QUEST. 1. What this patient submission raise a storm of passion in the soul. God to God's will is not?

humbled under God's hand, a person justifies himself. A proud sinner stands upon his own defence, and is ready to accuse God of unrighteousness, which is, as if we should tax the sun with darkness; this is far from submission to God's will. God smote Jonah's gourd, and he stands upon his own vindication, Jonah iv. 9, "I do well to be angry even unto death." What, to be angry with God, and to justify this! "I do well to be angry!" This was strange to come from a prophet, and was far from this prayer Christ hath taught us, "Thy will be done."

QUEST. 4. What this patient submission to God's will is?

ANS. It is a gracious frame of soul, whereby a Christian is content to be at God's disposal, and doth acquiesce in his wisdom, 1 Sam. iii. 18, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good;" Acts xxi. 14, "The will of the Lord be done." That I may further illustrate this, I shall show you wherein this submission to the will of God lies. It lies chiefly in three things.

(1). In acknowledging God's hand; seeing God in the affliction, Job v. 6, "Affliction cometh not forth of the dust;" it comes not by chance. Job did eye God in all that befel him, Job i. 21, “The Lord hath taken away." He complains not of the Chaldeans, or the influence of the planets; he looks beyond second causes, he sees God in the affliction, "The Lord hath taken away." There can be no submission to God's will, till there be an acknowledging of God's hand. (2). Patient submission to God's will lies in our justifying of God, Ps. xxii. 2, O my God, I cry unto thee, yet thou hearest not, thou turnest a deaf ear to me in my affliction; v. 3, "But thou art holy." God is holy and just, not only when he punisheth the wicked, but when he afflicts the righteous. Though God put wormwood in our cup, yet we vindicate God, and proclaim his righteousness. As Mauritius the emperor, when he saw his son slain before his eyesjustus es, Domine,-righteous art thou, O Lord, in all thy ways. We justify God, and confess he punisheth us less than we deserve, Ezra ix. 13.

in the accepting of the punishment, Lev. xxvi. 41, "And they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity." Accepting the punishment: that is, taking all that Ged doth in good part. He who accepts of the punishment, saith, "good is the rod of the Lord;" he kisseth the rod, yea, blesseth God that he would use such a merciful severity, rather to afflict him than to lose him. This is patient submission to God's will. This patient submission to God's will in affliction shows a great deal of wisdom and piety. The skill of a pilot is most discerned in a storm, and a Christian's grace in the storm of affliction; and indeed this submission to God's will is most requisite for us while we live here in this lower region. In heaven there will be no need of patience more than there is need of the star-light when the sun shines. In heaven there will be all joy, and what need of patience then? It requires no patience to wear a crown of gold; but while we live here in a valley of tears, there needs patient submission to God's will, Heb. x. 36, "Ye have need of patience."

1. The Lord sometimes lays heavy afflic tion upon us, Ps. xxxviii. 2, "Thy hand presseth me sore." The word in the original for afflicted signifies to be melted. God sometimes melts his people in a furnace.

2. God sometimes lays divers afflictions upon us: Job ix. 17, "He multiplies my wound." God shoots divers sorts of arrows.

(1). Sometimes God afflicts with pover ty. The widow had nothing left her save a pot of oil, 1 Kings xvii. 12. Poverty is a great temptation. To have an estate reduced almost to nothing, is hard to flesh and blood, Ruth i. 20, 21, “Call me not Naomi, but Mara; I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty." This exposeth to contempt. When the prodigal was poor, his brother was asham ed to own him, Luke xv. 30, "This thy son;" he said not, this my brother, but, this thy son; he scorned to call him bro ther. When the deer is shot and bleeds, the rest of the herd push it away; when God shoots the arrow of poverty at one, others are ready to push him away; when (3). Patient submission to God's will lies Terence was grown poor, his friend Scipio

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cast him off. The muses (Jupiter's daughters) the poets feign, had no suitors, because they wanted a dowry.

we need patience and submissiveness of spirit to God's will.

Use 1st. It reproves such as have not yet (2). God sometimes afflicts with reproach. learned this part of the Lord's prayer, "Thy Such as have the light of grace shining in will be done;" they have only said it, but not them yet may be eclipsed in their name. The learned it. If things be not according to their primitive Christians were reproached as if mind,-if the wind of providence crosseth the they were guilty of incest, saith Tertullian.tide of their will, they are discontented and Luther was called a trumpeter of rebellion. querulous. Where is now submission of will David calls reproach a heart-breaking, Ps. to God? To be displeased with God, if things lxix. 20; this God lets his dear saints oft bedo not please us, is this to lie at God's feet, exercised with. Dirt may be cast upon a pearl; those names may be blotted, which are written in the book of life; sincerity, though it shields from hell, yet not from slander. (3). God sometimes afflicts with the loss of dear relations, Ezek. xxiv. 16, "Son of man, behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke." This is like pulling away a limb from the body. He takes away a holy child. Jacob's life was bound up in Benjamin, Gen. xliv. 30; and that which puts teeth into the cross, and is worse than the loss of children, is, when they are continued as living crosses,-where the parents expected honey, there to have wormwood. What greater cut to a godly parent, than a child who disclaims his father's God? A corrosive applied to the body may do well, but a bad child is a corrosive to the heart. Such an undutiful son had David, who conspired treason, and would not only have taken away his father's crown, but his life.

