Thomas Brooks, 1659, London. -I was silent- I would not open my mouth, for You are the one who has done this-- Psalm 39-9 The choicest saints are 'born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards', Job 5-7. 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous- but the Lord delivers him out of them all.' Psalm 34-19. If they were many, and not troubles, then, as it is in the proverb, the more the merrier- or if they were troubles and not many, then the fewer the better. But God, who is infinite in wisdom and matchless in goodness, has ordered troubles, yes, many troubles to come trooping in upon us on every side. As our mercies-so our crosses seldom come single- they usually come treading one upon the heels of another- they are like April showers, no sooner is one over but another comes. And yet, Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an execution, that every correction is not a damnation. The higher the waters rise, the nearer Noah's ark was lifted up to heaven- the more your afflictions are increased, the more your heart shall be raised heavenward.