164 Chap. r. !AnExpofition upon the Book,of } q B. Verf i6, them that God is their enemy, to bring the love and good will of God into fufpicion ; therefore he caufeth thisgreat fire, and (it is like) formed the fervants language in that cuttingphrafe,The fire ofGod isfallen upon the Sheep. Thou canftnot put thisoff, as thou mighteft do the other, and fay,this is but themalice or the cove- toufiaefs ofthe Sabeans, that robbed me ofmy goods, and flewmy fervants ; No,thou (halt fee now that God hunfelfis angry, Hea- ven frowns upon thee, the fire of God from Heaven cónfumes thee.. Tura, over the records. ofall antiquity, and fee whether God everdealt thus withany, but thofe curfed Sodomites, upon whomeGod rained fireNrom Heqqven; thou who cornett fo near them in the punifhment, haftreafer'to judge thy felf not ,far behind them in fin, Secondly obferve, Thofe affíie4ions are molt grievoui,rvhereinGod appears to be.again(t us.The malice ofdevils and the rage ofmen may be endured, but who can ftand before God, when he is angry ? If God doth but with-draw his comforts, the foul finks under finallef'r tryals, how then can it Rand if, God fhould reveal his. wrath againft us,when wearein great tryals.? It may here be queftioned, why the fheep were confumed with fllre,rather than any other ofhiscattel, rather then anyother of his fiibftance ? There are two things in that. Fir(t, the Sheep were ufed in Sacrifice. When the dayes of theirfeafling avere .ended, Job offer- ed Sacrifice, and the Sheep chiefly were offered in Sacrifice. NowSatan by.confuming the Sheep hoped to fatten this upon yob, ifpoflibly he could,that God was angrywith his very Sacri- ces,God was angry with his fervices.As ifhe fhould fay, Do(i thou think,that the offeriug up- of thy Sheep in Sacrifice bath been ?leafing to God ? Certainly ifthe fire of thofe Sacrifices had de- Iighte ì God, ifhe badfinelt afavour ofreft in them (as he is raid to have done, when Noah offered Sacrifice after the flood, Gen. 8. z i.) He wouldnever havefeat a firefromHeaven to coufun a them. That is conceived by Expofitors to be an, efpecial reafon, why theSheep were confumed , namely, to call yob upon this, ap- prehenfion,thathis very Sacrifices were rejeaedof God :.that he might conclude ofhimfelf (as Solomon faithof the wicked) that his Sacrif ceswere an abomination to the Lord, and to Thew that Gnd woujÿ now have no rn re-of jais Sacrifices God himfelf rn3de one
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