Tht Hurt withou/Gf!ile. 97 ofthe upright /~till flourifh,Pcov.r4· I r • The right~DN(nejfe •f the upright foal/ preferve him,&c. Prov, II.j. The t]e! ofthe Lord run to And fro, to .foew himfelfftrong in the 6ehalf Df the upriglft in heart, 1. Chron,I6·9• Yea D·avid calls upon evcry.man, to mark and behold th~ truth of it: Mark, the upright m.ttn, for the endofthat ma1J u peAce, Pfal. 33. 37. The beginning may be trouble,but the end is peace. obj. Now to this we have a perpetuall Objeaion,and that from experience: Doth it not ofcen fall out, that upright– ne!fe is oppreffed? that faHhood profpercth? That he who keeps his Int~griry, makes himfelf a prey? ,Is there not adi– velifh proverb, That plain dtaling uajewe!l,bNt he that ufeth it fo:41l die abeggar ? Though if you obferve the generations of men, you fhall finde, thofe that ufe difhone!l and falfe wayer, die with Gods curfe upon them. Now to anfwer this briefly,: Fidl, Many of the out– ward calamities tl:lat befall the upright, are not Gmply evils, but marks of fpeciall honour God puts upon them: Job his body was full of ulcers, but his heart was pure, and thofe tri• bulations he grapled with, were only p,robatory, eo try his firength, to draw out his graces,and encrcafe..his g!Qry: .They _ were marks ofr-honour God put upon him: So the -affiiCl:ions and perfecutions the godly endured were not·abfolutcly evil, - neither did mJ.ke them miferable, but they were fpecial! fa– vours: To you it u given, not only to believe, hut '9 fuffer for huName: And the Apofi:les Went-out rejoycing, that they Were countedWorthy to fujfer for hu N11mefak!· ·Sothen,as the good things of this life,uenot Gmply good thlngg, yea and as Chry· foflome fairh, the Scripture doth not ufually call them good things abfolutdy, but with fome limitatiOf?, the good things oft.his life,&c. fo neither are thefe outwud calamities abfo– lutely evil!: yea fomecimes their mture is wholly altered,and th~y are fpeciall favours of God~ in which the godly have re– joyced with unfpeJkabJe joy and glory, and for which they have counred themfdves bldfed and happy. Secondly, All r.hefe tcmporall promifes are not abfulute,but limited, otherwife chey would contradichhofe prcdiCl:ion.s or the many tribulations the godly are to palfe through, fo that ' 0 l011
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