to the will of his Merciful Father They therefore who would bear troubles well must live in a constant expectation of them and in their good days lay up a stock of Christian Graces against the Winter of Adversity They I say who in the height of their Prosperity will often and seriously reflect upon the great change that either by Losses and Pains or certainly by Death in a short time will overtake them and provide themselves with the suffering-Virtues against that dark season will be so far from having their spirits sink at the approach either of Afflictions or Death it self that it will raise them above the World and mount and carry their Hearts and Affections to God who is the Centre of all sound Peace and solid Joy How happy are those souls who when the World most smiles upon them do not trust it but furnish themselves with the Humility and the Meekness and the Patience of Jesus against the evil day that as no Sickness or Trouble can much surprize them so neither can it greatly or long discompose their minds but they discern the Finger of God in it and turn it to their spiritual advantage And they therefore count it joy when they fall into Temptations i. e. suffer affliction for they are assured that God will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able If they are troubled on every side yet they shall not be distressed if they are perplexed they shall not despair if they are persecuted they shall not be forsaken if cast down they shall not be destroyed SERMON II. III. THAT if we equally consider things we shall be constrain'd to acknowledg That God's Goodness and Mercy do appear in our greatest Sufferings and this will be evident from the following Reasons 1. Because if we look upon God as the Supreme Lord and Owner of the World who alone has the Right of all we shall find our selves to be but Tenants at will for every thing that we have And if God has given us nothing but during pleasure then let him take it away when he pleases he can do us no wrong Our Life that makes us capable of his other Favours our Health which makes life comfortable our Relations our Estates our Ease and Peace are all the free Gifts of the Bounty of him who had not the least Obligation to us and if he revoke them all or any of them we receive no Injury for he does but resume his own Right Insomuch as if God strips us of all down to nothing he will but leave us in the state he found us Wherefore we ought to be so far from charging him with unkindness for any temporal Evil that we must own it is his singular Goodness we have been permitted the Enjoyment of so many of his Blessings such a long time 2. We cannot but acknowledg the Goodness of God in our Troubles and Losses when we consider him as the great Judg of the Lives of Men and examine the Conditions upon which he was pleased to grant the use of his Creatures unto them and the Punishments he has threatned to inflict upon the disobedient Upon this Examination it will be plain to the greatest Sufferers that God has been merciful in that they in many particulars have broken the Conditions of the Covenant which was made between him and them and he has not taken the whole forfeiture There is no breach of God's Law in any great instance made coolly and deliberately but it does deserve not only a temporal punishment but the pains of Hell should God deal with us according to the measures of strict Justice Now when he who if he proceeded strictly against us might pass the Sentence of Death upon us and shut us out of his presence for ever does but gently correct us with such chastisements as are proper to reform our faults and cause us to grieve we have offended our best Friend What can we do but admire his Goodness and magnify the riches of his Mercy towards us If God did not let sinners who have lived a great while securely in their iniquity at length feel the weight of his Justice they would lay aside all fear of his Power and fall into ruin beyond a possibility of being recover'd But yet we may observe That there is a plentiful mixture of Mercy in the Punishments which God first inflicts upon the greatest sinners and that he does not proceed to high degrees of severity until their hearts are so hard that lighter Afflictions would make no impression upon them Wherefore when very bad Men are brought to Repentance by a terrible Judgment they discern God's Goodness in nothing more than the terrour which attended the Judgment wherewith he corrected them because they are sensible it would not have reclaim'd them from their wicked Courses had it been of a milder sort God then tempers Judgment with Mercy that as the contemplation of the one may preserve in Mens minds an awful regard of his Majesty so the consideration of the other may keep them from running into despair Where Sinners are become bold more of his Justice is requisite to make them dread his displeasure and to acknowledg the infirmities of their own Nature but on the contrary where such a tenderness is found in the Consciences of Men that they are extream fearful of their condition notwithstanding to the best of their ability they sincerely endeavour to serve him he is so far from putting any unnecessary hardship upon them that he letteth forth the treasures of his Compassion upon their disturb'd Souls does scatter their groundless fears and refresh and cherish them with his Mercies There is no want of proof to convince Men that as all the temporal evils they suffer are less than in rigour of justice God might lay upon them so they never overtake them before they are necessary either to make them reflect upon the Errors of their own ways or to put a stop to others in a bad Course The Servants of God who have been renowned for their Piety and whose holy deeds and glorious sufferings in the Cause of Religion have been recorded by the Holy Ghost for the imitation of the Followers of Christ and the support of all afflicted Saints these eminent instruments in the work of the Lord I say have ever been so sensible of their own frailty as to dread the Divine Justice They never did presume to insist upon their own Righteousness when they came before God as if they had lived with such exactness according to his Laws that he could not afflict them without being injurious They were not such strangers to themselves as not to be conscious that in a great number of respects their behaviour came short of perfection which alone can justify a Man Wherefore we shall never find that they appeal to their Innocence when they have to deal with their Righteous Judge but full of the apprehension of their guilt they cast themselves at his
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
