7. I seem indeed to hear that voice, from
Him Who gathers together those who are broken, and welcomes the
oppressed: Enlarge thy cords, break forth on the right hand and
on the left, drive in thy stakes, spare not thy curtains. Isai. liv. 2. I have given thee up, and I will help
thee. In a little wrath I smote thee, but with everlasting mercy
I will glorify thee. Ib. liv.
8. The measure
of His kindness exceeds the measure of His discipline. The former
things were owing to our wickedness, the present things to the adorable
Trinity: the former for our cleansing, the present for My glory,
Who will glorify them that glorify Me, 1 Sam. ii. 30.
and I will move to jealousy them that move Me to jealousy. Behold
this is sealed up with Me, Deut. xxxii. 21, 34. and this is the
indissoluble law of recompense. But thou didst surround thyself
with walls and tablets and richly set stones, and long porticos and
galleries, and didst shine and sparkle with gold, which thou didst, in
part pour forth like water, in part treasure up like sand; not knowing
that better is faith, with no other roof but the sky to cover it, than
impiety rolling in wealth, and that three gathered together in the Name
of the Lord S. Matt. xviii. 20. count for more with
God than tens of thousands of those who deny the Godhead. Would
you prefer the whole of the Canaanites to Abraham alone? Gen. xii. 6; xiii. 12. or the men of Sodom to Lot? Ib. xix.
1. or the Midianites to Moses, Exod. ii. 15. when each of these was a pilgrim and a
stranger? How do the three hundred men with Gideon, who bravely
lapped, Judg. vii. 5. compare with the
thousands who were put to flight? Or the servants of Abraham, who
scarcely exceeded them in number, with the many kings and the army of
tens of thousands whom, few as they were, they overtook and
defeated? Gen. xiv. 14. Or how do you
understand the passage that though the number of the children of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved? Isai. x. 22; Rom. ix. 27. And again, I have left me seven
thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal? 1 Kings xix. 18; Rom. xi. 4. This is not the case; it is not?
God has not taken pleasure in numbers.