Afflictions in Wrath, Crosses in Mercy

Timothy Rogers, Trouble of Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, pp. 124-126:

Do not mistake those things for evidences of the certain wrath of God which, perhaps, are not really so. He may suspend the expressions of His love, though He loves us still. Joseph had the tenderness of a brother, while his brethren thought he was very angry with them. Nay, in our secret supports we are not destitute altogether of His care, though we may not know how it comes. Metals that lie deep in the ground partake of the influence of the sun, though it does not shine upon them directly with light. There are few afflictions but have rather the marks of a fatherly kindness, in the seasonable correction of our faults, than the marks of displeasure. No outward losses or inward troubles, that are but for a time, are the certain signs of wrath; no, though they are very long and very grievous. It was not so in the case of Job.

Some of us will ask, "How shall I know when afflictions are in wrath?" It is a question to be answered with great tenderness and caution.

Divines have answered in this way. Afflictions are said to be in wrath:

1. When they come with great violence and suddenly destroy, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the great deluge. Psalm 58:9: "Before your pots can feel the thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in His wrath." Nahum 1:9: "He will make an utter end; affliction shall not rise up the second time." And yet this must have some limitations; for a good man may be seized with a violent disease and die suddenly, of whom we ought not to say that he died by the wrath of God.

2. When there is no discernible mercy in the cross, but only what is evil.

3. When one evil makes way for another, and none are sanctified.

4. When the affliction brings some special sin to remembrance, and when sin itself deprives us of a mercy; when intemperance brings sickness, ambition brings disgrace, or covetousness and an overeager desire for riches bring poverty.

But then, even great crosses are in mercy:

1. When God not only afflicts us, but teaches us at the same time.

2. When we can be thankful for that comfort which we have lost, that is, if it is an outward loss; for I do not see how any person can be thankful for desertion while it remains upon him. That would be to thank God that He has departed, or that He has restrained the manifestations of His love, which no man is obliged to do.

3. When all our losses are made up in God, and in the graces of His Spirit.