Spirit.
[3]
God doth more gently deal
Then thou considerest well:
1For had he used extremities
Thou hadst been now in Hell.
He is not so severe
As thou imaginest;
For some, that were to him most dear,
Have been much more distressed.
[4]
2Jacob from Esau's rage
To Padan-Aram sent,
The toil and pain of twenty years
Hard service under-went;
Oft being circumvented
By Laban's subtle feats:
But he was fain to be contented
For he knew no deceits.
[5]
3Thou knowest what sorrows great
He after passed through,
One trouble hardly over-blown
Before he met a new▪
Moses brought up a Prince,
From Egypt Banished
Lived in Exile forty years,
And laboured for his bread.
⟨p. 61⟩[6]
Joseph an innocent,4
Through Brethren's cruel hate,
Was sold to strangers, and so brought
Into a servile state.
No sooner gains he favour
In the' eyes of Potiphar:
But is accused of that Crime,5
Which he did most abhor.
[7]
His Master is incensed,6
The innocent is shut
Into a Dungeon dark, his hands
And feet in fetters put.
And though the Lord was pleased
This rigour to abate
After some time; yet dwelt he long
In this imprisoned state.
[8]
The Church was sore oppressed7
In Egypt many a day,
And made like Slaves, with rigour too,
To serve in brick and clay.
And though they cried to God8
With groans and many tears:
Yet were they in this Bondage held
Above an hundred years.
⟨p. 62⟩[9]
9What thinkest thou of Job
And his great Sufferings?
Do not thy griefs, compared with his,
Seem light and little things?
So dismal was his case,
So strange his sorrows all,
10As Wise ones thought could unto none
But wicked men befall.
[10]
11But God befools them for it,
And lets them understand
That Job was such an upright man,
As none was in the Land:
That notwithstanding all
That he had undergone
For a long time, yet was he still
His most beloved one.
[11]
David a man of God,
One after God's own heart,
In his long lasting Banishment
Of sorrows had his part;
Deprived of God's House,
12Hunted from place to place,
With restless feet and weary steps
Forced up and down to trace:
⟨p. 63⟩[12]
Flying to save his life,
In Caves and Forests hiding▪
Until at length in Ziklag-Town13
He found some safe abiding.
Ere long his Town is burnt,
His Wives are Captive taken,
His Soldiers speak of stoning him,
He seems of all forsaken.
[13]
Had David said, God hates me,
In this his greatest need
When as all other Comforts failed,
He had been poor indeed.
Spirit.
[3]
God doth more gently deal
Then thou considerest well:
1For had he us'd extremities
Thou hadst been now in Hell.
He is not so severe
As thou imaginest;
For some, that were to him most dear,
Have been much more distrest.
[4]
2Jacob from Esau's rage
To Padan-Aram sent,
The toyl and pain of twenty years
Hard service under-went;
Oft being circumvented
By Laban's subtile feats:
But he was fain to be contented
For he knew no deceits.
[5]
3Thou know'st what sorrows great
He after passed through,
One trouble hardly over-blown
Before he met a new▪
Moses brought up a Prince,
From Egypt Banished
Lived in Exile forty years,
And laboured for his bread.
⟨p. 61⟩[6]
Joseph an innocent,4
Through Bretherens cruel hate,
Was sold to strangers, and so brought
Into a servile state.
No sooner gains he favour
I'th' eyes of Potiphar:
But is accused of that Crime,5
Which he did most abhor.
[7]
His Master is incens'd,6
The innocent is shut
Into a Dungeon dark, his hands
And feet in fetters put.
And though the Lord was pleas'd
This rigour to abate
After some time; yet dwelt he long
In this imprisoned state.
[8]
The Church was sore opprest7
In Egypt many a day,
And made like Slaves, with rigour too,
To serve in brick and clay.
And though they cry'd to God8
With groans and many tears:
Yet were they in this Bondage held
Above an hundred years.
⟨p. 62⟩[9]
9What thinkest thou of Job
And his great Sufferings?
Do not thy griefs, compar'd with his,
Seem light and little things?
So dismal was his case,
So strange his sorrows all,
10
- 1Lam. 3.22, 23.
- 2Gen. 27.43▪ 44. […] Gen. 31.28, 41.Gen. 27.43▪ 44. 〈…〉 Gen. 31.28, 41.
- 3Gen. 32.6, 7. Chap. 34.• ▪ 30. Chap. 35.••, 22. […].Gen. 32.6, 7. Chap. 34.• ▪ 30. Chap. 35.••, 22. 〈…〉.
- 4Gen. 27.28.
- 5Gen. 39.17.
- 6Vers. 19▪ ••. Psal. 105.18.
- 7Exod▪ 1.14.
- 8Exod. 2.23.
- 9
