The Duty and Benefit of SUBMISSION to the Will of GOD in AFFLICTIONS. Discovered in Two SERMONS Upon a special Occasion, At Stapleford in LEICESTER-SHIRE. By JOHN CAVE, Rector of COLDORTON in the same County; And Chaplain to the LORD-BISHOP of DURHAM. jis qui erudiuntur Tolerantia succurrit, obj●ctis molestiis generose resistens, atque efficiens ne animus concidat, sed pugnet & propulset Doloris ictus. Simpl. in Epicte●um. Quàm pulch●um spectaculum Deo, cùm Christianus cum dolore congreditur, cùm adversùm Minas & Supplicia, & Tormenta componitur. Minut. Fel. LONDON; Printed for Richard Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCLXXXII. TO The Right Honourable and Truly Noble THE LORD and LADY SHERARD OF STAPLEFORD. Right Honourable; THese two plain Sermons were composed and suited to serve a great and sad Occasion of your Honours, reached at your Desires, heard with your good liking, and most effectually commended by your diligent Observation and Christian Practice of their Doctrine, and therefore in these Respects were justly your own without the formality of a Dedication; and truly I designed them so entirely for the Service of your Honourable Family, that their Preachingh had been their only Publication, and they had continued Yours still in the strictest Sense of Propriety, if an intimation of your Honour's Desires (which to me carry the force of a Command) had not only allowed, but obliged me to make them more common: and seeing the Cross is not only the Badge, but the Burden of our Christianity, and you have so many Fellow-Sufferers in the World, I have reason to hope, that others may find the same Support and Comfort by these seasonable Discourses, which through God's Blessing they have happily afforded you. And there being so many afflicting Circumstances (as it is generally known) in your Case, your Patience and Submission will want no Advantage of Example, but be able to speak more perswasively, and make more Converts than these weak Sermons of mine, or the Oratory of more powerful Preachers. Indeed when Death comes so near us, and makes so deep a Wound in Nature, we need an extrordinary Assistance of Grace, the Benefit of Precept and Example both, all the Helps which Philosophy, and Religion can furnish, lest we be wearied and faint in our Minds. St. Hierom writes of one Paulina a Lady of a steady and well-governed Temper in other Trials, who yet could not bear her children's Death, without an immoderate and unseemly Resentment; but some allowance may be fairly made to the Tenderness of her Sex, when we see Men who have naturally a greater Constancy and Courage, wise Men, religious Men, ready to fall by the same Stroke. Synesius the Bishop of Cyrene was so affected with the Death of his Children, Epist. 16. that in one of his Epistles, he complains that the Remembrance of it, like a lingering Consumption, wasted him daily, that all the Pleasure of his Life died with them; and at last, breaks out into this impatient Wailing; Let me live no longer, or else forget that they are dead. Yea, how doth the Heart of King David, a Saint and a Soldier, melt into a more than a Womanish Softness, and bewray its Weakness and Instability, in a Torrent of Tears, and impotent, unmanly Plaints at the Death of one Absolom; Absolom a Traitor and a Rebel to his King and Father; yet because a Son, still must be lamented in the highest Strain of Passion. My good Lord and Lady, you bewail a Son who had nothing of Absolom in him, but his Beauty, who had all the Grace and sweetness of Courtesy, of a most obliging Mind, Speech and Deportment, without any of the Gild or Blemish of Flattery, Affectation, or Design; who wanted no Accomplishment beseeming his Noble Birth and Quality, but excelled in Piety to his God, and Reverence to his Parents, and a towardly Compliance with the other Instructors and Governors of his Youth, whereby he soon became the Delight and Ornament of a learned and virtuous Society, Exeter College O●on. dear to them as a Child, and honoured by them as a Patron, and therefore wept over as both, with a mixed Affection, but not so fond, as rational. And indeed his obliging Qualifications procured him such a general Interest and Esteem, that every one who knew him seemed to mourn all along for him, as if the Loss had been only his without any Partner to share his Grief. But I design not in this, In Mr. Laxton's Sermon, preached on the day of his Interment. so much a Character of his Worth, (which hath been drawn already in better Colours, and with more graceful Strokes, than my poor Stock, or Skill can supply) as a just Commendation of your Honours singular Piety and Patience, your deep sense of the Displeasure, and yet your meek and humble Submission to the Will of the Father of Spirits, in taking from you a Son of so much Delight and Hope, and that in the Prime and the Blosom of his Years, when he seemed to be all Life and Vigour; a very severe and searching Trial. Yet I who had the unhappy Honour to be admitted into the darkest Scene of your Sorrow, and to see your Virtue surprised with a most dreadful Assault, soon perceived it happily succoured with such forces of Reason and Religion, as assured an equal Conflict, if not a Victory. And I know you have often blessed God, who by a wonderful Supply of his Grace hath maintained your Patience and Fortitude, and with the Temptation given a way to escape, and secure your Innocence. And I shall earnestly pray, that the God of all Consolation, would be pleased still to suggest to you such Religious Considerations as may establish, and increase your present Comfort, and lead you through all the obscure Passages of this Veil of Tears, into the brightest Glories of Everlasting Light and Joy, that the Belief of your dear Son's happy Translation, and the well-grounded Expectation of your own, may mortify all your earthly Affections, make you every day less concerned for what you enjoy, or suffer in this World; and that the Felicities of Eternity, may render the good or evil things of Time very indifferent to you. To these my Prayers, I shall upon all Occasions add my best Endeavours to serve your Honours, in promoting your highest, your heavenly Interest and Benefit, as becomes my Office and Obligations; there being no one more truly sensible of your Honour's Great Favours, than is, My Noble Lord and Lady, Your Honours most Faithful, Affectionate, and Obedient Servant, JOHN CAVE. Of Submission to the Will of God. HEB. xii. ix. — We have had Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us, and we gave them Reverence; shall we not much rather be in Subjection to the Father of Spirits, and live? OUR Blessed Saviour, who was himself, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief, bequeathed a Legacy of Sufferings unto the Heirs of his Glory, and it is through manifold Tribulations that we are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: So that we are not only born to Trouble by the common condition of our Nature (which like the Earth that the Lord hath cursed, brings forth nothing but Briers and Thorns) but also born again to it in the State of our Christianity, and trained up in the School of Crosses and Afflictions, under the Discipline of our heavenly Master. But he that hath called us to suffer with and for himself, hath also given us the surest Supports, and the strongest Consolations, in the most needful time of our Distress, by setting before us a Joy unspeakable, and over-balancing our light Afflictions with a more exceeding weight of Glory, exhorting us to Patience by his Precepts, and persuading us to it by his Promises, but more especially instructing us therein by his own most exemplary Submission and Resignation of Mind to the Will of his Father. And his great Apostle, having in the foregoing Chapter, reckoned up in order several eminent Patterns of Faith and Patience, in the beginning of this points, as from those many Witnesses or Martyrs, to this one glorious and triumphant Sufferer, Christ Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith; animating us by the Example of his victorious Patience, to a passive Fortitude and Courage in our sharpest fight of Afflictions, to an unwearied Perseverance in the roughest ways of Virtue. Let us run with Patience the Race that is set before us; looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith; Vers. 1, 2. who for the Joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, despising the Shame. Look unto him, not only to admire, but to imitate the Resolution and Invincibility of his Spirit, that you may not sink under the Cross which he endured, nor be overwhelmed with the Shame which he despised; for to this very end and purpose you are to consider him that endured such Contradiction of Sinners against himself, Vers. 3. lest you be wearied and faint in your Minds. Nay, consider how much less you suffer than he did; his Soul was exceeding sorrowful