down with the brittle and deceitful Goods of the present state and only among them seeks for rest Thus it is manifest that real Felicity does consist in the Innocence and Tranquility of the Mind But notwithstanding in the general we may pronounce all those happy who have quiet and unblemish'd Souls yet we cannot speak with confidence as to the happiness or misery of particular men because by their outward Circumstances and appearance to the World we can never be certain of the sincerity of their minds nor whether they have those Virtues in their Possession which cause solid Happiness Wherefore seeing we are not competently qualified to judg either of the Piety or of the Happiness of particular men it evidently follows That there is very little in that Popular Objection against the Divine Providence taken from the seeming Adversity of the Good and flourishing state of the Wicked Further Neither is it any disparagement of Providence nor unkindness in God towards his faithful servants that sometimes he translates them early from hence and permits them to dye in the vigour of their years For can a greater favour be done them for their short and faithful service than for God to remove them not only from the dangers and temptations to sin but also from the manifold troubles and vexations of this life unto his everlasting Mercies He does this in honour to them that the wicked may behold and be concern'd they are no longer worthy of them nor of the Good they might receive from their Holy and Wise Conversation Besides when the Justice of God has decreed some dreadful Judgment against a wicked Nation he often takes away his own People from the Evil to come But tho the righteous be prevented with death yet shall he be in rest for honourable age is not which standeth in length of time nor that is measured by number of years but wisdom is the gray hair unto men and an unspotted life is old age He pleased God and was beloved of him so that living among sinners he was translated He being made perfect in a short time fulfilled a long time for his soul pleased the Lord therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked 3. It is to be consider'd that the condition of the World is such that there is a necessity the Virtuous should often be exposed to the same Troubles and Misfortunes which happen to the Ungodly And as the Wise Man speaks There will be one event to the righteous and to the wicked for the Calamities of War Pestilence Famine and Fire involve men of all Conditions and take in the Holy with the Sinners Neither the Nipping Frosts nor scorching Heats nor raging Floods nor blasting Winds make any difference between the lands of pious and bad Men nor can a storm at Sea distinguish between their Goods which are in the same Vessel For a Man to look that God should exempt him from these publick Evils is to expect he should alter the Course of Nature for his sake which is wisely establish'd and for great ends and therefore all such hopes can have no ground and must be deem'd very unreasonable 4. Notwithstanding such common Calamities cannot be avoided yet God always intends our good in every harsh disappointment which we meet with and it will admirably serve to mend the temper of our Minds By Adversity which God never le ts loose upon us before it is useful for us he makes an experiment of the reality of our affections towards him whom we ought infinitely to esteem above all other things by it God tries our Constancy whether we will equally Love him and preserve as great a Reverence for him in the days of our Sorrow as when he crown'd us with plenty And if upon this Trial we entertain as honourable thoughts of the proceedings of his Providence as when the World went well with us he has attained his end in Visiting us and will quickly deliver us from our Grievance For if under the sorest Crosses the heaviest Losses and sharpest Pains we uphold in our Souls as worthy opinions of God's Administration of Affairs as when he enricht us with his Blessings then we shall make an undoubted discovery of the sincerity of our Love of Him and it will be evident to men that we value the Peace of Conscience and his Favour above all sensual comforts Besides nothing will more lessen our esteem of these mean and despicable pleasures nor take off the edg of our desire for them than frequently to be disturbed in the enjoyment of them and to have them forced away when we were most delighted with them and confidently promised to our selves their long continuance It may indeed be a general Observation that much Prosperity corrupts mens Morals and tempts them to rely upon their own Powers but Adversity reforms their Lives and teaches them to know their own weakness and wants which they perceive would grow insupportable did God once withdraw his Assistance Wherefore seeing it is so much harder to walk uprightly before God in a flourishing condition that make us apt to forget him than in an afflicted state which naturally disposes us to seek the Lord is there any reason why we should thus murmur at his Rod and repine when he Corrects us with the tenderness of a Father and visits us with his Judgments only that he may heal our spiritual diseases How terrible soever any Calamity may appear to us yet it is fitted to our Circumstances and is not greater than the crazy state of our Souls does stand in need of For Troubles do not spring casually out of the Earth or fall upon us without measure or bounds But God in his Wisdom does order the time when we shall be Afflicted he determines the kind of Evil which shall fall to our Lot and metes the very quantity that we must Suffer Which as soon as it has Humbled our Vanity or extinguish'd our Lust or abated our Love of Riches and reduced us to just apprehensions of our selves be certainly will recall from us and let in the light of his countenance into our hearts Now this being the true state of things as will be plain to every honest enquirer it may be matter of wonder why men take Afflictions so ill at the hand of God when they know they proceed from his Love and behave themselves so untowardly under almost every degree of Adversity A great cause of all this I judge to be their making slight or no preparations for Afflictions before they come Now there is that distraction and disorder raised in the Spirit of a man who is surprized with any Calamity that he tosseth like a Bull in a Net and has not temper enough left to consider of the great Causes there were to move God to lay it upon him or of the sweet fruit he might gather from it by a modest and quiet carriage under the heavenly Discipline and a total Submission of himself