more than a Man whom God seems to have exercis'd with such extraordinary Trials and to have recorded his History in the Holy Scriptures purposely for our Imitation and Incouragement And that its great usefulness herein may more appear let us a little display and view over this illustrious Example Behold here a perfect and upright man undergoing the heaviest Calamities falling from the height of prosperity into the lowest depth of Misery surpriz'd by his Calamities on a sudden which came upon him altogether without Intermission and were of so extraordinary a Nature as at once to deprive him of all his Comforts and plunge him into the lowest State of Wretchedness For all his great Estate which according to those Times and Countries consisted of Servants and Cattel was in one day consumed by Sabeans and Caldeans and a Fire from Heaven And as soon as he knew himself to be reduced to perfect Poverty he is told also that he is become Childless and that his Children perish'd together by an unusual Death under the Ruins of the House in which they were Feasting Nor was he only strip'd naked of all his outward comforts but the Calamity seizeth on his Person too and spreads over him a most Noisome and Painful disease And that the good Man might have nothing to support him under all this Misery but God and his own Conscience his Wife who should have been his Helper became his Tempter and his Friends did but Aggravate his sorrows with harsh Censures and unjust Reproaches What Estate on this side of Death can we conceive more Calamitous than this Let us now reflect on this Worthy wretched Man and behold his Behaviour and admire his invincible Patience When Job had heard that he was de-Priv'd of all his Estate and his Children too he indeed Rent his Mantle and shav'd his Head and fell down on the Ground as o ne that was not stupidly insensible of such extraordinary Events but withal he worship'd toward Heaven and expres'd his Resentments in this Pious Devout acknowledgment Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb Chap. 1. v. 21 22. and Naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. And the Holy Ghost makes this Reflection on his behaviour in the next Verse In all this Job sinned not neither charged God foolishly When afterwards his Body was afterwards his Body was afflected with the anguish and stench of unusual Boils he contentedly sat him down among the Ashes and reliev'd himself as well as he could with the broken Potsherds that lay about him And when his Wife could no longer suppress her Passions or lengthen out her Patience but in a transport of Fury call'd on him to curse God and Die He replies more angry with Her then with his Condition Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women speaketh and that he might Convince as well as Rebuke her he suggests to her consideration this reasonable Argument What shall we receive Good at the Hand of God and shall we not receive Evil And here the Holy Ghost hath thought fit to bear his Testimony a second Time that in all this Job sinned not with his Lips. This is a pattern that we cannot enough admire but let us also labour to imitate it And that we may attain to such an excellent frame of Spirit let us study well this short Argument wherewith Job govern'd his own Heart and indeavour'd to restrain the impatience of his Wife What shall we receive Good at the Hand of God and shall we not receive Evil The Argument is propos'd in the form of a Question and accented with an unusual earnestness that it might enter the Mind with a greater Force and produce in it a more speedy and through Conviction We may resolve the Argument into these two parts I. An Antecedent suppos'd That we receive our Good from the Hand of God. II. A Consequent thereupon inferr'd That we ought to receive any Evil from the same Hand The plain Sense and Design of the Argument is this That as we receive all our Blessings from God's bountiful Hand so we should be ready to accept any Afflictions from his correcting Hand In discoursing on this Argument I design to do these three Things First To explicate its Sense that we may fully understand those things which are express'd or implied in it Secondly To discover the Force of the Argument that we may be convinced by it Thirdly To apply it for directing and containing us in the Discharge of so necessary a Duty First I begin to explain the Argument That we may understand those Things which are express'd or implied in it And this may be sufficiently done by inquiring into these three Things 1. What is that Good and Evil which are mention'd in the Argument 2. What that Hand is by which this Good and Evil is dispens'd 3. How we should receive both Good and Evil from that Hand 1. Let us consider what that Good and Evil is which is express'd in the Argument It is plain enough from the Context that Job did design by Good and Evil nothing else but those Temporal Blessings and Calamities of both which he had so great a share as this History describes And tho most Men are quick enough of Sense in the things of this World to distinguish between Good and Evil so that they need not be told that Riches and Honours Health and Long-Life are good Things and that Poverty and Disgrace Sickness and Death are evil Things Yet they