314 Verf 12. An Expofition upon the Bookóf J OB. Chap. 2. who finned before like Rubies and Saphires for. colour and com- linefs, were now dark as a coal, or dusky likeaíhes, they were not known to.be the fame men and women. I t is faid ofChrift in his aff3iCtion, Ifa. 52. 14. That his vif.áge was fo marred, more then any rna.n, andhisformmore then thefins ofmen. Great aflfidtioris change the very form,and utterly blaft the beauty of the body. Sin doth fo change the Soul, and disfigure the mind,, it fo deforms the fpiric, and defaces the Image at lirft flampt upon it , that God faith, J knowyou not, you are not like the men that l made. But this is the comfort ofa yob, of agodly m.,n, that when his face is -molt deformed, his foul is aloft beautified ; and though a difeafe may disfigure him, fo that his neareft friends knowhim not, yet. God -knows him frill ; No ficknefs can wear out_the marks by which Chrift knows thee. When thy face is'blacker then a coal, he fees the face of thy foul,fhining like the face ofan Angel.A per fön or a people are_then in a woful condition indeed, when God (hall fay to them, as he did to thole hypocritical protefTors,Mat.7. 23. Depart fromme, I knowye not. We may be in filch a wofuI condition, that our friends and acquaintance coming to vifit us, cannot know us ; yet for the main, well enough,bleffed enough at at that time, beautiful in, the eye, welcome into the pretence ofa glorious God. They knew him not. What then ? Then they liftedup their voice andwept. This is the-firítad of their moùrning.And we may obfervc five as ofmourning herefpecified, whereofone is a natural ad{, and the other four are ceremonial. The natural aid was this of weep- ing They lifted up their voice and wept. The ceremonial ads were thefè ; Firft; They rent every one his mantle. Secondly, They fprinkled duff upon their heads towards Heaven. Thirdly, Theyfat down with him on -the ground(even dayesandfeven nights. The fourth ceremoniala 1:was their filence, Andnonefpake a word unto him, for theylaw that his grief wasgreat. Firft, They lifted up their voyce andwept: The word is Baèi, and from that the place Judges 2.5. is called Bochin, where the peopleare faid to lift up their voice and weep, when the Angel reproved_ them. In Pfalm 84. 6. we read of the valley of B;vca, which force translate the valley ófweeping,or the valley oftears; Others from Baca, a Mulberry- tree,the valley of Mulberry-trees, which beinga dry place, the travellers toJerufalena,at thefolemn feafts
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=