Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v10

644 Chap. 34. An Expofi'tion upon the Book, of J o B. Verf.zo. eumm,iximè fecm-', that's a great aggravation ofthe judgement. The night is a time ofref!, and midnight is the time of deepefi reft ; fo that for the people to be in a tumult, or troubled at midnight, is to be over- takenwithmatter of fear, when fear feemed furtheft oft,or when . they fufpe&ed nothing tomake them afraid.David faith of feint, (Pfal. 3. 5.) There were they ingreatfear, where no fear was. To fear at midnight, is to fear when ufually no fear is, that is, when people are at reft in their beds : And fo to fay, the people fhallbe troubled at midnight, fignifieth either, Firfl, the coming of trou- ble upon -a fecure people, upon a. people who thought themfelves, and while they thought themfelves not only out of the noife, but reach of danger : Or fecondly,It may liignifie the coming of trou- ble upon a people altogether unfit to help themfelves ; when a man is afleep, he cannot give counfel how to prevent danger, and while he is in his bed, he is in no pollute tooppofe it. All this may well be included in what Elihu faith, Thepeople fhall be trou- bledat midnight. Hence Note. Firli, There areNational troubles as well as perfonal. God can fcare not only a family,orthis and that particular man, but awhole people at once ; he cannot onlymake a childe, or a woman, but amultitude, yea an Army of mighty men tremble like a clailde, and faint as theweakeft woman.A people are many, yet every man !hall be as ifhewere alone, or but one in the midll: of innumerable dangers, and of a thoafand deaths. Mofes in his Song forefaw the dread of Nations upon the report of the Lord's miraculous conduSt of Ifrael through the redSea, (Exod. r 5.14., t 5, a 6.) Thepeople 'hall hear, and be afraid ; forrowfhall takehold on thé inhabitants ofPaleflina,allthe inhabitants ofCanaanThal melt away., And when Chrifl fpeaks of chofe dreadful Prognofticks of his coming, he not only faith, There!hall be Agnes in the Sun, and in theMoon, and in the Stars, 6ut upon the Earth diftrefsof Nations, with perplexity, (Luke 21. 25.) Secondly, Obferve. Both perfonalandpublic. troubles are at the commandof God, as both publick and perfonal peace are. A people as well as a perfon, mayand (hall be troubled, even at

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