Rutherford - HP BS2575 .4 R975 1743

8£RM. 4 Triumph of Faith. 35' , I can believe no E~il of fuch a Man, 'and we 'overJhoot ourfelves in an Over-t.:harge and Surfeit of . Charity, which pr@ceedeth from a Superplus and Dpminion of Love to a Creature. We 4re in the other Extremity ~o God and J efus Cbri:f\:: Senfe o'f AffiiB:ion coolerh our Love, and we cannot ex.J tend Charity fo far to our Lord, as, when we fee he dealeth hardly with us, to keep the other Ear without Prejudice, fi·ee frqm the Report that Affliction, and the Senfe of ..AffiiB:ion maketh. j . .Fleih joineth with Affliction againft God, Affiictjon whifpereth Wrath, Juftice, Sin; and the FJefh faith, 1'hat is very truet for Flefh hateth God, and fo muft flander his Difpenfation : Ahab could not but flander Micajah, he ne-ver prophe- ' fieth J!.OOd (faith he) to me. Is not God's Truth good ? Surely, every Word of Prophecy is like Gold feven Times tried: The Reafon of the Slan- ~er is given by himfelf: I hate him. • The other Extremity is, that we underargue irt AffiiB:ion ; As, 1. We fay, 'Tis not. the Lord, the Phitifiines doubted whether God had fent the Emrods on them, for keeping the Ark Captive, or if Chance ~ad done it : 'Tis Grace to father the Crofs rigqt. 2.. We look feldom fpir~tuall y on the Ctofs, a carnal Eye upon a Crofi is a Plague, 1fa. 42. 2 3· God's AngerJet him on Fire round about, and he kne·w it not, and it ·burned him, and he taid it 110t to 1-Ieart. 'Tis ftrange that God's 'fire fhoulcl ~\1rn a Man; and yet he. neither ieeth .nor feeleth F1re : Why ? There's fomething of God in the Crofs, tha~ the ;-arnal Eye cannot fee; becaufe, as Zop~ar fa1th, .7ob zo. z.6. A F'ire not blown jbatl confume him:, Some make it (and not withou t Reafon ) a F'ire that hath no Noiie of :Bellows or C 2. Wind

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