question, "What son is there, whom the Father chasteneth not?" And he goes further, and draws another conclusion, that we should be so far from thinking that to be afflicted is a sign of our not being the children of God, that on the contrary he affirms, that not to be chastised is a sign, that a man is not of God's family: "If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons." For if the Lord scourgeth every son whom he receives, it is clear, that he, whom he leaves without chastisement, is not a true and legitimate son, but a stranger, a bastard; i. e. one that is not of the family, but takes only the name and quality, without any right to it. Thus God then deals with his children, and there is need of it; for though the regenerate are freed from the slavery and dominion of sin, yet while they are clothed with the flesh, the flesh will lust against the spirit, and they cannot do the things that they would, Gal. v. 17, and God not only chastises them for their infirmities, but to prevent them. And, since the love which he bears us, doth infinitely surpass the affections of the best and tenderest fathers; we may well confess, that no father in the world, can be said to deal with his children, so as God does with the believer. He offers himself to do a father's office. He is the world's sovereign, but the believer's father; as he is the governor of the world, he treats men righteously in his judgments; as he is the Father of believers, he treats them graciously in their afflictions. Here is a great comfort. If God deal with you as with children in striking you, His wisdom and his goodness are infinite: He does nothing but what is just and reasonable: He is guided by a fatherly affection in all he does: His blows are healthful. If David could account it a kindness if the righteous would smite him, and count his rebukes as an excellent oil, Psalm cxli. 5, should we not have the same thoughts of the chastisements of God? Men may mistake in their rebukes, God cannot. He is too wise to be deceived, and too good, not to make even his blows become an excellent remedy. He does not assault us as enemies, but as children; not to punish us in his fury, but to refine us; to make us in a state for him to take pleasure in; to make us more like himself, in the frame and temper of our souls. We should receive His corrections therefore, not so much as a punishment, as a favor. No child of God, but is, at one time or another, under his correcting hand. Noah had an affliction in a child, Gen. ix. 25. Abraham and Jacob were afflicted with famine. Isaac by an Esau. Moses was fain to fly for his life. Job suffered the loss of all his children and his goods, and was reproached by his friends. To be in affliction, is to travel in the road that all God's favored ones have gone before. Affliction is one of the clauses of the covenant God hath made with us in Jesus, which he does peculiarly insert, when he owns himself our God and Father; he would visit them with a rod, but not take away his lovingkindness, Psalm lxxxix. 32, 33. In the New Testament, God promises spiritual blessings. In the Old, when he promised more temporal blessings, his people were not exempt from his discipline. In the New, it is more express, that, "through afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of heaven." His only Son must suffer, and so enter into glory. God had one son without sin, but none without sorrow. Those then, that are not under his discipline, are not his children. Afflictions, therefore, should be so far from discouragements, that where there is an evidence of grace in the heart, they are rather marks of adoption. We might well doubt of a relation to God, if he took no care of us; that we were not his sheep, if he used not his crook to pull us to himself. Let us then receive his chastisements without repining, since he manifests his tender care of us in them, and regards us with the eyes and heart of a Father. If we were wholly strangers, he would abandon us. His paternal rod is for his children-his rod of iron for his enemies. VI. There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers: Death, like a narrow sea, divides This heavenly land from ours. But timorous mortals start and shrink O! could we make our doubts remove, Those gloomy doubts that rise, Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o'er, Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, VII. When we shall be joined to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, then shall we know, even as we are known, 1 Cor. xiii. 12; then shall all tears be wiped from our eyes, then shall our infirmities be taken from us, then shall we dwell with angels, and all the hosts of heaven in most happy blessedness itself. We see now by this chain, not forged by our own brain, but framed out of God's word, that he is indeed blessed, whom God chooseth, whom Christ redeemeth, whom the Spirit reneweth, whom faith stayeth, whom the word, prayer and discipline, built up in the Lord, in whom faith breedeth peace, peace sincerity, sincerity love, love a fear of displeasing and a care of pleasing God, in whom this care striveth to a mortification in poverty of mind, this poverty coming from a mourning heart, possessed in a meek spirit, and aspiring to true righteousness; all these things being joined with that sanctification, which laments our own sins, as well as the sins of others, and delights in relieving the wants of the poor and needy; knowing how to use prosperity and adversity as pledges of God's favor, and in faith looking for the kingdom of heaven, in the life to come. If any of these links be missing, the chain is broken; if any of these members be wanting, the body of blessedness is dismembered. VIII. God works by afflictions, and hereby He makes his own dear children exercise themselves more in repentance, weans them from this world, that would alienate them from himself, causes them to cleave faster to Christ by faith, who is the spring of holiness, more earnestly thirst to draw from that fountain, and pursue those things that are heavenly and eternal. God corrects his own to bring them to himself, that they may be partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter i. 4. Hence then, we may surely conclude, that afflictions Oh! no, are not inflicted for the satisfaction of sin. his justice has been satisfied to the uttermost by that precious blood-shedding, even by the blood of the Godman, Acts xx. 28; for "without shedding of blood is no remission," Heb. ix. 22. God aims at our profit; God aims at the advantage of the believing sufferers. He makes them smart to make them gracious here, and to meeten them for the inheritance of the saints in light. To impart to them the highest excellency the poor fallen creature is capable of. Ought not this to convince us, that we should love God even for afflictions? "In everything give thanks," says the apostle. In these there is great reason to give thanks, if they produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness, Heb. xii. 11. God has appointed these means to communicate his holiness to his children. "And shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. xviii. 25. How patiently and submissively then, should we bear afflictions! God never strikes but with reason-never strikes his children, but for their good. His blows should be received without murmuring. That, which is not only profitable, but necessary, calls both for our patience, as well as our willing submission, when God wisely inflicts it. Consider too, they are short, they are of no longer duration than this life. And what is time to a blessed eternity? Our duty under them is to answer the end and intention of God. To form ourselves (or at least aim at it) to that holiness he designs for us. To embrace every motion of the Spirit in our afflictions. To that purpose the rod hath a voice-the Spirit hath a voice, and both must be listened to, Micah vi. 9. And, because it is a hard matter to be without complaints, the apostle urges this in Hebrews xii. 11, and |