Complaint Eliphaz, being greatly incens'd, SERM. sharply rebukes him for not putting in III. Practice thofe good Rules and Inftructions which he had given others; and tells him, that he fufpects his Piety and Goodnefs, becaufe the Innocent were not wont to fuffer fuch Things, but the Wicked and Oppreffors, whom God had always humbled, tho' they exalted themselves never fo much against him. And left thefe Obfervations should not be fufficient to convince him of his Error, he relates to him what he had heard himfelf in a Vifion. A Thing was fecretly brought to me, fays he, and mine Ear receiv'd a little thereof; in Thoughts from the Visions of the Night, when.deep Sleep falleth on Men, Fear came upon me, and Trembling, which made all my Bones to fbake; then a Spirit paffed before my Face, the Hair of my Flesh ftood up, it stood still, but I could not dif cern the Form thereof; an Image was be fore mine Eyes, there was Silence, and I heard a Voice, faying, Shall mortal Man be more just than God? Shall a Man be more pure than his Maker? i. e. 'Tis in vain for frail Man to difpute, or conteft the Juftice of God's Proceedings, or for an imperfect Creature to exalt himself against his Maker; for tho' we fuppofe him to be as eminently

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SERM. eminently juft and righteous as he is unjuft III. and unrighteous, yet as long as he has the leaft Imperfection in him, he can't be perfectly fo, he can't therefore be as perfect as God who made him; for whatever Juftice or Goodness is in Man, must be so in God in a more excellent Degree. From the Words of the Text, I propose to fhew,

I. That the Afflictions which happen to us in this Life are no Objections against the Juftice of God. And then propose to fhew,

II. That the Leffon moft proper and natural to be learnt from this, is, not to murmur and repine at any thing that befalls us, but to fubmit ourselves and our Caufe to God.

First, then, I am to fhew, that the Afflictions which happen to us in this Life are no Objections against the Justice of God. For to fuppofe the contrary, proceeds from an Ignorance of God and Man. For any thing this Suppofition fsuggests to the contrary, God may be indeed a Being endued with great Power, but as for Wifdom, Knowledge, and Goodnefs, in these

he

he must be defective; for if he is unjuft in SER M. permitting Afflictions to befal good Men III. (for fuch the Argument intends them) he is fo, either for want of knowing who these good Men are, or elfe for want of Goodness to give them their Due; upon both which Accounts his Wifdom alfo will be very liable to be fufpected and call'd in Question. But now God is infinite every Way, not only in Power, Duration, Extenfion, c. but in every thing elfe; for he is either Nothing, or the Sum of all Things. The Idea of God includes in it every thing that is great and excellent, and that in an infinite Degree, according to the Son of Syrach's fublime Description of him. By his Word all Things confift; we may speak much, and yet come short, wherefore in Sum he is all. How fhall we be able to magnify him, for he is great above all his Works? The Lord is terrible, and very great, and marvellous in his Power. When you glorify the Lord, exalt him as much as you can, for even yet will be far exceed; and when you exalt him, put forth all your Strength, and be not weary, for you can never go far enough. Who hath feen him, that he might tell us? and who can magnify him as he is? There are yet hid greater Things than

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SERM. than these be, for we have feen but a fer III. of bis Works. He therefore must be just

and righteous, and that in a most eminent Manner, for this is a Part of those glorious Perfections which make him be what he is: And if fo, there must be a fufficient Reason for every thing he does, whether we are able to find out that Reafon, or no.

Now, because the making thofe Afflictions we fuffer in this Life an Argument against the Juftice of God implies that Man is innocent, and therefore more just than God, because a righteous Man will not punish another without a juft Caufe, this Suppofition alfo proceeds from an Ignorance of ourfelves as well as of God. Whatever Light a vain Fancy, and a bloated Imagination, may have plac'd us in, and how innocent and righteous foever we may appear in our own Glafs, yet if we will look into ourselves with an exact Scrutiny, and diligently view this Body of Sin which we in habit; if we will but trace our natural Depravity to its Spring-Head, till we find that we were born in Sin, and shapen in Iniquity, and be at the Pains to obferve the difmal Effects of it breaking out into rebellious Paffions, perverfe Humours, and every evil Work, we fhall foon find the

Miftake;

Miftake; an impartial Eye will difcover all SERM, thofe Deformities, which a too good Opinion of III. ourfelves has always plac'd in a wrong Light The Scripture and our own Consciences have concluded all under Sin. Who, fays the wife Man, can fay, I have made my Heart clean, I am free from my Sin? And this is the Cafe not only of Sinners, but of good Men too; and when Men are truly fenfible of this, it is a fign that they are good. What is Man, fays Eliphaz, that he should be clean, and he which is born of a Woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no Truft in his Saints, yea the Hea vens are not clean in his Sight; how much more abominable and filthy is Man, who drinketh Iniquity like Water! And, fays Bildad, Behold even to the Moon and it fbineth not, yea, the Stars are not pure in his Sight; how much lefs Man, that is a Worm, and the Son of Man, which is a Worm! So that had we right Notions of God, and of ourselves, we should not make the Afflictions which happen to us in this Life an Argument against the Juftice of God; for then we fhould be convinc'd, that as God is infinite in every Respect, in Wisdom and Juftice, as well as in every thing elfe, and is therefore a Being of all poffible