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WE may observe that Light∣ning doth work with more potency and force, where it meeteth with the greatest resistance; and acteth more on that which hath hard and firmly compacted parts, then on what's soft and yeil∣ding, and giveth easie passage to it: hence it is, that it hath been sometimes said to passe
through the scabbard without any effecton it, and to melt the sword in it; hence also, the hard Oak and firme Cedar are exposed to its force, and feel its effects, when the Bay which is of a more yielding tender nature, is passed over untouched by it. The Judgments of God in their working are much accommodated to the temper of the Subjects on which they light. Where they meet with a stubborn, unpliant enemy, they fall with greater force, and are most pressing and heavy; they will break, where they cannot bowe: the foolish heart (Prov. 19.) fretteth against the Lord, he is carelesse and rageth; but whats the ef∣fect? The man that hardneth
his neck when he is rebuked, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy: those that are as wild Buls in the net of God, their own fury and rage doth but the more entangle, per∣plex, and weaken them; but where God meeteth with souls of a soft, complying, and obe∣dient temper, his dealings are accordingly gentle, he afflicteth them lightly, and doth not stir up all his wrath, he doth but shake his rod over them, with which he lasheth the backes of others. In this respect, because God doth thus wisely & care∣fully distinguish between the different states and tempers of the Patients he dealeth with, he is said to correct us in Judg∣ment.