Chap. 3 3.. An Expofation upon tlre Book of ) o B. Verf. so. z0,3 Phatfoever god doth to or with, a godly man, he fhouldmain- tainegood thought:, and 1Çeitk,well-a fGod, or, when God deales mof ftriälly and feverely with his people, they fhoold not look, upon it as an-argument ofany enmity or ill will agarfi- them, or that he conated, them his enemies, Let us takeheed offuch thoughts ; David profeiïed (Pfal: 73. ) Truly God is good to Ifra i, even to them that are of a cicane heart. He is, good to them ( that's Davids intent there) not only when he do_h them good, ( as to outward things I meane, and to fencible appearances, for all is good in the Hide to the Ifrael of God ; now, I fay, God is good to his people, not only when he in that fenceBoth them good) but when he afíii&ts them , and layeth manyoutward evills upon them. When,as it is faid after ha that Pfalme (v. 14.) He plagueth them (that word imports forell troubles) all the day long, and cha tneth them every mor- ning ; when he gives them theirbreakfafl in fowre herbes, or with feverell whippings, yet then,even then he is good to them, and meanes them noharme at all. Therefore how hardly foever God deals with us, let us not thinke he counts us enemies. The Temptationwas flrong upon David to take up hard thoughts of God in that cafe, yea it prevailed fo farreupon him, that he con- cluded ( v. 1 3.) Verily I have cleanfed myheart in vaine, a"d wafhed my hands in innocency. As if he had fayd, A man hark little priviledge from the ;worfl of outward evills by his godli- nefs; But the Temptation did not prevaile long, he foone reco- vered himfelfe (v: 1 5.) If I fay Iwillfjieak,,thua, ( that is, that I have cleanfed my heart in vaine ) Behold, I fhould offend apt-4 the generation of thy children ; that is, I {7,ould wrong the whole kind or race of goaly men throughout the world, as if hypo- crises, or as if God did not love them, or were not good to them, for who is there among ail thy children whom either thou hail not or mayel not chaflen`as much as thou hail chaflned me. As no man can know the love of God by that which is before him, how proîperous foever it is ; fo it is moil unfutable for any of the children of God, to thinke that God is not good to them, or Both not love them, b cat fe of the evill that is before them, how adverbe or difafterous foever it is. For, Cod having loved his people in Chriui, he loves them for ever ; when once he hath broken
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