Chap. 5. AnExpofition upen the &oo4 of J QB. Verte. 3. 199 the moth, to (hew how fuddenly, how eafily man is deftroyed: This mans children are crufhed in thegate, as a man would truth a flie ora moth between his fingers. Theyare crufbed in the gate.. That notes two things. Fieft the publicknefs of their.deftruaion, they (hall be deflroy,. ed in the fight ofall men; for the gate was a publick place (Pro- verbs 31. 31.) Her works praifeher in the gates, that ís,fhe is pub- lickly knowne by her good works. To do a thing in the gate is oppofed to the doingof a thing fecretly. To fuller in the gate is to ruder publickly. Secondly, to becrufhed in thegate, is to be crufhedor cati in Inport, judi- judgment; for Thegate was the place of old, where juftice was cia eserceban adminiftred and judgment given ; and for a man to be milled in :ur. Mere. the gate, is as much as for a man to be overthrowne in his fute, when he hathany controverte or tryal before a Judge, whether for his eftate or for his life. So this phrafe, they are crufhed in the gate, implies that all butneffes (hall go againfl them, if they have any controverte in law,or if they becharged with any crime they (hall certainly be condemned. I need not flay to prove that judgment was given in thegateD only take a few Texts. Firtl; in this book (Chap. 29. 7.) ,Job de- fcribes his own profperity thus, When I went out to the gate, that is, to fit in judgment; andChap. 31. verf2 i. the word is ufed in the like fenfè; So Gen 23. 17. Chap. 34.20. Ruth 4..11. I1a.29. r. Thofe words of the curfe. Pfal. 109.7. When he isjudged, let him be condemned,are, the full Eitpofition of this,They are truth- ed in thegate. Neagricolali. And the reafon given by one of the Ancients,why lattice was trt caufa veni. en:, Civilatis ufually adminifired in the gate, is the accommodation and conve- freque,mia nience both of ftrangers and Citizens : For ftrangers, who lived nova terrere- far off in the countrey, that t hey might have juftice,before they tux confpeEu entred into the city, whore pomp and throngs of people might rar ër,o&bi poffibly ocçafion either fome terrour or diverfion in the minds of urbi properaret poor countrey-men. And then likewife, that the inhabitants of o. fubveflio. the City, might not be either charged or tired with Iong journie nem quire. into the Countrey Towhich we may adde, that judgment was re' lame g" therefore adminiftred in the gate, becaufe gates areplaces through Á,óJram which all país inand out, and therefore the declaring oI..judg- 1, melt -
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=