Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Afflictions, Part 4
Conſider,
1. That this is Gods deſign, 1. If we croſs Gods project, God will croſs ours.that he might teach thee by his chaſtiſements; and if thou croſſeſt Gods deſign, God will croſs thy deſign; if thou wilt not let God have his end in inſtruction, he will not let thee have thy end in enlargement: The only way to retard deliverance, is to make too much haſte to be delivered; and he that beleeveth will not make haſte.
2. Conſider, 2. Deliverance is not the Bleſſing.That bare deliverance is not the Bleſſing: I told you before, that deliverance alone is but the fruit of common bounty; Ile tell you more now: Deliverance alone may be the fruit of the Curſe; a man may be delivered in wrath, and not in love; Deliverance from one affliction may but make way for another, for a greater; Affliction may return, like the unclean ſpirit, with ſeven more worſe then it ſelf: So God threatens an unteachable people; If by theſe things ye will not be reformed, but will walk contrary to me, croſs my deſign in my chaſtiſements, then will I walk contrary to you, Levit. 26.23, 24.I will croſs your deſign, and in ſtead of deliverance, I will puniſh you yet ſeven times more for your ſins. The bleſſing of correction is inſtruction: O let not God go till he bleſs thee. It is a ſad thing to have affliction, but not the bleſſing of affliction; to feel the wood of the Croſs, but not the good of the Croſs; to taſte the bitter root, but not the ſweet fruit of a ſuffering condition; the Curſe, but not the Cordial. Truly in ſuch a caſe one affliction may not only make way for another, for more, for greater; but affliction here may make way for damnation hereafter; and as one ſaith wittily, — by all the fire of affliction in this world, a man may be but perboild for Hell. And therefore mind inſtruction, ſtudy the Leſſons of a ſuffering condition, ut ſup: and be importunate for nothing ſo much as to be taught of God; and to be taught not with a common teaching, but that ſpecial, Covenant, ſaving teaching, which changeth the Soul into the nature of the Truth, and makes it holy as it is holy, and pure as it is pure, and heavenly as it is heavenly: He for our profit, Heb. 12.10that we might be partakers of his holineſs.
Third Branch of Exhortation,3 Branch of Exhort. to ſuch as are come forth of affliction.
To them that are come out of affliction and fiery tryals: Sit down, Chriſtian, and reflect upon thy ſelf, turn in upon thine own heart, examine thy ſelf; Have teachings accompanied chaſtiſements? hath the rod budded? caſt up thy accounts: What haſt thou learn'd in the School of Affliction? Not to go over the larger Catechiſm of thoſe twenty Leſſons again, view the abbreviate; Hath God diſcovered to thee the ſinfulneſs of ſin, the emptineſs of the creature, the fulneſs of Chriſt? Is no evil like to the evil of ſin? *Fornicatur anima quae avertitur abs te & quaerit extra te ea quae pura & liquida non invenit niſi cum redit ad te. Aug. Confeſſ l. 2. c. 5.no good like to Ieſus Chriſt? Is the world become an empty vanity, a mockery, a nothing in thine eyes? Canſt thou ſay, it is good I have been afflicted? and canſt thou point out that good, and ſay, This I had, this I have got by my ſufferings; I know divine Truth more inwardly, more clearly, more experimentally, more powerfully, more ſweetly, then ever; it hath a more abiding impreſſion upon my heart? I would ſpeak a word,
1. To them that can evidence theſe teachings to their own Souls.
2. To them that cannot.
Firſt, To thoſe who through grace do find the fruit of affliction in the ſavory and ſaving teachings of God upon their hearts; let me by way of Exhortation commend a threefold duty to you.
1. Three duties.Study to be thankful.
2. Labor to preſerve the teachings of God upon thy ſpirit.
3. 1 Duty, Thankfulneſs. The priviledges of being taught as well as corrected.Learn to pray for them that are afflicted, and what to pray.
Firſt, Study to be thankful: Hath God taught thee as well as chaſtiſed thee? O ſay with David, What ſhall I render to the Lord? For conſider how great things God hath done for thy Soul.
1. 1. It is more better then deliverance.God hath done more for thee, then if he had never brought thee into affliction and trouble, or then if he had brought thee out the ſame day on which he ſent thee in: if he had delivered thee upon the firſt prayer that ever thou madeſt in thine affliction, it had not been a comparable mercy to his teachings of thee by affliction: Prevention and deliverance may be in wrath, ut ſup: but God never teacheth the Soul but i… is in love.
2. 2. It is a double, a multiplied mercy.God hath doubled his mercy and loving kindneſs to thee, he hath commanded deliverance and inſtruction too: a twisted mercy; yea, as Deliverance and Instruction were the return of Prayer, a treble, a multiplyed mercy: which ſhould greatly endear the heart to God, and make it ſing with David, I wil love the Lord, Pſa. 116.1becauſe he hath heard the voyce of my Supplication, upon the return of prayer in a ſingle deliverance, God expects the return of prayſe, Cal upon me in the day of trouble, Pſa. 50.15I wil deliver thee, and thou ſhalt glorifie me; how much more when he wreaths and twiſts his mercies one in another? double and treble and multiplyed mercy, cals for double and treble and multiplyed thankfulneſs; when God loads us with mercy we ſhould load him with our praiſes.
