Gods Eye on His Israel — Thomas Gataker

Gods Eye on His Israel · Thomas Gataker

4. They are his first fruits. as his first born, Relation 4.so his first-fruits too. kIam. 1.18. Rev. 14.4.Of his own will he begat us, saith the Apostle, by the word of truth, that we might be the first fruits of his creatures. As the first born, so lExod. 22.23. & 23.19. Rom. 11.16.the first fruits were holy to God, and were therefore mDeut. 26.2, …0 14.reserved and preserved for his use. and for any to detain them, or to imbecil them, was sacriledge. nor is it any lesse, or lower a degree of nSacrilegii genus est, Dei cultores odisse. Salvian. de provid. l. 8. c. 4.sacriledge, to abuse or wrong any of these Gods spirituall first fruits. It is the plea that God by the Prophet useth in the behalf of his people; oIerem. 2.3.Israel is holinesse to the Lord. he is consecrated to him, as the first fruits were. he is the first fruits of his increase. and what followeth? all therefore that devour him shall contract guilt by so doing. some evill or other shal befall them: as it fared usually with those, that pProv. …0.25.devoured any holy thing.

5. They are Gods darlings, his deer ones.qPsalm 22.20. Save my soul from the sword, saith David; my darling from the hand, Relation 5▪or pProv. …0.25.power of the Dog. my darling, saith he. and, thy darling, he might as wel have said.ras Psal. 49.15. 1 Sam. 17.37. for David was indeed one of Gods darlings. and so are all the faithfull, his darlings, his de…r ones, hissJer. 12.7▪ foreign deerly beloved ones: as deere and pretious to him, yea tCharior est illi homo, qam sibi. Juven. sat. 10.more deere and pretious to him, I may safely say, then to themselves. uLam. 4.2.The sonnes of Sion, are pretious one. and, xEsay 43.4.Because thou wast pretious in my sight; saith God to his Iacob, to his Israel. If it be demanded, how pretious, how deere. even as pretious and deere as to any of us is the ball or apple of our eye. yPsal. 17.8.Lord, keep me, saith David as the apple of thine eye. There is no part of the body more tender then the eye. The least moat of dust, that getteth into it, is very troublesome to it. It is wel observed, that the Ministers of the Word, being as a1 Sam. 9.9.19 Esay 30.10.the eyes of the Church, are inhibited all b2 Tim. 2.4.intanglement with worldly affaires and employments, because tho the hands and the feet may without any great inconvenience be deaiing with the dust, and paddling in the durt, yet the cDum pastoris sensus terrena studia occupant, vento tentationis impulsus Ecclesiae oculos pulvis excaecat. Greg. pastor. cur. l. 2. c. 7.eye cannot▪ without damage or danger admit ought of either. Now, as there is no part of the body more tender then the eye: so there is no part, whereof we are more tender then of it. dQuinti, si tibi vis oculos debere Catullum, Aut aliud, si qid charius est oculis; Eripere ei noli, multo qod chariu… illi Est oculis, seu qid charius est oculis. Catull. Hoc ego sim vobis, unus sibi qisqe qod ipse est: Hoc mihi vos eritis, qod duo sunt oculi. Apul. Dii me, pater, omnes oderint, ni magis te qam oculos nunc amo meos. Ter. …eeyr. 4.5. Dispeream nisi tu vita mihi charior ipsa, Atqe anima, atqe oculis es, mea Hyella, meis. Dispeream, nisi ego vita tibi charior ipsa, Atqe anima, atqe oculis, s…, mea Hyella, tuis. Auger.as deer unto us, we use to say, as our eyes. and to expresse our entire affection to some, eGal. 4.1…. Dandames Scytha, qo amicum … Sauromatis captum redimeret, oculos effosso… foreign dedit. Lucian. de amic. 1 Sam. 11.2. Oculos, & qicqid chariorem est vitam facturum, inter precaria numerat. Sen de tranq. c. 11.we could be content to bestow our eyes on them. So deere to each one is his eye; and that part of it more especially, wherein the sight consists, and in regard whereof fOculi pars corporis pretiosissima; ut qi usu lucis vitam distinguant à morte. …lin. l. 11. c. 37.the eye is esteemed so pretious a piece, because that failing, the creature together with the sight losing all use of light, is as one adjudged to a perpetuall night, condemned to live thenceforth all his life long in a dark dungeon. Neither indeed is there any part almost of the body, that nature, or the God of Nature rather, hath so carefully garded and curiously fenced against all manner of emergent dangers. For besides gVide Galen. de usu part. l. 10. Plin. l. 11. c. 37.the severall filmes, as so many inward fences, with the humours as waters enclosed between them; there is without as a strong wall of hard bone round about it, to secure it against the violence of any more forcible matter; and over that the eye-lids as curtains ready to be drawn over it upon occasion of ought making towards it, that may impeach or molest it; and those fringed also with a double set of short hair, that may neither hinder its prospect, and yet may help to shrowd and shelter it, by keeping off such slighter and lighter occurrents, as might casually annoy it. Now like to this pretious part of man, the eye: and to that more pretious part of that part, the ball, or apple of the eye, that is so curiously garded, doth David desire to be with God, in regard of his tender care over him, his constant providence and continuall protection of him. And such doth God himself professe his to be unto him; and his care therefore of them and affection to them consequently to be such,mRiber. in Z…ch. as ours is wont to be of that part which we so pretiously esteem. Such it had been towards this people from the first. For so Moses in his song penned, hDeut. 31.19.by Gods own appointment, to mind them of his mercies and favours shewed them; iDeut. 32.10.He led them, and kept them, as the apple of his eye. And such he promiseth it should be kEsay 46.3, 4.to the last towards them. lZech. 2.5.I will, saith he, be unto Jerusalem, as a wall of fire round about her. he saith not, a wall nMurus Lapideus. Nehem. 4.1.of stone, or oMurus chalibeus, vel…aheneus, ut Flaccus. Jer. 1.18. & 15.20.of steel, as one well observeth; tho that might seem to imply safety and security sufficient: but a wall pMurus igneus, an ignitus.of fir… ; such as may not onelyonly secure her, but anno them that assault her, may both qQi cominus arceat, …minus terreat.fright them afar off, and destroy them at hand. And yet further, because intestine evils may spring up; and those many times prove more dangerous then any from without: rZech. 2.5.My glory, saith God, that is, my glorious presence shall be in the middest of her. and if sPsal 46.5.God be in the middest of her, she cannot be moved. she cannot but be safe; she cannot miscarry by any evill whatsoever, either from within or from without. And what is the reason why God is so carefull and chary of the safety of his people? tZech. 2.8.For he that toucheth you, saith he, toucheth the apple of mine eye. uAd exprimendam pietatis suae, teneritudi…nem tenerimam partem humani corporis nominavit, ut apertissime intelligeremus eum …am parva sanctorum su…rum contumelia laedi, q…m parvi verberis tact… humani visus acies laederetur. Salvan. de Prov. l. 8.….4. Relation 6.He makes choise of the tenderest part of mans body, and that which men are most tender of, thereby to shew and assure that he is as much agreeved and offended with the least grievance that is offered to any of his, as the least touch of the eye, or eye-sight is offensive unto us. and he sendeth his messeng…r therefore to the Nations round about them, to warn them to take heed how they attempt ought against her, lest they bring mischief thereby upon themselves.

6. They are his Spouse, whom he hath contracted himself unto, to be unto them as their husband, as their head, aHos. 2. 19.20.I will espouse thee unto me, saith the Lord by Hosea, in judgement, in justice, in faithfulnesse, in loving kindnesse, and in much mercy. and, bEsay 54.5. foreign voces plurales, ut Job 35.10. Eccles. 12.1.He that made thee, cEph. 5.23.thy Creator, saith Esay, will marry thee. Now the husband, saith the Apostle, is the head of the wife, as Christ is of the Church. and his office is to protect her, as Christ doth it, being the Saviour of his body. What kind husband can endure to see his wife wronged? or can without grief and discontent behold that done, that shall vex and grieve her? no, her grief is his; yea it is more his. then if it were personally his own. Nor is God therefore lesse chary and tender of his Church, and the welfare thereof; then any the kindest husband of his dearest wife, and of her comfort and contentment. dEsay 63.9.In all their afflictions, saith the Prophet, he was afflicted. it was an affliction to him to see them afflicted. and eJudg. 10.16.his soul was grieved, saith the story, he was grieved at the very heart, to see the grievance, or the misery of Israel; to see what a calamitous estate they were in at present, through the cruelty of the enemy, fIud. 10.6, 7. Relation 7.into whose hands they had been sold for their sinnes.

7 They are his Turtle. for that also would not be omitted. gPsal. 74.19.O deliver not, saith the Psalmist, or, hIer. 12.7. Rom. 4.23. & 8 32.give not up the soul of thy Turtle, (that is, the iJun. & Pisc.life of it, or thy Turtle simply: for it is oft times no more then so; as where it is said, kPsal. 3.2.How many be they, that say to my soul? that is as much as, to me: save that it makes the speech the more lSic Psal. 105.18. ferrum subivit anima ejus. i.e. ipse, Jun. sed habet Emphasin▪ qasi diceretur; he was poore soul laid in Irons.emphaticall by such an mCujusmodi sunt illa, Iud. 5.21. Ier. 4.19. & 12.7.affectionate expression) unto the troop; (to wit, of her adversaries that are ready to seize on her, or that have seized on her already, nVerse 3.4.9.10.in whose hands she now is) or pforeign. Graec. bestiae, vet. Lat. ferae. Pisc.unto the wild beast, the beasts of the qAbraham Esdraid. qi & foreign agri subintelligi monet. Sic Psal. 68.20 foreign seram arundiuit. i▪ seras agrestes, utpote apros, qi in arundinetis degunt. Jairus. aut catervam. arundiseram. i. hastis instructam. Abr. Esdraid. & D…v. Camius fustibus oblongis. Vatabl. sagi…is▪ Jun.feild: unto such ravenous beasts as are wont to prey upon such feeble fowl as is the Turtle and the like; unto which fierce and fell creatures the Churches enemies are here, and aPsal. 22.12, 13, 16, 20.21▪ & 57.4. & 80.13.elsewhere oft, compared. The Prophet Nathan, to bring David about by a sleight to a sight of the grievousnesse of hisoforeign c…ui. Tigur. catervae. Jun. ita m…x hoc versu▪ et 2 Sam. 23.11, 13. & Psal. 68.10. ita Jairus & Camius. sinne, in b2 Sam. 12.9.taking Vriahs wife away from him; telleth him a tale of c2 Sam. 12·1.4a poore man, that had a Cade-lamb, brought up by hand, which he was so taken with, that he used to feed it at his tabl…, and lay it dforeign in grem…o suo. Esay 40.11.in his lap; and of a rich man, that took this poore mans lamb, and killed it, to entertain his guest therewith: thereby implying, what a wrong men would take it to be, to see any sorry creature wronged, or to have it taken from them, wherein they take such delight. And I might well appeal, to those, either rich, or poore, but the former especially, that keep for pleasure, Turtles, or Finches, or Linnets, or Nightingales, and the like, be they for singing or sight desired; how chary they are wont to be of them, how carefull to cage them, and keep them in places of security, out of the reach of such ravenous creatures, as Cats, or the like, that would otherwise be dealing with them; and how they are wont to take it, when through the malice of any ill-affected to them, or the neglect of those that have charge of them, any mischief befalleth them. eVide Plin. hist. nat. l. 10. c. 43.such a matter as that hath sometime cost a man no lesse then his life. And so is it here. Gods Church is his Turtle, fCant. 2.14 & 5.2. & 6.9.his Dove, much more deer to him, then any such toys (for so in comparison I may well tearm them) are or can be with those, that doe most affect them, and set the highest rate on them: and is consequently as chary, yea more chary of his, then any man or woman is, or can be of any such creature, which they are most taken with, and wherein they most delight.

