Conclusions of Peace, Part 8
How these wordes My sonne, doe serue for our consolation.
NOw we will see, for the comforting and strengthening of our faith, how the Lord in these wordes My sonne, doth binde himselfe to his children, which thing (being duely considered) will cause vsus (through the grace of God) to beare with patience, whatsoeuer crosse shall fall vponupon vsus in the discharging of those dueties which our heauenly father hath laid vponupon vsus in our seuerall callinges: yea, if we fall into the reckoning of it, wee will not onelyonly goe cheerefully away without fainting vnderunder the burthen, but euen despise, and set at naught all reproches and slaunders, all mockes and iestes, all losses and hinderances, and death it selfe for the excellent glorie, and glorious libertie of the sonnes of Rom. 8. 18. 21.God: for as this white flagge doth shewe vsus that we are not our owne men, but the Lordes; so in the same we may also perceiue that the Lord hath a speciall care ouer eueryevery one of his children in particular. If wee be wholly his, then is hee wholly ours: if wee be not sonnes for our selues, but for him; then he is a father not for himselfe: but for vsus.
Therefore, saith the Lord, My sonne, which is all one, as if hee had said, I am thy father, as thou art my son: thou art mine, and I am thine: for there is no sonne without a father. My sonne, if thou doest a sonnes duetie to mee, I will hauehave a fathers care ouer thee, whatsoeuer is past shalbe forgotten, feare nothing: for thou shalt want nothing that I see good for thee. Goe through my businesse boldly and couragiously, & I wil stand by thee to the end. If thou wantest any thing, tell me, and I wil supply thy wantes. If anie bodie do Mat. 28. last. Iam. 1. 5.abuse thee in word and deede, complaine to me, and I will see it redressed. If thou wantest wisedome, aske it of me▪ and I will make thee wiser Psa. 119. 99.than thy ancients. If thou wantest Psa. 119, 57.wealth, I my selfe will be thy portion. If thou be weake, I will bee thy strength. If thou fall sicke, I will be thy phisition: and if thou die, I will restore thee to life againe, euen to Ioh. 11. 25.life euerlasting. Therefore cast thy whole care vponupon me, for I will care for thee, and thy whole prouision will I take vponupon my selfe: only keep Iosh. 1. 8.thou thy standing, bee faithfull in thy calling, relie vponupon me, my son, and feare nothing.
And further, My sonne, doe not thinke that my prouidence is onelyonly in generall ouer all my children, but know that my pro…idence reacheth in particular to euerie one of my children in what place of the world soeuer they be. In the mountains & Psal. 139.vallies, by sea and by land, by night and by day: All thinges are open in my sight at one instant. And this is the Heb. 4. 13.cause why the Lord saith, My sonne, as though he spake but to one, when he speaks to all that are his children, that all may knowe what a speciall care he hath of euerie one: yea such a care indeede hath the Lord ouer all his children in particular, that hee hath numbred all the haires of their Psal. 56. 8.head, he putteth all their teares into a bottell, hee counteth all their goings, and he regardeth all their sighs and grones. Insomuch as, a stone doth not lie in their waie, but hee knoweth of it, & knowing it, he doth so preserue them, as that they shall not hurt their foot against a stone.
This indeed is sweet & comfortable, but yet for all that wee see by daily experiēce, that the children of God, doe still go by the worst in the world: and the troubles of the righteous Psal. 34. 19.are manie and great, but the wicked doe prosper as Iob saith, neither doe they come into trouble as Iob. 21. 7, 8, 9, &c.other men, yea they hauehave whatsoeuer their heart can wish, and more too, (as Dauid saith) they are not mocked nor flowted at, nor had in Psa. 73. 5.derision, as the Godly are, &c. Stay thy selfe, All this is true, and a great deale more thā this, but what then? Yet God is good to Israell for all Psa. 73. 1.this, and careth for the affliction of poore Ioseph, yea what wilt thou say if Ioseph be afflicted that the Lord might shew what care he hath of his affliction? but what? Can the Lord forget his litle worme Iacob, which he Esa. 49. 16.hath writen in the palmes of his handes? Or is there no profite in seruing of the almightie? Let the reprobate make the Iob 21. 14. Mal. 3. 14.conclusion. Thou thy selfe arta father, and if thy child doe thy will, thou wilt giuegive him good thinges. If he doth transgresse thy will, thou wilt also correct him, because he is thy childe. And shall not the Lord which excelleth all fathers in louelove, much more giuegive his children good Luk. 11. 13.things when they obay him.
