ments we meet with, are designed to reduce us to this blessed temper, to make us like unto himself; and thereby capable to be happy with him to all eternity. This will more clearly appear, if we reflect on the natural temper of our minds, and the influence which prosperous or adverse fortune is wont to have upon them.

And, first, we are naturally proud and self-conceited; we have a high esteem of ourselves, and would have every body else to value and esteem us. This disease is very deeply rooted in our corrupt nature: it is ordinarily the first sin that bewrays itself in the little actions and passions of children; and many times the last which religion enables us to overcome. And such is the malignity of its nature, that it renders us odious and vile both in the sight of God and man. It cannot but be infinitely displeasing to that great and glorious Majesty, to see such silly creatures whom he hath brought forth out of nothing, and who are every moment ready to return into it again, and have nothing of their own but folly, and misery, and sin; to see such creatures I say, either so blind as to value themselves, or so unreasonable as to desire others to value them. Good men must needs hate us for it, because God doth so; and evil men hate us for it, because they are proud themselves, and so are jealous of the attempts of others to exalt themselves, as of that which tendeth to depress and diminish them. Pride alone is the source and fountain of almost all the disorders in the world; of all our troubles, and of all our sins: and we shall never be truly happy, or truly good, till we come to think nothing of ourselves, and be content that all the world think nothing of us. Now, there is nothing hath a more natural tendency to foment and heighten this natural corruption, than constant prosperity and success. The Psalmist, speaking of the prosperity of the wicked, who are not in trouble as others, neither are they plagued like other men, presently subjoineth the effect, Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain. Sanctified afflictions contribute to abate and mortify the pride of our hearts, to prick the swelling imposthume, to make us sensible of our weak

ness, and convince us of our sins. Thus doth God open the ears of men, and seal their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; then he showeth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. Afflictions do both put us on the search to find out the offences wherewith we have provoked God, and make us more sensible of the heinousness and malignity of their nature: I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hath chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after I was chastised, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

Another distemper of our minds, is our too great affection to the world and worldly things. We are all too apt to set our hearts wholly upon them; to take up our rest, and seek our happiness and satisfaction in them. But God knows, that these may well divert and amuse a while, they can never satisfy or make us happy; that the souls which he made for himself, can never rest, till they return unto him: and therefore he many times findeth it necessary, either to remove our comforts, or imbitter them unto us; to put aloes and wormwood on the breasts of the world, that thereby we may wean ourselves from it, and carry them to the end of their being, the fountain of their blessedness and felicity. The few and little comforts of this life, (saith a person of great quality and worth,) notwithstanding all the troubles and crosses with which they are interlarded, are apt to keep the hearts even of good men in too great love of this world. What would become of us, if our whole life should be altogether prosperous and contenting, without any intermixture of crosses and afflictions? It is too probable we should never look any farther; but conclude, with Peter on the mount of transfiguration, Lord, it is good to be here. As Almighty God hath a very great

affection to us, so he is very desirous of our love; not that it bringeth any advantage to him, but because it is our greatest happiness and perfection. He bestoweth his mercies to gain our hearts; but, when we begin to doat on the gifts, and forget the giver, he becomes jealous, and takes them away, that he may not have any rival in our affection. And certainly it is no small advantage to have our hearts in any measure loosened from the world, disentangled from every thing here below. Quocunque pretio bene emitur: He makes a good purchase who obtains it, let it cost him never so dear.