Lastly, they are gDeut. 9.19·his people: the people,Relation 8. with whom he hath entred into hExod. 24.7, 8. Deut. 5.3. & 29.12.covenant, whom he hath taken into his protection. iDeut. 26.17, 18.they are his servants, and he their liege Lord; they are his subjects, and he their Soveraign. Now it is the honour of a King to protect his people: the office of a Soveraign to secure his subjects from violence and wrong. Yea a good King accounteth kSicut, si servo… nostros qisqam caedat, nos in servorum no…trorum caedit injuria: ita & cum servus Dei à q…qam l…ditur, ipsa majest… divina violatur. Salvian. de provid. l. …. c. 4.himself wronged in the wrong of his people, nor can he with patience endure to see that done wherby any, even the meanest of them, is unjustly molested and injured. lPsal. 72.4.He shall judge, saith the Psalmist, that is, mDeut. 3….36. Psal. 7.8. & 26.2. & …8.3.judge for, right and avenge, the wronged poore of the people: nPsal. 72.12—14▪he shall deliver the needy, and him that hath no helper: he shall save their souls, that is, their oPsal 72. & 71.10.lives; and redeem, or pPsal. 107.2.rescue, qtheir soul. as Psal. 16.10. & 17.13. & 23 3. & 49.15.them from fraud and violence: he shall protect them against all damage and danger, that by any injurious course, either of circumvention or oppression, in regard of their poverty and inabi…ity, they may at any time be exposed unto:rPsal. 72.14. and pretious shall their bloud be be in his sight. no drop of their bloud, but he shall set an high rate on it, and make those therefore pay full deerly for it, that shall, either draw, or even attempt to draw it. And surely if earthly Princes, who are but s2 Chron. 29.23. 2 Chron. 19 6. Vicarius Dei. Eleuther. epist. ad Lucium.Gods vicegerents and tRom 13.4.ministers, either are, or ought to be so affected towards those, who being indeed uEzek. 45.8.Gods people, are by him xPsal. 78.71.committed to their care and charge: how much more is God himself thus affected to his people, yPsal▪ 82.3, 4.of whose safety and welfare he requireth them to be so cautious? that which is there spoken being in deed and truth but a type of that, the truth whereof is most eminently found and fulfilled in him. aPsal. 146.7.He it is indeed, that helpeth those to right that suffer wrong; and …hat then also when those that should here doe it, bEsay 3.16, 17. & 5.8. Eccles. 3.16.refuse to right them, or in steed of righting them, doe themselves wrong them. that executeth judgement in the behalf of his oppressed ones. and of whom it is avowed, that cPsal. 116.15.the death, and the bloud, consequently, of his Saints is pretious in his sight. And surely if the teares of Gods people, that by such courses are wrung from them, are so pretious in his esteem, that he is said to reserve them by him, as in a bottle: no marvell if their bloud be pretious in his sight, if he set an high rate on every drop of it. dPsal. 56.8. De Romano Prudent. hymn. 10. Guttam cruoris ille nullau… perdidit. Hic in regestis est liber coelestibus, Monimenta servans laudis indelebilis, Relegendus olim sempi…e…no judici, Libr…ine aeq… …i…be…um pondera et praemio…rum co…pa…abit copias.Thou countest my wandrings, or flittings, saith David; put my teares into thy bottle: are they not entred in thy book? yes, (e) this I know. I am assured that so it is. as if he had said, there is never a step that I take, when through the wrongfull and violent persecution of mine adversaries, I am enforced to (f) fly and flit from place to place, but thou takest notice of, and keepest a due account of it. and if thou keepest so exact an account of my steps, then sure thou canst not but take as exact a tale of my teares. thou hast a bottle for the one, and a a book for both. there is never a tear that I shed, that falleth besides the one; never a step that I take in these my flittings to and fro, but that together with each tear that I shed, stands registred, as upon record, in the other.

Thus then have we seen the point confirmed unto us,Reasons …. by reasons drawn from those relations that such persons have to God: we passe on to such Arguments as may be taken from Gods Attributes; from the nature of God, and his disposition, as towards all in generall, so more specially toward those, whom in a more speciall and peculiar manner he hath taken to be his.

First then, God is a just and a righteous God. Attribute 1.gPsal. 92.15.To shew that God is just; and there is no unrighteousnesse with him. And as he is a just and a righteous God; so he loveth righteousnesse. hPsal. 11.7.The righteous Lord, saith the Psalmist, loveth righteousnesse. and indeed he were not righteous, if he loved not righteousnesse. iNondum est justus, qem non delectat justitia: nec delectat, qod non amatur, Aug. de Verb. Ap. 17.he that loveth not righteousnesse, is not truly righteous, tho he may deale righteously. Again, as he loveth righteousnesse, so he hateth unrighteousnesse, kPsal. 45.7.Thou lovest righteousnesse; and hatest wickednesse. the one followeth necessarily upon the other. and, lPsal. 5, 4, …, 6.Thou art a God, that delightest not in wickednesse: but hatest all wrong-doers; and abhorrest all bloudy and deceitfull persons. and mPsal. 11.….The Lord trieth, that is, nJam. 1.12. 1 Cor. 11.…8.upon triall approves of, the righteous: but the wicked and such as love and delight in iniquity, his soul hateth; he abhorreth them from his heart. And as oPsal. 11.7.his countenance therefore doth behold the upright, to wit, pPsal. 17.2.with approbation and delight: so he is qHab. 1.13.of purer eyes then to behold evill, or to look upon iniquity, but rEsay 59.16.with detestation and dislike sPsal. 11.4.His eyes behold the sonnes of men; of all sorts, tProv. 15.….as well bad as good; and uPsal. 11.4.his eye-lids try them; with their wayes and courses. but xPsal. 1.3▪6.the one to approve them and preserve them, the other to testifie his dislike of their practises, by the destruction of their persons.

2. He is a jealous God. as a just and righteous, Attribute 2.so a aExod. 20.5.jealous God; jealous of his own bEsay 42.8.glory, his reputtaion, his credit, his honour. Now it is no small dishonour and disgrace to a Prince, if he shall see and suffer his subjects to be wronged, and c2 Sam. 15.3.doe not right them, whether it be, because he cannot, or tho he can, because he will not, much more: there is a note of impotency lying upon him in the one; a blot, which is farre worse, of iniquity in the other. Nor doth Gods honour seeme to be lesse engaged, and to lie at the stake, when his own people are in his own sight and presence oppressed. dEsay 2….17.We have been, say they, so and so in thy sight. eEsay 52.5.My people, saith he, are oppressed: and my name is blasphemed. and, fEzek. 36.10.My holy name was prophaned by the Nations, among whom my people was dispersed, in that they gforeign ut Gen. 20.20.13. & 26.7. Psal. 91.11. Matth. 4.6. Heb. 1.7.said of them, These are Gods people; and yet are gone out of his land.

And indeed in sundry respects doth the honour of God suffer in such cases.

1. In regard of his power, as if he were not able to protect or deliver his. hEzek. 20.13.14.I had said (saith God, of this people, when having brought them out of Egypt, they proved disobedient and rebellious) that I would poure out my fury upon them for their rebellious courses, and destroy them utterly in the wildernesse; and I had so done, but that I had respect to my Name, that it might not be polluted before the Heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. And iJosh. 7.4.5.when the hoast of Israel had received a repulse before Ai, kVerse 8.9.Oh Lord, (saith Joshua in his complaint of it to God) what shall I say, when Israel turneth the lforeign cervice…, ut Exod. 23.27. Psal. 18.40. …er. 2.27.back before his enemies? For when the Canaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, they will beset us on every side, and cut us clean off; and what. wilt thou doe to thy great name? what will become of thine honour? how much will it be impaired thereby? and how will it be again repaired? And if it be demanded in what regard Gods. name would have been so polluted, and his honour so blemished, either in the one case, or in the other; Moses will enform us, where pleading with God in the behalf of his people, mNum. 14.12.when he threatned to destroy them, nVerse 17.They will say, saith he, that therefore thou slewest them in the wildernesse, because thou wast▪ not able to bring them into that land, which thou hadst sworn to bestow upon them. and the like would they have said, had he suffered them to be destroyed by the inhabitants of the land. To which effect also was that taunting speech of those other Nations, among whom in the time of their captivity they were scattered, wherein God himself professeth that his name was prophaned, oEzek. 36.20.These are his people; and yet gone out of his land, as if God had not been able to keep them in it, albeit he had given them possession of it, because he suffered them to be dispossest of it again. And you know well, who it was that said to those the Lords three stout champions, pDan. 3.13.What God qLiberabit. pro, liberare poterit. …t Esay 66.7. Jer. 10.5.is able to deliver you out of my hand? as being prone to presume, that it must needs be for want of power on Gods part, if they were not delivered, who had hazarded their lives in this cause.

2. Gods name suffreth in such ease, in regard of his purity and holinesse. as if he were a God, that liked well enough of iniquity, at least misliked not such wicked courses. rPsal. 50.21.These things, saith he, thou diddest; and because I held my peace, and held my hand; (for Gods silence there, sPsal. 35.22. Esay 42.14.as elsewhere, is no other then his forbearing, either to stay their hand, and restrain their rage and riot, or by his revenging hand to make them know how he stands affected therewith) tDeos esse sui similes putat. Plaut. Amphitr. 1. Parum est. qia mala facta tua placent tibi, vis placere & mihi. Deum, qia non pateris ultorem, vis habere participem… suspicatus es, qod ero tibi similis, 'dum non v… tu esse mihi similis. Aug. in Psal. 49 Vult te Deus facere similem sui. & tu conaris Deum facere similem tui. Idem de 10. chord. factorum approbatorem, non adversatorem. Idem in Psal. 74.thou thoughtest, that I was like unto thee; thou supposedst me to be such another as thy selfe. Yea they stick not to say, when they scape scotfree, and thrive with their sinfull courses, that uMal. 2.17.any one that doth evill, is xEccl. 7.26.good in Gods eyes, is accepted with God; and that he delighteth in such, he liketh well enough of them. or where is the God of judgement? he would else execute judgement upon them, and thereby manifest himself to be otherwise minded.

