Winds blowing from all Quarters and upon the Globe of the Earth being in the middle of them is written Immobilis This fitly resembles the Church Why It seems to be the sport of all the Winds but is indeed so Established that all of them yea the very Gates of Hell cannot prevail against it Now the more the Churches Enemies labour and moil themselves to undo her the more doth their weakness and the power of her Lord appear so that thus the wrath of man doth praise him When was the Church free from the Worlds wrath To say nothing of the Church of the Jews Did not those Wicked Emperours of Rome think to have made the Christian Church short lived to have drowned her newly Born in Floods of her own Blood And in latter Ages who knows not the Cruelties that have been practised by the Turk in the East And the Proud Prelate of Rome in the West By which she hath sometimes been brought to so obscure and low a point that if you can follow her in History 't is by the tract of her Blood and if you would see her 't is by the light of those fires in which her Martyrs have been burnt Yet hath she still come through and survived all that wrath and still shall till she be made perfectly Triumphant Further Mans wrath tends to Gods praise in this That God giving way to it does so manage it by his sublime Providence that it often directly crosses their own ends that conduces manifestly to his Pharaoh thought that his dealing more cruelly with the Jews in their tasks and burdens was wisdom Let us work wisely says he But whereas their ordinary servility was become familiar to them and they were tamed to it that same accession of new Tyranny did prepare and dispose the Israelites for a desire of departure and their departure made way for Pharaoh's destruction Undigestable Insolency and Rage hastening to be great makes Kingdoms cast them off which would have been far longer troubled with their wickedness had it been more moderate surely then the wrath of man commends the wisdom of God when he makes him by that contrive and afford the means of his own downfal Job 18. 7. The steps of his strength shall be straightened and his own counsel should cast him down says Bildad And that is a sad fall as that Eagle that was shot with an Arrow trimmed with her own Feathers But to close this point It is out of all question that the deserved punishment of mans unjust wrath doth always glorifie the Justice of God and the more he gives way to their wrath the more notable shall be both their Punishment and the Justice of it and though God seems neglective of his people and of his praise while mans wrath prevails yet the truth is he never comes too late to vindicate his care of both And when he defers longest the Enemy pays dear Interest for the time of forbearance In his Eternal Decree he resolved to permit the course of mans wrath for his own Glory and when the period which he hath fixed is come he stops mans wrath and gives course unto the Justice of his own Nor is there then any possibility of escaping he will right himself and be known by executing Judgment Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee And that is the Third thing propounded The Infallibility of the Event The Author of Nature governs all his Creatures each in a suitable way to the Nature he hath given them He maintains in some things a natural Necessity of working Contingency in others and in others Liberty But all of them are subject to this Necessity of effecting inevitably his Eternal purposes and this Necessity is no way repugnant to the due Liberty of mans Will Some entertain and maintain the Truth some Plot others act and execute against it some please themselves in a wise Neutrality and will appear so indifferent that it would seem they might be accepted of all sides for Judges of Controversies And all these find no less Liberty to wind and turn themselves whither they please than if no higher hand had the winding of them Shall not only the Zeal of the Godly but even the Wrath of the Enemy and the cold Discretion of the Neutral all tend to his praise whose Supream Will hath a secret but a sure and infallible sway in all their Actions whilst some Passengers sit some walk one way some another some have their faces towards their Journeys end some theirs back turned upon it this wise Pilot does most skilfully guide the Ship to arrive with them all at his own Glory Happy they that propound and intend his Glory as he himself does for in them shall the riches of his mercy be glorified they that oppose him lose this happâ—ness but he is sure not to lose his Glory for all that to wit the Glory of his Justice His right hand shall find out all his Enemies surely the wrath of man shall praise thee The consideration of this truth thus in some measure unfolded may serve to justifie the truly wise Dispensation of God against our Imaginary Wisdom were the matter referr'd to our modelling we would assign the Church constant Peace and Prosperity for her Portion and not consent that the least air of trouble should come near her we would have no Enemies to molest her nor stir against her or if they did stir we would have them to be presently represt and these in our Judgment would be the fairest and most glorious tokens of his love and power whose Spouse she is But this carnal wisdom is enmity against God and to the Glory of God which rises so often out of the wrath of