Not the fourth sort of providence, that both sliould be continually happy ; for then there were no room for suffering graces, for the exer- cise of fortitude and patience, contempt of the world and self-denial. The best would soon forget the world to come. David would not have the Canaanites utterly destroyed to keep Israel in exercise : Ps. lix. 11, ' Slay them not, lest my people forget.' When there was great deliberation in the senate of Eome whether Carthage should be utterly destroyed yea or. nay, Scipio was against it, that the Eoman youth might be kept in exercise by an emulous city ; and the event showed the soundness of his advice, for the ruin of Carthage was the ruin of Eome ; for being corrupted by prosperity, they fell into all licentiousness, and for want of a potent adversary to keep them in breath and exercise, fell into destructive divisions and seditions among themselves. It is said, Prov. i. 32, ' The prosperity of fools destroyeth them.' Well, then, you see the reasons of this mixed dispensation.
But is not this contrary to that faith and dependence that we should have upon God for present mercies, when there is such a doubtful face of things that men know not what certainly to expect ? for certainty is the ground of faith and close affiance.
I answer — That ' godliness hatli the promises of this life, and that which is to come,' 1 Tim, iv. 8 ; and that verily God doth not cast off his people, and leave them to shift for themselves in temporal things : Ps. xciv. 14, ' For the Lord will not cast off his people, nor forsake
422 A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT.
his inheritance.' Men may cast them off, and God may hide himself from them for a while, hut yet he taketh care of them. He may for a time correct and chastise them, and permit them for a "while to abide under sharp oppressions ; yet he will not utterly forsake them, but support and deliver them in his own season. But the faith which is requhed of us is not a certain expectation of temporal events ; there Grod ^eaveth it to a may-be. If outward things were sure, we should live by sense rather than faith. God will be waited upon, and there- fore keepeth the disposal of all things in his own hand, Jer.' ii. 31, keepeth it as doubtful. The true generous faith is not a confidence of particular success, but a committing ourselves to God's power, and referring ourselves to his will ; as the leper -, Mat. viii. 2, ' Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.'
[6.] To win the heart by the various methods of judgments and mercies, and to gain upon us by both means at once ; Ps.. ci. 1, ' I will sing of judgment and mercy ; unto thee, 0 Lord, will I sing.' It may be neither day nor night, but both together, that our fears and hopes may draw us to God. Mixed graces do best. Acts ix. 33, To increase our fear, God letteth out trouble ; to encourage us to hoping in God, that trouble is checked by other providences, Cant. iv. 16, Isa. sxvii. 6. The wind bloweth, God keepeth it from growing furious : Ps. cxxxviii. 7, ' Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me ; ' as putting life into his affairs.
[7.] God doth it to bring his people to a christian union and axjcord. God will not hear one sort of his people against another. When religious interest is divided, God keeps the balance equal, and success is sometimes cast on this side, sometimes on that. The light shineth sometimes in one hemisphere, sometimes in another ; every party cometh on the stage, have their success, and manifest their corruptions, cannot bear one with another. God breaketh this con- fidence and that, then draweth to an union. That at length we may lay down our enmities and oppositions, and ' not bite and devour one another, lest at length we be consumed one of another,' Gal. v. 15. Sometimes the strength and upper-hand is given to these ; they carry the day, but not the complete victory. What doth this intimate but that we should end the difference l3y compromise and reconciliation, lest, while we weaken one another by our mutual differences, the whole church be made a prey to Satan and his emissaries, and inevitable ruin and destruction light upon the whole. What have we gained by our contests ? Stumbling-blocks are multiplied, atheists are increased. Oh ! when shall that spirit prevail — ' There is a tribe lacking in Israel' ? Judges xxi. 8, 9. Though they fought against them, yet they owned them as brethren. Alas ! one faction is getting the bail from another, and our church divisions are but like a game at football. Surely, though two seeds will not be reconciled, yet God's family may be reconciled. Now where principles are such as may let in somewhat of Christ, we should try all means ; we cannot whoUy separate till our master be gone before us. If they fly from peace, we must pursue it. Mat. v. 9.
[8] To prevent contempt and insolency towards those that are fallen under God's displeasure. This is to 'persecute them whom