11. If the man above-mentioned was born blind, that the _works of God might be manifested in him_, had he not great reason to praise God, for appointing him in such a particular manner to be the instrument of his glory? And if one person is born _here_, and another _there_; if one falls amongst _riches_, and another into _poverty_; if one receives his flesh and blood from these _parents_, and another from those, for as particular ends as the man was born blind; have not all people the greatest reason to bless God, and to be thankful for their particular state and condition, because all that is particular in it, is as directly intended for the glory of God, and their own good, as the _particular blindness_ of that man, who was so born, that the _works of God might be manifested in him_?
* How noble an idea does this give us of the divine omniscience, presiding over the whole world, and governing such a long chain and combination of seeming accidents, to the common and particular advantage of all beings? So that all persons, in such a wonderful variety of causes and events, should fall into such particular states, as were foreseen and fore-ordained to their best advantage, and so as to be most serviceable to the wise and glorious ends of God’s government of all the world!
12. * Had you been any thing else than what you are, you had, all things considered, been less wisely provided for than you are now; you had wanted some circumstances that are best fitted to make you happy yourself, and serviceable to the glory of God.
* Could you see all that which God sees, all that happy chain of causes and motives which are to move and invite you to a right course of life, you would see something to make you like that state you are in, as fitter for you than any other.
* But as you cannot see this, so it is here that your _trust_ in God is to exercise itself, and render you as thankful for the happiness of your state, as if you saw every thing that contributes to it with your own eyes.
* But now, if this is the case of every man in the world, thus blessed with some particular state that is most convenient for him, how reasonable is it for every man to will that which God has already willed for him? And by a trust in the divine goodness, thankfully adore that wise providence, which he is sure has made the best choice for him of those things which he could not chuse for himself.
13. Every uneasiness at our own state, is founded upon comparing it with that of other people; which is full as unreasonable, as if a man in a _dropsy_ should be angry at those that prescribe different things to him, from those which are prescribed to people in _health_. For all the different states of _life_ are like the different states of _diseases_; and what is a remedy to one man, may be poison to another.
* So that to murmur because you are not as some others are, is as if a man in one disease should murmur that he is not treated like him that is in another; whereas, if he was to have his will, he would be killed by that which will prove the cure of another.
* It is just thus in the various conditions of life; if you complain at any thing in your state, you may, for ought you know, be so ungrateful to God, as to murmur at that very thing which is to prove the cause of your salvation.
Had you it in your power to get that which you think it so grievous to want, it might perhaps be that very thing which would expose you to eternal damnation.
* So that, whether we consider the infinite goodness of God, that cannot chuse amiss for us, or our own great ignorance of what is most ♦advantageous to us, there can be nothing so reasonable, as to have no will but that of God’s, and desire nothing for ourselves, in our _persons_, our _state_, and _condition_, but that which the good providence of God appoints us.
♦ “adtageous” replaced with “advantageous”
14. * Farther, as the good providence of God introduces us into the world, into such states and conditions as are most convenient for us; so the same unerring wisdom orders all events and changes in the whole course of our lives, in such a manner, as to render them the fittest means to exercise and improve our virtue.
Nothing hurts us, nothing destroys us, but the ill use of that liberty with which God has entrusted us.
* We are as sure that nothing happens to us by chance, as that the world itself was not made by chance; we are as certain that all things happen, and work together for our good, as that God is goodness itself. So that a man has as much reason to _will_ every thing that happens to him, because God wills it, as to think that is wisest which is directed by infinite wisdom.