Our blessing the afflicting taking God includeth our absolute Subjection to his Sovereign will Here be two things 1. 'T is our duty to believe that God ought to have an unlimited Dominion over us and ours to use and dispose as seemeth good to him this is an acknowledging of God's right Thus Job confesseth Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who will say unto him what doest thou Job 9.12 Which words describe to us not only God's irresistible Power but his unquestionable Authority none can none ought to oppose him now in our Afflictions especially we should firmly believe this That God may take away our Yoke-fellows Children Health Estates or what he please from us 't is his Right to dispose of us and ours 2. 'T is our duty freely and fully to consent that God shall exercise this Dominion over us and ours The first Particular I told you was an acknowledging of God's right This second is a rendring him his due The one we learn by the Light of Nature the other is only performed by the help of Special Grace We should unreservedly devote all our Comforts to his Sovereign disposal lay all our Enjoyments by sincere resignation at his feet as the Disciples did the Price of their Estates at the Feet of the Apostles Acts 4.35 When God cometh for any one of thy Comforts 't is thy Duty Christian like Araunah the Jebusite to give like a King 2 Sam. 24.23 unto thy King the Lord of Hosts thou shouldest say to God as he to David Let my Lord take 1 Sam. 3.18 and offer up to his own will what seemeth good unto him Thus the good old Eli replieth to Samuel It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good In which Words he doth not only submit to the slaughter of his Sons and the rejection of his Family from the Priesthood for ever a terrible Providence but also signifies that if he had yet another Comfort left the resignation of which would glorifie God that also was heartily at his service Lord how little of this is lived by the generality of professing Christians Yet this is our Duty and questionless this was holy Job's practice and it should be ours daily When God is taking away any of our Comforts we should be so far from wresting them out of God's hands that we should most unfeignedly offer them all 4. Our blessing the afflicting taking God includeth our heedful conversing with the Divine Goodness and Mercy that ever manageth all our Afflictions I intreat you let this be carefully considered All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth Psalm 25.10 unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies Even the frowns of his Providence as well as the smiles these are not only just and righteous but merciful and faithful yea the Lord help our unbelief mercy and truth in the abstract Now God expects that we firmly believe it carefully observe it and gratefully acknowledge it 1. That we firmly believe it God never deceiveth us therefore we should never mistrust him God cannot be deceived he is too wife for that he cannot deceive he is too just for that Therefore when God tells us that however he deals with us he is ever mindful of and true to his Word in every Providence we must honour him by believing we should say O my soul though thy God taketh away this and that and the other comfort yet 't is in love mercy and truth for he hath promised he will never carry it otherwise towards thee 2. That we carefully observe it That we endeavour to taste and see that the Lord is good in his afflicting us God hath said Psal 34.8 he will be good to us in every Providence therefore we should believe it God is good to us in every Providence therefore we should observe and see it 'T is as really a fault to shut our eyes as our ears When God afflicts us we observe his anger tell his strokes and pore upon his severity but neglect to heed his mercy in the Providence but this is our fault we should as impartially study the usefulness as the pain of the Affliction A wise Patient will as much consider the wholsome tendency of his Physick as its griping operation 3. That we gratefully acknowledge it 'T is our duty to thank and praise the Lord for his goodness to us in afflicting of us This indeed is difficult but 't is as glorious when done 't is a Duty 1 Thes 5.18 and must be done In every thing we must give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us What may some say must we give thanks for our sorrows Eph. 5.20 griefs and pressures must we thank God for stripping scourging and wounding us I answer so saith the Scripture giving thanks always for all things unto God c. You 'll be ready to say this is an hard Lesson who can learn it You by the grace of God quickly if you consider and believe the reason offer'd in above mentioned 1 Thes 5. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you where I conceive the Apostle would have us know that every Providence the adverse as well as prosperous is the gracious management of a God in Covenant proceeding not from meer justice but love and faithfulness and that therefore the Saints are as much obliged to praise God for the one as for the other because their true interest is equally promoted by both as a man is as truly beholden to his Chyrurgion that cuts off his gangreen'd Leg as to him that lends a Fillet to help bind it up I cannot therefore but admire the profoundness of Calvin's Judgment who thinks that Chrysostome did not fully reach the Sence of the Holy Ghost in this Text who to these Words This is the will of God adds only Nempe ut gratias agamus and therefore gives a more full account of them in the following Words Ego pleniorem sensum contineri puto his verbis quod talis sit erga nos Dei affectus in Christo ut in afflictionibus quoque largam habeamus materiam gratias agendi God is most certainly kind and good to his people when he afflicts them sure then in point of gratitude they can do no less than acknowledge it to him and others 1. To him Every kindness deserves thanks Afflictions are God's Kindnesses to the Saints and therefore they should thank him for them We thank God for our Food what hinders but that we should thank him for our Physick too A good Man once put up a Bill to me to this effect Sir my Family is sorely visited with Sickness I desire you would bless God on my behalf I read the Note and being amazed at the unusualness an singularity of it did not acquaint the People with the Contents of it but knowing who wrote it afterwards asked the Person what he meant Whether he had
indeed in whom there was no guile Reverend Sir I cannot but presume That you will readily grant upon a Supposition that this Account is true as God knoweth it is That he was a very good man and consent That his Name should be kept alive and his good Example recorded for others Imitation For this End I have adventured thus to appear in Publick by Printing this well-meaning poor Discourse which I humbly lay at your Feet as a Token of my unfeigned Gratitude for your undeserved Love to me The Lord recompence you Bless this Essay to the Souls of them that shall read it and incline your Heart to Pray for London May 8. 1691. SIR Your Obliged Humble Servant HENRY CHANDLER JOB I. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. THE Words acquaint us with the incomparable good Temper of Soul that Religious Job possessed in the midst of an unparallell'd Affliction His case was thus A most tremendous Hurricane of Providence had overturned and swept away almost all his earthly Comforts his Oxen and Asses were seiz'd by the Saheans his Sheep destroyed by Lightning his Camels carried away by the Caldeans his Servants slain and which was worst of all his dearer Children unhappily taken away in the midst of their Mirth and the terrible Advice hereof brought him in Parcels by Messengers one upon the heels of another in one day A thing so dreadful that at first sight one would think it was a Conspiracy of Providence to make as great and dismal Destruction amongst his Graces within as it did amongst his Goods and Chattels and Children without and indeed this was the design of Satan but not of God as will appear to the serious Considerer of the meek and composed Remark he makes upon the Providence in the Words of my Text The Lord c. where he doth not only implicitly acquit God of all Unrighteousness or Cruelty but expressly praise and bless him A frame of heart as signally and wonderfully holy as God's Providence was dreadful and astonishing I shall consider this Practice of Job not only as a matter of History but as an example of Piety proposed to us by the Holy Ghost for our imitation And then they afford us this Observation Doct. Every Christian is indispensibly obliged to bless the afflicting taking God I shall endeavour to give you the Sense manifest the Truth and shew you the Usefulness of this Doctrine In the Explication of the Doctrine I shall first prevent some mistakes and shew what is not the Sense of it As 1. This Doctrine doth not mean that we should love our Afflictions for their own sake Malum qua malum non est appetibile I humbly conceive that this is impracticable and our Religion obliges us not to the Practice of things absolutely imposible as is the loving any Evil as Evil Pain Loss Poverty Sickness or Death cannot be loved for themselves 't is repugnant even to innocent Nature Christ Jesus himself could not practice it as we are taught by that Expression Matth. 