Affliction Compared to Wormwood

    AFFLICTION COMPARED TO WORMWOOD

    "Remembering mine Afflictions, and my misery, the Wormwood, and the gall," La 3:19.

    WORMWOOD properly is an herb well known amongst us, upon the account of its exceeding bitterness; hence a common proverb rises, "It is as bitter as gall or Wormwood,"&c.

    PARALLELS.

    1. WORMWOOD and gall, and other bitter things, are physical, veiy good in divers distempers: so afflictions are good spiritual physic; the diseased soul receives much profit by them, many ways. 1. They purge out the corrupt and noxious humours of the soul. 2. They tend to abate and pull down the tympany of pride. 3. They are good against spiritual deadness. 4. They are against spiritual barrenness; nothing, when sanctified, makes a soul more fruitful. 5. They kill worms, as Wormwood naturally doth, principally the Worm of an accusing conscience, that breeds out of the corruption to the heart and life, &c.

    II. Wormwood, gall, or aloes, are not commonly given alone, but are mixed with other ingredients, otherwise it is hard to take them down: so God rnixeth mercy with Affliction; in the midst of judgment, he remembers mercy towards his own people. Babylon shall have nothing but gall and Wormwood, it shall be without any composition of mercy and pity; hence said to be a cup without mixture, &c.

    III. Wormwood and gall are exceeding bitter, and make such things bitter as are given with them, though sweet in their own nature: so Afflictions, especially some sorts of Afflictions, are very bitter and irksome to the flesh; they also make bitter all our earthly sweets.

    Quest. Perhaps some may say, when are Afflictions so exceeding bitter? &c.

    Answ. 1. When God strikes us in our best and dearest earthly enjoyments; when he takes away an only son, a husband, a wife; or by a fire, or otherwise, takes away all our earthly substance, stripping us quite naked of everything: then Afflictions may be said to be bitter, like gall or Wormwood.

    2. When God brings upon us one Affliction after another: to day thy cattle are taken away, and then presently upon it thy children, by a severe judgment; and after all, thou art struck with a sore and dismal Affliction in thine own body. Thus it was with Job. When God deals thus with a man or woman, Afflictions may be said to be bitter. But then again,

    3. When God strips a people, or particular person, not only of all their outward mercies, or earthly good things, but also of all their spiritual good things too, such things as are dearer to them than their lives; then Afflictions may be said to be bitter. Should God at once bring so severe a stroke upon us, as to deprive us of all our civil rights and privileges, suffering an enemy to break in upon us, who would not regard our good and wholesome laws, by which every man's property is secured to him: and not only so, but deprive us of the Gospel, and blessed ordinances therefore, and drive our ministers into corners, or burn them to ashes at Smithfield, and set up Popery, and tyrannize it over our consciences: this Affliction would be bitter, like Wormwood and gall.---Which God in mercy prevent.---

    4. When Afflictions are very heavy and sore upon us, and we cannot find out the cause and ground why God contends with us, then they may be said to be very bitter. It was this which made holy Job so much distressed in his Spirit. "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me," Job 10:2. He did not doubt of the justice and righteousness of God in them, but as suspecting some evil in himself, as yet unseen, or not discovered to him.

    5. When God afflicts his people, or a gracious soul, very sorely for sin, for this or that sin, which they know they are, or have been guilty of this goes to their hearts, to think that they should provoke their heavenly and dear Father against them, to chastise them so severely.

    6. When we are under great Afflictions, and God hides his face, or withdraws himself from us, then Afflictions are bitter: this is to be outwardly afflicted and inwardly too.

    7. When Afflictions are lasting, or of long continuance, then they are very bitter. A small burden or weight, borne long, will weary a strong man; but if it be very heavy, and abiding, it is much more grievous.

    8. When God afflicts a man in indignation, when he lets fly his tormenting arrows against him, from the fierceness of his incensed wrath, forcing him to drink off his cup without mixture, it being all bitter, and no sweet. Thus God deals sometimes in a way of judgment with wicked men, though never so with hisown people, and to such, Afflictions are bitter indeed.

    INFERENCES.

    1. From hence we may perceive what an evil sin is, that God will not spare his own children, when they offend him. Sin is a bitter thing, as appears by the effects of it; Afflictions are many times the fruits and effects of sin.

    II. It shows us also, that there is a great difference betwixt the Afflictions and miseries of the godly and the wicked.

    Quest. But some may say, how may a Christian comfort himself, or get support under, sore and bitter Afflictions?

    Answ. 1. Consider, that all your Afflictions, though never so bitter, are less than your sins deserve: "He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

    2. Consider, that though God chastise a godly man very sorely, yet it is not in a way of wrath, to destroy him, but contrariwise, for his great good and advantage.

    3. Consider, there is not one dram of gall in the bitterest cup thou dost partake of, but what God, the most wise Physician, put into it; and if less gall would do, thy portion should not be so bitter. All our Afflictions are proportioned to us by the Almighty, both for kind and quantity.

    4. Consider, thy Afflictions are not so bitter as the Afflictions of many of God's children were, of whom we read, who were far more worthy and deserving than thee or I are: what are thy Afflictions compared with holy Job?

    5. Consider the bitter portion Jesus Christ drank up for thy sake: he never offended, and yet suffered, and his sufferings were intolerable; no mortal is able to express the nature of his grief and sorrow. Shall Christ suffer willingly for us, who sinned not? and shall we be troubled at the bitterness of our sufferings, who are so grievously defiled with iniquity, and many times suffer for our sins?

    6. Consider, that all the bitter a godly man meets with, or ever shall, will be in this world. As wicked men have their bitter here, and shall have nothing but bitter hereafter: so godly men have all their bitter here, and shall have nothing but sweet hereafter.

    7. Consider, how gracious God is to his own children, in intermixing all their bitter with sweet. It is not like the bitter some wicked men have in this world: "Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? Or is he slain, according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?"Isa 27:7.

    8. Consider, all the bitter thou meetest with in this life, will be turned into sweet, "Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy,"Joh 16:20.