·;:4 The rare Jewel of Chrijiian Contentment. mo rt real thi ng in the world t~ a graciou~ heart; Nhen he finds . , want of Conremment he repatrs to t.he1'rornife, and the Covenant; and ta il s t~ pleading rbe P~om1fes that God bath made. As1 111o .. dd have {hewed f(:veral promifes that .. God hatb made le t t ~e affi,etion be i~ha_c it will1 ' I will but only mention on~ that 1s the fad dell affhtbon of all • in cafe of the Vifitation and the Plag ue.In P(a/.9 I·,oow thof~ that cannot haye their friends come to them by reafon of the plagqe, .and that cannot have other comforts; ill other affiittions they might have thei r friends and other th ings-to comfort th em but in that they cannot, Pj'a l· 2 I. to. There jbal! n~ evi/L befall thee, n~ither fh n/1 awy pllzgJ$e eomenigh thy dwe//iYJg; Then here is a promife for the pettile llcd; in the. 5 and 6 vcrfes,this is a Scripture to tbofe that are in danger of it. ' You will fay, tbis is a Promife, tlm th.e plague l11all not c~_me njgh them, but mark there · tvvo are joyned,T here jhal/ n11 evil befal thee; m it her jJJa/1the plag:te ccmc ni~b thee, T he evil of it lhal1 not come nigh thee. Obj, you vv1ll fay, It doth come to many godly rJttn .md ho'l¥ · c4n they mAke 11[e of thit .Script14re:it is r11ther a Script ure that l1Jay trou ~le them, beuuf~ herds 11 promi{e that it foa l/ not come ni fJ'h them; and yet it doth ~~me nigh them tiJ wdl as others ~ ..,;_ 6 Anfw, Firfi) This is the anfwer I would give,The promifes of outward deliveranc.es that \\'ere made to' the people of god ill the time of the Law were to be underllood than a great deal more literally, and fulfilled more literally, than in the times. ofrhe Gofpel. God makes it up otherwife with as much mercy; thouoh God made a covenant of Grace aod eternal life inChntl: with ~hem, ye t I th.ink there was another covenant too, that God fpeaks of .as a diftincr covenant for outward th!ngs to deal with h:s peopie by, acco£ding tot he·ir wajes either m outward profl' er ity, or outward affiicbo~s, ·more than now, in .a mor(l punctual fet 1vay, then \n the ttmes of the Gofpel; and therefore when the cblldren of lfr=el did but 6n 'againll.God, they 'NI! re fure to have pub_lick j ~1~gmen cs t? come upon them, and if they did,well,al iV aleS pub!tck memes;the general con- . flant way ofGod was to dea ~ wt t_h the pe_o~Je of the J~ IVS according as they did weli or Ill, f!_n an or~1~ary way) WJt_h outward judoments at!d outward merc1es:but-It lS notJ<> now 1~ thef z.; tlmes
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