(1.) It is needless ; for all events are in the hands of God, and are to be disposed of at his pleasure ; and what need we trouble ourselves about what God will do for us ? Ps. xxxvii. 5, ' Commit thy ways unta the Lord, and he shall bring it to pass ; ' Ps. Iv. 22, * Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee ; ' 1 Peter v. 7, ' Cast all thy care upon God, for he careth for thee.' We needlessly take a burden upon ourselves, of which God is willing to ease us. He hath a pros- pect of all future contingencies at once, which we have not, and is faithful to dispose of them for his own glory and your good.
(2.) It is fruitless : Mat. vi. 27, ' Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature ? ' We cannot change the colour of an hair, make it white or black at our pleasure, much less make our- selves taller or shorter. We busy and vex ourselves with anxious thoughts, and what do we get by it ? We cannot cure a disease in our bodies, nor prevent a breach upon our relations, nor the decay of our estates. When all is done, we must stand to God's allowance ; for our beings and comforts depend upon him. Therefore it is best at first to go on cheerfully in our duty, referring all events to him.
[4.] The next opposite is repining or murmuring at God's dispensa- tion, because it is not according to our minds and fancies ; as if we were to sit judges of God's actions, and to like and dislike the disposals of his providence at our will and pleasure. These the apostle calleth 'murmurers, complainers,' Jude 16. We should not murmur, or repine at, or complain of, any dispensation of his ; for God's will must govern the world, and not ours. He will not ask our consent what he shall do.
Now you see what this resignation is.
Secondly, That this argueth — (1.) Humility ; and (2.) Trust.
1. Humility,
YeR. 2.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXXXI. 445
[1,] It is an act of submission to be contented to be at God's finding, especially in such a proud creature as man, who would be as a god to himself, providing for himself, both as to the avoiding of evil and obtaining of good : Gen. iii. 22, that smart irrision, ' Behold, man is become as one of us.' But the humble man is contented to be dealt with as the Lord pleaseth, and to submit himself to God's will and God's dispensation, waiting for the manifestation of his favours when and how he is pleased to dispense them. These are humbled under his mighty hand.
[2.] It Cometh from an humble temper of spirit, like the disposition of a weaned child, who thinketh not great things of itself.
(1.) They are like the infant in this, that they have no high thoughts of themselves ; for it is self-conceit that establisheth self-will. We think ourselves wiser and better than we are, that we deserve more, or can do more for ourselves. Otherwise we would stoop to God, and let him choose our inheritance for us. And if we refer it to God we would not prescribe to him ; for that always argueth ascribing to ourselves. We take too much upon us when we wield our own fortune, without dependence upon God and submission to him. His choices are more fit for us than our own.
(2.) They that will stand to God's allowance do not seek great things for themselves. It may be that God may bestow great things upon them here in this world, as he did upon David and upon Abraham ; but this was not their aim. When God's will goeth before ours for wealth, honour, riches, then we may take it sweetly out of the liands of his providence, and use it for his glory ; but when we seek for our lusts, and peremptorily fix our carnal will, and would set God a task to comply with it, and find out provisions for it, it is the greatest pride imaginable. In setting yourselves and vaunting your- selves before others, you do but despise men ; but in setting up your own will to be rich and great, you despise God. If you think to do it without God, you undertake a task too hard for you, and provoke him to disappoint you. If you think to do it by God, you make him to serve with your sins, and to maintain you in your lusts. Therefore it is best to keep still as a weaned child, to be content at the parent's finding ; let God's will first interpose.
2. It argueth trust.
[1.] It is a special act of trust, and the only trust required as to temporal things, to go on with our duty, and refer tlie event to God. Submission before the event is faith ; after the event, is patience. It argueth high and honourable thoughts of God when we can trust all in his hands, and refer all to his pleasure. Our Saviour, when he reproveth anxious cares, he showeth they proceed from unbelief : Mat. vi. 30, ' Shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith? ' You have not honourable thoughts of God's wisdom, power, and good- ness, when you cannot depend upon his conduct and government.