254 A TREATISE OF SELF-DENIAL. [BoOK I.
we may know ourselves ; as God left Hezekiah, that lie might show liim the pride of his heart. That we might be kept low and empty, and that grace may be exalted, these dispensations are very necessary.
[3.] When God doth not always sertsibly hear our prayers. Though this is a very sad case, to go away from God without a token for good, without any sensible effect of his love, yet God will show us that prayer deserves nothing ; therefore when we have wrestled mightily at the throne of grace, yet we may miss. Why ? that we may know, though Christ be full and God willing, yet we must have ' grace for grace,' John i. 16 ; that is, grace for grace's sake, freely. God will make us see we are but unprofitable servants, and he will not give blessings to us but in and through Christ, when we rely upon him. Or else we may ask too coldly, or without esteem of those spiritual blessings, or else thou hast been too earnest for temporal blessings, and God will not give thee poisoned weapons to offend thyself. God knows what is best, and his will must be submitted to.
Secondly, For the grounds upon which we are to renounce our own will.
1. The absolute sovereignty of God, and liis supreme right and do- minion over the creatures, to dispose of them according to his own pleasure. He can destroy and annihilate, and no man can call him to account : Job ix. 12, ' Behold he taketh away and who can hinder him ? and who can say, What dost thou ? ' Before what tribunal will you cite God ? And where shall he give an account of his dispensa- tions ? When he takes away, who can say, Lord, what dost thou do ? Every man may do with his own what he pleaseth, why not God ? thou art as ' clay in the hand of the potter : ' Kom. ix. 20, ' Nay but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me thus ? ' Why should we deny God the common privilege of all proprietors ? If God use us according to his own pleasure, he doth but use that which is his own. A man may cut out his own cloth as ho pleaseth. Why should we confine the right of God to narrow limits ? If he make us sick, pained, infamous, if he humble us with want, if he should take away our relations, where will you cite God to give an account of this matter? It is injurious to resist a man in the disposal of his own goods ; why should we resist God, that hath such a supreme and absolute right over the creature ? 1 Sam. iii. 18, saith Eli, ' It is the Lord,' — it is he that is the supreme and absolute lord, — ' Let him do whatsoever he pleaseth.' It is good to be satisfied with the will of God, and sit down and say no more ; it is the Lord, and he may do with his own as he pleaseth.
2. God can take away nothing from us but what he gave us at the first ; we do but return him his own, and we should do it with thanks. When he taketh anything from us, he doth but demand his own goods. Job, chap. i. 22, saith, ' the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be his name.' He that hath taken, gave first. And Seneca hath just such another passage, abstulit, sed et dedit — God hath taken; ay! but he gave first, it was his own. So Job ii. 12, ' Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and not evil ? ' If God hath left blessings and comforts with us, shall we be grudging when he comes and demands them again, when he did but lend them to us for awhile ? Eemember,
Book I.] a treatise of self-denial. 255
God takes but a part that gave all, and it is his mercy that he hath left thee anything,
3. The excellency of God's will. God is infinitely good, wise, and powerful ; he knows what is better for us than we do for ourselves. Unless we will blaspheme God, and count him evil, or ignorant, or impotent and weak, why should we murmur ? Alas ! we are poor, short-sighted, narrow- witted creatures ; it is best to leave our condition to the wisdom of providence. Say, when thou goest to murmur and repine against God, when God takes away thy comforts, estates, relations, Who am I, that I should prefer my will and my judgment before God's ? We pray daily * Thy will be done,' and shall we con- fute our own prayers? consider, which is more equal, that thy will should be conformed to God's or God's stoop down to thine ? It is the child's happiness that the father's will is his rule, not his own. God's will is more safe. We usually make our reason the highest court, and enact laws, and then would have God bound by them. Should the sheep choose their pasture, or the shepherd ? God shapeth your condition, and cutteth out your allowance.