6. In bringing about this good we must not be idle spectators, but assist under God. When we are diligent to exercise ourselves unto godliness, then evil is turned into good, and all crosses and afflictions into means of salvation. Besides the elective love of God at the bot-
266 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIH. [SeB. XXXVII.
torn of all, there is the actual power and influence of the Spirit, and prayer on our part : Phil. i. 19, ' Through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit ot' Christ Jesus ;' and Heb. xii. 11, ' Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, after- wards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised tliereby.' It is not the bare nature of the cross doth it ; we must labour for that we look for ; the saints are not only passive objects, but active instruments, of providence ; there is an exercise on our parts ; we are to make use of all things, then God will bless us.
7. If it be true of particular persons, it is much more true of the church ; all is for good : Ps. Ixxvi. 10, ' Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.' Christ many times gets up on the devil's shoulders ; all providence is for the elect's sake : 2 Tim. ii. 10, ' Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may obtain salvation by Christ, with eternal glory.' The sufferings of the apostles conduced to the good of true christians ; God considered the good of the whole church.
Use 1. Is information.
1. That the exception against God's providence from the evils that abound in the world is vain and frivolous. It was an old doubting question, If there be a God, how are there evils ? If there were not a God, how is there good ? One part answereth the other ; the text more fully ; he turneth evil unto good. That there are devils : God knoweth how to make use of them, to punish the wicked and exercise the godly. That there is sin : if there had been no sin, no Christ. That there are miseries : if no miseries, many graces would be lost ; there would be no fortitude, no patience, no earnestness in prayer. That there are wicked men : it showeth God's distinguishing mercy, that when so many are drowned in the common shipwreck of mankind, it is the greater mercy that we escape ; if others are bad, let us bless God that made us better. Lastly, that there is death, that there might be a passage out of this world, and a period to our labours and sorrows.
2. It teacheth us how to interpret prayers. We have prayed for the continuance of a blessing, and lost it ; for the riddance of a trouble, yet it continueth upon us. This is the very case here ; if God heareth them, how come they to suffer such hard things ? The Spirit teacheth us to pray. Now the denial of either suit turneth to good. We often come to God with carnal requests, which being interpreted, sound but thus, Give me that wherewith I may offend thee, or have my flesh pleased, or lusts fed. God findeth us doting on the creature, and we take it ill to be interrupted in our whoredoms. We must distinguish between what is really best for us and what we judge best ; other diet is more wholesome for our souls than what our sick appetites craveth ; we are best many times when weakest, worst when strongest.
3. It giveth us a reason of waiting. Though we do not presently know why everything is done, let us wait. Providence doth not work without a cause ; we see it not now, but we shall see it when God turneth it to good. We must not judge of God's work by the begin- ning ; God seemeth an adversary for a while to them that indeed enjoy his eternal love. Let patience have its perfect work, and when providence is come to a period, you will know more.
VeR. 28.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. • 267
4. "What reason to trust God with events. Some things fall under our duty, others are a mere event. Our care is about events rather than duty, and so we take God's work out of his hands ; and so it is not care, so much as carking ; we inquire what shall become of us, rather than what we shall do. Do you do your duty, and God knoweth how to turn all things for good, Phil. iv. 6, 7. Nothing can go amiss to him that is found in the way of duty.
5. It informeth us of the happiness of God's children. We may put in for a share; when we are sanctified to God, all things are sanctified to us ; and things that otherwise would be snares prove helps, and dis- couragements prove furtherances. The creature is as if it were another thing to the saints ; if they are advanced, their hearts are enlarged to God : 2 Sam. vii. 2, ' And the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See, now I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelletli within cur- tains;' Nehem. i. 11, ' 0 Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be atten- tive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name ; and prosper, I pray thee, this day thy servant, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man ; for I was the king's cup- bearer ; ' meaning he had improved this place for God. When they are afHicted, they do not fret or faint, but humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, and so meet him at every turn. Oh ! what a blessed thing is it to be under the special care of God, and to have all things about us ordered with respect to our eternal welfare ! It is not so with the wicked ; if God make Saul a king, Judas an apostle, Balaam a prophet, their preferment will be their ruin; Haman's honour, Achitophel's wit, Herod's applause, turned to their hurt. If in prosperity they contemn God, in adversity they deny and blaspheme God — ' This evil is from the Lord, why should I wait on him any longer ? ' As the salt sea turneth all into salt water, so a man is as the constitution of his heart is.