the best Men are not all Spirit but united to Flesh and when the Body is under strong pains the Soul suffers in its sufferings and while we are thus compounded the loss of those Comforts that support and sweeten the present Life must cause Grief 'T is easy to utter brave Expressions and lay down severe Precepts in contempt of Evils when they are at a distance but hard to sustain the Spirit under the actual feeling of them 't is one thing to discourse of a Battel and another to be engaged in the heat of it But supposing by a Philosophical Charm the Heart were so hardned as to be proof against the most piercing afflictions such a forced insensibility is not regular but proceeds from the extinction of Humanity and Piety and that will appear by considering Afflictions in a natural or moral respect First in a natural respect for so they are destructive or oppressive Evils and a pensive feeling of them is suitable to the Law of our Creation for the Humane Nature is framed with such Senses and Passions as according to God's intention should be affected suitably to the quality of their objects and if the Soul acts rationally 't is moved accordingly A Saint on Earth is not a Saint in Heaven raised above all Disasters and Troubles freed from all hurtful impressions from without and sorrowful impressions within but is liable to afflicting evils And it is becoming his Duty to have his passions pliable to his condition but without excess the Eyes must not be drown'd nor dry but tenderly affected Secondly Considered in a moral respect as they are sent from the high and just Providence of God it is absolutely necessary there should be an humble resentment of his Displeasure This is a consequent of the former for if our affections are seared up that we do not feel the stroke how shall we regard the hand that smites us If we are not sensible of Affliction we are secure in our Sins Natural Sorrow is introductive of Godly Sorrow There are two extreams to be avoided by the afflicted according to the direction of Solomon in the person of Wisdom and repeated by the Apostle My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Some are discouraged and over-born by Afflictions as insupportable others are stubborn and careless and never lay them to heart they never look upward to the original efficient Cause an Offended God nor inward to the impulsive deserving Cause their Sins but esteem them fortuitous Events that happen in this mutable state without a design to correct and reform Sinners or to proceed from a blind necessity things of course or meerly regard the second Causes and Instruments of their Troubles accordingly when they meet with Calamities all their care is by a perverse shift to seek for relief onely in Temporal Comforts without serious applying themselves to God whose end in sending Troubles is to reclaim us from Sin to Holiness from Earth to Heavens from the Creatures to himself This secret Atheism like a benumming Opium stupifies the Conscience and the insensibility of God's hand inflicting Evils is as different from Christian Patience and Constancy as a mortal Lethargy is from the quiet soft Sleep of Health Nothing kindles his Anger more than neglecting it 't is equally provoking with the despising of his Love It is a symptom of a wretched state of Soul if there proceed no sighs and groans no signs of grief from the sense of God's displeasure it is a sad evidence there is no Spiritual Life Indolence under the effects of God's Anger is like the stilness of the Dead Sea whose Calm is a Curse The Jews tho intitled the People of God are deeply charg'd for this prodigious Madness O Lord thou hast struck them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a Rock they have refused to return Jer. 5. 3. We have whole Quarries of such obdurate Wretches amongst us this impenitent disregard of God's hand is a dreadful presage of future and more heavy Judgments Who ever hardned himself against the Lord and prospered Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he The most refractory Sinner he can compel to acknowledg with bitter lamentations his Wickedness and weakness how unable he is to contend with his Judge But supposing a respite from Punishment here there is an Hell prepared for stubborn Sinners where is Weeping and Wailing for ever Whom the Rods do not awaken the Scorpions shall Secondly I shall now proceed to explicate what is included in the resignment of our selves to God in times of Affliction This will be made evident by considering the leading powers and faculties which Grace sanctifies and works in according to their natural subordination The Understanding approves the severest dispensations of Providence to be good that is for reasons though sometimes unsearchable yet always righteous and for gracious ends to the Saints When Hezekiah heard the heavy Prophecy that all his Treasures should be carried to Babylon and his Royal Progeny should become Slaves there he said to Isaiah Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken His sanctified Mind