Thus we may perceive the meaning of the prophet; whereof we have first to observe, that God acknowledges them for his people who are in the greatest affliction; yea, such as are reputed unworthy of men's presence are yet admitted within the secret chamber of God. Let no man think that flesh and blood can suddenly attain to that comfort; and therefore most expedient it is, that we be frequently [pg 057] exercised in meditation of the same. Easy it is, I grant, in time of prosperity, to say, and to think, that God is our God, and that we are his people; but when he has given us over into the hands of our enemies, and turned, as it were, his back unto us, then, I say, still to reclaim him to be our God, and to have this assurance, that we are his people, proceeds wholly from the Holy Spirit of God, as it is the greatest victory of faith, which overcomes the world; for increase whereof, we ought continually to pray.
This doctrine we shall not think strange, if we consider how suddenly our spirits are carried away from our God, and from believing his promise. So soon as any great temptation apprehends us, then we begin to doubt if ever we believed God's promise, if God will fulfil them to us, if we abide in his favour, if he regards and looks upon the violence and injury that is done unto us; and a multitude of such cogitations which before lurked quietly in our corrupted hearts, burst violently forth when we are oppressed with any desperate calamity. Against which this is the remedy—once to apprehend, and still to retain God to be our God, and firmly to believe, that we are his people whom he loves, and will defend, not only in affliction, but even in the midst of death itself.
Again, Let us observe, That the judgments of our God never were, nor yet shall be so vehement upon the face of the earth, but that there has been, and shall be, some secret habitation prepared in the sanctuary of God, for some of his chosen, where they shall be preserved until the indignation pass by; and that God prepares a time, that they may glorify him again, before the face of the world, which once despised them. And this ought to be unto us no small comfort in these appearing dangers, namely, that we are surely persuaded, that how vehement soever the tempest shall be, it yet shall pass over, and some of us shall be preserved to glorify the name of our God, as is aforesaid.
Two vices lurk in this our nature: the one is, that we cannot tremble at God's threatenings, before the plagues apprehend us, albeit we see cause most just why his fierce wrath should burn as a devouring fire; the other is, that when calamities before pronounced, fall upon us, then we begin to sink down in despair, so that we never look for any comfortable end of the same.
To correct this our mortal infirmity, in time of quietness we ought to consider what is the justice of our God, and how odious sin is; and, above all, how odious idolatry is in His presence, who has forbidden it, and who has so severely punished it in all ages from the beginning: and in the time of our affliction we ought to consider, what have been the wondrous works of our God, in the preservation [pg 058] of his church when it hath been in uttermost extremity. For never shall we find the church humbled under the hands of traitors, and cruelly tormented by them, but we shall find God's just vengeance fall upon the cruel persecutors, and his merciful deliverance shewed to the afflicted. And, in taking of this trial, we should not only call to mind the histories of ancient times, but also we should diligently mark what notable works God hath wrought, even in this our age, as well upon the one as upon the other. We ought not to think, that our God bears less love to his church this day, than what he has done from the beginning; for as our God in his own nature is immutable, so his love towards his elect remains always unchangeable. For as in Christ Jesus he hath chosen his church, before the beginning of all ages; so by him will he maintain and preserve the same unto the end. Yea, he will quiet the storms, and cause the earth to open her mouth, and receive the raging floods of violent waters, cast out by the dragon, to drown and carry away the woman, which is the spouse of Jesus Christ, unto whom God for his own name's sake will be the perpetual Protector. Rev. xii.
This saw that notable servant of Jesus Christ, Athanasius, who being exiled from Alexandria by that blasphemous apostate Julian the emperor, said unto his flock, who bitterly wept for his envious banishment, “Weep not, but be of good comfort, for this little cloud will suddenly vanish.” He called both the emperor himself and his cruel tyranny a little cloud; and albeit there was small appearance of any deliverance to the church of God, or of any punishment to have apprehended the proud tyrants, when the man of God pronounced these words, yet shortly after God did give witness, that those words did not proceed from flesh nor blood, but from God's very Spirit. For not long after, being in warfare, Julian received a deadly wound, whether by his own hand, or by one of his own soldiers, the writers clearly conclude not; but casting his own blood against the heaven, he said, “At last thou hast overcome, thou Galilean:” so in despite he termed the Lord Jesus. And so perished that tyrant in his own iniquity; the storm ceased, and the church of God received new comfort.
Such shall be the end of all cruel persecutors, their reign shall be short, their end miserable, and their name shall be left in execrations to God's people; and yet shall the church of God remain to God's glory, after all storms. But now shortly, let us come to the last point:
“For behold,” saith the prophet, “the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them; and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more hide her slain.” (Verse 21.) Because that the final end of the troubles of [pg 059] God's chosen shall not be, before the Lord Jesus shall return to restore all things to their full perfection.
The prophet brings forth the eternal God, as it were, from his own place and habitation, and therewith shows the cause of his coming to be, that he might take account of all such as have wrought wickedly; for that he means, where he saith, “He will visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them.” And lest any should think the wrong doers are so many, that they cannot be called to an account, he gives unto the earth as it were an office and charge, to bear witness against all those that have wrought wickedly, and chiefly against those that have shed innocent blood from the beginning; and saith, “That the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more hide her slain men.”
If tyrants of the earth, and such as delight in the shedding of blood, should be persuaded that this sentence is true, they would not so furiously come to their own destruction; for what man can be so enraged, that he would willingly do even before the eyes of God that which might provoke his Majesty to anger, yea, provoke him to become his enemy for ever, if he understood how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God?