for prevailing represents his sad Condition as a most suitable Object of Divine Compassion Ver. 12 13. But I must return to the second particular Petition whereto I did observe my Text was added as an Enforcement of it David Ver. 8. begging pardon for his Sins which were the cause of all his Troubles and which particularly made wicked Men to open their mouths against him begging pardon as I was saying in these words Deliver me from all my transgressions and make me not the reproach of the foolish now that this humble Suit might speed the better readily yields and plainly enough makes this Confession That notwithstanding their Reproaches as well as all his other Troubles were most unjust from Men yet they came not without the justest reason from the Lord upon him And therefore he had not one Word to speak nor Thought to think against the same I was dumb saith he I opened not my mouth c. Thus stands the Text in relation to the Context But if we consider it in its self then it gives us 1. A sresh Account of David's Carriage under his great Distresses 2. The important Reason why he did so 1. The former here I was dumb I opened not my mouth where the latter Phrase ascendeth higher than that before it Both importing plainly that as he did not speak at all so he never so much as offer'd it neither Yea and the Hebrew Verb in the latter Clause being of the Future Tense doth intimate that he would not ever make any such attempt in time to come And this demonstrates the absolute silence and perfect satisfaction his Soul was brought unto under that heavy Providence whatever it was that lay upon him For as when the Waves don't swell the Winds are still so when the Mouth makes no complaint the Heart doth use to be at rest And 't is our Saviour's saying Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matth. 12.34 2. The latter part is there Because thou Lord didst it As who should say Whatever influence second Causes may have had immediately upon my present Troubles and whatever Imputation I may justly lay on Persons or on Things for what I suffer I must not here abide but pass on further through them and beyond them to the first Cause of all Thou Lord didst it This was like holy Job who for all the mischief Satan the Chaldeans and Sabeans wickedly did him looks higher to the righteous Hand of God and humbly bows before him saying The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the Name of the Lord Job 1.21 We see Good Men are utterly unlike the sottish Cur which snarleth at the Stone that hits him until he dangers breaking of his Teeth in gnawing it without regard unto the Hand that threw it The Ungodly commonly are thus guilty and are reproved justly by the Prophet for it Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see Isai 26.11 But the Pious practise otherwise as we find and thence find also cause to stoop to God and possess their Souls in patience under all their Sufferings And that there is sufficient reason so to do we shall see anon when besides all other Arguments it will appear particularly what a prevailing influence the latter part of my Text hath on the former In order whereunto since there is just presumption that this great Example is obliging to all other Persons in like Circumstances let this Proposition seriously be considered by us viz. Propos A Godly Person is to be still and silent and by no means impatient under the heaviest Hand of God upon him Now this Proposition being plain and very intelligible in all the Terms thereof we have only need of 1. A further Confirmation of it 2. A fair Solution of some Objections 3. and lastly Some Guidance for the better Application of the whole unto our selves for good Whereof in order And 1st 1. Proof by Examples and Arguments To make full Proof I shall produce two kinds of Evidences viz. Plain Examples and Powerfal Arguments and with a good stock of both from the Holy Scriptures I begin with Plain Examples I. Examples They shall be Seven or Eight and every one well deserving special Observation I will take them in that order the Scriptures set them And so begin with 1. Moses That the most wise and gracious Providence saw meet to exercise this most eminent Saint with various Tryals and some that had much sharpness in them the Book of God bears ample testimony nor is it silent about that even and quiet Temper wherein his Soul was preserved under them The danger of his Life from the hands of Pharaoh at his first appearance in one of his Brethrens cause against an Egyptian made him to fly the Country for his fafety But he * Heb. 11.27 endured it saith the Text and left no Murmuring nor Complaints behind him no nor carried he any with him that we can sind Exod. 2.15 His Brethren likewise often dealt so unkindly by him and their Insolencies towards him not withstanding his most constant and tender concernment for them were so insufferable that the righteous God doth espouse the quarrel and is provoked to destroy them root and branch for the same Yea and he promised Moses to make of him a Nation mightier and greater than they were if he would consent thereto But he good Man Exod. 