3. In regard of his providence, as if he did not see, or regard, and take notice, what is done here on earth, aPsal. 94.5, 6.They break thy people in pieces, O Lord; and make havock of thine heritage: they slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherlesse: such as bExod. 22.22. Psal. 68.5.God hath more specially taken into his protection, and are as cRes est sacra miser. Sen. epigr. 4.sanctuary persons. and when they so doe, because they are suffered to doe so, dPsal. 94.7.they say, The Lord seeth it not; the God of Jacob regards it not. eJob 22.12, 13 14.God is aloft in the heavens, that are far higher then the stars; and much more then above the clouds. and how can he then discry and discern through the fforeign Deut. 4.11. Esay 60.2.dark passage that lieth between us and him, what is done by men here below? gforeign Psal. 18.11.the thick clouds so hide him, that hEt non videbit. i. ut vi…dere neqeat sicut, Psal. 78.7. & Jer. 10.5. non l…qentur▪ i. loqi neqeunt▪he cannot see them, while he walkes his round in heaven.

4. In regard of his justice, as if he would never call them to any account, for that which he did not reckon with them for at the present. iPs. 10.1, 2.While thou, Lord, saith the Psalmist, standest aloof of; and doest not shew forth, but hidest thy self in these troublesome times▪ the wicked doth with insolencie eagerly pursue the oppressed; and kPs. 10.8, 9, 10.what by privy plotting, what by open violence, makes a prey and a spoil of them. and Psal. 10.11.he saith in his heart; he mPsal. 14.1.thinks the whiles with himself, that God hath forgotten: he thinketh not on the poor, whom he so oppresseth: he hideth his face from them; as nPsal. 10.1.they complain that he doth: he will never see, or look after them; much lesse call him to account, for ought that he doth to them. For so it followeth in the Psalm; oPsal. 10.12, 13Arise, O Lord; to relieve the oppressed: lift up thine hand; to smite their oppressors: forget not the afflicted; tho men suppose thou so doest. For why should the wicked man reproach God, while he saith in his heart, that thou wilt not require it?

Thus doth pDum malignitatem insoles centem sustinet, sua sibi patientia detrabit. Tertull. de pa…ient.God suffer in his name by his suffrance of such▪ at whose hands his people suffer. and how can it be then, that, being so jealous of his honour as he is, he should endure to see that, but with much detestation and dislike, whereby his honour is so much, and so many wayes either imp…ached or impaired?

Attribute 3.3. God is a faithfull God. faithfull and true, in his promises to his; faithfull and firm, in his affection towards them.

qMal. 1.2.I have loved you; saith the Lord to his people tho they ungratiously and ungratefully, yea shamefully, or shamelesly rather, demand of him, rIbid.wherein he had loved them; that is, shewed any love to them. when as yet in truth he had sQod Senec. de benes. l. 1. c. 3. …inge illū beneficiis tuis, ut qecunqe severterit ibi te videat.so beset them with the fruits of his love, so environed them on every side with the effects of it, that which way soever they should turn themselves, they could no sooner draw their eye-lids asunder, but great variety of such objects would offer themselves to their eye-sight, as might be evident arguments of his love to them more then ordinary. And this love of God to his, is no fickle, but a constant love. whom he loves once, he loves ever. tJohn ….1.His, that he loved, saith the Evangelist, he loved to the last. and, uJer. 31.3.I have loved thee, saith God by the Prophet to his people, with a love ever-lasting. Now those that love entirely, cannot endure to see the least wrong done to those, whom so entirely they affect. and much lesse God … those whom so entirely, so constantly he loveth. How was xNum. 12.1.he displeased with Aaron and … but for murmuring and … somwhat against Moses, and manifested his displeasure yNum. 12.….10as by checking them both, so by smiting the one tho in regard of his place of high-priesthood … spared the other, with that foule disease of leprosie, that zLevit. 13.44-46.excluded from all society, as well civill as sacred. *Num. 12.13, 14.Nor could she be restored, but upon Moses his intreaty; and not then neither instantly. she must be taught by the delay of her recovery to learn, what it was to murmur or mutter ought against Moses. And aIob 42.7.Gods wrath, it is said, was incensed against Iobs three friends, (tho otherwise, for ought that appears in the story of them, good men) for the wrong they had done him in their over-harsh censures past on him. nor would God be pacified and reconciled again to them. untill they had reconciled themselves to him; untill they had satisfied him, and he made sute for them. bIbid. v. ….Let my servant Iob, saith he, pray for you; and then I will accept you.

Again, as he loves his entirely and constantly, so he hath, out of this this love to them by promise engaged himself, to be ever procuring of their good. It is one branch of his covenant with them▪ (and as his love, so his cIer. 32.40.covenant, it is everlasting; nor is there d1 Kings 8.23.any God herein like him, that keepeth word and covenant so as he doth with his) that eIerem. 32.40.he will never cease from doing them good. yea thatfIbid. v. 41. he will rejoyce over them, to doe them good. it shall be his greatest joy, the joy of his heart, to see them do well, and to be doing them good. As elsewhere also he is said gPsal. 35.27.to delight and take pleasure, in the prosperity of his people. And surely he that rejoyceth in doing them good, cannot but be grieved, to see evill done them whom it is his joy to do good unto. He that delights and takes pleasure in their prosperity and welfare, cannot but be grieved in and at their afflictions and adversity, and incensed against those by whom any such evill befalleth them.

4. God is a mercifull God. a God hExod. 3▪ …. Psalm 86.5. & 103.8.abundant, Attribute 4.and iEphes. 2.4.rich in mercy. One that loves mercy, that likes it, that delights in it. kMicah 7.18.What God is there saith the Prophet, like unto thee▪ pardoning iniquity, and passing by the transgressions of the remnant of thy people? he doth not retain his anger for ever▪ because he delights in mercy. And, mIerem. 9.24.I am the Lord, saith he. that exercise, mercy, justice, lPsalm 103.9.and judgement: for in these things I delight. I delight both to do them, and to see them done. Now this is the peculiar nature and property of mercy, that it makes men sensible of other mens sufferings; makes them to be affected with the afflictions of others, even as if they were their own. Yea thence mercy hath its name, and is so called, because by it nInde dicta est misericordia, qod▪ cordi nobis sit aliena miseria. Zanc. de nat. Dei. l. 4. c. 4. q. 1.men take to heort the miseries of others, and do in some sort oInde misericordia nomen accepit, qod miserum cor faciat compatientis & condolentis alieno malo. Aug. contr. advers. leg. & proph. l. 1. c. 20. Isidor. orig. l. 10. Misericordia est aegritudo animi ob alienarum miseriarum speciem. Sen. de clem. l. 2. c. 5. Misericordia vicina est miseriae. Ibid. c. 6. misereri sine animi miseria non fit. Ibid. Quando humana fragilitas ejusmodi capere possit affectum, qi sine miseriâ mis…reatur. Bern. de verb. Orig.even partake with them therein. And as to cruell and mercilesse persons it is pOculos sanguine p…scere. Vitel. apud Sue…on. c. 14. Cruciatu atqe supplicio oculos pascere animumqe exatura…e, Cic. Verr. 5. Non tam crudelitas, qam feritas, cum voluptati saevitia est. Sen. de clem. lib. 2. c. 4.a pleasure to behold the pains of men in torture: so to mercifull men it is a pain to see men in pain ▪ they feel what they behold in others; they suffer what they see. qHeb. 10.32, 33, 34.You have endured, saith the Apostle to the faithfull Hebrews, rforeign.a great conflict of sufferings; partly being sforeign. 1 Cor. 4.9.made a gazing stocke (as being brought your selves on the stage) by reproaches and pressures; and partly by being partakers with others that were in like manner used; and by tforeign.suffering together with me in my bonds. and uHeb. 13.3.Remember those, saith the same Apostle, that are in bonds, xforeign.as if your selves were in bonds with them; and those that are ill intreated, hardly used, as being your selves also in the body; and lyable therefore to the like. Yea, I may well say as being in the same body, as well with the one, as in the same bonds with the other. For men of tender bowels, pitifull persons, do many times by compassion endure as much, sometime more, then those do, that do personally suffer; and are more affected and afflicted with the pains and sufferings of others▪ then are they themselves that suffer them. What I endure, (saith yAria Caecinae P…ti uxor.a Noble Lady to her husband under Claudius condemned to die, and by her own voluntary act dying with him) zforeign. En, Paete, non dolet. Dio. l. 60. ubi puerili errore, codices excusi, foreign. & interpres, viden', puer, me non dolere? & Zonar. tom. 2. ubi errore diverso, foreign. Ecce feri. qod feci, non dolet, i…qit, Sed qod tu facies, hoc mihi, Paete, dolet, Martial. epigr. 1.14.paineth me not; that paineth me that thou endurest. Nor is it unlikely, but that he might well have quitted her with the like language, had his courage been equall. Certainly for a2 Kin. 25.7.Zedekiah to have his sonnes slain in his sight, might well be more bitter to him, then it was unto them; who might rather have wished to have been slain before them, then to have survived to see that cruell execution done on them. Is it thus then with men? and is it not so with God? Sure of Christ it is said, that he is such bHeb. 4.15.an High-priest, as hath cforeign.a fellow-feeling of our infirmities. being, tho freed now from feeling, yet dCompassio etiam cum impassibilitate perdurat. Bern. de grad. humil.not free from fellow-feeling; and tho now above all passion, yet not voyd of compassion. For tho he suffer not now in himself, yet he suffereth in his. eActs 9.4. me, inqit, non meos. Aug. de sanct. 14. & de divers. 45. tanto nos affectu amare dignatur, ut qod nos patimur, ipse se pati testetur. Idem homil. 15.Saul, Saul, saith he, why dost thou persecute me? and, fMatth. 25.42, 43.J was hungry, and ye gave not me to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink: I was naked, and ye clad me not; sick & ye prison, & in visited me not. He is affected with what they feel, as if he suffered it in them, gNon eget ex miseriâ; sed eget ex misericordiâ non eget ex deitate pro se, sed eget ex pietate pro suis. Salvian. ad. Ecces. l. 4.who professeth himself to suffer hunger, and thirst, and nakednesse, and sicknesse, and imprisonment in them: and who to Saul complaines of the persecution of his Saints, as the persecution of himself. hActs 9.5.I am Jesus, saith he, whom thou persecutest. Yea of God himself it is affirmed, as before we shewed, that iEsay 63.9.in the afflictions of his people he himself was afflicted. or, because that place admitteth kforeign ei, & foreign non. non affecit eos angustiâ. Jun. & Pisc. pa… lectio gemina, Job 13.15. Psal. 100.3.a double reading, and to some therefore may seem doubtfull; take that other place out of the holy History above also mentioned where when the Philistins and Ammonites grievously oppressed Gods people, it is said thatlJudges 10.16. his soul was grieved for the grievance of Israel. It grieved him to the very heart to see them so grieved; their grievance went to the very heart with him. I am not ignorant that these and the like are figurative and metaphoricall expressions, mforeign enunci….taken from mans weaknesse, and used for the help of mans weaknesse, thereby to decipher to us such a disposition in God, that is yet wholly free and far from all taint and tang of such weaknesse, as they intimate in us. Howbeit, sure it is, that that God, who thus expresseth himself to be affected with the wrongs and sufferings of his Saints, cannot but with exceeding much dislike and displicence see and behold ought, wherewith he professeth himself so to be affected. A mercifull God cannot endure any mercilesse cariage in man to man; and much lesse towards those, whom among men he most affecteth, nExod. 22.22, 23.Ye shall not afflict any widow, or any fatherlesse child: if any wise ye do, and they cry unto me, J will surely heare their cry, and my wrath shall be incensed: and I will slay you with the Sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherlesse. And why will God be so fierce and fiery against such as so do? the reason followeth a little after; tho inferred on a lesse matter, the oppressing of the poor by retaining his pledge. oExod. 2….27.When he crieth to me I will heare, for I am mercifull. and as I love mercy, therefore; so I abhor cruelty; and will execute judgement without mercy on mercilesse men. pJames 2.13. Misericordiam qi non praestat alteri, tollit sibi. Petr. Raven. serm. 42. foreign. Thucyd. l. 3.There shall be judgement without mercy, saith the Apostle, unto those that shew no mercy to others.

