4 230 THE WORLD TO COME. a'set time in his own counsels for all his children to continue pt death. 1V. The lively view of a happy resurrection, and a well- grounded hope of this change, is a solid and divine comfort to the saints of God, under all trials of every kind both in life and death. V. The saints of God who are resting in their beds of dust will arise joyfully at the call of their hea venly Father. VI. God takes delight in his works of na- ture, but much more when they are dignified and adorned by the operations of divine grace. VII. How much are we in- debted to God for the revelation of the New Testament, which teaches us to find out the blessings which are contained in the Old, and to fetch out the glories and treasures which are con- cealed there ? Let us dwell a while upon each of these-, and endeavour to improve them by a particular application. Observation I. " This world is a place wherein good men are exposed to g reat calamities, and they are ready to think the anger Or wrath of God appears in them." This mortal life, and this present state of things, as surrounded with crosses and dis- appointmènts, the loss of our dearest friends, as well as our own pains and sicknesses, have so much anguish and misery attend- ing them, that they seetu to be the seasons of divine wrath, and they grieve and pain the spirit of many a pious man, under a sense of the anger of his God. It must be confessed in general that misery is the effect of sin, for sin and sorrow came into the world together. It is granted also, that God sometimes afflicts his people in anger, and corrects them in his hot displeasure, when they have sinned against him in a remarkable manner : but this is not always the case. The great God was not really angry with Job when he suf- fered him to fall into such complicated distresses; for it is plain, that while he delivered him up into the hands of Satan to be afflicted, he vindicates and honours him with a divine testimony concerning his piety ; Job i. 8. There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and avoideth evil. Nor was he angry with his Son Jesus Christ, when it pleased the Father to bruise him and put him to grief, when he made his soul an offering for sin, and he was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted; is. lii. 4, 10. To these we may add Paul the best of the apostles, and the greatest of christians, who was abundant in labours and sufferings above all the rest. See a dismal catalogue of his calamities"; 2 Cor. xi. 23 -27. What variety of wretchedness, what terrible persecutions from men, what repeated strokes of distress came upon him by the providence of God, which appeared like the effects of divine wrath or anger! But they were plainly designed for more divine and blessed purposes, both with regard to God, with
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=