that he is the Rector of the universe, and will assert his dominion. The subtilest contrivance cannot circumvent him, the most daring pretender cannot wrest any thing out of his hand; "the Lord will still be King, be the people never so impatient" (Ps. xcix. 1). It will therefore sure be as well our prudence as our duty, to "be still and know that he is God" (Ps. xlvi. 10), with an humble dereliction of our own wills acquiesce in his, and not by ineffective strugglings provoke, whom we are sure never to subdue. We may, like unmanaged horses, foam and fret, but still God has the bridle in our jaws, and we cannot advance a step farther than he permits us. Why should we then create torment to ourselves by our repinings, which only sets us farther from our aims? It is God's declared method to exalt the lowly; and it is observable in the first two kings of Israel, who were of God's immediate election, that he surprised them with that dignity when they were about mean and humble employments, the one searching his father's asses, the other keeping his father's sheep: and would men honestly and diligently exercise themselves in the business of their proper calling, they might perhaps find it a more direct road to advancement than all the sinister arts by which am bitious men endeavour to climb. Solomon sets it down as an aphorism," Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men" (Prov. xxii. 29). But whether it happen to have that effect or no, it will have a better; for it will sweeten his present condition, divert his mind from mutinous reflections on other men's height, and his own lowness; for it is commonly men who mind not their work that are at so much leisure to gaze. He that carefully plies his own business will have his thoughts more concentered: and doubtless it is no small happiness to have them so; for it is their gadding too much abroad, looking on other men's conditions, that sends them back (like Dinah defloured) to put all in an uproar at home. The son of Sirach speaks with transportation of the state even of him that labours and is content, and calls it " a sweet life" (Ecclus. xl. 18); and certainly it is infinitely more so than that of the greatest prince whose mind swells beyond his territories. 10. Upon all these considerations, it cannot but appear very reasonable that we should leave God to govern the world; not be putting in, like the sons of Zebedee, for the highest seats, but continually rest ourselves where he has placed us, till his providence (not our own designs) advance us. We can no where be so obscure as to be hid from His eyes, who, as he valued the widow's mite above the great oblations of the rich, so he will no less graciously accept the humble endeavours of the mean than the more eminent services of the mighty; himself having declared, that he accepts "according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not" (2 Cor. viii. 12). So that in what rank soever a man is set, he has still the same opportunity of approving himself to God; and though in the eye of the world he be a vessel of dishonour, yet in the day when God comes to "make up his jewels" (Mal. iii. 17), there will be another estimate made of him who regularly moves in his own sphere. And sure he that sits down in this acquiescence is a happier man than he that enjoys the greatest worldly splendours, but infinitely more so than he who impatiently covets but cannot attain them; for such a man puts himself upon a perpetual rack, keeps his appetites up at the utmost stretch, and yet has nothing wherewith to satisfy them. Let therefore our ease, if not our duty, prompt us to acquiescence, and a ready submission to God's disposals; to which we have yet a farther inducement from that distinct care he hath over every man's peculiar, by which he proportions to him what is really best for him; of which we are farther to consider in the next chapter, 聲 K T is the imperfection of our finite nature that we cannot at once attend to divers things, but the more vehement our intention is upon one, the greater is our neglect of the rest. But God's infinity cannot be so bounded; his eyes at once see, and his providence at once orders, all the most distant and disparate things in the world. He is not such an Epicurean Deity' as to sequester himself wholly to the enjoyment of his own felicity, and to despise the concerns of poor mortals; but though he have his dwelling so high, yet he humbleth himself to behold the things in heaven and earth" (Ps. cxiii. 5). Nor does his providence confine itself to the more 66 1" Gods in their very nature must enjoy LUCRETIUS, book i. 57-62. splendid and greater parts of management, the conduct of empires and states, but it descends to the lowest parts of his creation, to the fowls of the air, to the lilies of the field; and then sure our Saviour's inference as to mankind is irrefragable, "Are ye not much better than they ?" (Matt. vi. 26.) If a sparrow (as he elsewhere tells his disciples) cannot fall to the ground without God's particular notice, surely no human creature is less considerable to him; nay, if our very hairs are numbered, we cannot think the excrescence is of more value than the stock, but must conclude that God with a particular advertence watches over the concerns of every man. 2. Now God being infinitely good cannot thus attend us upon any insidious design of doing us mischief; he watches over us as a guardian, not as a spy; and directs his observation to the more seasonable adapting his benefits: and as he is thus gracious in designing our advantage, so he is no less wise in contriving it. "All things," says the wise man," are not profitable for all men" (Ecclus. xxxvii. 28). Indeed nothing is absolutely good but God; all created things are good or ill in reference to that to which they are applied. Meat is good; but to a surfeited stomach it is not only nauseous but dangerous. Fire is good; but if put in our bosoms, not only burns our clothes but flesh. And as human wisdom directs the right application of these and the like, so the Supreme and Divine |