True, we are below stairs, and they above; they in
their holiday, and we in our working-day clothes; they in harbor,
but we in the storm; they at rest, but we in the wilderness; they
singing, as crowned with joy, we crying, as crowned with thorns. But
we are all of one house, one family, and are all the children of one
Father.
FEEBLENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN
Israel, as the child of God, is a pitiful thing of himself; one that
is full of weaknesses, infirmities, and defects, should we speak
nothing of his transgressions. He that is to be attended with so
many mercies, absolutely necessary mercies, must needs be in himself
a poor indigent creature. Should you see a child attended with so
many engines to make him go, as the child of God is attended with
mercies to make him stand, you would say, "What an infirm, decrepid,
helpless thing is this!" Would you not say, "Such a one is not worth
the keeping, and his father cannot look for any thing from him, but
that he should live upon high charge and expense, as long as he
liveth?" Why, this is the case. Israel is such a one, nay, a worse:
he cannot live without tender mercy, without great mercy, without
rich mercy, without manifold mercy. He cannot stand, if mercy doth
not compass him round about, nor go, unless mercy follows him.
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