unto Death: To Death, which draws an everlasting Veil over all the Glories and Delights of this World; but Joy and Comfort may again break through your closest Mourning. He shed his precious Blood for you, you only shed Tears for yourselves; though you labour under many Sorrows, and have more Sins to strive against, yet you have not resisted unto Blood; yet you live still, Vers. 4. and may outlive all your Afflictions, unless you make them mortal by your own peevishness, which in themselves, or rather in the hand of your best Physician, are only medicinal and healthful. And he hath told you as much, if you have not forgotten the Exhortation which speaketh unto you, as unto Children; Vers. 4. and assureth you of his fatherly Love and Tenderness, when he makes you smart most under his correcting Hand: My Son, despise not thou the chastning of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: Be not stubborn against him, nor insensible of his Displeasure; for it is the chastning of the Lord, who hath power and right to punish: but yet be not too much dejected; for he speaks you, and deals with you, not as Enemies, nor Servants, but as Children, and plainly discovers his fatherly Tenderness even in these Exercises of his Lordly Dominion, as it follows in the 6th, 7th, and 8th Verses of this Chapter; For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with Sons; for what Son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? but if ye be without Chastisement, whereof all are Partakers, then are ye Bastards, and not Sons. This Consideration, if any, methinks should ease our Hearts in Trouble, and keep us from fainting under God's Rebukes, viz. that his Chastisements are the Effects and Arguments of his Love and towards us, at leastwise if we endure them as becometh Children, with a dutiful Regret for the Sins, the Faults that procured them, and an humble Subjection to the Hand that inflicts them. And that it is our Interest, as well as our Christian Duty, so to do; our Apostle further demonstrates by a very argumentative Comparison, in the words of my Text, We have had Fathers of our Flesh, and we gave them Reverence; shall we not much rather be in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? We have had Fathers of our Flesh; that is, of our Body, which consists for the most part of Flesh; or, Fathers of this Life, which we now live in the Flesh; a Life exercised with fleshly Instruments, and maintained with fleshly Supplies; these Fathers corrected and punished us as they saw occasion, sometimes withholding their Favours, otherwhiles taking away our Toys and Vanities, the Entertainments of our childish Affections; sometimes threatening, and otherwhiles laying on the Rod, and we gave them Reverence; we did not only take all patiently at present, but stood in awe of them for the future, honouring their Authority, and fearing their Displeasure; How much rather shall we be in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits? that is, the Father of our Souls, God's immediate Offspring, or of our Spiritual Life, and all that appertains more directly thereunto; Shall we not much rather be in Subjection to this heavenly Father? who is infinitely more excellent in himself, in his Wisdom, Power, and Goodness, who is the Author of our more noble part, the Soul, and upholds us in a better Being, than that which we derive from our natural Parents, and designs us a fruit and benefit of his Correction, beyond the Confines of this World, a happy Immortality, after a troublesome dying Life, which is implied in the last word of my Text, Live. Shall we not much rather be in Subjection to the Father of Spirits, and live? In the Words thus explained and paraphrased, we have. 1st, A Duty implied or supposed, the Submission of Children to their particular Parents. 2dly, A Duty expressed, the Subjection of all Mankind, but especially of Christians, to the Universal Father. 3dly, The Preference of this Duty to the former. 1. In respect of the Excellency and Superiority of Fatherhood. 2. In regard of the End and Benefit of his Discipline. 1st, We are taught the Duty of Child's Submission to their immediate and proper Parents, viz. That they ought to own and honour their Authority, in their Corrections, as well as in their Commands or Instructions. We had Fathers of our Flesh, who corrected us, and we gave them Reverence; that is, we did well so to do. 2dly, By an Argument at lest à pari, from an Equality of Comparison; we are taught that we ought to fear and honour our Common Father, to be in Subjection to him, because he is a Father too. 3dly, By an Argument in another respect à dispari, from the less to the greater; we are taught that we ought to be more subject to him. 1. In regard of the Excellency and Superiority of his Nature, and his Relation to us; Shall we not much rather be in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits? 2. In regard of the End and Benefit of his Discipline, which reacheth beyond the Interests of this present State, and giveth Life and Happiness in another. Shall we not rather be in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? I begin to speak something very briefly upon the Duty supposed, viz. I. That Children ought to submit to the Corrections of their natural Parents: They must neither sturdily shake off, nor complain and droop too much under the Yoke, but reverence their Authority in the harshest and most unpleasant Exercises thereof, tempering Joy with Fear, and pious Sorrow into a true Patience, and seemly Moderation of Spirit; equally bearing the Smiles and Frowns of their comforting, and their chastning Love, and overcoming those Evils by suffering, to which they might not oppose an active Force. For the Law of Nature, and Nations, as well as the Law of God, in the fifth Commandment, teach us the same that Ben-Sirach doth, Ecclus. 3.2. The Lord hath given the Father Honour, or Power, over the Children, and hath confirmed the Authority of the Mother over the Sons; and therefore he exhorts, Verse 8, Honour thy Father in thy Work, and in thy Word, & in omni Patientia, as it is in the Vulgar Latin, in all Patience; that is, submit to his Animadversions and Chastisements; and this the young Greek, that Plutarch speaks of, was taught in Zeno's School, I have learned, saith he, patiently to bear my Father's Anger. And indeed the Anger of a Father being not only the right of his Power and Place, but for the most part, the effect of his Love too, Children are not to bear it only as a Burden, but to receive it as a Blessing, as a means to secure that their filial Obedience and Reverence, to which God hath made so many, and so ample Promises of Good even in this Life. And the same Reasons of Subjection will hold, if not improve, in reverence to a more common Father, the Governor of a larger Family; yet in a sense the Father of our Flesh too, and subordinate to the Father of Spirits, as having a right to direct and rule our outward Deportment in order to a general Good, and public Peace, though by a particular Grievance, or personal Distress sometimes; I mean the Father of our Country, whom we must reverence even when he corrects and rules with Rigour, and to whom we must be subject not only for Wrath or Fear, but for Love and Interest, yea for Conscience sake, and by virtue of our Subjection unto the Father of Spirits, who hath placed us (only with a reserve for his own Prerogative) under his Dominion and Jurisdiction. But this minds me to proceed to the second Particular, viz. to show you, II. That it is the Duty of all Mankind, especially of us Christians, to be in Subjection to God the common Father, and chief of all the Tribes and Families. Here I shall undertake to show you, 1. Wherein our Subjection to this Father doth consist. And then, 2. Confirm the Doctrine by Proof and Reason. 