[1] When Almighty God, for the merits of His Son, not of any
ireful mind, but of a loving heart towards us, doth correct
and punish us, He may be likened unto a father; as the
natural father first teacheth his dear beloved child, and
afterwards giveth him warning, and then correcteth him at
last, even so the Eternal God assayeth all manner of ways
with us. First He teacheth us His will through the
preaching of His Word, and giveth us warning. Now if so be
that we will not follow Him, then He beateth us a little
with a rod, with poverty, sickness, or with other
afflictions, which should be esteemed as nothing else but
children's rods, or the wands of correction. If such a rod
will not do any good, and his son waxeth stubborn, then
taketh the father a whip or a stick, and beateth him till
his bones crack; even so, when we wax obstinate, and care
neither for words nor stripes, then sendeth God unto us
more heavy and universal plagues. All this He doth to drive
us unto repentance and amendment of our lives. Now truth it
is, that it is against the father's will to strike his
child; he would much rather do him all the good that ever
he could. Even so certainly, when God sendeth affliction
upon our necks, there lieth hidden under that rod a
fatherly affection. For the peculiar and natural property
of God is to be loving and friendly, to heal, to help, and
to do good to His children, mankind.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.
The surgeon must cut away the rotten and the dead flesh,
that the whole body be not poisoned, and so perish; even so
doth God sometimes plague our bodies grievously, that our
souls may be preserved and healed. How deep soever God
thrusteth His iron into our flesh, He doeth it only to heal
us; and if it be so that He kill us, then will He bring us
to the right life. The physician employeth one poison to
drive out another; even so God in correcting us useth the
devil and wicked people, but yet all to do us
good.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.
[2] Sorrow is in itself a thing neither good nor bad; its value
depends on the spirit of the person on whom it falls. Fire
will inflame straw, soften iron, or harden clay; its
effects are determined by the object with which it comes in
contact. Warmth develops the energies of life, or helps the
progress of decay. It is a great power in the hothouse, a
great power also in the coffin; it expands the leaf,
matures the fruit, adds precocious vigour to vegetable
life; and warmth, too, develops with tenfold rapidity the
weltering process of dissolution. So, too, with sorrow.
There are spirits in which it develops the seminal
principle of life; there are others in which it prematurely
hastens the consummation of irreparable decay.--_F. W.
Robertson._
[3] As long as the physician hath any hope of the recovery of
his patient, he assayeth all manner of means and medicine
with him, as well sour and sharp as sweet and pleasant; but
as soon as ever he beginneth to doubt of his recovery, he
suffereth him to have whatever himself desireth. Even so
the heavenly Physician, as long as He hath any hope to
recover us, will not always suffer us to have what we most
desire; but as soon as He hath no more hope of us, then He
suffereth us for a time to enjoy all our own
pleasure.--_Wermullerus,_ 1551.
[4] It is harder to get sin felt by the creature, than the
burden, when felt, removed by the hand of a forgiving God.
Never was tender-hearted surgeon more willing to take up
the vein, and bind up the wound of his fainting patient,
when he hath bled enough, than God is by His pardoning
mercy to cast the troubled spirit of a mourning
penitent.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.