Chap. 2. An Expofition upan the Bookof J O B. Verf. fi. 24i the fecuring or reducing ofit. Have we not caufe to fayof force ofourbloody brethren, as Jacob did, Gen. 32. z2. when, his bro- ther Efau was marching towards him , Ifear him (faith he). left he will come andflay me, and the Mother with the Children ; Lofs of life was the thing Jacob feared. And Hefter: fpeech in her Petition to the King,imports that all otherloffes might have beenborn, but lofs of Life, Cap. 7. ver. 3, 4. Let my life, (faith the) be given at my Petition, and my People at my Requeft ; frr we are fold, I and my People to be deftroyed, to be flsin, and to joerifh : But ifwe had been foldfor Bond-men and for Bond-women, .1badheldmy tongue., See how the wrought for life, for her own life, and the life of her people, and thought liberty not worth the asking for, compared with life. Mofes made many demurs and excufes, I am not eloquent, &c. when God gave him Commiffion to go into .Egypt ; but we hear of no delayes at all, when once God had faid, Return into Egypt, fer all themen are dead, which fought thy life, Exod. 4. ver. 19. God had not fpoken thus, if he had not known there was fuch a fcruple in his mind, which would have galled him worfe in his travels to . Ægypt thenallypct ble in his thoe. Secondly, IfLife be the moil precious thing, the richefl Jewel in the world : then in the next place, learn to value your lives. You fee howSatanvalues life here, out ofan ill intent, ;onely tO extenuateand undervalue all the fufherings ofJob ; he fets his life at a very high rate,that he might make all his lofl'es ofno rate,not worth the fpeakingof. Let our intent be good, and then it is good for us tovalue our lives high , and to fell them at as dear a rate as we can, if we muff fell them. You know what Solomon faith in the perfon ofa natural man, A livingDog it better then a dead Lion, Ecclef. 9.4. We read what is faid of the woman' in the Gofpel, that had fpent Ape had on Phyfitiani. What was it for ? Onely to reflore her health, which is a degree below life. Certainly, if thefpent all that the had toobtain health, which is only thecomfort of life, thall not we fpend a part of that we have to fave our lives ? As .chips in danger to be wrack'd in a forme, are often preferved'by calling force of thcii rich lading into the Sea : So it is pof{ìble, yea probable, that the calling away oftome of your eflates in this great form, may be a means to fave both your {hipand your lives; your dates kept may fink the veffel, and then you mull fink with it, and certainly die or fwim for it, and I i hardly
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=