wind ? All liis days he eatetli in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness^."
Thus, whilst the blessing of the Lord is upon the righteous, seeing that, whatever he bestow, " he addeth no sorrow with it';" he mixes gall and wormwood with the sinner's cup, and " infuses a curse into his choicest blessings."]
Let us now notice, IL The hand of God, as displayed in them —
It is said in relation to both the righteous and the wicked, that " God giveth to them" their respective portions: both the one and the other are "from the hand of God^." In them we see,
1 . The true nature of his moral government —
[Even now is there far more of eqviity in the dispensations of God than a superficial observer would imagine. Doubtless there is a great difference in the states of different men ; but the rich and great have troubles of which the poor and destitute have very little conception. The very state of mind fostered by their distinctions is by no means favourable to their happi- ness ; and the habits of tlie poor so inure them to privations, that they feel much less trouble from them than one would imagine. But let piety enter into any soul ; and we hesitate not to declare, that though he were a Lazarus at the Rich Man's gate, he were happier far than the man of opulence by whose crumbs he was fed. Peace of mind, arising from a sense of reconciliation with God, and a hope of final acceptance with him, is sufficient to weigh down all that an ungodly man ever did, or could, possess. And " the j)oorest man, if rich in faith and an heir of God's kingdom," is more to be envied than the greatest monarch upon earth, who possesses not real piety.
But with equity, goodness also is observable in all the dis- pensations of Providence. That God is good to the great and opulent, will be readily acknowledged: but he is so to the sinner, whom he leaves to experience the most painful disap- pointments. If a mother embitter to her child the breast on which he would fondly live, it is that he may learn to affect a more substantial diet : and if God, after all the labour which men put forth to render the creature a source of comfort, cause it to become to them only as " a broken cistern that can hold no water," it is only that they may the more readily turn to him, and seek him, as " the fountain of living waters."]
2. The certain issue of his future judgment —
[Is there, even in this world, " a difference put between him who serveth God, and him who serveth him not?" Much
>> Eccl. v. 16, 17. > Prov. X. 22. ^ ver. 24.