us willing to be at his dispose and content with his order What pleaseth him cannot then displease us and what is according to his mind cannot contradict ours and so we may speak it from our hearts let him do unto us as seemeth good unto him 2. Let us consider what abundant Reason we have thus to refer our selves to God's dispose 1. Upon the account of our Profession 2. Our Duty 3. Our Interest 1. Upon the account of our Profession We own our selves the Disciples and Followers of the Holy Jesus who as he chearfully performed so he patiently submitted to the Will of his Father declaring his Resignation under his sharpest Conflicts Father not my will but thine be done Mat. 26.39 And as we are Redeemed by his Death and are the price of his Blood we are obliged by his Example We profess to follow him as the Captain of our Salvation and ought to remember he was the most glorious instance of submission and patience of trust in God and resignation to his Will that ever the World was acquainted with As his Victory should be our Encouragement his Example must be our Pattern As he was perfected by sufferings and stoop'd to the severest ones Heb. 2.10 to purchase glory for us we are directed to expect our share to prepare us to partake of that glory To consider him who endur'd the contradiction of sinners against himself Heb. 12. â— is propounded as an expedient against fainting in our minds And so it may prove if in imitation of him we are satisfied in every thing with the Will of our Father We call God Father and own our selves his Children and shall we not be content he should chuse our Allowance and dispose of our Conditions We pray that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven and shall we be displeased that our prayers are answered and that he doth as we desire him that is what seemeth good in his sight The blessed Spirits above flee wheresoever they are sent chearfully obey his Will and execute his Pleasure and shall not we be satisfied with his Government â— 18.11 and pleased with his Orders and drink of that cup which our heavenly Father gives us to drink Certainly we may trust his Wisdom because he is God and his Love and Faithfulness because he is a Father who knowing what is best for us will do nothing but what really is so We know that every Commission concerning the events of time is signed by our Father 's own hand and do we think he will set his hand to what is really for the prejudice of his own Children whom he tenderly loves What we shall eat and drink and wherewithal we shall be clothed where we shall lodg and what we shall do and be and how in every thing we shall be disposed of are things that belong to his Paternal Government to order and obedient Children will leave it to their Father's care and acquiesce in his choice 2. Upon the account of Duty 1. In gratitude for his abundant kindness whereof we have had already such large experience He formed us in the Womb and brought us into light with our intire senses and integral parts He dispos'd of us in our Infancy educated our Childhood and guided our Youth and hath compassed us about with mercy on every side The streams of his Fountain have continually refresht us and shall we overlook the innumerable instances of his past kindness by not trusting him for the future We cannot fully display his benefits their wonderful greatness or undiscerned freeness their excessive multitude and large extent their suitableness and seasonableness their convenience and duration c. Our imaginations cannot conceive the dimensions of his Goodness nor our speech utter them such as the advantages of our Education the protection of his Providence the provisions of his Bounty the restraints of his Grace the priviledg of his Gospel and the assistance of his Holy Spirit his goodness to our Bodies and to our Souls to our Friends and Relatives in all the places wherever we have liv'd and in all the portions of our time hitherto some blessings immediately from God and others from such instruments to whom God gave the Will and the Power the Capacity and the Opportunity and Inclination of doing us good How many hazards that we thought inevitable hath he rescu'd us from How many difficulties that we thought insuperable hath his Wisdom and Power enabled us to wade through and conquer From how many surprising Casualties hath he secur'd us From how many Maladies and infectious Diseases hath he preserv'd us How many unobserv'd dangers hath his care prevented How many of our fears hath he delivered us from How many of our doubts hath he wisely resolved How many of our prayers hath he graciously answered He hath given us ease and health rais'd us from sickness and pluckt us often from the Jaws of Death Have we met with Affliction we have either had present support or speedy deliverance he hath either diverted the calamity or given us strength to bear it he hath known our souls in the day of Adversity and succour'd us from fainting in the hour of distress And if the rod were not presently remov'd he increas'd our patience and sanctified the visitation and in the issue 't was good that we were afflicted Moreover no affliction we have been under but had many concomitant Mercies unmixed misery is only the portion of Hell as perfect bliss the state of Heaven And why should we not receive some evil at the hand of God as well as good Job 2.10 Especially considering the vast disproportion For how many blessings have we received to one adversity When some mercies are taken are not others left of the same or greater consequence Have you lost part of your estate did not God give the whole and doth not he continue health without which you could not injoy any of it Are some of your Relations snatcht away by Death doth not God continue or raise up others in their room Therefore in the day of Adversity consider â— 14 as well as in the day of Prosperity rejoyce for God hath set the one over against the other If then he should deprive us of what we now have we ought to be thankful we had it so long and content if we injoy it no longer and consequently be willing he should do with us what seemeth good unto him The greatest evils we can now suffer are consistent with his favour which is our chiefest good and the good we have received already is more and greater than the evils we have felt or fear And have we tasted so much of his bounty and shall we quarrel at a change of Providence What condition have we ever passed through but the present mercies of that condition would more than counterpoise the calamities and sorrows of it The measures of God's Grace say the Jewish Rabbins is larger
