The Faith of Dying Jacob, Part 5
But God shall be with you.
Now followeth Israels Prophesie to his surviving posterity. In the prospect of wilderness troubles, he tells them of a Pillar of Cloud and Fire: They being to sail over a dangerous Sea, he tells them of a good Pilot and Convoy, and a safe landing: Though they were to meet with storms he tells them of a sure hideing place and covert.
Observ. Though Israel dieth, the God of Israel liveth, Jer. 10 10. He is the Living God, the Everlasting King, the King of Eternity.
If any ask where God dwelleth, his Mansion House is Eternity: He is the Rock of Ages, that many ages have passed and repassed, against which dashing they have been broken in pieces, Deut. 32. 20. I lift up my hand to Heaven, and say, I live for ever, Psal. 102. 27. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The Duke of Saxony, the Protestant Protectour, dead, Luther, being asked what would now become of him, replyed, still I shall be safe in Heaven or under Heaven. 'Twas the Primitive Christians joyful Salutation foreign; Our Saviour is a live. Luther in his sad fits had it wrote on the Wall, Christus vivit, Christus vivit, Christ is alive, otherwise I should not desire to live one hour. We say, such a Woman and Child lived well, while the Husband and Father were alive: Gods Israel is no Widdow, no Orphan, Isai. 54. 4. Thy maker is thy Husband, John 14. 18. foreign I will not leave you Orphans, and because I live, ye shall live also.
O happy Israel, Deut. 33. 27. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the Heaven to thine help, and in excellency on the skie: The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: And he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them: Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, a People saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the Sword of thine excellency? And thine Enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. God is alive with his eye upon Canaan from the beginning of the year to the end, watching to punish Leviathan the piercing Serpent, even Leviathan the crooked Serpent, crossing like a bar, and to slay the Dragon that tumbles in the midst of the Sea: Watching to preserve and Water his Vineyard every moment, lest any should hurt it. I will keep it night and day, saith the Lord, Isai. 27. 1, 3. There can be no enchantment or divination, no Cabals or subterraneous plottings, though digging many Miles deep into Hell, but are known to Israels God, who can confound all enmitous powers and policies that are against him or his. Why then should Israel be afraid of a man that shall die, or the Son of man, that shall be made as Grass? Why should he fear continually every day, because of the fury of the Oppressor? as if he were ready to destroy; and where is the fury of the Oppressor? The Princes breath goeth forth, he returneth to his Earth, in that very day his thoughts perish with him. God must first be conquered and made away, before the Church can die; must be disarmed, blinded, slain, else Israel will live. Yet, however the world blusters, have I set my King upon my holy Hill in Zion. Such as clamber to pull him thence, will break their necks. Men foolishly politick make all sure below in the Valleys, but nothing in the Hills above. The Inscription on God's dwelling is, I see and laugh, I see and scatter. Men think some subtle-pated Counsellors stand in their way; but 'tis the Eternal faithful God stands in their way. 'Twas the Motto of an Emperour, Nemo laedat, quos ego suscipio; Nemo spoliet, quos ego defendo. So says Israel's God, Whom I undertake to defend, let no man think to destroy.
Men are mortal crumbling bits of dependency, yesterdays start-ups, that came out of the Abyss of nothing, hastning to the bosom of their Mother Earth. To all the Clay-gods on Earth, the Lord saith, I have said ye are gods, but ye shall die like men. Alexander who had conquered the world, feeling death conquering him, cries out to his Flatterers, Ye have said I am a God, but I die like a mortal man. Job 24. v. 24 They are exalted for a little while, foreign, but are gone, and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others, though seeming unmoveable Mountains of Power and Policy, and cut off as the tops of, the Ears of Corn. The Brethren were afraid finding Joseph alive, whom they would have slain, tantum non enecant. Herod was afraid, fearing John Baptist, whom he beheaded, was alive. The Jews hearing that Christ whom they had crucified was alive, and made Lord and Christ, pricked at the heart, cryed out, Men and Brethren, what shall we do? The Lord reigneth, let the Earth tremble. Christ calls out to Saul, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. He is still alive out of the reach of man, and sits in Heaven till his Enemies be made his footstool, non conniventibus oculis, vel depressis manibus, not with folden hands, or shut eyes; and will live when the Carcasses of the wicked shall be lodged in the grave, and their Souls in Hell.