1. Touching the nature and extent of this Subjection, it must be of a vast Latitude, not only exceeding broad, as God's Commandments, but as his Corrections too, embracing every Law, and kissing every Rod of his, complying with all the Ends of his Providence, so far as he is pleased to notify them to us, being equally disposed to do, and suffer his Will, in one Instance as well as another, without dispute or repining. But in my Text, it hath respect to the suffering part principally, if not only, to our bearing those Afflictious which God sends sometimes to humble us for our Sins past, sometimes to check a growing Vice, and otherwhile to prevent a future Vanity and Disorder of Life. And I shall endeavour to show you briefly; 1. Wherein this Subjection doth not consist. And, 2. Positively, wherein it doth. 1. It doth not consist in choosing Affliction, or bringing Trouble upon ourselves, when we may fairly avoid it. Nor, 2. In being insensible under it, when it lights upon us. 1. It doth not consist in choosing Affliction, or expesing ourselves to unnecessary Danger and Trouble. Estius indeed renders it actively, nun subjiciemus nos ipsos? shall we not subject ourselves? But then the meaning will not be, that we should make, or lay on, our own Burdens, but that we should bow and stoop to God's Impositions. Seneca Epla. 62. For Afflictions considered formally, in themselves, are Oppressions and Distresses of Nature, and so evil; and it is only the Grace, Power, and Providence of God, that brings good out of them, and makes them at any time profitable to us. And therefore Tormenta à me abesse velim, said the great Stoic himself, I am not in love with Torments, I do not desire Crosses, Sed si sustinenda fuerint, ut me in illis fortiter, animose, honestè geram opiabo; but if they be imposed, I will pray that I may bear them with an unbroken Spirit, and a becoming Courage and Resolution. And questionless, though our Christian Religion best enableth us to undergo and and overcome all outward Troubles, yet it furnisheth us, as well with Wisdom to decline them when we may, as with Strength and Fortitude to encounter their most violent Assaults. A wise Man, saith Soloman, foresees a Danger, and will do his best to avoid it. Wherefore it was our Blessed Saviour's own Advice to his Disciples, Mat. 10.17, 23. to be wise as Serpents in this sense, to keep out of harms way, and to beware of Men that would deliver up to Counsels: yea further in the 23d Verse of that Chapter, When they persecute them in one City, to flee to another. Prov. 17.17. And Solomon had told the World long before, or rather recorded it among his Proverbs, as a profitable Result of common Observation and Experience; A prudent Man seethe the Plague, and hideth himself: but the foolish Man goeth on still and is punished. And again, Blessed is he that feareth always, saith the same wise King; for Distrust is the Sinew of Wisdom, Et bonum est timere omnia ut nihil timeamus; It is good to fear all things that we may fear nothing; that is, a prudent Caution will set us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, out of the reach and power of what we fear. This Caution the Stoics called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A prudent declining of any hurtful thing. And although to some this seems a distrust of God's Providence; yet our Apostle assures us it may be an Act of Faith, Heb. 11.23. in the foregoing Chapter. By Faith Moses when he was born, was hid three Months of his Parents, to escape the Fury of Pbaraoh. We, who are at best but God's adopted Children, who are what we are merely by his Grace, and of ourselves have no Sufficiency, either to do or suffer as we ought, may well pray with his natural and only begotten Son, that if it be possible, the bitter Cup may pass from us. It is true, since God hath been often pleased to work that Good by Affliction, which other mere gentle Methods would not effect, we ought to pray rather that he should punish us here, than suffer us to perish hereafter. O Lord, correct me, but with Judgement, not in thine Anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. We are not obliged to expose ourselves rashly, as some wellmeaning Sufferers did in the Primitive Times; Senec. de benesic. l. 4. c. 22. yet, as Seneca said of his wise and virtuous Man, Placebit illi ignis per quam bona Fides collucebit; We need not fear those Flames which will illustrate our Graces, nor shun that Fire which will consume our dross only. In a word, as Affliction is an effect of God's Grace, and a means of improving our own Virtue, we may meet it with Desire, and embrace it with Delight, but as it is an Evil to Nature, and an Expression of God's Anger, we ought to avoid it when we fairly may; and pray with David: Psal. 38.1. O Lord rebuke me not in thy Wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot Displeasure. Nor, 2. Are we to be insensible of it, when God in his wise Providence brings it upon us; Seveca. Sensum enim Hominis nulla virtus exuit, said the Heathen: and the Christian renders it thus; No Grace of God doth abolish the Sentiments of Nature; yea Stupidity or Stubbornness under the Rod, or, as our Apostle calls it, the despising of the Chastning of the Lord, proceeds not from the Perfection, but the Depravation of our Natures. It was for this senslessness that God rebuked the Israelites; Hos. 7.9. Strangers have devoured his Strength, and he knoweth it not; they are in a wasting Condition, but are not sensible of their Misery. The Prophet Jeremy takes notice of the same evil disposition of Mind; Thou hast stricken them, Jer. 5.3. but they have not sorrowed; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive Correction. They hardened their Hearts, and either contemned, or disregarded God's Judgements, than which there cannot be a higher Affront to his Majesty. When Moses was a Suitor for his Sister Miriam, he received this Answer from God; Numb. 12.14. If her Father had spit in her Face, should she not be ashamed seven days? As if he had said, how much more should she be humbled, or ashamed that I have testified my Displeasure against her. It seems to be a higher degree of Impiety to turn God's Judgements, than his Grace, into Wantonness; Isa. 26.11. and therefore when the Hand of God is lifted up against a Nation, or a Family, if they will not see, and be sensible of lighter Strokes, they shall see, as the Prophet speaks, and be afraid of more cutting Calamities; God will add Grief to their Sorrow, as he did unto Baraches, and make them faint under their restless Sigh and Complaints. But let this suffice to show you negatively wherein this Subjection to the Chastning of our heavenly Father doth not consist. I proceed now to show you positively, that it doth consist, 1. In choosing Affliction and Misery of any kind rather than the least Sin. Though we are not to seek the Cross; yet we are not to go out of God's way to shunit: we must be content to suffer Persecution, rather than cease to live godly and honestly, in this present World. It was one of the gross Errors of those nominal Christians, the Gnostics, that they might lawfully apostatise from the Truth in the time of danger, and comply with the Jews for fear of Persecution; for we must cheerfully part with our Peace, our Ease, our Estates, yea our very Lives, rather than protect and secure them by any unlawful Practices, by any sinful Compliances, or Oppositions, either denying the Truths, or resisting the Ordinance of God, either deserting our Religion, or fight in the defence of it under any false Colours, or any lawless Conduct. We must suffer all that can befall us rather than offend on either hand. For whosoever shall deny me before Men, Mark 10.33. him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven, saith our Blessed Saviour. Rom. 3.2. And, Whosoever resisteth the Power, saith our great Apostle, resisteth the Ordinance of God; and they that resist, shall receive to themselves Damnation. We may understand the Sin of Rebellion, and the Christian Doctrine of Passive Obedience, much better from this Text of Scripture, than from the Writings of Bucchanan in the days of our Fathers, of J. Goodwin since, and of the late Author of the Life of Julian: for here we are plainly taught that Disloyalty to our King, is altogether inconsistent with Subjection to our God; that the Powers of Earth, are the Ordinance of Heaven; and Disobedience to them, at least actual Opposition against them, will certainly expose us to the Punishments of Hell: Wherefore it hath been the constant Practice of all good Christians, where they could not escape the effects of their Prince's Displeasure either by Obedience, or by Flight, then to bear them with Submission, but never to repel, or prevent them by Force or Resistance. Thus did the Primitive Christians under Heathen and Heretical Emperors: Thus did the Waldenses under Popish Persecutors; our Grandfathers under the bloody, fiery Reign of Queen Mary. Thus do our distressed Brethren of France at this present time, and thus must we all do, if God see best to put us upon the same Trials. The Popish Priests and Jesuits have found out as many dishonest Arts of saving themselves from just and legal Punishments, as of plotting Evil and Mischief against others. I shall give you one remarkable Instance, and that is their Practice of Equivocation and mental Reservation, using words of a double sense to cloud and conceal the Truth, and reserving some words in their Mind wholly to alter the sense of what they utter. As for Example, If you ask a Priest, Art thou indeed a Priest; he will confidently and readily deny himself, and say, I am no Priest, and if need be swear it also; reserving in his Mind, of Baal, or of Apollo; which Speech and Reservation put together, make up an entire Sentence, I am no Priest of Baal, or of Apollo. Again, they will endeavour to cover Treason by saying they had no design against the Life of the King; reserving in their Minds, of France. Such Lies, under other names, do they make their Refuge in times of Danger. If our blessed Saviour, or the Apostles and Martyrs of Christ, had known and approved this Doctrine, how easily might they have escaped those Troubles, Torments, and Deaths which they endured? When our Lord was demanded, Whether he was the Christ? how readily might he have answered, I am not, with this Refervation, such as ye look for? and his Apostles and Martyrs when they were questioned, Whether they were Christians? how eafily might they have replied, we are not, reserving only in their Minds, such as ye slander us to be? but they durst not practise these Shifts: nor must we shun Misery by running into Sin, choosing Afflictions with the People of God, rather than all the Pleasures and Prosperity of the wicked. But, 2. This Subjection consists in bearing Afflictions with Patience, not mourning immoderately nor murmuring at all. 1. Not mourning immoderately. To be insensible of Evils, is not to be Men; to be impatient under them, is not to be Christians. Lugere amicos luctu moderato decet, etc. It was good and pious Counsel that of Ben-Sirach; Let Tears fall upon the dead, Ecclus. 