by its most alluring Temptations who every day discovering more the vanity of all earthly Pleasures have an immediate recourse to God and entirely depend upon his Wisdom and Goodness both as to their present condition and that happy one they hope for hereafter All men receive Prosperity from God very kindly tho they frequently make an ill use of it but when he sends any affliction how much soever they may stand in need thereof they forthwith complain as if he dealt hardly by them Nay when he lays a far lighter Judgment upon them than their folly and sin has deserv'd and than the present sickly condition of their soul did require immediately both his Justice and his Wisdom must be impeached Poor man he thinks he has severe usage when God is very merciful unto him and is apt to grumble and be querulous when the Divine Wisdom does use the most proper and suitable methods to do his soul the greatest good Most men if they might chuse for themselves would never have any thing fall cross to their own Wills and the best reason that may be for their sufferings will scarce bring them to think well of them or to judg favourably of him who order'd and sent them This is usually the perverse behaviour of those mean spirits in every trouble and disappointment who having fixt their hearts upon the goods of this world do never lift up their hands and eyes towards the Glorious Heavens or spend any thoughts upon the boundless Eternity into which they are ready to launch It is also true That God's own People may sometimes have their feet slip and be at first stagger'd by a great evil which suddenly surprizes them but with a little thought and recollection they recover the due temper of their minds and discern the calamity to be so fit and reasonable for their condition that they not only frame themselves to a sincere submission to God's pleasure but devoutly magnifie and praise his Name for the signal advantage their souls will gain thereby This is the language of the Saints Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty Job 5.17 Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3.12 I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou of faithfulness hast afflicted me Psal 119.75 Blaspheme not God who makes provision for our souls with much Wisdom and great care and by a supply of good things and the fear of stripes does teach us the Elements of Virtue and pulls up the disease of Vice by the roots and causes bright and gladsom health in the soul Now if by every injury against their Reputation every damage in their Estate every loss of dear relations every hurt and pain in their Body and by every melancholly and grievous thought which may happen in their minds God designs not to torment but to purify and reform his people there can be no reason why they should not accept all in good part which comes nor why it should be thought a strong Objection against the Wisdom of Providence That the Righteous now and then suffer and have their share of the afflictions of this world But because this has been a difficult rub in the way at which as well the virtuous as bad men have stumbled in a more particular answer thereunto I desire the following things may be consider'd 1. That we are not competent judges any more of the righteousness of men than of the reasons of their sufferings We that do not know the hearts of men nor see the secrets which are lodged there cannot pronounce who are truly good Those who make a fair shew of Religion and take pains to have the world â—â—ink well of them may have much wickedness lurk in their hearts and privately be exceeding vicious But unless we knew certainly who were sincerely virtuous men and who were hypocrites we have no right to make this Objection and it will be very unjust and presumptuous in us to charge it as a defect and blemish in the Divine Providence That the Righteous are frequently afflicted since that which may look like an undeserv'd Calamity of a good man may for ought we know be but a just Judgment of God inflicted upon him for his Hypocrisie 2. Neither are we competent judges of the happy or miserable state of the Prosperity or Calamities of men Those who to us appear the happy Persons may have so many unruly Passions within their breasts that in a manner tear their souls in pieces and sour all the Comforts and Pleasures which their Greatness Honour or Plenty should produce On the contrary those who in our eyes pass for vile and contemptible wretches may have that peace in their minds being hurried by no masterless lust nor tortur'd with the guilt of any sin may have that joy springing up in their souls constantly from a sense of the Favour of God and the conscience of their doing good to their fellow-creatures that they would not change conditions with the greatest Monarch upon Earth Possibly good men may be straitned with Poverty and have little Authority and Interest in the world and yet for all this they are still happy for happiness does not consist in abundance of Riches nor a large compass of Power These things to them would have been a burden and they therefore never sought them but a composed mind devout thoughts easiness in every condition a chearful resignation of themselves and of what they had to the Will of God when Crosses and Sickness and Disgrace and Losses should come is what they heartily desired and what they earnestly prayed for and what God graciously was pleased to give them and in the enjoyment whereof they find real and most intense happiness Hence we may be instructed how to take the measures of our Felicity and to form a true judgment who are the happy who the miserable men That no man is happy by reason of his vast Riches but Generous Mind which makes him to live above them and inclines him to the highest Instances of Charity so that he is merciful and lendeth he disperseth and giveth to the poor and the acts of his Bounty shall be had in everlasting remembrance That no person is miserable because by the malice of designing men he may be turned out of his Native Soil since he may bear his Calamity so evenly and with such Submission to Providence as thereby to ensure to himself an habitation in the Heavenly and Eternal Countrey from whence all the Powers of Darkness can never banish him That a man is not happy because he has a healthy and strong Body but because in an infirm and sickly one he does carefully preserve a sound and spotless mind That he is not miserable who meets with much unkind usage and upon whom many cross and sharp things do fall But he who being besotted with prosperous Successes doth lift up his eyes no higher but sits
