485 / 652
SECT.
II.l
IN REGARD
OF GOD.
473
111.
Another advantage
of
these
humbling thoughts
of
ourselves
is
this,
that
we
shall
bear
with
more
patience
the
afflicting
hand
of
God upon us, and wait longer
for
the moment
of
deliverance
without murmuring.
These
self
-
abasing sentiments under
heavy sorrows will
incline
us
to
confess,
"
Lord
1
have deserved
them all,"
and will teach
us to
speak the
language of
the
prophet
Micah, chapter
vii.
verse
9.
"
I
will
bear the indignation
of
the
Lord, because I
have sinned
against him,
till
he
arise and plead
my
cause."
When,
Oh
my
soul, wilt
thou learn
this holy
behavi-
our
i?
When
wilt thou
learn this
humble language
;
If
the Lord bestow
no
temporal blessings
upon me,
I
lie
at
his
foot;
he
is
not
my
debtor,
I
deserve no
blessing
from
his
hands:
If
he
take
away part
of
my
substance
and
my
wealth,
I
have deserved
to
be
deprived of
it
all,
for my
unprofitableness,
for my
earthly
mind,
for my va-
nity
and
the
pride of
my
heart.
If
I
have food
and rai-
ment
I
will
therewith
be
content
;
it
is
much more
than
I
have
deserved.
If
I
am
sick and
in
pain,
I
would re-
member
rhat
I
am guilty,
and
be
punishes
less
than
my
iniquities
deserve.
If
I
am
stripped naked of
my
earthly
comforts,
I
resign them
to his
disposal, I can claim none
of
them
as
my
merit, or
as my
property
;
"
the
Lord
giveth, and
the
Lord
taketh
away, and blessed be the
name of
the Lord :"
He
has done no more
than he
has
a
right
to
do
with
a worthless
worm, and
I
lie
in
the
dust
before him,
waiting
his
good
pleasure.
Such
a
temper
of
mind
carries
peace
and serenity
in
it,
not
without
some
glimpses
of
pious
hope
and
humble expectation.
"
I
will
lay my
mouth
in
the
dust, if
so
be
there
may be
hope"
in
the grace
of
God,
which
loves to
triumph
over
the
un-
worthiness
of creatures.
But let
us
now turn the tables, and view the different
temper
and
conduct of
the man
who has
high thoughts
of
himself.
When
he
is
under
the afflicting stroke
of
heaven
he
imagines he
bas
deserved
some
better treat-
ment
at
the
hand of God, and though
he
dares not
say
this
to his
Maker's
face, yet
the
inward vexation and
rage, the
disquietude and resentment of
his
heart under
afflictions,
is
such
as
would
vent itself
in
loud
murmurs
and reproaches against heaven if
it
durst
:
And
because
he
dams
not
suffer his
passion
and
fury
to
rise
thu
against