38.16, 17. and use Lamentations as he is worthy. Jesus wept over his Friend Lazarus. The Church lamented the Death of St. Stephen, and the Apostle Paul the dangerous sickness of his Epaphroditus. To laugh or look cheerfully at a Funeral, yea, not to drop some Tears upon the Hearse of our deceased Friend, is a Breach of our Christian Behaviour; yet there must be a mean in this, Lachrymandum est, sed non plorandum, Sen. Ep. 63. we must weep under our Father's Rod, but not complain of his Severity, which is a further Instance of our Patience and Submission to God's Will. For, 2. We must not murmur at all: I was dumb, said David, Psal. 39.9. I opened not my Mouth, because thou didst it: Whatever the voluntary, or unwilling Instruments of my Trouble may be, I see thy Finger in their Hand, I acknowledge thy Justice, and adore thy Wisdom and Goodness in all that I suffer, either from the Unkindness, or Mistakes of Men; and therefore I will not repine or complain so much as in a word of thy deal with me; 1 Sam. 3.18. Thou didst it, and therefore I opened not my Mouth; and there was as much Submission in Eli's and Job's Speeches, as in David's Silence; It is the Lord, Job 1.21. let him do whatsoever he will, said Eli, after he received the sad Prophecy of his Family's Destruction. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, Job 2.10. blessed be the Name of the Lord, said Job. He discovers more of this excellent Spirit, not only in bearing with his Wife's Frowardness, but in his meek Expostulation with her, and declaring the Equity of God's deal with them both, in so general a Calamity: Shall we receive Good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive Evil? To apply this in a word to ourselves; It is the same blessed Hand that distributes, and smites, and we ought to adore it with equal Reverence and Affection, whether it be opened wide in Bounty, or contracted close in Severity. Beloved, we have had much more Experience of God's Goodness towards us in giving us Prosperity, and a flow of Blessings, than we have had of his Anger, in taking from us our Comforts, and adding to our Miseries. And shall we receive Good at the Hand of God, (and so much Good as we have done) and shall we not receive Evil? Shall we not patiently bear a little Affliction? not repining at the sharpness of God's Discipline, but meekly kissing the Rod that strikes us, humbly acknowledging the Equity of our Father's severest Chastning, that all his Ways are equal, and that in Righteousness he doth afflict us, that our own Ini quities have wrought Evil to us, and that the Moths, which fret and consumeo ur Garments, have their Being and Nourishment from them: which is another good Evidence of our Submission to the Divine Disposals and Punishments. 3. Our Subjection in some Cases must show itself, not only by a Resignation, and yielding up of our Wills to the Will of God, and by an owning all Manifestations of his Justice, but by a Submission of our Understandings to his infinite Wisdom, and resting satisfied in the most mysterious and hidden ways of his Providence, such as his distressing the Virtuous, and prospering the Ungodly. There is a good reason why the provident Father, who would make a lasting Conserve of the Roses and Violets, should cut, mangle and bruise them, though the silly Child stand amazed at this Work; and, as the noble Mornay expresses it, Floribus illis illachrymatur & ciulat, weeps over those Flowers, because he would have them preserved for Poesies and Garlands. In like manner the Deal and Proceed of Almighty God, even those which are most intricate and involved, want not their reasonable Considerations to move and rest upon. Though we who are Children in Understanding cannot find them out, yet we know so much of our heavenly Father, as to be assured that his Judgements are according to Truth, and that there is no unrighteousness in him. And therefore, that we are in Duty obliged to adore and submit to that hidden Equity and Wisdom of his Proceed which we cannot comprehend, and by this humbling of our Reason, this confining of our Spirits within their proper Sphere of Knowledge, we give a farther Testimony of our Subjection to the Father of them, which yet is completed. 4. By Amendment of Life, by a careful avoiding and Reformation of these Faults, which were most like to move our Father's Displeasure. This is it which the Prophet Isaiah expresseth by a turning unto him that smiteth us; Isa. 9.13. this is it which the Prophet Micah intends, by hearing the Rod, Micah 6.9. and him who hath appointed it: Every Rod of God hath a Voice, and comes to reprove us for some Sin, or to instruct us in some Duty, and our Subjection to it consists not only in a patiented bearing of its smart, but in a towardly learning its Lessons; learning to be less sensual, and more heavenly-minded; less dejected with Adversity, and more humble in Prosperity; in a word, more holy in all manner of Conversation: That though we may say with David, Before we were afflicted we went astray; we may add with him also, but now have we kept thy Word: making it appear, that God indeed hath chastened us for our Profit, Psal. 119.67. that we might be Partakers of his Holiness. This is that worthy Fruit of Repentance which our blessed Saviour, in the third of St. Matthew, would have us to bring forth: This is the Work which God expects from us when his Rod is shaken over us, or laid upon us in any sore Calamity public or personal, even to consider our Ways, that is, our Omissions, our Actions, our Passions, what we have done, and how we have suffered, and to turn our feet to his Testimonies, as David speaks, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Punishments, saith Damascen, are the forced Offspring of willing Faults. If we had the true conceit of our Duty towards God imprinted upon our Hearts, and would we but add thereunto diligent Observation of our daily and hourly Neglects thereof; every particular Cross would direct us to some particular Sin, from which the Lord in Mercy would purge us. And we then are subject and bear the Affliction as we ought to do; if by searching our Hearts, examining our Ways, and considering the nature of it, we endeavour to discover, and reform that particular Vice for which God seems to rebuke and punish us. It was a mark of Incorrigibleness and Ignominy in King Ahaz, 2 Chron. 28.22. Jer. 5.3. that in the time of his Distress he sinned more and more; and this the Prophet Jeremy laments as a greater Misery than the sorest Affliction in that People; Thou hast smitten them, Psal. 107.3. but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive Correction; they have made their Faces harder than a Rock, they have refused to return. Whoso is wise, Psal. 94 12. and will observe these things, whoso will take warning by these Directions, and these Examples, to repent of, and reform the Evils and Errors of their Lives; They shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord, even under the show of his Displeasure. That, as Tertullian speaks, Foelix cui Deus dignatur irasci; or rather in David's Language, Blessed is the Man whom thou chastnest, O Lord, and teachest him in thy Law. But of this more hereafter. I have said as much as the time, and the design of my Discourse would permit, touching the nature of our Subjection to God's Chastning. I go forward to show more fully, (for I have done it in part already) that we ought to be so subject, and why we ought to beso. And, because this is a large Field, I shall confine myself both for Proof and Reasons to the words of my Text, and the foregoing Verses of this Chapter; and I doubt not but it will plainly appear that every Christian, every adopted Child of God, as well