Adde hereunto, that, albeit it be qforeign. Demosth. contr. Mid.no injustice to pay cruell men in their own coin, (it is rforeign. Eurip. Orest.no cruelty, saith one, if such be cru…lly dealt with, as have dealt cruelly with others.) Yea it is not unjustly deemed sometime, a kind, not of sforeign. Antonin. l. 9. … 5. Aeqè iniqitas est, non punire nocentes, ac punire innocentes. Rob. Grosthed. epist. 48. Non eris innocens, si aut punias eum, cui parcendum esset, …ut parcas ei, qi fuerat puniendus. Bern. ad Eugen. l. 2.injustice onelyonly, but of tforeign Improbis parcere crudelitas est. In doctorum Hebr. …nomis. Est misericordia saeviens; est & crudelitas parcens. Aug. ep. 54. foreign. Pythagor. apud Stob. c. 40. Bonis nocet, qisq… malis pepercerit. P. Syrus. Parcit qisqe bonis, perdere vult malos. Cleobul. apud Auson. Dum paucis sceleratis parcunt, bonos omnes perditum eunt. Cato apud Salust. in Ca…il.cruelty, to spare such, and not to proceed with severity against them: Yet are mercifull men wont to be moved with compassi…n even towards those that so suffer; tho they suff… nothing, but what others have before suff…red from them, and what themselves by such their doings have well deserved. Even the pains that malefactors suffer by the hand of justice are no pleasing object to a mercifull mans eye. Teares have been seen to fall from the Judge when he was to sentence such, in commiseration of the delinquent, tho in consideration of his offence he were constrained to passe on him an heavy doom. Nor is it otherwise with God. when the whole world was so deeply defiled with sinne, that it could not be cleansed but by a generall deluge, as yGen. 6.11, 12, 13.it repented God, that he had made man; so zGen. 6.6.it grieved him at the heart, to consider with himself, that he must now destroy man again, whom he had so made. And when, by execution of justice, he commeth to aEsay 1.24.…ase himself of his adversaries, and to bPsalm 119.119.take away as drosse the cEsay 1.2…, 25. Ier. 6.28, 29. Ezek. 22.18. & 24.12▪ 14:scummy part of his people, that the residue may be the purer, he goeth about it as with grief. And when he had dJudg. 3.8, & 4.2.sold his people into the hands of their enemies, tho they suffered justly for their sinnes; ePsal. 106.43, 45. Etiam qos injuriae invisos faciunt, gratiosos miseriae … c. 3.neverthelesse, saith the Psalmist, be considered, he tooke to heart, their affliction, when he heard their cry, uforeign. Pindar. Nem: 4. Non …st injuria, pati qod feceris. Sen. de ira. l. 2. c. 30.xforeign. Lucian. Phalar. 1.and remembring his covenant, according to the multitude of his mercies, he repented him of the evill, that he had inflicted on them for their sinne.

In a word, fIerem. 9 24.God delighteth in doing good: gPsal. 119.68.thou art good, saith he, and dost good:) that is most agreeable to his nature. and he is therefore called hPater misericordiarum. 2 Cor. 1.3.the father of mercies; tho the iD…us ultionum. Psal 94.1.God also of vengeance; as if that flowed most naturally from him, kforeign. Domi habet. Ter. Adelph. 3.3. domi nascitur. Cic. ad Var…on.he hath it at home, as I may so say, from himself. but he delights not in punishing: that is forced as it were from him, and he forced upon it; the occasion, and first motive to it ariseth lDe suo optimus, de nostro justus. Tertul. de resur. c. 14. optimus ex naturae proprietate, justus, ex causae necessitate. ibid.from without, it commeth from the creature. mLam. 3.33.He punisheth not nforeignfrom the heart; or, with the heart. he goeth oContra animum, & qasi invitus facit pater miserationum, ut affligat nos. Jun.not about it with a good will. it is pEst pige… ad poenas Deus, est ad praemia velox: Qiqe dolet, qoties cogitur esse serox. Multa metu poenae, poenâ qi pauca coercet; Et jacit invitâ fulmina rara manu. Ovid. pont. 1.3. Qui cum triste aliquid statuit, fit trictis & ipse; Cuiqe ferè poenam sumere, poena sua est. ibid. 2.2. Torquetur ipse lenis, qando irascitur. Plin. jun. l. 9. ep. 21.a grief to him, to be greivous to us: it is a pain to him to be punishing of us. qEzek. 33 11.He delighteth not, (himself rJurat nobis, per qem juremus: nec potest ab ipso qisqam falli, quo invocato non licet impune mentiri. Cassiodor. Var. lib. 8. ep. 3.sweares it) in the death of the sinner; whom he would sRedire mavult, qam perire. Gul. Malm. gest. Angl. l. 2. c. 10. suffundere maluit hominis sanguinem qam effundere. Tertul. apolog.rather have to repent and return, than to go on and suffer for his sinne. And if it vex and grieve him, even to see wicked ones perish; or if to see his own tforeign. Aeschyl. suppl. foreign. Herodian. l. 4. Inclinat animus qo sors deterior trahit. Sen. Theb. 3. Miseros magis fortuna conciliat suis. ibid.suffer, tho deservedly, for their sinnes; how much more tenderly is he affected with those afflictions that his people wrongfully endure from the hatred and malice of wicked men?

All which laid together, whether we shall consider the sundry relations and tials that Gods people have unto God, or the affection and disposition that he beareth unto them; we cannot but conclude, that he cannot endure, without much dislike and displeasure, to behold any wrong or greivance done unto them.

The Doctrine it selfe then being thus grounded and made good, an Objection or two would be answered, ere we passe to the use of it.

For first, may some say, these relations that you here mention,Objection 1. and the dispositions that you speak of, are such as concern onelyonly the faithfull; nor can any other then such lay any just claim thereunto: whereas the passage of Scripture you treat of, is by your self affirmed to extend it self unto the whole body of that people of whom it was uttered, consisting of both sorts, as well unfaithfull as faithfull, as well bad as good.

To this I answer, first, that even those wicked and unfaithfull ones,Answ. 1. being members of the body politick of that people, which at that time was Gods Church, yea his onelyonly visible Church, for ought we know; were as the aEsay 1.22.drosse that is mixt with the good metall, while it remaineth yet unrefined; as the bMatth 3.12.chaffe that lieth blended with the grain, while it abideth in the floor; as thecMatth. 13.24, 25, 38. weeds, that grow untill harvest time, among the bread-corn in the field. And as the metalist keeps carefully the whole lump together, consisting of drosse and good metall, untill it be tried, not for the drosse sake, but for the good oare, with which it lieth in one lump; and the husbandman diligently fenceth the field, wherein dMatth. 13.30.corn and weeds grow together, not for the weeds, but for the corn, among which they grow; and hath a care of the whole heap, tho containing, it may be, more chaffe, then pure grain, untill the fan or screen have severed the one from the other, not for the chaffe sake, but for the grain, wherewith it lieth mingled in one heap: so doth Gods care and compassion extend it self to the whole body of his people, tho consisting of mixt multitudes; (not unlike the eMatth. 13.24, 25, 26.fi…ld that hath fforeign. non viciae. qod est granum utile. nec foreign, lolium, ut Suid…, peculiariter sic dictum▪ nisi si cum Hesychio (ex Theophr. hist. plant. lib. 8. cap. 5.) foreign intelligamus. sed generalius, foreign, ut Etymologus, qae inter sata sponte suâ provenire solent, herbae noxiae & inutiles. non tamen, qasi foreign, ut ille, sic dicta. sed ab Arabico foreign zevanan. Schindler. itaqe malas herbas rectè verterunt Lu…herus & Castalio. nos uno verbo Anglicè weedes dicimus. nec assentiri possum Brederodio, qi apud Scultetum observ. in Matth. c. 37. de frugum corruptelis exponit, qae in messe praeter paleam & pulverem producunt nihil▪ qo enim modo seminari possunt, qae semensuum nullum habent?weeds in it as well as good corn; and the (g) d…ag-net, that draweth along with it as well trash as good fish;) not so much in regard of those unsound ones among them, as in respect to the better sort among whom they abide. He that (l) blessed Labans house, tho an idolater, for Iacob; and iGen. 39, 5▪Potiphers ▪ tho an uncircumcised Egyptian, for Iaseph; doth preserve and protect such wicked ones as live mixt among his in one body with them,hGen. 30.30. out of his tender respect unto those among whom they live.kJerem. 29.7. Pray for, and seeke, saith he, the peace of the place ye abide in. for by the peace of it shall ye have peace. If God afford continued peace unto Babel, for his own peoples peace, that lived, tho as captives and exiles, among them, that they might be the quieter: no marvell, if he afford safeguard unto those bad ones, that are as imbarked in the same ship with his Saints; (the Lord, saith the Angell to Paul, lActs 27 24.hath given thee the lives of all that sail with thee.) whereas good and bad so mforeign. Aristaen. l. 1. …p. 17 foreign. Basil. epist. 51. foreign. Philo de provid. apud Euseb. pr…par. l. 8. c. 14… In eadem es n…vi. Cicer. ad Cur. l. 2. eadem navi vecti, periculorum sunt suturi participes. Ammian. lib. 30. c. 12.embarked, are like to endure the same storms, to enjoy the same calms, and to be either wrecked or saved, either with other. nPsalm 140.11.Evil, saith the Psalmist, shall hunt the violent dealer to destruction. The whole heard, ye know, is oft hunted, till the game be singled. and as Gods wrath may pursue oJudg. 9.23, 24. foreign. Hesiod. op. l. 1.a whole State for one Abimelech; pIosh▪ 7.…, 5, 1…. Etiam unius facinus pestis fuit multorum. Salvian. de provid. lib. 7.a whole Army for one Achan; qIon. 1.12. vetabo qui sacrum Vulgarit, sub iisdem sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum Solvat phaselum. sape Diespiter neglectus incesto addidit integrum. Hor carm. 3.2.a whole Fleet for one Ionah. so on the other side, rGen. 19.21.a whole City may be saved fot one Lot, sGen. 18.32.a whole State of bad for some ten good, yea tIer. 5.1.for but one or two righteous. uGen. 8.1.God remembred Noah, and the cattell, and every living thing that was with him in the Arke. xforeign. Propter nos & nostra curat. Theodoret. qaest in Gen. 52.God for our sakes takes care even of yIob 1.10. Num. 20.8, 11.our cattell, and of our chattels. yea not the Israelites cattell onelyonly, but even the zEsay 41.17, 18. & 43.20.wild beasts themselves also fared the better, for the people of God, while they passed through the wildernesse; making use of, and receiving benefit by, those springs and streams of water, that for Gods people were broke up and sent abroad to relieve and refresh them in their passage. *Deus malis qoqe multa tribuit. sed illa bonis paraverat. contingunt autem etiam malis, qia separari non possunt. Satius est autem prodesse malis propter bonos, qam bonis deesse propter malos. Sen. de ben. l. 4. c. 28.Many benefits doe the wicked share in with the good, that were principally intended for the good, while they remain and abide as in one body with them.