his Enemies Had God caused Pharaoh to yield at the very first to the release of his people where had been the fame of those Miraculous Judgments in Egypt and Mercies on the Israelites the one setting out and illustrating the other Where had been that Name and Honour that God says he would gain to himself and that he did gain out of Pharaoh's final Destruction making that Stony-hearted King and his Troops sink like a stone in the waters as Moses Sings Observe his proud boastings immediately foregoing his Ruin I will pursue says he I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied on them I will draw my sword and my hand shall destroy them Soon after the Sea quenches all this heat Commonly big threatnings are unhappy presages of very ill success That Historian says well of God and indeed as he abhors these boastings so he delights in the abasing of the lofty heart whence they flow and it is his Prerogative to gain praise to himself out of their wrath Hast thou an arm like God says the Lord to Job then look upon the proud and bring them low Job 40. 9. When Sennacherib came up against Jerusalem his blasphemies and boastings were no less vast and monstrous than
forbear to confess multitudes of offences that know themselves And who can chuse but seek thy Face that ever saw thy Face and that know thee In their affliction they will seek me early He that Prays not till affliction comes and forces him to it is very slothful but he that Prays not in affliction is altogether senseless Certainly they that at this time are not more than ordinary fervent in Prayer or do not at least desire and strive to be so cannot well think that there is any Spiritual life within them Sure it is high time to stir up our selves to Prayers and Tears all may bear arms in that kind of Service weak Women may be strong in Prayer and those Tears wherein they usually abound upon other occasions cannot be so well spent as this way Let them not run out in howlings and impatience but bring them by bewailing sins private as well as publick to quench this publick Fire and ye Men yea ye Men of courage account it no disparagement thus to weep we read often of David's Tears which was no stain to his valour That cloud that hangs over us which the frequent vapors of our Sins have made except it dissolve and fall down again in these sweet showers of Godly Tears is certainly reserved to be the matter of a dreadful storm be instant every one in secret for the averting of this wrath and let us now again unite the crys of our hearts for this purpose to our compassionate God in the Name and Mediation of his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Job XXXIV 31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not Teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more THE great Sin and the great Misery of Man is the forgetting of God and the great End and Use of his Works and of his Word is to teach us the right Remembrance and Consideration of Him in all Estates These words do particularly instruct us in the application of our thoughts towards him in the time of Affliction The shortness and the various signification of the words used in the Original gives occasion to some other Readings and another sence of them But this we have in our Translation being not only very profitable but very congruous both to the words of the primitive Text and to the contexture of the Discourse I shall keep to it without dividing your thoughts by the mentioning of any other Neither will I lead you so far about as to speak of the great dispute of this Book and the question about which it is held He that speaks here though the youngest of the Company yet as a wise and calm spirited Man closes all with a discourse of excellent Temper and full of grave useful Instructions amongst which this is one Surely it is meet to be said or spoke to God This speaking to God though it may be vocal yet it is not necessarily nor chiefly so but is always mainly and may often be only mental without this the words of the mouth how well chosen and well exprest so ever they be are to God of no account or signification at all But if the heart speak even when there is not a word in the mouth its that he hearkens to and regards that speech tho'made by a voice that none hears but he and is a Language that none understands but He. But it is a rare unfrequented thing this Communing of the heart with God speaking its thoughts to him concerning it self and concerning him and his dealing with it and the purposes and intentions it hath towards him which is the speech here recommended and is that Divine exercise of Meditation and Soliloquy of the Soul with it self and with God hearkening what the Lord God speaks to us within us and our hearts ecchoing and resounding his words as Ps. 27. 