The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

Well, we see how this verse followeth of experience the verse going before, as if the Prophet had said: I see, O Lord, that they that love the law have good success, and whatsoever befalleth to flesh and blood most contrary, it is turned to their salvation: contrariwise in them that fear thee not, I observe thus much, how they are plagued here and there, and how in their chief felicity they are subject to thy curse. For as for them that are delighted with thy law, if they be rich, they swell not; if they abound, they are not puffed up; if they prosper in name, body and goods, they are not proud, but use this world as though they used it not: if thou callest them to a contrary estate, they are thankful; and if they want, ⟨p. 590⟩or fall into sickness, or infamy, they fret not, they despair not; they are not so appalled in their spirits, but still they believe on thee, they call on thee, they glorify thee, even until their deaths.

Well, we see how this verse followeth of experience the verse going before, as if the Prophet had said: I see, O Lord, that they that loue the law haue good successe, and whatsoeuer befalleth to flesh and blood most contrarie, it is turned to their saluation: contrariwise in them that feare thee not, I obserue thus much, how they are plagued here and there, and how in their chiefe felicitie they are subiect to thy curse. For as for thē that are delighted with thy law, if they be rich, they swell not; if they abound, they are not puffed vp; if they prosper in name, bodie and goods, they are not proud, but vse this world as though they vsed it not: if thou callest them to a contrarie estate, they are thankfull; and if they want, ⟨p. 590⟩or fall into sicknes, or infamie, they fret not, they despaire not; they are not so appalled in their spirits, but still they beleeue on thee, they call on thee, they glorifie thee, euen vntill their deaths.

We shall not only see the truth of this in the Patriarchs and Prophets, and Apostles, and in the Primitive Church, but also in the Saints of God of late memory in King Edward his days, who used their time as though they used it not, when affliction came, they neither feared, nor forswore themselves, but quietly suffered imprisonment, banishment, torment and martyrdom, as the dear children of God. We may call now to mind how the blessed man David behaved himself in all his miseries, and how Saul plunged himself in disobedience, who thinking in time of God his judgement to follow his own wi, fell from sin to sin, until he fell into a fury, when he began to ask counsel of the devil, and afterward by the justice of God had a miserable death. The like we may see in the Egyptians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and Israelites, when they forsook the Lord. In comparing these things together, we shall mark the works of God, and how they that love not the truth in love, are plagued of the Lord with anguish, distractions, and terrors of mind, some ending their lives in treasons, some in profaneness, some in heresies, some in shame, and some otherwise.