are perchance very few who understand the Nature or Degree of that Goodness or Evil which are ascrib'd to the things of this World and therefore it may be needful to teach them this piece of Sacred Philosophy That Man being compounded of such different parts as a Spirit and a Body he hath consequently very different Interests such as are Spiritual and such as are Carnal and that those excel these as much as a Spirit doth excel a Body from whence we should infer that those things are Good or Evil to a Man in the highest sense which can promote or destroy the noblest Interests of his Spiritual part and those things are Good or Evil but of an inferior Kind or in a lower Degree which concern the welfare only of the Body Now the things of this lower World about us do not in their Natures import any Good or Evil to that Soul which is the chief part of the Man for a Man may abound in Riches and yet be destitute of true Wisdom he may cover a deformed Mind with a beautiful Body or the more the outward Man decays the inward Man may be renewed Yea these Temporal things are indifferent of themselves to become either Good or Evil to us according as they are blest by God and improv'd by us for Riches Honours and Pleasures may prove very evil Things if they debauch our Minds with Vanity and Pride and Poverty Disgrace
with the Blessings of Heaven and to make those things to become Evil which God sent for Good If we do thus we not only forfeit God's Blessings but even necessitate him to take them from us in his own Vindication as he threatned Israel by the Propher Hosea Hos 2.8 9. She did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oyl and multiplied her Silver and Gold which they prepaturn for Baal therefore will I return to take away my Corn in the Time thereof and my Wine in the season thereof and will recover my Wool and my Flax given to cover her Nakedness Whenever we receive a Blessing we should consider that he is the Lord who gave it and we are his Servants or Stewards that receive it that therefore we cannot honestly put it to any other Use than our Lord hath Appointed or Allowed and must expect to be one Day call'd to an Account of the Blessings we have receiv'd and if we have not put them to a good Use or perverted them to a bad one we shall be condemn'd as Wicked or Slothful Servants Matth. 25. as our Saviour hath Taught us in his Parable of the Talents If then God in his bounty bestows Riches on us let us receive them with an honest Resolution to abound Proportionably in good Works If he advance us to Honour let us become thereby more illustrious Patterns of Piety to the World If he confer Power and Authority upon us let us use it to maintain his Cause protect his Servants and suppress the Enemies of his Religion If he bless us with a long Life and a convinued Health let us be more Abundant and unwearied in his Service let us receive every Blessing with no other design than to imploy it in the Service and to the Honour of him that sent it And as God intends to engage us more closely to himself by all the Obligations he lays upon us so upon the receipt of every Blessing especially of such as are most remarkable we should solemnly and heartily devote our Selves to God as Jacob did in that pious Vow If God will be with me Gen. 28.20 21. and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me Bread to eat and Raiment to put on so that I come again to my Father's House in Peace than shall the Lord be my God. II. Let us pass on to consider how we ought to receive our evil Things from God's correcting Hand The design of the Argument is not that we should barely partake of these evil Things for that is not in our Power to prevent but that we should receive or accept them in a right Manner and the Art of doing so doth consist chiefly in this threefold Disposition of Mind viz. that we receive any evil Things from God's correcting Hand with Meekness and Humility with Patience and Long-Suffering and with a Cheerful and well-pleased Mind First We should receive any evil Things from the Hand of God with Meekness and Humility i. e. with a Spirit so lowly and Submissive as to yield quietly and easily to the Corrections God inflicts without recoiling in angry Passions or reflecting in discontented Murmurs or returning any sort of Revenges against God or the Instruments he useth in correcting us Meekness and Humility are those passive Graces which render our Spirits soft and gentle yielding and impressive and thereby susceptive of Corrections but the stroak that falls on a hard Heart rebounds in the Face of him that strikes and a proud Heart will rise up against the weight of Affliction like a Spring against the Hand that depresseth it The Man whose passions are not broken and tam'd by Discipline must be nail'd to the Cross which he is to suffer but he will never submit to take it up and bear it he will kick and roar under his Corrections and often accuse and blaspheme the Author of his Troubles The murmuring Israelites â—hen distress'd in the the Wilderness spake against God Psal 78.19 saith the Psalmist Such the Prophet describes Isa 3.21 who when hungry would fret themselves and curse their King and their God. Of such we read in the Apocaylipse Rev. 16.9 11. who would blaspheme the God