provoke him to wrath; and certainly there are none that do more
overboard, to cool him, and quell him, and keep him prisoner in the
whale's belly, till his stomach be brought down, and his spirit be
made quiet before the Lord. What you get by struggling and
grumbling, you may put in your eye, and weep it out when you have
done: Jer. 7:19, 'Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Do
they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?' By
provoking of me, they do but provoke themselves; by angering of me,
they do but anger themselves; by vexing of me, they do but fret and
vex themselves: 1 Cor. 10:22, 'Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Are we stronger than he?'
Zanchy observes these two things from these words:
1. That it is ill provoking God to wrath, because he is stronger than
we.
2. That though God be stronger than we, yet there are those who
provoke him to wrath; and certainly there are none that do more
provoke him than those who fume and fret when his hand is upon
them. Though the cup be bitter, yet it is put into your hand by your
Father; though the cross be heavy, yet he that hath laid it on your
shoulders will bear the heaviest end of it himself; and why, then,
should you mutter? Shall bears and lions take blows and knocks from
their keepers, and wilt thou not take a few blows and knocks from
the keeper of Israel? Why should the clay contend with the potter, or
the creature with his creator, or the servant with his lord, or
weakness with strength, or a poor nothing creature with an