Verely he wil cause his people to mount vponupon the high places of the earth, and Israell shalbe fed with the heritage of Iaakob his father, for the mouth of the Lord of hostes hath Esa. 58. 14.spoken it.
But what if his children do offēd him? shall it not be lawfull for him to correct them? Surely whom he loueth he correcteth, euen as a father Pro. 3. 12.doth the child in whom he delighteth and therfore he correcteth them because he loueth them. If his child do sinne against him, (as who doth not) he will chasten him with the rods of men, and will visite their sinnes, with the plagues of the children of men. So did he deale with Salomon, and he told his father Dauid how he would vse him, but yet 2 Sam. 7. 1…(saith he) I wilbe his father, and he shalbe my sonne, and my mercy wil I not take frō him, as I tooke it from Saul, whom I put awaie before thee. So his merciemercy, he will not take awaie from his children, as he doth frō the wicked, whom hee hath purposed to cast off in the end.
But thou doest aske me why the wicked do florish in this world. I ask thee again, why doest thou set vp thy Oxen a fatting? is it not against the daie of slaughter? So doth God likewise set vp the vngodly and proud men a fatting, euen vntill their eies stand out with fatnesse: but is it not Psal. 73. 7.against the day of iudgment? Therfore Psal. 37. 1.be content, and fret not thy self at the prosperitie of irreligious and prophane men, whose life is but a warre with God. They hauehave their heauen heere, that they may hauehave their hell hereafter. And what if Capernaum be lifted vp to the heauēs, hee shalbe cast downe to the lowest Mat. 11. 23.hell: and howe should hee be cast downe, if he were not first lifted vp? Againe, The Lord will raise his people out of the dust, and set them vp Psal. 113. 7.amongst Princes: how should they be raised vp, if they were not first cast downe?
But why doth the Lord suffer the vngodly so to vexe his Children? surely, because they are his rods to whip them withall; but when hee hath wel corrected his children, and worne his rod to the stumps, the rod shalbe cast into the fire: and as scullions of the kitchen, to scoure his vessels of honour, so doth the Lord vse all the wicked ennemies of his Church, euen the greatest Tirantes that euer were.
But, why doth our heauenly father keepe his children so bare and so poore as they be manie times? Neuer maruell at that: for thou thy selfe (being a father) keepest thy child bare, and giuest him neuer a pennie in his purse: thou puttest him to schoole, thou doest keep him vnderunder, and giuest him but from hand to mouth, vntill he come to yeares of discretion, and then thou doest giuegive him more large allowance: and when his time is come, he possesseth also thy inheritance and not before. For, if he should possesse the inheritance, when hee is a childe or a youth, hee would waxe proud, and perhappes spend it awaie riotouslie and wastfullie. So God our heauenlie father, seeth that if wee should hauehave our handes full, and want nothing, we would waxe proud, and wanton, and forget God (as manie doe) or we would spend it vainly or maliciously, or (as S. Iames saith) vponupon our pleasures and lustes, and therefore our heauenly father, doth in singular wisdome keepe vsus vnderunder manie times, giuing vsus but frō hand to mouth; yet doth he louelove vsus neuer the worse for all that, but the better: and when the time of re…eshing is come from the Lord, it shalbe saide Act. 3. 19.vntounto vsus, Come ye blessed children of my Father, possesse the kingdome prepared Matt. 25. 34.for you, from the beginning of the world.
But in the meane time, wee must looke for trouble in the worlde: for so hath our Lord Iesus foretolde vsus. In the world you shall hauehave trouble (saith Ioh 15. 9. Ioh. 16. 33.he) but be of good cheare, I hauehave ouercome the world: that victorie is not for himselfe, but for the faithfull. And as for trouble & affliction, the Lord doth see it good for vsus, that we may learne the statutes of our God, as the rod is necessarie for the childe, without which he would waxe brutish, and barbarous.