into the world In this Word of God we find an account not only of the uncertainty of our Lives but of all the other Goods we possess which belong unto the present state that the possession we have of them is very precaâ—ious and that of a sudden we may very many ways be put out of the enjoyment of those things we esteemed most had kept longest and were most secure of But tho the ways of turning us out of what we have be many yet the Holy Scripture gives us good assurance that we shall never be dispossest of the least good without the Appointment or License of Providence that as we may not set our hearts upon any of the things of the World which we have so we may bear Losses quietly and without ruffling the Peace of our Minds and making any abatement of our Love of God may submit to every change in our condition with the Patience of Job yielding back to the Lord what he had given Sometimes the Scriptures discourse of the strange Changes which are made in Kingdoms how God pulls men down and sets others up by unlikely means and when they least expected it and that in an instant he stript them of their vast Possessions when their Power and Plenty had thrust him out of all their thoughts and they placed their security in their own strength and did not attribute to his Providence the Glory of their Greatness Of the wonderful effects of Providence we have unquestionable examples in all Ages wherein the motion of God's hand hath been so visible that necessity will compel men to ascribe them to him How frequently hath the interposition of the Divine Power been clearly manifest in the Rise and Declension of Kingdoms and in the surprizing Periods which have been put to mighty Empires by small and improbable Causes notwithstanding they were founded in deep Policy and had been of long continuance he in a moment breaking the firm frame of things and turning up the Foundations which were laid by the Counsels of the most skilful and sagacious men VVhen the measure of the sins of a great People is full and their Iniquities are grown up to a ripeness fit for ruin so that God will no longer endure the abuse of his Mercies and the bold affronts which are put upon his Love and Kindness then Destruction comes swiftly upon them and they receive their terrible overthrow from those hands which they did despise Histories of all Countries furnish us with instances of this kind and we may read abundance of the mysterious variety of the workings of Providence in the quick turns and amazing changes which did happen to the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel Either the sick or the lame have strength enough to pull down the mightiest Nation when the crying sins thereof have provoked God peremptori 〈…〉 to resolve that there shall be an end put to all its Glory and Power Of this case we have a memorable declaration made from the Lord to the Jews by the Prophet Jeremy of the fatal Blow which should be given to their Kingdom even by those they themselves had beaten and that only the wounded men which remained should be sufficiently able to set Fire to their City and lay it in Ashes Thus saith the Lord Deceive not your selves saying The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us for they shall not depart for tho ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire Now when only the wounded and shatter'd remains of a Conquer'd Army shall be able to attack and take a well fortified City the great disproportion between the Instruments and the Work must force the mouths of the Inhabitants to confess that it is the Lord's doings and that their Misery is justly pulled down from Heaven by their abominable sins Wherefore when we behold any Empire or Kingdom that hath been long setled taken deep root enlarged its Borders and was â— Terror to its Neighbours to dissolve on a sudden and tumble down and all the Limbs of this well-built and often-try'd Body at once to be dis-jointed will not in this strange and unaccountable Revolution the Prints be most conspicuous and plain of the All-seeing and All-disposing Providence of God who turns the Wisdom of the Wise into Foolishness does not give the Race to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong On the other hand to see a small Society or Body of Men preserv'd when environ'd with Powerful Enemies each of which could have devoured it and its State and Condition supported when they did all conspire to work its ruin and Peace and Safety restored by most improbable means where there was no appearance or likelihood of it must be a demonstration that God governs the world and orders all the affairs thereof From hence it is as the Divine Providence hath wonderfully put forth it self in all times so God shews himself highly displeased when his people presume to call his Care of them into question and make any doubt whether he observes their behaviour declaring it to be utterly impossible that he should either neglect or forget them For they say the Lord bath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not And as for me also my eye shall not spare neither will I have pity But Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking children that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Thus I have dispatch'd the first Head of this Discourse namely that nothing can come to us through the whole course of this life without the Order or at least the Permission of Providence and shewn That not only the Prosperity and Adversity the Poverty and Riches the Wisdom and Understanding the Length of Days and Death of particular Persons but also the Growth and Fall of Nations and Kingdoms comes from the Lord Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in Heaven and Earth He sheweth loving kindness unto thousands and recompenceth the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their Children after them The great the mighty God the Lord of Hosts is his name great in counsel and mighty in works for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings 2. That we should receive evil from the hand of God as well as good is very agreeable to his Wisdom In the miseries God sends or suffers to fall upon men in this life many of his great Ends in governing the world are serv'd and much Spiritual Profit may accrue to them who by the cross Events and Disappointments they here encounter are wean'd from the world and will not be drawn in
