their Sufferings here That they are not worthy as the same Apostle saith to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in them That the extraordinariness of their Afflictions for a short time shall through the Merits of their Saviour procure to them an extraordinary degree of Heavenly Bliss to all Eternity And they find also especially if their Sufferings be for Righteousness sake supports at present suitable to their Burdens and that as their Sufferings abound their Consolations abound likewise And thus we see what a weak thing it is to have the worse Opinion of our Spiritual Estate or to conclude our selves out of the Divine Favour upon the Account of our being much afflicted And how Unchristian a thing it is to pass like Iob's Friends severe Censures on others upon the like Accounts I could Name one of the most Eminent Persons and Christians too of the Age he lived in who was so far from looking upon great Afflictions as a Sign of God's Hatred or Displeasure that one Day reading the 12th to the Hebrews where it is said If ye be without Chastisement whereof all are Partakers then are ye Bastards and not Sons c. fell into a deep Melancholy concerning his own state because he did not then remember that he had ever had any very Remarkable Affliction Which being observed by a Friend of his he humbly desired to know of him the Cause of the great pensiveness he discerned in his Countenance And having his Request satisfied he Replyed That he wondred his Memory should so fail him since he was fallen through the Iniquity of the Times from most plentiful to low Circumstances The Good Man not acknowledging this to be any great Affliction because God had still taken such Care of him as that he never wanted his Friend minded him of a Great One indeed which it is much he should at any time forget which gave case to his Mind But this Great Man was herein guilty of the Other Extreme not considering those words of K. Solomon No man knoweth Love or Hatred by all that is before him As for the foresaid Words of the Author to the Hebrews and that saying of St. Paul we must through much Tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God And that other All that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution they had doubtless a special relation to that Time when they were spoken When a Man could not make Profession of Christianity and adhere thereto but he must expect to suffer greatly for it Tho' the World was never yet I doubt so good as that there hath been a Time when this could not be truly said The greater Conscience Men make of their ways and the more strictly they keep to the Rules of Righteousness and Goodness the more Trouble they must make Account of Especially when it relates to Persons in publick Stations Tho' it must be acknowledged too that these Mens Troubles are not to be compared with those in which the bold Transgressors of those Rules are in a well Governed Nation frequently involved In short We are to judge of our own Spiritual Estate by considering how it is within us not without us And we are to judge of Others as to that State by their Lives and Manners not by their Outward Circumstances This Rule our Blessed Lord hath taught us in the Beginning of the Thirteenth Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel Thirdly I Infer from what hath been said upon this Subject That it is a part of great Wisdom to be when we are in the most easie Circumstances often thinking of a Change and preparing our selves for New Afflictions This will be a means to make them much easier to be born when they come and may be a means to prevent their coming because by thus doing we must needs have so much the less Need of them But the more we need one Affliction or other the more reason have we to expect it from the Consideration even of the Divine Goodness And Good People should make the less Account of any Long Uninterrupted Prosperity in this World because they have not their Portion here as the Wicked have And it is very unreasonable for those to presume upon a kind of Heaven here who upon the best Grounds do hope for a Heaven hereafter and to conclude on passing through Temporal Pleasures to Eternal Ones We ought in all reason if we think Heaven our Home to be very well satisfied to live on Earth like Pilgrims and Strangers As the Apostle saith the Good Patriarchs Confessed themselves to be Heb. 11. 13. If we look upon Heaven as our Everlasting Rest how can we so much as hope that our Condition here will be better than that of Travellers Who use to make full Account of a deal of Rugged and Foul as well as Smooth and Clean Way Who expect not to have Dry and Serene Weather always nor scarcely for the most part who are not at all surprized at Rain Wind and Storms as if some strange thing happened to them Nor do they think themselves Unhappy if they meet with more Scorching Heat than Cool Shade or with more Uncivil than Kind and Courteous Usage in a Strange Country so long as they hope to get safe to their Journeys End and know that they shall find all things there most agreeable to their desires and to their hearts Content Good Christians need not be minded that the Captain of their Salvation Himself was made Perfect by Sufferings as the Apostle saith Heb. 2. 