4 o Chap. 3 3. An E:vpofitián repo': the Book of J o s. Verf. 14,. prayed unto the Lord,faying, &c. And at the 4th verle, Ts he word . ofthe Lord came to lfaith the Prophet, faying, turn° agatne,and tell Hez,ekiah the Captain ofmy people ;7 hasfaith the Lard,the God of David thyfather, I have, heard thy prayer,¡have enc thy tearer, behold, I will heale thee, &c. Here God gave a word formailÿ, and'put it into the Prophets mouth , Got deliver him from going downe to the pit. And though the Lorddoth not, thus now in fuch an explicite and open way, nor may we expe& it , yet there is a virtual¡ fayingofthis word from the Lord , and that fomerimes mightily itnprefi upon the hearts of thofe who have prayed and fought unto him, for the lickman, whereby (not by an unground- .ed vaine confidence, but by a fcripturall holy confidence, corn.. paring the promife with the nuns condition ) they are enabled to tell him, TheLord bath delivered theefromgoing downe to the pit. And he shall as certainly be delivered, as if the Lord had fenr an exprefCe from,heaven to tell him fo. 'Then he is gracions to him, and faith, deliver himfromgoingdown to thepit. Hence obferve. Firti , Death is agoing to thepit, agoing to defirutttion. Thus it is ordinarily with all who dye', to the pit they goes Many dye and goe downe to the bottomlefs pit ; all who dye may be layd togoe to the pit. Togoe to the bottomlefs pit, is the circumlocution bf eternall death, as to goe to thepit is the circumlocution of temporal¡ death. Secondly , Forafmuch as the man being lick the Lord gives out this word, deliver him fromgoing daunt to thepit. Note. Sicknefs loath in it tendency unto death. The fick {land as it were upon the borders of the grave. Some not only put death fart from them inhealth,but in their licknefs; untill they are even dead, they fcarce thinke themfelves dying, It is good for us inour health and bell flrength tóbe looking in- to the pit, and confidering upon what grounds ofcomfort we can defcend into the grave. How much more fhould we be thinking of and looking into the. pit , whenwe are in a languitlaing and dying condition ? Thirdly, Obferve, The-
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