XXXVIII. SERM. huge value, (high preferment or much wealth,) but with good reafon, as we might prefume, fhould withhold from us fome trifle, that we fancy or dote on, should we not be very unworthy, if we should take it ill and be angry with him for that caufe? The cafe is plainly the fame: God hath in the frankest manner bestowed on us innumerable and inestimable goods, in comparison whereto any comfort or convenience of our ftate here is very trivial and despicable: are we not therefore very ingrateful, if we heinously resent the want of any fuch things; if, upon any fuch account, we disgust his Providence? Do we not deal, beyond all expreffion, unworthily with God, in so much undervaluing the goods which he hath given us, or doth offer us, and hath put in our reach? He hath made us capable of the greatest goods imaginable, and faithfully upon easy terms proffereth them to us; he even tendereth himself (himself, the immenfe and all comprehending good, the fountain of all joy and blifs) to be fully enjoyed by us: his wisdom he offereth to inftruct and guide us; -his power, to protect and guard us; his fulness, to supply us; his goodness, to comfort us; he offereth his love and favour to us, in having which we virtually and in effect have all things; becoming thereby, in the highest degree, rich and honourable and happy: and is it not then out rageous unworthiness to prize any other thing (any petty accommodation of this tranfitory life, any pitiful toy here) fo much, as to be displeased for the want thereof; as if all this were not enough to fatisfy our needs, or fatiate our defires; as if, notwithstanding all these immense effufions (yea as it were profufions) of bounty upon us, we Job ii. 10. could be indigent or unhappy? Shall we, to ufe that holy and most ingenuous confideration of Job, receive fo much good from the bountiful hand of God, and fhall we not contentedly receive or bear fo fmall evils from him? Evils indeed in name and to gross sense, but not fo'in reality, not so in effect, at least not fo in God's defignd; * Εὐχαριστῶ σοι πάτερ, ὦ ποιητὰ τῶν σῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅτι ἄκοντας ἡμᾶς εὖ os, &c. faid Philagrius in a grievous disease. Naz. Ep. 66. but rather things very convenient and profitable for us; SERM. which is another aggravation of our ingratitude; for, XXXVIII. Are we not also very ingrateful in misapprehending and difliking that, which God doeth out of very gracious intentions toward us; in loathing his fatherly and friendly dispensations; the fatherly chastisements and friendly difciplines, which he unwillingly is forced (is, I fay, forced by his own great love and by our preffing needs) to inflict or impose upon use? Surely our ill opinion of, or de- Prov. iii. 11. Spifing, as the Wife Man calleth it, these unpleasant blessings is no fmall fault; neither will our not discerning (out of affected dulness and stupid pravity not difcerning) the wisdom of God's methods, and the wholesomeness of the means he useth to better us, excufe us from foul ingratitude. τὸς θεὸς ἀπλῶς τάγα l; rs; 9èÇ Socr. quam fibi. 3. Again, upon many accounts, reason farther dictateth Exero weis in respect to God, that we should be content: because it is most reasonable to acquiefce in God's choice of our ftate, he à didóval, being infinitely more wife than we, and infinitely better understanding what is good for us than we can do; because he dras ἀγαθά ἐτι. is well affected to us, and more truly loveth us than we do Xenoph. de ourselves; because he hath a juft right, and irresistible power Charior eft to dispose of us, the which (whatever we can do, however illis homo we refent it) he will effectually make ufe of; whence it is extremely foolish to be difcontent: foolish it is to be dif fatisfied with the refults of his wifdom, adhering to our vain apprehenfions; foolish to distrust his goodness in compliance with our fond felf-love; foolish to contest his unquestionable right and uncontrollable power, having nothing but mere impotency to oppose against them; no less than downright madness it is to fret and fume at that 'Evridaíwhich we can nowife help, to bark at that which lodgeth in heaven fo far high above us, to folicit deaf neceffity Philem. with our ineffectual wailings; for if we think that our displeasure will affect God, that our complaints will incline him to alter our condition or comply with our wishes, we do conceit vainly, and without any ground; - Επειδὰν τὸ μὴ πάσχειν οὐκ ἔχω, τοῦτό γε τῷ πάσχειν παρακερδαίνω, τὸ φέρειν, καὶ τὸ εὐχαριστεῖν. Νaz. de fe. Ερ. 63. λεται κρυς ρολο γόοιο. Π. Ω. Σὺ δ' εἴκ' SERM. fooner may we, by our imagination, stop the tides of the XXXVIII. fea, or turn the ftreams of rivers backward; fooner, by Οὐ γάρ τις our cries, may we stay the fun, and change all the courfes πρήξις πι of the stars, than by our paffionate refentments or moanful clamours we can check the current of affairs, or alter that state of things, which is by God's high decree establifhed: difcontented behaviour will rather faften our condition, or remove it into a worse place; as it highly doth offend God, and increaseth our guilt, fo it moveth God to continue, and to augment our evils. Thus lifting up our eyes to heaven, and confidering the reference our difpofition and demeanour hath to God, will induce us to bear our case contentedly. vayay, θεοῖσι μὴ μάχε. Burip. Lam. iii. 39. II. Again, reflecting upon ourselves, we may obferve much reafon to be content with our state; in whatever capacity we look upon ourselves, it in reafon becometh us, we in duty are obliged to be fo. As men and creatures, we naturally are indigent and impotent; we have no juft claim to any thing, nor any poffeffion maintainable