26.39 If it be possible let this cup pass from me Neither 2. Doth this Doctrine designedly plead for a Stoical impenetrableness as tho it were a Virtue to be insensible of and unconcerned at the Afflictions of Providence this is very alien from the Sense of the Holy Ghost the Frame of Job or the Design of this Sermon As the first is impracticable this is inhumane if not impracticable too for by the way I think as few of the Stoicks arrived to their admired Apathy as Quakers to their pretended Perfection However to entertain the Rebukes of Providence with a moderate proportioned sorrowful Resentment I account virtuous and commendable Job himself expresseth somewhat of this nature by rending his Mantle shaving his Head and falling down upon the ground And God teacheth us this Lesson by creating us with a Disposition to grieve when his Providences call for it for God maketh nothing in vain then what need of Water and Sluices if the one must never run nor the other ever be drawn But affirmatively the Doctrine doth intend 1. When God afflicts us by taking away from us we must carefully prevent or suppress all quarrelling Discontent we are bound to see that there be no Rebels in our Hearts that find fault with God or that rise up and charge him foolishly 't is our Duty to keep the King of Heaven's Peace in our Souls at such times to watch carefully againgst Tumults and Mutinies in our Hearts which are ever and anon apt to rise at the least Provocation imaginable yea many times when there is none given at all Here I conceive are two things to be minded 1. In all our Afflictions we must take heed that we do not rashly and proudly call our God to account concerning his Providences for he is infinitely above us and who dare say unto him What doest thou Job 9.12 If we cannot understand the Wisdom or Usefulness of his Methods Watson we must silently adore where we cannot fathom and patiently wait till he unvail them The Examination of a God is not the Province of a Creature though we may humbly enquire for our own Instruction yet we may not proudly ask for Examination This is more than his Angels ever durst pretend to 2. We must be as careful that in our Judgment made upon his Providence we reflect not upon his Attributes In the Language of Scripture that we do not attribute Folly to God we may not in any case think that God hath forgot himself or acts unlike himself for if we should 't would be nothing less than speaking Blasphemy in our Hearts whose Words are as audible to God as those of our Mouths If I mistake not the Religious Aaron lived both these Particulars when being afflicted severely by the Lord in the Death of his two Sons Lev. 10.3 He held his peace his profound silence loudly speaking a Resolution in him not to examine nor impeach the Great and Holy God 2. Our blessing the afflicting taking God includeth a readiness in us to proclaim the Righteousness and Justice of all his afflictive Dispensations In all our Distresses and Sorrows 't is our Duty to think and acknowledge that God hath not wronged us by exceeding the demerits of our Sins but that we truly deserve the strokes we smart under be they never so many thus the poor afflicted Church of the Jews acknowledgeth and so will every gracious Soul and thus doth Job himself If I justify my self Ezra 9.13 Job 9.20 mine own mouth shall condemn me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse A gracious heart will justify God tho by so doing he unavoidably throws dirt in his own face he desires to honour God by Confession tho it be to his own disparagement as he rejoyces to see the Sun rise tho it put out the Moon and all the Stars 3.
not mistaken He told me No he thought himself obliged to the â—ood God that he would take so much notice of him as to afflict him for his good When I heard that I as much wondered at his extraordinary Piety as at his unusual Bill This is little practised but is certainly the Duty of all the Saints 2 To others The Holy David records the Mercy of an afflicting God and proclaims his Praise to all the World Psal 119.71 75. In very faithfulness hast thou afflicted me 'T was well for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy precepts And without dispute 't is what honours God and would edify his People Thus I have given you the Sense of the Doctrine the sum of which take in these few Words 'T is the indispensible Duty of every Christian when afflicted of God composedly to bear his Hand readily to submit to his Will carefully to vindicate his Justice firmly to believe heedfully to observe and thankfully to acknowledge his mercy and faithfulness in the Providence The next thing in order is to shew the Truth of this Doctrine which were altogether needless but that we are naturally purblind and cannot see the things of our Duty unless by many Arguments Reasons and Similitudes they be brought very near to us Otherwise what needs any Arguments to prove that we must not repine at or reflect upon God That we must not rebel against or be ungrateful to him The thing may be clearly seen at a great distance by its own light but we have bad Eyes and they must be helped I shall therefore offer some things to put us past doubt That we ought c. 1. However we are afflicted 't is certain we should not