45. That there is no judging of the inward conditions of men by the outward dispensations of God

Another principle by which a Christian should walk, is this: That there is no judging of the inward conditions of men by the outward dispensations of God.

The greatness of our estates is no argument of the goodness of our hearts. To prize ourselves by what we have, and not by what we are, is to estimate the value of the jewel by the golden frame which contains it. Grace and gold can live together; but the smallest degree of the former in the heart, is preferable to a chain of the latter about the neck.

That old complaint may justly be revived: Bonis male, malis bene. Here it is sometimes evil with the righteous, and well with the wicked. Those who live most upon God, fare worst from the world.

Under the law, the dove was preferred in sacrifice to the swine. Riches are called thick clay. They are more likely to weaken the back than strengthen the heart.

No man can know love or hatred by any thing that is before him. You cannot read the wrath of God in the black lines of adversity, or the love of God in the white lines of prosperity.

God often wrings out the waters of a full cup to wicked men, though there be dregs at the bottom. They may be fruitful vines, and yet only laden with sour grapes. It is seldom that the sparkling diamond of a great estate is set in the golden ring of a converted heart.

Riches have made many good men worse, but they never made any bad men better. Thus if we discern but a spark of grace in a nobleman, we cry it up as a blazing comet, and speak of it in the superlative degree.

Though a Christian be made happy in the world, yet he is not made happy by the world. Give me those judgments which give birth to mercy, rather than those outward mercies which give birth to judgments. There are many who are temporally happy, who will be eternally miserable; and many are now temporally miserable, who will be eternally happy.

If indigence could procure heaven, how many poor people would then be saved; and if wealth could free a man from hell, how very few of the rich would be damned! The kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of the cross. Those who attempt to take the cross from the Christian's shoulders, do in effect aim to remove the crown from his head.

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. The sun of prosperity shines upon the dunghill as well as upon beds of spices. The rain of adversity falls upon the fruitful garden as well as upon the barren wilderness. The abundance of the infidel is as a golden chain to bind him to the earth, and the apparent miseries of the believer are as fiery chariots to convey him to heaven.

And now we call the proud happy: yea, they that work wickedness are set up: yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. God's jewels may here be trodden under foot, but hereafter they will be fixed in the royal diadem. If we look for a saint, he is not always to be found upon a bed of down, but sometimes he has been seen upon a heap of dust. Poor Lazarus rises to heaven, and rich Dives sinks to hell.

Benjamin was not the less regarded by Joseph, because the silver cup was discovered in his sack. We must not infer the absence of God's affections from the presence of numerous afflictions. Though the north wind may chill us, yet the beams of summer can soon revive us. Those stones which are designed for the building, are frequently wounded by the chisel; while those which are neglected, lie in ruinous heaps.

A saint is glorious in his misery, but a sinner is miserable amidst all his glory. We must not therefore think evil of religion, though we should behold a Joseph in the prison, while a Pharaoh is in a palace; or a Job on the ground, while a Julian is on a throne. The most curious pearls are often enclosed in the most rugged shells. Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Those who judge of a man's real greatness by his apparent grandeur, are unfit to sit upon the bench. That apple has not always the soundest core, which has the fairest skin.

The tinsel glare upon a sinner is too apt to offend the weak eyes of a saint. Alas, why should he envy him a little light, who is to be shrouded in everlasting darkness? Why should we throw bludgeons at those boughs, which are only laden with poisonous fruits?

Deliver my soul from the wicked, who have their portion in this life; whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure. The things of the world are the only happiness of the men of the world. None of their flowers grow in paradise. They are anxious for the creature, and indifferent about the Redeemer.

A man's estate in this world may be great, and yet his state for another world may be fearful. God may say to him as to Pharaoh, For this purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power upon thee. The same hand which now pours abundance on ungodly men like oil, will soon pour down wrath upon them like water. Under all their wealth, their hearts are sinful; and after all their riches are fled, their situation will be doleful. It is far better to pass through the valley of Baca to Zion, than to pitch our tents in the plains of Sodom.

Luther's expression was not the less true because it was homely: 'The whole Turkish empire is but a crust, which God threw to the dogs.' One said, 'I would rather have Paul's coat, with his heavenly graces, than the purple robes of princes, with all their kingdoms.'

Lest riches should be accounted evil in themselves, God sometimes gives them to the righteous; and lest they should be considered as the chief good, he frequently bestows them on the wicked. But they are more generally the portion of his enemies, than his friends.

Alas, what is it to receive, and not to be received? to have none other dews of blessing, than such as shall be followed with showers of brimstone? We may compass ourselves with sparks of security, and afterward be secured in eternal misery. This world is a floating island, and so sure as we cast anchor upon it, we shall be carried away by it.

God, and all that he has made, is not more than God without any thing that he has made. He can never want treasure, who has such a golden mine. He is enough without the creature, but the creature is not any thing without him. It is therefore better to enjoy him without any thing else, than to enjoy every thing else without him. It is better to be a wooden vessel filled with wine, than a golden one filled with water.

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