The Godly Mans Journey to Heaven, Treatise 2 · Meditation 13
13. Cast thy care vponupon thy God, and he will care for thee.
LEt me not be carefull, ô my soule, for my selfe, what I shall eate, or what I shall drinke, or for my bodie what I shall put on: for thy blessed God, that great Maister of the houshold of his Church, wisely prouideth for his owne, euen in their greatest extremitie: albeit not alwayes yt which they would be at; yet euer that which shall serue them, vntill his good worke be accomplished in them. The King of Egypt taketh from the Israelites straw, which before was furnished vntounto them,Exod. 5. the taskmaisters of Egypt resolue them notwithstanding hereof, that the number of their brickes must be fulfilled dayly: when they with wearie hearts, are carefull to prouide themselues with straw, they can find none; for the people of the land will neither giuegive them any for request, nor sell them any for siluer. How then shall they come by it, & where shall they find it. Blessed be God, ô my soule, when the King of heauen who was a man carrying the same shape that the Israelites carried with their taskmaisters & people, can refuse all helpe vntounto distressed Israel, can adde affliction vntounto afflicted Israel; that senslesse dead hard earth, which they trod vponupon, will offer her helpe vntounto them, praying them as it were to pull vp haire, before they should perish, and so she propined them with that stubble wherewith she was couered, before they should want altogether that, wherewith they should make bricke vntounto cruell, bloudie Pharoah. O Dauid no fauour canst thou find, notwithstanding of thy humble carriage, and manie good seruices, in thy eyes of thy maister Saul, & father-in law; and yet art thou not louingly embraced, and kindly entertained by that stranger Achis, 1. Sam. 27.that vncircumcised King of Gath? Achab and Iezabel do busily seeke thy life ô Elias; But do not the verie rauens entertaine it as carefully?1. King. 17. 3. 4. 5. 6. O Nebuchadnezar thou art so fiercely set against these three children of God,Dan. 3. who refused to worship that Image thou madest, that thou wilt not onelyonly hauehave them cast into a hot fierie fornace, but thou wilt hauehave this fornace to be hot at that time, seuen times more then it was wont to be hot. Alwayes, were not these furious fierce flames mercifull vntounto them, yea, so mercifull vntounto them, that not onelyonly they slew them not, but the haires of their head were not burnt, neither were their coates changed, not any smell of fire vponupon them? O abusers of Darius, ye are so maliciously set against the seruant of God Daniel, Dan. 6.that ye will hauehave him cast into the lions denne, because he prayed vntounto his owne God, as he was wont, contrarie to the wicked decree which ye by your malicious subtiltie made your King to subscribe vntounto, and yet these lions will hauehave him saued, whom ye resolued to hauehave slaine. No refreshment can hungrie Lazarus find at the hands of the rich glutton,Luke 10. and yet he can find ease from the tongues of bloudie dogges. How many wicked men in this our time, ô my soule, hauehave soft downe beds and pillowes to lie vponupon, while the religious child of God cannot find a feather bed, no not a fodder bed, and yet the earth is contented to be a bed vntounto him. But, ô my soule, what if the cruell Princes of the earth will not so much as suffer the earth to be a bed vntounto thee, ô then what shalt thou do? what canst thou looke for? Be sure either this thy prouident, pitifull, powerfull God, who hath absolute commandement ouer all, shall ô my soule, either alter their hearts, and make them pitifull, or furnish thee with a strong contented heart, able to beare out all they can deuise, or do against thee: or make death (which is a cruell burthen to the wicked, but a louing friend to his secret o…es) to finish thy labours and to send thee to his rest.