as the proper Son, our blessed Saviour, aught to learn Obedience by the things which he suffers; and to show his Obedience as much, if not more in that, than any other Instance, as he did. It is the design of the Holy Ghost in a great part of this Chapter and that foregoing, to establish this Doctrine, and commend it to our Practice. I shall only suggest this to you for a further Confirmation and Commendation thereof, viz. That the Chastning and Afflictions, which the Apostle here hath respect unto, and which are to be born with so much Contentment, and Submission, were of a peculiar and extraordinary nature, such as God hath never yet tried any of us withal, Persecutions and cruel Usages, the loss of Goods and good Name, as we may infer from some Passages in the tenth Chapter of this Epistle, as Cruel Mockings, no doubt, Scourge, Bonds, Imprisonments, as those we read of in the latter end of the eleventh Chapter, and all for Righteousness sake, for believing in Jesus, and doing the Will of God: Persecutions only short, if short at all, of those in the following Ages, when Children were snatched out of the Arms of their pitiful Parents, their Brains dashed out against the Stones before their Faces, their best Friends buried in Fires, or banished into strange places. Such as these were the Primitive Persecutions, such as these were the Losses, Trials, Chastning, the Apostle endeavours to fortify his Hebrews against, and to support them under: And by how much the less and more gentle our Sufferings are, so much the more patiently and submissively ought we to bear them. They perhaps might have been better allowed to weep Blood, than we to shed Tears, in regard of the greater smart and pressure of their Afflictions; and therefore, I shall hope that the Doctrine of the Text, though applied more particularly to their Cases, will have an equal, if not a more effectual Influence upon ours, to administer Strength, Courage and Comfort to us, in the more ordinary Calamities of our Lives, the milder Corrections of the Father of Spirits. And now we come to consider the Reasons of this our Subjection. 1. The first of which is derived from the Equality of Comparison in my Text, between our natural Parents and our spiritual Father: If we are to reverence and submit to the one as such, we are to do so to both, and must be in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits, because he is our Father. It is an Argument which God himself useth by his Prophet Malachy, Mal. 1.6. A Son honoureth his Father: if I then be a Father, where's mine Honour? where's your childlike Deportment? your cheerful Submission to my Will? You know, 1. That a Father hath right and power to give Laws to, and inflict Penalties on his own. 2. He hath Kindness and Bowels to mitigate the Rigour of Law, and to temper his Discipline according to the different Capacities and Infirmities of his Children: When the Rod is in a Father's hand, Love and Compassion have the Management of every Blow, and it is said of God, Psal. 103.13. that he pitieth us, as a Father pitieth his Son that serveth him. And as a tender Father pitieth the sick Child most, so doth He most commiserate us in our Distresses. He so pitieth us as to secure us in our Troubles, and in his due time, when it is most for his Glory and our own Good, to deliver us out of them; according to that gracious Promise, Psal 91.15. Psal. 34.19. I will be with thee in Trouble to deliver thee: Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous, but God delivereth himout of them all. This methinks should persuade us to a patiented bearing of Afflictions, because they are the Chastning of a Father. The Hand of an Enemy poisons the Wound, but the Hand of a Father when it strikes, drops Balsam; his very Rods are bound up in Silk and Softness, and he only wounds that he may heal; he only lances and cuts, to let out that Corruption which will not be carried off by any milder Method. But, 3. It is our Submission to his Corrections that maketh it appear that he is indeed our Father, and we his Children; our Subjection warrants and voucheth our Sonship. Every Hypocrite will fawn upon God in Prosperity, serve him when he can serve himself on him. It is the Property of the true Christian to adhere to him when he suffers for so doing, and to trust in him as Job did, not only when he maketh an Hedge about us, but when he layeth us waste, when he spoils us of our Goods, our Friends, our Children, our Health, yea our own Lives. For, as the Valour of a Soldier is best seen in the Battle, and the Skill of a Pilot in a Tempest; Gubernatorem in tempestate, in acie militem intelligas. Sen. de provident. so the Fortitude and Patience of a Christian is best discerned in Tribulation. Until the Storms and Winds came, the House built upon the Sand, seemed to stand as firm and secure as that upon the Rock: and give me leave by way of further Illustration, to tell you, Geranium noctu olens, Lichuis noctiflora. That Christian Virtue resembleth two remarkable Plants, which I have sometimes taken special notice of, one of which casts a most fragrant strong Perfume in the Night; and the other also (of no less contrary Complexion to its fellows, as if it rejoiced at what they mourn for, the Sun's setting) is never seen to blow and show its Flowers before the Evening. I am sure the true Christian's Graces are most illustrious and conspicuous in the dark; yea, his Light ariseth out of Darkness; and when the Sun of his outward Comforts is eclipsed or set, his inward Worth and Glory breaks forth as the Noonday. And suitable to our purpose, Lib. de Providentia prospera in plebem ac vilia ingenia deveniunt; at Calamitates Terroresque mortalium sub jugum mittere, proprium magni viri est. Ibid Sen. Ep. 13. is what the Wisdom of that sage Heathen, Seneca, observed, Magnum exemplum nisi mala fortuna non invenit, that none have been so eminently and exemplarily virtuous, as those that have been signally unfortunate: and he instanceth in Socrates, and declares that the Trial of his Constancy and Equanimity by a violent suffering of Death, made him a truly great Man: Circuta magnum Socratem fecit. Affliction indeed is no certain sign of God's Favour and paternal Love; but the willing Susception, and the cheerful bearing of the Cross, is the express Condition and the peculiar Character of our Christianity, of our spiritual Sonship or new Birth unto Righteousness. And therefore before those Errors and Corruptions, which we properly call Popery, had invaded the Church, the Figure of the Cross was assumed for the Badge of their Profession, and the Ensign of their Spiritual Warfare, the Pledge of their constant adherence to a crucified Saviour, as it is used by us at this day in the Office of Baptism. Hence it is that many good Men have petitioned for Crosses, as thinking them the necessary Attestations of their Sonship, and means of Assimilation unto their Elder Brother. But we are under a stronger Obligation, still to be in Subjection to our Father which is in Heaven; because, 4. He is not only the Father of our Flesh (for in and by him we live, move and have our natural Being, and from his Blessing we derive all the Comforts of it) but he is the Father of our Spirits too, and that by a more immediate Generation: Upon which account he hath, 1. A more absolute Dominion over us. And, 2. An infinitely more perfect Love and Kindness for us than our natural Parents have. Which brings me to my third and last Point, viz. III. That we ought to be more subject unto him, than to them. How much rather shall we be in Subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? How much rather shall we be in Subjection to him, 1. In regard of the Excellency of his Nature, and the Absoluteness of his Dominion. 2. In regard of the Excellency of his Nature, which is purely spiritual, nothing of Flesh or Frailty in him; who is not only a Spirit, but the Father of Spirits, of Angels, and the Souls of Men, the most noble and refined Being's; and therefore must needs have an infinite Fullness (if I may so express it) and Perfection of Spirit in himself, infinite Power, Wisdom, Justice and Mercy; and therefore the highest degrees of Reverence, of Love and Fear, are due to his Supremacy of Nature, and, as a consequent of this, to his right of Sovereignty, and rule over us. Job 25.2. Mal. 1.6. Dominion and Fear are with thee: Fear, as the result and tribute of Dominion. If I be a Master, where is my Fear? Shall we not pay that Homage to the Father of the whole Creation, to the Sovereign Master of all the World, which the Subjects of Families and Kingdoms upon Earth yield willingly to their respective Lords? Nay, shall not the degrees of our Obedience and Submission bear some Proportion to the Pre-eminency of the Divine Power and Authority? When the Question is put, Whom we should rather obey, or be in Subjection to, the Fathers of our Flesh, Psal. 76.12. the Father of our Country, or the Father of our Spirits, who cuts off the Spirit of Princes? St. Austin's Rule is a safe Direction, Non debet minor Potestas irasci, si major praelata sit, and we must stand most in awe of him that hath the greatest Power and Right of Rule. And that God hath so, will easily appear: 1. Because his Dominion is Original, in and from himself; all other is derivative, dependent and subordinate. Our Parents are his Children, and our King his Subject; Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis; or, in the Psalmist Phrase, he is terrible to the Kings of the Earth. 