Robert Traill (The Lord's Prayer, John 17:24), Works 2:284-285:
Rev. 3:19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Heb. 12:6, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. It is a common, but a sinful way of arguing with many Christians, that they are not God’s children because they are so much corrected by him. To question our state because of affliction, or to conclude our state to be good because of prosperity and ease, are equally false and foolish, though not equally dangerous; for it is far more so, falsely to conclude a good state when it is not, than unbelievingly to disturb a good state where it is. It is certain, that the Lord loveth his people with an everlasting love, Jer. 31:3; that his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting to them, Ps. 103:17; and that this love and mercy runs through, and is mixed with all his dealings with them. Yet how hardly is this owned by them?
Rev. 3:19, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Heb. 12:6, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. It is a common, but a sinful way of arguing with many Christians, that they are not God’s children because they are so much corrected by him. To question our state because of affliction, or to conclude our state to be good because of prosperity and ease, are equally false and foolish, though not equally dangerous; for it is far more so, falsely to conclude a good state when it is not, than unbelievingly to disturb a good state where it is. It is certain, that the Lord loveth his people with an everlasting love, Jer. 31:3; that his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting to them, Ps. 103:17; and that this love and mercy runs through, and is mixed with all his dealings with them. Yet how hardly is this owned by them?
