i 8o Chap. i. An Expofition upon the,800kof J Q B. Verla 20. For the fbrrowesof outward afflil` ion : fo we read frequently ofrentinggartents : When 7acob heard of the death of Jofph, when his Ions brought him whom the bloody Góat, faying ( but Gen. 37.34. falfely) thatfitrely their trot ,er was .tgrit with wildbees he pre- fently rent hit gárment.Ánd when the relationof the deathof Saul zSam. x. x t. was brought to Davidsear, to exprefs his forrow, He tool, hold on his cloathcs, and rent them, and likewifeall the men that were with 2Sam. 3, 3r. 112m. And fo again afterward at the funeral of Abner, David rent hir cloathes; and gave order to all thepeople that were with him to do the like. In great funerals or fatal mournings, it was ufual among the Hebrews to rent theirgarment.r.This allo was afrequent cuflome among the Fieathen,as the Poet defcribesa mourner in his fn fc qa mixt lanicu ations for private and publick loffes;he went with phis RJP le Latinus, garments torn, being aflonifhed at the death of his wife and the Coniugi: alto- ruine of the City. Many fuck infiances there are amongft. their virus fat: ur- . . , bifq:rnina.Vïr.ancient'Hitlorians. , Æn, xs, Secondly, It was ufed in token of Repentance, when forrowes N_er,dotuol. L. for fin brake forth and multiply. Jofh. 7. 6. When Jofhua hum- records rds es bled himfelfupon the defeat, flight, and slaughter of the Ifraelit beforeAi, it is fi,id, he rent his deaths, andfell to the earth This tedentonian:. renting of the garmentswas in refpeCf of the outward affliUion And Livy a- but withall in token ofrepentance;for Jolhuaand thepeople hum.. along tie Sa. bled themfelves with failing. So when the Book of theLawwas Sines I. I. read to Jofiah,and he law howfar they had departed from the rule 2 Chron. 34. and word ofGod, it is Paid, He rent his cloathes, andhe was afraid, he humbledhimfelf,and his beat t was`tender before God. But it may be objec4ed,'that in the z Joel v;13.when we are ex- horted to rent the heart, we are Iiop'd from rehting the garments Rentyour hearts,andnot, our garments, in the cafeofrepentan,ce. For anfwer to that I fay, the Not there isnot an abfolute pro- hibitionof renting the garment ; it is not fo much a negation, as a direaion, Rent your hearts, and not your garments , that is, Rent your hearts rather thenyour garments ; or, Rent your hearts more thenyourgarments;or,befure thatyou rent your hearts whatfa- everyou do withyourgarments. Negations do not alwayes quite deny a thing. In the 2,Gor. 3. 6. take an filth= for it, where the Apoflle treating of the preheminence ofthe Gofpel in the new difpenfation, faith, b bo bath made us able M niffers,not of the letter, but of the Spirit. Not, there doth not deny, ás if the Mi. aliiters ofChrifl did not1pcak and pribiiih the letter of the word, foF
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