2. His Dominion is Absolute, no mixed, no limited Monarchy. Though we have a saying, that the King rules us, and the Law guides him, yet the Supreme Lord is not under any control, or any conduct either, but that of his own infinite Wisdom and Goodness; he doth both in Heaven and Earth, Psal. 99.5. whatsoever pleaseth himself. and aught to please his Subjects too: But whether it pleaseth us or no, God will assert his own Dominion; The Lord will still be King, be the People never so impatient. It will therefore concern us as well in point of Prudence, as of Duty, never to rebel against that Power which we cannot subdue, but with an humble dereliction of our own Wills, to acquiesce in his; or, in the Psalmist's Phrase, Psal. 46.10. to be still, and know that he is God, and will maintain his Prerogative. 3. His Dominion is universal, and he reigns over all, he is Lord of the whole Creation, the great and little World, and of each part of Man, of the Soul and Spirit, which is his Creature, or rather his Child, by a peculiar Participation of his Nature. 1. He gives Laws to our Thoughts, Desires, and Affections, which are exempt from Human Jurisdiction, and can punish their secret Disorders. For, 2. Such is his Sovereignty over the Spirit of Man, that he can break into the Soul's last Resort, and strongest Hold, where no other Enemy can enter, and wound where the longest Sword of Tyrannical Persecutors cannot reach: He can by an invisible Dart, secret Arrow of his Indignation, shoot into the very Heart, and give a Wound in the Spirit which none can bear; He can in an instant move that sense of Gild which will attach and arrest the Conscience, and make Desolation a there, where our chief Support and Comforts dwell. The most enraged, and malicious Persecutors can only kill that which would otherwise die of itself: But there is no Man hath Power over the Spirit, saith Solomon. Eccles. 8.8. God alone is thus mighty in Strength, and who hath hardened his Heart (saith Job) who hath stood out, Job 9.4. and rebelled against him, and prospered? 3. He hath the Power of Life and Death, which the Fathers of our Flesh have not. The Father's Power consisteth most especially in these two Points, in punishing and chastizing the Children for their smaller Faults, and disinheriting them at last if they prove incorrigible: but the Father of Spirits hath Potestatem vitae & necis, the Power of Life and Death over all his Children, He bringeth to the Gates of Hell, Wisd. 16.13. and he bringeth back again. And this further obligeth us to a patiented bearing of his Will in our own Sickness, our own darkest Walks in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and also in the last departure of our dearest Friends and Relatives, because God is the Father of Spirits, and takes no more from us, than what he first gave us. And hereby we do but attain to some degrees of Abraham's Faith and Patience, who was not more joyful at the Birth and Growth of his only Son, than ready to give him again to God in his best Age. 4. He hath the Power of the second, as well as of the first Death; Luke 12.15. or, as our blessed Saviour expresseth it, when he hath killed, hath Power to cast into Hell. Men after they have killed the Body, have no more that they can do, and our Christian Faith and Hope will bear us up under all the Threaten, and Strokes of their Cruelty, and enable us to say with Comfort, what the poor Lepers spoke in despair. If they kill us, we shall but die; but who knows the Power of thine Anger, 2 Kings 7.4. saith David? who knows what degrees of Torment the Wrath of an incensed God can kindle after Death? Temporal Judgements are to the wicked but the beginning of Sorrows, or in St. Gregory Nazianzen's Expression, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Smoke of the Lord 's Anger in Hell are the Flames, and the unquenchable Fire of it. Take the Ashes of the Furnace, Exod. 9.8. saith God to Moses, and cast them into the Air, and they shall be Sores and Plagues upon them: such are all temporal Punishments (saith the excellent Bishop Brownrig) they are but the Ashes of the Furnace of Hell Fire, not to be compared to those everlasting Torments. A patiented bearing of those Afflictions with which God chastens his Children and Servants in this Life, is one good way to escape that Wrath, which he reserves for his Enemies in the next. Thus have I shown you briefly what good reason we have to be subject to the Father of Spirits, rather than to the Fathers of our Flesh, our natural or civil Parents, in regard of the greater Absoluteness and Latitude of his Dominion. 4. There is one thing more which advanceth God's Sceptre, and awes us into a lower Submission, and that is, the duration and continuance of his Dominion. This seems to be implied in our Apostle's present Argument in the very next Verse to my Text; They verily, (that is, the Fathers of our Flesh) for a few days chastened us. Theirs, if a severe, is but a short-lived Empire: But God who shows Mercy to thousands, punisheth also to the third and fourth Generation; yea, His Kingdom, as the Psalmist speaks, is an everlasting Kingdom, Psal. 145.13. and his Dominion endureth throughout all Generations. I might say much more of God's Sovereignty and right of Rule over us, a right to give Laws, and to inflict Punishments, to exact Obedience and enforce Subjection. But I shall proceed to show you in The Second Sermon. SEcondly, That as is his Majesty, such is his Mercy; as he hath a more complete and absolute Right of Dominion over us, so he hath an infinitely more tender Love and Kindness for us, than the Fathers of our Flesh have: This is implied in their proper Characters and distinctions, Fathers of our Flesh, and Father of Spirits. This bespeaks place by his very Name and Title, which bears Signatures of Goodness, altogether as illustrious as those of Power, which you have seen displayed. Where Flesh in Scripture is not used to describe Sin either original or actual, it for the most part denotes Weakness, if not the Corruption, the Frailty of our Nature: And Spirit is a word of a quite contrary Import, and carries in the notion of it high degrees of Purity, Knowledge, Power and Goodness. But, 2. The Pre-eminence of God's Paternal Affection, and the Advantage of his Discipline, is more plainly represented in the last word of my Text, Live, and in the Explication of it by those following words, They indeed for a few days chastened us after their Pleasure, but he for our Profit. If they design their children's Good, they may either through want of Knowledge, or excess of Passion, mistake the measures of their Discipline; but there are none of these Imperfections in the Father of Spirits. His Anger, which is the Product of Love, is also the Subject of Wisdom, and managed by both for a singular Benefit. He that is the Father of Spirits, knows their frame, and their Frailties, what Medicines they need, and what they will bear, and as his Wisdom prescribes and directs, his Love administers and makes Application. 1. He knows what Medicines they need, what will prejudice their Health, and what will purge their Distempers, and therefore accordingly order them pro jucundis aptissima quaeque See the Art of Contentment, p. 123, 130. profitable instead of pleasant things, sometimes wholesome Wormwood instead of luscious Honey. The same Wisdom and Goodness which denies us those things we like, because they are hurtful for us, doth upon the very same reason give us those distasteful things which he sees profitable. A wise Physician doth not only diet, but if occasion be, purge his Patient also. And surely there is not such a Purifier, such a Cleanser of the Soul, as are Afflictions, if we do not (like disorderly Patients) frustrate their Efficacy by the irregular Managery of ourselves under them. God afflicts no further than the Necessities of his Patients require, and what is short of this, is, though under the show of Compassion, a real Cruelty. He doth not punish willingly, Lam. 3.33. 