therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged." Isaiah 27:9.
pray so fervently as when we pray feelingly; and is not this for our profit?
3. Affliction is a means to purge out our sins. "By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged." Isaiah 27:9. Affliction is God's purgative to expel the noxious humor, it cures the pestilence of pride, the fever of lust; and is not this for our profit? Affliction is God's file—to scrub off our rust. Affliction is God's flail— to thresh off our husks. The water of affliction is not to drown us— but to wash off our spots.
4. To be under the black rod is profitable, in that hereby we grow more serious, and are more careful to clear our evidences for heaven. In times of prosperity, when the rock poured out rivers of oil, we were careless in getting, at least clearing, our title to glory. Job 29:6. But when an hour of trouble comes, we begin to look after our spiritual evidences, and see how things stand between God and our souls; and is it not for our profit to see our interest in Christ more clear than ever?
5. Affliction is a means to wean us the world. The world often proves not only a spider's web—but a cockatrice egg. Corrupting worldly things, are great enchantments. They hinder us in our passage to heaven. If a clock be overwound, it stands still; so, when the heart is wound up too much to the world, it stands still to heavenly things. Affliction sounds a retreat to call us off the immoderate pursuit of earthly things. When two things are frozen together, the only way to separate them is by fire; so, when the heart and the world are frozen together, God has no better way to separate them than by the fire of affliction.
6. Affliction is a means to purify us. It works us up to further degrees of sanctity. "God disciplines us for our good—that we may