692 7 le Gaodnefs of God. good Men, to awaken and rouze. them out oftheir fecurity, to make them know God and themfelves better theyare almoft a necefiary Difcipline for the heft of Men, much more for evil and depraved difpofitions ; -and we might as reafonably expel?, that there tï;ould be no Rodin a School, as that there lhould be noSuf. felting and Afiili &ions in the World.. . idly, As they are the occafions and matter of many Virtues. God teacheth Men Temperance by Want, and Patience by Reproach and Sufferings, Charity by Perfecution, and Pity and Companion to others by grievous Pains upon our felves. The benefit of Afielions -to: them that make a wife ufe of them is un- fpeakable ; they are grievous in themfelves, neverthelefs (faith the Apoftle to the Hebrews) they bring forth thepeaceable fruits of righteoufnefs, to them that are ex, ercifed therewith. David gives a great teftimony of the mighty benefit and ad- vantage of them from his own experience, P,fal. rr9.76. Before Iwas afflifed-I went affray, but now have I kept thy word. And, v. 70. It is good for me that I have been aflilledl, that Imight learn thy Statutes. 4thly, The Evils of Suffering, patiently fubmitted to, and decently born, do greatly contribute to the increale of our happinefs. AlI thePerfecutions and Suf terings of Good Men in this Life, dework for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight; ofglory. And if they contribute to our greater good and happinefs at 'Jan they are good. The glorious reward of the Sufferings which we have met with, in this Life, will in the next clear up the Goodnefs and Juflicc of the Di- vine Providence, from all thofe Mills and Clouds which are now upon it, and fully acquit it from all thofe Objedtions which are now railed againft it, upon account of the Afllidionsand Sufferings of Good Men in this Life, which are not worthy to be comparedwith the glorywhich fhall be revealedin them. III. As for the Evil of Sin, which is the great difficulty of all. How is it incontinent with the Goodnefs ofGod, to permit fo great an Evil as this to come into the World ? For anfwer to this, I delire the£etwo things may be confidered. z. That it doth not at all contradict2 the Wifdom or Goodnefs of God, to make a Creature of fuch a frame, as to be capable of having its obedience tryed in or- der to the reward of it ; which could not be, unlefs fuch a Creature were made mutable, and by the good or bad ufe of its liberty, capable of obeying or difo- beying the Laws of his Creator ; for where there is no poffibility of finning, there can be no tryal of our Virtue and Obedience, and nothing but Virtue and Obedience are capable of reward, The Goodnefs of God towards us is fui ci- ently vindicated, in that he made us capable of happinefs, and gave us fufficient direction and power for the attaining of that end ; and it does in no wife contra-, diet his Goodnefs, that he does not by his Omnipotency interpole to prevent our . fin ; for this had been to alter the nature of things, and not to let Man be the Creature he made him, capable of Reward or Punithment, according to the good or bad ufe of his own free choice. It is fufftcient that God made Man good at firft, tho' mutable, and that he had a power to have continued fo, tho' he wil- fully determined himfelf to evil ; this acquits the Goodnefs of God, that he made man upright, but he foundout to himfelf many inventions. a. if there had not been fuch an Order and Rank of Creatures, as had been, in their Nature, mutable, there had been no place for the manifeftationof God's Goodnefs in a way of Mercy and Patience ; fo that tho' God be not the Author of the fins of Men, yet in cafe of their wilful tranfgreffion and difobedience, the Goodnefs of God bath a fair opportunity of difcovering it felf, in his patience. and long_fidiering to Sinners, and in his merciful care and provifion for their re- covery out of that miferable ¡fate. And this may fuffice for anfwer to the fir1F Objection, if God be fo good, whence then comes evil ? The SecondObjce2ion again the Goodnefs óf God, is from the poftrine of abfolute reprobation; by which I mean the decreeing the greaten parrot Mankind to eternal mifery and torment, without any confideration or refped to their fin and fault. This feems not only notorioufly to contradió the Notion of infinite Goodnefs, but to be utterly inconfifient with the leaf} meafure and degree of Goodnefs: Indeed, if by reprobation were only meant, that God in his own infi- nite
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=