To save thee with a temporal salvation and deliverance, and those of thee who are Israelites indeed with a spiritual and eternal salvation; but the first is what is here principally intended. God puts a difference betwixt the chastisements of his people, and the punishments of their enemies; the latter he destroyeth with an utter and total destruction, to make an end of them; but he chastens his people like a father for their profit, and will not bring them to utter ruin. He corrects them in measure; the Hebrew word signifieth, in judgment; that is, not in equity only, but in wisdom, or with moderation, whereas he is said to punish his enemies in fury. There are many texts of Scripture that mention this difference which God puts betwixt his punishing his people and his punishing their enemies, Isaiah 26:14,19 Isaiah 27:7,8. But yet God will not let his own people go altogether unpunished, that by it they may be reclaimed, and the world may take notice that God is of purer eyes than that he can, in any persons, behold iniquity.

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