Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons Deuteronomy 8:3-6 And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know… Divine correction may be considered — I. AS THE MEANS OF RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT. 1. Affliction is a restraint from evil, without which we should frequently fall the victim of our folly and impetuosity. 2. Affliction is an excitement to duty. 3. Affliction is a needful ordeal. 4. Affliction is a seasonable monitor. II. AS THE DISCIPLINE OF PATERNAL REGARD. A father corrects his children — 1. With reluctance. Tries everything else first. 2. With wisdom. 3. With tenderness. 4. With design. For our good. III. AS THE SUBJECT OF FILIAL ATTENTION. How awful is it when affliction is useless, when correction hardens, when medicine poisons! Beware of this — "Consider in thine heart," etc. 1. Acknowledge His hand. Trace your afflictions to their proper cause. 2. Submit to His authority. Submission is the perfection of Christianity — the submission not of apathy, but sensibility. Shall a scholar murmur against the discipline of wisdom and goodness? 3. Improve His design. This must be known to be improved. You cannot know each particular design, but you may the grand and ultimate one. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. |
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