and when he obeyed it in the lusts thereof; he still finds that it dwells within him, as a continued source of secret sorrow and disquietude; when he would do good evil is present with him, and even whilst he delights in the law of God after the inward man, he sees another law in his members, warring against the law of his mind-that is, he perceives a principle of natural corruption perpetually opposing itself to the principle of grace; each holy affection, habit, and * exercise, meets with opposition from this inward foe; his best duties are interrupted, his purest motives are defiled by sin, which too often, alas! to his vexation and grief, breaks forth in acts of perverseness and rebellion against God. Yet still, the habitual tendency and bent of his mind is towards God; he bewails his spiritual declensions from God, and mourns over the transgressions of his life; the Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and whilst he sincerely follows after holiness, his earnest prayers for victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, are often answered in afflictions and trials from the

hand of his heavenly Father. These are sent with the merciful design of accomplishing his desires, of weaning his affections from the things of earth, of weakening the power of his inward foes, of mortifying the flesh, subduing the pride of his nature, and exciting him to vigilance against his ghostly enemy. Now such is the direct subject of our text, which may properly lead us to consider the following points: first, the subjects of that chastening which is here spoken of; secondly, the nature of it; and, thirdly, the effects which it is designed to produce.

I. The SUBJECTS OF THAT CHASTENING WHICH IS HERE SPOKEN OF.

This

we have already partly anticipated. The word chastening strongly implies the most endearing of all relations, that which subsists between God and his people-they are his children and he is their heavenly Father; nor does he ever give a stronger proof of his fatherly regard for them, than when he chastises and afflicts them; for then, in a peculiar manner, "he dealeth with them as with sons." The same expression, indeed, is sometimes used in

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another sense, as in the sixth Psalm : "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure." But here its meaning is restricted : My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." Let the afflicted Christian know, then, that afflictions are no proof of God's wrath, but on the contrary, afford evidence of his love; the total and continued absence of them, particularly under some circumstances, may be an alarming symptom ;* but, but, "if "if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons." The people of God, therefore, and none besides, are the subjects of his fatherly chastisement in the restricted sense of the text. Hence we may

learn also,

II. The NATURE OF THIS CHASTENING. The word signifies instruction, discipline, correction, and is often used in reference to the education and management of children. Thus, in the school of adversity, the Lord instructs his peo* Compare Jer. ii. 30. Isa. i. 5; ix. 13.

ple's minds, exercises their graces, and chastises them for their faults.

By means of affliction he leads them in his truth and teaches them. "It is good for me," says David, "that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth." Thus, under the rod of correction, David was brought to an intimate acquaintance with the word of God, and by that word to the attainment of heavenly wisdom, and the experience of divine consolation; and Ephraim, in the same way, was effectually humbled under a penitent sense of his own sinfulness.* "Blessed is the

* Jer. xxxi. 18, 19, and Ps. cxix. 71, compared with verses 49, 50.

man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law."

The Lord, by afflictive dispensations, disciplines the minds of his people, and exercises their graces. Thus are they taught to make trial of their strength for the combat, to gird on their armour, to wield their spiritual weapons. No grace is permitted to grow dull and feeble, as is sometimes the case in prosperity, for want of employment; their faith and patience are brought into exercise, the ground of their confidence is proved, their sincerity and the quality of their obedience is brought to the test, their love is put to the trial, and their hearts are sifted to the bottom. Afflictions from the hand of God, like the Scriptures themselves, are profitable for instruction (or discipline) in righteousness; the heart hereby becomes "exercised unto godliness," whilst the senses or faculties of the soul become trained and disciplined to discriminate good and evil.* Thus, that which betrays the hypocrisy and unsoundness of the merely nominal Christian, and * 1 Tim. iv. 7. Heb. v. 14.