Neither, seventhly, hath it been barely and simply an act of patience and forbearance, though joined with this willingness, thou shouldst not perish; or merely a permissive act of suffering thee to live. But God shows forth yet more riches of goodness joined with this long suffering; in him ye live, and move, and have your being; and dost thou live in him only? nay thou livest on him also, upon his cost and charges; I have hung upon thee (says David) from my mothers womb. And consider what thy life is, that of so small a bottom, he should spin out so long a thread! had he not drawn it out of his own power, as the spider doth her web out of her own bowels, it had been at an end the second minute; to maintain that radical moisture, that oil that feeds the lamp, and light of thy life, that radical balsamum, this is as great a miracle as the maintaining the oil in the cruse of the poor famished widow. And further yet; hath he maintained thee only? Nay more, hath he not defended thee, took thy part, protected thee, took thee under his wing, as the hen doth her chickens, to shelter thee from those many dangers thy life hath been exposed unto? Otherwise, ⟨p. 29⟩how many ways, ere this, hadst thou been snatched away out of the land of the living? Is thy case, the case of the figtree only, which before we mentioned, that when God cried, Cut it down, another cried, spare it? but there have been many have cried, Cut thee down, and God hath cried, spare Thee: there is never a minute, but the devils would have had a blow at thy life, as he longed to have had at Johs. That thou, a poor lump of flesh, shouldst walk through, and in the midst of such an host of fierce and cruel enemies, whose hearts are swelled with malice at thee, and God should say to them all, concerning thee, as he did to Laban concerning Jacob, Touch not this man. And yet if thou wert not liable to their malice and power, yet consider how many dangers and casualties, besides, thou hast been kept in, and from; as falls, drowning, killing many ways; how often have the arrows of death come whisking by thee, took away those next thee, (haply of thy kindred, brother, sister, yoke-fellow, of the same house, family with thy self) and yet have missed thee? And if we look no farther than these days of mortality we have lived in;
Neither, seventhly, hath it beene barely and simply an act of patience and forbearance, though joyned with this willingnesse, thou shouldst not perish; or meerely a permissive act of suffering thee to live. But God shewes forth yet more riches of goodnesse joyned with this long suffering; in him ye live, and move, and have your being; and dost thou live in him onely? nay thou livest on him also, upon his cost and charges; I have hung upon thee (sayes David) from my mothers wombe. And consider what thy life is, that of so small a bottome, he should spin out so long a thred! had hee not drawne it out of his owne power, as the spider doth her web out of her owne bowels, it had beene at an end the second minute; to maintaine that radicall moisture, that oyle that feeds the lampe, and light of thy life, that radicale balsamum, this is as great a miracle as the maintaining the oyle in the cruze of the poore famished widow. And further yet; hath he maintained thee onely? Nay more, hath he not defended thee, tooke thy part, protected thee, tooke thee under his wing, as the hen doth her chickens, to shelter thee from those many dangers thy life hath been exposed unto? Otherwise, ⟨p. 29⟩how many wayes, ere this, hadst thou been snatcht away out of the land of the living? Is thy case, the case of the figtree onely, which before we mentioned, that when God cryed, Cut it downe, another cryed, spare it? but there have beene many have cryed, Cut thee downe, and God hath cryed, spare Thee: there is never a minute, but the devills would have had a blow at thy life, as he longed to have had at Iohs. That thou, a poore lump of flesh, shouldst walke through, and in the midst of such an host of fierce and cruell enemies, whose hearts are swelled with malice at thee, and God should say to them all, concerning thee, as he did to Laban concerning Iacob, Touch not this man. And yet if thou wert not liable to their malice and power, yet consider how many dangers and casualties, besides, thou hast beene kept in, and from; as falls, drowning, killing many wayes; how often have the arrows of death come whisking by thee, took away those next thee, (haply of thy kindred, brother, sister, yoke-fellow, of the same house, family with thy selfe) and yet have missed thee? And if we look no farther than these dayes of mortality we have lived in;
