The Shield of Righteousness, Part 7
VER. 7. A thouſand ſhall fall at thy ſide, and ten thouſand, &c.
GOds deliuerance of his children, and their great ſafetie in ſuch troubles as hauehave bene ſpoken of, is propounded in this verſe, & repeated in the tenth. The firſt is affirmed ſimply here; & further proued in the two next verſes, as by a vehement aſſeueration, verſe 8. and infallible euidence verſe 9. In the firſt there is a Prolepſis, or preuenting anſwer to an obiection. For, ſome might ſay: how can I bee deliuered, when ſo many thouſands are not, who, on eueryevery hand of me fall vponupon the edge of the Plague that deſtroyeth without merciemercy, in darkeneſſe, and at noone day? To this the Prophet maketh anſwer, ſaying: Though thouſands, that is, great numbers, and ten thouſands, that is, numbers without number ſo fall, being cut downe with it, or other diuers diſeaſes, and ſundry kinds of death, on the left hand and on the right of his ſeruants, yet he can deliuer them. For, with him it is no more to ſaue his people when thouſands die then when two; and when tenne thouſands periſh, then when ten (onelyonly) are cut downe for the graue. In a time of Peſtilence; he is able to paſſe by the houſes of the faithfull as well when a whole towne is viſited, that is, when no ſtreete or lane is free, as when a few houſes are ſhut vp: and as well, if three hundred ſhould die in a weeke, as if onelyonly three. Now, as God is able to do this; ſo to aduance the credit of his power in the faith of his children, he performeth it oftentimes in their outward ſafetie, alwaies in their ſaluation which is beſt of all.
From whence wee learne, Doct. that when the wicked are plagued, Gods children ſhall hauehave deliuerance, or comforts as good as it? When the world was buried in a graue of waters, Noah and his houſhold went ſafely into the Arke, Geneſ. 7.1. and God ſet not Sodome on fire till hee had deliuered iuſt Lot, Geneſ. 19.16.22. 2. Pet. 2.7. when the Lord terribly plagued the Aegyptians, his enemies: he mercifully ſpared Goſhen where his people were, Exodus 8.21.22. and 9.6.26. and 10.23. and 11.5.6.7. and when Ieruſalem was taken,Exod. 12.23. Ieremie was prouided for, Iere. 39.11.12.18. So God dealt very mercifully with Daniel and his fellowes in the captiuitie, Dan. 1.19. And when the Lord ſent fiue men, that is, Angels in the ſhape of men, to deſtroy the careleſſe Citie; He ſent a ſixt with a writers ink-borne by his ſide, to ſet a marke of paſſeouer or ſpeciall deliuerance vponupon all thoſe who mourned for the abomination, Ezech. 9.4.6. And what hath he done leſſe for his godly ſeruants in any age? The reaſons.
Reaſon 1 The righteous hauehave a ſpeciall priuiledge, or commoditie that common perſons hauehave not; and he that is the generall God of the world, is the ſauing God of his people, Luke 1.68. He ſhewed his word to Iacob: But did hee deale ſo with eueryevery nation? Pſal. 147.19.20.
Reaſon 2 Secondly, it is the glorie of the Lord to deliuer the righteous, as it is the maiſters credit to do for thoſe that faithfully ſerue him. Or, if he ſhould not honour thoſe with deliuerances, who honour him with affections; the heathen, (or thoſe without) might ſay: where is now their God? Pſal. 115.2.
Thirdly, He numbreth their haires, Math. 10.30. and will hee Reaſon 3 not regard their bloud? Or, if he will hauehave them, will he not deliuer them?
Obiect But many godly hauehave bene taken away in the common deſtruction? Obiect.
Anſw. Indeed, Anſw. for theſe outward euils that come; none can chalenge ſuch a freedome from them, as that they ſhall not enter into them at all: and it is not denied, but that the beſt hauing ſin in them, are in ſubiection to them, and greatly deſerue them. Yet, either they ſhall not come, or they ſhall not come to hurt them, as they do the wicked: or, they fall not ſo ordinarily to the ſhare of the godly, as they cruſh the vnrighteous: and beſides, they feare not in them as do ſinners, that hauehave no hope. For, they hauehave faith in God, from whoſe louelove nothing can ſeuer them: Rom. 8.39 and are not as the wicked, who put all their faith in changeable things, with the loſſe of which they looſe God and all.