acknowledged it to be a just Correction of his vain Pride and quietly submitted to it And as there is a satisfaction of Mind in the rectitude so in the graciousness of his Proceedings The misapprehension and mis-belief of God's design in afflicting causeth Impatience and Murmuring but when the Mind is convinced that he afflicts us for our Benefit that Bodily Diseases are Medicinal Advantages the remedies of the Soul that the losses of Earthly Comforts prepare us for Divine Enjoyments that the way which is sowed with Thorns and watered with Tears leads to Heaven the Heart is compliant with the sharpest methods of Providence But these things will be more fully opened under the several heads of Arguments to enforce the Duty This Resignment principally consists in the consent and subjection of the Will to the Orders of Heaven The Will is an imperious Faculty naturally impatient of opposition to its Desires and we pay the highest honour to God in the lowest submission of our Wills to his Appointments 'T is true the Will cannot make a direct choice of Evil nor love Afflictions but the Holy Spirit by a powerful Operation so disposeth it as to renounce its own inclinations when discordant with the Will of God And the more humble ready and entire the Submission is the more difficult and harsh the denial of our natural desire is the more supernatural Grace shines and is acceptable It is the perfection of Holiness to do what God loves and to love what God does There is a rare example of this in David's carriage when under his greatest Affliction 't was in his flight from his Son Absalom who endeavoured to deprive him of
and a stubborn uncompliance with it in the issues of things is direct Rebellion mixt with ingratitude obstructive to our present Peace and future Happiness If the Afflicted would for a while suspend their Tears and Sighs and with free Reason consider that what relation soever they had in their dearest Loss whether of a Father a Son of a Husband or Wife or any other amiable and passionate terms yet God hath a nearer right and juster claim in those Persons being his by the best Titles of Creation and Redemption it would silence murmurings and impatience and stop the scope of inordinate Sorrow Our Propriety in them was derived from his Favour and our Possession was depending on his Will for his Right in all his Creatures is unalienable This consideration was the foundation of Job's Patience when he was stript of all his outward Comforts how composed was he in his Mind how considerate in his words he reflects upon his Native Poverty Naked came I into the World and naked shall I return thither and Adores God's Dominion The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be his Name Add farther that which by immediate connection follows the consideration of the glorious Majesty of God and our natural meanness and unworthiness The distance and disproportion is so vast between him and us that we are not able to conceive the full and just Idea of his Excellent Greatness We are fain to assist our Minds in the Thoughts of God by sensible representations and to express our Conceptions by borrowed terms His Immensity by the Ocean his Eternity by the returning of a Circle into it self his Power by Thunder his Majesty by the Sun in its Meridian splendours As the flying Fishes Shoals of which are met in sailing to the Indies can fly no longer than their Wings remain moist when those Membranes are dry they cannot move and are forc'd to dip themselves again in the Sea that by softening them they may renew their Flight Thus when we ascend in our Minds to God we form no Conceptions but what take their rise from sensible things which infinitely fall short of his Perfections Who can fully understand the transcendent Excellencies of his Nature Who can describe what is ineffable and most worthy to be ador'd with silent admiration and extasy of Mind He dwells in that Light which is inaccessible the Angels the most comprehensive Spirits vail their faces in the presence of his Glory He is his own Original but without Beginning alone but not solitary one ever Blessed God yet communicates his intire Deity to the Son and Spirit he is not divided in number nor confused in Unity He is not compell'd by Necessity nor chang'd by Liberty nor measur'd by Time If we ascend to the first Fountains of all Ages then his Infinite Understanding comprehended in one clear view the whole compass extent and duration of all things His powerful Word made the visible and invisible World and upholds them That which was spoken with Flattery of a Roman Emperour by Seneca who as much degenerated from the dignity of a Stoical Philosopher in licking Nero as in biting Alexander is absolutely true of the Sovereign Lord of the World His Providence is the Band that unites the parts of the Universal Common-Wealth the Vital Spirit and Vertue that sustains all Without his Eye and Hand his dispositive Wisdom and Power the whole frame would disband and fall into Confusion and Ruine He is seated upon the Throne