'Voices From The Past' Vol. 1 — July 19

Sin is always very sinful, but in our prosperity we are not so aware of it. The dust of the world fills our eyes that we cannot see it clearly. God frequently uses affliction to teach his children the great evil that is in sin. It shows sin as an evil in itself. It not only brings evil, but is evil. It not only works bitterness, it is bitterness. It has a bitter root as well as bitter fruit. God leads the sinner by affliction to take notice not only of what sin does, but what it is. It is a pure, unmixed evil. The whole being of sin is evil. It has the devil for its author, and death for its end. Not only is it evil in itself, it is evil against God. It departs from God and turns to the world: 'For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water' (Jer. 2:13). Sin is also a twisted multiplied evil. It is a departure from the fountain of life and glory, and a turning to a broken vessel, which leaks out as fast as it is poured into. There is an exceeding sinfulness in sin since it is an evil against God. God supported Israel with his everlasting arms; he led them, and provided for them, but without a cause, they forsook the Lord. They lacked nothing, but they wilfully departed. Affliction is one of God's tribunals where the sinner is arraigned, convicted, and condemned. Truly in affliction sin is laid open before a man's eyes in such a way that he is forced to plead guilty. God sits as judge, conscience is witness, sin the indictment, and affliction both evidence and execution. Sooner or later the soul sees sin a greater evil than affliction, and forgetting its affliction, it begins to mourn only for the sin. Sin now lies heavier upon a man than all his sufferings, and he cries as Job cried in the dust: ‘I have sinned. What shall I do?’ (Job 7:20).

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Devotional Readings 'Voices From The Past Vol.1.'
Thomas Case, Select Works, A Treatise of Affliction, pp. 78-82
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