A Comfortable Epistle to Gods Faithful People in England, Chapter 9
¶ The. ix. Chapter.
THat God sheweth hys present helpe In greatest extremities God chiefly helpeth.moste of all in greatest extremities / diuers histories declare euidentlye in the holy scriptures / whereof parte briefly to touche / it shall not be oute of the waye / that we may learne in the middest of greatest euels not to despayr of the mighty workyng of God / but to conceaue asure hope / and to loke for all good thinges at the hāde of the Lorde our God. Who knoweth not vntounto what great extremitie the chyldrē of Exod. 14Israel were brought after their deliueraūce out of Egipte? Came they not to this point in their iourneye / that before theym there was no waye to go into / but the readde sea / wherin they must nedes be drouned / if they wente forwarde / and behynde them was kynge Pharao with all his armye / redy to slea them / if they tarryed? Here naturall reason sawe nothinge but presente deathe. Before them was the readde sea / vnable to be passed thorowe / and behynde them theyr mortals fo… with his bloudy & cruel hooste redy to kyll them. Oh / to what extremities are the Israelites come? Yet beholde / Psal. 145 1. Cor. 10that mercifull God / whiche is euer true & faythful in his promises / founde a way for them to escape / where all reason / witte / wisedome / discrecion / experience / and pollecye of man coulde do nothing in the matter. He caused the sea to diuide it self / so that in the middest therof he made a drye pathe for his people safely to passe thorow / the sea standing on bothe sydes of them lyke two walles / and the Israelites beynge once passed thorowe / that whiche was a safegarde too Gods people / was an vtter destruccion to their enemies. For the sea ate the commaū dement of God closed agayne together / and drouned Pharao with all his companye. O the wonderful workes of God.
Agayn / when they were come into the wildernes / Exo. 16. 17.where neither meate nor drincke was to be gottē / and they iudging after na turall reason / thoughte that eueryevery one off them shoulde there moste miserablye hauehave dyed for wante of socour / how dyd the heauenly father in that extremitie prouide for his people / by sending them meate frō heauen / and geuinge them moste pleasaunte & swete waters / euen out of the harde rocke … drincke? O the excedinge greate ryches of the Lord our God.
To whome is the historye of Ioseph vnknowen / Gene. 39who beyng miserably kept in pryson certayne yeares withoute iuste cause / eueryevery man despayred of hys deliueraunce at any tyme. But whan all thinges semed to be paste remedy / and the matter brought to vtter desperacion / concerninge his commynge out: God setteth too hande / & dothe not onelyonly deliuer Ioseph out of prysonne / Gene. 41but he also bringeth hym to suche honoure and dignitie / that he is made chiefe ruler ouer all the lande of Egipte nexte vntounto the Kynge. O the singular good will of the Lord our God towarde his faithfull and louing seruauntes.
What shall I speake of that moste noble 4. Re. 18.and faythful kyng Ezechias / which beynge in moste greuous daunger / bothe he & hys contries / thorow the tyranny of Sennacherib that moste proude kyng of the Assyriās / which was at hande to destroy both hym & hys realme / & not perceauing how he & hys people with al their witte / pollecy & strēght were able to enter battel with so mighty an enemy / vtterly despairing of his own might & power / lamēted his cause vntounto the Lorde his God which so petied the sorowful estate of kyng Ezechias & of his people / that euen the same night he sent his aūgel / which slew 4. Re. 19.in the hooste of the Assyriās an. c. lxxx. and fyue thousand / so that Sennacherib with the rest of his hooste fled / which shortly after / as he was worshipping his fals God / was slayne of his owne sonnes in the idolatrous tēple. O the pricelike puissaūce of the Lord our God / in defending hys faithefull people. Notable is the historie cōtayned in the boke of Hester / concerninge the Iewes / which were the people of God / where we Hest. ….rede that wicked Amā / beyng hyest in autho rite with kyng Ahasuerus / for displeasure that he bare vntounto Mardocheus the Iewe / because he wold not bowe the knee vntounto hī / & reuerēce him / procured of the kynge a cō maūdement to be directed vntounto all his