(4). God sometimes afflicts with infirmness of body; scarce a well day. Sickness takes away the comfort of life, and makes one in deaths oft. Thus God tries his people with various afflictions, so that there is need of patience to submit to God's will. He who hath divers bullets shot at him needs armour; when divers afflictions assault, we need patience as armour of proof.

and acquiesce in his will? This is a very bad temper of spirit, and God may justly punish us by letting us have our will. Rachel cried, "Give me children or I die," Gen. xxx. 1; God let her have a child, but it cost her her life, Gen. xxxv. 18. Israel is not content with mannà (angels' food) they must have quails to their manna; God punished them by letting them have their will, Numb. xi. 31, "There went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails;" v. 33, "and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a great plague." They had better been without their quails, than had such sour sauce to them. Many have importunately desired the life of a child, and could not bring their will to God's to be content to part with it; and the Lord hath punished them by letting them have their will; the child hath lived and been a burthen to them. Seeing their wills crossed God,

their child shall cross them.

Use 2d. Of exhortation. Let us be exhorted, whatever troubles God doth exercise us with, æquo animo ferre, to resign up our wills to God, and say, "Thy will be done." Which is fittest, that God should bring his will to ours, or we bring our will to his? Say as Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 18, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good;" and as David, 2 Sam. xv. 26, “Behold, here am I, let him do to me as seem

3. God sometimes lets the affliction continue long, Ps. lxxiv. 9. As it is with dis-eth good unto him!" It was the saying of eases, there are some chronical that linger and hang about the body several years together so it is with affliction, the Lord is pleased to exercise many of his precious ones with chronical affliction, such as lie upon them a long time: so that in all these cases

Harpulas, placit mihi quod regi placit,' that pleaseth me which pleaseth the king,'—so should we say, that which pleaseth God pleaseth us, "Thy will be done." Some have not yet learned this art of submission to God; and truly he who wants patience

in affliction, is like a soldier in battle who | vid's harp, to charm down the evil spirit of frowardness and discontent.

wants armour.

QUEST. When do we not, as we ought, submit to God's will in affliction?

QUEST. But what should we consider? ANS. That which may make us submit to God in affliction, and say, "thy will be done," is, «

1st. To consider, that the present state of life is subject to afflictions, as a seaman's life is subject to storms. Ferre quam sortem omnes patiuntur nemo recusat. Job v.7,

ANS. 1. When we have hard thoughts of God, and our hearts begin to swell against him. A. 2. When we are so troubled at our present affliction, that we are unfit for duty. We can mourn as doves, but not pray or praise God. We are so discomposed, that we are not fit to hearken to any good counsel, Exod." Man is born to trouble;" he is heir apparent vi. 9, "They hearkened not to Moses for to it; he comes into the world with a cry, and anguish of spirit." Israel were so full of grief goes out with a groan. Ea lege nati sumus. under their present burthens, that they minded The world is a place where much wormwood not what Moses said, though he came with a grows, Lam. iii. 15, "He hath filled me with message from God to them: "They hearken- bitterness," (Heb.) with bitternesses; he hath ed not to Moses for anguish of spirit." made me drunk with wormwood. Troubles arise like sparks out of a furnace. Afflictions are some of the thorns which the earth after the curse brings forth. We may as well think to stop the chariot of the sun when it is in its swift motion, as put a stop to trouble. The consideration of this, our life is exposed to eclipses and sufferings, should make us say with patience, "thy will be done." Shall a mariner be angry that he meets with a storm at sea?

A. 3. We do not submit as we ought to God's will, when we labour to break loose from affliction by indirect means. Many, to rid themselves out of trouble, run themselves into sin; when God hath bound them with the cords of affliction, they go to the devil to loosen their bands. Better it is to stay in affliction, than to sin ourselves out of affliction. O let us learn to stoop to God's will in all afflictive providences.

