sharp misery clap on the heels of a sweet mercy: for hee that was so beloved of God, that hee saved a whole City, could not save his own Spouse.
When God delivers us from destruction, hee doth not secure us from … affliction. Grace was never given us for a Target against externall evills ▪ Though wee bee not condemned with the world, yet wee may bee chastened in the world. Neither the truth nor strength of Iobs faith could secure him from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan, against the inward and spirituall, they could, and did prevail: so no repentance can assure us that wee shall not smart with outward affliction: that can prevent the eternall displeasure of God; but still it may bee necessary, and good, wee should bee corrected: our care and suit must bee, that the evills which shall not bee averted, may bee sanctified.