The gold is put in the fire, and is Similitudesmade the finer: the spices are braied in the morter, and do smell the sweeter: the vine is pruned to the stocke, and is made the more fruitfull: the grape is trodden and pressed, & eyeldeth the more wine: the ground is rent with the plough, and then receiueth the seede: the corne is first beaten out with the flaile, then it is tossed with the fanne: after that, it is ground in the mill, and then it is fit to make bread: the cloth is rent, and cut in peeces before it can make a garment: the finest linnen is washed, and wrung, and then is made white. All these are familiar examples to teach vsus howe necessarie affliction is for the children of God, and howe hardly they are made fit for the kingdome of heauen, without the crosse.
Ioseph was promised, that he shuld Examples.be ruler ouer all his brethren, but he was not so by and by: hee must first Ioseph.be cast into a pit, then hee must be bought and solde, then hee must be tempted and falsly accused, then he must be wrongfullie imprisoned: and after all this, hee shall be aduanced. The Israelites were promised the land of Chanaan which flowed Israelites.with milke and honny, but it is not giuen them so soone as it is promised, they must first serue in Aegypt, then they must passe the red Sea, then they must trauaile through the wildernesse of manifolde wantes: then they must fight manie sore battailes, and afterward come to Chanaan. It was tolde Dauid that hee Dauid.should be king, but hee did not presently weare the crowne. No Dauid no, thou must first be a shepheard; then thou must encounter with Goliah the vncircumcised; then thou must looke for Saules hatred; then thou must be banished Saules courts, and thy owne countrey: and after all this, and a great deale more, with much adoe, thou shalt be king. So the Lord hath promised vsus the kingdome of heauen, whereof Chanaan was a figure and a resemblance, but wee must not looke presently to enioy it: wee must first be handled as Ioseph was; then wee must be euill treated and oppressed, as Israel was; then wee must be hated and persecuted, as Dauid was, and then wee shall hauehave it. The worlde will hate vsus, our foes will hate vsus, and our friendes will hate vsus, if wee feare God, but God will louelove vsus, and that is our comfort: Father and mother will forsake vsus, but God will Psa: 27. 10.take vsus vp, and that is our comfort. Craftie heades will lay snares to take vsus in our goinges, but God will breake the snare, and our soules Psa. 124. 7.shall escape: the proude and malicious, will dishonour and disgrace vsus, but GOD will honour those that honour him: for fathers are 1. Sam. 2. 30the glorie of their children (saith Salomon) howe much more shall the Prou. 17. 6.God of all glorie, be a glorie to his Children? we must not looke to be free from the buffettinges of Sathan, if wee were as holie as Paule; but feare nothing, the grace of 2. Cor. 12. 7.God, doth and shall vpholde vsus. And Sathan will sift vsus, as wheat is Luke 22. 31. 32.sifted, if we weare as good as Peter, if he may hauehave his desire, but be not afraid, for I hauehave prayed for thee, saith the Lord Iesus, that thy faith may not faile, yea the Lord doth fight for vsus, and with his louing fauour he will defend his children, as Psa 5. 12.with a sheild.
This is more (I cōfesse) than man can found with the plummet of human reason, neither is it alwais seen with the eies of our body. Therefore 2. Cor. 5. 7.Gods children must learne to walke by faith, and not by sight. And therfore is our waiting on god made an article of our faith, I beeloue in God the father almightie &c. That which must vpholde our faith is Gods promise, and his power. So was Abraham vpholden and was persuaded that God would be as good as his word, though he saw no worldly reason for it, and if we Rom. 4. 21.could giuegive a naturall reason for that, as wee may doe for thinges of the world, then were our trusting in God an article of reason, but not an article of faith. And these two can not stand together, for faith doth beginne, where reason doth end, that when all meanes doe faile vsus, yet faith may vphold vsus, in the promises of God.
And thus we see, how these two words, My sonne, do not onelyonly persuade vsus to here God, and bind vsus entirely to serue him, without halting in our calling, but they serue also to comfort vsus, and to cheare vsus vp, when the crosse doth meete vsus in doing, or rather in neglecting the dueties of our calling.