have his Promise, that he will provide for us in Want, comfort us in Trouble, and fuccour us in Distress, we have all imaginable Reason to hope for an Amendment of our Condition, when it is bad, rather than to fear a Continuance of it: For this is the wife Man's Remark upon the Matter, the patient Man fhall bear for a Time, and afterwards Foy fhall Spring up to him.

But fuppofe, that the Providence of God, for fundry Reasons, thinks proper to continue our Calamities upon us, as long as we live; yet there is one comfortable Reflection still behind, viz. that Life itself cannot be long; 'tis but a Vapour, that appeareth for a little Time, and then vanisheth away; and, together with it, all our Sorrows and Complaints for ever: For Death (which may be very near, which cannot be far off) is a fure Haven from all the Tempefts of Life, a fafe Refuge from all the Perfecutions of the World, and an infallible Cure for all the Diseases of our present Condition. It will enlarge us from all Restraints; it will eafe us of all our Toils; veil all our Difgraces, ftifle all our Cares, wipe all Tears from our Eyes, and banifh all Sorrow from our Hearts. So that it is but perfevering a little longer, and then all our Moleftation will, of its own Accord, expire. In the mean Time, to allay the Uneafinefs of our Minds, we should do well to reflect on the many inestimable Bleffings we have in our Hands, which are above the Power of Affliction to extort from us: That we have ftill the Use of our Reason, which exceeds all the Treasures of the World; ftill the Comfort of a good Conscience; ftill Accefs to the Throne of Grace; ftill the Senfe of the Divine Favour here, and the Expectation of the Divine Presence hereafter; and how can he be supposed to want any Thing, who, besides his present Intereft in all the needful Effects of God's bounti

ful Love, is an Heir of Heaven and everlasting Blifs? And who fhall feparate us from the Love of Chrift, fays the Apoftle? Shall Tribulation, or Diftrefs, or Perfecution, or Famine, or Nakedness, or Peril, or Sword? All these he defpifes, because he was very well perfuaded, That the Sufferings of this prefent Time are not worthy to be compared with the Glories, which shall be revealed to us.

III. Another Expedient to fettle in our Minds a Spirit of Contentment, is frequently to cast our Eyes upon others, and compare our Condition with theirs. The Rule, which Seneca lays down for this Purpose, is a very good one: When thou beholdeft how many there are before thee, look back, fays he, and fee how many there are, that follow behind thee; but the Mischief is, that Men will never hearken to this Rule. They fee a long Train perhaps of Perfons, that march before them, finely attired, ftately mounted, and adorned with all the Bravery of Fortune, and these they gaze on: They admire the Luftre of their Condition; they figh to think, that they cannot come up with them; and pine away, in the Midft of many Bleffings, because they are forced to follow at fome Distance. Whereas, if they would now and then caft their Eyes behind them, they would behold fo many confuming their Lives in perpetual Toil and Drudgery, merely to obtain a fhort hungry Meal, and a few Hours Sleep and Infenfibility; fo many oppreffed with Slavery, harraffed with Cruelty, pining with Want and Poverty, overwhelmed with Shame and Infamy; fo many wafted with long Sickneffes, out-worn with lingering Pains, confumed with Sorrow and Anxiety of Soul; and, (what is worst of all) fo many ftung with Remorfe, racked with Horror and Defpair, and alarmed with perpetual Fears and difmal Expectations; that they would foon think themselves among the foremost Per

fons:

fons: "For he that will enjoy Tranquillity of "Mind, muft, in Profperity, confider how many "there are, that enjoy lefs Good, and, in Adver"fity, how many there are, that fuffer more Evil.”

2.

In making Comparisons then between ourselves and others, there are these Rules that must direct our Proceeding: 1. That we compare ourselves with all Men, and not only with fome few. That we compare ourselves with them in all Things, and not merely in fome Particulars. And, 3. That we compare ourselves with them at all Times, and not only at fome certain Seasons.

