You see I shall take it for granted that Good things are all from God and well I may since Tully could ask Why do we Worship Him or Pray to Him if it were otherwise And he thought with Posidonius before him that a Man cannot deny this but he must be an Atheist and therefore made no better Men of Epicurus and his Followers tho' none did more Profess the Belief of a Deity But we will a little Enquire Whether Evil things do come also from God's Hand because those who have the Highest Thoughts of the Divine Goodness may be most apt to Question how God can be the Author of any Evil How out of the same Fountain can Flow both Sweet Streams and Bitter Or rather How Bitterness can issue forth from the Fountain of Sweetness Now that this is very Accountable will chiefly appear from what we are to say hereafter Our present Business is to shew That Evils do proceed from the Hand of God as also what Hand He hath in thâ—m That they do proceed from His Hand is so evident from the Holy Scriptures that nothing is more evident God Almighty saith by His Prophet Isaiah Ch. 45. 7. I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord do all these things And by His Prophet Amos Ch. 3. 6. Shall there be Evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it And by His Servant Moses Deut. 32. 39. See now that I even I am He and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand And all the Threatnings in the Book of God do suppose this And therefore we there find Good Men still acknowledging God's Hand in their Afflictions Thus Upright Iob upon his receiving the Tydings of his Prodigious Losses saith The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away c. Ch. 1. 21. The Lord hath taken away as well as given King David we find frequently making such Acknowledgments And our Blessed Saviour calls his Sufferings The Cup which his Father had given him to drink And indeed the Pagans had generally this sense of the Evils especially the Greater that befell them as well as of their Good Things And therefore they had their Catharmata and many Expiatory Rites for the Pacifying of their Gods whensoever Calamities of any kind did light upon them Now in order to our Understanding What Hand God hath in Evils we are to take Notice 1. That they do not ordinarily proceed immediately from His Hand Nay we have no reason to believe that any Evils ever do but 't is probable that those do proceed from Invisible second Causes which do not from Visible 2. Nor is it necessary to make Evils at least Ordinarily the Effects of Second Causes by any positive Act of God whereby he useth those Causes as his Instruments in the most proper and strict sence of that Word But it may be enough to say upon the falling out of Disasters that His good Providence did not interpose in preventing those Evil Effects being produced by their Causes Nor can we certainly conclude that ever God doth any more than withhold his wonted Protection in such Cases 3. Evils may be truly of God's Appointing tho not caused by any Positive Act of His. And whensoever His Providence suffers us to fall into such Circumstances as that certain Evils inevitably light upon us and no Care could prevent them then at least we may look upon them as being of the Divine Appointment no less than Permission And even those may be so which are the Effects of other Peoples Wickedness As when the Pride or Covetousness or Malice of another makes me a Sufferer For the Opportunities and Advantages which a wicked Man may at any time have against me are from the Divine Providence So that tho' it be infinitely unworthy of God to infuse Evil Affections Inclinations or Dispositions into any man or to excite any one to Sin yet He knowing such Affections and Inclinations to be in such Persons and that they only want Objects or Opportunities for the Acting of them He may make use of them for the scourging of such Particular Sinners or for the Tryal of such or such of His Servants We have an Instance hereof in Shimei ' s Cursing King David Upon Abishai ' s saying Why should this dead Dog Curse my Lord the King Let me I pray thee go over and take off his Head The King thus Reply'd Let him Curse because the Lord hath said unto him Curse David who shall then say Wherefore hast thou done so David could not mean by these Words that God had laid His Command upon that Wretch to Curse him This would have been to make him no Sinner herein but His Obedient Servant But his Meaning was That God had by his Providence given Shimei this Opportunity of insulting over him and venting his Spite upon him And therefore the good King concluded that God in just Judgment did not scourge him with the Tongue of Shimei as He had done by the Sword of his Son Absalom And thus God calls the Assyrian The Rod of his Anger and saith that He will send him against an Hypocritical Nation And by this Phrase we are to understand God's so Ordering it as that all Difficulties and Discouragements should be removed out of his way to the invading of the Israelites which He knew he was prepared in mind to do as soon as he could have an Opportunity Nor are we to think it strange that such Words as Sending Commanding Doing Determining and many other like them should be used onely to Express either removing Rubs out of the way to certain Evils whether Natural or Moral or bare Permissions since these ways of Speaking are Hebrew Idioms and as ordinary as can be in the Iewish Language Of which there are innumerable Instances in Holy Scripture I will Name one more viz. that in Acts 4. 28. where God's Hand and Counsel and Determination are said to be in the Horrible Death and Sufferings of His Holy Child Iesus But 't is as evident as that 't is impossible for God to be the Author of Sin that those Phrases signifie no more than His Permitting or Decreeing to permit those Sufferings to be inflicted by His Enemies and His so Ordering it in His Wise Providence as that all Impediments to the Executing of their Malice should be removed And we may well say that God's Hand is in the Evils which befal Men tho' there should be no positive Act of His Hand in them since the Evils of which Iob saith Shall we not receive them at the Hand of God Were all inflicted by the Hand of the Devil through His Permission All his Heavy Calamities were the Effects of Satan's Malice and consequent upon God's not restreining him from venting it as he did It appears by the Story that it was the
