[ 801] Gods tryal of his Children by Afflictions.
THe manner of the Psylli, (which are a kind of People of that temper and constitution,* 1.1 that no venome will hurt them) is, that if they suspect any child to be none of their own, they set an Adder upon it to sting it, and if it cry, and the flesh swell, they cast it away as a spurious issue: but if it never so much as quatch, nor be the worse for it, then they account it for their own, and make very much of it: In like manner Almighty God tryes his children, by enduring crosses and afflictions, he suffereth the old Serpent to sting them, and bring troubles and sorrows upon them;* 1.2 and if they patiently endure them, and make good use of them, he offereth himself to them, as to his own children, and will make them heirs of his Kingdom: but if they fall a roaring, and crying, and storming, and fret∣ting, and can no waies abide the pain, he accompteth them as bastards, and no chil∣dren, Heb. 12. 8.