A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer

7. Affliction is the Effect of God's Love. Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. But to be left to Sin, is an Effect of God's Anger. God doth not always exempt from Troubles; yet if he keep from Spiritual hurt thereby, if he sanctify the Trouble, support us with sufficient Grace, 2 Cor. 12. 9. if preserved from Evil, howsoever tempted and exercised, 'tis enough.

7. Affliction is the Effect of God's Love. Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth, he chastneth. But to be left to Sin, is an Effect of God's Anger. God doth not always exempt from Troubles; yet if he keep from Spiritual hurt thereby, if he sanctify the Trouble, support us with sufficient Grace, 2 Cor. 12. 9. if preserved from Evil, howsoever tempted and exercised, 'tis enough.

Use 1. To reprove our Folly. We complain of other Things, but we do not complain of Sin, which is the greatest Evil. This is contrary to the Spirit of God's Children, who rejoice in Troubles, but not in Sins; 2 Cor. 12. 9. Most gladly therefore will I rejoice in Infirmities, that the Power of Christ may rest upon me. They groan bitterly under Sins, Rom. 7. 23. O wretched Man, &c. If any Man had cause to complain of Afflictions, Paul had: In Perils often, Whipped, Persecuted, Stoned. But the Body of Sin and ⟨p. 497⟩Death was the greatest Burden; Lusts troubled him more than Scourges; his Captivity to the Law of Sin, more than Prisons. When Affliction sitteth too close, Sin sits loose. In Affliction, there is some Offence done us; but in Sin, the wrong is done to God; And what are we to God? Afflictions may be good, but Sin is never good. The Body suffereth by Affliction, but the Soul suffereth by Sin, loss of Grace and Comfort, which are not to be valued by all the World's Enjoyments. The Evil of Affliction, is but for a moment, like Rain, it drieth up of its own accord: But the Evil of Sin is for ever, unless it be pardoned and taken away. Sin is the Cause of all the Evils of Affliction; therefore when we complain, we should complain, not so much of the Smart, as of the Cause of it.