murmur because we are not injured Remember here what hath been plainly hinted already 't is not forbidden that we cry out God that made us Men ne're obliged us to be Blocks that that he requires is this that in our complaints we find no fault with Him make no dishonourable Reflections upon Him The word rendred complain in Lament 3.39 doth most usually signify murmuring is so rendred in the Margin of some Bibles and I judg in that Sence to be understood in that Text. Surely we may cry under God's Rod but we must not cry against his Hand for all that he brings upon us is justly brought upon us and why should we reproach him that worketh Righteousness Sith God dealeth fairly and he cannot do otherwise we have no reason to talk foul against him 'T is time enough to find fault when we are wrong'd till then all murmuring is unreasonable whatever we suffer Hence by the way we may observe That as there is no just ground for it on Earth so neither is there in Hell for there God wrongs not the damned Wretches how severely soever he handles them 2. 'T is as plain that in all our Afflictions we ought readily to proclaim the Righteousness of God holding our peace and refraining from discontent and murmuring is not enough we ought to open our mouths and praise God even for his righteousness and truth in afflicting us because there can never be any reason given why God should lose his Glory because we have sinned away our Comfort Honouring God is a Duty as we are reasonable Creatures capable of observing and proclaiming the glorious Perfections of his Nature and Works and not only as we are humoured pleased and accommodated with the good things of this Life or else the rich healthy and prosperous only were obliged to do him Honour which we are so far from granting that no Man in his Wits will ever desire that we should 3. Nor is it less clear That in all such Providences we ought readily to submit to his will because otherwise we are Rebels against our King False to our Covenant Enemies to our true Interest 1. We are Rebels against our King I would hope it were needless here to insist upon the Right God hath to manage us and all our concerns He is our Lord and Sovereign upon the most indisputable accounts that can be he is our Creator we have our Being from him our Benefactor we have our Mercies from him he made us he maintains us and now can there possibly be any reason given why he should not govern us or dispose of us I think 't is past all doubt that God is our rightful absolute Lord and if so then surely we ought to obey and comply with his Will in all things and when we do not we Rebel against him 2. We are false to our Covenant We have promised to submit to his Will we have more than once or twice avouched the Lord for our Master and King and given up our selves to him to be ruled and managed by him as he shall see good we have renounced our own Wills and taken his Will for our Law and therefore in point of Fidelity we are bound readily to comply with the Will of an afflicting God if we do not we are guilty of most vile falseness and perfidy 3. We are Enemies to our true Interest Which evidently lies in our being managed by an infinite Wisdom Truth and Goodness and such is God He that had rather govern himself than be governed by his God is without Exception a Fool and an Enemy to himself However God deals with his People 't is clear as the Sun they cannot be better managed for if any can manage them better it must be by reason of more wisdom and more goodness and good Lord where should they have it Can the Rivers have more water than the Sea Or have they any but what they have from the Sea As to the Fourth Particular I judge that the Text in the Ephesians and the other in the Thessalonians do sufficiently prove it I shall therefore pass to the Uses which shall be Five Inferences and One Exhortation Application Is it the Duty c. Then 1. This helps to discover that the generality of Professors of the Christian Religion are very great scandals to the Religion they Profess or that Christianity is very little lived by the generality of its Professors who can hardly arrive to a serious thankfulness in the midst of their Peace and Plenty and when at any time they are tryed by Afflictive Providences are so far from an Heavenly well pleasedness with the Wise and Good will of God that their foolish Souls discover not only discontent but Disloyalty and Rebellion against the Sovereign of their Lives and Mercies What the Devil falsly insinuated against Job 1 ch 9 10. he may truly say of most Christians viz. That they serve God for his good things their love to God is a mercenary base love when God is Loved and Praised only or chiefly for the sake of his Creatures wherewith he benefits them and this is apparent in that many Persons can hardly find matter of Praise to God any longer than his Sun shines and his Showers fall