by our power; all that we have, or can have, cometh from most pure courtesy and bounty; wherefore how little foever is allowed us, we have no wrong done us, nor can we justly complain thereat: fuch beggars as we are must not pretend to be choofers; if any thing be given us, we may be glad, we should be thankful. It is for those who have a right and a power to maintain it, to refent and expoftulate, if their due be withheld: but for us, that never had any thing, which we could call our own; that have no power to get or keep any thing; for us, that came into the world naked and defenceless, that live here in continual, abfolute, and arbitrary dependence for all our livelihood and fubfistence, to conteft with him that maintaineth us, or to complain of his dealing, is ridiculously abfurd and vain. Upon a moral account we have lefs reason to challenge ought, or to complain of any thing; for we deserve nothing but evil: if we rightly esteem and value ourselves, any thing will feem good enough for us, any condition will appear better than we deserve: duly examining the imperfections and infirmities of our nature, the diforder SERM. and depravedness of our hearts, the demeanours and enor- XXXVIII. mities of our lives, we cannot but apprehend, that we are 17. Job vii. 27. even unworthy of the crumbs which fall from our Mafter's Matt. xv. table; we cannot but acknowledge with the good Patriarch, that we are lefs than the leaft of God's mercies. Confi- Gen. xxxii. dering our natural unworthiness, we fhall fee that we deferve not so much as those common benefits which all men enjoy, and without which we cannot fubfift; fo that, in regard to them, we shall be ready to acknowledge with the Pfalmift, Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him; or the Pf. cxliv. 8. Son of man, that thou makest account of him! Trying our hearts, and examining our ways, we fhall foon discover it to be abundant mercy, that we are not utterly deprived of all good things, ftript of all comforts, yea, difpoffefsed of our very being and life itself; that we are obliged to acknowledge, with thofe in the Lamentations, It is of the Lam.iii. 22. Lord's mercies that we are not confumed, because his compaffions fail not. Were we far better than we are, yet it would not become us to conteft with him, to whose difpofal and judgment we are fubject; as Job teacheth us: Behold, faith he, God taketh away, who can hinder him, Job ix. 18, who will fay unto him, What doeft thou? If he will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do floop under him;• Kár«. how much lefs fhall I anfwer him, and choofe out my words to reafon with him; whom, though I were righteous, I would not answer, but I would make fupplication to my Judge: (Jobiz.32.) but for us, men fo unrighteous and guilty, to debate with, to question the proceedings of our Judge, it is much more unfeemly. * Nothing can be more abfurd, than for men fo deeply indebted, than for finners fo very obnoxious to wrath, to be aggrieved in any ftate: fhall we, who are confcious to ourselves of fo many great fins against our God; who, by wilful tranfgreffions or flothful neglects, have so much affronted and offended him; who have fo little requited his love, and fo much abused his patience; who have borne fo little fruit, and rendered him fo little service; fhall we be angry that our humour is not pleafed in all &c. XXXVIII. SERM things? Shall we affect to swim in plenty, to wallow in pleasure, to baik ourselves in eafe; to be fed with dainties, to be gaily clothed, to flourish in a brave and splendid condition, to be worshipped and honoured; who deferve not the meanest competence or lowest respect, to whom it is a great favour that we are permitted to fubfift, whom ftrict juftice would often have caft into utter misery and difconfolatenefs? It is not furely for fuch perfons to be diffatisfied with any thing in this world, but to blefs God's exceeding mercy, that they abide there on this fide of the bottomlefs pit; it is their part, with most fubmiffive patience, to bear whatever is inflicted on them, humbly Mic. vii. 9. faying with him in the Prophet, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have finned against him. Seeing, whatever our croffes or fufferings be, we cannot but conEzra ix. 13. fefs to God, with those in Ezra, Thou haft punished us befs than our iniquities deferve; being gainers upon the matter, having so much of our debt remitted in effect, being, in comparison to what was due to us, very tolerably, yea very favourably dealt with, why should we be diffatisfied? If in fuch cases men fhould deal fo favourably with us, we should be much pleased, and ready to thank them; why then should we take it ill of God, when he, even in his hardest proceedings against us, expreffeth so much indulgence and mercy? Αυθαίρετα σήματα. If we must be displeased, and luft to complain, we have reafon much rather to accuse ourselves, than to exclaim at Providence, to bewail our fins, than to deplore our fortune; for our evils are not indeed fo much the voluntary Lam. iii. 33. works of God, who doth not afflict willingly, or grieve the Aidaigira children of men, as the natural products of our fins, which we do wilfully commit: it is, as the Prophet fpeaketh, our fins that withhold good things from us, and bring evil things upon us: fools, because of their tranfgreffion, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. We make adverfity neceffary, or expedient for us, then we cry out upon Jer. xvii.10. it we labour in planting, but cannot brook the fruit of 'xxxii. 19. our doings; we, like prodigals, fling away our estate in wanton profufions, then complain of want; we affect Jer. v. 25. 17. xxi. 14. vi. 19. |