32.10 11. bears all with patience from Them Num. 11.17 19. and is most instant with God for saving of them Deut. 9.18 c. and so requites them good for evil Why tho' * Numb 26.59 Aaron and Miriam that came out of the same Womb with him affronted and reviled him unjustly we are sure because God was offended with them highly for the same yet he takes it quietly and begs and procures God's pardon to them for it Numb 12.9 13. Nay when the Wise of his Bosom taunts him to his face and at the same time the Face of God was frowning on him also yet is he the same Man still Exod. 4.24 25. Should not we think that these were none of them slight Afflictions tho' some more sharp than others Would they not easily warp us to impatience under them But as it is written That he was the meekest man upon the face of the earth Numb 12.3 doubtless 't was meant that he was not only so towards Men but towards God also However you shall yet hear greater things than these 2. Aaron 'T is true he had great Frailties in him and like Afflictions on him but still he hath this excellent Character given him The saint of the Lord Psal 106.16 Now this Saint hath a bloody Breach made by an angry God upon his Family and not for any personal Crime of his neither nay the Method was not usual but extraordinary and full of terrour His Sons make a daring but it proved a dear Adventure They offered strange fire before the
them Only 't is requisite that we should retrieve our former thoughts upon the words and with this short Improvement Thou Lord didst it seemeth to make the holy Prophet after this manner to address himself to God O Lord I still'd my Soul and stopt my Mouth under my doleful Case because no Luck or Chance without me none Evil Accident on me none Inadvertency or Presumption in me no Lusts of Men or Rage of Devils against me was the Prime Cause of my Calamity Whatsoever Mischief mine Enemies or my sinful Self might be instrumental in unto me 't was only as thy Justice and thy Goodness gave Commission or Permission thereunto Whence mine Impatience were nothing else but Quarelling at thy Providence Therefore was I silent both as to Words and Thoughts too Because Thou Lord didst it 1. Now the First-Born of this Argument shews it thus Thou Lord didst it Thou whose we are All and Every of us the very Work of thine own Hands We are the Clay and thou our Potter Esay 64.8 And who can justly take offence at thee Ye are not your own 1 Cor. 6.19 We are the Lords Rom. 14.8 for doing as thou pleasest with thine own Mat. 20.15 If the Potter make one Vessel of siner Earth than he doth another and appointeth this for the common service of the Kitchin when that is to be set up in the Closet where is the reason to complain Nay if one or more or many of them be broken into Potsherds by him is he not without controul for that Altho Himself be not yet They are his own But we are much more God's to be dealt with by him as it seemeth good unto him So if the Husbandman will put one Parcel of his Sheep into rich Pastures when the rest can hardly live upon the barren Common and fatten some of his working Cattel with Food and Rest for Weeks and Months together whilst constant Labour and coarser Provender make others leaner than a Rake as we say who shall call him to account for this Are they not his own But we have no such property in what is called Ours as the Almighty hath in us In truth we are but Stewards He Absolute Lord. We are All the Highest in the World responsible unto God but God to None Then at what rate soever it pleaseth him to deal with us tho he afflict us sorely in our Person Relations or Estate our Duty is to say We must be dumb because thou Lord didst it 2. Thou Lord didst it Who canst do whatsoever thou wilt do and none can hinder thee Thy whole pleasure shall be effected in Heaven Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for God and Earth the Seas and all deep places nor is there any thing too hard for thee Psal 135.6 And Lord if thou sendest one Affliction on me it might have been an hundred Hast thou withdrawn one choicest Mercy why is there any left Say that the comfort of our Life were gone why hath not our Life it self taken wing and flown away together with it Should we say Nay would that have prevented it Or was there Power enough or Craft at least with us to have put a Bar to Who is so great a Fool as to entertain such Thoughts Let God once speak the word 't is instantly done Ezek. 12.25 If he command Estate or Health or Liberty or Friends away if he require our Soul can we compel perswade or intreat the longer stay of any of them Admit it then that it may go hard with us in some respects why is it better wherefore not bad or at the very worst in all He that hath only given a gentle lash upon our Hand could have cut off our Head or stabb'd us at the Heart if that had been his mind How easie were it for Almighty Power so to do And is not God thus furnished Wherefore well might the holy Psalmist say in his distress and the very best of us say after him upon the like occasion I was dumb I open'd not my mouth because thou Lord didst it 3. Thou Lord didst it Thou