and the general good of the World And should we have our Wills in one particular against the purpose of God it may be it would cross the designs of God in a thousand others for great things may depend upon that which we would have to be otherwise than it is Lastly God only knows what is best for us in order to our eternal happiness All men would chuse to be prosperous in the World but how many thousands would perish and be undone if they were so Riches may impoverish and ruin us health and strength may weaken and undo us and that which we desire and chuse may prove a curse and a snare an inducement to sin and shut us out of Heaven We know not how we could grapple with the temptations of an higher condition All men cannot carry a full cup without spilling or be advanc't very high but their heads will turn round We discern not those many instances wherein our Temporal interest would contradict our Eternal where our present satisfaction would be inconsistent with our future blessedness But since God doth 't is our interest in all things to resign to his dispose and the rather because 2. Having resign'd our selves to the Will of God the worst that can befall us will be really for our good God doth never afflict willingly or in vain but in great faithfulness to us and for excellent purposes never without a just cause on our part and a gracious design on his He can no more do an unwise act than an unholy one being infinite in Wisdom as well as in Purity He intends us good by all and hath promised that shall be the issue Rom 8.28 1 Cor. 3.21 22. He hath put losses and calamities afflictions and Death it self the Death of others as well our own into the covenant of grace they are all compriz'd within a promise and shall work for good All the evil God at any time inflicts on his Children is only another method of doing them good That by suffering in the flesh we may cease from sin That when our hearts are melted like wax we may be capable of Divine Impressions That he may open our ears to discipline by the voice of his rod Check our Pride and humble us at his foot prevent our security and cure our earthly mindedness perfect our patience beautify our faith and repair our inward vigor imbitter this world to raise us above it to take us off from our false hopes and carnal dependences to awaken our sleepy consciences and revive a Spirit of Prayer c. And the Wisdom of God doth oftentimes suit our necessities in these particulars by the kind and season of the affliction And Blessed are those sufferings which bring us more into a Conformity to his Holy Image Happy are those depressions to the Earth which afterwards lift us nearer Heaven Those sighs and groans are matter of joy whose eccho is a more holy and circumspect Life And welcome should be that evil which thus effects our greatest good God the great Physitian of Souls can Cure the Plague of the heart by a bodily Disease and make one troublesome distemper more effectual than many Sermons He can teach us such Lessons from the House of Mourning as we should never have learnt in the House of Feasting Yea he doth sometimes cause his Rod to be a Staff of comfort and give the sweetest inward peace to his People through streams of Bitterness For some never read the love of God so legibly as under the darkest cloud of outward distress As the Ark was nearest Heaven when the Waters of the floud were highest Besides is it not our advantage if he will prove our sincerity and exercise our Grace by a change of Providence To see whither we can love him as a Father while we feel his Rod whether we can believe the truth of his Promise when humane succors fail whether we can derive our support from his covenant love when we have little else to depend upon whether we can live upon the Fountain when the streams are cut off and the cisterns fail Now if this be the merciful design of Heaven in the worst that can befal us we are traitors to our own interest not to resign our selves intirely to him But this will lead me to the 3d particular to 3. Consider the Advantages and Benefits of this Resignation of our selves to the Divine good Pleasure And they are such as follow It will very much prepare us to receive without murmuring the smartest correction and qualify us humbly to improve the severest strokes Still encouraging our selves in the Lord our God to whom we have surrendred our selves and the management of all our affairs It will fit us for Prayer and dispose us to a Spiritual Communion with God therein For without such a temper no prayer respecting the things of this life can be acceptable to God It will prevent our making use of unlawful means to avoid any feared evil or to extricate our selves from any present difficulty because God can bring about good by seeming evil He can make the earth to help the woman accomplish his gracious designs by what seems to oppose them It will suppress an undue Inquisitiveness after things future And keep us from making use of any irregular or suspected methods to be inform'd of what shall come to pass For keeping within the bounds prescribed us by God and managing our affaires with the best discretion we can we may be very well satisfied by referring the success and issue to a divine conduct It will take us off from blaming second causes and fretting against Instruments under afflictions and will make us look higher to that hand of Providence which manages the Rod and hath wisely appointed it It will assist us to glorify God in the fire acknowledging his supremacy and subscribing to his Wisdom and believing his faithfulness and thereby satisfying our minds that if losses and disappointments poverty or tribulation or any other calamity be God's appointment that is best If to be crost in our desires deceiv'd in our expectations depriv'd of our friends goods or reputation be the Will of God that is altogether best From such a temper we may be able to say Lord here I am ready for any service prepared for any suffering girt for any encounter resolved for any difficulty and satisfied with whatsoever thou shalt please to order Lead me to the right hand or to the left lift me up or cast me down Do unto me what seemeth good in thy sight I submit to thy direction I am thine and at thy dispose and resolve to follow thee without disputing thy pleasure If thy Will be such and thy Wisdom advise it Poverty is better than riches disgrace than honour a prison than liberty losses than possession missing more eligible than obtaining frustration a greater kindness than success and a Tempest more desirable than a Sun-shine Such a temper as this will secure the