3. 3 A ſeal of Adoption.Inſtruction is the Seal of God, which ſet upon Correction doth Seal up Adoption and Son-ſhip, to them that are exerciſed thereby: the children of affliction are, by Divine Teaching, ſealed up the children of promiſe: If his children forſake my Law, ſpeaking of Chriſts ſpirituall Seed, Pſa. 89.31 32, 33.I wil viſit their tranſgreſſion with a rod, &c. but my loving kindneſs wil I not take away: I wil viſit them with the rod, that is, I will teach them with the rod, it ſhall be a rod of Inſtruction to them, that is the childrens portion; Heb 12.7.If his children forſake me, &c. God deals with you as with Sons. Behold oh thou Chriſtian ſoul, God hath done that for thee in thy ſufferings, which poſſibly he denyed thee in thy proſperity, given thee an Evidence of thy Son-ſhip; he hath made thy ſuffering time thy ſealing time; and hath allured thee and brought thee into the wilderneſs, Hoſ. 2.14.and there hath ſpoken comfortably to thy heart. Thy Patmos hath been thy Paradice wherein hee hath given thee his loves.
4. 4. Sufferings are conſecrated.God hath conſecrated thy ſufferings by his Teachings: Afflictions have taken Orders, as it were, and ſtand no longer in the rank of Ordinary Providences, but ſerve now in the Order of Goſpel-Ordinances, officiating in the holy garment of Divine Promiſes, and to the ſame Uſes. What is the great end and deſign of the Promiſes? the Apoſtle tels us, 2 Pet. 1.4. There are given to us exceeding great and precious Promiſes, that by them we ſhould be pertakers of the divine nature, i.e. of gracious diſpoſitions and qualities, which make the ſoul reſemble God, holy as he is holy, &c. this is the end of Divine Promiſes and Ordinances; and mark, what the Apoſtle Peter affirms of the Promiſes, the very ſame doth the Apoſtle Paul affirm of Gods chaſtiſments, Heb. 12.10He for our profit, that we might be PARTAKERS Of His HOLINES: See, by vertue of divine teaching afflictions advancd to the ſame degree & office with Goſpel Ordinances and Promiſes; ſo that what hinders, why we may not give thoſe titles of honour to Afflictions, which the Apoſtle here gives to the Promiſes, and ſay, To you it is GIVEN not only to beleeve, but to ſuffer. Phil. 1.29.There are given unto us exceeding great and precious Afflictions, that by them we might be partakers of the divine nature, that is, made partakers of his holineſs. See, O thou afflicted Soul, by teaching God hath changed the very nature of affliction; He hath turned thy water into wine; a priſon, a bed of ſickneſs, into a ſchool, into a temple, wherein he hath taught thee into his own likeneſs.
5. 5. The ſufferer is conſecrated.As God hath conſecrated thy ſufferings, ſo he hath conſecrated thee alſo by thy ſufferings. As it is ſaid of Chriſt, Heb. 2.10.He made the Captain of our Salvation perfect through ſufferings: foreign he conſummated, or perfected; Chriſt became a perfect Mediator by his paſſion; the Croſs was the complement and abſolution of his Mediatory-office; Ioh. 19.30 Tranſacta ſunt omnia.hence you hear him cry upon the Croſs, foreign, It is finiſhed. And thus alſo may it be ſaid of the members of Chriſt, they are perfected by ſufferings: Chaſtiſement being coupled with teaching, is the Conſecration and Conſummation of the Saints: I fill up, ſaith Paul, Col. 1.24. foreign.that which is Behind of the afflictions of Christ in my fleſh; the after-ſufferings of Chriſt. As Chriſt as a Mediator, ſo Chriſt as one Body, with his members, is compleated by ſufferings: I fill up that which is behind: Christ is not full till all his members have had their meaſure of ſufferings; You have need of patience, Heb. 10.36that when you have done the will of God, you may inherit the Promiſes. When we have done Gods will, all is not done; there is ſomewhat to be ſuffered, without which the Chriſtian is not in a capacity to receive his inheritance; you have need of patience, ſc. to carry you through the ſuffering part of your work, as well as the doing, that ſo being perfect, you may inherit the Promiſes.
Laſtly, 6. Crown'd with the Bleſſing. He is bleſſed, quia eruditur ad beatudinem. Greg. Moral. in Iob 5.17.By adding inſtruction to correction, God hath crown'd thee with the bleſſing: * Bleſſed is the man whom thou chaſteneſt and teachest: God hath turn'd the Crown of thorns into a Crown of gold, and ſet it on thy head, and now brings thee forth wearing this Crown, and ſhews thee, as it were, to the world as a monument of free-grace, proclaiming before thee, Thus ſhall it be done to the man whom God will honour.
Well then, Chriſtian, take up thy quid retribuam? ſit down and conſult with thine own Soul, what to render for ſo rich amercy? and behold, it is reſolved to thy hand: Pſa. 50.15. I will deliver thee, and THOU SHALT GLORIFIE ME: Behold God hath not only delivered, but taught thee, now therefore he expecteth glory from thee.Glorifie God, 1. Wi…h your lips.