28z Chap. x. An Expofittan upon *be Bnok of ] O B. Verf. 12' could not Cave us.To pafs througha place full ofgins and fnares and pits fet and made on purpofe,to take a man, and that man not taken, is marvellous in our eyes.Thus it is with the people ofGod,they walk among fnares and traps The trade ofen4l anck- ed men,is tobe Trap-makers, Snare-makers, i fnot Swsrddmakers agairfp theSaints of the moll high. They meet with devices upon devices, and plots upon plots ;now that God !hall difappoint all thefe and exalt his people to fafety in the very face of death and dan- gers,. how admirable ! But Tome may objet'} ; Yet we fee that, at leaff forne of thefe plots are not difappoínted,atleaft Tome of thefe dev;cs take,and we have Peen bloody hands performing their enrerprife. I anfwer,in a word Firfl, this text and the Obfervation bot- tom'd tipon it, are to be underfi;ood of what is often done, not flri&ly of what is always done. The Lord very frequently dif. appoints the devices ofthe crafty. But fccondly,their very fuccefs isa difappointment, and their profperity is their curfe.For theircaufe is under a curfe,& fo are their petfons,when both Teemmoft fuccefsful. If outward judg- ments flay not wicked rnet ,7 heir prefperity fhall,Pro.t. ;a. Thirdly, all the fuccefs, which the devices of wicked crafty ones have,tends to the fulfilling of Gods counfeis , irtore then their own. So that,though it be to the eye,or in thy letter, fuc refs to them,yet in truth,andupon the matter,it is fuccefs to the caufe Of God;Craft prevails no further, and no longer on earth, then ferves to accomplifh the courrfels of heavcn,and fulfil what infinite wifdom hath deviled. Thereforewhen you fee any de- vices of the crafty thrive,know,that God is let ving himfelf up- onthem,and that they are but acting, what his hand and cotanfel bath determined before to bedone,A&.4.28. As Chrif himfeifover- came by dying, fodo they who are Chrifls,th q have fuccefs in all their difappointments:and thefe are difarpointed in all their fircceffes,and die while they overcome.No!info! device of man everdid, or ever !hall prevail, beyond a contribution ro the jut and holy purpofe of sod. All their prevailin, s are difappoint- nents, who intentionallyoppofe, though they really accom- plifh the good pleafure and purpofe of Gode JOB
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