1 Pet. 1.6. nor grieve the Children of Men. Now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold Temptations. If our Affliction be sharp and painful, certainly God seethe that we have need of it, otherwise he would handle us more gently. The Husbandman ploughs not, but to sow, and he ploughs and harrows no longer than till the Clods are broken: and God suffers wicked Men, whom the Psalmist compares to Plowers, (or any other Harassers of our Ease and Content) no longer to make Furrows upon the Backs, or rather upon the Hearts of his Servants, than till they are softened and broken, and become a fit soil for his Graces to grow in. For, 2. He that knows our frame, understands our Frailties too, not only what we need, but what we can bear, and remembers not only that our Bodies are Dust, but that our Souls also partake of the Infirmities of their Companions, or rather of the Discomposures of their Instruments, and therefore resolves that he will not contend for ever, neither be always wrath, Isa. 57.16. lest the Spirit should fail before him, and the Souls which he hath made; Ezra 9.13. but he punisheth us less than our Iniquities deserve, 2 Cor. 10.13. and hath promised to lay no more upon us than we are able to bear, and that we shall not be tempted above our Strength. If he chasten sore, he will not destroy; if he cause Grief, Lam. 3.32. yet will he have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies. Psal. 102.13, Many times turned he his Anger away, and did not suffer his whole Indignation to arise, for he remembered that they were but Flesh. God will either enlarge our Grace, or abate our Trouble, so that it shall not overwhelm us. Who can lift up a Complaint against so compassionate a Father? Who can rebel, so much as in a hard thought, of the Rigour of his Discipline? Especially if we consider that he is altogether as much a Father when he corrects, as when he cherisheth us; and that he designs the same Good in a variety of Conditions. He gives Riches to some, that they may honour him with their Substance, and keeps them from others, lest they should abuse them to Avarice or Riot. To some he gives Children to be the Staff and Solace of their Pilgrimage, and takes them from others, lest they should take them from himself, and draw down their Affections from things above. Eceius 37.28. Some he continues in this World to declare the Works of the Lord, and others he takes out of it to rest from their own Labours. All things, saith the wise Man, are not profitable for all Men. And the Wisdom of the Divine Providence is seen as well in sending Winter, as Summer, Autumn as Spring, foul Wether as fair, Adversity as Prosperity, Sickness as Health, and Death as Life. It was a high Speech of Seneca's (after the manner of the Stoics) Bona rerum secundarum optabilia, adversarum mirabilia: That the good things of Prosperity are to be wished, and the good things of Adversity are to be admired. But to speak the words not only of Truth, but Soberness, great and numerous are the Benefits of Adversity. The Judicious Verulam magnifies and extols them in this Comparison: Essays. Prosperity is the Blessing of the Old Testament, Adversity of the New, which carrieth the greater Benediction, and the clearer Revelation of God's Favour. Solomon pronounces Sorrow more desirable than Laughter, Eccles. 7 3. because by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better. Our blessed Lord and Master, who began, and lived and died in Sorrows, seeing his own Sufferings to succeed so well, and that for suffering Death, he was crowned with Immortality, resolved to take all his Disciples and Servants to the Fellowship of the same Sufferings, that they might have a Participation of his Glory. No Affliction, saith our Apostle, a little after my Text, is for the present joyous, but grievous; nevertheless it produceth the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness to those that are exercised therewith. Those showers which wet the Husbandman, multiply his Grain, and a dripping Seeds time is usually followed with a more plentiful Harvest. If the Servants of God sow in Tears and Blood, those Tears and Blood will but water and manure their Graces, and make them spring up, and blow into a fuller and fairer Glory: Thick Mists usher in a bright day, and Clouds of Sorrows are usually the forerunners of a more clear and constant Joy, and Death itself is an inlet to immortal Life, which would bring me to the Conclusion of my Text and Sermon, the great and last end and benefit of all our Crosses, or rather of our patiented bearing of them, everlasting Rest, and Exemption from Trouble in the Life to come. But it will not be amiss, not only for the vindicating of God's Justice, but also for the Exaltation of his Mercy, to show in several Instances, what good Ends, though subordinate to this great one, he propounds to himself in his most severe Chastning. One good End is, 1. To make us sensible of our Sins, and thereby to lead us to Repentance. In the warm Seasons of Health and Prosperity, variety of delightful Objects call our Thoughts abroad, and we heighten the Pleasure of our Enjoyments, by the prospect of our Hopes, and easily flatter ourselves that when the Sun shines, and the World smiles upon us, God is well pleased with us too; and that our Sins are little because his Mercies are so great: but when stormy Clouds and Thunder are in the Air, we keep within doors, we retire into ourselves, and in the time of Adversity consider, what and how great our Sins are which have overcast our Heaven, darkened the Light of God's Countenance, and made our Face foul with Weeping, Job 10.16. as Job speaks. The Goodness of God indeed should lead us to Repentance; but such is the Disingenuity of our Natures, that we too often despise his Goodness, and force him either to leave us in our Sins, or punish us for them, which is the most merciful Cure that our Case will admit of. If they be bound in Fetters, Job 36.7. and holden in Cords of Affliction, than he shows them their Work, and their Transgressions, as Elihu speaketh. When God had taken away from Naomi her two Sons (though by an ordinary and usual Death) she concludes, Ruth 1.13. and so should we in the like Case, that her Sins had deserved it, and that the hand of the Lord was gone out against her. David's Afflictions had this good Effect upon him, Psal. 35.5. When thy Hand was heavy upon me, etc. I acknowledged my Sin unto thee, and mine Iniquity have I not hid. We are all too apt to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness, only impudent and hardened Sinners despise his Judgements. 2. As our Afflictions do in general admonish us of our Transgressions; so (as hath been already intimated) they point us to those particular Sins which provoke God's Displeasure. Joseph's Brethren easily acknowledged their Gild, because they saw their Sin written upon their Punishment; Their close Imprisonment taught them what it was to cast their Brother into a desolate Pit. And the Wiseman observes, that the turning of the Egyptian Waters into Blood, was a manifest Reproof of that cruel Commandment for the murdering of the Hebrew Infants. Wisd. 12.5. And surely, as one speaks, we might in most, The Art of Contentment. if not all our Sufferings, see some such corresponding Circumstances, as may lead us to the immediate provoking Cause of them. God who does all things in number, weight and measure, does in his Punishments also observe a symmetry and proportion, and adapts them not only to the Heinousness, but even the very specific kind of our Crimes, which was observed by Quintus Curtius in the case of Bessus, Quint. Curt. P. 203, 204. who betrayed Darius. Scelesti haud rarò supplicia luunt ejusdem generis cum illis quae patrârunt flagitiis. Wicked Men are usually paid home in their own Coin, made to suffer in the same way they sinned; in which we ought not only to take notice of the Justice, but of the Mercy of God in giving such Instructive Corrections, which, like Jonathan's Rod, that was dipped in Honey, enlighten our eyes, 1 Sam. 14.27. discover to us by a very affecting Evidence, both the nature of our Sin, and the necessity of our Repentance. 3. God sends Afflictions to try us. Behold, I will melt them, and try them. Jer. 9.7. Now this fiery, this melting Trial, hath these two good Ends. 1. To refine our Natures, to purge away our Dross and Corruption. 2. To discover and illustrate our Virtues and Graces. 