QUEST. But how shall we bring ourselves to this Christian temper, in all occurrences of providence, patiently to acquiescein God's will, and say, "thy will be done?" We know not what trials, personal or relational, we may be exercised with. We seem now to be under the planet Saturn, which hath a malignant aspect. Our ship is steered so strangely, that we are in danger, on one hand, of the sands, on the other hand, of the rocks. If affliction comes, how shall we keep a Christian decorum? How shall we bear things with equanimity of mind, and say, "thy will be done?",

ANS. The means for a quiet resignation to God's will in affliction are:

1. Judicious consideration, Eccl. vii. 14, "In the day of adversity consider." When any thing burthens us, or runs cross to our desires, did we but sit down and consider, and weigh things in the balance of judgment, it would much quiet our minds, and subject our wills to God; "in the day of adversity consider." Consideration would be as Da

2d. Consideration. God hath a special hand in the disposal of all occurrences that fall out. Job eyed God in his affliction, chap. i. 21, "The Lord hath taken away." He doth not complain of the Sabeans, or the influences of the planets; he looked beyond all second causes, he saw God in the affliction, and that made him cheerfully submit, "blessed be the name of the Lord." And Christ looked beyond Judas and Pilate, he looked to God's deter minate counsel in delivering him up to be crucified, Acts iv. 27; this made him say, Matt. xxvi. 39, Father, "not as I will, but as thou wilt." It is vain to quarrel with instruments: wicked men are but a rod in God's hand, Isa. x. 5. "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger." Whoever brings an affliction, God sends it: the consideration of this would make us say, "thy will be done;" what God doeth, he sees a reason for. We read of a wheel within a wheel, Ezek. i. 15. The outward wheel, which turns all, is providence; the wheel within this wheel, is God's decree; this believed, would rock the heart quiet. Shall

we mutiny at that which God doth? We | thee are of thy own twisting; me me adsum may as well quarrel with the works of crea- qui feci! If children will eat green fruit, tion, as the works of providence. they may thank themselves if they are sick; if we eat the forbidden fruit, no wonder we feel it gripe. Sin is the Trojan horse that lands an army of afflictions upon us; Jer. iv. 15, "A voice publisheth affliction;" v. 18,

3d. Consideration, which may make us humbly submit to God's will, is, that there is a necessity of affliction, 1 Pet. i. 6, " (if need be) ye are in heaviness." It is needful some things be kept in brine: afflictions are need-"Thy way and thy doings have procured ful upon several accounts.

these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness.". If we by sin run ourselves into arrears with God, no wonder if he set affliction as a sergeant on our back to arrest us. This may make us patiently submit to God in affliction, and say, "Thy will be done.". We have no cause to complain of God, it is nothing but what our sins have merited; Jer. ii. 17,

1. To keep us humble. Oft-times there is no other way to have the heart low, but by being brought low; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, when Manasseh "was in affliction he humbled himself greatly." Corrections are corrosives to eat out the proud flesh, Lam. iii. 19, "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul" Hast not thou procured this unto thyself?" is humbled in me." The cross, though it be of God's laying, it is

2. It is necessary that there should be of our own making; say then, as Micah vii. affliction, for if God did not sometimes bring | 9, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, us into affliction, how could his power be because I have sinned against him.". seen in bringing us out? Had not Israel been in the Egyptian furnace, God had lost his glory in their deliverance.

3. If there were no affliction, then many parts of scripture could not be fulfilled. God hath promised to help us to bear affliction, Ps. xxxvii. 24, 39; how could we experience God's supporting us in trouble, if we did not sometimes meet with it? God hath promised to give us joy in affliction, John xvi. 20; how could we taste this honey of joy, if we were not sometimes in affliction? Again, God hath promised to wipe away tears from our eyes, Isa. xxv. 8; how could God wipe away our tears in heaven, if we never shed any? So that, in several respects, there is an absolute necessity that we should meet with affliction. And shall not we quietly submit? and say, "Lord, I see there is a ne

5th. Consideration, to cause submission to God in affliction, God is now about to make an experiment, he doth it to prove and try us, Ps. lxvi. 10, 11. "Thou, O God, hast tried us as silver is tried, thou laidst affliction upon our loins." If there were no affliction, how should God have an opportunity to try men? Hypocrites can sail in a pleasure-boat, serve God in prosperity; but when we can keep close to God in times of danger,-when we can trust God when we have no pawn, and love God when we have no smile,-here is the trial of sincerity! This may make us say, "thy will be done?" God is only trying us; what hurt is in that? What is the gold the worse of being tried?

6th. Consideration, to make us submit to God in affliction, and say, "thy will be done," is, that in all our crosses God hath a kindness for us. As there was no night so dark but Israel had a pillar of fire to give light, so there is no condition so cloudy, but we may see that which gives light of comfort. David would "sing of mercy and judgment," Ps. ci. 1. This may make our wills cheerfully submit to God's, to consider in every path of providence we may see a footstep of kindness.

QUEST. What kindness is there in affliction, when God seems most unkind?