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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26847	A posing question, put by the wise man, viz. Solomon, to the wisest men concerning making a judgment of the temporal conditions : wherein you have the ignorance of man (in knowing, what is good, or evil, for man in this life) discovered, together, with the mistakes that flow from it : and the great question resolved, viz. whether the knowledg of, what is good for a man in this life, be so hid from man, that no man can attain it / preached at the weekly lecture at Upton ... by Benjamin Baxter ...	Baxter, Benjamin, Preacher of the Gospel.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1662 (1662)	Wing B1172A; ESTC R39509	142,945	270

and evil good and so are disabled from knowing what is good for a man in this life I shall name some of those ways by which most judge of the good or evil of a Condition 1. Opinion 2. Sense 3. Affection I. Most judge of Conditions by Opinion they take things to be as they account them It is Opinion that makes things to be good and evil to some that if rightly considered are not so Thus Conditions are looked upon as good or evil according as they are in our Opinion It was the saying of Seneca Levis est Dolor si nil Opinio adjecerit The misery would be little if our Opinion did not adde to it Opinion is a leight judgment of things by which things are good in the imagination but never arrive at the understanding to be made Reason It is an ill Guide and therefore some call it the Guide of Fools when Reason is the Guide of the Wise Most men judg of Conditions by Opinion and so it is impossible they should make a right Judgment of Conditions of what is good or evil for a man in this life And therefore we find the Scripture setting it self to oppose and cross the Opinions of Men in relation to what is good and evil for a man in this life Jam. 5. 1. Howl ye Rich Men c. Now it is the Opinion of most that Rich men have cause to Rejoyce Prov. 15. 16. Better is a little with the Fear of the Lord then great Treasures with Trouble This crosseth the general Opinion of men Psal 37. 16. A little that a Righteous man hath is better then the Riches of many Wicked Now the Opinion of the World is That much is alwayes better then little One place more Eccles 7. 2 3. Vers 2. It is better to go to the House of Mourning then to go to the house of Feasting But most men think not so Vers 3. Sorrow is better then laughter But this crosseth the general Opinion of men II. Another way by which men Judg of the Good or Evil of Conditions is by Sense They judg of the good evil of things according as they are pleasing or displeasing to their Senses They judg of Conditions as many do of Meats who judg of them by the taste and so take them to be Wholsome that are Toothsome And so on the contrary those meats Unwholsome that are Unpleasant And therefore the Apostle tells those Heb. 12. 11. how they were mistaken about their Condition which was then a Suffering Condition No Affliction saith he for the present seemeth Joyous but Grievous Why Sense at the present can feel no good in it But afterwards it bringeth forth the quiet Fruit of Righteousness This way of judging deceived Eve She saw the Fruit was desirable it looked fair to the Eye Thus many are deceived about their Conditions They are like the Book St. John eatt As Hony in the Mouth but in the Belly as bitter as Gall. Thus men look upon Conditions whether they are Hony in the Mouth they look no further whether they may not prove Gall in the Belly Why thus most judg of Conditions by Sense and while they judg so it is impossible for them to know what is good or evil for them in this life III. Some make a judgment of Conditions by their sinfully-sensual Affections and so account that good for them in this life that suits with their Lusts and Inordinate Desires Thus men come to be beguiled with the appearance of Good instead of Real Good Most men take the word of their Lusts and corrupt and sinful Desires concerning what is good for them As Sampson said Give her me for she pleaseth me well Since the Fall man rather consults with his own Corrupt desires then any thing else and makes them his Oracle at which he enquires about the good and evil of things and while they seek to that Oracle it must needs follow that Good must be rejected under the Notion of Evil and evil lookt upon as desirable under the Notion of good Affections sensually-sinful are wofully blinded in judging of Conditions CHAP. IV. HAving Explained and Confirmed the Point I come now to Resolve some Questions that may be put in Relation to the Truth delivered 1. Question Whether it be lawful to Pray against Afflictions Since no man knoweth what is good for a man in this life and so in praying against them we may Pray against and Deprecate that that for ought we know may be for out Good 2. Quest. Whether it be lawful to Pray for outward and worldly good things as Riches c. Since we know not but we may pray for what is evil