Upon these Conditions, we may venture to look even into the Palaces of Princes, and make an Estimate between our Condition, and that of thofe, whom we are apt fo much to admire and envy. For what indeed is the State and Condition of the greatest Persons upon Earth, but a State of pompous Trouble, and gay Servility; of living in continual Noise and Stir, furrounded with Crowds, and fubjected to the Tedioufnefs of Ceremony; a State, that wants all the folid Comforts of Life, true Friendship, free Converfation, certain Leifure,' Privacy and Retirement, to enjoy ourselves, our Time and Thoughts, when and how we please; and yet a State, encompaffed with Snares and Temptations numberlefs, which, without extreme Caution and Conftancy, Force of Reason, and Command of all Appetites and Paffions, cannot be avoided? This, and no better, is the State of the Great; and therefore the Pfalmift has juftly obferved, that as Men of low Degree are Vanity; fo Men of high Degree are a Lye: A Lye, because their State cheateth us, by appearing fo very fpecious, which, when nearer inspected, is found to be fo beset with Troubles and Dangers on every Side, that we have Reafon to blefs God for appointing us a private Station, and to pity thofe

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Kings

Kings and fovereign Princes, on whom he has laid the Burthen of a Crown.

But, if we ftretch the Comparison beyond our Contemporaries, and look back to the Generations of old, we fhall have ftill farther Caufe to acknowledge God's great Indulgence to us, confidering what has commonly been the Lot of good Men in all Ages. What the feveral Forefathers of our Faith, before Chrift's Incarnation, underwent, the Author to the Hebrews has given us a brief but very full Compendium: They had Trial of cruel Mockings and Scourgings; yea, moreover, of Bonds and Imprifonments: They were ftoned, were fawn afunder, were tempted, were flain with the Sword: They wandered about in Sheepskins and Goat-skins, being deftitute, afflicted, tormented: They wandered in Defarts, and in Mountains, and in Dens, and in Caves of the Earth. And, if we look on the primitive Chriftians, we shall foon perceive that their Privileges confifted not in any Immunities from Calamities, for their whole Lives were Scenes of Sufferings. St. Paul has given us an Account of his own; in Labours more abundant, in Stripes above Measure, in Prifons more frequent, in Deaths often. Of the Jews five Times received I forty Stripes fave one: Thrice was I beaten with Rods; once was I ftoned; thrice I fuffered Shipwreck; a Night and a Day have I been in the Deep. In Journeyings often, &c. And, if his fingle Hardships rofe thus high, what may we think the whole Sum of all his Fellow-labourers amounted to together, with that whole Army of Martyrs that fealed their Faith with their Blood, of whofe Sufferings the Hiftory of the Church gives us fuch astonishing Relations.

And now, being compaffed about with fo great a Cloud of Witneffes, the Apostle's Inference is irrefragable; let us run with Patience the Race that is fet before us; but still it is more fo, if we proceed to the Confi

deration

deration which he adjoins; looking unto Jefus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, who, for the Joy that was fet before him, endured the Cross, defpifing the Shame. And, indeed, if we contemplate him in the whole Courfe of his Life, we fhall find him rightly ftiled, by the Prophet, a Man of Sorrows,' fince there is scarce any Calamity incident to human' Nature that was not tried and exemplified in him. Does any complain of the Lowness and Poverty of his Condition? His whole Life was a State of Indigence; and, as he was forced to take up his Lodging with Beasts at his Birth, fo he afterwards affures us, that he had not a Place wherein to lay his Head. Is any oppreffed with Infamy and Reproach? He may find his Saviour accufed as a Glutton, a Wine-bibber, a Blafphemer, a Sorcerer; and a common Thief and Murtherer preferred before him. Is any one despised and deserted by his Friends? He was contemned by his Countrymen, betrayed by one of his Difciples, and abandoned by all, unless by that one who followed him the longeft, to renounce him more shamefully, by a folemn Abjuration. And, laftly, does any Man groan under fharp and acute Pains of Body? Let him attend his Saviour through all the Stages of his dreadful Paffion, from his Agony in the Garden to his Expiration on the Cross, and fo he will perceive the Demand of the mournful Prophet, in the Perfon of the crucified Jefus, verified to the full; Bebold and fee if there be any Sorrow like unto my Sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord bath afflicted me, in the Day of his fierce Anger: And therefore confider him, as the Apoftle advises, who endured fuch Contradiction of Sinners against himSelf, left ye be weary and faint in your Minds. Set the Example of his Meeknefs and Equanimity before you, confront your petty Uneafineffes with his unfpeakable Sufferings, and then it will be impof

fible