An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

Hence Note; First, God can presently strike to destruction,

He can take the strongest away with a stroke, he can do it wi h one stroke. The Lord needs not stand cutting and slashing, hacking ⟨p. 301⟩and hewing (as we say) all day long; one stroke of his will do it. He took away Herod at one stroke (Acts 12.23.) He took away Ananias and Sapphira at one stroke (Acts 5.5.) Nadab and Abihu were taken away with one stroke (Lev. 10.1.) All these perished, and so have thousands more, as with a stroke, so suddenly, at one stroke. The Lord can strike home; as Abishai said to David in the case of Saul, when he found him in the Trench, Let me strike him at once, and I will not strike him a second time. The Lord threatened (Nah. 1.9.) to b•ing destruction upon those at once, when he told them Affliction should not rise a second time; as if he had said, I will not strike another blow at them, I'll hit them home, and do my wo•k with one blow. We need not fear how many, or how mighty his enemies are, he can rid himself of them with one stroke. The Lord strikes some to take away their sin; thus he strikes his own people: others he strikes to take away their persons; thus he strikes the wicked, especially those who enemy-like, designedly strike at Him, his Name, his Truth, his Glory. Elihu doth not say, Beware least he strike thee, but least he take thee away with a stroke. The Lord often strikes his own faithful servants, they receive many a stroke, many a lash, many a blow, many a chastisement at his hands, but he doth not take them away with a stroke, as he doth the wicked. The Lord strikes his servants to take away their sins, and he strikes wicked men to take away their lives, to destroy them utterly.