for us 3. Quest. Whether our being ignorant of what is good for us in this life doth not warrant us to undertake things and adventure on them hand over head or at hap-hazard as we say or at adventure without any Circumspection Consideration Prudential Foresight or Providential Care as in Marriage c. Why some may say I know not what is good for me in this life and therefore Let it happen how it will So the Question is Whether this Truth do not deny and destroy all Care of Providence I shall Answer to these in order 1. Quest. Whether according to the Truth delivered it be lawful for a man to Pray against Afflictions Since he knoweth not but that he may Pray against his own good Since some by Experience have found It was good for them that they were Afflicted Answ Some have bin of this Opinion that It is unlawful to Pray against Afflictions and that it was not the Errour of Tertullian to say Afflictions were to be sought for and desired and said That men ought to be so far from praying against them that they ought to pray for them and desire them But this I look upon as one of his Errours I shall give an Answer to the Question 1. General 2. Particular I. General So I Answer That notwithstanding it so falls out that Afflictions are good for a man yet they may be lawfully prayed against And this Truth I shall clear up to you by four things 1. Afflictions are in their own Nature Fruits and Effects of Sin and such as Nature abhors such are Sickness Poverty all sorts of Losses and Crosses they were brought in by Sin The Apostle saith Rom. 5. 12. Sin entred into the world and Death by Sin Death is there put for All Miseries As Life in Scripture is put for all Good so Death is the Topick for all Miseries being called the King of Fears and so the King of Evils being the King of whatsoever is fearful to man and what Nature abhoreth As Death so all Evils as Death's attendants came into the world by Sin Sin was the Mother and Afflictions of all sorts are the Daughters So then looking upon them under this Notion as the Effects of Sin they may be prayed against When Sin came into the world these Evils

put out our eyes To escape the danger of misunderstanding the Scriptures to keep them from understanding them and to lock them up in an unknown Tongue and to fly from them because they are abused by Hereticks As if Christ should not have said again It is Written because the Devil had said It is Written But of the two Evils the Vanity is more tolerable of them that glory in their excellent Libraries or of Sabinus in Seneca that boasted of his learned Servants or the Great Men that glory in their learned Chaplains while they are ignorant themselves than the Villany of Licinius that called learning The Pest and Poison of the Common-Wealth Or the Italian Noble Man that Petrach mentioneth that would give a very great summe of mony to keep all men of Learning from ever coming into his Country Or the impiety of them that would banish the knowledg of the Scriptures from the laity in the Church of God 2. And from the matter and manner of this Treatise I have more special Reasons to take the publication of it for a Mercy The Subject is very suitable and seasonable in these times when Providence sporteth it self in the affairs of men and puzzeleth so many and is so variously interpreted by the best and misinterpreted by the most This Doctrine of mans uncertainty of what is for his good in the matters of temporal concernment or of the disengaged Providence of God is not any where else so fully and methodically handled that I know of And it is of very great use to the correcting of many and great miscarriages and the right ordering of our affections and imployments in the world How unreasonable is it That we should be so eager and peremptory in our desires of that which we know not Whether it will do us good or hurt That we should be so passionately troubled for those passages of God's Providence which for ought we know may be the means of our felicity O how oft do we foolishly trouble our selves because God is saving us from greater trouble and we do not understand His meaning Strange that the knowledg of our nothingness and the experience of the fruits of our miscarriages will not yet perswade us to give God leave to Govern the World without our medling or seeking to take his Work into our hands and censuring of that which we never understood That we have not yet enough of the desire of being as gods having smarted for it as we have done O the folly of those Expositors of the Prophecies of Scripture who first overvalue a prosperous state and conclude beyond their knowledg that it is best for us and then reduce the Promises to their sense and grow so confident in their expectations of outward deliverances and prosperous times as to lay their hopes and comforts on it and the very credit of Religion it self And ô the madness of those men that laying this as their ground work that fleshly Prosperity is best for them are unreconcilable to the wayes of Faith and Holiness and