10. That He took the Cross in the way to His Crown That He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief before He could enter upon the possession of That Ioy which was set before Him That He entred into the Kingdom of Heaven through much Tribulation Nor can they think that GOD hath any Reason to be more Tender of them than of His Dear Son nor imagine themselves ill dealt with if it fareth no worse with them than it did with Him Or if God will have them go the same Uneasie Way to Eternal Bliss that He went They can not see the least Cause to complain if He will have the Members to be conformed to their Head in all respects in this World as well as in the World to come Those are therefore very imprudent that because of their having suffered Severe things presume upon a long Respite from the like again It is possible they may have such a Respite but it ought not to be with any Confidence Expected because there is no Reason on which to found such an Expectation as hath been shewed And by the way it would be a very great Folly in reference to the Publick to Conclude upon Happy Times if we were once eased of our present Burdens and Complaints and Effectually Secured from our present Fears For when we are biggest with hopes of a most Prosperous State of Affairs and that God will make us Glad according to the days wherein
same Reason that they would be placed in one of the higher Orbs every body else may not expect it Self-love is the onely Reason why They would be so but why may not Every man Love himself as well as they love themselves They ought to consider too that at this rate there could be no pleasing them For tho' God should still Humour them in giving them their desires it would but make them rise still higher and higher in their Cravings It is an Unquestionable Truth that Contentment is not to be fetched from without but from an inward good Frame and Temper of Mind And therefore we find that those who are in High Places are not the most but the least Contented are far more Ambitious of Rising still Higher than those who are in the very lowest And for the same Reason he who being in a Low Condition is discontented because he is not in an higher will never be satisfied till he gets to the very Top nor then neither So that if thy being without such or such Good things may Reasonably be a matter of Complaint or cause an Abatement of Gratitude thou canst never be put into such Circumstances as where in thou wilt see cause to be very Thankful or not to Complain And I add that it is highly Worthy of an Infinitely Good God instead of being Repugnant to His Goodness to make such feel real Evils who frame to themselves so many Imaginary Ones To make those Sufferers in good earnest who complain of such things as Evils which are not so but at worst in a less degree Good things And to bring Heavy Afflictions on those who make by their Discontent Light Ones Heavy III. Consider that as you want those Good things which many have so Abundance of those who enjoy those things do want others that you have How many that have great Estates and Honourable Titles are destitute of some of the most Common Mercies by which means they are able to take but little Content in all their Grandeur And by which means Thousands of the Meanest People would be very unwilling to change Conditions with them And who knows not that the most common Blessings are the most Valuable What Beggar would lose his Eye-sight to be a Lord Who would change his Cottage for a Palace if he must give his Health and his Ease into the Bargain Who would not rather chuse to sleep sweetly upon Straw than to lye Crying out under the Stone or Gout upon a Bed of Ivory What Wise Man would not rather Eat Course Fare with a good Stomach and Appetite than to be served with Great Variety of Choice Dishes and unable to Digest one of them without Wine or Relish one of them without Sauces Nay if we understood what Crosses and Vexations of innumerable kinds do attend great Estates and what Dangers High Places are surrounded with we should greatly pity very Rich and Great Men instead of Envying them and think our selves far more Happy with a quiet and a safe Competency There is nothing more plainly Observable than that ordinarily the Meanest Servants of Great People do enjoy more satisfaction than their Lords or Ladies So that put all things together tho' there be a vast difference between Men and Men in their external Circumstances there is but very little difference between them as to their partaking of the Divine Beneficence No Man enjoys all Good things and 't is commonly seen that he who falls short of another in some as much excells him in Others IV. Consider how prone we are to make the Good things God blesseth us with Evils to our selves and the greatest Evils That is to convert our Temporal Good things into Spiritual Evil things and to make them more Mischievous to our Souls than it is possible they should be Beneficial to our Outward Man And as we are all very prone hereto so are not most Men actually so much the more High-minded Vain Covetous and Sensual c. by