Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37. v1

3 Verf. 3. AnExpofition upon the BookofJ O B. Chap.3. Apoftle 'lames, Chap. 5.1 t. when he fpeaks ofenduringwith joy, refers us to the endof lob's day of `trouble, to the end which the Lord made , Te have heard; faithhe)of thepatience of Job,andhave feen the endof the Lord.So look to the end of Tob,to the end(which through the firengthof the Lord)lob made,and there you thall fee patience having a perfedi work,or theperfèet workofpatience.Look not alone upon all the aCtings of lob, when he was in the height and heat of thebat tel,Iook to the on-fet,he was fo very patient in the beginning, though vehemently ftirred , that Satan had not a word to fay ; look to the end, and you cannot fay, but lob was a patient man,full of patience,a mirror of patience, if not a miracle of patience; a man whole face fhined with theglory ofthat grace above all the children of men. So much for that Q±ettion; I fhall now add two or three Points of Obfervation. The firft thing then that we may obferve from hence is this ; If we compare lob in the two former Chapters,with lob in the third, we thaIl find that the cafe is altered with him,he fcarce fpeaks like the fame man. Hence obferve in the general, That the holieft perfon in this life dotb not almayes keep in the fame frame of holinefs. "There is a great deal of difference between what he fpake in the former Chapters,, when he heard ofand felt there things firfi, and what he fpeaksnow. The Lordgave, and the Lord bath takenaway, bleffed be the Name of the Lord. Shall are receive goodat the handof God, and fhall we not receive evil :? This was the language we lately heard,but now curfing:certain- ly his fpirit had been in a more holy frame, more fedate and quiet then now it was. At the belt in this life we are but imper- fcci , yet at fome time we are more imperfect then we are at ano- ther : Faith is never very firong, yet at fume time faith is weaker then at another : Our love to Chrift is. never very hot, but yet at fbme time it is colder then at another , we cannot keep it in the fame degrees of heat. A man at one time can both do and fader, and a while after he canneither donor fuffer as he could at that time,he is out of frame,and bungles in both. Take the life of a Chritiian altogether, it is a progrefs, it is a,continual growing; yet take his life apart , confider him in every circumfianceand f'tage of lus lifr,thcn there aremany flops and hands in his life,yea m.:c:y declininrs : As it is with a child, Take a child, and his life froio his birth to his full age is iñ a growing condition , yet con- fider

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