Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

very nature of chastisements. If any thing evil befall a man, and it be no ways dolorous to him, it may be For a judgment, but it is not a chastisement to him. the present; that is, whilst it is actually on us, whilst we suffer under it, especially in its first ingress and assault; whilst the wound they give to the spirit is fresh, before it be mollified by faith and submission to God.

It seemeth not to be joyous, but grievous; that is, whatever be spoken of the good of chastisement, it represents itself otherwise to us; it appears with another face to us, and we cannot but make another judgment of it. The original is, "it is not of joy, but of sorrow." The apostle speaks not of it here, as to its effects, but as to its nature; and so it belongs not to things joyous and pleasant. It is not a sweet concoction, but a bitter portion. It is in the nature of every chastisement, to be a matter of sorrow and grief at present to the chastised.

§3. In the balance against this matter of sorrow in divine chastisements, the apostle lays down the advantage and benefit of it. "It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness." It yieldeth fruit; not it will do so, but it doth so. It is not a dead useless thing. When God purgeth his vine, it is that it may "bear more fruit," John xv, 2. Where he dresseth the ground, it shall "bring forth herbs meet for himself," Heb. vi, 8. By this therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, "to take away his sin," Isa. xxvii, 9.

This fruit is "the fruit of righteousness;" that which righteousness, bears, or brings forth. Neither our doing nor our suffering is the cause of our righteousness, but they promote it in us, and increase its fruit. Wherefore, by "righteousness" in this place, our sanctification, or the internal principle of holiness or obe

dience is intended; and the fruits hereof are its increase in the more vigorous actings of all graces, and their effects in all duties; especially patience, submission to the will of God, weanedness from the world, mortification of sin, heavenly mindedness, purity of heart, readiness for the cross, and the like, Rom. v, 3-5; John XV, 2-4.

§4. This fruit of righteousness which chastisement yieldeth is also peaceable. "The work of righteousness shall be peace," Isa. xxxii, 17. When we are chastened, and when these fruits are brought forth in us, they are a high evidence that God is at peace with us, and that he designs our eternal good, Rom v, 3—5. They bring in peace to our minds. Afflictions are apt to put our minds into disorder; our affections will tumultuate, and raise great contests in our souls; but by these fruits of righteousness our hearts are quieted, our minds composed, all tumults allayed, and we are enabled to possess our own souls in patience.

$5. The season wherein they yield this fruit, is "afterwards;" that is, after we have been a little exercised with them. This effect, it may be, doth not appear at first; we have their surprisal, as Job had, to conflict with, which suspends for awhile the production of these fruits. They first tend to subdue the flesh, to root up weeds, thorns, and briars, to break up the stubborn fallow-ground, and then to cherish the seeds of righteousness.

§6. So it is added, "unto them which are exercised thereby." The word here used signifies an exercise with diligence and vehemence, there being an allusion in it to those who stripped themselves naked, and so put out all their strength in their public games, or contest for mastery. Wherefore to be exercised by chastisement, is to have all our spiritual strength, all our

* faith and patience, tried to the utmost, and acted in all things suitably to the mind and will of God.

$7. Obs. (II.) When God designeth any thing as a chastisement, it is in vain to endeavor to keep off a sense of it; it shall be a matter of sorrow to us. Men are apt in their trials to think it a point of courage and resolution to keep off a sense of them, so as not to be affected with grief about them. It is esteemed by some a piece of pusillanimity to mourn, or to be affected with sorrow about them. It is true, indeed, so far as they are from men, and sufferings for the gospel, there is an heroic frame of spirit required for undergoing them, so that it may appear we are in nothing terrified by our adversaries; but there can be no pusillanimity in us towards God. It is our duty to take in a deep sense of his rebukes; and if he designs any thing befalling us as a chastisement, it is in vain for us to contend, that it may not be a matter of sorrow to us. For if it yet be not so, it is but an entrance into his more severe dealing with us. He will not cease till he hath broken the fierceness and tamed the pride of our spirits, and have brought us, like obedient children, to submit ourselves under his mighty hand.

[ocr errors]

$8. Observe farther;

1. Not to take in a sense of sorrow in affliction, through stoutheartedness, is to despise the chastening of the Lord, ver. 5. The sorrow intended which accompanies chastisement, is that which the apostle terms (λUTY иата OεOV, 2 Cor. vii, 9,) "Sorrow according to God," or after a godly sort; it is not a wailing of the flesh upon a sense of pain; it is not the disorder of our affections upon their encounter with things grievous in their present state of ease; it is not a heartless despondency under our pressures, enfeebling us for our duties; but a filial sense of God's displeasure, accom

panied with nature's aversation from things evil and grievous to it.

2. The nature and end of afflictions are not to be measured by our present sense of them; at present they are dolorous, but the great relief under what is grievoús at present is, the due consideration of their end and tendency, as appointed of God. And,

3. All the trouble of afflictions is but for the present; at most but for the little while we are to continue in this world; within a very short time we shall leave them behind us for evermore.

$9. 1. Those who cannot see an excellency in the -abounding of the fruits of righteousness before described, can never apprehend that there is either good or benefit in chastisements; for this alone is that which the apostle proposeth to answer all that is grievous or evil in them; but these things believers value above life itself, and can esteem well of every thing, be it never so sharp to the flesh, that doth promote these fruits in our souls.

2. We can never find any benefit in chastisements unless we are exercised by them; that is,that all our graces are stirred up by them to an holy, constant exercise; for hereby alone do they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

3. It is the fruit of righteousness alone, that will bring us peace; give us a sense of peace with God, peace in ourselves, and, as far as possible, peace with all others. And,

4. Grace in afflictions will at length quietly compose the mind under the storm raised by them, and give it a peaceful rest.

5. Herein lies the wisdom of faith in this matter, not to pass a judgment on chastisement from the present sense we have of what is evil and dolorous in

them, but from their end and use, which are blessed and glorious.

VERSES 12, 13.

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.

$1. Introduction, (2, 3. (L.) The several parts of the words explained. §4-6. Making straight paths for our feet, what. $7. The enforcement of the duty. §8, 9. (II.) Observations.

§1. In these verses an entrance is made to the second part of the chapter, which is designed for the application of the doctrine concerning sufferings, afflictions, and chastisements, before insisted on; for the right understanding of the mind of the Holy Ghost in the words, we must take notice, that there is a supposition included of some failure in the Hebrews as to their courage and constancy in suffering; at least that they were in great danger of it, and that it began to affect the minds of many; and perhaps greatly to prevail in some among them; this he had insinuated before in the entrance of his discourse on this subject, ver. 3-5, and now resumes it as the ground of his address.

That part of the exhortation which is contained in ver. 12, is taken from Isaiah xxxv, 8; and the way of its proposal is in continued metaphors, in answer to the first prescription of duty which was to run a race, or strive for a victory, ver. 1. Wherefore, the exhortation is applied to those parts of the body which are of principal use in the gymnastic exercises, viz. the hands, the knees, and the feet, whereby the body putteth forth all its strength, to obtain the prize; the hands and knees being the principal seat of strength and activity.

§2. (I.) "Lift up the hands that hang down;'

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »