416 Chap. 6. An Expofition upon theBookof J OB. YeYf' Z Secondly, He that would weigh anadition throughly, muff put himfelfe in the cafe of the affliEted,and(as it were)make ano- thers grief, his owne. Hemutt ad the pafíìons ofhis brother, and a while perfonate thepoor,the fick,the affiifed man. He mull get a taft of thewormwood,&ofthegall,uponwhich hisbrother fee- deth. In a word, He may lay fuch a condition to heart:The Pro- ,phet Malachy threatens a curteupon thofe,who laidnot the word and works of God to heart ( Chap. z. a. ) I will curfeyour bleffings ( faith the Lord ) becaufeye doe not lay it to heart ; that is, ye doe not confider, what 1 fay or doe, throughly:God curfed them throughly, becaufe they would not thróughly confider his laws and judgements : So then, to weigh the afflictions of another throughly, is to put our foules, as it were, in their foules fiead. Hence, that we may be affured, Chrifl throughly weighed all our afflictions, He is laid to be afihied in all our afflielion.; ; He doth not only intuitively confider or contemplatethem, but he is ( thoughaboveenduring ) as, aderally enduring them. He is af- fliêtcd in all our affliftions, that is, he confiders our atllf Lions as his own, and is affected with them, as if himfelfwere pained with all ourpairies : and therefore it is faid, that himfelf took our infirmities, and bare our fickneffes,Mat. 8.17. themeaning is, he weigheth the griefe of his people fully. In thefe two points, this holy art of weighing griefe confifls, confderation of circum- flances,and fympathyof the fmart.Meere fpeculátion moveslittle. We have no feeling ofanothers fuffering, till we have a fellow- feeling. The bare Theory ofa liGtion, afleds no more, then the bare Theory of fire heates. Secondly, When lob faith,0 that mygriefe were throughly weigh- ed, we may obferve That it is an addition to a mans affíiRion,when others are notfen-- fible of his a{fíiciion. For it is as iflob had faid : This makes me cry out fomuch of the weight of my forrows, becaufe my friends weigh them fo little. The Church ( Lam. i , r 2.+ ) con-plaines thus, Is it nothing toyou, all ye that pafs by ? behold and fee, if there be anyforrow like unte myforrow. Is it nothing to you ? as ifrhe church had ftid;Myafiâion is fomething to me, and this a#lic`ts me, above all my aftliftions, that paffengers and behol- ders flight my calamities, and think my afit`ion no afiétion, that it'is not fo great,as indeed it is:Or,itis nothing to them,they arc not toucht with it, how great foever they fee it is to me:That which
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