1. To purify our Natures and purge away our Dross and Defilements. Prov. 17 3. The fining Pot is for Silver, and the Furnace for Gold, but the Lord trieth the Hearts. We are by Nature Massa corrupta, Children of Wrath, being at best but like Gold and Silver in the Oar, till God puts us into his Fining-Pot, and his Furnace, yea after God's Grace hath renewed us in our first Conversion, we have many gross and drossy Intermixtures, which will not easily be cleansed off without a frequent Application of some searching Refiners; the Word of God indeed is an excellent one, Sanctify them by thy Truth, thy Word is Truth. The Word of the Lord tried him: Psal. 105.19. and so it doth many others. But, 2. Affliction is also a great Refiner: I have refined thee, Isa. 48.10. but not with Silver; I have chosen thee in the Furnace of Affliction. The Furnace is not for the hurt of the Gold, but for the Advantage and Improvement of it, it loseth nothing there but its Dross, and becomes more precious, more fit for the Master's use, to be made a Vessel of Service and Honour: So are Troubles and Afflictions God's Instruments, to cleanse and purify our Natures, to work out the Pride and Vanity of our Minds. This is that good end the Apostle refers to immediately after my Text, He chastens us for our Profit; How? That we may be Partakers of his Holiness. And we should endeavour to gather these Grapes and Figs even from our Thorns and Thistles, these blessed Fruits of Humility, Holiness, and Righteousness, I mean, from the Tree of the Cross, that so we may comply and close with God's Merciful Purpose in afflicting us, saying with Elihu in all meekness, and true contrition of spirit, I have born Chastisements, Job 34.31, 32. I will not offend any more. That which I see not, teach thou me: If I have done Iniquity, I will do no more. But, 2dly. Afflictions are sent for trials of the Truth, and sincerity of our Graces, our Faith, Patience, and the like: That the trial of our Faith, 1 Pet. 1.7. being much more precious than that of Gold, which perisheth, though it be tried with Fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, saith St. Peter: and Tribulation worketh Patience, saith St. Paul. To both these, that of Minutius Felix seems to refer, Aurum ignibus, sic nos discriminibus arguimur; as Fire trieth Gold, so Crosses and Perils discover the Truth and the strength of Virtue. This is taught us in the Parable of the Stony Ground. Every forward Hearer of the Word, every specious Professor goes for a good Christian, till he is like to suffer for his Profession, and till Tribulation or Persecution arise because of the Word. Mat. 13.20, 21 God indeed sees through our hypocritical Cover, all our painted and gilded Outsides, and needs no Touchstone to find out our hidden Faults. But because we are sometimes apt to mistake ourselves, our own Strength, as St. Peter once did, God in Mercy tries us to give us a right understanding of ourselves, of the true Habit of our Minds. Seneca reports it as the saying of his admired Demetrius: Lib. de providentia. Nihil mihi videtur infoelicius eo, cui nihil evenit adversi. I think no Person so unhappy, as he who enjoys an uninterrupted Felicity. And he shows his Approbation of it by giving this Reason for it, Non licuit enim illi se experiri, for he could never prove and know himself, what he was, and what he was able to do or suffer. Agreeable hereunto is that of St. Austin, Tentat Deus non ut ipse hominem inveniat, sed ut homo se inveniat: God therefore thus tries, not that he may find out a Man, but that Man may find out himself, and be sensible of his own condition. 4. Hos. 5.15. Afflictions make us more frequent and fervent in Prayer. Most Men too much forget the God of their Mercies, but in their Affliction they will seek me early. Lord, Isa. 26.16. in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a Prayer when thy Chastisement was upon them. The Sun of Prosperity puts out the Fire of Devotion, which is kindled and inflamed by the Antiperistasis of a Winter Blast, a bleak Season of Adversity. Israel learned not to mourn until they were sent to Bahel. Ionas sleeps in the Ship, but wakes, and prays in the Whale's Belly. 5. God in Mercy exerciseth good Men with Crosses and Sufferings, to wean them from the World, to discover the Indifferency, if not the Worthlesness of those Persons or Things which they promise themselves most Satisfaction and Comfort from: In our Friends and Relations it is usually seen, God soon takes those from us, for whom we have the greatest and most immoderate Passion, lest they should alienate our Affections from himself, or abate the degrees of them, and cool our pursuit of a Heavenly Happiness. Yea, when he takes away our Children, the dear Parts of ourselves, the Off-sets of our Stock, he doth not only design the better Growth and Fruitfulness of our own Spiritual Life, by removing the Suckers of Piety and Virtue; but he designs also their Improvement and unspeakable Advantage, by transplanting them into his own Paradise. Pliny the eldest, (though he could not see into the Glories of another Life for want of our Revelation, yet had studied the World very much, and for his parts of Nature, Wit and Curiosity, and other great Advantages of Fortune, might be supposed to know as much as any mere Philosopher) made this Observation, that no Wish was more frequent among Men, than the Wish of Death, and thereupon his Conclusion is, that Natura nihil brevitate vitae praestitit melius; that Nature hath not done us so great a Kindness in any thing, as in shortening our stay in this Life, that we may not contract too great an Intimacy with the World. And that we may not too much lament the Condition of those that leave the World, before it leaves them, who are blasted in the Beauty, and Flower of their Youth, have their Evening before Noon, and die in their first Enjoments of the Pleasures of Life. He elsewhere calls Death, Praecipuum Naturae bonum, the chief Blessing of Nature, which cannot come out of Season; because there is no Good in this Life, which is not either tempered with some present Evil, or followed with some evil Effects and Inconveniencies: according to that of Pliny the younger, in his incomparable Panegyric; Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex secundis adversa nascantur; Such is the changeable State of us Sejourners upon Earth, that our Comforts breed Crosses, and what we reap in Joy, was first sowed in Tears. This is another good End of God's chastening us, to wean our Affections from this World, while we live in it, and to reconcile us to Death, our last Enemy, and to make us willing to follow our Friends into another World, who could not stay with us here, and from whom we cannot there be separated. I say, methinks we should not be very fond of such a Life, either for ourselves, or those we love best; which is not only so short that it cannot be kept long, but withal, so full of Trouble, that it is hardly worth the keeping; nor by consequence to dote on a flattering World, which is so little to be enjoyed, and its Enjoyments so very full of vexatious Mixtures. 6. Lib. de providentiâ. Besides that particular and personal Good which God designeth us in our Chastisements, he reacheth the Benefit of our Example to others, and teacheth them Patience and Constancy by our Subjection to his Fatherly Discipline. Seneca speaks it of good Men in their Sufferings, Nati sunt in Exemplar, they are born to be Patterns to others. And we are advised in this Chapter to consider our Saviour's Endurance, for the fortifying of ourselves, the Confirmation of our Courage and Patience, lest we be wearied and faint in our Minds. Christ suffered for us, 1 Pet 2.21. saith St. Peter, leaving us an Example that we should follow his Steps. 7. God designs a future Good in our present Chastisements, and the Prevention of a greater Evil, than that which now oppresseth us. The Father of Spirits regardeth principally their Interest, and if he grieve them here it is that he may spare them the better hereafter; When we are judged, 1 Cor. 11.32. we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the World. And indeed, what can afford us so firm and solid a Support under all our Losses and Crosses, all our Disappointments and Calamities of this Life, as the comfortable Assurance and Expectation of a blessed Immortality? You have heard that the Father of Spirits projects many Benefits and Advantages to us in those Afflictions which seem most to express his Displeasure, and that we ought to receive them cheerfully at his hand, as the Medicines of our Soul, and the Seasoning of our Fortune, as the Incentives of our Devotion, and the Instruments, Polishers and Discoverers of our Virtue; but that which will enable us not only to bear the Cross with Patience, but with Triumph, and to glory in Tribulations, as the Apostle speaks, is the Presage of future Joy, and that well-grounded Hope of Glory, which they excite in our Souls. So that in regard of this great and last Benefit of our Sufferings, I may forbear any further Persuasions to Patience, and leave you under the Command and Compulsion of so prevailing a Motive as your own Eternal Life and Happiness. If there are other very good Reasons, as you have heard derived from the Power and Goodness of God, this may supersede them all, How much rather shall we be in Subjection to the Father of Spirits, and live? Live longer and more comfortably in this World, live for ever in an Eternity of Health and Happiness in the next. Now, the God of all Grace, who hath called us to his Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever. Amen. FINIS.