Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A65982
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A sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-hall, on Sunday, Jan. 8, 1692/3 by William Wigan ...
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Wigan, William, d. 1700.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing W2099; ESTC R39394
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11,810
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30
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will they not be distracted who should fear all the Evil they see or hear overtakes others unexpectedly as loss of Limbs Senses Estates Friends good Name or Life And yet we know almost all sort of Afflictions fell upon righteous Job in one day in perfection The Sabaean Chaldaean and the Devil seiz'd upon and destroyed his Flocks and his Herds his Sons and his Daughters and he had only time between to hear distinctly his Losses and then to be smitten with Sores from head to foot and to have all his Sufferings inflam'd by miserable Comforters Who is insured that he shall not be oppressed or visited in like manner And yet scarce any are so unwise as to torment themselves with the dread of the like S. James reproves them who say to Morrow We will go into such a City James iv 13. and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye knew not what shall be on the morrow For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away If then we ought not to presume on the morrow for the contingent enjoyment of what we believe profitable neither ought we to presume on it for a contingent evil As it is sinful to imitate the rich man in the Gospel in promising our selves long to live and enjoy Luke xiâ— 19 the Goods that are laid up for many Years since the following Night or sooner our Souls may be taken from us So it is sinful for any so to concern themselves for what distress God may bring upon them as not thankfully to use what they are in possession of and bless his holy Name for its continuance We are not indeed to put off the evil day and flatter our selves that no harm can fall on us We are not to promise our selves peace while God gives signs of his near approaching Judgments But yet we are still to be mindful that God is the same and that we sin by fancying that the Sons of Anak are invincible or by distrusting that He can feed us in the Wilderness no less than we sin by surfeiting in it of Manna For still whatsoever the Lord appoints Psal exxv 6. shall be in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and all deep places He expects we should do what He commands and leave secret things to Him He loves to be trusted and we most effectually ingage him to watch over us when having done what lies in our power we entirely recommend the Event to Him firmly believing that it is best for us not to know whatever He pleaseth to conceal from us For since every day may be unconceivably fruitful of Calamities which by foreseeing or but foreboding are highly aggravated it is compassion in God to keep hid from us what we are to undergo and cannot avoid One of the Ancients saith That he who allow'd a day's space as sufficient to overthrow the greatest Empires gave too large time and much more than was necessary In as much as a few Hours nay Minutes often determine the happiness of Nations and as from slight and very contemptible beginnings grievous divisions have arisen so out of the Brambles hath fire broke that hath devour'd the Cedare of Lebanon and there hath been but a moment between the life and death of the greatest between Adoration and Oblivion Since then God doth not give man power to remove the Evil that may befall him if he could foresee it we ought to bless him for fitting us to bear each day's affliction in its due time by keeping us ignorant of it till it must be undergone For if any do search into His purposes and attempt to know Euturities their sin becomes their punishment They who consult Astrologers and Diviners are either deluded with false or ill-grounded hopes or are tormented with a dread of those miseries which they have not the least direction how to escape but are told will inevitably befall them Like Saul at Endor who was confirm'd in the belief of all the evil he fear'd and had the guilt of his accursed curiosity added to a fuller knowledg of his dismal doom Mind we then what we are called to leaving the Issue of Affairs with Wisdome that is infinite and with Goodness that never fails and so much the rather because our joys will be higher when not pall'd by a long foretast and our afflictions when not foreseen will not imbitter our present comforts Moreover as we know that our days as they may be evil so they may be few and that each day's trouble may be abundantly heavy in the midst of such possibilities of dangers and such calamities which others as righteous as we groan under we have cause to praise that Providence which keeps off the Evil which by reason of our sins we may justly fear For to this purpose we may be allow'd to be thoughtful of Judgments that may be pour'd out on us that by the apprehension of them we may be more livelily stirr'd up to glorifie the Mercy which suspends them and may also by a holy life move God to continue the blessings we enjoy instead of provoking Him by our distrustful thoughts to hasten the calamities we may dread But if on any other account we take Thought for the Morrow we may justly fear a reproach like that which God made to Ahaziah by the Prophet Elijah Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of 2 Kings i. 3. Baalzebub the God of Ekron Is it not because there is no God in the World that you are so sollicitous for what shall happen in it Is it because God hath abandon'd the Helm that you take His place Or because that you want full Employment therefore you overload the present day with the supernumerary troubles of after-times Rather believe That as there was a Providence before you was born so it will not dye with you cast the burden of to Morrow upon Him who only can and will take care of it and you And in some measure resemble you the Israelites who went out of their Camp and gathered Manna sufficient for each day as was commanded not doubting but they should as was promised find it there the next Not but that the Scripture requires diligence in subordination to God's Sovereign care and incourageth the industrious Hand and provident Mind For Joseph laid up stores in the City of Egypt against the years of famine and the Gen. xli Disciples hearing of the dearth that should be in the World did not so interpret Acts xi 29. Christ's doctrine as not to think themselves bound to send relief to the Saints or Brethren at Jerusalem But too often as riches increase the heart is more set upon them and less upon the Living God And it is hard to perswade the wealthy that The Life of a man consists not in the abundance Luke xii 15. of what he possesseth Therefore they provide as if
