A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, writtenA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written

But how appears this love, when God did so cast him down that he seemed •ven to hate him? Law•. 1.1•. Vindemiavit me Dominus; The Lord hath afflicted me […] the day of his fierce anger. God afflicts some in mercy, but this was in wrath. In •is wrath God is not a like to all: some he afflicts more mildly; but this was in his •ierce wrath. His sufferings, his Sweat, and Cup, import so much: they could not •ome, but from a wrath whereof never was the like. Two things especially may •eeme to abate the Fathers love to his Sonne. First, his sweat in the Garden. Luk. •2.44. Which was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When •o manner of violence was offered him in body, none touching him: in a cold night, •or they were glad of a fire within doors: lying abroad in the air, and upon the •old earth; to be all or a sweat, and that sweat to be blood, and that not a thin ••int one, but Gr•mosus, of great drops; and those so many as went through his apparel, and streamed to the ground in abundance: never was the like sweat. But secondly, to be in this distress, and then to want comfort! This was his most sorrowful complaint; not that his friends on earth, but that his Father from heaven had forsaken him. So that between the passioned powers of his foul, and whatsoever might refresh him, there was a Traverse drawn: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Martyrs in their most exquisite pains had some cheerfulness. Augustine answers Martyres non •ripuit, sed nunquid deseruit? God did not deliver them, but •id he forsake them? He freed not their bodies, he left not their souls. But here, Direliquisti me, thou hast forsaken me. How then was he beloved? non solvit unio•em, sed subtraxit visionem. The influence was for the time restrained, the power f darkness let loose to afflict him, and the vision of comfort not permitted to reeeve him: yet still the Lord loved him. But this shows how immensely God loed us: when he seemed to forsake his Son for a time, that he might embrace his servants for ever. Yea, how much CHRIST loved us; that would be content to uffer a sense of this desertion for a while, that we might not be eternally lost. Thou wast forsaken for us, let not us forsake thee, neither do thou forsake us, oh blessed Jesus!