Man and man stand upon even ground ; if your fellow-creature does any thing that displeases you, you may not only enquire who did it, but why he did it .^ You may demand his grounds and rea- sons for what he hath done ; but you may not do so here : It is ex- pected that this one thing. The Lord hath done it, should, without any farther disputes or contests, silence and quiet you, whatever it be that he hath done. Job xxxiii. 13. "Why dost thou strive against " him ? For he giveth not an account of any of his matters." The Supreme being must needs be an unaccountable and u neon trou labia Being.
It is a shame for a child to strive with his father; a shame for a servant to contend with his master ; but for a creature to quarrel and strive with the God that made him, O how shameful is it ! Surely it is highly reasonable that you be subject to that will whence you proceeded, and that he who formed you and yours should dispose of both as seemeth him good. It is said, 2 Sam. iii. 36. " That what- *' soever the king did pleased all the people :" And shall any thing the Lord doth displease you ? He can do no wrong. If we pluck a rose in the bud as we v>^alk in our gardens, who shall blame us for it ? It is our own, and we may crop it off when we please : Is not this the case ? Thy sweet bud, which was cropt off before it was fully blown,
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^*as cropt off by him that owned it, yea, by him that formed it. It" his dominion be absolute, sure his disposal should be acceptable.
It was so to good Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 18. " It is the Lord, let him do '• what seemeth hini good i"^ And it was so to David, Psal. xxxix. 9. *' I was dumb, I opened not my moutli ; because thou didst it." O let it be for ever remembered, " That he whose name alone is Jeho- *' vah, is the Most High over all the earth," Psalm Ixxxiii. 18.
The glorious sovereignty of God, is illustriously displayed in two things, his decrees and his providences : With respect to the first he saith, Rom. ix. 15. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." Here is no ground of disputing with him ; for so it is said, ver, 20. '' Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God ? Shall the thing *'* formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus ?" Hath not the pottter power over the clay ?
And as to his providences, wherein his sovereignty is also mani- fested ; it is said, Zech. ii. 14. " Be silent, O all flesh, before the '* Lord, for he is raised up out of his habitation." It is spoken of his providential working in the changes of kingdoms and desolations that attend them.
Now, seeing the case stands thus, that the Lord hath done it : it is his pleasure to have it so, and that if it had not been his will, it could never have been as it is; he that gave thee (rather lent thee) thy rela- tion hath also taken him : O how quiet should this consideration leave thee.'^ If your landlord, who has many years suffered you to dwell in his house, does at last warn you out of it, though he tells you not why ; you will not contend with him, or say he has done you wrong: Much less if he tells you it will be more for his profit and accommo- dation to take it into his own hand, than let it to you any longer.
Doubtless, reason will tell you, you ought quietly to pack up and quit it. It is your great landlord, from v.hom you hold (at pleasure) your own, and your relations lives, tlmt hath now warned you out from one of them, it being more for his glory, it may be, to take it in his own hands, by death ; and must you dispute the case with him ?
Come, Christian, this no way becomes thee, but rather, " The " Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name " of the Lord." Look off from a dead creature, lift up thine eyes to the sovereign, wise, and holy pleasure that ordered this affliction : Consider who he is, and what thou art; yea, pursue this considera- tion till thou canst say, I am now filled with the will of God.
Consideration 2. Ponder well the quality of the comfort you are deprived of\ and remember^ that ivhen you had it, it stood but in the rank and order of common and inferior covi forts.
Children, and all other relations are but common blessings, whicli God indifferently betows upon his friends and enemies: and by the having or losing of them, no man knows ciiher love or hatred. It is Vol. V. R r
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said of tlie wicked, Psal. Ixxvii. 14. that they are full of children; yea, and of children that do survive them too ; for they leave their rtuhstance to their babes. Full of sin, yet full of children, and these children live to inherit their parents sins and estates together.
It is the mistaking of the quality and nature of our enjoyments, that so plunges iis into trouble when we lose them. We think there is so necessary a connection betwixt these creatures and our happiness that we are utterly undone when they fail us.
But this is our mistake; there is no such necessary connection or dependence ; we may be happy without these things : It is not father, mother, wife, or child, in which our chief good and felicity lies; we have higher, better, and more enduring things than these; all these may perish, and yet our soul be secure and safe ; yea, and our comfort in the way, as well as end, may be safe enough, though these are gone : God hath better things to comibrt his people with than these, and worse rods to afflict you with than the removal of these. Had God let your children live and flourish ; and given you ease and rest in your tabernacle, but in the mean time inflicted spiri- tual judgments upon your souls ; how much more sad had your case been ?
But TiS long as our best mercies are all safe, the things that have salvation in them remain, and only the things that have vanity in them are removed ; you are not prejudiced, or much hindered as to the attainment of your last end, by the loss of these things.
Alas! it was not Christ's intent to purchase for you a sensual con- tent in the enjoyment of these earthly comforts ; but to redeem you from all iniquity, purge your corruptions, sanctify your natures, wean your hearts from this vain world, and so to dispose and order your present condition, that, finding no rest and content here, you might the more ardently pant and sigh after the rest which remains for the people of God. And are you not in as probable a way to attain this end now, as you were before ? Do you think you are not as likely, by these methods of providence, to be weaned from the world, as by more pleasant and prosperous ones ? Every wise man reckons that station and condition to be best for him, which most promotes and secures his last end and great design.