how much the more they Abound in Earthly Blessings And therefore is God ever the less Good to men in either depriving them of those Good things they so Abuse or in Withholding many such from those whom He knows would be in very great Danger of Abusing them if they had them V. Consider how many do make little Conscience of doing Evil to others of making them Sufferers in one respect or other And how many of those who would not be thought Unjust or Cruel can find in their hearts to be Severe and Rigid And how many that are better Natured and better Principled than such Persons are nothing so inclined to Pity the Afflicted and Distressed as they ought to be nor to Concern themselves to keep off Evils from their Brethren or to Ease them of them according to their Power Now with what Face can such Expect that God Almighty should be so â—ender of those either in Preventing the lighting of Evils upon them or in taking them off when ever they would have Him who are either Harsh to or so little Tender of their Fellow-Christians or Fellow-Creatures How doth it Dis-become the Goodness of God to say to such With what Measure you Mete it shall be Meted to you again What Wretched People then are they who Complain of God for Shewing no more Mercy to them who have no more Mercy for others and that will have Him to be the less Good upon this account Since it is no contradiction to His Goodness to Abandon such to Extreme Sufferings but an Act most worthy of His Justice VI. It may be Considered too that many of the Evils which befall us others do Gain more by than the Sufferers lose consequently God is more Gracious to others in them than He is Severe to those who Suffer by them We use to say That is an Ill Wind which blows no body good And as we have shewed that God designs Mens own Good in their Sufferings be they never so bad provided they have not Sinned themselves past Recovery by Afflictions and that all that improve them as they ought do reap great Advantage by them especially Spiritual Advantage so hath He Contrived things in so Wise a manner as that we are Mutually Advantaged by one anothers Afflictions There may be given a Thousand Instances of this nature and therefore it is needless to give any Now He that would take a Measure of the Divine Goodness by what happeneth to Himself Considered as a Being Separate from the Rest of Mankind must be so Silly as to think at the same time that God hath no Body to be Concerned for besides Himself Now take we along with these Considerations what hath been Discoursed of the Fewness of our Evil things in Comparison of our Good things And of our Non-desert of the least Good things but our High desert of the Greatest Evils And of the Need we all have of Evil things And of Evil things being appointed us by God Almighty from the Self-same Principle that Good things are I say Let these accompany our last mentioned Considerations and then if we are Able let us think it a Tolerable thing to Repine at any of God's Dealings with us or to Cease to Praise Him and to have a Thankful Sense of our Obligations to Him under even the Sharpest Tryals Then let us think if we can that that Exhortation of the Psalmist may be sometimes Unseasonable viz. Praise the Lord for it is Good to Sing Praises unto our God For it is Pleasant and Praise is Comely If after all that hath now been Offered to our Consideration we can perswade our selves thus to think we must Blame holy Iob for being so offended as his Wife 's Taunt Bless God and Dye But now in the Conclusion I must Repeat what hath been already Suggested and which Sad Experience assures us of viz. That it is far more easie to Satisfie our Reason than to bring our Passions under the Government thereof and especially in reference to the Bearing of Afflictions And therefore there is an Absolute Necessity of adding to whatsoever Considerations we are furnished with to Strengthen us under them our Frequent Humble and most Importunate Supplications to the Throne of Grace that we may not under the Afflicting Hand of God be so Over-Power'd with Melancholy as to be unable to think a Wise Thought and to be Inabled so to fix our Minds upon Such Considerations as that they may make an Effectual Impression and that we may have Supports suitable to our Burdens without which let us Exercise our Thinking Faculty as well as we can we shall be as Weak as Water And they were great Divine Supports to which Iob was above all beholden or he had never Behaved himself as he did under Such Mighty Calamities nor particularly given so brave a Reply to his Wifes Prophane Speech as What Shall we receive Good at the Hand of God and shall we not receive Evil THE END 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod ni itâ— sit quid Vâ—nâ—raâ—ur quid Precamur Deos De Nat. Deâ—r 2 Sam. 16. 9. Esay 10. 5 6. * In Epictet Enchirid c. 34. p. 167 * Comment in Epictet l. 2. c. 6. p 117. Arrian l. 2. P. 186. Arrian Epict. l. 3. C. 22. P. 314.