Secondly, I answer, that even those evill and unsound ones,Answ. 2▪ tho no covenant-keepers, yet are in aDeut. 29.10, 11.covenant with God; and in regard of outward profession, of the number of Gods people. bIerem. 2.32.My people, saith God, have forgotten me, daies without number, time out of mind. and cIerem. 2.11.My people have exchanged their glory for a thing of no use. or, dIob 15.3. Ier. 7.8. Lam. 4.17.that cannot profit, that can do them no good, can stand them in no steed. his people he calleth them still, tho they had forgotten him, tho they had exchanged him for eEsay 44.10. Habb. 2.18.an idol. And albeit such by their sinfull courses do make forfeiture of their right to and interest in those priviledges, that appertain to Gods faithful people; yet God doth not alwaies instantly take advantage of that their forfeiture, but continueth his mercy and goodnesse even to such, notwithstanding their ill desert. Tho f2 Kings 13.21, 22, 23.Joas the sonne of Iehoabaz did that that was evill in Gods sight, and departed not from the sinnes of Jeroboam, that made Israel to sinne, but went on obstinately therein; yet when Hazael the Aramite oppressed Israel, God was gracious to them, and had respect unto them, for his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob; and would not destroy them, nor cast them out of his presence and protection as yet. And albeit g2 Kings 14.24, 26, 27.Ier…boam the second his sonne, tooke the same courses, and brought on himself the like judgements; yet when God saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; and that there was hDeut. 32.36. 2 Kings 14.14. & 21.21. Nec domi conclusus, nec in agro derelictus. R. Levi. tam in urbe, qam in agro, tam domi, qam peregre agens. Calv. nihil posse aut captivum, aut qi hostium manus evaserit. Jun. neminem esse, ut …lausum in arcibus, aut in captivitarem non abductum. Vtabl. nihil esse; actum de eis esse tam qi in hostium manu conclusi tenebantur, qam qi manus eorum evaserant. Pisc.not any shut up or left; scarce any left either in hold, or abroad; either under restraint, or left at large; nor any helper to Israel; as no power from within, so no ayd from without; and he had not resolved yet to blot out the name of Israel from under Heaven, to make an utter riddance of them: he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam; by kExod. 35.29. & 38.21. … Kings▪ 9.36. & 14.24.the ministery of an ungodly King he delivered an ungodly people.

Now thus dealeth God also oft times in regard of his own honour, that seemes neerly to be touched, when those that are deemed his, and are esteemed to have relation unto him, are left and given up to the wicked, who acknowledge not him, unto whom they professe, and are deemed to belong. lEsay 52.5.My name, saith God, is blasphemed, while my people is oppressed. and, mEzek. 36.20.These, say they in derision, tho captived for their sinne, are Gods people, that are gone out of his Land. When the Syrian King came with a very puissant army against Ahab (tho n1 Kings 16.31, 32.an idolater, and one that had o1 King. 21.25.sold himself to sinne, yet) being King then of Israel, still accounted Gods people; p1 King. 20.13Doest thou see, saith God by his messenger to him, this great multitude? I will deliver them all this day into thine hand. that it may be known, that I am the Lord. and so qVerse 20.21.accordingly he did. And again, when rVerse 23.25.the Syrians told their Lord, that the God of Israel is God of the, hils ▪ (for so we may well read the words sVerse 28.by good warrant from God himself) but not of the plain: and that this was the reason why they prevailed against them when the battle was fought on the hils; but they should be sure to have the better of them, if they fought with them on the plain; God sends Ahab a second message, tVerse 28.because the Syrians say, The Lord is God of the hils, but not God of the valleys; therefore will I deliver this great multitude into thine hands: and it shall be known that I am the Lord. God would save them, tho wicked ones, and unworthy of ought and give them victory against their blasphemous enemies; to save, his own credit, and maintain his own honour.

Hereunto may be added, that even for their profession, men, tho not inwardly sound, yet may outwardly suffer. Men may persecute piety even where it is not, in an hypocrite: and wrong Christ even in those, who in truth are none of his, nor have part in him: and dishonour God in those, whom uMat. 7.22, 23. Nun quam novi vos. pro meis non habeo. Psal. 1.6. & 37.18. John 10.14, 27. Rom. 7.15.he doth not own, or acknowledge, because false-hearted, or loose-lived. A man may suffer for wearing a Noble mans livery, tho but bought at the brokers, if he fall into the hands of some adverse party: and a servant or retainer in like case fare the worse for having his Masters cloth or cognizance about him; tho he have been for his misdemeanors discharged of his service; and much more, if tho being in no grace or favour at all with him, he doe yet retain, or professe himself to retain still un…o him. In like manner may a man suffer, yea many so doe, as well inwardly rotten-hearted, as outwardly debauched, for x2 Tim. 3.5. Tit. 1.6.the profession they make of piety, and for pretending to that interest in God, which yet in truth they have not. whom God may therefore, and doth oft afford protection unto, in regard not onelyonly that they suffer wrongfully, being out of malice oppugned, but that himself suffereth in them, being therefore maligned, because they are esteemed to have some speciall relation to him.

In these respects therefore it may truly be said, that God cannot, but with a wrathfull eye, endure to see wrongs and reproaches offred unto the main body of his people, tho there be many among them, that have no such speciall interest in him, as the better sort of them have, whom he principally respecteth, but either professe, or are deemed onelyonly, in truth to be his.

Objection 2.But again it may be objected, that God is oft read to have aJer. 12.7. & 81.12. & 78.61, 62. Psal. 74.1.delivered up his people into the hands of their enemies; yea to have bPsal. 13.1, 2. & 22.1.left his, even the best of them, such as have been highest in his favour and deepest in his books unto the malice and cruelty of their inhumane adversaries. hence those grievous complaints of Gods people, that cPsal. 44.12, 13, 22.God had sold them for nought, made them a reproach and scorn to their neighbours round about them, that for his sake they were daily, or dforeign Verse 8.15.incessantly slaughtred; and that all this they had endured, while he stood by and eEsay 26.17.looked on, as if he regarded not, either them, or the cruelty exercised on them. and how then, may some say, is it affirmed, that God cannot endure to see any wrong done to his?

Answer 1.To this, in way of answer thereunto, we return; first, that God oft times suffreth such things to befall his servants for their sinnes; and f2 Chron. 12.7, 8.makes use of wicked men, as of scourges, to chastise his children with for their excesses. In which his dealing he hath an eye, not to them alone, whom he doth so chastise, nor to those alone, gHeb. 12.10.whose good also in such his chastisements he intendeth,h1 Cor. 10.6. 11. foreign. exempla, non figur… while he maketh those whom he so chastiseth, examples of more cautious and circumspect cariage to others; but he hath an eye also to himself, and to his own credit. For howsoever it is true indeed, as hath been said, that wicked men take occasion to question his power and his providence over his, when they see them so to suffer: yet it would redound much more iRom. 2.24. In nobis Christus patitur opprobrium, in nobis patitur lex Christiana maledictum. Ecce qales sunt, inqïunt, qi Christum colunt. talis est sect…, qales & sectatores. hoc sunt, qod docentur. si bona discerent, boni essent. sancta à Christiania fierent, si Christus sancta docu…sset. aestimari de cultoribu… potest ille qi colitur. qom…o bonus magister est, cujus tam malos videmus esse discipulos? Salvian. de pro…d. l. 4. c. 11.to his dishonour another way, if he should suffer those, that are esteemed his people, his servants, his children, to go unpunished, or unchastised, when they sinne. for should he so doe, he would be deemed to be a patron of impiety, of impurity, of iniquity; a maintainer of his in the practise of such things. And surely, as Gods name is oft dishonoured by the suffrings of his servants; so much more also by their sinnes. k2 Sam 12.9.11Because, saith Nathan to David, thou hast set light by Gods word, in taking the wife of Uriah,mVerse 16.18. and slaying him by the sword of the children of Ammon; therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; and I will raise up one out of thine own bowels, that shall abuse thy wives in the sight of all Israel. and again, lVerse 14.because thou hast hereby given the enemies of God occasion to blaspheme, the child that was born in adultery shall surely die. Neither could David with all his fasting and prayer, and more then ordinary humiliation, get that heavy doome revoked.

