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Grod hath smitten, and to speak to the grief of those whom God hath wounded,' Ps. Ixix. 26 ; Prov. xxiv. 17, * Kejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth ; lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.' A vindictive spirit is a transgression of Grod's law. To rejoice and insult over misery is the worst sort of revenge.
[9.] It is a ground of patience : ' Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not evil?' Job ii. 10. Heavy afflictions want not their comforts to make them tolerable. We want not mixtures to support us. He measureth out good and evil with a great deal of wisdom and tenderness. Should not they which have received good things from the Lord be content to submit to evil things or afflictions, when God seeth meet to exercise them therewith ? The tide will ebb and flow. We would have it always flow ; but God will not ask our leave and consent, and govern affairs by our opinion, but will send good and evil as it pleaseth him. Therefore, as \fe receive and entertain good things thankfully and cheerfully, so it is our duty to receive evil things submissively and contentedly. It is a great fault to limit God to one way of dealing with his people, and that we cannot endure changes. We must resolve for good and evil, and prepare for it, Phil. iv. 12. Vicissitudes in our condition are necessary for us. A settled ease in the world would soon corrupt us. In short, God freely conferreth good things upon us ; and therefore we should not take it ill if sometimes he maketh us taste the bitter fruits of our own deservings. A christian should be prepared for new assaults of trouble.
[10.] To show that our comforts and crosses are in his hand ; and he doth variously dispense weal or woe as our condition doth require : Isa. xlv. 7, ' I form the light, and create darkness ; I make peace, and create evil ; I the Lord do all these things.' So Job xxxiv. 29, ' When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble ? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him ? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only.' God diversifieth his providence, that if we will not take notice of him in one dispensation, we may in another. Su Ps. Ixxiv. 16, 17, ' The day is thine, and the night is thine ; thou hast prepared the light and the sun ; thou hast made summer and winter.' It is spoken of a deep time of trouble. He that hath set winter and summer, day and night, one against another, hath set good and evil in the life of man. You must not so understand it as if good came from God, and evil from ourselves, or by chance. No ; God's hand is to be seen and owned in both. He is our party ; therefore our first business is to reconcile ourselves to God, to please him, to bear the evil patiently, to accept the good thankfully from his hand. None can resist or remedy what God is pleased to do, 2 Chron. XXV. 8. God hath power to help and power to cast down ; and in both he worketh sovereignly and irresistibly. Dangers and deliverances, troubles and consolations, come all from him. He will put us upon various exercises, fearing, believing, trembling, rejoicing, mourning, giving thanks.
Application. Now what use should we make of all this ?
1. Be sure you do not make an ill use of it.
424 A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT.
[1.] AVhen we are not thankful for our mercies because they are not full and perfect. That is a proud and murmuring spirit that entertaineth crosses with auger and blessings with disdain. What but this is spoken of, Mai. i. 2, ' Wherein hast thou loved us ? ^ and Ps. Ixxviii. 20 ; as the people murmured in the wikleruess, when they were come out of Egypt ; when we disvahie what we have in comparison of what we expect. Pliny speaketh of some, Quantumlihet scepe obligati, hoc solum laeminerunt quod negatum est — Forget what is granted, pitch only upon what is denied ; as children in a pet throw away what they have if you do not give them more : ' All this/ saith Haman, 'availeth me nothing,' Esther v. 13. As in the body, if one humour be out of order, or one joint broken, the soundness of the rest is not regarded, so apt are we to murmur if all be not done at once : though God see it needful to keep us in fears and uncertainties, and you have not all that you look for, yet acknowledge what you have. Do not say, It is but so and so, a truce rather than a peace. God is making a step onward in England's mercies. Many strange provi- dences there are to bring us to this. It is a mercy that he remem- bered us in our low estate, Ps. cxxxvi. 23, when all was struck at ; honour, and religious worship, and property were at stake, that he gave us some breathing and rest after our oppressions, Hosea xi. 4 ; some ease after toil, as ploughmen give their oxen after they come from labour. And now the union of the parliament with their brethren is a step further ; we hope we are growing towards the glorious evening. It is an ill use not to acknowledge mercies if all things are not accord- ing to your minds. Do not say. It is but thus and thus : Zech. iv. 10, ' Who hath despised the day of small things ? ' It is God's way to begin with little things that promise not much ; thankfulness is the way to make them greater. God is at work ; tarry till he bring it forth to perfection.