but that He took Her hence in just Iudgment to Us tho' in infinite Mercy to Herself At least this sad Conclusion may be made from this Providence if we should be as insensible of the Hand of God in our Loss of Her as we have been of the Blessing we had in Her while we enjoyed Her And Her Kingdoms might have enjoyed Her more than Forty Years longer had they better deserved Her Had Her Life been prolonged to such a Number of Years it would have been no strange thing considering Her Temperance and the Healthfulness and Strength of Her Constitution We can assign no mere Natural Reason Why She might not at least have lived to the Age of Queen Elizabeth who dyed before She was Seventy Years Old and yet was Thirty Eight Years Elder than our Blessed Queen Mary And if it should prove That this sad stroke should be lost upon us what Cause may we have to dread a yet Sadder I mean the losing of our King too who may well be called The very Breath of our Nostrils since the Prophet Jeremiah did so stile a Prince who deserved not to be Named on the same day with Him And well may I say that the Loss of King William would be the Greatest that Humanly speaking can befal us Since those are worse than Blind who will not see That the Safety of these Nations and of at least all our Protestant Neighbours doth wholly under God Almighty depend upon His Precious Life and must necessarily so do in the Eye of Reason while our Circumstances continue as they are Abroad Should God call the King from us before our Danger from France is Over I can not think but the Faces of many of his Professed Enemies would soon gather Blackness at the Scaring Prospect which those who can see but one Inch before them must needs then have a Clear sight of And then it may Endanger their Losing that Sense they have left them to Reflect upon their Prodigious insensibility of their own interest whether they Ever Come or no to have any Concernment for the Publick And what Cause have we to Pray Heartily for the Kings Long and Prosperous Reign Over us from Affection to Him as well as to Our Selves Since to Him as Gods great Instrument We Owe the Preservation of our Religion and of all that is Dear to us To Conclude Those who are so Irreligious as to look no farther than the Natural Cause of the Queens Death are never like to be Bettered thereby But Such as are duly Sensible of Gods Hand therein who could easily have Prevented it without a Miracle and by his Ordinary Providence too had He seen it in His infinite Wisdom Fit Can not but See what an Awakening Providence This is Loudly Calling upon us to Attone His Wrath by deep Humiliation Hearty Repentance and Reformation But let the Consequents of this Stroke be never so Sad we ought with Holy King David To be dumb and not open our Mouths because it was Gods doing And to say Righteous art Thou O Lord and just most just are Thy Judgments And indeed to have such a Blessing as This Snatcht away from us and one so Qualified in all respects and so desirous too to make us in Conjunction with Her Royal Companion in the Throne both a Good and a Flourishing People and that in the very Flower of Her Years and in an Age which could worst Spare Her Religion being now at so low an Ebb and Wickedness and Infidelity so Abounding This is Such a Calamity as no Considerations can Support Good People under it like the Thoughts of His Hands being in it from whence we receive all our Good and therefore ought to receive Evil And the Assurance we have that Our Mighty Loss is Her Infinite Gain Edward Gloucester JOB II. X. What Shall we receive Good at the Hand of God and shall we not receive Evil THe Wicked Speech of Iob's Wife in the foregoing Verse was the occasion of these Words Observing his perseverance in his Integâ—â—ty and not onely his Patient Submission to but also Thankful Acquiescence in the Will of God under the Heaviest of Calamities she brake out into these most Impious and Blasphemous Words as they are in our Translation Dost thou still retein thine Integrity Curse God and dye Whereupon the Holy Man gives her this Reply Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women speaketh What Shall we receive Good at the Hand of God and shall we not receive Evil That speech of hers is variously rendred but I shall onely Observe that the Hebrew Word which is here Translated Curse properly signifies the contrary Bless The Old Latin Version so renders it in this Place but I acknowledge so it doth too in that saying of the Devil He will Curse Thee to Thy face where the same Word is used but our Translation there must needs be right But I have thought it strange that the Septuagint should render this Speech of Iob's Wife Blapheme God and dye where the Word may very well signifie Bless and yet render that other of the Devil He will Bless Thee to thy face where 't is manifest it must signifie Curse as it does in some few other Texts In short I see no reason why we should not with some of our most Learned Expositors understand this Word here according to its Proper signification and so make Iob's Wife to say to him Bless God and dye You may Object Why then should these Words so strike Iob to the heart as his Reply shews they did viz. Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women speaketh that is Thou speakest like a Wicked Wretch I Answer That 't is too evident these Words were spoken Tauntingly and therefore well deserved so severe a Rebuke They may be thus Paraphras'd I see thou art a wonderful Thankful Man Thou canst bless God when of a vastly Rich Man He makes thee a Beggar when of a Father of no fewer than Ten Children He makes thee Childless in a Moment Go on to Bless Him still since thou hast so great Encouragement the Reward He designs thee being the destroying of thee next after thy Children And this saying Bless God and dye used as a Taunt I need not tell you was highly daring and presumptuous tho' not so Horribly Profane as Curse God and dye In Discoursing on the Latter Part of Iob ' s Admirable Reply What Shall we receive Good at the Hand of God and shall we not receive Evil I shall endeavour to shew I. That Evil proceeds from the Hand of God as well as Good II. What is meant by Receiving Evil at His Hand III. How our Receiving Good is a Motive to receive Evil at His Hand too Or where in lies the Force of this Motive IV. I shall draw several Inferences from the whole First That Evil proceeds from the Hand of God as well as Good Or that Evil Events as well as good are from the Divine Providence
Devil who stirred up the Sabeans and others to Rob him of his Cattle and to destroy his Servants That it was the Devil that brought down the Fire on the remainder of them altho' it be called the Fire of God from Heaven That it was the Devil who raised the Storm which blew down the House upon his Sons and Daughters That it was He who filled his Body with Blains Botches And these Terrible Evils were not onely Permitted by God but Appointed too but His Appointment took place through His mere Permission As knowing that Satan was enough his Enemy to bring all these Calamities upon him and worse too if He would but suffer him There is no more than Permission or not hindering to be understood in that Saying of the Divine Majesty to him Behold all that he hath is in thy Power c. Chap. 1. 12. Or in that Behold he is in thine Hand c. Chap. 2. 6. Not that God gave him a Commission or so much as Leave or Licence thus to Torment the Upright Man He onely withdrew the Restreints he was before under from thus Worrying him This is evident from the Account which the Devil himself gives of his having hitherto spared him Chap. 1. 10. Hast thou not saith he made an Hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side And whereas he saith in the next Verse But put forth thine Hand now and touch all that he hath and he will Curse thee to thy Face It is plain he meant no more by these Words but Cease to protect him from my hand And in so Expressing this his Meaning he complyed with the fore-mentioned Hebrew Idiom or Manner of Speaking Before we proceed further Let us stop a while to take Notice how infinitely we are obliged to the Divine Protection in that we find not our present State far more Sad and Calamitous than it is Many Afflictions we meet with in this World and sometimes very Heavy ones But for One Exercise of our Patience we should have a Thousand and those much more intolerable than we have ever yet felt did not the good Providence of God continually guard us were not The Lord of Hosts with us were not The God of Iacob our Defence and Refuge There are not a few things in all places which would be both Mischievous and Destructive to us but for the Care which God Almighty takes of us by the Ministry of His Angels and very many other invisible Ways We know both by Observation and Experience that there is no Creature so inconsiderable as not to be able to make us Miserable with the Divine Permission or to put a Period to our Lives And therefore that was a good Reply which Theodorus made to Lysimachus when he threatned to Kill him viz. What a mighty Matter is that the most contemptible things is as able to do this as thy self The ill Accidents to which we are dayly liable are innumerable and so are the Natural Causes both without us and within us of a great Number of Diseases so that if they were not over-ruled by Providence and that by such secret Means as make it impossible for us to understand how we could never have one hours freedom from Sickness or Pain and should be always running into Mischief But if the Devils were our onely Enemies who are still watching all Advantages against both our Souls and Bodies were it not for the Divine Protection the Case of both would be most deplorable St. Peter compares the Head of them to A Roaring Lyon and saith that he walketh about seeking whom he may devour Of these malignant Spirits and their Malevolence to Mankind the Pagans had an Undoubted Tradition the poor Americans especially need no such Tradition to whom to this day they make themselves Visible and make them feel sad Effects of their Malice And we find enough in the History of the Gospel to incline us to think it very probable that many of the Diseases and other Evils which happen to us are of their Procurement And there needs no more but God's saying to any one of them concerning any of us what he said of Iob Behold they are in thine hand to make this Life a very hell to us I say therefore how unspeakably are we obliged to our Good God for protecting us as He doth with His Watchful Eye and Almighty Arm We have seen that He