8 9. And opening to him our thoughts of them and of our selves though they stand open and he sees them all even when we tell him not of them yet because he loves us he loves to hear them of our own speaking Let me hear thy voice for it is sweet as a Father delights in the little stammering lisping Language of his beloved Child And if the reflex affection of Children be in us we will love also to speak with our Father and to tell him all our mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be often with him in the entertainments of our secret thoughts But the most of Men are little within either they wear out their hours in vain discourse with others or possibly vainer discourses with themselves even those that are not of the worst sort and possibly that have their times of secret Prayer yet do not so delight to think of God and to speak with him as they do to be conversant in other Affairs and Companies and Discourses in which there is a great deal of froth and emptiness Men think by talking of many things to be refresht and yet when they have done find that it is nothing and that they had much better have been alone or have said nothing Our Thoughts and Speeches in most things run to waste yea are defiled as water spilt on the Ground is both lost cannot be gathered up again and it is polluted mingled with dust but no word spoke to God from the serious Sense of a holy Heart is lost he receives it and returns it into our bosom with advantage a Soul that delights to speak to him will find that he also delights to speak to it And this Communication certainly is the sweetest and happiest choice to speak little with Men and much with God One short word such as this here spoke to God in a darted thought eases the heart more when it is afflicted then the largest Discourses and Complainings to the greatest and powerfullest of Men or the kindest and most friendly It gives not only ease but joy to say to God I have sinned yet I am thine or as here I have born Chastisement I will no more offend The time of affliction is peculiarly a time of speaking to God and such speech as this is peculiarly befitting such a time And this is one great recommendation of affliction that it is a time of wiser and more sober thoughts a time of the returning of the mind inwards and upwards A high place Fullness and Pleasure draws the mind more outwards great light and white Colours disgregate the sight of the eye and the very thoughts of the mind too And Men find that the night is a fitter Season for deep thoughts It s better says Solomon to go to the House of Mourning then to the House of Feasting Those blacks made the mind more serious 'T is a rare thing to find much Retirement unto God much Humility and Brokenness of Spirit true Purity and Spiritualness of heart in the affluences and great prosperities of the
World 'T is no easie thing to carry a very full Cup even and to digest well the fatness of a great Estate and great Place They are not to be envyed that have them even though they be of the better sort of Men it s a thousand to one but that they shall be losers by the gains and advancements of this World suffering proportionably great abatements of their best advantages by their prosperity The generality of Men while they are at ease do securely neglect God and little mind either to speak to him or to hear him speak to them God complains thus of his own people I spoke to them in their prosperity and they would not hear The noises of Coach-Wheels of their Pleasures and of their great Affairs so fill their ears that the still voice wherein God is cannot be heard I will bring her into the Wilderness and there I wall speak to her heart says God of his Church There the heart is more at quiet to hear God and to speak to him and is disposed to speak in the Stile here prescribed humbly and repentingly I have born Chastisement The speaking thus unto God under Affliction signifies 1. That our Affliction is from his hand and to the acknowledgement of this Truth the very natural Consciences of Men do incline them Though trouble be the general Lot of Mankind yet it doth not come on him by an improvidential fatality Though Man is born to Trouble as the sparks flie upward Job 5. Yet it comes not out of the dust It is no less true and in it self no less clear that all the good we enjoy and all the evil we suffer comes from the same hand but we are naturally more sensible of evil then of good and therefore do more readily reflect upon the Original and Causes of it our distresses lead us unto the notice of the righteous God inflicting them and our own unrighteous ways procuring them and provoking him so to do and therefore it is meet to speak in this submissive humble Language to him It is by all means necessary to speak to him he is the Party we have to deal withal or to speak to even in those afflictions whereof Men are the intervenient visible causes They are indeed but instrumental causes the Rod and Staff in his hand that smites us therefore our business is with him in whose supream hand alone the mitigations and increases the continuance and the ending of our troubles lie Who gave Jacob to the spoil and Israel to the Robbers Did not the Lord against whom we have Sinned So Lam. 1. 