400 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. if we would be further wise in the works of God, we shall be found to be like the wild ass's colt. What is good for us or the church of God, what is evil to it or us, we know not at all; but all things are open and naked to God. The day will come, indeed, in which we shall have such a prospect of the works of God, see one thing so set against another as to find goodness, beauty, and order in them all; that they were all done in number, weight, and measure; that nothing could have been otherwise, without an abridgment of his glory and the disadvantage of them that believe in him. But for the present all our wisdom consists in referring all to him. He who does these things is infinitely wise ; he knows what he does, and why, and what will be the end of all. We are apt, it may be, to think at such seasons that all things will go to wreck in respect to ourselves, the church, or the whole world : how can this breach be repaired, this loss made up, this ruin recovered l Peace is gone, trade is gone, our substance is gone, the church is gone, all is gone, confusion and utter desolation lie at the door. If a man who is unskilled and inexperienced should be at sea, it may be, every time the vessel seems to decline on either side he would be apt to conceive they should be all cast away; but yet, if he be not child- ishly timorous, when the captain shall tell him there is no danger, bid him trust to his skill and it shall be well with him, it will yield quietness and satisfaction. We are indeed in a storm, the whole earth seems to reel and stagger like a drunken man ; but yet our souls may rest in the infinite skill and wisdom of the great Pilot of the whole creation, who directs all things according to the
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