Chap ç. An EXpe f tine upon the books f f O B. Vert. iy, 1 1 7 tivity and by foyll many dayes : They that underfland, that is,god- ly men fhaltf.all by thefe judgments, tome of them by the fword, they (hall utterly be cut off, tome by flame,they flail be burnt to afhes : others by captivity and by fpoil,their elutes tha11 be plun- dered, their perlbns imprironcd.How loth this anfwer the inflict of God (will carnal reafonobject;;that it (hill be thus ill,with the righteous, tr whom the Lordpromifeib it fhall be well? Yes, well enough. For it fDiloweth, Now when they fhal! fall, they all be belpen with a little help, and fone of them of underftanding fisll fall, (that is,by captivity, and by fpoyl) to try them, and topurge them, and to make themwhite. Here are two remarkable ends,why they of underlianding, fall into thefe evils. Firll, for probation, to try them: Secondly, for cleantìng and purgation, topurge them and make them white. Gold is never wrong'd,by being tryed. A fpotted garment, a ditlempered body,are not damnified by watla- ing or by purging. To be freed from filth without, and bad hu- mours within the body, is more then a common favour. How high an ad offavour then is it, to have ill humours and filthy fpots wathed,purgcd out of the foul? Such bate humours a good man may have,as call for thefe ftrong working pits, Spoyling, and Captivity to cats them out. Now thofemen ofunderfanding have no more hurt intended them by God, when they fall into fpoylers hands, then when a difeafed body falls into a Phytitians hand,or when a defiled garment falls into a Fullers hand ; fc. to purge and make themwhite. A_ is ion is a cleanfer. Chrift is the only Lava- tory, and his blood the only Fountain to waflt away the guilt of fin ; yet God hath other Fountains and Lavatories,to wafh away the pollution of fin : That blood cleanfes in this lenfe allo princi- pally;, and all the waters or fires of afllietion have no efficacy at all,te refineor cleanfe,but in vertue of that blood. A Graf} with- out a Chrift never made any man better : But with Chrift, all are made better by tbeCrof.r We may then fay at lealt, that it is well with the righteous inaf. lion, for as muchas (through the bleffing of God) they are bettered by affíiC'tion. Whenyou fee a godly man caft out in the open air; and having the waters of forrow powred continually upon him, know that he is only laid out a whitening, and will appear thortly more refplendent then ever, Secondly, affíiolions are Pent to humble. Pride isfuch a weed, as often grows in the belt foyle : Now that which hunableth us cannot hurt us; we lo'e nothing by the abatements of pride : no, the
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