Howbeit, tho for such and other the like causes, God gave the wicked sometime power over his; yet the cruelty that in such cases they exercise on his people, is not in regard thereof any whit the lesse odious and offensive in Gods sight; as himself also expressely avoweth. nEsay 10.5.O Assur, saith he▪ or, oAs Esay 10.1 & 18.1.Wo to Assur, the rod of my wrath; the rod, wherewith in my wrath I have chastised my people▪ pQamvis. sicut Hos. 5.2. Zech. 12·3.tho the staf of mine indignation be in their hand, albeit I make use of him at present as an instrument, for mine own ends and purposes, in the execution of my wrath, yet wo be to him for all that. qE…ay 10.6.I shall send him indeed aga…nst a rIta malim, qam hypocritam. ut & Job 15.14. & 27.8, 13 & 34.30. Psal. 35.16. Sic Jer. 31. & 23.15.prophane Nation, a people whom I am displ…ased with; furnished with a commission to take the spoil and the prey; and to trea… them down, rPsal. 18.42. Esay 28 18.like mire in the street. sEsay 10.7.but he meaneth not so; he minds nothing lesse; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off Nations not a few. his entendement is onelyonly to advance himself, and to enlarge his dominions, by the ruines of other people. he little dreameth of doing God any service herein. and tEsay 10.12.when God therefore hath by him wrought his own work upon Sion, he will then punish him also for his proud and stout heart, and his high looks. when he hath done chastising his children by him, he will uVtitur Deu… creatura rationali, sed malevola, ut virga, qam correcto filio, pater in ignem, tanqam sarmentum inutile, abjicit. Bern. de grat & lib. arb.throw the rod, wherewith he chastised them, into the fire. And of Babel; xEsay 47.6.I was wroth with my people; and gave them into thine hands: and thou y2 Chron. 36.17.shewedst them no mercy; but even zLam. 4.16. & 5.12.upon the aged, not regarding their age, didst thou lay an heavy yoke ▪ Thus aIer. 50.17. foreign comedit eu… Wasted his flesh, cast him into a consumption, as Psal. 69.9.Israel became as a scattered sheep: the Lions chased him: first Assur wasted him; and after that the King of Babel bBone… him. as necked, Esay 66.3.brake his very bones. But what followeth? cIer. …0.18.Therefore th… saith the Lord …f hoasts, the God of Israel; even he that delivered them into the hands of either, Behold, as I punished the King of Assur; so will I punish the King of Babel. and dEsay 33.1.Wo then to him that spoiled, when himself was not spoiled: for when he shall cease to spoil others, others shall spoil him. and eIer. 25.14▪ & 27.7as Babel hath served her self on other nations, and Gods people among the rest, so ma…y nations shall serve themselves on Babel. when as God hath used them fforeign. Plut. de ser. vindict.for executioners of his wrath and indignation upon others: so will he use others as instruments of his just judgement upon them, gforeign· Synes. epist. 57.even for those things that by his just judgement, tho to them unknown, they have done. nor could God with approbation see that done by them, for which he will in due time execute just judgement upon them.

Answer 2.Secondly, God leaveth his sometime to the malice and cruelty of the enemy, for the triall and exercise of his grace in them. For sundry graces of Gods children, as their faith, their patience, their courage, their confidence, are as the stars, that hforeign. Proverb. Stellae interdiu latent, noctu emicant. ita vera virtus non apparet in prosper…, eminet in adversis. Bern. in Cant. 27. Qae latet, inqe bonis cessat non cognita rebus, Apparet vireus, arguitur…e mali…. Nas…. …rist. 4.3.lie hid in the day, but shine forth in the night. appear not, to speak of, in times of prosperity; but have their cheif luster in times of adversity and trouble, doe most appear, when they are most opposed. The light of fire is least seen by day: and the pillar therefore that conducted the Israelites in their march, appeared iExod. 13.21.as a cloud by day, as fire by night. and the fire burneth dimmest, when the sunne shineth most upon it. kAr…tur, Typhi, jacet, sinon si… in aeqore fluctus. Si valeant homines, ars tua, Phoebe, jacet. Naso trist. 4.3.Nor is the Physitians skill known in time of health; lforeign· Lucian. de amic. Gubernatoris artem trànqillum mare, & obseqens ven…us non ostendit: adversi aliqid incurrat oportet, qod animum probet. Sen. ad Marc. c. 5.nor the Mariners skill seen in a calm; (m)Gubernatorem in tempestate, in acie militem intellig…. Idem de provid. c. 4.nor the Souldiers valour and worth, in times of peace, when he is out of action; nor any mans patience unlesse he be crossed; oAd animose for…terqe faciendum, opus est aliq… rerum difficultate. calamita… virtutis occasio est. Sen. de provid. c. … Marc… sine adversario virtus. Idem. ad Marc. c. 5. adversis probitas exercita rebu…, Tristi materiam te…pore laud… habet. Naso trist. 5.6.nor his courage, untill he meet with some strong opposition, nPatientiae in prosperis nullus est usu…. Gregor. mor. l. 11. c. 19.untill he be put to some straight. pJam. 3.11.Ye have heard of Jobs patience; saith the Apostle. but we had never heard of it, had Job alwayes continued in the same constant tenour of a quiet and comfortable estate, had he never been laid so low, & so qforeign. Chrysost. in Matth. orat. 13. Cicuta Socratem magnum fecit. Sen. ep. 13.afflicted as he was, by the malice of Satan, and the unkind cariage of his friends. But on the other side, the darker the room is, the clearer the candle burneth, and the brighter the fire: the more dangerous and desperate the disease is, the more is the Physitians art manifested in the cure of it: the more violent and impetuous the storm is, the more is the Mariners skill shewed, in carrying his ship through it with safety: the hotter the fight or service is, the more will the valour of the souldier appear, in his standing constantly and undauntedly to it, whatsoever the issue be: the heavier the crosse, and the greater the danger, the more is the rRev. 13.10. & 14.12.patience and courage of that man seen, that shall quietly bear and undergo the one, and that shall cheerfully and confidently carry himself in the other. the greater Jobs suffrings and distresses were, the more evidently, and eminently did the excellency of his heroik spirit shine and shew it self forth in them.

Again, as the spirits of men are not seen so much as in such cases; so nor are they tried so thoroughly as by occasions of this kind. There is no triall of a souldier, whether he be couragious or a coward, but in the field, and in fight. the veriest dastard can at court, and in company word it and brave it, as well as the stoutest and valiantest champion that is. but bring them to sforeign. Aristoph. Lysistr.action; and that will soon distinguish them, and determine, if any be, the doubt. Nor is the sincerity of mens hearts to Godward, so thoroughly by ought tried, as by constant standing in times of opposition and persecution, to his cause. The tMatth. 13.5.20, 21.blade on the stony ground, makes as fair a shew, tho it have no deep rooting, as that that is well rooted in the good ground, untill the height of sommer come; but then the beat of the sunne shining forth in his strength, parcheth up the one, when it impaireth not, but cherisheth the other. The uMatth. 3.12.chaffe stayeth together with the grain in the floar, untill the winowing time come; but then xPal…ae inter frum…nta latitarunt: venit palu…, & paleae avolaru… Aug. in Psal.the wind of the fan or sheet carrieth the light chaffe away; and it flies before it out of the floor, when as the grain *unde foreign lapillus, scrupulus, a pondere, respectu paleae. Pisc.having weight staieth and abideth still by it. yProv. 26.23.Earthen pots guilt over, when they stand on the cup-board z2 Tim. 2.20.among massie plate, may not be discerned the one from the other by the eye: but when they come to the scouring, being rubbed to the purpose, the one, its surface failing, will shew what it is, when as the other will be sure to appear still the same that before it made shew of. drossie and base stuffe oft makes as fair and goodly a shew as rich oar; and counterfait slips, as currant coyn; untill they come aJer. 6.27, 28.to the test the one, to the touch-stone the other. When the Devill accused Job to God for a counterfeit; How will that, saith God, appear? why? bJob 1.9-11.It is not for nothing that he feareth thee, saith Satan. he serveth thee now, but to serve his turn upon thee. thou hast enriched him; and heapest still more and more upon him: and thou hast hedged him in; set such a strong fence about him and his estate, that nothing can break in upon him to disturb or annoy him. and no marvell then, if he be willing to serve so bountifull a master, to live in obedience to so carefull and powerfull a protector. he knowes not how, or where to mend himself. but shouldest thou but once offer to stay thine hand, or to stretch it out cforeign in re ull…. ut Levit. 5.2, 5. Ezek. 18.13.on ought that thou hast bestowed on him, to das Psal. 105.15 see before Reat. 1.touch him never. so little in any part of his estate; as he is now but an hireling, so he would then prove a changeling; thou shouldest then soon see a strange change and alteration in him; he would curse thee as fast, as he bl…sseth thee now; he would even curse thee to thy face. Well; God, as Jobs advocate is content to joyn issue with the Devill herein: Let that, saith he, be the triall. eIob 1.12.his estate and fIob 2.6.his person are both in thine hand. doe the worst thou canst to him; not bereaving him of his life. And what saith Iob himself of all this? gJob 23.10.God, saith he, knowes me, and tries me: and when I have been tried hEsay 48.10.in the fornace of affliction, I shall come out of all my tribulations, as gold, as pretious metall (and indeed so he did) out of the furnace, out of the fire. And, iPsal. 66.10.12Thou, Lord, hast tried us, saith the, Psalmist, … silver is tried. and how had he tried them? Thou broughtest us into a net: thou laiedst kforeign cingulam asinariam: Jun. vo…erinariam, malim. aut etiam, clitellariam. Cingulam …umbos …. Pisc.a streight, or wringing girt upon our loyns: thou suffredst us to be girt as beasts are wont to be, that bear burdens, to be used as pack-horses or the like: thou hast caused men to ride lJuxta comminationem. Deut. 28.43, 44. Jun.over our heads ▪ caused us to be used mNon equitem do…so▪ non fraenum depulit ore. Flacc. l. 1. ep. 1….as hackney-horses, over whose head his rider sits reaching out himself to manage him; or nA camell… tractum. nam vidi qi cameli colio insideret & voheretur. Pisc.as Camels, on whose neck they are said sometime to sit, that rule and direct them: we have gone through fire and water. Thou hast tried us with all manner of tribulation; and upon triall found us sound and sincere. For, oPsal. 44.17.tho all this have befallen us, (as elsewhere they professe) th… thou uPsal. 44.22.hast cast us off, and puttest us to shame; and goest not forth with our h…asts; but makest us turn our back upon our enemies, and sufferest those that hate us to plunder and spoil us; hast given us as sheep for meat, and dispersed us among the heathen; hast sold us for nought, and exposed us to shame and scorn: qVerse. 19.hast broken us, pVerse 10.14.rEllips…, qalis Psal. 89.39, 44. Esay 14.12. & 21.9.and cast us down into the deep, where the sGen. 1.12. Lam. 4.3.Whales abide, there to be in all likelihood either drownd, or by them devoured; and covered us with a deadly shade; with darknesse so thick, or a shadow so dark, that the very tHorre…qe … imminet umb…. …horror and dread wherewith it possesseth men, is enough to damp their spirits, and to strike them stone-dead: yea tho uPsal. 44.22.for thy sake we are dayly, or continually, slaughtered; no other reckoning being made of us, th…n as of sheep, not kept for their milk and fleece, but set apart for the shambles: yet xVerse 17.18.for all this doe we not forget thee, albeit thou seemest to have forgotten us; nor doe we deale disloyally in breaking our covenant with thee: we make bold yPsal. 74.20.to mind thee of thy covenant with us: our heart is not for all this turned away from thee; nor are our steppings turned aside out of thy way. we continue still constant with thee: and for their constancy and sincerity, they dare, as aJob 10.7. & …3.10.Iob also, appeal bPsal. 44.…0.21to God himself. And, cJames 1.12.Blessed is the man, saith Iames, that thus endureth temptation, that so undergoeth triall. for, when he hath been thus tried; and upon his triall approved, (for so the word must be taken there, as it is also dPsal. 11.5. 1 Cor. 11.28. Gal. 6.4.elsewhere) he shall receive the crown of life; which God hath promised to those that love him; by such triall now appearing to be of the number of those that sincerely so doe.