which are unexpected the suddenness of them deprives us of that stayedness of mind which is requisite to a due deportment under such a tryal And our passions then transport us into many indecent excesses and make us foam with impatient murmurs and cast up mire and dirt 2. Let us always maintain an humble penitent sense of sin and our own unworthiness This is necessary because Pride will indispose us for submission to the Divine Will And if we joyn impenitence 't will make us contend with the Almighty overlook his Goodness despise his Wisdom distrust his Faithfulness and find faults with his Providence as if things could be better ordered than they are by Gods management Whereas an humble Soul sensible of the desert of sin thinks every condition good enough and so is willing to be at God's dispose Lord will such a man say with admiring thoughts of the divine goodnes and bounty what can be too little for me who am less than the least of all thy mercies What temporal calamities too severe when I deserve eternal What condition too low that is on this side the bottomless pit What cup too bitter where thy wrath and remediless despair are none of the Ingredients Am I not thy creature and mayest thou not do what thou wilt with thy own Have I not provok't thee and shall I not receive correction Have I merited damnation and can I be wronged and injur'd by a temporal sorrow What are gentle Rods to fiery Scorpions And the light and momentary afflictions of this life to the agonies and torments of an eternal Tophet Oh pardon me now and save me at last and do with me what seemeth good in thy sight Deny me not an entrance into Heaven and let thy will be done upon earth This is the proper Language of an humble penitent referring himself to the divine choice as to every thing in this World 3. Some things are necessary respecting the affairs of this present world 1. That we have right notions of Prosperity and Adversity of temporal good and evil For according to the Judgment we make of these will our Passions be exercis'd We ought therefore to endeavour to understand what is their due value and what estimate in Reason we should make of them We ought to consider as to the good That it is fleeting and inconstant uncertain and temporal may be lost on a sudden and must be left shortly that no outward advantages above others do on that account rfcommend us to God or intitle us to his favour That 't is no Argument of his displeasure to be poor and despised to be afflicted and calamitous that bread is not alway to the wise nor riches to men of understanding but time and chance happens to them all Ecl. 9 11. That all things under the Sun are mutable and 't is a madness to think they will never change That 't is necessary God should make a difference and variety in the conditions of men that some should be rich and others poor Because neither could subsist without both The meanness of some is no less needful to the order and harmony of the World than the greatness and abundance of others the Rich cannot live comfortably without the Poor nor the latter be supported without the former Besides 't is to be considered That a prosperous condition without God's blessing to improve it will but administer to our sin increase our guilt and advance our ruin That an abundance of Temporal enjoyments is attended with many dangerous temptations and very few perish by Famine in comparison with those many who die of a Surfeit That there is no Temporal evil but God can support us under and sanctifiâ— for our good That the loss of life is the utmost we can fear and having the promises of a future blessedness that is not to be dreaded and if our lives are spared we can only be deprived a little sooner of those comforts which otherwise we must relinquish when we quit the body And suppose the worst that can possibly befall us the time of its continuance cannot be long within a few years suppose Thirty or Forty and hardly that number of the greatest Assembly shall then be left alive And after this life we shall meet with no disappointment evermore to trouble us no cross Providence to try our patience or require our submission no sudden loss or casualty to be the matter of a complaint no publick storm or private adversity to discompose us And having this hope in us as to the other life for shame let us resign all things to the Will of God as to this And if we consider our selves either as Men or Christians the calamities and sufferings to which we are exposed are so many that 't is a merciful dispensation our Lease is shortned and the number of our sorrowful days on Earth diminisht that whereas our Fore-fathers were train'd up in the School of the Cross for many hundred years we are not to live so long but may hope to get to Heaven sooner and there only remains a Rest for the people of God 2. 'T is necessary that we mortifie our love to this World and moderate our Affections to earthly things Love seems to be the measure and Origine of all other Passions And if this present World and its injoyments be inordinately lov'd we shall be apt to repine or despond when evil befalls us Our sorrow by the loss of outward blessings will hold proportion with our fond Affection while we possess'd them and our dejection under calamity be proportion'd to our fears lest it come to pass Whereas if our Affections be moderate and guided by Faith and Reason we shall not be much concern'd at the evils we can suffer we shall not much trouble our selves for the want of that which we neither value nor love but within the limits prescribed us by God For what we embrace with the greatest fondness that we part from with the greatest regret And as many ways may we be miserable as there are variety of accidents to separate us from what we inordinately love This is the great Reason why the calamities we suffer dissolve our patience and rob us of our peace Because we love this World too well and are over-fond of that which we may easily lose And how quickly may that man be miserable if there be so many Worms can make that Gourd wither which he sits under the shadow of with inordinate satisfaction Nay with Temporal injoyments or without them we can never be at rest if we love them too well for all our days we are either perplext with fear lest they should be lost or with sorrow in case they are If we love any thing very much besides God 't is seldom but we meet with occasions for as great a sorrow as we entertain the Object with an undue Affection But loving God above all and every thing else only according to his prescription would make