14. The yoke of my Transgressions is bound on by thy hand Therefore it is altogether necessary in all afflictions to speak to him and as its necessary to speak to him it is meet to speak thus to him I have born Chastisement I will no more offend These words have in them the true composure of real Repentance humble Submission and holy Resolution I have born Chastisement that is I have justly born it and do heartily submit to it I bear it justly and take it well Lord I acquit thee and accuse my self this Language becomes the innocentest person in the World in their suffering Job knew it well and did often acknowledge it in his precedeing Speeches though sometimes in the heat of dispute and opposure to the uncharitable and unjust imputations of his Friends he seems to overstrain the assertion of his own integrity which Elihu here corrects you know he cries out I have sinned against thee what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of man and Chap. 9. If I wash my self with Snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine own Cloaths shall abhor me Vain foolish persons fret and foam at the miscarriage of a cause they apprehend to be righteous but this is a great vanity and inconsiderate temerity in not observing the great and apparent unrighteousness in the persons managing it But though both the cause and the persons were just to the greatest hight imaginable amongst men yet still were it meet to speak thus unto God in the lowest acknowledgements and confessions that righteousness belongs unto him and unto us shame and confusion of face so says the Church Lam. 3. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandments Though affliction is not always designedly intended as the Chastisement of some particular Sin yet where Sin is and that is the case of all the Sons of Adam affliction coming in may safely be considered in its natural cognation and alliance with Sin and so press forth humble confessions of Sin and resolutions against it And thus in Lev. 26. 41. They shall except of the punishment of their iniquity shall take it humbly and penitently and kiss the Rod. Oh! That there were such a heart in us That instead of empty words that scatter themselves in the wind our many vain discourses we hold one with another concerning our past and present sufferings and further fears and disputing of many fruitless and endless questions we were more abundantly turning our Speech this way in unto God and Saying We desire to give thee Glory and take Shame to our selves and to bear our Chastisement and to offend no more to return each from his evil way and to gain this by the furnace the purging away of our dross our many and great iniquities our Oaths and Cursings and lying our Deceit and Oppressions and Pride and Covetousness our base love of our selves and hating one another that we may be delivered from the Tyranny of our own lusts and passions and in other things Let the Lord do with us as seems good in his eyes speaking to God in Ephraims words Jeremiah 31. 18 19 20. words not unlike these would stir his bowels as there As it is said that one string perfectly tuned to another being toucht the other stirs of it self when a stubborn Child leaves strugling under the Rod and turns to intreating the Father then leaves striking nothing overcomes him but that When a man says unto God Father I have provoked thee to this but Pardon and through thy Grace I will do so no more Then the Rod is thrown aside and the Father of Mercies and his humbled Child fall to mutual tenderness and embraces What I see not teach thou me c. The great Article of Conversion is the disengagement of the heart from the love of Sin In that posture as it actually forsakes whatsoever it perceives to be amiss so it stands in an absolute readiness to return to every duty that yet lies hidden upon the first discovery that is here the genuine voice of a repentant Sinner What I see not teach thou me c. This is a very necessary suit even for the most discerning and clearest sighted Penitent both in reference to the Commandment and Rule for discovering the general nature and several kinds of Sin and withal
lives and fall in love with it but he is no less abhorred by the Searcher of hearts than pleasing to himself Surely this mischief of Hypocrisie can never be enough inveighed against When Religion is in request it s the chief malady of the Church and numbers dye of it though because its a subtile and inward Evil it be little perceived It s to be feared there are many sick of it that look well and comely in God's outward Worship and they may pass well in good Weather in times of Peace but days of Adversity are days of Trial. The prosperous Estate of the Church makes Hypocrites and her Distress discovers them but if they escape such trial there is one inevitable day coming wherein all secret things shall be made manifest Men shall be turn'd inside out and amongst all Sinners that shall then be brought before that Judgment Seat the deformedst sight shall be an unmasked Hypocrite and the heaviest sentence shall be his Portion Oh! That the consideration of this would scare us out of that false disguise in time and set us all upon the study of Sincerity precious is that Grace in God's esteem a little of it will weigh down Mountains of formal Religion in the Ballance of the Sanctuary Which of us have not now brought Hypocrisie more or less into this House of God Oh! that it were not with intention to nourish it but with desire to be here cured of it for he alone that hates it so much can cure it he alone can confer upon us that sincerity wherein he mainly delights If we have a mind indeed to be indued with it it is no where else to be had we must intreat it of God by humble Prayer in the name of his Well beloved Son by the assistance of his Holy Spirit Isaiah LX. 1. Second Sermon Arise shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee TRuly light is sweet and it is a pleasing thing to behold the Sun says the Preacher Eccles. 11. 