Besides as in such triall the metall oft passing the fire and abiding the same; is thereby not approved onelyonly to be good, but is much ePsal. 1… ▪6.improved also in its purity and worth, the drossie and earthy matter, that was before mixt with it▪ being severed from it by the fire: so by afflictions and suffrings are the gifts and graces duplicate page duplicate page of Gods people, not tried onelyonly and exercised, and approved as sincere, but much improved also and furthered in the growth of them, while through the gratious and powerfull operation of the spirit, joyning with them, and working by them the remainders of their spirituall drosse and dregs are wrought out of them, and their endowments raised up to an higher degree of holinesse, which that baser mould much impeached and impaired before. fIer. 9.7.I will melt them, and try them; saith God. for what should I doe else for the daughter of my people? and, gEsay 1.25.I will turn mine hand on thee; and burn thy drosse out of thee; as the wicked ones from among thee; so the remainders of corruption out of the residue. And again, hEsay 48.10. constabo. Jun. constando expurgabo. Pisc.I will refine thee; but not as silver is fined. not so exactly and exquisitely, as silver or gold is wont to be fined, which the finer keeps in the fire, untill the drosse be wholly wrought out of it: (but should God doe so with us, we should never be out of the furnace, while we live here.) howbeit I will iElectum efficiam. Jun. purum reddam instar argenti electi. Pisc.choose thee, or make a choise one of thee, make thee a vessel fit for my use, and for an honourable service; having purified thee in some good measure, by the furnace of affliction. And▪ kZach. 13.9.I will bring a third part of them through the fire, and will refine them, as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried; and then they shall call upon me▪ and I will hear them. having made them by their afflictions fit for my service. And, lDan. 11.33.35.Many of those, saith Daniel, that have understanding, shall fall, by fire and sword, and by plundering and thraldome. but to what end? or with what effect? to try them, and to purifie them, and to whiten them. and mDan. 12.10.many accordingly shall be purified, and whitened, and tried, And, nMal. 3.2.4.The Lord, saith Malachie, when he cometh in judgement, shall be as the finers fire, and as the fullers soap: and he shall sit down, as a finer, or trier of silver, to refine the sonnes of Levi, and to purifie them as gold or silver. that the offrings they offer, may be righteous offrings, and wel-pleasing to the Lord.

Hereunto might be added, that as no trials are usually sharper or fiercer, then those that Gods people sustain at the hands of their malitious and mercilesse adversaries, and their reproachfull and despitefull usages: the rather because oPsal. 42.3, 10. & 74.1…. & 115.2.therein they seem to insult, not so much over them, as over God himself in them. so in no trials doth the courage and confidence of Gods people more manifest it self, then by their undaunted, constant, and unmoveable carriage in such cases. Nor is God himself in ought more glorified; nor the might of his grace in his by any means more magnified, then when Gods people, tho they seem left to the will of their cruell enemies, yet notwithstanding all their might and malice, all their rage, and excesse of outrage and cruelty, they pInvictisque viris. Maro Aen. l. 11 cum supra dixisset, Bis capti Phryges. sed, ut E… nius, Qi vincit, non est victor, nisi victu' fatetur. vinci … cuntur, qi se dedunt hostibus. Servius. Et cuncta terrarum subacta, Praeter a…rocem …nimum Catoni…. Flacc. carm. 2.1.cannot have their own will on them, are qFecerunt de illo (Jo…nne, Mar. 9.13.) qicqid vol…bant. sed nunqid faciebant, ut ab illo fieret. Bern. de grat. & lib. arb. foreign. Calanus …d Alex. apud Phil…n. de libert. & Clem. strom. lib. 4.not able to work them to what they would, but that rTorquentem vincit, qisqis occiditur. Quintil. declam.they conquer them then, when they seem to be conquered by them, they prevaile against those that seem to prevaile against them. sJohn 21, 18, 19.When thou wast yong, saith our Saviour to Peter, thou didst gird thy self, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch out thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. and withall it is added, that this he spake, signifying, by what death he should glorifie God. and, tRev. 13.1, …, 7.There was power given to the beast, to make war upon the Saints, and to overcome them. and yet did they prevail against him, and overcame him, (as they had done uRev. 12.11.the Dragon before him) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; (or, xVt, verbo pot…ntiae su…. Heb. 1.3. &, verbum patientiae meum. Rev. 3.10.by their word of testimony, their free and undaunted witnesse-bearing to Gods truth; or, by the ySicut 1 Reg. 14.13. Dan. 10.1. Luc.1.37.matter of their martyrdome, whereby they gave a reall testimony thereunto:) and by zforeign. Lysias epitaph.not loving their lives unto death: by being willing to lay down their lives in Gods cause, and to seal both the truth of it and their love to it, with their blood. for thus had they aRev. 15.3.the victory over the beast, and over his mark, and his image, and the number of his name; even then, when he seemed most victorious against them; to wit, when bRev. 20.6.refusing to worship the beast, or his image, or to beare his name on their forehead, or hand, they were beheaded, or suffered otherwise for their refusall. And; cRom. 8.37.in all these things, saith the Apostle, we are not conquerours onelyonly, but dforeign.more th…n conquerours, even triumphers, (as he eforeign. 2 Cor. 2.14.elsewhere expresseth it) through him, that hath loved us. fIohn 12.32.When I shall be gforeign.advanced, saith our Saviour, thereby intimating what death he should die: as if the hIohn 3.14, 15.lifting of him up on the crosse, had been the lifting of him to some chair of estate, or some seat of honour, some royall throne, or some triumphant Charet. that which the Apostle also seems to intimate, where he saith, that iCol. 2.15.on it, he triumphed over principalities and powers; and kforeign.led them in triumph, as captives, Captains and great commanders especially, taken in war, had anciently in solemn manner wont to be, as to their greater ignominy, so for the greater honour of him, by whom they had been subdued. And as lCrux Christo currus triumph…lis fuit. T. Cart. in harmon. Evang.the crosse was as Christs triumphant charet: so are the constant sufferings of Gods servants their conquest's, their triumph: since that thereby they overcome, and even *Repugnamus, perseverantes in eo, qod oppugnant: & illos nun· qam magis detriumphamus, qam cum pro fide… obstinatione damnamur. Tertull. apolog. c. 27.triumph over the might and malice of the adverse party; thereby acquiring abundance of glory to God▪ and atchieving a large measure of true honour to themselves, in the eyes and minds both of God and man.

The consideration whereof also maketh Gods children, tho not willing, if no need were, (and so take we that aIohn 21.18.before spoken by our Saviour of Peter) to undergo such sad and heavy things as these usually are: yet (in regard that their sufferings bring so much glory to God, and as from them, are a service very acceptable unto him) to be not onelyonly not unwilling, but most ready and forward, with much alacrity and cheerfulnesse, to offer themselves unto them, or rather to offer themselves up to God in them: esteeming it as no dishonour, but an honour, to be dishonoured for Christ, and for his cause; so no pain, but a pleasure, to endure, be it what it will, or can be, that they suffer for Christ, or for the good of those that are his. bActs 5.40, 41.They went from the consistory, saith the story of Peter and Iohn, when they had been rated and beaten, rejoycing that they were cforeign. Casaub.vouchsafed the honour to be dishonourably used for Christ; that they had been so much graced as to be disgraced for him. And, dCol. 1.24.Now I rejoyce in my sufferings, saith the Apostle Paul to the Colossian…, for you; while I help for my part to fill up, or fulfill in … flesh, wh…i… yet behind, or remaineth to be made up, of the sufferings of Christ, (besides what he personally endured, by Gods appointment for other ends, such are above-mentioned, and the like, to be sustained by the severall members of his body, each of them his portion assigned him in his turn and time) for his body, which is the Church. And to the Ephesian… at Miletus, on the way in his journey to Ierusalem, eActs 20.22-24.Behold I go to Jerusalem, bound in the spirit, fMatth. 4▪1.by a solemn, tho secret, instinct of the Spirit led thither, not knowing what things will there befall me: whether I shall there end my daies or no: save that the holy Ghost, by persons therewith inspired, some or other, in each City, where I come, assureth m…, that bands and imprisonment there abide me: but none of these things at all move me, nor is my life deare unto me, so I may consummate my course with joy, and the ministery which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testifie the Gospell of the grace of God. and after that, when some of the Disciples at Tyrus, gActs 21.4.speaking by the Spirit, said to him, that he should not goe to Ierusalem. that is, hforeign. Theophylact.by divine inspiration foretold him what would there befall him, and withall out of their kind, but corrupt, affection, gave him carnall counsell, such as iMat…h. 16.…2.Peter did before-time in the like case to our Saviour, that he would forbeare to go thither: and kActs 21.10, 11.Agabus a Prophet at Caesarea, with Pauls girdle binding himself, shewed by ocular demonstration, how he should be bound hand and foot at Ierusalem: and the brethren lActs 21▪12.there present, thereupon likewise were earnest upon him, with teares beseeching him that he would not go thither; mActs 21.13.What mean ye, saith he, thus by weeping to break my heart? I am ready not to be bound onelyonly, but to die at Ierusal…m for the name of the Lord Iesus. And when he had been nActs ….14.bound at Ierusalem, and being sent from thence to Rome, he was oActs 28.16.a prisoner now there, writing to the Philippians; pPhil. 1.…0▪Mine earnest expectation and hope, saith he, is, that I shall no way be abashed; but that with all freedome, as well of speech, as of spirit, as at all times formerly, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, be it by life or by death. and what is the reason why he sets so light by his life, that it is all one to him whether he live or die, so long as Christ may be magnified by either? he resolveth you in the next words himself, if they be rightly understood. not. as qG…ra Bible.our former translation following rCalvin▪ & Beza.Beza and some others, had it, For Christ is to me both in life and in death advantage. that is, whether I live or die, I shall be a gainer; I shall gain Christ, or gain by Christ, in either. that is true indeed; but that respects himself, rather then Christ, not Christs glory, but his own good; tho these two are inseparable. nor as our later edition, and some others sPiscat.interpreters of good note, because they tNon cohaeret ratio cum praecedente. Pisc.mislike the connexion, returning to uMihi enim vivere Christus est, & mori lucrum.the old Latine, For to me to live in Christ, and to die is ga…n. or, in handsomer English, xVita m…hi Christus, mors lucrum, patria coelum. G. Godwin. epit. lac. Maurit.Christ is my life; and death is my gain. which yet as little agreeth with the Apostles drift as the former. but, as a yDr. Airay.reverend Divine of ours, (if I mistooke him not, for it is long since I read him.) which I conceive to be the genuine sense of the place; zforeign.F… gain to m…, or, my gain, both in life and death, is Christ. that is all the gain that I seek and aime at, either in my pains taking while I live, or in my sufferings, if I die, is Christ; is to magnifie him, to bring glory to him, to do service to him, and for him to his. That which elsewhere he saith of all true Christians with himself, aRom. 14.7, 8.None of us lives to himself; nor dies any of us to himself. for whether we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord. that is, to Christ. our aime both in life and death is to serve him; not to receive ought from him, (that is true, that bMatth. 5.12. & 6.4, 18. & 10.42. & 19.29.we shall so do; yet not here intended) but to do him service. To which purpose also he further telleth the Philippians, that cPhil. 1.22.concerning his stay here, he was in some doubt what to choose, or what might be deemeddforeign. operae p…etium. Beza. most be…ofefull: andePhil. 1.23. that he was fforeign.in a great straight, what to pitch upon. for when he considered himself and his own good, he had a strong inclination to a desire of gforeign ▪ dissolvi Lat. Vulg. & Calvin. foreign. Plato Gorg. foreign. Sof…ius apud Stob. c. 119. ad dimissionem. Beza. melius Ca…er. Pisc. Castel…. migrationem, discessum. 2 Tim. 4.6. … nauti… tractum, qi foreign dicuntur, Homero Odys. …. ora solvere, Fabio instit. l. 1. & 4.departure, that he might be with Christ, whom he was h2 Cor. 5.6▪ 8.absent from, tho imployed in his service, while he abode here in the body; which was indeed iforeign.by far much the better for himself: but when he looked upon the Philippians and other of Gods people, to whom his abode in the flesh might be more usefull, he was well content to stay longer here, tho with delay of his own greatest good, his personall enjoyment of Christs glorious presence. Yea, he addeth afterward in his ensuing discourse, that if his death might conduce any way to their spirituall improvement, and it might be thought more advantagious to them,kPhil. 1.24, 25. for him to die for them, then to live with them, he was right ready▪ not willingly alone, but even cheerfully to condescend thereunto. lPhil. 2.17.Yea if I be offered up, saith he, or mforeign. 2 Tim. 4.6. pro libamento o…erar. Bez.poured out, nforeign.upon the sacrifice and service of your faith; if my blood, as a drink-…ffering, (which oNum. 15.5, 10.was wont to be poured out upon the body of the beast sacrificed, to consummate the sacrifice) by being shed in Christs cause, may help further to strengthen your faith; I shall therein joy and rejoyce with you; I shall for your sakes be exceeding glad of it. You see what the gain was, that he aimed at, as well in life, as in death; not his own, but Christs, and the gaining of others unto Christ.

