Fourthly, Job lost all, and recovered all again: he lost a §4fair estate, and God doubles his estate to him. So David 1l•st all, and recovered all again. 1 Sam. 30. 18. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. Ver. 19. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither Sons nor Daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them. David recovered all. Here the end was better than the beginning; but the contrary befell the Amalekites, who a little before had framed Comedies out of poor Ziklag's Tragedies. In the beginning of the Chapter you may see, that David had lost all that ever he had in the world. All the spoil that he 2had taken from others, were gone, his Corn gone, his Cattle gone, his Wives gone, and his City burnt with fire, and turned into a ruinous heap, so that he had not a house, a ⟨p. 153⟩habitation in all the world to put his head in: he had nothing left him, but a poor, grieved, madded and enraged Army. The people sp•ke of stoning of him: but what 3was the event now? why David recovers all again. O Sirs, when a Christian is in greatest distress, when he hath 4lost all, when he is not worth one penny in all the world; yet then he hath a God to go to at last. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. A Christians case is never so desperate, but he hat still a God to go to. When a Christian has lost all, the best way to recover all again, is to encourage himself in the Lord his God. God sometimes strip• his people of outward mercies, and then restores to them again those very mercies that he had stripped them off I have read a story of a poor man that God served faithfully, and yet was oppressed cruelly; having all his goods taken from him by an exacting Knight, whereupon in a melancholy humour, he persuaded himself, that God was dead, who had formerly been so faithful to him, and now (as he thought) had left him: It so fell out, that an old man met him, and desired him to deliver a Letter into the hands of his oppressor: upon the receipt and perusal of which, the Knight was so convinced, that immediately he confessed his fault, and restored the poor man his goods; which made the poor man say, Now I see, that God may seem to sleep, but can never dye. If God has taken away all:
Fourthly, Job lost all, and recovered all again: he lost a §4fair estate, and God doubles his estate to him. So David 1l•st all, and recovered all again. 1 Sam. 30. 18. And David recovered all that the Amalakites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. Ver. 19. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither Sons nor Daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them. David recovered all. Here the end was better than the beginning; but the contrary befell the Amalekites, who a little before had framed Comoedies out of poor Ziklags Tragoedies. In the beginning of the Chapter you may see, that David had lost all that ever he had in the world. All the spoil that he 2had taken from others, were gone, his Corn gone, his Cattel gone, his Wives gone, and his City burnt with fire, and turned into a ruinous heap, so that he had not a house, a ⟨p. 153⟩habitation in all the world to put his head in: he had nothing left him, but a poor, grieved, madded and enraged Army. The people sp•ke of stoning of him: but what 3was the event now? why David recovers all again. O Sirs, when a Christian is in greatest distress, when he hath 4lost all, when he is not worth one penny in all the world; yet then he hath a God to go to at last. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. A Christians case is never so desperate, but he hat still a God to go to. When a Christian has lost all, the best way to recover all again, is to encourage himself in the Lord his God. God sometimes strip• his people of outward mercies, and then restores to them again those very mercies that he had stript them off I have read a story of a poor man that God served f•ithfully, and yet was oppressed cruelly; having all his goods taken from him by an exacting Knight, whereupon in a melancholy humour, he perswaded himself, that God was dead, who had formerly been so faithful to him, and now (as he thought) had left him: It so fell out, that an old man met him, and desired him to deliver a Letter into the hands of his oppressor: upon the receipt and perusal of which, the Knight was so convinced, that immediately he confessed his fault, and restored the poor man his goods; which made the poor man say, Now I see, that God may seem to sleep, but can never dye. If God has taken away all:
- 1Compare the first and last Chapters of Job together.
- 2Verse 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
- 3Verse 6.
- 4Remember that of Zeno, who said, he never sailed better, than when he suffered shipwreck.Remember that of Zeno, who said, he never sailed better, than when he suffered shipwrack.
