world; the evil of imperfection; the evil of affliction and fuffering; and the evil of fin.

And,

I. For the evil of imperfection, I mean, natural imperfections; thefe are not fimply and abfolutely, but only comparatively evil: now, comparative evil is but a lefs degree of goodnefs; and it is not at all inconfiftent with the goodness of God, that fome creatures fhould be lefs good than others, that is, imperfect in comparison of them; nay, it is very agreeable both to the goodness and wifdom of God, that there fhould be this variety in the creatures, and that they should be of feveral degrees of perfection, being made for feveral ufes and purposes, and to be fubfervient to one another, provided they all contribute to the harmony and beauty of the whole.

Some imperfection is necessarily involved in the very. nature and condition of a creature, as that it derives its being from another, and neceffarily depends upon it, and is beholden to it, and is likewife, of neceflity, finite and limited in its nature and perfections; and, as for thofe creatures which are lefs perfect than others, this alfo, that there should be degrees of perfection, is neceffary, upon fuppofition, that the wifdom of God thinks. fit to difplay itfelf in variety of creatures of feveral kinds and ranks for though, comparing the creatures with one another, the angelical nature is beft, and most perfect; yet it is abfolutely beft, that there should be other creatures befides angels. There are many parts of the creation which are rafhly and inconfiderately by us concluded to be evil and imperfect, as fome noxious and hurtful creatures, which yet, in other refpects, and to fome purposes, may be very ufeful, and against the harm and mischief whereof we are fufficiently armed, by fuch means of defence, and fuch antidotes, as reason and experience are able to find and furnish us withal and thofe parts of the world which we think of little or no use, as rocks and defarts, and that vaft wilderness of the fea, if we confider things well, are of great use to feveral very confiderable purpofes; or, if we can discern no other use of them, they ferve at least to help our dulness, and to make us more attentively to confider, and to admire the perfection and usefulness of the rest;

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at the worlt, they may ferve for foils to fet off the wife order and contrivance of other things, and (as one expreffeth it very well) they may be like a black-moor's head in a picture, which gives the greater beauty to the whole piece.

II. For the evils of affliction and fuffering; and thefe either befal brute creatures, or men endowed with reafon and confideration.

1. For those which befal the brute creatures; thofe fufferings which nature inflicts upon them are very few; the greatest they meet withal are from men, or upon their account, for whofe fake they were chiefly made, and to whose reasonable use and gentle dominion they are configned.

It is neceffary, from the very nature of these creatures, that they fhould be paffive, and liable to pain; and yet it doth in nowife contradict either the wildom or goodness of God to make fuch creatures, because all thefe pains are, for the most part, fully recompenfed by the pleasure these creatures find in life; and that they have fuch a pleasure and happiness in life, is evident, in that all creatures, notwithstanding the miferies they endure, are still fond of life, and unwilling to part with it: no creature but man, who only hath perverted his nature, ever seeks the deftruction of itfelf; and fince all brute creatures are fo loth to go out of being, we may probably conclude, that if they could deliberate whe ther they would be, or not, they would chufe to come into being, even upon thefe hard conditions.

But, however that be, this we are fure of, that they fuffer chiefly from us, and upon our account; we, who are their natural lords, having depraved ourselves first, are become cruel and tyrannical to them; nay, the fcripture tells us, that they fuffer for our fakes, and that the whole creation groaneth, and is in bondage for the fin of man. And this is not unreasonable, that being made principally for man, they should fuffer upon his account, as a part of his goods and eftate; not as a punishment to them, (which, under the notion of punishment, they are not capable of) but as a punishment to him who is the lord and owner of them, they being, by this means, become more weak and frail, and lefs ufeful and ferMin vice

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viceable to him for whom they were made; so that the fufferings of the creatures below us are, in a great meafure, to be charged upon us, under whofe dominion God hath put them.

2. As for the afflictions and fufferings which befal men, these are not natural and of God's making, but the refult and fruit of our own doings, the effects and confequences of the ill ufe of our own liberty, and free choice; and God does not willingly fend them upon us, but we wilfully pull them down upon ourselves; for he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, as the Prophet tells us, Lam. iii. 33. or, as it is in the Wifdom of Solomon, chap. i. 12. 13. God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the deftruction of the living; but men pull deftruction upon themselves, with the works. of their own hands. All the evils that are in the world, are either the effects of our own fin, as poverty, and difgrace, pains, difeafes, and death, which are fometimes more immediately inflicted upon men by a visible providence and hand of God, but are ufually brought upon us by ourselves, in the natural courfe and order of things; or they are the effects of other mens fins, brought upon us by the ambition and covetoufnefs, by the malice and cruelty of others: and thefe evils, though they are procured and caufed by others, yet they are deferved by ourselves; and though they are immediately from the hand of men, yet we ought to look farther, and confider them as directed and difpofed by the providence of God; as David did when Shimei curfed him; God, faith he, hath bid him curfe David, though it immediately proceeded from Shimei's infolence and ill-nature.

