420 A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE PARLUMENT.
the light of the day and the full darkness of the night. If too clear, we should not need faith. If too obscure, we should wholly lose faith. Therefore, the first way of providence is not fit for the pre- sent world, that the godly shall always be happy acd flourish, and have all things according to tlieir heart's desire, and the wicked always in troubles and calamities. This would make religion too sensible a thing, uufit for the present time, when we walk by faith and not by sense. If the world were so governed, it could not be put to any trial ; and temporal things, the good aiid evil of the present time, would be the great motives to induce men to serve God and avoid sin. Therefore, that men may live by faith, and look for a better reward of righteousness, and a greater punishment of sin, God will not always observe this law and course in his dispensations, to bestow upon the good the blessings of the world, and inflict upon the evil the punishments thereof ; but promiscuously give good things to the wicked, that they may^not be thought the chiefest good, and sometimes he Avill bestow them upon the good, that the very possession of these may not be thought evil. Sometimes he will be glorified by his ser- vants in a high and prosperous, and sometimes in a low and afilicted condition ; and they shall enjoy vicissitudes and interchanges ; some- times no complainings in their families, sometimes great breaches made upon them. Therefore the first way may be fit for heaven, not fit for earth. It would make all things too liable to sense if God had distinguished men by their outward condition. No ; in these things he dealeth promiscuously : ' All things come alike to all,' Eccles. ix. 2. He doth not promiscuously dispense the riches of his grace ; these are invisible treasures. His Christ, his Spirit, the hopes of glory, he giveth only to the good ; but health, wealth, beauty, strength, success, children, are promiscuously given to good and bad ; and God will take them, as well as give them, at his pleasure.
But now, all the other ways of providence, as the second, third, fourth, would too much obscure the providence of God, and hinder faith ; as the second, that the righteous should always see evil, and the wicked enjoy the good things of this world. Alas ! if we were held always in misery and affliction, and the wicked should always wallow in pomp, and ease, and plenty, it would be a grievous temptation to the weak to deny providence ; yea, the faith of the strongest would be grievously shaken ; for we cannot expect that the good should be perfect in an instant, and presently dead to all temporal interests. If now, when we see some good ones oppressed whilst the evil rejoice, we be so apt to ques- tion, as the Israelites, Exod. xvii. 7, ' Is the Lord amongst us, yea or no ? ' or as David, Ps. Ixxiii. 13, ' Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and in vain have I washed my hands in innocency ;' what would be done then ? and who could keep his patience and keep his faith if the wicked were always kept in joy and triumph whilst the godly are in tears ? Therefore God mixeth his dispensations. Sometimes, to exercise our faith and patience, he denieth many things to his friends which he bestoweth upon his enemies ; yet often, on the other side, punisheth the wicked and rewardeth the godly, to show his provi- dence. And so faith is neither made void by too great a light, nor extinguished by too great a darkness.
A SERMON PEEACHED BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT. 421
The third sort of providence, that both should be always miserable, both wicked and godly ; for if both were alike afflicted there would be no knowledge of the goodness of God till the world to come, no invitations to repentance nor sense of the mercy of the creation to invite us to remember God. All our pleasant affections would be useless, and our graces, which serve for delighting in God, be cut off and prevented ; the harmony and order of the world disturbed, which hath cast the world into hills and valleys, aj^points some to he in prosp)erity, others in affliction and want, that the happy may have occasions of showing mercy and relieving the miserable ; as the great veins in the body abound with blood to fill the lesser. But chiefly God would not then show his bounty to all his creatures as he doth : Mat. V. 45, ' He maketh his sun to arise upon the evil and tlie good, and sendeth rain upon the just and unjust' So Acts xiv. 17, ' He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons.' &c. This "world is a common inn, where God entertainetli sons and bastards, and seeketii to draw and allure tliem to repentance by his goodness, Eom. ii. 4. He would have wicked men think wdience they have all this wealth, honour and greatness, houses and fields, servants and provisions. Did I bring them into the world with me when I was born, or did a good God provide them for me ? No ; ' Naked came I into the world.' Did I acquire them by my own wit and industry ?" No ; many that excel me in these things want them. Had I them by inheritance ? Who made me to be born of rich parents, not of poor ? Many more righteous than I are in a mean estate of life ; surely it was God that pre- vented me with his goodness and mercy, and shall I be unthankful for these benefits? These reasonings would God stir up in the minds of men.