the Soul that decency of behaviour that watching of fit opportunities that courtesie and eloquence of Speech which no pre-meditation could furnish and proves a kind of Inspiration Besides There is so great variety in the affairs which any day may produce that the wisest of men cannot foresee nor if they could can they provide against the evils thereof and therefore it is observ'd that they miscarry frequently in weighty concerns of Peace and War who are strictly tyed up by Commission and may not act as is plainly best but as they are directed by absent though Wise Superiours For there are Critical moments as in diseases so in all concerns of Life and the wisdom of Man consists not so much in deep fore-cast as in being watchful and ready to lay hold on the present advantages And accordingly God gives his blessing not to them who by profound thought pretend to fore-tell the designs of the Eternal Mind But to them who diligently observe and improve the opportunities his Providence offers And therefore the Wise are confounded in their Plots the Achitophels are disappointed in their Counsels are still baffled by somewhat which with all their skill they could not foresee God thereby shewing that not the shallow and bounded capacity of Man but an infinite Spirit only can comprehend what is to come For our Body is contained in a very narrow space and our Spirit moves in a very narrow sphere The entrances whereby we admit knowledge are streight suited to our minds which can perceive but by degrees easie orderly and simple and are overpowered with variety when not leisurely offered And therefore as our Eyes are very serviceable if their objects are presented successively and in a determined distance beyond which all is obscure and uncertain So that Spirit which God hath plac'd in Man perceives with much clearness what it considers singly and what nearly concerns it But is amazed and in confusion when it grasps at many things especially what regards futurities If therefore Christians will distract themselves with the apprehensions of what may and what may not happen if they will extend their sollicitousness to after Years and to what as yet lies hid in its Causes They will be convinc'd in time that their thoughtfulness increased their Sin and no way prevented what they feared and that therefore it is Wisdom to let the Day take thought for the things of it self and that the rather because as our Saviour urgeth for a Second Argument II. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof By Evil here is meant that Vaxation and Sorrow which every day may bring upon us not that Evil of guilt for which we must answer Is there any evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Saith the Prophet Amos Amos iii. 6. He doth not mean any Blasphemy or Uncleanness any Rapine or Murther Far be it from God to be the Author of tho' he for a time permits such Crimes But the execution of Vengeance the Viols of Wrath poured out on Nations in Pestilence or War These are appointed by that God who declares I make peace and create evil I the Lord Isai xlv 7 do all these things Forasmuch then as the heart of Man is on that Evil of Sin continually which God will certainly visit with the Evil of Affliction therefore as sure as wickedness increaseth so surely will Tribulation and sore Distress For as God hath declared he will send it So Vice of its Nature begets misery and anguish of Mind as it doth sickness of Body variance with Men and confusion in Affairs For this cause since we cannot foresee That truly Holy Day in which no Sin against God shall be committed and by it his vengeance provoked who can promise himself that any day shall pass without some Visitation The ancient Heathens imagined that every one who entred this Life had a Cup of Good and Evil mingled given to him and that though some had a larger measure of Sorrow than others yet none escaped without a Dose of Evil enough to embitter all their enjoyments We know from better Authority that Man that is born of a woman hath but a short Job xiv 1 5 7. time to live and is full of misery and that He is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward And we may judge by past experience that no particle of our Life can pass but may have in it vexation sufficient to discompose the quiet and poison the comforts of so frail and perishable Creatures as we are And therefore since we are so weak and so transitory and nothing consumes our strength more than anxious care for the future It is very unadvisedly done of us to anticipate our Sorrows which will be grievous enough in their proper time They who must drink up a very nauseous potion are not counsel'd to taste of it often before-hand and be disgusted at many parts of that draught which they need but once take and but once know its offensiyeness Therefore as we esteem them very indiscreet who having plenty for many years waste all they have in one riotous entertainment or any moment any voluptuousness So we may look on them as extremely unhappy who having allotted them a portion of trouble in this World which is to be taken by degrees and at several times through Fears and jealousies and over inquisitiveness bring all their Evil on themselves at once and are over-whelmed with a burden which divided might have been easily supported If by much thinking and repining beforehand the sorrow that is feared may be prevented if by taking the cares that belong to the Morrow on this Day they are ended then sollicitousness for the future will be singular Prudence But saith S. Chrysostome if you are never so thoughtful for the Morrow you must nevertheless bear its weight when it is laid on you and have also the grief of having bore it in vain Why then do you so greedily gain so great a loss Why do you give way to Fears which like untimely preventive Physick makes you actually ill least it may be hereafter you should be so Be content with what is at present laid on you that is enough for a Creature who is but of vesterday and it may be will not be here till tomorrow We know that there is no sort of affliction which befalleth one man but may befal another None have any exemption privilege or prerogative whereby they are secured against Sickness however painful or loathsome against disgraces in their persons or relations or the slanders or violence of wicked Men No one knows but he may be the next object of pity by sudden death For it is appointed for all men to die Heb. ix 27. and no one can tell how soon But how few in health disquiet themselves with the apprehensions of what is most certain and how wretched would they be who should go about seriously to provide against all the casualties of Life