Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

and good and what greater security can we have, than to be under the protection of infinite wisdom and goodness? Ought we in reason to disturb ourselves with an eager desire of avoiding what infinite goodness shall be pleased to lay upon us? Do we not know, and feel, that we depend upon God, originally, for what we are, and every moment for his continued preservation? That in him we live, move, and have our being? Acts xvii. 28. And can we doubt, whether he, who gave us the greater gift, being itself, will afford us the less, whatever is absolutely requisite to our well-being? The argument is our Saviour's-take no thought, says he, for your life, what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? Matt. vi. 25.

The same plain lesson we learn also from the observation of God's perpetual care and providence over the several ranks of lower and less noble creatures; over the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and the very plants that flourish on the face of the earth. These all wait upon him, who giveth them their meat in due season. Psal. civ. 27. He feeds them within, and he clothes them without, either usefully, or splendidly, as seemeth best to him his overflowing bounty supplies them with whatever is suitable to their natures and wants: he openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with good. And shall he, who provides thus liberally for inferior beings, neglect any ways to take care of man, the heir of all his blessings, and lord of the creation? Thus hath the same divine preacher, with admirable simplicity and force argued in the same chapter: Matt. vi. 26. Consider the fowls of the air, says he, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: are ye not much better than they? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field,

which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ver. 28, 29, 30.

But I forbear to enlarge further on this point, that I may have room for those considerations that belong

to my

II. Second general head; under which I proposed to shew, that an anxious concern for to-morrow, is as destitute of all pretences to wisdom as goodness.

A censure, that will not easily be allowed; since the looking forward to the probable events of things hath been ever esteemed one of the first and chiefest instances of prudence. It hath so, and with good reason; when that sagacity is employed in a proper manner, and within its due bounds; when it gives the mind a calm and clear foresight of the difficulties it is likely to meet with, and leaves it at liberty, under that view, to prepare itself every way for the encounter: but when it serves only to disarm us of our courage, and to deprive us of our reason; to create vexations to us, and to multiply dangers; it is then the very folly of foolishness, as may appear from the ensuing reflections. For,

1. The task we set ourselves in this case, is infinite and endless. And after all will not answer the design, for which it is intended. He who makes uncertain may-be's the object of his concern, has taken care to supply his mind with perpetual matter of disquiet; has pitched upon a fruitful subject of uneasiness, which can never be exhausted. The possible evils and calamities of life are without number; and in vain, therefore, should we attempt to reckon them up: or could we number them, it would be a still vainer attempt, to forecast with ourselves particularly how we might avoid them: which yet is perhaps the only wise reason that can be given for our musing much upon them. Did the affairs of this world proceed in an even and regular course, so that we might easily trace effects from their causes, and judge surely of the future by the present; it might be reason

able and prudent often to employ our thoughts and concern on times and things at a distance, and endeavour to foresee, what were possible to be foreseen, in order to make the wisest use and advantages of it. But, alas! we have no sure clue to guide us in such searches as these: the events of life are to the utmost degree uncertain, and depend often on such secret springs and motions, as lie without the reach of our observation; and therefore fall out often so crossly, and so contrary to common rules, that it is but lost labour to draw long schemes beforehand, and form nice conjectures upon them. I returned and saw under the sun (says a very experienced observer) that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all, Eccl. ix. 11. There is scarce any man, perhaps, who is not sensible, that the greatest turns that have happened to him in his fortunes, have been owing to such lucky hits, and to such a set of conspiring circumstances, as he could not any ways have foreseen, nor can yet account for: and few there are, I believe, who have not, by the same happy co-incidence of things, without their foreknowledge or care, escaped great dangers. And what therefore is so very uncertain, as future events are, ought not to be the objects of any great concern or passion. But were it possible to guess at a remote event with some degree of assurance, yet it is impossible to know, whether we ourselves shall live to see it. It may happen, as we presage; but, ere it happens, we may be snatched from the world; and that is all one to us, as if it were never to happen at all. And why then should such a short-lived thing as man, lengthen his cares to no purpose? Why should a creature of today take thought for the morrow?

Either the evil we fear, will come, or it will not: if it will, then the saying of our Lord takes place, sufficient for the day (that is, for the day of visitation) is the evil thereof: it is time enough to bear it, when it doth befal us; but it is unpardonable folly to invite it to come and tor

ment us before our time; to add imaginary to certain afflictions, and to suffer a thing a thousand times over in our thoughts, because we must once suffer it in reality. But if it will not come, then our fear of it is our only evil and surely such a fear is vanity and vexation of spirit, in the utmost propriety of the expression. Anxiety of mind, therefore, makes us feel a thousand afflictions, which will never overtake us, and multiplies those which certainly will. And how can a worse character possibly be given of any thing, that sets up for prudence? Nay,

2. It not only multiplies evils, but takes away from us the power either to escape or bear them; renders us incapable of using those methods of prevention, which are requisite to ward the blow, or of suffering what we cannot prevent, with decency and patience. This is plain, that the worst thing in the world to advise with, in case of dangers, present or future, is a scared imagination for that disturbs and disorders a man's thoughts to such a degree, that he cannot calmly consider what is fittest to be done, in order to avoid the thing he fears, and it deprives him also of that presence and firmness of mind, which should support him under what is unavoidable.

That very trembling, and weakness, which proceeds from too quick a sense of approaching danger, takes away from a man the use of those limbs, which should help him, either to grapple with it or to decline it.

When thou art afflicting thyself, therefore, with sad omens and presages, and applauding thy own wisdom and foresight in so doing, remember the decision of one, who was certainly wise, and who has told thee, that the fear of man bringeth a snare; but he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be safe, Prov. xxix. 25. Again,

3. This concern for futurities robs us of all the ease and the advantages, which might arise from a proper and discreet use of the present moment. Certainly, the greatest pleasure, on this side heaven, lies in an even and serene, a calm, composed, and steady mind; that is in

wardly at rest, and, by consequence, at leisure to enjoy all outward comforts; that hopes the best, and is prepared for the worst; enjoys the present, and is not anxiously concerned for the future. Such a temper of mind is the greatest blessing God can bestow upon a man, because it gives the taste and relish to all other blessings; and therefore the greatest folly a man can be guilty of, is, to part with it upon any account, and to quit a certain tranquillity now, out of the vain fear of being robbed of it some time or other. Further,

"Thus

4. 'Tis very unreasonable to disquiet ourselves about distant evils; it often happening that the presence of the things themselves, suggests better expedients, wiser and quicker counsels to us, than all our wisdom and forethought at a distance can do. The morrow (says our Lord) shall take thought for the things of itself; that is, it shall bring along with it a power and strength of mind answerable to its necessities, a frame of spirit every way suited to our circumstances and occasions. sickness (as one well observes) doth of itself produce in us such a temper, as is fitted to that trial: it makes us affect privacy and silence, which conduce to our recovery, and gives us such a seriousness and readiness to submit to good advice, as is agreeable to the dangers that attend it. And thus necessity and want infuse into the soul that decency of behaviour, that carefulness to watch proper opportunities, that courtesy and eloquence of speech, which no premeditation can furnish, and proves a kind of inspiration." Trouble not thyself, therefore, about what is to come: for when it is to come, it shall either find, or make thee ready to undergo it: Tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself; and why then shouldst thou be at a needless expense of thought before-hand?

To these several accounts of the folly and unreasonableness of anxious and tormenting cares, give me leave to add one more, and I have done.

That he, who indulges them, forfeits his interest in the divine providence and protection; and that is a loss, for

« AnteriorContinuar »