hast seen it meet to take suppose One Mercy from us but yet hast left us Many Nay hast bestowed Hundreds Thousands on us For thy compassions never fail but are new every morning Lam. 3.23 And thou dost Encompass them that truly trust in thee with mercy Psal 32.10 When we with grief remember what a Blessing we have lost shall we forget the while those many others which we still injoy What Favours much above all reckoning dost thou O Lord afford for Soul and Body too Unto our selves and Friends likewise If we be real Christians we then must be Disciples to the Psalmist and say our Lesson that he teacheth How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God How great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number than the sand Psal 139.17 18. That only one which is worth ten thousand others the Gift of thy blessed Son to die for our offences rise for our justification and at thy right-hand to live for making intercession for us that we may have Pardon Pity Support and Comfort under all our Pressures What an Invaluable Mercy is it We have God's sure Promise That he will never leave nor forsake his People Heb. 13.5 till he hath brought them through the Wilderness of this World in safety to the heavenly Canaan God gave his Son unto this very purpose And as Joshua who was the Type of Jesus led the Carnal Israel into the Promised Land Below so Jesus by him typified will certainly conduct the Spiritual Israel into that Above Oh Ravishing Blessing And the very Quintessence of all Blessings Able to make a Pious Soul Rejoyce in spite of Sorrow and to triumph in its Tribulations To be sure it will and must have influence on him in his Sufferings to say with David Lord I am dumb because thou didst it 4. Thou Lord didst it Who notwithstanding hast made it better with us much better than with many others much our betters Imagine some of us have lost a fair Estate there are those good People who with their Estate have lost their Health too Say thou art sick why such a Friend or Neighbour or Acquaintance at the least is sick and lame withal and some poor Souls with Poverty into the bargain Admit that thou hast parted with One dear Relation Many are they that have lost Many such and some All. If Death hath snatch'd away one Child from thee there are those that have none left them now tho time was they had many Hath the Just Providence removed an Affectionate Mother from thee There are not a few whom it hath bereaved of such a Father And several that it hath made Orphans destitute both of Father and of Mother too If a Good Man's Help-meet be gone there are Pious Women that have had their Head taken from them Whoever thou art that truly fearest God
fear he should have done himself a Mischief upon hearing of it As the Hebrew Phrase importeth * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and both the a Procul dubio malum sibi inferet Syriack and the b Ne malum sibi inferat Arabick Version read Now all these Considerations put together make it fully manifest that this Stroke of Providence must needs fall very heavy and certainly was enough to shake him sorely if not link him utterly to the Ground Yet mark his Stilness under so great a Storm Whilst the Child was living he did his utmost to preserve the Life thereof But when 't was Dead What had he else to do but at the least to acquiesce in what the Lord had done And note what weighty Arguments he stops the mouth of all Impatients by And they are three 1. 'T were most Vnreasonable to Afflict my self saith he for this Affliction any longer Wherefore should I fast i. now when the Child is Dead Produce just Cause or any colour of Reason for that if any of you are capable so to do Reason is so far from Patronizing such a Practice that it quite abandons it as carrying 2. Perfect Vanity and impertinent Folly in the face thereof Can I bring him back again i. to life Kings can do much indeed And good Kings in all reason should be able to do more than other Now in this number David was But this is above all Mortal Art and Power The King of Kings alone is sufficient for such Work 3. To conclude I have other business and of far greater conscquence upon my hands faith t is great Man Instead of foolish and fruitless afflicting of my thoughts in the bringing of him back 't is my grand concernment to bethink me of and prepare myself for * Cur immoderate ferat ab isse quem mox subsequeris Tert. de Patient c. 9. going unto him Whose turn is next God only and no Mortal knoweth But this I know that I must go to him how soon I known not He cannot return to me Here lies the Art of putting such an Affair into its right Method And proves the best Improvement of what we may account the worst of Providences So shall the loss of some dear Friend tend to the saving of a dearer self our precious Soul This is the Example of that Person who was A Man after God's own heart and who elsewhere too and in a worser Case was yet content That God should do unto him as seemed good in his eyes 2 Sam. 15.26 And are not these such Steps as are most worthy to be trod in by us 5. Job Next let us look on Job On him this glorious