The Breastplate of Faith and Love

First, It may be thou art too hasty in this kind; many times thou thinkest in such cases, that thou art without help and without hope, when it is not so: Know therefore, that a man may be under water and rise again, he may sink twice or thrice before he be drowned; thou mayest receive many foils, many blows, and yet not lose the victory. The best Saints have been under the cloud for a great while, but they were not destroyed, they perished not: So was Joseph, so was David ▪ so were all. Therefore put the case that thou fall into the particular ill, that the evil which ⟨p. 188⟩thou fearest, fall upon thee, cast not away thy confidence, GOD may help thee, he may come between the cup and the lip, as often it is seen. It is his usual manner to appear in the Mount, and not before. It was a Proverb in Israel, The LORD will be seen in the Mount; not so much because it was a common speech, but because it was commonly done, it was a thing that GOD used to do. Therefore be not discouraged too soon, GOD may help thee, as low as thou art. Suppose this do come to pass, as a mans heart will never be at rest, till he suppose that which he would not be content should be so: and hence comes disquiet in a mans heart, if it do come, he hath not resolution to bear the perplexity. Therefore in such a case, if thou suppose it will be so, do as Esther did; resolve, If I perish, I perish. The meaning is, If I perish, I shall not perish: when she saith, If I perish, I perish, she means not such a matter as we say in our common speech; but, if it will come to pass, let it come to pass: so Esther, If I perish, I perish: She knew it was a good work that she went about, and she knew she should have a reward for it. It is not such a thing to lose the life, as men think it is: If we look upon it with the eye of faith, it is no such matter. And so the three Children, they care not what should become of them; They knew not whether GOD would deliver them, or no; but if he would not, they ⟨p. 189⟩resolved to bear it, and so should we do.

First, It may be thou art too hasty in this kinde; many times thou thinkest in such cases, that thou art without helpe and without hope, when it is not so: Know therfore, that a man may be vnder water and rise againe, he may sinke twice or thrice before he be drowned; thou mayest receiue many foiles, many blowes, and yet not lose the victory. The best Saints haue beene vnder the cloud for a great while, but they were not destroyed, they perished not: So was Ioseph, so was Dauid so were all. Therefore put the case that thou fall into the particular ill, that the euill which