587 / 652
AFFLICTIONS
TEACH CHRISTIAN DUTIES.
581
will
hold
out under
afflictions
;
and
this seems
to be one
end
of
Job's
sorrows,
that
he
might be an
eminent
in-
stance
of patience
to
the end
of
the world.
What
mani-
fests more
the
soul's
dependance and resignation
to
God
than submitting
to
him
under
frowning providences
?
There
is
hardly
a
friend upon
earth
that
we
could
trust
our
souls
with,
and wait for
his
love
if
he
were still
cut-
ting and wounding
us
;
but
this
we
can
do
with
regard
to God,
when he
strikes us,'
till he has
struck
us
down
to
the
grave,
for then
he
will
strike
us
no more.
HOPE
comes,
under
trial too
in
great
afflictions
;
fore
then
it
is,
if
ever,
we
begin to
examine
the
ground
of
our
hope, to
see
whether our hopes
of
happiness
be well
built
or
not.
There is
many
a
christian
that
would
neglect
the duty
of
self
-
examination almost
entirely,
if God
did
not,
now
and then, put
him in
mind
of
it
by
the
strokes
of correction;
but then
a
christian cannot
but
look
into
his own soul,
and
see
what
there
is
amiss;
he
asks
then1
Are
my
hopes
well-
grounded
?"
This
is
the
first
thing
a saint of God
looks
for;
then
is
the time
to call
together
all
our
evidences,
and
see
whether
they
will
amount
to
one
strong
one.
Let
us see
then whether these graces
are
in exercise
;
nay,
let
us see
whether
we
have them
at
all
in
us,
whether there
be
any
thing
of
faith in
us,
whe-
ther
there
be any
patience, or
ground of
hope.
Let
us
examine ourselves
this
day,
for
before the evening comes
tröuble
may come and
put
these graces
under
a
trial
:
it
is
good
to
have them
always
in exercise
;
but
if
we
ne-
glect
it,
God
will
strike
us to
make them minded.
When
the
child
of God
grows
secure and carnal, the providence
of God
gives him a
dreadful
shake
in
all
his
powers
and
faculties
;
and then
there
is
a search
made deep into
the
soul, what
sin
and what defilement ought
to
be
removed
;
and here it
is
discovered
also
what
valuable
things
there
are
under
all this rubbish
:
and here perhaps
some
grace
appears
that
is
an
evidence
of
a
better
hope.
It
is
worth
our
while
then
to
have
afflictions,
that
we
may
have this
grace
proved and exercised.
Reason
3.
To
teach
us
several
duties
that
else
perhaps
we
should neglect or never
learn to practise.
The prin-
ciple
of
holiness
in
the
heart
is
the
spring
of
all
the duties
of
life,
which
according to the
calls
of
divine
providence
are
performed.
Holiness, then
in
general,
is
to
be
pro-
-
2
P3