Sermons upon the Book of Job

But such men understand not how God dealeth with his servants according too the measure of saith which he hath distributed unto §10them. Howe is that? We are not tempted all alike: for God hath not made us all so strong as were requisite. There are some weaklings, and God supporteth them. And if he chastise them, it is to humble them, to the end they should take heed to themselves, and call upon God more earnestly. There are other some far more strong and stout: and wherefore are they so? Because God hath poured out his spirit upon them in much greater abundance. For (as I have erst said) accordingly as God dealeth unto us of the strength that is in himself: so doth §20he exercise us, & he will have our faith tried, which thing we are sure is not against our profit, howbeit that he only know wherefore he doth it. He is not bound to us to give us one drop of strength, he may leave us in our own weakness, too cause us to be oppressed and utterly destroyed every minute of an hour. For in our selves we have no mean too resist, saving so far forth as God strengtheneth us by his grace. Yet notwithstanding (as I have said) that is not all after one fashion. For the one sort abide weak still, and the other sort have a far §30greater strength. And here we see wherefore the holy men that have been endued with excellent graces, have also been much more tormented in their life. Which of us hath been so roughly dealt with as Abraham, or hath had so miserable a life as never to be in rest? For we see that God commanded him to forsake his native Country: and when he had done so, he tarried lingering in the midst of his journey, until his father was deceased by the way. In the end he went into the country, and yet he wist not which way he should take nor §40whither he should go. For God vouchsafed not too tell him which was the Country that he called him unto, but held him as a foul upon the water. When he was come thither: some troubled him▪ othersome spited him, and he had nothing but unquietness. Within a while, when the men had wrought him as much spite as they could: famine persecuted him, so as he was fain too get him away, and his wife was taken from him. After ward when he returned: he was new to begin again, and he was fain too go to another place too seek pasture. And yet for all this,§50