A comfort to the godly in the mortalitie of thouſands, ſeeing Vſe 1 they know in whom they beleeue, and for what: for, they ſhall not periſh, though neuer ſo many periſh, that hauehave faith in other things. And this doctrine is now neceſſarie euen in our dayes of health: for, theſe good dayes may weare away, the Peſtilence may raigne as it did, and another triall may come; and then will it bee needfull to be well ſeene in theſe and ſuch like mercifull promiſes, that our faith may not faile vsus, nor our hearts faint within v… when the euill day cometh. Neither would this be remembred onelyonly in the caſe and dayes of Plague, then to be armed with that faith and true boldneſſe that putteth feare out of doores: but it would bee remembred (further) in all other changes and troubles of our mortall life, that God onelyonly may be our feare, and we may put all to him with full aſſurance, in the wauerings of many. As in the dayes of famine, if there ſhould come ſuch a want of bread, that thouſands muſt pine to death, yet that muſt not ſo diſcomfort any child of God, as to make him to doubt how it can be true, that in the day of famine he ſhall he fed, Pſal. 37.19. For though God do not make windowes in the heauen, 2. King. 7.2. he can feede him. When our handfull of meale is gone, his truth remaineth, who can feede without bread, or with it miraculouſly? 1. Kings 19.8.17.12.14. Ioh. 6.7.13. The like may be ſaid of the miſeries of warre, and of all miſeries and Plagues earthly. For whatſoeuer temptations there are betweene heauen and earth from the fleſh, world, or diuell; as diſeaſes of bodie, rebellion of children, loſſe of goods, and of good name, croſſes in husbands, wiues, ſeruants, with all other vexations and croſſes of mind or bodie, from the leaſt to the greateſt, from the paine of the little finger to the pangs of death; in all theſe, though the vngodly know not what to do, the godly hauehave hope: and though the wicked fall by thouſands, the righteous are not ſhaken. Is there not comfort to the righteous in all this? And do they ſerue God for nought, to whom the Lord maketh ſuch precious promiſes?
Vſe 2 An inſtruction (therefore) ſo to ſerue God in all our life with faith and repentance, that when thouſands fall we may ſtand faſt. For, this light is ſowne for the righteous, Pſal. 97.11. But the light of the wicked ſhall be put out, Prou. 13.9. that is, this ſafetie is proper and belonging onelyonly to godly and religious perſons; whoſe priuiledge it is, when thouſands fall, not to ſtagger: where the wicked (contrarily) becauſe they will bee the children of darkneſſe by ſinne, ſhall be ſure (with the putting out of their candle) to inherite the blackneſſe of darkneſſe with ſinners. That it is the peculiar lot of thoſe that louelove God and follow his truth, thus to be eſtabliſhed, Salomon is witneſſe, who ſpeaking of a ſinner that doth euill an hundred times, that is, doth ſinne much and long; ſaith, that though God prolong his dayes, or deferre his puniſhment, yet he ſhall be as a ſhadow, (and what is more vncertaine then a ſhadow?) becauſe he feareth not before God: where it ſhall be well with them that feare the Lord, that is, where they that hauehave bene religious in their life, ſhall be happie in their end, and neuer be remoued, Eccleſ. 8.12.13. God maketh his Sunne to ſhine vponupon the inſt and vniuſt, yet the ſhine of his fauour is vponupon thoſe that do reuerence before him: and where the outward excellencie of the vngodly hath a ſpeedie end, as a light quickly blowne out; the light of the righteous reioyceth, Prou. 13.9. to wit, as the Sunne to runne his courſe; Pſal. 19.5. or is ſtedfaſt with increaſe, as the light of the ſame Sunne, That ſhineth more and more vntounto the perfect day, Prou. 4.18.
A reprooſe of thoſe, who in a time of mortalitie, feare vnſeaſonably Vſe 3 when two or three die. How would they hauehave feared if they had bene dwellers at London in the laſt great mortalitie, when three thouſand and a halfe died of the Plague in one weeke,Anno 1603 and 1604. and for ſome weekes together not many fewer? There is a profitable and ſober feare in Gods children; which is the feare of ſinne, and of theſe dayes of ſinne: but this carnall feare of worldlings, who hauehave drawne little or no power from religion, is rather the feare of death, then of ſinne that cauſed it, Rom. 6.23. but this hath bene ſpoken … This is the deliuerance propounded, the ſame further proued followeth.