7. But the interchange of Night with Day adds to its beauty and the longest Night makes Day the welcomest as that People well knows whose scituation in the World gives them a five or six months Night all of one piece It is reported of some of them That when they conceive their Night draws towards an end they put on their richest Apparel and climb up to the highest Mountains with emulation who shall first discover the returning light which so soon as it appears they Salute with Acclamations of Joy and welcom it with solemn Feasting and all other Testimonies of exceeding gladness But such is the Lethargy of sinful Man that he stirs not to meet his Spiritual Light and which is worse when it comes upon him it finds him in love with Darkness instead of his shouts of Joy for this Light many a cry must be sounded in his Ears to awaken him and it is well too if at length he hear and obey this Voice Arise shine for thy light is come c. It is clear that the words contain a Command and the Reason of it The Command to a twofold act The Reason under two Expressions proportionately different Good reason the Church should arise when the Lord's Glory is risen upon her and it is very congruous she should be enlightned and shine when her light is come Of those two Acts or Duties somewhat was formerly spoken and the reason likewise was made use of so far as relative to those Duties and tending to their inforcement But the meaning of the Phrases in which the Reason is exprest was rather at that time supposed then either duly proved or â—â—lustrated so that it will be now expedient to consider simply in themselves these latter words Thy light is come c. So far as this Prophesie hath respect to the reduction of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity that Temporal Deliverance and ensuing Peace and Prosperity was their Light and that Divine Power by which it was effected was this Glory of the Lord. And indeed both these expressions are frequently used in such a sense in Holy Writ When I waited for light there came darkness says Job in his 30 Chapter 26 ver So Isaiah 58. 20 and many other places And the Glory of the Lord for a singular effect of his Power Joh. 11. 40. Isa. 60. 18. and elsewhere But this literal sense is but a step to elevate the Prophet to a sight of Christ's Spiritual Kingdom which is usual with him as our Saviour himself testifies of another of his Prophesies These things said Esaias when he saw his Glory and spoke of him Joh. 12. 41. It was a sight of that same Glory that makes him say Thy light was true c. In these words there are three things concerning Christ represented to the Churches view First His Beauty and Excellency in that he is called light and the glory of the Lord. Secondly The Churches Propriety and Interest in him Thy light and risen upon thee which hath a restrictive Emphasis as the very next verse doth clearly manifest as he is originally the Glory of the Lord and the Light of the Lord Lumen de lumine so he is Communicatively the Churches light â—nd her Glory too as it is exprest in the 19th verse of this same Chapter Thy God thy Glory Thus hath she both his worth and her own right in him to consider Thirdly His Presence or her actual Possession He is come and is risen and in these the Church and each faithful Soul may find a double Spring of Affection the one of Love the other of Joy The transcendent Beauty of Christ makes him the choicest object of Love and her Property in him or Title to him together with Possession is the proper Cause of solid Joy First then this Excellency is exprest by these two Characters light and the glory of the Lord. Concerning which it will be fit both to demonstrate that they are the proper Titles of Christ and here to be taken for him as also to shew what they signifie in him Indeed the Apostle in his second Epistle to the Corinthians 3 Chapter insists much in extolling both the light and the glory of the Gospel And in the 4th verse of the next Chapter speaks of the light of the Glorious Gospel but he immediately imitates whence it hath this Light and Glory the glorious Gospel of Christ says he who is the Image of God So that it is most unnecessary to enquire whether the Messiah or the Word that reveals him be rather here couched under these terms of Light and the Glory of the Lord. These two agree so well altogether and these words agree so well to them both that it were an injury to attempt to sever them All the difference will be this Christ is that incomplex and substantial Light The Gospel that complex Light wherein he appears but not to be guilty of dark terms especially in a
the Spirit of God let us have recourse to the Throne of Grace by humble and earnest Prayer in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ. Psal. XLII 8. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time and in the night his Song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life MAN is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards saith Eliphaz Job 5. 7. And as it is the corruption and sinfulness of his Birth and Nature that has exposed him to trouble so Nature usually sets him at work to look out for such things as may preserve and deliver him from trouble or at least mitigate and temper the bitterness of it And because there is not any one worldly thing that hath either certainty or sufficiency enough to serve at all times therefore worldly and natural men are forced to make use of variety and are but badly served with them all The believing Soul hath but one comfort whereon he relies but it 's a great one which alone weighs down all the rest Bread strengthens and Wine makes glad the heart of Man Psal. 104. 