DANGER OF CONCEALED SIN. 5$% enough in him for eternal condemnation, and so Job himself owns his sin to God " I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee ?" He acknowledges his guilt before God, though hejustifies himselfin those respects wherein his friends condemned him ; but there are some particu- lar miscarriages of the saints that God will visit with stripes. The reasons of this desire in a saint are these, First, He longs tó know what is the sin for which he is afflicted, because this seems to be the chief offence against God his father, since God takes more notice of this than of all his other sins. Perhaps it is a sin that is not so great in the eye of the world, but it is a sin where- by the jealous God is provoked, and for which he testi, fies his displeasure against his children more than any other sin. Second, Because this is the chief hindrance of his own peace and comfort both inward and outward. When a soul has been under long sorrows, he would willingly have them removed ; such as Job's were in the text: he was weary of his life, he tells us in the foregoing verse, there- fore he was earnest with God to know what were the reasons ofsuch an affliction as this ; lie desires toknow the ' sin that so the affliction might be removed ; when the cause is destroyed the effect will cease ; when the cause is gone the effect vanishes too.. You find Joshua making strict enquiry after this in his camp (Josh. vii. 1, 6, &c.) Achan's wedge of gold which he covered with earth, that was taken away among the spoils, which ought to have been all destroyed this was a sin against the express command of God, and a sin for which Israel fled before the Canaanites : Joshua therefore makes . strict enquiry after this sin, that so God might return to the camp of Israel again, and give them victory and success as before. Third, That he might see more of the wisdom, justice, and faithfulness óf God, in his afflictive providences. When God made a covenant with all his saints in Christ their head, under the naine of David, he assures them, sometimes he will visit their iniquities with stripes, but will not suffer his faithfulness to fail ; there is loving kindness and mercy, says God, in these very corrections that seem severe and are sometimes uneasy to my peo- ple,: And when we can discover that particular guilt for which God corrects us, we see then that secret harmony
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