of the Universe Thousand thousands of glorious Spirits minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him in the quality and humility of his Servants ready to execute his Commands He is the Judg of the Living and the Dead that disposeth of Heaven and Hell for Ever And what is Man a little Breathing Dust. He is infinitely above us and so strangely condescends in having a tender care of us that the Psalmist was swallowed up in Extasy and Amazement at the thoughts of it Lord What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou regardest him Nay we are beneath his Anger as a Worm is not worthy of the indignation of an Angel Now the more we magnify God and exalt his Authority in our Judgments the more our Wills are prepared to yield to him His Excellency will make us afraid to oppose his Providence When the Son of God appeared to Saul in his Glory and commanded in Person he presently lets fall his Arms of Defiance and says Lord what wilt thou have me to do His Resignation was absolute nothing was so hard to do nothing so formidable to suffer but he was ready to accomplish and endure in obedience to Christ. The more we debase and vilify our selves the more easy it will be to bear what God inflicts Humility disposeth to Submission Our Passions are not excited at the breaking of an ordinary Glass but if a Vessel of Christal be broken it moves us the lower esteem we have of our selves the less we shall be transported for any breach that is made upon us We read in the History of Job many heavy Complaints uttered by him of his Sufferings all the sad Figures of passionate Eloquence made use of to represent them and the fruitless Essays of his Friends that did rather exasperate than appease his Spirit And it is very observable that when the Lord interposed himself to justify the ways of his Providence he did not charge upon him the guilt of his Sins that deserved the severest Judgments but appears in his Glory and reminds himof his original nothing Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast Understanding He opens to him some of the Excellencies of the Deity in the works of Creation and Providence and the present effect was Job adored with humble Reverence the Divine Majesty and acknowledged his own unworthiness Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth now mine eyes see thee I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes The thickest smoak by ascending dissipates and vanishes If the troubled Soul did ascend to Heaven and consider that even the worst Evils are either from the operation or permission of the Divine Providence the Cloudy disturbing Thoughts and Passions would be presently scattered David had a blessed experiment of this in his distress I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it Such an awful apprehension he had of God as transcendently superiour to him and unaccountable for his Proceedings When any impatient Thoughts arise we should presently chain them up for there is Folly and Fury in them What am I that my sullen Spirit should dispute against the Orders of Heaven that my Passions should resist the Will of of the highest Lord that my Desires should depose him from his Throne For thus by implication and consequence they do who
contrition for their Sins to implore his Clemency The voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds to calve the timerous and weak creatures But when the Heavens roar the Lions Thunder back again Thus strong and stubborn Sinners when they feel the effects of God's Anger are raging and furious in their Passions and Expressions The foolish Man perverteth his way his most grievous sufferings are the fruits of his Sins and his Heart fretteth against the Lord as the inflicter of them This is a high indignity to God and an injury to themselves For a vile Creature a base guilty Wretch to murmur and storm against God's righteous Judgments argues a Prodigious Forgetfulness both of its dependance and obnoxiousness to the Divine Tribunal It is said of the adherents of Antichrist that they were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over the Plagues and they repented not to give him Glory Infinite Insolence Such obstinate Souls the Prince of Darkness possesses as his peculiar Dominion they have more need of Conversion than Consolation Besides by impatience and vexatious fretting they exasperate their pains turn the Rod into a Serpent Vipers into Dragons and God's mighty hand is more heavy by their resistance Bold Expostulations irritate his Anger rather than incline his Mercy the wilful Man never wants Woe With the froward saith the Psalmist thou wilt shew thy self froward or as it is rendred in the Margent wrestle The strongest Sinner is not a Match for the Almighty if his Anger excite his Power how easily how suddenly are they destroyed without remedy Stubborn impatience under the inflictions of God's righteous Providence is the nearest Step to final ruine Others are so dejected and broken with Afflictions that their continuance in the World is but a Living