It
is a great folly in the children of God to question His love merely because of
the greatness of their afflictions. We presently cry out, as Job, chapter
30:21, “Thou art become cruel to me; with thy strong hand thou opposeth thyself
against me;” that He hath put off all fatherly affection, because we judge of
the cross according to the sense of our own flesh. And therefore to question
God’s love because of afflictions is folly. Rather we conclude the contrary of
the two. Bastards are left to a looser disciple than sons; the bramble of the
wilderness is suffered to grow and spread when the vine is cut, and pruned, and
pared; the stones that are to be set in the building are most hewed and
squared, others lie neglected in the quarry and are left to their own
roughness. Multiplied afflictions are a sign God hath a care of you; He will
not suffer you to run wild. And therefore, in defiance of the cross, learn to
call God Father; look through the cloud of the present dispensation to the love
of God towards you.
Thomas Manton – Sermon on Luke 23:34
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