(3.) Thirdly, Your near and dear mercies were first the Lords before they were yours, and ahuays the Lord's more than they were yours. When God gives a mercy, he doth not relinquish his own right in that mercy : 1 Chron. xxix. 14-, ' All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.' The sweet of mercy is yours, but the sove- reign right to dispose of your mercies is the Lord's. Quit-quid ea, debet creanti ; quicquid potes, debes redimenti [Bernard], whatsoever thou art, thou owest to him that made thee ; and whatsoever thou hast, thou owest to him that redeemed thee. You say it is but just and reason- able that men should do with their own as they please, and is it not just and reasonable that God, who is Lord paramount, should do with bifl own as he pleases ? Dost thou believe that the great God may do in heaven what he pleases ? and on the seas what he pleases ? ami in the nations and kingdoms of the world what he pleases? and in thy heart what he pleases ? And dost thou not believe that God may do in thy house what he pleases, and do with thy mercies what he pleases 1 Job ix. 12, ' Behold, he taketh away,' or he snatcheth away, it may be a husband, a wife, a child, an estate, ' who can hinder him ? Who will say unto him, what doest thou f1 Who dares cavil against God? Who 1 Job plainly alludes to God's taking away his children, servants, and cattle.
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 347
dares question that God that is unquestionable, that chief Lord that is un- controllable, and who may do with his own what he pleaseth? Dan. iv. 35, 'And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing : and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inha- bitants of the earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou ?' Where is the prince, the peasant, the master, the servant, the husband, the wife, the father, the child, that dares say to God, What doest thou ? Isa. xlv. 9. In matters of arithmetical accounts, set one against ten, ten against a hundred, a hundred against a thousand, a thousand against ten thousand, although there be great odds, yet there is some com- parison ; but if a man could set down an infinite number, then there could be no comparison at all, because the one is infinite, the other finite ; so set all the princes and powers of the earth in opposition to God, they shall never be able to withstand him. It was once the saying of Pompey, that with one stamp of his foot he could raise all Italy in arms j1 but let the great God but stamp with his foot, and he can raise all the world in arms, to own him, to contend for him, or to revenge any affronts that by any are put upon him, and therefore who shall say unto him, What doest thou ? Water is stronger than earth, fire stronger than water, angels stronger than men, and God stronger than them all ; and therefore who shall say unto God, What doest thou ; when he takes their nearest and their dearest mercies from them \ But,
(4.) Fourthly, It may be thou hast not made a happy improvement of thy near and dear mercies whilst thou enjoy edst them. Thou hast been taken with thy mercies, but thy heart hath not been taken up in the improvement of them. There are many who are very much taken with their mercies, who make no conscience of improving their mercies. Have thy near and dear mercies been a star to lead thee to Christ ? Have they been a cloud by day, and a pillar of light by night, to lead thee towards the heavenly Canaan ? Have they been a Jacob's ladder to thy soul ? Hast thou by them been provoked to give up thyself to God as a living sacrifice ? Rom. xii. 1 . Hast thou improved thy near and dear mercies to the inflaming of thy love to God, to the strength- ening of thy confidence in God, to the raising of thy communion with God, and to the engaging of thy heart to a more close and circumspect walking before God ? &c. If thou hast not thus improved them, thuu hast more cause to be mute than to murmur, to be silent than to be impatient, to fall out with thyself than to fall out with thy God. Chil- dren and fools are taken with many things, but improve nothing. Such children and fools are most men ; they are much taken with their mer- cies, but they make no improvement of their mercies ; and therefore no wonder if God strip them of their mercies. The candle of mercy is set up not to play by, but to work by.
Pliny speaks of one Cressinus,2 who improved a little piece of ground to a»far greater advantage than his neighbours could a greater quantity of land. Thereupon he was accused of witchcraft ; but he, to defend himself, brought into the court his servants and their working tools, and said, Veneficia mea} Quirites, haec sunt, these are my witchcrafts,
1 Plutarch in vita Pompeii.
2 Lib. xviii. c. 6. [The name is C. Furius Chresimus, not Cressinus, and the reference c. 8, not ti. — ]
348 THE MUTE CHRISTIAN [Ps. XXXIX. 0.
( ) ye Romans ; these servants, and these working tools, are all the witch- craft that I know of. When the people heard this plea, with one con- sent they acquitted him, and declared him not guilty; and so his little piece of ground was secured to him. There is no way to secure your mercies but by improving of them ; there is nothing that provokes ( rod to strip you of your mercies like the non-improvement of them: Mat. xxv. 28-31, ' Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.' By some stroke or other God will take away the mercy that is not improved. If thy slothfulness hath put God upon passing a sentence of death upon the dearest mercy, thank thyself, and hold thy peace.
(5.) Fifthly, If in this rose God hud mode, /lire a precedi id to others, thou 'must have held thy peace; how much, more, then, shouldst thou be mate vhcn God hath mode mairy others 'precedents to thee! Did not God smite Aaron in his dear and near enjoyments, Lev. x. 1, 2, and doth he not hold his peace? Did not God smite David in his Ab- salom, and Abraham in his Sarah, and Job in his sons, daughters, estate, and body, and Jonah in his gourd? Art thou more beloved than these? No. Hast thou more grace than these? No. Hast thou done more for divine glory than these ? No. Art thou richer in spiritual expe- riences than these? No. Hast thou attained to higher enjoyments than these? No. Hast thou been more serviceable in thy generation than these ? No. Hast thou been more exemplary in thy life and con- versation than these ? &c. No. Then why shouldst thou murmur and fret at that which hath been the common lot of the dearest saints ?
Though God hath smitten thee in this or that near and dear enjoy- ment, it is thy wisdom to hold thy peace, for that God that hath taken away one, might have taken away all. Justice writes a sentence of death upon all Job's mercies at once, and yet he holds his peace, Job i. ; and wilt not thou hold thine, though God hath cropped the fairest flower in all thy garden ?