Character is bestowed even by God himself as to a very NONE-SUCH viz. A perfect and an upright man that feared God and eschewed evil Chap. 1.8 Nay his Judge and the Judge of all the World declares him innocent as to a Guilt deserving such a Punishment as was falling on him And for full proof thereof makes him a full Amends and ample Reparation for all him Losses afterwards Chap. 42.10 c. But that as yet could not come under the Sufferer's Cognizance Well this so excellent a Person 's Calamities assault him like the Billows of the Sea where furious Tempests force them foreward one upon another's back till all before them is overwelmed by them First the bad News of the Sabeans seizing on his Oxen and his Asses and slaying of his Servants that attended them Then how the Lightning had consumed his Sheep and Shepherds all together Next that the Chaldeans fell upon his Camels and destroyed their Keepers too And last of all with scarcely a time to breathe between them as we say the frightful Death of his Dearest Children Chap. 1.14 15 no fewer then seven Sons and three Daughters by the sudden fall of an House upon them is brought unto his Ears Now when so sad a Story with all the frightful Circumstances of it shall be considered seriously by us shall not we be apt to start these question What flesh could bear it what heart of steel but must sink under it Well grant the Case be insupportable unto meer Humanity yet Nothing is too hard for God Gen. 18.14 For tho' the flesh and the heart doth faile where He is the strength of the heart Ps 73.26 there is full support notwithstanding His grace s sufficient 2 Cor. 12.9 and can give Conquest and make Triumphant when the other is utterly overcome and routed See here a Proof Job is affected greatly and his Soul affected deeply God's hand is very heavy upon him But 't is far from driving him into Rebellion The most humble Submission is practised by him He worshiped and said Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord Job 2.21 Where we see plainly 1. He disclaims is own right to any Mercies 2. Proclaims God's sole Interest in them also 3. Thanks him heartily for his Rod as well as for his Staff And what lively Arguments are these of a Mind acquiescing fully in God's good Pleasure altho' its one great Pain Thus 't was with this good Man Nay when the Hurricane that before had overturned his Estate destroyed his Servants and all his Children reacheth at last his Person with a tremendous Judgment both an unusual and universal kind of shameful loathsome and painful leprosie Job 2.7 having great advantage to his other Afflictions for forcing him unto Impatience and Desperation and when She that lay in his Bosom and whose Duty 't was to have administred Help and Comfort to him in his Distress instead of cooling labours to inflame the Feaver of his Soul and puts him upon Raving like a Bedlam or a Devil rather Verse 9. How doth he play the Man shall I say yea with a Vertue more than manly act the Saim and instead of being overcome comes off with Victory Thus he both justly rebukes his Wise and vindicates God 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 Verse 10. Q. D. Must we be cocker'd so as to have all Days and no Nights the Sun shine constantly but not a Shower or a Cloud The Summer to last all the Year and Winter never take its turn most foolish fond and proud Presumption That Man's Humour should be still complied with and the Supream Providence by no means cross it Oh! the vile Absurdity the prophane Impudence of the Clay to prescribe unto the Potter Who doth not know when he remembers that he is a Creature and will not acknowledge if he be a Christian that we are not to be Carvers for ourselves but thankfully should accept the Portion given us And in a Journey to the heavenly Kingdom we should be well content that foul Ways sometimes as well as fair
As for thy Prayers how can they be Frustrate either to the Deceased or unto thyself Surviving If all things work together for good to them that love God this providence also must do so Suppose thee such And then to pass by lesser matters Thy Friend is not properly Gone away only Gone before a little Nor are Requests denyed because not answered as we expected God hath a better way to grant them in when he doth not give them to us our way Our dearest Lord was heard in that he feared altho he dyed the Death against which he so earnestly prayed Heb. 5.7 Obj. 3. There are those also with whom this Language is to be found I have lost at once my dearest Friend a comfortable Estate nay my Subsistance and Support How should I bound my Lamentation Ans Being taking for a Person fearing God thou deservest the Reproof that was given St. Peter by our Saviour O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou fear Doth man live by bread alone and not by every word that goeth out of the mouth of God Matt. 4.4 whose is the world and the fulness thereof who feeds the fowls and cloaths the lillies And art thou less to God than they But there is worse than this at bottom of this Complaint The guile and fraud herein is plain to Man much more to God It is not the Friend but what was His it seems thou dost Bewail the loss of But to spare thee there Who is it bids us Take no thought for our life no nor for our body Matth. 