A39682:205
A Saint Indeed
A saint indeed: or The great work of a Christian, opened and pressed; from Prov. 4. 23 Being a seasonable and proper expedient for the recovery of the much decayed power of godliness, among the professors of these times. By John Flavell M. of the Gospel.
London: printed by W.R., 1668
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
7. Con•id. Your poverty is not your sin, but your affliction only! if by sinful means • o• have not brought it upon your selves; and if ⟨p. 101⟩it be but an affliction, it may be born the easier for that.
'Tis hard indeed to bear an affliction coming upon us as the fruit and punishment of sin, when men are under trouble upon that account; they use to say, O! if it were but a single affliction coming from the hand of God by way of trial, I could bear it, but I have brought it upon my self by sin, it comes as the punishment of sin; the marks of Gods displeasure are upon it, 'tis the guilt within that troubles and galls, more than the want without.
'Tis hard indeed to bear an affliction coming upon us as the fruit and punishment of sin, when men are under trouble upon that account; they use to say, O! if it were but a single affliction coming from the hand of God by way of tryal, I could bear it, but I have brought it upon my self by sin, it comes as the punishment of sin; the marks of Gods displeasure are upon it, 'tis the guilt within that troubles and galls, more than the want without.
But it is not so here, and therefore you have no reason to be cast down under it.