Mortification because they square not with this Erroneous Foundation These Generalls we are certain of First That ordinarily Adversity is more profitable to the Soul then worldly Prosperity Secondly That all things shall work together for good to them that love God And therefore we have reason to be most suspicious of Prosperity but if we are true Christians to interpret all well that is of God Did we but know what need we have of mortifying Providences as the ordinary means of mortifying Grace we should rightlier judg of them then we do Tanto quisque ferramentum medici patientius tolerat quanto magis putridum conspicit esse quod secat Saith Greg. He that best knowes the rottenness of the flesh will best endure the Surgions knife And happy are we if that be cured by the pain of the flesh which was corrupted by the pleasure of the flesh Si quae carnis delectatione peccamus carnis dolore purgamus Marvel not if when thou turnest unto Christ thou seemest to be assaulted with successive Waves and to be cast into a Furnace or brought into a Thorny Wilderness and compassed with Sorrows which thou never wast acquainted with before As Augustine to his friend Noli admirari frater si postquam Christianus effectus es mille te undique tribulationes vexant Quoniam Christus nostrae Religionis caput est nosque ejus membra sumus debemus ergo non solum eum sed ejus vitam cumulatissime sequi Christs way must be our way we must be conformed to our Head We must Suffer with him if we will be Glorified with him The Cross is the passage to the Crown The Armies of Saints have gone this way in all Generations Similes aliorum respice casus Mitiùs ista feres Ov. Should we expect that Grace should have no Conflict no Conquest before the Triumph but be Crown'd before we have shewed what it can do Nay we know not the power of it in our selves till it be tried Nemo scit quid potueris neque tu quidem ipse Opus enim est ad suî notitiam experimento Quid quisque possit non nisi tentando didicit inquit Seneca Be not therefore too unmannerly and foolishly importunate with God for any outward thing till thou not only thinkest that at the present it would do thee good but also canst see as far as to the end and say That it will be in the issue good and will not cross any greater Good And marvel not if God grant not such mistaking Prayers Non audit medicus ad voluntatem sed ad sanitatem saith August What sickly tempers should we be of yea what certain death would follow if our Father and Physitian should dyet us as we desire and give us what we would have our selves It seems a hard saying of Augustine of Rich men Difficile imo impossibile est ut praesentibus et futuris quis fruatur Bonis ut hic ventrem et ibi mentem impleat ut à deliciis ad delicias transeat ut in utroque seculo primus sit ut in terra et in coelo appareat gloriosus It is hard yea impossible to enjoy both present and future Goods to satisfy the belly here and the mind hereafter to passe from pleasures unto pleasures to be a chief man in both worlds to be glorious both in Earth and in Heaven But it meaneth no more than Christ meant in Luk. 16. 25. 18. 25. O how great a Victory do they get that overcome the temptations of Prosperity Magnae virtutis est cum foelicitare luctari et magnae faelicitatis est à foelicitate non vinci Aug. How few are so happy who have that which the world counteth happiness as to escape its sting and the everlasting misery which living after the flesh will procure Rom. 8. 1 13. Heu caecae mentes tumefactaque corda secundis This maketh the Great ones of the

crowded in with It and when Sin shall be no more these Miseries and Evils shall be no more Rev. 21. 4. There shall be no more Death c. The Thred followeth the Needle Sin was the Needle that drew in with it the Thred of Miseries and Afflictions Man had never known what Losses and Crosses and Miseries and Afflictions had bin had it not been for Sin 2. Afflictions of themselves do us no good of themselves they do not make a man better The Good by Afflictions comes from a Superiour Work from those admirable Influences and Concurrences of the Spirit of God on and with the Afflictions As our Saviour said Man lives not by Bread only So man is not amended by Afflictions only Put a Stone into the Fire it cometh out a Stone still No water either hot or cold will make a Blackmore White Empty Vinegar from Vessel to Vessel it will be Vinegar still So let a man be emplyed from Condition to Condition he is still the same We know the Plough breaks up the Earth but of it self doth not better it it leaveth it as it was there is nothing put in by the Plough If the Husbandman Dung it and cast in good Seed when he hath broken it up with his Plough then there is like to be a Harvest else there is nothing but Weeds and Nettles The Plough of Afflictions may break our Bodies and Estates and Spirits but there will be no Harvest without something more without an Heavenly Influence Afflictions will bring forth only Briars and Thorns The Expression of the Psalmist is Psal 94. 