It is not therefore without great cause, and good ground, that God thus gives way to the sufferings of his servants, so much conducing to his own glory, and their honour and good; nor are they, as his pforeign. 2 Tim. 2.3.souldiers, and qforeign. 1 Tim. 6.12. 2 Tim. 4.7. 1 Cor. 9.25. foreign. 2 Tim. 2.5.champions unwilling so to be imployed in his service, to be rforeign. 2 Cor. 12.15.spent in his cause.

Howbeit this hindreth not, but that God disliketh and abhorreth the rage and cruelty, that such wretches, sPsal. 74.4, 23. & 83.2. & 89.51.his enemies, as well as his people, do for him and his sake thus exercise on them; no more then his tActs 2.23. & 4.28.purpose ▪ concerning the death of our Saviour for the salvation of his elect, did any way extenuate, much lesse excuse, or make lesse odious in Gods eye, the wickednesse of those, that had any way (either by uMat. 26.3, 4.malicious contrivance, as the Priests, or vMat. 26.16, 48.treacherous imployment, as Iudas, or xMat. 27.22, 23.importunate clamour, as the people, or yMat. 27.26.judiciary sentence▪ as Pilate, or zMat. 27.27-35 Luke 2….63-65. Use 1.despightfull usage, and acts of violence, as the Souldiers and other Officers) an hand in the procuring and execu…ing of it. And nothing therefore can thence be concluded, to hinder but that God neither doth, nor can, without much indignation and detestation, endure to behold, whatsoever wrong or violence is offered unto his people ▪ either in this kind, or in any other.

Now for the use and application of the point thus made good:

First, the consideration hereof may serve, as by the hand to lead us▪ where to find the cause of Gods so oft chastising his children. aPsalm 73.14.I have been smitten, saith Asaph, every day, day after day; and …hastised bforeign … 101, 8. Esay 33.2.every morning. as if no day had past over his head without some stroke from Gods hand; and God had usually made it his first mornings work to be dealing out somewhat in this kind to him; his constant wont were to make him break his fast with the rod. and lest we should think that this was his lot alone, he telleth us in the words ensuing, that this his dealing was not unusuall with cPsalm 72.15.the whole race of his children. And indeed, dHeb. 12.7.There is no sonne, saith the Apostle, whom God doth not chastise; eProv. 3.12.love he him never so well. fH…b. 12.6. foreign.he scourgeth every one whom he takes into family, to be a sonne, or a servant. For is God so affectionate unto those that are his, that he cannot endure to see any the least harm done to them? how commeth it to passe then, that he deals so harshly oft with them himself? surely this leads us to seeke the cause hereof somewhere else; not in him, but in our selves. If we shall see and observe one, whom we know to be a very chary and tender parent, one that cannot abide to see the least wrong done, in word or deed, either by servant or stranger, unto any of his children, yet to be oft chiding with them, & chastising of them himself, so that neighbours take notice, how the rod walketh in his house, and his children, some or other of them, come daily under the lash; we will easily conclude, that there is sure somewhat amisse in them, that he would have reformed, their carriage is some way or other such as it should not be; & the cause therefore of his so dealing with them, contrary to his own disposition otherwise, is not from ought in himself, being of himself averse thereunto, but from somewhat in them, that induceth, or even constraineth him so to do. In like manner, when we shall see and observe how God, who is so chary of the good and welfare of his children, and so tender over them that he cannot endure to see them sustain the least injury at the hand of any other; yet to be so frequently correcting thē himself, and dealing with them so severely, as oft-times he doth; we may well thence conclude, that there is not somewhat onelyonly, but very gIoh 9.3. Psalm 19.12. & 40.12. & 130.3. & 143.2. Jam. 3.1. non dixit, Offenditis, sed, offendimus, inqit: &, In multis, praemisit; Omnes, subjunxit. Beda.much amisse with them,hIerem. 30.14. many things out of order, that he would have reformed and amended in them; that it is iNos calamitatum nostrarum autores sumus. Deus enim pius & miserico…s est. sed nos coelestis irae ignem accendimus, & excitamus incendia qibus ardeamus. nos adversum nos omnia facimus. nihil est nobis crudelius nobi…. nos nosmetipsos etiam Deo nolente cruciamus. verum est, à Deo punimur: sed ipsi facimus ut puniamur. qum autem puni…e. nos ipsi facimus, cui dubium est, qin ipsi nos n…stris criminibus puniamus? qi… qiacunqe dat causam ut puniatur, ipse se punit. Salvian. de prov. l. 8. c. 2.from them and their corruption, not from himself, or his own disposition, that he deals in such wise with them. It is that which the Prophet thence inferres, in that dispute of his, wherein he debates and discusseth the ground & causes of those afflictions, that his people then in captivity sustained.kLam. 3.33. The Lord, saith he, doth not from his heart afflict, or grieve the sonnes of men. and yet he doth it. that is acknowledged. For, lLam. 3.37. foreign sicut Ier. 2.23.Who is he that can, or dare say, that *Mundi u…us est rector, qi universa, qaecunqe sunt, verbo jub…t, ratione dispens…t, virt…te consummat, Cypr. de idol. & ad Demetr. arbitrio ejus ac nutu cuncta geruntur, nec qicqam fieri potest. nisi qod aut fecerit, …ut fieri ipse permiserit. foreign. Antonin. l. 8. § 27. foreign. Idem l. 7. § 31. Decernuntur ista, non accidunt. Sen. ep. 96.ought comes to passe, and the Lord hath not commanded it? It is he that mEsay 45.7.creates evill as well as good; as well darknesse as light, as well war as peace. and nAmos 3.6.there is no evill in City, Country, or family, no evill whatsoever that befalleth persons or people, which he hath not done: he hath ever a hand, tho a pure and a just one, in it. and, oLam. 3.38.as well evill as good comes out of his mouth: either comes pforeign. Sophocl. Ajac. foreign. Homer. odys. o.by his appointment. But, if he do what is done, and yet that which is done goeth against the heart with him; surely there must be somewhat without him, that incites him to do what he doth. yea, that is true, saith our Prophet, the cause of the evils we sustain is in our selves, not in him. qLam. 3.39.Why doth the living man complaine? what is the first and principall procuring cause of his grief? man suffereth for his sinne. it is his own sinne that is the procuring cause of his sufferings. it is mans sinne, that kindleth wrath in God. rEsa. 64.5.Thou art incensed, sEt peccavimus. pro, qia peccavi… ut Psalm 108.12. Esay 53.2, 11. & 57.17.because we have sinned. it is sinne, that tCupit nolentibus subvenire▪ invitus in reos vindicat. Aug. de verb. Dom. 3. Ipse illum demens in me saevire coegi, Mitius immensus qo nihil orbis habet. Ipsaque delictis victa est clementia nostris. Naso trift. 4.8. Nos vim Deo facimus▪ iniqitatibus nostri… ipsi in nos iram divinitatis armamus. nolentem ulcisci cogimus, volentem parcere non permittimus. Salvian de provid. l. 5. c. 8. Et l. 4. c. 5. Cum ejus naturae sit mens Dei atque majestas: ut nullâ iracundiae passione mo…ea…u… ▪ tanta tamen in nobis est peccatorum exacerbatio, ut cogatur i… asci. vim facimus pietati su…, ac manus …fferimus misericordiae suae· cumqe ejus fit benignitati… ut velit nobis jugiter parcere, malis nostris cogitur, qae admittimus vindicare. exacerbamus enim Deum impuritatibus nostris, & ad puniendos nos trahimus invitum.wrings and wrests it as by force and violence from God. u2 Chron. 36.12.16.Zedekiah did evill in the sight of the Lord his God; and would not humble himself before Jeremiah the Prophet at the commandement of the Lord: but stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart, that he might not returne to the Lord God of Israel: all the chief of the Priests also, & the people transgressed exceedingly, according to all the abominations of the Gentiles▪ and polluted the Lords house, which in Ierusalem he had halowed. Yet the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising early and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his place of abode among them, and was loath to destroy either. But they mocked his messengers, and sl…ighted their message, and misused his Prophets, untill his wrath was incensed, that there was now no remedy. he bare with them so long, xJerem. 44.22.that he could no longer forbeare: till he were even yIerem. 15.6.wearied and tired out with repenting and revoking of his former doomes of destruction. Hence so frequent in the holy story, the book of Iudges especially, zIudg. 2.7, 8, 12. & 4.1, 2. & 6.1. & 10.6, 7. & 13.1. Objection 1.The children of Israel sinned against God; and God thereupon sold them into the hand of this or that oppressing enemy.

Gods Eye on His Israel, Treatise (2 of 3)