of Heaven that had Power over their Plagues because of their pains and sores But the Servants of God who had other Spirits could receive their evil Things after another Manner When old Eli heard the heaviest Doom from God he meekly entertain d it saying It is the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 let him do what seemeth him good When David was flying before his rebellious Son whom God according to his Denuntiation had rais'd up against him he humbly submitted saying Behold here I am 2 Sam. 15.26 let him do to me as seemeth good unto him The evil Things which our blessed Saviour receiv'd and the Meekness and Humility wherewith he receiv'd them transcend all other Patterns He endur'd the contradiction of Sinners the most and worst that ever was with such Meekness that when he was reviled 1 Pet. 2.23 he reviled not again when he Suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously When he was to receive from his Fathers hand that cup of Fury at the apprehension of which the human nature stagger'd thô he deprecated it if possible to be avoided yet if not he humbly submitted to it Mat. 26.39 saying Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt With a like meekness and lowliness of Spirit should we be always dispos'd to receive easily to resent mildly to suffer quietly any stroaks of Correction from the Hand of God. We should consider the Greatness and Authority of him that strikes with whom we may not we cannot contend and we should reflect impartially upon our own Guilt which hath made us justly obnoxious to greater Evils than this World can produce We should thus reason which our selves Will it become us to be provok'd by a Punishment who have much more provok'd God by our Sin Shall we think much of the smart of his Rod who have so often griev'd his holy Spirit Dare we in one Thought or Passion to oppose that Almighty Justice which we cannot conquer but may farther irritate by our rebellious Opposition When therefore we receive any Cross or Loss or any other sort of Affliction from the Hand of God we should immediately look within give a charge to our Hearts set a guard on our Passions and a watch before the door of our Mouth that we fall into no Disorders or Indecencies either with David we should be dumb Psal 39.9 and not open our Mouths because it is God's doing or with Job take care that we do not sin with our Lips by charging God foolishly And let me add That we should take care to suppress all proud or angry Passions against the Instruments that God useth in correcting us because they will ultimately strike at God himself When
we curse our Stars or fret against the cross Events that befall us we reflect upon that Providence by which all things are manag'd If we malign and pursue the Enemy that hath done us a Mischief we wound God thrô his Side who thought fit to order and permit that we should be Corrected by such an Instrument However therefore the Affliction comes let us humbly and meekly submit without contending or quarrelling with God or Man or with the World about us So David when most malicilously and reproachfully Curs'd by Shimei govern'd his Spirit saying So let him curse 2 Sam. 16.10 11. because the Lord bath said unto him Curse David let him alone let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him it may he that the Lord will look upon mine Affliction and requite me Good for his Cursing me this Day With such meekness could this humble King receive so great a Provocation from one of his Subjects out of reverence to Almighty God who was the supreme Author of his Sufferings Secondly We should receive our evil Things from the Hand of God with a proportionable Patience and long-Suffering i. e. with such a passive fortitude or firmness of Spirit as will not sink under the Burden or faint under the Anguish or grow weary under the continuance of our Sufferings As soon as the Affliction seizeth us we should immediately apply our Care to put our selves into a posture of Bearing it we should recollect our Spirits and summon up all our spiritual Forces we should fortify our Minds with the strongest Arguments and fix our Hearts with the firmest Resolutions and so buckle to the Burden we are to bear and put out our strength in assoiling the Difficulties which encounter us We should watch over our Spirits with a prudent Jealousy and with a generous Indignation suppress any base Thoughts or mutinous Passions that may enfeeble and dishearten us or tempt us to seek a Redress by any unlawful Means And we must beware of limiting our Spirits with any fond Conceits that we can bear but so much or so long and think of providing no less Patience than what may be equal to the Evils we are to bear If God call us to bear a heavy Cross we must receive it with a proportionable strength of Patience if he visit us with a long Sickness we must endure it with a no less long-Suffering if he try us with the loss of a dear Child or Friend that is never to be retrieved we must provide a Patience that will be as endless and perpetual We should consider that God sends us such Evils not only to punish us but also to exercise and try us which therefore we should receive as becomes good Souldiers and Servants approving our ability and readiness to sustain them