needs not do any thing nor Exert His Power in any one Act to make our Being in this World most miserable He needs in Order thereto onely not to continue His Care of us which the Bad as well as Good and those who provoke Him every day such is His Goodness and Long-suffering are every Moment protected by though not alike protected nor the same Persons alwaies alike And how fearful should we be of disobliging such a Friend lest we at length provoke Him to pluck up His Hedge of Protection Secondly We come next to shew What is meant by Receiving Evil at the Hand of God which Iob's Question here speaks to be a most necessary Duty Shall we not receive Evil This implyeth these Four Things 1. Heartily Acknowledging the Hand of God to be in the Evils that befal us 2. Submitting Patiently to His Will under them 3. Doing this also Thankfully 4. Complying with God ' s Great End and Design in them First Heartily Acknowledging the Hand or Providence of God to be in the Evils which befal us Since God's Hand is as hath been shewed in them we must needs be obliged to receive them as from Him and with a great sense of the Truth of that Saying of Eliphaz Affliction cometh not forth of the Dust neither doth Trouble spring out of the Ground Or it is not to be ascribed merely to Earthly or Natural Causes And therefore as we have observed we find Pious Men in Scripture still owning God's Providence in their Afflictions Those consequently who look no farther than the immediate Causes of them or who look not beyond those which are Visible cannot behave themselves like Religious Men under them nor scarely like Men But do too often resemble those silly Currs that fly furiously upon the Stones which are flung at them taking no Notice of the Hand from whence they come Those must either not believe that God takes care of Men and deny that there is any such thing as Providence which is as bad as slat Atheism if it be ever separated from it who when for instance they are visited with Sickness think of no higher Cause thereof than the noxious quality or quantity of what they have eaten or drank or infectious Steams or bad Air or the like and never consider that none of these things could hurt them had not God seen it good not to keep them by some Providence or other out of Harms way or not to Over-rule such Causes And the like may be said of those who upon the
he hath Afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen Evil some unthought of Calamity may Suddenly Seize us as we have again and again found by Experience For how often have we seen cause to say with the Prophet We looked for Peace but no good came and for a time of Health but behold Trouble Ier. 8. 15. And to allude to that in the 18 th V. Many a time when we have been Comforting our selves against more Sorrow there hath presently happâ—ned one Cross thing or other which hath Caused our Hearts to Faint in us And so no doubt it will be for the future with us if we continue as Unreformed as Ever Except our Good God should give us Over for an Obdurate and incorrigible People and no farther concern Himself for our Amendment But as hath been intimated this is the Saddest of all Judgments and it speaks Eternal Destruction to be Sealed upon those People upon whom it lighteth But to return to the Matter in hand We seeing so great Reason while we remain in this World to look for New Afflictions it greatly Concerns us to be still preparing our selves for them that they may not come upon us before we are Aware For whensoever they do so we shall find them so much the Heavier and more â—ntolerable and that it requires much the longer time for the so subduing our Passions to our Reason as to be able to demean our selves decently and as becomes Men and much more as becomes Christians under them As the Son of Sirach saith Eccles. 41. 1. O Death how bitter is the Remembrance of thee to a Man that liveth at Rest in his Possessions unto the Man who hath nothing to Vex him and that hath Prosperity in all things So may it be said How bitter how unsupportable is a great Affliction to a Man when it falleth upon him all of a Suddain when he thought of nothing less than Afflictions How Weak doth a Sad Providence find a Man when at the time of its comming he had Put far from him the Evil day and did not in the least dream of any Alteration of his Condition What a Horrible Surprize must it have been to the Rich man in the Gospel had it been no Parable but a real History to hear those words Thou Foool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those Things be which thou hast Provided at that very instant when he was saying to himself Thou hast Goods laid up for many Years Take thine Ease Eat Drink and be Merry Fourthly I infer from the Text what a Wonderfully Powerful Motive the Hopes we have of Receiving such Glorious Things in the Future life must needs be To Receive Evil things at the Hand of God in this life If our Receiving the Good things of this Present State be such a Motive thereto as hath been shewed then What a Motive is that of the Hope of infinitely better Things in that to come I Confess that the Motive in the Text hath the Advantage as the Matter there of is Things