Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v2

Cliáp.. An Expofition upon the book,of JO B. ' yen ; i6 103 1 Kings 19 . t 2. where the exprellion is of the Came importance; ri%r i t7tp, here we have filence and a voice, there, after the noife of a great Úe1.%' fubtitg J% wind and of an Earthquake, it is Caid that E'ijah heard (as fomc lentil doles u. render it) the voice of afuhtile, fine, ender, attenuated filence, or furrunyvox fe, as we tranflate, adill fmall voice, a fweet raviíhing whit-per, a nefono voice without a found. Hence we have a kind ofnaafack,which in cur common language we callffi11 Mufichy A twofold reafon may be given why theLord fpakc(as it were) in lìlence. Pirtî,that the fecret manner of (peakingmight be an Ar- gument that the matter fpoken was a fecret, a myltery, not com- mon or ordinary.Secondly,to difpofe the hearer to receive it with more care, reverence,and attention. A man muttfee himfelfto hear with diligence, while another Jpeaks with filence. ,A loud voice finds us out, comes to us : but we mull come to a low voice, and find that out. When the Speaker takes leaft pains withhis tongue, the hearer mull take molt pains with his ear. And this manner offpeaking,was ufed by the ancientHcathen ' in their Myfferious Oracles andRevelations. As when God re- vealed a fécret, he fpaae fecretly, and as it were whifpered thofe truths in the ear ; (whifpering is fpeaking within one degree of filence) fo the Devil (who imitates God in what he can, that he may drawcredit unto his own deceivings)is defcribed in his in- ftruments to fpeak thus. Ira. 8. 19. When they (hallfay unto you,. Peek, unto them that have familiarfpirits, and ,unto Wizard;, that peep and that mutter ; they fpeak as it were fluently , they only whifper their diabolical incantations, and lying impollures. And (jfa. 29.) Thou fhalt be brought down, and fltalt fpeak out of the ground, and thy fpeeebThal; be low out of the duff, and thy voice (hall be as ofone that hath'a familiar Spirit out of the ground,and thyfpeeehfhall whifper out of the duff. The Prophet in this alludes to the manner ofWitches and Inchauters, who had familiar Spi- rits, which he here applies ina.threat unto the people : the time (hall come that you (hall be brought down by your enemies, that, you fhall fpeak out of the ground, you (hall lye at their feetlike poor captives, that cry fubrniflively andpitifully for quarter, O merey, mercy,(pare my life; that's the thing aimed at by the Pro- phet,thatGod would abate them fo,before their enemies,that they Mould whifper out of the ground to theirenemies for pity, as a Witch whifpers from the ground toher miferableClientswhocome for counfel,Tettullian in his Apalegetickdefcribes the heathen Ma- gicians

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