for his Honour and our own Commendation We should encourage and confirm our Patience by placing before our Eyes the brave Examples of our Fellow-Servants who have approv'd their Fortitude in as great Trials as those with which we are exercis'd and by calling to mind those Divine Promises which assure us infallibly of a sufficient Assistance here and a golrious Crown in Heaven We should with our evil Things receive also those Admonitions and Exhortations those Directions and Encouragements which God hath given us in his Holy Word to enable us to bear them viz. Luke 21.19 Jam. 1.4 That in Patience we possess our Souls that Patience should have its perfect work That Prov. 3.11 we despise not the chastning of the Lord neither be weary of his Correction Prov. 24.10 that if we faint in the day of our Adversity our Strength is small For as it is a sign of a weak Body to be disorder'd by every ill Accident so it is no less of a weak Mind to droop or fret under the Afflictions which befal us This History presents us with great Instances both of Prowess in Job and of Weakness in his Wife for he bore up with a strength and length of Patience that the Devil could not overcome with all the Loads of Misery he heap'd upon him but she thô she suffer'd less yet being of a weaker and shorter Spirit was soon overcome and to that degree of Impatience that she advis'd her Husband to seek Ease thô in Death it self and by cursing God to provoke him to put an end to a miserable Life Thirdly We should receive any evil Things from the Hand of God with a cheerful and well-pleased Mind so as to approve of God's dealing with us to justifie and bless him while he is correcting us to consent to and accept kindly his fatherly Chastisements and to keep up a hopeful confidence in his Mercy amidst our greatest Distresses The former requisites were chiefly Negative which only restrain'd us from resisting or fainting under God's correcting Hand but this is positive and imports somewhat higher and greater even a voluntary and cheerful Concurrence with God in the Corrections he infflicts We should like dutiful Children reverence the Crowns of our Father's Displeasure acknowledg his just Authority and our own Demerit and render Thanks to him for his Paternal Care and Discipline over us who in very faithfulness afflicts us We should not only not reject and nauseate the evil Things which God despenseth but receive them kindly and thankfully as the most useful Physick prescrib'd by the wisest and best Physician We should be so far from flying out or snarling against the Instruments of our Correction as even to Kiss the Rod to bless them that Curse us and to Pray for them that Despitefully use us Our evil Things should not be forc'd upon us but receiv'd by us with a willing Hand we should not only endure the Temptation but overcome it not only bear it patiently but cheerfully rejoyce under it Thus St Paul prays for the Colossians that they might be strengthned with all might according to the glorious Power of God unto all Patience Col. 1.11 and long-Suffering and that even with Joyfulness And in such a manner have God's Servants been able to receive the worst Dispensations from him Heb. 10.34 2 Cor. 6.10 they took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods they were as grieved yet always rejoycing Thus particularly did David receive the many evil Things with which he was Exercis'd still Acknowledging that God was Righteous in all his ways that all his Paths are Mercy and Truth to them that fear God that in very faithfulness God afflicted him and that it was Good for him that he was Afflicted Thus also did Job worship the God who permitted him to be so severely treated and justified and bless'd the Author or his Sufferings saying The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. And however strange and difficult this Rule may seem yet it is not more than the wiser Heathens had learn'd There is nothing that befalls me saith Seneca Senec. Ep. 96.75 that I would receive
by Apologies to the World. Into such a submissive Frame should we bring our Spirits that we may leave off to carve and choose for our selves and be well content to be at God's allowance and disposal and always ready to receive from his Hand whatever good Things he thinks to be Food conventient for us or whatever evil Things he thinks to be needful Physick for us 2. Let us be exhorted also to acquiesce contentedly and cheerfully in whatever Choice God makes for us when he declares it to us in the course of his Providence whether it be of good or evil Things or of whatever kind or degree they are We should shamefully affront God and contradict our selves if after we have solemnly chosen and consented to his Conduct and by our Prayers besought him to take the care and charge of us we should allow our selves to censure his Providence to dislike his Management and refuse our Lot whereby we reflect on God's Wisdom or Goodness or Power or Faithfulness as if he could not or would not do so well for us as we expected or else discover our selves to be very weak and vain froward and inconstant like Children never long of a Mind difficult to be pleas'd whom God himself is not able to satisfy We justly condemn the perverse Spirit of the Israelites who