A30574:836
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth, & tenth chapters of…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth, & tenth chapters of the prophesy of Hosea being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhill, London / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the seventh book published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth, & tenth chapters of the prophesy of Hosea being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhil, London / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the seventh book published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1650
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
First,1 The root of all evil is very deep that is upon us when God is departed: It doth not lie in this particular, or that particular, we might make shift to get over them, the spirit of a man might sustain his infirmity;2 but the root of the evil it lies in the departing of God, And what can the Creature do when God is departed? As the King of Israel when the women said, Help O King. Saith he, If the Lord doth not help thee, whence shall I help thee? And as all creatures say,3 If God be departed, we cannot help, nay, the very Devil cannot help if God be gone: In 1 Sam. 28. when Saul was sore distressed and he would raise up Samuel, and the Devil came in the likeness of Samuel, saith he, Wherefore doest thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee? No Creatures in the world, nor Devils can do good when God is departed, then the evil is only evil when God is gone. An evil may have much good in it, and God may sanctify it for abundance of blessings to his People so long as he continues with them;4 but if he be gone, then the evil is only evil: And if God be gone all protection is gone, and therefore thou liest liable to all kind of evils whatsoever. And however for the present things do seem to be good that are remaining, yet the blessing of it is gone if ⟨p. 251⟩God be not with thee. And this evil that is upon thee it is no other but the forerunner of eternal evil,5 and the creature certainly then must needs sink when God is thus departed. Oh! If so be that it is so woeful a thing for God to depart from a people here in this world in regard of the withdrawing of outward things and mercies from them, what is it then for the Lord to depart for ever from the soul? What an alteration doth the departing of the Sun make? Take a delightful Sunshine Summers day, and how beautiful is it? Now compare that with a winters dark dismal night; What makes the difference between these two? The presence of the Sun in the one,