present and the Matter of the other Things to come But considering all the other differences between these two sorts of Good things and that there is the greatest assurance imaginable given to good People of their hereafter Receiving those Good things there is no Comparison to be made between this and that Motive It is impossible that he should think God a Severe Master let him meet with never so many Evil things in this World who hath a Sure and Certain Hope of Ere long Receiving such Good things as Pass all Vnderstanding As the Eye of Man never saw nor his Ear ever heard nor his Heart is able to Conceive any like unto them It must needs make this Vale of Tears not only a Tolerable but a Pleasant Place to Consider that at the End thereof is the Mount of Ioy Of Ioy Vnspeakable and full of Glory And that these comparatively speaking Light Afflictions which are but for a Moment will work out for us if we are not inexcusably wanting to our selves a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory Fifthly I infer How unreasonable it is to have the lower and more undervaluing thoughts of the Divine Goodness and Beneficence and the less Sense of our Obligations to God in regard of the Evils wherewith our Good things are mixed and our Earthly Comforts are allayed The great unreasonableness hereof will appear by the following Considerations over and above those we have been presented with from the words of the Text. I. Very many and perhaps the incomparably greater part of the Evils we suffer are not from the mere or immediate Providence of God It is Certain that innumerable are of Mens own inflicting upon themselves And not only deserved by them but also the necessary Effects of their Sinning or of their Inadvertency We will take Poverty for one Instance For the most part we may well adventure to say Men fall into it from Plentiful Fortunes through their wicked or foolish wasting their Estates by either Spending them upon their Lusts or their rash Engaging for Non-Solvent Persons or their Improvidence Idleness and Mindlesness of their Business Where one is brought to great Want by the mere Providence of God our observation I believe will tell us of Many who ought to impute it to themselves immediately Let Sickness be another Instance Men for Certain do ordinarily fall into Diseases by doing what they ought not to do or neglecting what they ought to do and for want of due Care and Caution From whence do too Commonly the Tormenting Diseases of the Gout and Stone and the Dropsy and Consumption come but from mens offending as to the Quantity or Quality of their Liquors or from such other Causes as by a greater Care of themselves might have been Prevented Feavers are some of the most common Diseases but are they not ordinarily Occasioned either by some intemperance in Meats or Drinks or Exercise or unseasonable Drinking when Over hot or not taking care to cool by degrees and the like And I am perâ—waded that in reflecting upon the Causes of our Sicknesses of most kinds there are few of us who are not sensible that they were the natural Consequents of some Sin or Imprudence or other much more frequently than of that which was wholly unavoidable Except in the Case of the Airs being infected with Pestilential or Malignant Vapours we have great reason to think that the much greater Number are laid upon Sick Beds by the Ordinary Maladies through some Neglect of their Health and therefore that there may be no more than the Permissive Hand of God in their being deprived thereof When we suffer in our Reputation or otherways from the Ill will of others ought we not too often to thank our selves for not being so Cautious as we should have been of giving them Offence and to impute it at least to Inconsideration and Rashness as to some Actions
or Words which gave occasion more or less to their being provoked against us Those that suffer from the Misbehaviour or Vndutifulness of their Children which must needs be especially to Good Men the greatest of all Afflictions are they not for the most part too well aware that these sufferings are in a great measure owing to themselves and that they might have had much better Children if they had set them a better Example and given them better Education And I need not add that the same is to be said in reference to the Divine Providence of those Afflictions which do arise from our Sympathy with those in Affliction who are dear to us when they suffer through their own default And the same thing is to be asserted of those Evils which we have not brought upon our selves but are occasioned by the Faults of our Parents or of such as whose Interests and Concerns are necessarily linked together with ours so that the one cannot suffer but the other also must As when a Man lives in Penury by means of his Fathers disabling himself by his Prodigality Sin or Folly to leave him a Subsistence Or when a Trades-man is made a Bankrupt by his means whom he hath taken into Partnership Or when Parents having by Debauchery Marred their own Bodies and vitiated their Constitutions Propagate their Diseases or Weaknesses to the Children which are afterwards born of them Now I say there is