572 Chap. 7. An Expofttion upon tbeBookof J OB. Vert'. r, fhorten, continue or break them off, as thy pleafure is., Same live as if they were matters of time, and could appoint out their own term : as if they lived at their own difcretion, and could make a covenant with the grae,and agree with death,when to come for them,They article with it,for this yeare,and the next; they fayto thegrave,thou íhalt -not take me yet,thou (haltfpare me,` yet [ have filch ends to drive,fuch pleafures to take,before I would' die.They(Ifa 5 6.1 2.fpeak,as if their tonguesand their time were their own, and they knew no Lord ofeither ; Tomorrow"hall be as this day, andmuch moreabundant;they (peak of the next day, as if they could command it, and bid it come to ferve their lutis. That wretched rich man, Lu. 12. could fay foul take thy eafé,thiu haji pods laidup fin. manyyeares ; fee how liberal he is to his Soule, out ofanothers right ; and becaufe he bath gat a great flock of ri -- ches, he gives himfelfa rich flock o f time, many years. He re- tolved to make his life larger, as he had done his barns ; and be- caufe they were full ofcorne,he allo will be full of dayes,whereas the word came, Thoufool this night 'hall thy foul be taken from thee. And he could not live tilt next morning,whoreçolved up- No iiiabbr. on many yeares to live. Secondly obferve, duotrahenda That the decrees of God concerning our lives, mull not leffen e]? hie obte. our care topreferve our lives. Is there not an appointed time to rzere'iquif - man upon the earth ? Yes,that there is,man lives at Gods appoint- riampericulie ment ; but he mull not live upon that appointment, that is, with- abjiciat, quia draw himfclffrommeanes of his prefervation, and fay, God hatll, fpariumvitm appointed how long l (hall live, therefore what need I take care ìefaitum ejl how to live ? or what need I take care for the preferving of my life ? As it is in fpirituals, fo alto in temporals, God bath deter- mined and appointed the portion ofevery man, all comes under a decree, under an everlatlingand unmoveable decree ; yet the decree which is part concerning us mull not take us from our care about our (elves. Though only the elect are Paved, yet none are faved by their eleftian; Infants who attain not the ufe of reafun, much lefs the atings ofgrace, yet are not faved barely by eleEion ; what they cannot doe, is done for them, they are Caved as elect in Chrift, not precifely as elect ; how they are united to Chri(l,we know not,but we know they mutt beunited,or elfe they could not be Caved. But they who grow in years, muli allo grow in the graces of Canf±ificatian,otherwife they are not faved by the graceofele4ion ; The decree ofGod appoints us to falvatfon,bur the
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