after they had put themselves under God's Conduct and promis'd to be very obsequious to it in their passage from Egypt to Canaan yet murmur'd against him upon the slightest Occasions dislik'd his Provision thô he cater'd for them by Miracles and chose rather to return back to their House of Bondage than to continue under the care and safe-guard of his Providence And St. Jude Jude 16. reproves such in his Time who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Murmurers who complain'd of the Lot which Providence had drawn for them We should be very cautious of dealing humourously or frowardly with the great God of Heaven that we do not tempt or limit him provoke and grieve him as he sometimes complain'd of the People of Israel lest he should cast us out of his Presence and refuse to take any farther care of us for how helpless and forlorn how wretched and miserable must we needs be if God should abandon us to our own Impotence and Folly. When therefore our wise and good God declares to us in the course of his Providence that he hath appointed such a state or condition of Life for us in general or hath allotted such good or evil Events to befal us in particular we should forthwith without disputing or contending accommodate and conform our Will to his accept thankfully the Blessings he sends or bear patiently the Corrections he inflicts being satisfied with this that it is God's appointment who hath right to dispose of us and who knows better than we what things are fit for us that we have often in our Prayers resign'd up our selves to his disposal and that it is a high Priviledg that he will vouchsafe to take care of us that his Promise is a sufficient Security on which we may rely even when we cannot comprehend the design or reason of his dealing with us In such a manner did pious David conform himself to the Will of God when declar'd to him in the course of his Providence When his Child was sick he besought the Lord for it and fasted and lay all night upon the Earth but when the Child was dead he arose washed anointed changed his Apparel and came into the house of the Lord and worshiped And he gives this accountn of his Behaviour 2 Sam. 12.22.23 While the Child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said Who can tell whether God will be gracious unto me that the Child may live But now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me While the Child was sick he recommended him to God by Prayer and when God had dispos'd of him as he thought fit David acquiesc'd Abraham the Father of the Faithful was no less obsequious to the Will of God who without disputing the divine Command left his Native Country and follow'd Providence thô he knew not whither and offer'd up his only Son a Sacrifice to God as soon as he was demanded without any discontented Murmurs And our Blessed Saviour when disswaded by St. Peter from submitting to the Sufferings which God had appointed for him he rejected the fond advice with Indignation saying Get thee behind me Satan Mat. 16.23 thou art an offence to me for thou savourest not the things of God but those that be of Men. And when the same Apostle would have rescued him by violence from those Sufferings our Lord forbad him saying The cup which my Father hath given me John 18.11 shall I not drink it To all which I cannot but add those excellent Sayings of an honest Heathen In all Affairs this should be our wish Epictet c. 77 78 79. Lead me O God according to thy Decree whither thou wilt and I will follow cheerfully and yet if I should be so wicked as to refuse to follow yet follow I must of necessity He that can accommodate himself to the necessity of Events is a wise Man and understands the things of God. If then God will have it so so be it Such then is the Duty we are exhorted to that we would choose no more than this only that God would choose all things for us and that we approve and accept of whatever choice he makes for us To inforce this Exhortation I will subjoin a few Considerations which may incline our Hearts to such a submissive compliance with the conduct of Divine Providence 1. It is our necessary Duty to do so and the contrary practice will involve us in a great deal of Guilt We may beconvinced of this not only from those express Precepts which frequently occur in the Holy Scriptures but also from a self-evident Law inscrib'd upon our Natures For inasmuch as we are Creatures we are by Nature dependant both on the will power of God from whom we receiv'd our Beings and are consequently oblig'd to render him both active and passive Obedience and do become as guilty in rebelling against his will by not suffering what he inflicts as by not doing what he commands If we attempt to dispose of our selves or of the Circumstances of our Condition we usurp upon God's Prerogative we invade the Scepter of his Government and become guilty of High-Treason against the Majesty of Heaven For we thereby confront his Will with ours we take upon us to dispose of his Creatures to dispense his Blessings to withstand his Corrections which is in short to depose him from the Government and to assume it to our selves 2. It is our great Priviledg that we need not do more than quietly commend and commit our selves to the care of Divine Providence It