An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

Thirdly, Affliction purgeth out our corruptions, and that is good. Is it not good to have a disease, or an ill humour, purged out? this good comes by affliction. But doth the committing of sin purge sin? doth the Stock of sin abate by sinning? does the ill humour spend it self? no, the ill humour rather increaseth. When you choose sin, you weaken your Graces, and cherish your corruptions; but when you refuse sin, your corruptions weaken or spend their strength. Do you think when you have committed one sin, that the soul is made more unable to, or more averse from the same or another sin? When you have satisfied the call of one lust, will it now let you alone, and call no more? no, not at all; the more you sin, the more you may; the more you sin, the more doth the Stock of sin increase and grow in you.

Thirdly, Affliction purgeth out our corruptions, and that is good. Is it not good to have a disease, or an ill humour, purged out? this good comes by affliction. But doth the committing of sin purge sin? doth the Stock of sin abate by sinning? does the ill humour spend it self? no, the ill humour rather increaseth. When you chuse sin, you weaken your Graces, and cherish your corruptions; but when you refuse sin, your corruptions weaken or spend their strength. Do you think when you have committed one sin, that the soul is made more unable to, or more averse from the same or another sin? When you have satisfied the call of one lust, will it now let you alone, and call no more? no, not at all; the more you sin, the more you may; the more you sin, the more doth the Stock of sin increase and grow in you.

Fourthly, Affliction is a means to take us off or wean us from the World: O what a good is that! we being so apt to dote ⟨p. 329⟩upon it. The sin of the Age is, falling in love with the World; therefore it may be good for us to be soundly afflicted, that we may be weaned from the World, and from all things in the world, and be kept, where our true interest is, in the bosom of Christ, or close to him. But if you choose iniquity, will that take you off from the World? no; the more sin, the more love of the World; for sin and the World are akin, they are of a Blood; therefore the more you have to do with the one, the more you will have to do with the other.