Above all, it displeases him
that any should seek, or go about to revenge their own injuries, or
to work their own deliverances; for that is the work of God: nor is
he weak, nor has he missed the opportunity; nor does he sleep, but
waketh, and waiteth to be gracious.
This also should teach them to be patient, and put them upon bearing
what at present they may undergo, patiently Let them wait upon God;
patiently let them wait upon men, and patiently let them bear the
fruits of their own transgressions; which though they should be none
other but a deferring of the mercy wished for, is enough to try, and
crack, and break their patience, if a continual supply and a daily
increase thereof be not given by the God of heaven.
And before I conclude this, let me add one word more, to wit, to
exhort them to look that they may see what God at present may be
doing among the Babylonians.
When God had his people into Babylon of old, he presented them with
such varieties there as he never showed them in their own country.
And is there nothing now to be seen by them that are not yet
delivered from that oppression, that may give them occasion to stay
themselves and wonder? What, is preservation nothing? What, is
baffling and befooling the enemies of God's church nothing? In the
Maryan [Footnote: Upon the accession of Mary to the throne of
England, the sanguinary laws against heretics were revived, and
those shocking scenes of cruelty followed which have fixed upon this
princess the epithet of Bloody Queen Mary.
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