officers & magistrates / that all the Iewes / that were within the kynges dominions / should be destroyed. And as for Mardocheus / Amā had prepared for him a new payre of galowes of. l. eubites hye / purposinge to hange hym the next days folowing. Here was nothing at hāde / nor to be loked for / but present death and destruccion. All was lyke to go to hauocke / all thynges were brought to such an extremitie. The commission is written and sealed with the Kynges owne rynge. Postes are sente wyth it into all the kynges landes / the daye is appoynted / that all Iewes / both yonge and oldechyldren and women should be destroyed in one daye. What is here too be sene / but present death? The Iewes are not an handfull in comparison of their enemies / so that vtter destruccion lygheth bent out for them / & no way there is to escape it / so farre as rea son can iudge. But now behold Gods workinge / and here shall ye fynde that thynge true / whiche Salomon hath: The kynges Pro. 21.hart is in the hande of the Lord / lyke as are the ryuers of water / he may turne it / whyther so euer he will. Aman / whiche before Hest. 7.was so muche set by of the kynge / is nowe sodenly so farre fallen from the kynges fauoure / Bevvare ye papistes.that he is commaunded to be hāged vponupon those same gallowes / that he had set vp for good Mardocheus / so that Mardocheus was made ruler of all that Amā had / & was exalted vntounto hye dignitie / that that maye be founde true / whiche we rede in the Psalme: I sayde vntounto the fooles / deale not Psal. 75.so madly / & to the vngodly / set not vp your borne. Set not vp your horne on hye / and speake not with a styffe necke. For promocion cōmeth neither from the East nor frō the West / nor yet frome the Southe. And why? God is the Iudge / he putteth doune Psal. 37.one / and setteth vp another. Agayne / the vngodly seeth the righteous / and seketh occasiō to slea hym. But the Lorde will not leaue hym in his hande / nor condemne him / whā he is iudged. Immediatly / after also was a contrary commaūdement sent out by the Hest. 8. 9postes with all haste frō the king / streightly charging all the inhabitantes of the kinges Maie not God thus vvorbe in the O…enes hart, for his faithful seruauntes in time to come.dominions by no meanes to trouble or too vexe the Iewes / but to take them as moste dere / faithfull and louinge subiectes of the Kinge / and if anye wolde withstande the Kinges commaundement in this behalfe / that the Iewes shoulde gather them selfes together / and slea their enemies / and take awaye their goodes. Thus sodenly was sorow turned into ioye / heauines into myrth sadnes into gladnes / slauery into honoure / darkenes into lighte / and deathe into lyfe. O the vnspeakable power of the Lord oure God.
To whome is the historie of the. iij. iong Dan. 3.men vnknowen / which / because they wold not worship the goldē Image at the kinges commaundement were cruelly caste into an whote brēning ouen? Who wolde not hauehave iudged their lyfe vtterly loste? But God / which helpeth in moste extremities / so prouided / that the fyre did hurte them nothing at all / no / not so muche as an hay…e of their head perished with the fiire / nor no parte of their garmentes. Whole & sounde came thei out of the brenninge fornace / vntounto the great glory of God. O the fatherly care of the Lorde our God / for all such as cleue to hys holy and blessed worde.
The history of casting the prophet Daniel Dan. 6.into the denne of Lyons / because contrary to the Kynges commaundement / he prayde vntounto the Lorde hys God / is not vnknowen to them that rede the holy scriptures. Who durst hauehave promysed Daniel any lyfe / bei… thus caste doune vntounto the hungrye & cruell Lyons? yet God was present with hym / & stopped the Lyons mouthes / that they dyd not once hurte hym. O the louing kyndnes of the Lorde oure God towarde all theym that call on hys holy name / and putte theyr truste in hym.
I passe ouer the histories of the cytiesins of Bethulia / of Iob / of Thoby / of Susan / and of diuers other contayned in the olde testament / which in al their necessities and troubles / callīg on the name of god / proued hys presente helpe / whyche by no meanes wolde suffer them to perish. All these thinges Rom. 14are written for our learnyng / that thorow pacience and comfort of the scriptures we should hauehave hope.