Wherefore, let
her be bold to say, even before she comes out of the fire, "When I
am tried, I shall come forth as gold."
So long as the church endured hardship and affliction, she was
greatly preserved from revolts and backslidings; but after she had
turned her face from the sun, and had found the plain of Shinar,
Genesis 11, that is, the fleshly delights that the pleasures and
profits and honors of this world afford, she, forgetting the word
and order of God, was content to dwell in the land of Babel.
As the sins of God's people brought them into captivity, so their
sins can hold them there; yea, and when the time comes that grace
must fetch them out, yet the oxen that draw this cart may stumble,
and the way, through roughness, may shake it sorely. However, heaven
rules and overrules: and by one means and another, as the captivity
of Israel did seem to linger, so it came out at the time appointed,
in the way that best pleased God, that most profited them, and that
most confounded those that were their implacable enemies. This
therefore should instruct those that yet dwell where the "woman"
sitteth, to quietness and patience.
To quietness; for God rules and has the disposal of things. Besides,
it is a kind of arraigning of his wisdom, to be discontent at that
which at present is upon the wheel.
Pages:
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490