God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...

CHAP. X.

[ IV] IF God doth & may take away from us what he pleaseth, then under your great losses learn to acknowledge God the Author of all the evil and afflicti∣ons that have come upon you; perhaps you are ready to cry out on this or that Instrument, this or that thing. When Peter drew his Sword in the defence of Christ at the Mount of Olives, and struck off the ear of Malchus, the Lord presently said unto him; Put up thy sword into thy sheath: Shall I not drink of the Cup which my Father hath given me? Joh. 18.11. Might not one say, Lord why sayest thou, Thy Father put this Cup into thine hand? This Cup, did not Judas Iscariot thy Disciple, did not Annas and Caia∣phas, did not Herod and Pilate mingle it? Did not those five Apothecaries compound and make up this very Wormwood, this meer Aloes, this bit∣ter Gall? Why then sayest thou, The

Cup which my Father hath given me? This Cup was the Cup of his suffer∣ings, which God put into his hand, ut Pater, non ut Judex; as a Father, not as a Judge, saith Rupertus; amore non irâ, voluntate, non necessitate,* 1.1 gratiâ non vindictâ; it was of love, not of wrath, it was voluntary, not of necessi∣ty, it was of grace, not of vengeance, that this Cup was given to him: This Cup, saith Christ, cometh to me from a most loving hand, is it not fit that I should drink it? the Father drinketh to me; and though there be many things which commend this Cup, as the resto∣ring and redemption of the world, the enlargement and augmentation of the Kingdome of heaven, yet above all these my Fathers hand doth most of all commend this Cup unto me: it is in∣deed a most bitter Cup, but my drink∣ing it will be profitable to many peo∣ple; therefore because my Father gives me this Cup to drink, I will drink it. As my Father gave me Command∣ment, so I do, Joh. 14.31. And saith he, Luk. 24.46. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? We are apt under our losses to cry out, such a one hath done me a mischief, the De∣vil

set such a one on to fire my house, to consume my goods, Satan himself hath thrown down his Thunderbolt upon me: Oh such complaints are foolish; as it pleased the Lord, so things have been, are, and shall be done; nay, so they are best done; not so much as one hair of thy head falleth to the ground, but God foreseeth and willeth the same: What hurt is it if fire consume thy house, if God himself be thy habitati∣on? What evil is it though an Enemy tear thy body to pieces, when as thy God numbreth thy hairs? Whosoever was the Apothecary to mingle the Cup, yet drink it off if thy Father put it in∣to thy hand. The Prophet Micah saith, that evil came from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem, Mic. 1.12. Be∣hold against this Family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not re∣move your necks, Mic. 2.3. Shall there be evil in a City,* 1.2 and the Lord hath not done it? All losses, crosses, all evils of punishment do come from God, and from his divine will. God is not the Author of any sin, but he is the Au∣thor of all punishment for sin, nor are we hurt by him,* 1.3 but only corrected for our amendment, saith Origen. Remem∣ber

this word, saith S. August. The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away, as it pleased the Lord,* 1.4 so come things to pass. They were unjust who sate by Job on the dunghill, yet he was scourged and received; they were spared to future punishment; God re∣serveth all to his own judgement: Good men labour, and are punished as sons; the wicked rejoyce, and are pu∣nished with condemnation: That which afflicteth us, shall exercise us, not hurt us.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Rupertus.
• * 1.2

  Amos 3.6
• * 1.3

  Origen. Homil. 23. in Numer.
• * 1.4

  August. in Psa. 72.