fufices; this is God's Pleasure, and for the prefent, I have Reafon to think, it cannot be better. And therefore why fhould I not be exceedingly well pleafed; fo well, at least, as not to murmur, nor afflict my felf, no more than I do in that which we call a better Eftate?

So neceffary a Duty this is, that even they who had a rich and plentiful Fortune promised to them, yet were bound to believe that another was at present better for them, and in that to be fatisfyed: And their not being fo, was their great Sin, and exposed them to great Miferies. The Ifraelites, I mean, to whom God faid that he would give a Land flowing with Milk and Honey, became high Offenders againft him by being no more contented in a Wilderness! which he would have them take in their way to that Canaan. One of their Sins is thus defcribed, Pfal. cvi. 13. They foon forgat his Works, they waited not for his Counfel. In the Hebrew it is, (as the Margin of your Bi bles will inform you,) They made hafte, they forgat bis Works, &c. And fo the lxx. or Greek Interpreters, Eravar, They made too much fpeed, that is, they were vexed and difpleafed because they were not inftantly brought into that pleafant Land, abounding with all good Things, which God faid fhould be their Partion. They murmured and faid (as you read. Num. xx. 5.) Wherefore have ye made us to come out of Egypt to bring us into this evil Place?

Ἐτάχυναν,

Place? It is no Place of food, or figs, or Vines, or Pomegranates i. e. not fuch a Country as you told us God would bestow upon us. Here are none of thofe Bleffings which we came out of the Land of Egypt to enjoy, and which you put us in hope of. If we had thought of this we would have chofen to stay where we were before; for then it was better with us than it is now. This made them take their own way, and forfake God; and upon any new Difficulty presently cry out that they were betrayed by Mofes, and that he had fed them with deceitful Words, and brought them out of Egypt to their undoing. Now because they made fuch Hafte and would not wait God's Seafon, because they called this Defart an evil Place (a bad Condition) wherein they were; therefore he brought them into a worse Eftate. He fent many Plagues upon them, and at laft, after fundry Murmurings, he fhut them quite out of that good Land, to which he intended to conduct them. The true Original of this was their Unbelief, according to that of Ifaiah, If. xxviii. 16. He that believeth (the Word, that is, fpoken by the Prophet) will not make hafte. And therefore we muft take heed of fuch rafh Conclufions, if we have any Faith. We must never fay, this is an evil Condition; this is an unfupportable Calamity. And we have the more Reafon to be patient, because we have not fuch Promises of temporal Things as they had, and therefore have not the Temptation to think in any Ad

verfity,

verfity, that God doth not take care over us, but ought to reft the more perfwaded that by this Means God will bring us to better Things which we have his Word for. We are never (as I have faid heretofore) out of our way to them, unless we will turn afide from following of God: And there where we are, we should be confident it is beft for us quietly to remain, till he be pleafed to order other wife, who is the Disposer of all Things. Thus we shall find our felves very much comforted; and we fhall also put our felves in the readieft Way to any other, more plentiful, Condition, when God fees it good for us.

III. But above all, let us believe the Promifes concerning the Life to come; for the Perfwafion of them will yield the most abundant Refreshment unto us, in this Life present. There is no fuch Way to Contentment, as to live in a conftant Expectation and affured Hope of the Reft which is prepared for the People of God. With the Thoughts of this it is that the Apoftle comforts the Chriftian Hebrews in the Midft of all their Sufferings, as Mofes did their Forefathers in the Wilderness, with the Promise of Reft in the Land of Canaan. I have fhown you as much already, and therefore I fhall mention but one place in that Epiftle, Hebr. vi. 19. where he calls this Hope, An Anchor of the Soul, fure and ftedfaft; which entreth into that within the Veil. It will keep us, that is, if it be well grounded in our Souls, as an Anchor doth

doth the Ship, from being driven with the Storm, and fwallowed up in the Waves and Billows of this troublesome World. We shall be preferved from the Violence of thofe Winds which blow without us, and of the more fierce Gufts of our own Paffions and Defires that are within us. For it is faftned in Heaven; it enters within the Veil. That is, it depends upon the ftedfaft Promife of God, who hath undertaken to bring us into his own most holy Place; where he himself dwells, and into which Jefus is gone, and whither none of thefe Troubles can follow us: For none can enter thither, but only good and holy Perfons. As the High-Prieft, you know, and he alone could go within the Veil, to appear before the Mercy-feat where the Majefty of God fate; all the reft being prohibited to enter into it; fo that it was a Place free from any Approaches, but only of him that God would admit into it: Even fuch a Place is that, where our High-Priest Christ Jefus now appears in the Prefence of God for us; fecure from the Affults of any Enemies, free from the Invafion of any Troubles, a Mountain of Joy and Gladnefs, whether none can afcend but only pious Perfons; who are now made Priests unto God, for ever to praise him and bless him, together with our Lord, in that high and holy Place to which he is afcended. Let us lay hold then on this Promife: Let us caft our Anchor on this Rock: And it will not be in the Power of any Thing to trou

ble

ble us; while we fee our felves in no more Danger (let the worst that can come) but only to be carried thereby to this Place of Security, Ease, Reft, and eternal Repofe.

And let me add thus much before I leave this Confideration: that God never more made good his Word to the Ifraelites, than when they were in the foreft State of Afflictions, and under the moft miferable Oppreffions. One of his Promises you remember was, that they should be multiplied like the Stars of Heaven, or the Sand upon the Sea-Shore. Now, if you mark their Story well, you will find that during the Days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which was about two Hundred Years, they were increased to no more than Seventy-five Perfons. This was the Number that went down into Egypt; which proved you know an House of Bondage, after Jofeph was Dead, and they became no better than Slaves. But then, notwithstanding, was the time that they encreased exceedingly. Then they were fruitful; and the more the Egyptian Tyrant oppreffed them, the more they fructified and grew numerous. So that in the Space of about as many more Years, as those now named, they were become a mighty Nation; and there marched out of Egypt no less than fix hundred Thousand Men, befides Children, Exod. xii. 37. A vast Increafe! And a great Encouragement to depend upon the Promifes of God, which we thall then find the greatest Comfort of, when we

may.