In the day of prosperity be joyful— In the day of prosperity enjoy it; but in the day of adversity, consider also that God hath made it in opposition to the other, to the end that man should not find out any thing of His ways. The common interpretations of this text are not easily to be reconciled. That which I have given appears the most proper. For, what are we to say was the Almighty's design in ordering this world so, that the most opposite things, as prosperity and adversity, must come each in their turn, and very often without our being able to discover any other cause of either, than the will of the all-dispensing power? Certainly one consequence of this appointment is, to shew that man his folly who takes upon himself to determine concerning the ways of Providence. God's judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. Romans 11:33.
The ways of heav'n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in mazes, and perplex'd with errors: Our understanding traces them in vain, Lost and bewilder'd in the fruitless search; Nor sees with how much art the windings run, Nor where the regular confusion ends.
Now this is the very design which is ascribed to our Maker. If you take the words find after him, for a metaphorical expression, to find any thing after, or behind another, you must go the same way he went before you; you must in a manner trace him, and of course be acquainted with his ways: but, as God would not have us trace his conduct in the government of the universe, he ordered the affairs of this world in such a manner, that through the mutual opposition between the several parts of his appointment, confusion seems to prevail, and the grounds of his determinations are hidden from us. See Desvoeux and Addison.