s98 Chap. 5. .4n Expoftion upon tht Book of ] Q B. Vert'. 4. . The Hebrewword is commonly rendred,falvation. His chil- dren arefar fromfalvation. But then we mutt ur.derltand it for temporal falvation, which our translation expreffes clearly by fafety. His children arefar from fafety, It is poffible that the chil- dren of a wicked man, may be near unto eternal falvation.a Though godly parents have a promife for their feed, yet grace Both not run in a bloud,neither is the love of God tied or entayl'd upon any linage ofmen. = Eleaion fumetimes crcffes the line,and ileps into the family ofa reprobate father. Therefore, it is not laid, His children are far from falvation, in a ftrif, but in a large fence. We find the word falvation, frequently ufed for fafety ( 2 Kings 13. 17. ) when Elifha bad Joafh the King of Ifrael fhoot the arrow, he called it, the arrow of the Lords falvati- on, which we render, the arrow of the Lords deliverance. So Mofes bcfpeáks, the trembling Ifraelites at the red Sea, Standfrill and behold the falvation of the Lord, that is, behold what fafety the Lord will give you from all thefe dangers, what deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh. The Prophet reprefents the Jews thus bemoaningtheir outward judgments, We roare all likeBears, and mourn fore like Doves, we look for .judgment, but there is none, for falvation, but it isfar of, IJa. 59. 1 r. They are far fr'o:rn fafety. To be far from faiety, is a phrafe importing extreamdanger ; As when a man is laid to be far from light, he is in extream dark- nefs ; and when a man is laid tobe far from health, he is in ex- tream ficknefs; and when a man is Paid to be far from riches, lie is in extream poverty : So here, Hia children are farfrom fafety, that is, they are in extream danger and peril, they walk(as it were) in the regionsof trouble, in the valleyof the fhadowof death continually. That phrafe is ufed alto, refpef,}ing the fpiri- tual eftate of unbelievers, They are far offfromGod; far offfrom the Covenant, Ica. 57. 19. Ephef ta. 13, that is, they have no benefit by the Covenant, no interefi, in,no favour at all or mercy from the Lord. To be farr offfrommercy is to be near wrath, and to be farfromfafety is to dwell upon the borders ofdanger. And they are crufhed in the gate, In the fourth Chapter Eliphaz defcribes man, as crufhedbefore the
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