godly minister's death. Whilst Calvin lives, Beza's life is sweet ; but when Calvin dies, death is the more acceptable unto Beza. It is dark night when the lights are put out, and when the curtains are drawn, and the windows close shut. Ah, England, England ! if this is not thy present case, I know nothing ! The clouds gather more and more, and every day they look blacker and blacker, and bloodier and bloodier ! Happy are those souls that are now in heaven, and blessed are those souls that are now waiting for the redemption of Israel.
(7.) Seventhly, Notwithstanding any outward promises that the Lord hath made concerning the protection and preservation of his children, yet he still reserves a liberty to himself to chastise his chil- dren luitli ichat rod he pleaseth, Ps. Ixxxix. 30-34 ; Heb. xii. 6-9 ; Kev. iii. 19. Notwithstanding all the gracious engagements that are upon the Lord to his people, yet he reserves a freedom to himself to make use of the very lives of his people in such ways as may make best for the bringing about of his own ends, and as may make most for the advance of his own glory ; and hence it comes to pass that God delights so to carry it towards his dearest people, as that sinners and saints shall be forced to say that 'his judgments are unsearchable,' and that his ' ways are past finding out,' Rom. xi. 33, ' And that his way is in the sea, and that his paths are in the great waters, and that his footsteps are not known,' Ps. Ixxvii. 19. If you take a straight stick and put it into the water, it will seem crooked. Why? Because we look upon it through two mediums, air and water. There lies the deceptio visits ; thence it is that we cannot discern aright. Thus all the proceedings of God in his righteous judgments, which in them- selves are just, righteous, and straight, without the least obliquity, seem to us strange and crooked. That the wicked should prosper, and the righteous be afflicted ; that good men should be in bonds, when bad men walk at large ; that the Israelites should make the bricks, and the Egyptians dwell in the houses ; that some of the best of Christians should fall by the pestilence, when many of the worst of sinners have their lives for a prey — these are some of those mysterious providences that many times make some of the best of Christians to stagger in their judgments ; and why so, but because they look upon God's proceedings through a double medium, of flesh and spirit ; and hence it comes to pass that all things seem to run cross, and that God's most just and righteous proceedings are not so clearly and fully dis- cerned as otherwise they might be. The wheels in a watch or in a clock move contrary one to another — some one way, some another ; yet all shew the skill and intent of the workman, to shew the time, or to make the clock to strike ; so in this world divine providences seem to run cross to divine promises ; the wicked are spared, and the righteous are taken away ; yet, in the conclusion, all issues in the will, purpose, and glory of God.
(8.) Eighthly and lastly, God hath taken several of his own dear children away by the pestilence, to ivipe off that reproach tvhich atheists and wicked men are apt to cast upon the Lord, as if he ivere partial, and his icays not equal, Ezek. xviii. 25, 29. God, to stop the
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moutli of iniquity, tlie mouth of blasphemy, hath taken away several of his dear servants by the raging pestilence, when the wicked walk on every side, yea, when hell seems to be broke loose, and men turned into incarnate devils ; and all because they have not been plagued as other men, nor visited as God hath visited some of his dearest children, Ps. Ixxiii. 5 ; 2 Pet. ii. 9 ; Job xxiv. 12 ; Ps. 1. 21.
Sometimes God's manner is to begin with his own people : 1 Pet. iv. 17, ' Judgment must begin at the house of God ;' and the Lord commands his destroying angel to begin at the sanctuary, Ezek. ix. 6. Sometimes when God intends to bring a common and general destruc- tion upon the enemies, oppressors, haters, and persecutors of his people, he is wont first to scourge his own till the blood comes. ' I took the cup at the Lord's hands' — he means the cup of God's fury, Jer. xxv. 17 — 'and made all the nations to drink' — that is, prophesied that they should certainly drink of it — ' unto whom the Lord hath sent me.' But who were to drink first of this cup? Mark, he tells us, ver. 18, ' Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof.' These were to begin in this cup to Egypt and the Philistines, to Edom, and Moab, and the Ammonites, as he shews in the verses following. Now all these were bitter and implacable enemies to the Israel of God. Ah, sinners, sinners ! do not insult over the poor people of God because here and there the hand of the Lord hath touched them, and God hath given the cup into their hands ; for if God be God, the cup must go round, and he will make good that word, Isa. v. 22, 23, [see ver. 17,] ' Thus saith the Lord, the Lord and thy God, that pleadeth the cause of his people : Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury ; thou shalt no more drink it again ; but I will put it into the hands of them that afflict thee ; which have said to thy soul. Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid tliy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.' And that word, Jer. xlix. 12, 'For thus saith the Lord, Behold, they' — meaning his own peculiar people — ' whose judgment was not to di-ink of the cup' — that is, the cup of my wrath — ' have assuredly drunken ; and art thou he that shalt altogether go unpunished ? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it,' or ' drinking drink,' as the Hebrew runs. I have not spared my own dear people, saith God, who might have expected this favour at my hands before any people under heaven, upon the account of my relation to them, my affections for them, and my covenant with them all ; and do you think that I will spare you ? No ! drinking you shall drink — that is, you shall certainly drink of this cup of my wrath; and you shall signally and visibly drink of this cup of my wrath. And that word, Isa. xlix. 25, 26, ' But thus saith the Lord, Even the captains of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered ; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children ; and I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh ; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine ; and all flesh shall know that the Lord is thy Saviour and thy Kedeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.' Oh that those men would lay these scriptures to heart, who
430 A HEAVENLY CORDIAL.