the suddain death of her Child Cryed out to the Prophet Art thou come unto me to call my Sin to remembrance and to Slay my Son 1 Kings 17. 18. And thus Iosephs Brethren upon the Severity he used towards them Said one to another we are verily Guilty Concerning our Brother in that we Saw the Anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us Gen. 42. 21. God saith Hosea 5. 15. I will go and return to my Place or I will withdraw my Protection from them till they acknowledge their Offence and seek my Face In their Affliction they will seek me Early And it is said Psal. 78. 34. When He Slew them then they Sought Him and they Returned and Enquired after God And they Remembred that God was their Rock and the High God their Redeemer Or then they called this to mind who till they were Afflicted could never be perswaded to Consider it As Stubborn a Wretch as Pharoah was his Hard heart was quickly from time to time Softned by the Plagues and it reteined its Softness under each Plague till it was removed When the Prodigal Son was brought to extream Penury he soon came to himself and Returned to his Father King Manasseh was a Prodigy of Wickedness yet When he was in Affliction as the Text saith he besought the Lord his God and Humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers And Prayed unto Him and He was intreated of him c. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He is God Or he had a Powerful Sense thereof upon his Mind 2 Chron. 33. 12 13. Afflictions are so necessary to the Conversion of Sinners that those who have spent many years in a Loose Sort of Life are very rarely Effectually Reclaimed otherways than by Gods Blessing upon some Sharp Affliction II. Evil things or Afflictions are very Needful and Necessary for Imperfectly Good as well as for Bad People They greatly need them in order to their Growing in Grace and rising to higher degrees of Goodness Particularly in order to their being more Watchful against Temptations to Sin This Experience King David had of the Benefit of Afflictions Before I was Afflicted saith he I went Astray but now have I kept thy Word Psal. 119. 67. In order to the more weaning them from this Vain World and the Mortifying of all Remainders of Sensuality In order to the more Humbling them under a Sense of their Frailty and Impotence and their more close dependence upon God In order to the more Softning of their Hearts and more opening their Bowels of Compassion towards others in Affliction None have such a sympathy with their Suffering Brethren as those who are made sensible of the Sadness of their Condition by their own Feeling In order to their more loving of God and Trusting in Him To which the Experience they have had of Divine Supports under Afflictions and Deliverances out of them doth greatly Contribute In short by Afflictions The Iniquity of Jacob is purged and this is all the Fruit to take away his Sin Isaiah 22. 14. III. Evil things are needful too even for the Eminently Good And that as upon some of the forementioned Accounts so more Especially 1. For Prevention For which End the most Healthy Persons do sometimes take Physick St Paul as Eminent a Saint as he was had a Messenger of Satan sent to Buffet him lest he should be Exalted above measure through the Abundance of his Revelations as he tells us 2 Cor. 12. 7. There are none so Good as to be out of all danger while they remain in this World as to be able to bear long and uninterrupted Prosperity without being lyable to be the worse for it in several respects Who is so Humble who so Heavenly minded as to have no Reason to fear his being too much Opinionated of himself and loving the world too much if God did not sometimes mind him what an infirm and weak Creature he is by Afflictions of one kind or other and never imbittered his Comforts to him 2. The Best People need them likewise for the Tryal and Exercise of some Graces and Virtues which cannot be exerted without them What Exercise can there be of the Grace of Contentment while all things succeed according to a man's desire and expectation Of Patience while he feels no pain Of Submission to God's Will while God never Crosseth his Own Will Of Meekness and Forgiveness of Enemies while he hath no Enemies to forgive or meets with no Provocations from them And this leads me to Add 3. That the Best do need Afflictions in Order to their doing so much the more Credit to Religion and the more benefiting the World by their Examples For we have now seen that they cannot be Examples of all Virtues without them 4. The Best need them also to make them so much the more to Value and consequently to be the more Thankful for the Good things they enjoy There is no Man so good but he prizeth Health the more for being some times Sick No man can be so affected with his Obligations to God for any Blessing who never was without it as he who hath felt how uneasie and grievous a thing it is to want it Nay were there no Life after this we should think tolerable Evils necessary to give the better Gusto a more pleasing Relish to the Gratifications of our Senses The more Hungry or Thirsty a Man is the greater is the Pleasure he takes in Eating or Drinking How pleasant is a Bed or Couch to a Man tyred with hard Labour a cool Shade to one parched with Heat Liberty after Confinement the Enjoyment of a dear Relation or Friend after a long Absence and even Indolence or mere Ease after great Pain As Socrates observed in his last Discourse with his Friends after he was rid of his Shackles And perhaps there are not many Evils which we are able to bear with any patience and that continue not over-long which do not make us a good Recompence by the much more pleasant Enjoyment we have of the Opposite Good things upon their Leaving us Fourthly The last Consideration I named which gives great Weight to the Motive in the Text To Receive Evil things at the Hand of God is That they are Ordered and Appointed to us by God from the Self-same Principle that Good things are viz. That of Good Will And therefore as was said the Evils which come from Him are Good as they come from Him There is an Excellent Saying to this Purpose of an Heathen Philosopher viz Simplicius We do not say that the Divine Iustice is the Cause of Evil but of Good because the Evil which proceeds from thence is in order to Good We have seen that all sorts of Men do need Evil things as well as Good and we are now to shew that God inflicts them because we need them We have shewed That they are Spiritual
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
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
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
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.