15. But God is the strength of my heart says the Psalmist Psal. 73. 20. and the gladness of it too Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than they have when their corn and wine increaseth and therefore while the rest are seeking after some scattered crumbs of goodness in the Creatures Who will shew us any good He fixes his choice upon this one thing The light of God's countenance and it is the constant assurance of this that upholds him waves beat upon him yea and go over him yet the Lord will command his loving kindness to shine upon him In this Psalm we may perceive the Psalmist full of perplexed thoughts and that betwixt strong desires and griefs and yet in the midst of them now and then some advantage and intermixing strains of Hope with his sad complaints for immediately before we heard nothing but the impetuous noise of many waters deep calling unto deep In the former verse we have there as it were a touch of the sweet sound of David's Harp Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time In the words we have David's confidence and David's purpose the one suiting very well with the other His Confidence in God's loving kindness Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness And his purpose And in the night his song shall be with me It is true those words in the night his song shall be with me may be taken as a part of the expression of his confidence taking his Song for the matter or subject of the Song the goodness of God as if he should say both in the day and in the night I shall find the sweet fruits of God's favour and loving kindness But not excluding that I rather take it intended as his resolution that it should be his custom in the quiet Season of the Night to look back upon God's goodness manifested to him in the actions and occurrences of the Day and thus encertaining his Soul with that secret discourse he would stir it up to the praises of his God and withal would joyn Prayer for the continuance and further manifestation of it David as is hinted before intermixing strains of Hope not that faint and common hope of possibility or probability that after stormy days it may be better with him but a certain hope that shall never make ashamed such a hope as springs from faith yea in effect is one with it Faith rests upon the goodness and truth of Him that hath promised and Hope raising it self upon Faith so established stands up and looks out to the future accomplishment of the promise Therefore the Apostle Heb. 11. 1. calls Faith The substance of things hoped for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the evidence of things not seen of all other wavering hope here 's they say true Spes est nomen boni incerti But this can say The Lord will command his loving kindness c. The Lord will command What a sudden change is here Would you think this were the same man that was even now almost overwhelmed Thus Faith always conquers though seldom or never without hard conflict not only assaulted by troubles without but which is worse by Incredulity within nor assaulted only but many times brought under yet does it not succumb and give over knowing that even after many foils yet in the end it shall overcome His confidence you may consider first oppositely and then positively or simply in it self Oppositely both to his present trouble and to his complaints wherein this trouble is exprest and that is fitly implyed though it be not in the Original Though the multitude and weight of Jobs Afflictions did force out of him some bitter words and made him look back upon the day of his Birth and curse it yet Faith recovers him from his distemper and makes him look forward with joy even as far as to the blessed day of his Resurrection Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God The former words of impatience he spake indeed but he adheres to these and wishes that they were written with an Iron Pen and Engraven to abide for ever Therefore we hear of him again in Scripture as a righteous and patient man but of these words of his impatience not a word In the 77 Psalm what sad Expostulations are these the Psalmist uses Will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies But see how he corrects them ver 10. Then I said this is my Infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High Thus Jonah 2 Chap. ver 3 4. much like this but there literally true And here deep calls unto deep yet in the midst of those deeps Faith is not drowned you see it lifts up its head above water Yet the Lord will command c. Yea though it takes particular notice of God's hand in the affliction yet it goes not to another hand for comfort Thy Waves and thy Billows yet that same God whose Waves are like to destroy me will ere long command his loving kindness to shine upon me Though he slay me yet will I trust in him A wonderful expression of Faith He says not though he afflict me sore but though he slay me not though evil men or Satan should do it but though he slay me yet will I trust in him What troubled mind can imagine any thing harder against it self than this 1. Learn then to check these excessive doubts and fears by some such resolute word as this Turn the promise first upon thy self and then upon God