Chap.S. An Expofetion upon the Book of :1 Q$, Ver f,17, 313 ratan whom thou ehafferefI, 0 Lord, and teacbeft bim out of thy Law; Btefled is(giar)thc great man,thehonourable man, the highefl by birth or placo, whom thou chatfnefl. i he baide Paraphrafe refrains the word [ Man ] to an in dimduall,to Abraham, as if ehphaz. had put the inftance in A- kraham, and laid, Behold, happy teal that holy ',elan Abraham wh.mGod correc`led, tberefcre delpife not thou the (banning of the Al. mighty; I can give thee a famous example of agodly man corre- aed,Abra4am (thy Ancclfor)mec withafiaionsas well as thou, and yet he was a molt happy man : therefore defp fe not thou the chafining of the Lord. But the word is general,and fo weare to un- derftand it,though this be a truth in any or every inf}auc :among the fervancs of God. I mull yet put in a cau-ion for the right underflanding ofthis propofition, Bieffid is the man, whom God Cords "I he meaning is not, as if happinefs were the portionof every miferable man,or of every man that is afHi,led,doenot think fo, many are at once, corre&ed and curfed,troubled 8z miferable in trouble.To many, their prefect forraws,arcbut the fore- tafls of eternal forrows;.As Chrift fpake in a common cafe, "1 hefe thick are but the beginning offorr.w ;SOwe may fay to the parricular Cafes of many groaning under ficknefs, poverty, difgrace d-c. Alas, poore foules, ye are fo far from being happyin thefe,that thefc are but the beginnings of your unhapp acts ; God loch but begin to call for tome at- reares,due'to his jnf}ice,which you muff be a paying and fatisfy- ing to all eternity. There is no happinefs in affiaionnaturally confidcred;it isac- * Tt]' cidental to afHi&ions, that happinefs is afíociated with them. A,5uú, rrda- Afliiaion in it fell is grievous,and it would be only fo to us, did puFQ av ,urt, not the over- ruling, admirable dilpenfations of God, tcmper,or- verba contra der, difpofc, and work it to an end above its own nature ; afquem, difpw it is the art &wifdom of the Phyfi:ian,which correaspc.yfonons rondo olion- fi'ivies and ingredients fo, as to make themmedicinablc. And d'do.1' hod did not the wifdom and goodnefs of God, correi! our corral - ofiverbi, cn ,they wouldnor be a medicine ro us, but rumq ;fì'r,P''r p yCon. It is not coy- tines t,mFn ca rc ion, but the hand of God with it, and in it, which makes us vcx wife. o- h appy Happy it the ma', whom God corretiet h. Peseta Abra- ham, virpiut quem eorrfpui Dé.w. Ch410a Parap. remdi!ei plinara t`'t'e'be, cuj. rpi:r,t rec. The word , which we tt-anflare*corrett,fgt}sfcs ro repro curi reprebPa- S l to fact. ha1Cd. Ye Of f'onfttifOmit,lri
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=