This care and tenderness over his afflicted, is eminently discovered in three particulars. (1.) In not expofing them to, 'till he hath prepared thera for, their trials, Luke xxiv. 49, «Tarry ye at Jerusalem, until "ye be endued with power from on high." He gives them sometimes eminent discoveries of his love immediately before, and as a preparative to their fufferings, in the strength whereof they are carried through all. (2.) Or if not fo, then he intermixeth fupporting comfort with their troubles; as you fometimes fee the fun fhine out while the rain falls. It was fo with Paul, Acts xxvii, 23、 "This night (and it was a fad night indeed) there stood by me "the angel of the Lord, whofe I am." (3.) In taking off the affliction, when they can bear it no longer, 1 Cor. x. 13. "He makes a way to efcape, that they "may be able to bear it," Pfal. cxxv. 3. The rod is taken off, "when the righteous is even ready to put forth his hand to "iniquity." It is a Jewish proverb, When the bricks are doubled, then comes Mofes. And it is a Chriftian's experience, When the spirit is ready to fail, then comes Jefus, according to that promife, Ifa. lvii. 16. REFLECTIONS. 1. How unlike am I to God, in the afflicting A reflection of his people? The Lord is pitiful when he fer perfecutors. fmites them; but I have been cruel: he is kind to them, when most severe; but the best of my kindneffes to them, may fitly enough be called feverity; God fmites them in love; I have fmitten them in hatred. Ah! what have I done? God hath ufed me as his hand, Pfal. xvii. 14. or as his rod, to afflict them, Jer. x. 7. but his end and mine have widely differed in that action, Ifa. x. 7. I am but the fcullion, or rather the whifp to fcour and cleanfe the veffels of glory; and when I have done that dirty work; those bright fouls fhall be set up in heaven, and I cast into the fire. If he fhall have judgment without mercy, that thewed no mercy, how can I expect mercy from the Lord, whose people I have perfecuted mercilefly for his fake? A reflection for fuchasmeet with no affliction. 2. Is the Lord's wheat thus threshed on the floor of afflictions; what then fhall I think of my condition, who profper and am let alone in the way of fin? Surely, the Lord looks on me as on a weed, and not as his corn; and it is too probable, that I am rather referved for burning, than for threshing. Some there are whom God loves not fo well as to spend a rod upon them, but faith, "Let them alone," Hof. iv. 17. but miferable is their condition, notwithstanding their impu nity! For what is the interpretation but this: I will come to a reckoning with them altogether in hell. Lord, how much better is thy afflicting mercy, than thy fparing severity! Better is the condition of an afflicted child, than of a rejected bastard, Heb. xii. 7. Oh, let me rather feel thy rod now, as the rod of a loving Father, than feel thy wrath hereafter, as the wrath of an omnipotent avenger! A reflection for an afflicted faint. 3. Well then, defpond not, O my foul ! Thou heareft the husbandman loves his corn, though he threfheth it; and, furely, the Lord. loves thee not the lefs, because he afflicts thee fo much. If affliction, then, be the way to heaven, bleffed be God for affliction! The threshing-ftrokes of God have come thick upon me; by which I may fee what a tough and ftubborn heart I have: if one ftroke would have done the work, he would not have lifted up his hand the fecond time. I have not had a stroke more than I had need of, Pet. i. 6. and by this means he will purge my fins: bleffed be God for that! the damned have infinitely more and harder ftrokes than I, and yet their fin fhall never be feparated by their fufferings, Ah fin! curfed fin! I am fo much out of love with thee, that I am willing to endure more than all this, to be well rid of thee: all this I fuffer for thy fake; but the time is coming when I fhall be rid of fin and fuffering together: mean while I am under my own father's hand: fmite me he may, but hate me he cannot. TH The POE M. HE facred records tell us, heretofore The heaviest burthens, and the lefs on thofe God's the phyfician: who can then miscarry Nor measure, nor yet mercy he obferves CHA P. XX. Upon the winnowing of Corn. The fan doth caufe light chaff to fly away; WH OBSERVATIO N. HEN the corn is threfhed out in the floor where it lies mingled with empty ears, and worthlefs chaff, the husbandman carries it out altogether into fome open place; where, having fpread his fheet for the prefervation of the grain, he expofes it all to the wind; the good, by reafon of its folidity, remains upon the fheet, but the chaff, being light and empty, is partly carried quite away by the wind, and all the reft feparated from the good grain into a distinct heap, which is carried away, either to the fire, or dung-hill, as a worthless thing. M APPLICATION. EN have their winnowing-days, and God hath his ; a day to separate the chaff from the wheat, the godly from the ungodly, who fhall be held up