Another bad effect which prosperity is wont to produce in our corrupt nature, is, that it makes us forgetful of God, and unthankful of his mercies. When second causes answer our expectations and desires, we are seldom wont to look beyond them: we never regard the fountain till the cisterns begin to fail. This it was that made Agur to pray against a plentiful fortune, lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? When the weather is fair, and the sails are filled with a prosperous gale, the rough and stubborn mariners are seldom at their devotion; but when the storm is risen, and the sea begins to swell, and every wave threateneth to devour them: then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, as on him who can alone deliver them out of their distress. The Psalmist speaking of their stiff-necked and rebellious predecessors, tells us, that when God slew them, then they sought him; and they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. In their affliction (saith the Lord by the Prophet) they will seek me early. I doubt not a great many devout persons will acknowledge, that was some affliction or other that first taught them to pray. And as afflictions contribute to make us remember our dependence on God, and then excite us to seek unto him; so also they render us more sensible of our obligations unto him, and more thankful for the mercies he hath bestowed on us. We are so dull and insensible, that we seldom value any of the divine mercies, till we find what it is to want them. We put very little value on our food and raj

ment, and the ordinary means of our subsistence, unless we have been sometimes pinched with want. We consider not how much we are indebted to God for preserving our friends, till some of them be removed from us. How little do we prize our health, if we have never had experience of sickness or pain! Where is the man who doth seriously bless God for his nightly quiet and repose? And yet, if sickness or trouble deprive us of it, we then find it to have been a great and valuable mercy, and that it is God who giveth his beloved sleep.

Once more, prosperity rendereth us insensible of the miseries and calamites of others. Those who were at ease in Zion, did not grieve for the afflictions of Joseph. But afflictions do soften the heart, and make it more tender and kindly; and we are always most ready to compassionate those griefs which ourselves have sometime endured: the sufferings of others make the deepest impressions upon us, when they put us in mind of our own. It is mentioned as a powerful motive to engage the children of Israel to be kind and merciful to strangers, that they knew very well the heart of a stranger, having been strangers themselves in Egypt. Now, this tender and compassionate temper doth well become a Christian, whose duty it is to weep with those that weep and to have as deep a sense and feeling of the griefs of others, as he is wont to have of his own.

These and many more advantages do sanctified and well-improved afflictions bring to a Christian; on the account of which it is good for him that he hath borne the yoke. But I hasten to that which is mentioned in the text. Only by the way (that I may not need to return) let me take notice of the season which is here mentioned as the fittest for a man to bear affliction: It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

We are all willing to put off the evil day; and, if we must needs bear the yoke, we would choose to have it delayed till we grow old. We think it sad to have our morning overcast with clouds, to meet with a storm before we have well launched forth from the shore. We are wont to indulge and applaud children and young

folks in their frolics and jovial humours; and tell them, they will have time enough for cares and troubles when they grow older: we turn that irony of Solomon's into a serious advice, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and the sight of thine eyes. But the divine wisdom, which knoweth what is fit for us, doth many times make choice of our younger years, as the most proper to accustom us to the bearing of the yoke. And a little consideration will make us discover the advantages of this season for suffering afflictions; they being at that time most necessary, most tolerable, and most advantageous. First, I say, they are then most necessary. For youth is the time of our life wherein we are in greatest danger to run into wild and extravagant courses: our blood is hot, and our spirits unstaid and giddy; we have too much pride to be governed by others, and too little wisdom to govern ourselves. The yoke is then especially needful to tame our wildness, and reduce us to a due staidness and composure of mind. Then also it is most supportable. The body is strong and healthful, less apt to be affected with the troubles of the mind; the spirit stout and vigorous, will not so easily break and sink under them. Old age is a burden, and will soon faint under any supervenient load. The smallest trouble is enough to bring down gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. And therefore, since we must meet with afflictions, it is certainly a favourable circumstance, to have them at the time of our life wherein we are most able to endure them. And, lastly, the lessons which afflictions teach us, are then most advantageous when we learn them betimes, that we may have the use of them in the conduct of our after lives. An early engagement into the ways of religion is a great felicity; and the means whereby this is to be effected can never be too soon administered. Youth is more soft and pliable; and evil dispositions are more easily cured, before time and custom have hardened us in them. A tree needs little force to bend it when it is young; and there needeth the less of the rod, if the child be brought under discipline betimes.