Now, upon the fuppofition of fin, the evils of afflition and fuffering are good, because they are of great ufe to us, and serve to very good ends and purposes.

ft, As they are the proper punishments of fin. Evil is good to them that do evil; that is, it is fit and proper, juft and due: Pfal. cvii. 17. Fools, because of their tranfgreffion, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. And it is fit they fhould be fo; crooked to crooked, is ftreight and. right. A rod for the back of fools, faith Solomon; and elsewhere, God hath made e

very thing for that which is fit for it, and the evil day for the wicked man.

2dly, As they are the preventions and remedies of greater evils. Evils of affliction and fuffering are good for wicked men, to bring them to a fenfe of their fin, and to reclaim them from it, and thereby to prevent greater temporal evils, and preserve them from eternal mifery; and not only good to the perfon that fuffers, but likewife to others, to deter and affright them from the like fins; to prevent the contagion of fin, and to ftop the progrefs of iniquity, upon which greater guilt and worse mischiefs might enfue; and they are good to good men, to awaken and roufe them out of their fecurity, to make them know God and themselves better; they are almost a neceffary difcipline for the best of men, much more for evil and depraved difpofitions; and we might as reasonably expect that there fhould be no rod in a fchool, as that there should be no fuffering and afflitions in the world.

3dly, As they are the occafions and matter of many virtues. God teacheth men temperance by want, and patience by reproach and fufferings, charity by perfecution, and pity and compaffion to others by grievous pains upon ourselves. The benefit of afflictions, to them that make a wife ufe of them, is unspeakable; they are grievous in themfelves, Nevertheless, faith the Apoftle to the Hebrews, they bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, to them that are exer cifed therewith. David gives a great teftimony of the mighty benefit and advantage of them, from his own experience; Pfal. cxix. 67. Before I was afflicted, I went aftray; but now have I kept thy word. And ver. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy ftatutes.

4thly, The evils of suffering, patiently fubmitted to, and decently borne, do greatly contribute to the increase of our happiness. All the perfecutions and fuf ferings of good men in this life, do work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And, if they contribute to our greater good and happiness at laft, they are good. The glorious reward of the fufferings which we have met with in this life, will, in the next, clear

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up the goodness and juftice of the divine providence from all thofe mifts and clouds which are now upon it, and fully acquit it from those objections which are now raifed against it, upon account of the afflictions and fufferings of good men in this life, which are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in them.

III. As for the evil of fin, which is the great diffi culty of all, how is it confiftent with the goodness of God, to permit fo great an evil as this to come into the world? For anfwer to this, I defire thefe two things may be confidered:

1. That it doth not at all contradi& the wisdom or goodness of God, to make a creature of fuch a frame, as to be capable of having its obedience tried, in order to the reward of it; which could not be, unless fuch a creature were made mutable, and, by the good or bad ufe of its liberty, capable of obeying or difobeying the laws of his Creator: for, where there is no poffibility of finning, ..there can be no trial of our virtue and obedience; and nothing but virtue and obedience are capable of reward. The goodness of God towards us is fufficiently vindicated, in that he made us capable of happiness, and gave us fufficient direction and power for the attaining of that end; and it does in nowife contradict his goodness, that he does not, by his omnipotency, interpofe to prevent our fin: for this had been to alter the nature of things, and not to let man be the creature he made him, capable of reward or punishment, according to the good or bad ufe of his own free choice. It is fufficient that God made man good at firft, though mutable, and that he had a power to have continued fo, though he wilfully determined himself to evil: this acquits the goodness of God, that he made man upright, but he found out to himself many inventions.

2. If there had not been fuch an order and rank of creatures as had been in their nature mutable, there had been no place for the manifeftation of God's goodnefs in a way of mercy and patience: fo that, though God be not the author of the fins of men, yet, in case of their wilful tranfgreffion and disobedience, the goodnefs of God hath a fair opportunity of difcovering itself, in bis patience and long-fuffering to finners, and in his