XII. THE GOOD EFFECT OF A BAD CAUSE.

GOD, in the Levitical law, gave reward to the woman causelessly suspected of her jealous husband, that the bitter water, which she was to drink in the priest’s presence, should not only do her no harm, but also procure her children, if barren before; [Numb. v. 28.] that water (drunk by her to quench the fire of her husband’s jealousy) proved like the spa unto her, so 134famous for causing fruitfulness. Thus her innocence was not only cleared but crowned.

His gracious Majesty hath been suspected to be popishly inclined. A suspicion like those mushrooms which Pliny recounts amongst the miracles in nature, because growing without a root.²⁶²⁶Nat. Hist. lib. xix. cap. 2. Well, he hath past his purgation, a bitter morning’s draught hath he taken down for many years together.

See the operation thereof; his constancy in the Protestant religion hath not only been assured to such who unjustly were jealous of him, but also, by God’s blessing, he daily grows greater in men’s hearts, pregnant with the love and affection of his subjects.