Sermons preached on several occasionsSermons preach'd on several occasions

(1.) The Relation God sustains when he afflicts Believers. He is a Judg invested with the Quality of a Father. The Covenant of Grace between God and Jesus Christ, our true David, contains this observable Clause, If thy Children ¹forsake my Law, and walk not in my Judgments: If they break my Statutes, and keep not my Commandments; then will I visit their Transgressions with a Rod, and their Iniquity with Stripes.

1. 1Psal. 89. 30, 31, 32.

The Love that ariseth from this Relation, tho it cannot hate, yet it may be displeased, and chastise them for their Follies. Moses tells the Israelites, Thou shalt consider in thy Heart, that as a Man chastens his Son, ¹so the Lord thy God chastens thee. In Children Reason is not fully disclouded, they are not capable to govern themselves, and are only taught with sensible Pleasure or Pain: So that a Father is obliged to join Correction with Instruction, to form them to Virtue. This is so far from being inconsistent with Paternal Affection, that 'tis inseparable from it. For a Parent to suffer a Child to go on pleasantly in Sin without due Punishment, is pure Cruelty disguised under the Mask of Pity: for by the neglect of Discipline he is confirmed in his vicious Courses, and exposed to Ruin. The Apostle therefore adds, ⟨p. 172⟩Whom the Lord loves, he chastens: As from the severest Wrath he sometimes forbeareth to strike, so from dearest Love he afflicts. Humble Believers through a Cloud of Tears may see the Light of God's Countenance: for having elected them by special Love to a glorious Inheritance above, he dispenseth all things here in order to the preparing them for it; and all Temporal Evils, as Means, are transformed into the Nature of the End to which they are subservient. So that the sharpest Sufferings are really from God's Favour, since they are beneficial for our obtaining real Happiness. The Devil usually tempts Men in a Paradise of Delights, to precipitate them into Hell: God tries them in the Furnace of Afflictions, to purify and prepare them for Heaven.