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

Secondly, Note; Some good men, or good men sometimes under very great afflictions, are not sensible of the hand of the Lord upon them.

Secondly, Note; Some good men, or good men somtimes under very great afflictions, are not sensible of the hand of the Lord upon them.

As a good man may receive many mercies, and yet not observe (at present) how, or from whom he receives them, so he may be under angry visitations or dispensations in great extremity, and ⟨p. 130⟩not mind the dealing of God with him in it, nor what he intendeth by it; yea, he may complain of the burden, and cry out under the pressure, yet not know it at that time for his own good, for his humbling or purging. The Prophet saith concerning Ephraim, (Hos. 7.9.) Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: That is, Enemies have swallowed up, or taken away that wealth, those riches, they have subdued those Armies, those Forces, which he looked upon, and boasted of, as his strength; they have broken him quite with Wars & Invasions, yet Ephraim knew it not: and not only so, but as it followeth, Yea, Grey hairs are here and there upon him; that is, he hath many Symptoms or Signs or ruin and destruction, yet he knoweth it not. Grief of heart for great changes in our Estate, change the hair; many grow grey with sorrow. So that, when 'tis said grey hairs are upon him, 'tis an allusion taken from the Body Natural to the Body Politic; for as when the natural Body of a man hath grey hairs appearing, or (as Solomon allegorizeth, Eccl. 12.5.) when the Almond Tree flourisheth, it is an argument that old Age and infirmities are coming upon him (Grey hairs tell us that Death and the Grave are not far off, they signify some decay of nature.) Now as the natural Body hath its grey hairs, so a Politic Body, the body of a State hath its grey hairs too; that is, something may come upon a State, which showeth that it is declining and waxing old, that it is ready to break, and go to the Grave. I shall not stay to enquire what are the grey hairs of a Nation; I only bring that Scripture, to prove that many are insensible of the hand of God; he visiteth in his anger, yet man, possibly a good man, knoweth it not, as Ephraim knew not of his grey hairs.