live godly in Christ Jesus should suffer affliction so also all good men may to their unspeakable joy observe That their Religion does mightily thrive when the wicked most endeavour to suppress it and that nothing more refines the Lives of Christians and makes them come up to the Purity in the Gospel required than Persecution Of that part of Providence which extracts Good out of Evil the Ancient Father discourses well It is saith he the greatest Argument of Divine Providence that it not only altogether destroys the hurtful quality of the Evil which proceeds from the Apostacy of Human Will but also does not suffer it to abide useless and unprofitable for it is the business of the Divine Wisdom Virtue and Power not only to do good for that is the Nature of God to say it once for all as much as it is of Fire to burn and of Light to shine but especially to order and direct that the Devices of the Wicked should serve to good and useful Purposes As therefore it is in the nature of Unbelievers and of the Prophane to hate the People of God and to deal cruelly by them so it is God's Will to suffer it that thereby his own may be improved in that Piety and Virtue which will prepare them for his Presence and incline him to take them out of all their Troubles the sooner unto himself And tho it be a great crime in naughty men to persecute the Servants of God yet they have the less reason to complain of it or to be very uneasie when afflicted because their sufferings do tend so much to their Perfection Nay on the contrary they ought to esteem it as a mark and token of God's Kindness that he is pleased to better and advance their Nature even by Adversity And it is no less than a demonstration of Infinite Wisdom that the Plots which are laid to ruin the Saints should make them more perfect and that to the astonishment of all men the Spight and Cruelty of Persecutors should make Religion take deeper root to grow the faster and in the shorter time to spread it self over the face of the Earth If indeed we regard the Malice and Rage of men certainly enough has been attempted to banish the Gospel and Name of Jesus Christ out of the World had not God appeared on its side and maintained his own Cause and People And while God is with us and does support the Interest of the Religion wherein we are engaged we may remain confident that Captivity Imprisonment Bonds and Scourges how much soever at present they may terrifie and grieve us yet they shall never overthrow the Christian Church or reduce to a state of Desparation the sincere Believers but God's special Grace will help and carry them through troubles of every kind and degree and make all conclude in their Salvation Let us then not hope either that the Wicked should alter the Perverseness of their Natures or that for our sakes God should change the Wise Methods of his Providence Let us not think we shall have kinder usage from the World than Christ and his Apostles had and than the Army of Martyrs and Confessors and all the Primitive Christians did meet with But as we are baptized into the Name of Christ so never let us be asham'd openly to profess it or afraid to bear the Cross of our dear Master If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you And let us steddily look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy which was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Heb. 12.23 4. We must acknowledg the Goodness of God whether in Sickness Pain or Trouble when we place our Meditations on the inestimable Rewards of the next Life which he has provided to recompence the Sufferings of Holy Men in this Our deep ignorance of the Joys of the other Life will make all things said of them to be with great disadvantage The Philosophers and Men of refined Reason were generally possest with the Belief of a Future State of which yet their Discourses are obscure and full of uncertainty and when they handle this Argument they are often inconsistent with themselves Neither need this be a wonder since it is not to be imagined that by Natural Light we should be able to make any large discovery of the Pleasures of Heaven For they do so vastly differ from Worldly Enjoyments and so infinitely surpass all the Pleasures of Sense that our present Experience will not at all enable us to frame a Conception of them So that the best Information we are to expect in this matter must be from the Holy Scripture neither doth that it self descend into a particular description of the nature of Heavenly Joys The Spirit thought it sufficient for the support of our Faith to give a general account of the uncounceivable Happiness of the Future Life and to let us have full assurance that it should be the Portion of all those who shall to the end persevere in a sincere obedience to the Laws of the Gospel And notwithstanding the best Progress we can make in our enquiry after the Delights of the Glorious World above will be chiefly by Negatives for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him yet the consideration of them will be mighty comfortable and enough to make us bear up under all the Pressures and Troubles which shall attend the Cross of Christ In Heaven we shall be free from all Sins and from every Temptation to do evil which now proceeds from so huge a number of causes and occasions We shall be placed above the reach of the Malice and Power of the Devil whose perpetual work it is to lay Plots to corrupt our Innocence to take and ensnare our Souls by his cunning Devices We shall be removed from the sight and company of bad men who by their ill example and restless importunity are ever inticing us to sin We now converse among the dangerous Enemies of our Souls who have a constant eye upon us so that if we do but forbear to watch never so little they will surprize us if we do not walk circumspectly we presently shall be made to fall if we do not pray continually the wicked will prove too strong for us and deceive us with the gaudy appearance of their tempting baits O what a perpetual struggle have we with our Lusts and how much pains does it cost to overcome them when they violently press upon us What a Vexation and Grief is it to our Minds that we find it so hard to subdue the Motions to almost every sin Nay that those Lusts which