Death every thing entertains their Grief and the best means afforded for their reviving and comfort are ineffectual Sorrow flows into Despair they lament and languish as if their case were hopeless and remediless The Fountain of this black Stream is a superlative esteem and affection to inferiour things and what is reserved for the Blessed Creator If a temporal Loss be the most afflicting Evil 't is a sign that God was not valued and loved as the chiefest Good The difficulty of receiving Consolation shews the necessity of their being afflicted the Language of such resolved Sorrow is They have taken away my Gods and what have I more The sole objects of their felicity are removed and they refuse to be comforted as if no less Sacrifice were due to the remembrance of their loss but Life it self What a disparagement is this of the Divine Excellencies Are the consolations of God small to us Is not his Love able to compensate the loss of a frail mutable mortal Creature Cannot he please and satisfy us without the fruition of one Earthly Comfort This dejection of Spirit is equally undutiful as uncomfortable our Griefs are sometimes as vain and as guilty as our Joys there is a tincture of Disobedience in our Tears for we are commanded to mourn as if we mourned not for the fashion of the World passeth away and we at once break his Law and our own Peace Our Disobedience in this is aggravated as being contrary not only to the Authority and Sanctity of the Law-giver but to his Loving-Kindness and Compassion Ah the miserable blindness of Humane Minds and the more miserable because voluntary Who is more deservedly unhappy than one that sits upon the bank of a River and yet is Tormented and Dies with Thirst the clear fresh Stream passeth before him allures and invites him but he will not stoop to drink this is the case of those who neglect and refuse the Spiritual Consolations in the Gospel that are compared to the flowing Rivers of Living Water for their cooling refreshing quality They meritoriously and actively bring trouble to their Souls their Passions are the Instruments of their Misery He that is his own Executioner has no excuse of Dying he is justly because wilfully miserable Consider also what a reproach is cast upon Christianity that so many vertuous Heathens in great Afflictions were in some measure supported by the Precepts of Humane Wisdom and that Christians to whom there is revealed from Heaven that an Eternal state of Glory and Joy shall be the reward of their patient Sufferings remain utterly disconsolate I will single out one example Stilpon the Philosopher when his City was destroywith his Wife and Children and he escap't alone from the Fire being asked whether he had lost any thing replied All my Treasures are with me Justice Vertue Temperance Prudence and this inviolable Principle not to esteem any thing as my proper Good that can be ravish't from me his Mind was erect and stedfast under the Ruins of his Country And others upon lower and less generous considerations have born up in their Sufferings How do such Examples upbraid us that their Twilight excells our Noon-day Brightness If common Cordials raised such couragious Spirits in them shall not the Waters of Life the Divine strong Comforts of the Gospel fortify us to bear all Sufferings with a valiant Resignation to the good Will of God Can the Spirit of a Man by rational Principles sustain his Infirmities and cannot the Spirit of God the great Comforter support us under all Troubles What a blot is this to Religion Those who will not be comforted will not be Christians by the same Holy Spirit who is stiled the Comforter we are the one and the other If the precious Promises of the Gospel do not alleviate our Sorrows 't is not from Infirmity but from Infidelity 'T is an incredible Miracle that a person can be in reality a Christian and not capable of Consolation as if Eternal Life were not purchased by Christ for his People or the present Sufferings were comparable to the future Glory or the possession of it were to be obtained after a years of hard trial But if it were delayed so long that sensible duration should not sink our Spirits for the Misery that passeth with Time is not of moment with respect to the Blessedness that is establish'd for Ever Secondly Let us be excited to transcribe this Divine Lesson so full of excellency and difficulty in our Hearts and Lives 'T is easy in Speculation to consent to the reasonableness of this Duty but how hard to practise it and to bear not too sensibly such Evils as are incurable here A deliberate universal constant subjection to God's Will though contrary to our Carnal desires and interests how rarely is it to be found among those who in Title and Profession are his Servants In Active Obedience some will readily perform some particular Commands but withdraw subjection from the rest they seem to make Conscience of the Duties of Piety but neglect Righteousness or else are just in their Dealings and careless of Devotion Some are liberal but irreconcilable they