Chap. 3 3. .An Expofition upon the Boob,, of J o B. Verf. 24. andbe heavie uprn me too. This expofition carrieth agreat trtith in it , and is not at all inconfiftent with the letter` of the text; yet I shall not infift upon it, but adhere rather t a thirds which makes the antecedent to this L He ] to beGod'hinfelfe, Then he is gracious. That is, when the meffenger hash dealt with the Fick rnan,when he bath opened his condition tohim,and (hewedhim hisupright- net's, br how he may Rand upright beforeGod, or what his righ- teoufneffe is before God, and hath brought his heart toan un- feigned forrow for hisfin, and to thea6 ings of faith upon the pro- mite , thenGod is gracious, and then he gives out the word for his reftoring, and orders it to beprefently difpatcht away to him; faying, deliver him, unloofe him, unbindhim, let him not goe d,,vne into thepit, dhave found a ranfome. Taking this for the generall fence of the Text, I íháll proceed toopen the particulars. Thenhe will begracious, or then, he will have mercy upon him, asMr Broughton translates. Then and not before ; till then the Lord lets his bones ake, and his heart tremble, till then he fullers him to be brought fo low that he is reckoned among the dead, but then, though not before, he fheweth himfelf gracious unto him. When a poor man is reduced to the =oft extreamity,then is Gods opportunity, then is the feafon ofmercy ; and the Lord therefore lets us be at the loweft, that we may be the more fen- cible of his goodnefs in railing and lifting us up : The Lord futfers many (as Paul fpake of laimfelf, (2 Cor. i. 9. ) to have the fentonneofdeath in themfIves, that theymay learn not to trisfi in themselves, but inhimwho ratfeth the dead. We feldome give God either theglory ofhis power by trufting him, or of hisgood nell'e by thanking him for our deliverances, till we are brought to the loft call (as we fay) or to fuchan exigent as leaves novil- ble means in probabillity, na nor of poffibility to efcape. And when 'tis thus with us,' thenhe isgracious, Secondly, Thenhe isgracious, that is, when the man is doubly humbled, when the mans heart is gracioufly broken, when the man is Browne into an abhorrence of him 'eíf and ofhis fin, or loathes himfeif for his fin, asmuch as he loathed his meat, : as 'tis faid in the former verfe ; when his heart is thus takenquite off from all that is below in. the world,. and gathered up beleevingly to 391
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