Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37. v1

Chap. fln Expoftion upon the Bonk,of OB. Verf. rY: 135 Hewill curfe thee to thyface. Obferve two or three pointsfrom this.. T~irft,Note this,Satan canonlyguëfrat the heart ofntan.Hewould undertake &enter warrantywith God that yob would blafpheme, if God did but touch him,but he was deceived:Satan did but con- jetuxe at mofi,and (peak at a venture:ifhe did not lye knowing- ly,; am lure he did but guefs ignorantly. Satan knows not what is, in the heart,that's Gods peculiar, that's Gods cabinet.God knew" there lay finccr.ity in the heart ofjoball the while,although Satan would Rand to it, that nothingwas there but hypocrifie. Secondly, We may note, acing Satan accufing-him of by- pocrifie, would have him aflliCted, That ,affiz ion le the tryal and touchftone offincerity.WhenGoddoth affliCf you,then he doth bring you to the touchftone, to fee whether-you are goodmettal or no, he doth bring you then to the furnace, to try whether you be drofs or Gold, or what you are. A,lflieüón is thegreat difcoverer, that unmasks us. Satan wasnot out in the thing, he hit upon the righteft way that could bc:ifany thing would difcover job, affli- 6tion would. Indeed forne are difcovered by profperityand out- ward abundance. The warm Sun makes forne caft off that cloak, which the wind and the cold caufed them to wrap clo- fer-about them. Some, when they have gotten enough from God, care not for God ; and when the kith is caught, they lay by the net ; for they do but go a fifhing with Holinefs , and the profeflion of Religion , and when they have their ends, there'san end of their profeflion. Afffifnion and the crofs try others : Some will hold on with God as long as the Sun thineth, as long as it is . fair weather ; but if the f¡orm arife, if"troubles come,whether perfonal or publick , then they pull in their heads, then they deny and fo ke God, then theydraw back from, and betrayhis truth ; whaf they, fuck and fahmen? Nonot they. Trouble makes the great tryal : bring profeffors to the fire, and then they thew their mettal. Thiscourfe Satan took withJob ;He knew Job had been abundantly tryed by.fulnefs and . abundance, and thefe.did not draw his heart fromGod, he mutt therefore now try another way. It is an excellent 'wattage in the Church Hiftory, concerningConflantius the Father, ofConftan- time , that to'the end he might try thehearts of his.Courtiers, he proclaimed,

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