nothing more Unreasonable than to think God Almighty the less Good in regard of such Evils as those now mentioned And if it be well Considered I cannot I say doubt but that most of those which Men complain of are of that nature And what would we have God to do to keep off such Evils as these Would we have him to be continually laying irresistible Restreints upon Free Agents so as that it shall be impossible for them at any time to do wickedly or at any time to act foolishly If we think that this would well become Him we must think at the same time that to make Free Agents did disbecome Him But supposing such Agents so left to the Use of their Liberty as not to be so withheld from either Sinning or playing the Fools as that they can not do either the foresaid and such like Evils will necessarily follow from the Abuse thereof And therefore far be it from us to have the lower opinion of the Divine Goodness upon the account of them But I ought to add in order to our having a just Sense of Gods Goodness and that it may lose nothing of the Honour due to it that He doth innumerable times prevent by Special Providences our running into those Sins and those Rash Actions which we should most Certainly have otherwise been guilty of And He doth frequently and possibly as often in a Secret invisible manner so Over-rule Natural Causes of Evils as to prevent their producing them when they were ready to do it Not only History but many of our Own observations do furnish us with great Proofs hereof And if these Propositions were not both true it is not imaginable but that this world would be a far more intolerable Place than it is Considering how it Abounds with Wickedness and how Corrupt Human Nature is in this lapsed State and what Foolish Heady Creatures the Generality of Mankind are and what Dangers we are always Encompassed with And the worst objectino we can make against Almighty God for not always thus interposing is that He will not have His Goodness in any one instance to thwart and contradict that Wisdom by which He Governs the World But suppose we waved the Consideration of the Divine Wisdom in the Case what Reason can we have to complain of God's deficiency in Goodness because He is not more concerned to keep Evils off from us than we our selves are 'T is certain He is much more concerned for our Good than we can be and sad would it be for us if He were not but suppose Him onely equally so we should not have cause to think Him wanting to us but should see great Reason to Admire His Goodness considering that He is infinitely Above even the Glorious Angels and can get nothing by any of His Creatures being Happy nor lose any thing by their being Miserable II. Let us next Consider That as Abundance of the Evils which men groan under are not from the mere or immediate Providence of God so very many things which we are apt to account Evils and are matter of Discontent to us are not Evils That Stoical Maxim Mens Minds are not troubled with Things but with the False Opinions they have of Things would be very true if it ran thus Mens Minds are not so much troubled with Things c. For there are a multitude of things which greatly disturb men which are onely Evils of their own making and which they would make exceeding light of would they govern themselves more by Reason than by fond Phansy and the Childish Opinions of other Folk To have nothing of Superfluity but a bare Competency how many are there who account this a great Evil Tho' the Apostle saith Having Food and Rayment let us be therewith content And we have a good Old Saying Nature is content with a little and Grace with less How many lay it to heart as a grievous thing to be necessitated to Earn their Bread with the Sweat of their Brows nay not to be able to make such a Figure among their Neighbours as divers of them do And thereupon they take but slight Notice of the innumerable great Mercies which they enjoy and instead of being thankful for them murmur at the Divine Providence because they have not all they would have But as God Almighty asked the peevish Prophet Whether he did well to be Angry I ask these Whether they do well to be discontented and to have so little Sense of the Bounty of their Great Benefactor For not to mind them again that whatsoever the Good things are which they enjoy they are more than He oweth them or than their Deserts can claim they ought to consider that the whole World is God's Charge and not only some particular Persons and that His Goodness expresseth its self by so proportioning His Blessings to particulars as shall be most for the good of the Whole And that it would be extremely ill for the Whole for all to be alike Sharers in His Good things And it is necessary for the Well-being of the whole that there should be a great Variety of Ranks and Orders of Men By which means all necessary Offices have People sitted for them And withal they ought to Consider that if it be necessary that many should be in low Circumstances for the performance of the lower and meaner Offices which yet are every whit as necessary as the higher what Reason can they give why themselves should not be in the Number of those many And whether for the