6.25 Let not Anxiety seize us either for food or raiment For if our Souls be now as they should be in Heaven our Bodies will make good shift enough on Earth never fear it Our Gracious Lord who cannot deceive us bids us Seek God's kingdom and his righteousness above all things else and he hath pass'd his Word and is both able and willing to make it good that all things necessary shall be added to us Verse 33. thrown in as Thread and Paper at the Grocers without distracting Cares about them Nature is contented with a little And Satisfaction Peace and Quiet with our Portion is never attained by an Addition to but a Substraction from our fond Desires I need not send these People to that Cloud of Witnesses recorded in the Book of God who in their greatest wants could cast their care on Him and found supply enough in him That blessed Name whereby we all are called although he made the World and had it wholly at his Command and Beck was notwithstanding pleased well enough when he had not where to lay his head Mat. 8.20 But the Morals of a very Heathen will cry shame on such a Christian Thence you shall often hear much to the purpose * Dici potest de Divitijs quod in Medicum gloriosum dictumest tuum remedium morbum gravorem facit Plut. de Cupid divit Is maxime divitije affluit qui minime indiget Sen. de Pauper Non in Paupertate vitium sed in Paupere c. Id. de Remed fort of contemning Wealth and being content with a mean Estate What danger 's there and what safety here and therefore how far from being repined at are lower Circumstances in the World The Divine Oracle assures us That Godliness with Contentment is great gain And if we be Godly whatever Portion God shall allot unto us that will certainly serve and ought to please us And so this Storm is calm'd Obj. 4. The Comfort of my Life is gone say others What Counsel Support Refreshment and Encouragement was I wont to have from the true Sympathy of ANOTHER SELF But all is vanish'd and gone for ever And who can bear it Ans And is' t no Comfort that thou sometimes hadst such a Comfort and didst so long injoy it Methinks thy cheerful Thanks for that should some-what check thy doleful Moanes for this But to deal more plainly Is' t so indeed No marvel if a Jealous God would not endure a Rival with him His Kindness he is liberal of unto his People but his glory he 'll not give unto any other Esa 42.8 We often lose our Mercies because we dote so much on them as to have God too little in our Thoughts by reason of them And should he like that when Reason and Religion tell us the Creator should have the Throne within our Hearts the Foot-stool serves the Creature well enough Nay this is real kindness to us that God diverts the muddy Streams to make us run to the Crystal Spring When the loving Master will not give the Trencherscraps unto his honest Servant but the while allows him a well-stor'd Larder hath he any cause to take that ill Or if an affectionate Husband liketh not to have his Pocket pick'd whilst he gives his Wife the Keys to take out Gold and Silver at her own discretion hath she cause to make Complaint for this No doubt but every good Man will say to God with David All my springs are in thee Ps 87.7 And with the Apostle to our Saviour Whither shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6.68 Now such a Providence calls aloud upon him to hasten to his Fountain and his Store-house Indeed suppose a Saint in this distress had not a God to go to or were he bar'd access unto his Presence when his desired Comfort were gone for ever there might I grant be a little pardon for his Impatience But blessed be the Lord His Eyes are ever looking after him His Ears stand always open to him His Hands are stretched out continually for him and His Heart never without yearnings towards him and surely this is ample Compensation for and abundant Consolation in the worst Affliction if People will duly apply their Souls to God 'T is that He aims at and urgeth us unto Call upon me in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorise me Psal 50.15 Psal 55.22 Phil. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.7 Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee Be careful for nothing But cast all your care on God What loss cannot he make up in Specie Puta Deum dicere quid habetis quod de me queri possitis Sen de Pro vid. c. 6. if he please And if he doth not give the Idem the Tantundem is as good To be sure tho Elkanah ask'd his Wife only was not he better than Ten Sons God who is his Peoples Portion in all Distresses is better than Ten thousand Worlds Obj. 5. But 't was my woful Folly or else mine Evils had not come upon me That Loss This Sickness The Other bad Accident had never happen'd to me if becoming Frudence had been my Conduct Such Means would have prevented all my Misery Now Woe is me for my hard Hap Ans Remember first That Hap was certainly God's Hand For Fortune Luck and Chance Sed te nos facimus Fortuna Deam Coeloque