12. Blessed is the Man whom thou chastenest and teachest out of thy Law It is then happy when Correction and Instruction go together 3. As Afflictions are fruits of Sin and of themselves do no good so oftentimes through Mans Corruption they prove occasions of Sin They are so far from making men Better that they often make men Worse I have shewed before what Evils are incident both to a state of Prosperity and Adversity Satan knoweth how to make Afflictions to become Temptations And therefore we find this to be the Reason why Agur prayed against Poverty Prov. 30. 9. lest I be Poor and Steal and the Name of God be taken in Vain q. d. Poverty may put me under a Temptation of using Unlawful means to the Dishonour of God Thus Afflictions prove somtimes occasions of Sin and we are taught to Pray That we may not be led into Temptation 4. Consider again this That the Saints and Servants of God have prayed against Afflictions So they have prayed for 1. The Preventing of them and Keeping them off 2. The Removing them and Taking them off 1. For the Preventing them and keeping them Off. Thus did Agur Prov. 30. 8 9. where you have his Prayer First Against the Evils of Sin Ver. 7. Take from me Vanity and Lying Next Against the Evils of Affliction Ver. 8. Give me not Poverty 2. They have prayed for the Removing them and taking them off And those have done it who got as much good by their Afflictions as any under Heaven Thus David Psal 39. 10. Take away thy Stroak from me Psal 119. 22. Turn away Shame and Reproach from me Thus did Job Job 9. 34. Let him take away his Rod from me Job 13. 20 21. Withdraw thine Hand from me c. Where he Prayeth for Gods taking away his Afflicting Rod and for his with-drawing his Afflicting Hand And these Two men got as much good by their being Afflicted as ever any did Thus in General You see what we Answer to the Question Whether Evils of Affliction may be Prayed against II. We come to give a more particular Answer to the Question And tell you That though we say It is Lawful to pray against Afflictions yet it must be with the Observation of some Rules and Cautions and Directions That as our Saviour said in another case concerning Hearing Take heed how ye Hear So in this case of praying against Afflictions we say Take heed how ye Pray So consider There is a double praying against Afflictions as I told you before 1. For the Keeping them off 2. For the Taking them off 1. For the Keeping them off So there is a Twofold praying for the Keeping off Afflictions 1. Absolute 2. Conditional and with Submission 1. Absolute When men Pray that in no Case the Evil may happen to them so making their Will a Law to God's This praying against Afflictions is Unwarrantable and Unlawful We must know for Moral Evils of Sin we may pray absolutely against but not so against the Evils of Affliction 2. There is a Praying against them that is Conditional with Submission to the Will of God This is Lawful Our Saviour himself prayed that the Cup might pass from Him but adds this Not my Will but Thine be done Our praying against Afflictions is then right when there is a sweet Submission of our wills to the Will of God So that though we know that Afflictions are grievous to our Natures yet because we know not what the Decrees and Purposes of God are concerning us and not knowing but that He may see them good for us and make them good to us we do sweetly submit our wills to the Will of God and Proclaim Liberty to Him to deal with us as He please And herein is the Work of Grace seen that though Nature desireth wholly to be freed from them they being such things as are bitter to It yet a Christian leavs himself wholly to the Will of God and saith Not my Will but Thine be done When Christians see the Cup of Affliction preparing for them or coming towards them they must pray against it only as our Saviour did It is then right when in praying against Afflictions we pray absolutely that God may be Glorified but for the things that concern our selves we pray with Submission to His Will Thus Christ did John 12. 27 28. Save me from this Hour but for this cause came I to this Hour Father Glorify thy Self Our Saviour is absolute in that request of his That His Father would Glorify his Name and received an Answer But for the other Request he sweetly submitted to His Father 's Will. Thus doth a Gracious Heart pray absolutely that God may be Glorified let it be in Relation to himself which way the Lord please Thus in desiring freedom from Affliction though a Gracious Heart looks upon it as desirable to Nature to be freed from Losses and Crosses Sickness and Poverty c Yet he looks upon Gods Glory as That that is to preferred before its own worldly Welfare Ease Quiet Contentment and Comfort Whereas some may say that Agur prayed absolutely against Poverty Prov. 30. 8 9. Give me not Poverty c. We Answer that though it looketh like an absolute Request yet it is not If we look upon the Reason of the Request Vers 9. we shall find that he prayed absolutely only in relation