Chap. 4. An Expojition upon the Bookof J oB. Verf. 6. 31 at that time. Hence thedoubt is, Da a mansfàilingr or decliningr fromwhat he was before,,or what he did before, argue him infincere > Is there fufficient lirength in thisArgument forLlipbaz to fay, f ob thou haft been a comforter ofothers, thouhaft profeft much holi- nefs heretofore, and now thou art come to the tryal, thou canft not make it out thyPelf; therefore thou haft no grace, therefore all thy religion is vain. For the refolving of that, I anfwer fiat, that the propo(tion is not Limply true, that every one who faileth or declineth or falleth of fromwhat formerly.he was, or held forth, is thereforean Hy- pocrite,or that his graces are falfe, and but pretence; ; there may be many declinings and failings, many breaches and backflidings, and yet the fpirit upright. Indeed falling away and quite falling 431f, are an argument of infincerity and hypocrite ; for true grace it cverfafting grace, truehelinefs enduresfgriever. Therefore we are here to confider, whence there failings were occatìoned in job; and how á failing may be expreft, and continue, fo, as to conclude intncerity or hypocrifie. Firil, it was from a fudden perturbation,notfrom a felled refo- lution. job was not refolvedly thus impatient and unruly; an un- expelled (form hurri'd his fpirit Lb violently,that he was not ma-, tier of his own actions ; job had not his affetions at command, they got the bridle (as it were)on their necks,and away they car- ried him with fuch force,that he was not able to flopor flay them. Secondly, it came from the finart and teafe of pain in his fieth, not from the preverfenefs of his fpirit. If the taint had been in his fpirit, then Eliphaz had a ground, a certainground to have argued thus against him. hirdly, jobs graces were hid and obfcured,they werenot loft or dead, theads were fufpeuded, the habits were not removed ; when the grace which hath been fhewed, is quite loft, that grace was nothing but a thew of grace, painted fcar,and painted confi- dence: but in jobs cafe there was only a hidingofhis graces,or a vailecart over them. Lattly,We midi not fay he falls from grace who falleth into fin ; nor muttit be concluded that hehath no grace who falls into a great fin : It follows not, that grace is falfe, or none, becaufc it doth not work like it felf, or becaufe it dothnot fometimes work at all. True grace works not alwayes uniformly ; though it be alwayes the fame in it felf, yet it is not alwayes the fame in its effs'as
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