to the wind; but only the wicked fhall be driven away by it. Such a day God hath in this world, wherein he winnows his wheat, and feparates the chaff. There is a double fanning or winnowing of men here in this world; one is doctrinally, in which fense I understand that feripture, Matth. iii. 12. fpoken of Chrift, when he was entering upon his minifterial work: "His fan is in his hand "and he thall thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat "into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with un"quenchable fire." The preaching of the gofpel, is as a fan in Chrift's hand: and it is as much as if John had thus told the Jews, that though there were many hypocritical ones among them, that had now a place and name among the people of God, and gloried in their church-privileges; yet there is a purging blaft of truth coming, which fhall make them fly out of the church, as chaff out of the floor. Thus Chrift winnows or fans the world doctrinally: The other is judicially, by bringing fore and grievous trials and fufferings upon the churches, for this very end, that those which are but chaff, (i. e.) empty and vain profeffors, may by fuch winds as these be feparated from his people. The church increases two ways, and by two diverfe means; extenfively, in breadth and numbers; and intensively, in vigour and power; peace and profperity cause the firft, fafferings and adverfity the laft: And well may a day of perfecution be called a winnowing day, for then are the people of God toffed to purpose, as corn in the fieve, though nothing but chaff be loft thereby. Of fuch a winnowing-day the prophet speaks, Amos ix.9, 10. "I will fift the house of Ifrael among all nati66 ons, like as corn is fifted in a fieve, yet fhall not the least grain fall upon the earth; all the finners of my people shall "die." (q. d.) I will caufe great agitations and toffings among you, by the hands of the Affyrians and Babylonians, into whofe countries you fhall be difperfed and scattered; yet I will fo govern those your difperfions by my providence, that not one good grain, one upright foul, fhall eternally perifh, but the finners of my people, the refufe ftuff, that fhall perifh. To the fame purpose fpeaks another prophet, Zeph. ii. 1, 2.. "Gather your felves together, (or as fome read) fan yourselves, yea, fan yourfelves, before the decree bring forth, and the day pafs as the chaff." He doth not mean that the time fhall pafs as the chaff, but there is a day of affliction and diftrefs coming, in which the wicked shall pafs as the chaff before the wind; and yet, notwithstanding all these winnowings upon earth, much chaff will still abide among the corn; therefore God hath appointed another day for the winnowing of the world, even the day of judgment; in reference to which it is faid, Pfalm i. 4, 5. "The ungodly are not fo, but are like the "chaff which the wind drives away; therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor finners in the congregation " of the righteous;" (i. e.) God hath a day wherein he will Gift the world, like corn in a fieve, and then the wicked fhall appear to be but chaff, which God will eternally separate from his wheat. I will not ftrain the fimilitude, but fairly display it in these seven particulars. 1. The chaff and wheat grow together in the fame field, and upon the fame root and ftalk. In this, wicked men are like chaff, who not only affociate with the people of God, but oftentines fpring up with them in the fame family, and from the fame root, or immediate parents, Mal. i. 2. "Was not Efau "Jacob's brother ?" Yet the one was wheat, the other chaff. Inftances of this are infinite. 2. The husbandman would never endure the husks, chaff, and dry stalks to remain in the field; if it were not for the good corn's fake, he would quickly fet fire to it, but that the corn is among it, which he highly prizeth: And, be affured, God would never fuffer the wicked to abide long in this world, were it not for his own elect that are difperfed among them : Except the Lord had such a remnant difperfed in the world, he would quickly fet fire to the four quarters, and make it like Sodom, Ifa. i. 9. 3. The chaff is a very worthlefs thing, the husbandman cares not what becomes of it; and of as little worth are wicked men, Prov. x. 20. "The heart of the wicked is little worth." The heart is the principal part of the man, and yet that's but chaff, Mo worth in it; his hands, his cloaths, &c. are worth fomewhat, but his heart is worth nothing. 4. Though chaff in itself be nothing worth, yet it is of some ufe to the corn while it is ftanding in the field; the ftalk bears up the ear, and the chaff covers the grain, and defends it from the injury of the weather. Thus God makes wicked men of ufe to his people, in outward fociety; they help to fupport and protect them in this world, Rev. xii. 16. "The earth help"ed the woman," (i. e.) worldly men for carnal ends helped the church, when a flood of perfecution was poured out. The |