682 Chap.4o. eAnExpofition opon the BookofJ o B. Nerf. 9. Invain. i47entita. The Hebrew is, thehope of him yetb. It is ufual both in the reipjavel ver. Hebrewand Latine tongue, when our hopes and endeavours fail, bk. or are fruffrate, to fay,they lye,or deceive us; and the reafon is, becauCe fuch a man promifed himfelf great things, and had confi- dent expeetations,witheut fuccefs. Thus 'cis faid.(Hab. 3.17.) 4lthonob the labour of the Olive (hall fail, we put in the Mar- gin,lye.The Husband-man havingbellowed much labour upon the Oltve,and looking for much fruit,may be deceived,and fo all that labour bellowed in drefliing and looking to'the Olive-tree failing and being loft,the labour of the Olive(or the pains taken about the Olive-tree) is faid to lye. Thehope of him fhallbe in vain, or lye. Our hope is faid tobe in vain three ways. Firft, When wehope for much, and get but little, according to that of the Prophet, convincing the Jews of their negleeì in building the Temple(Hag. r. 9.) Te looked for much, teed be- held it came to little; ye hoped fora plentiful harveff, ye thought to have had a great crop, but it went very dole together ; ye looked for cart- loads, but had fcarcely handfuls r So force ex- pound, or give the meaning of that Prophetic (Ifa. 49. 4th and 6th compared) It is a Prophetic ofChriff; at the 4thverfe Chriff -faith,.Ibave laboured in vain, I have [pent my Jlrengtb for nought,, and in vain. Why did Chrift fay he had laboured in vain ? He tells us the reafon at the 6th verfe ; And hefaid, that is, the Lord faid to him, It is alight thing that thou fhouldefl be my fervant to raife up theTribes of Jtcob, and to re)?ore the preferved of Ifrael; Iwill alfo give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou magi be as.y falvarion unto the end of the earth. Chrifi looked upon his la- bour as labour in vain, if he had died to redeem the Jews only, . and therefore, faithGod,/ reingive thee f ra light to the Gentiles, that thou mayJl be myfalvation to the end of the earth; and then, I hope, thcu wilt not think thy labour in vain. Nowwhen the Lord had granted JefusChrifi, that he fhould not only be falva- Lion to the Jews , but alto to the ends of the earth , or to the Gentiles ; he no longer laid, I have Jaboured in vain, but thought himfelf well rewarded for all his .colt and 'pains, for all that hedid or fuffered, to bring about and effect the falvarion of than. Hope is invain whenwe have, andget but little, expecFting stanch. . Secondly,
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