ójq. Chap.8. An Ex pofition upon tbeBookofJ OB. Vert 9. till a pardon blots it out. In which fenfe, Chrifi is laid to have blotted out tbe'hand writing ofOrdinances that was againft us.Col: 2. r4.Thy fins., 0 Ifrael,fo the Lord teems to (peak in the Prophet) are as a cloud to hinder the finning of the light of my counte- nance upon thee :like blots they hinder thee from reading the e- vidences ofmy favour,or they Rand like evidences ofguilt againff thee.But I have blotted out this cloud,that is, I have pardoñd `thy fins,and by the breath of my favour and free grace, fcatter'd thy tranlgrdlions,with all the evilsand fequcls,wáich they natu- rally bring forth. So that now,the light Chines fair and warm up- on theeithe evidences which were againIt thee cannot be read,& thoumay'ft read the evidences ofmy love, and mercy towards thee. Theftns of the Saints are but vanifhing clouds, whereas fin in it felf,and the fins of all thole, who are out ofChrift, are an abi. ding cloud, they are a cloud firm and immoveable, like a moun- tain ofbrafs,ora rock ofBone. Sins make fuch a cloud as no pow- er in heaven or earth is able to confume,but the power of mercy$ and a gale of love, breathing through the covenant of Grace. And as the life ofman is compared by job to a cloud,fo to that . which is the matter of the cloud, by the Apoftle james,Chap4 verle i4. where he puts the queftion, what's the li man ? is It not (faith he)even a vapour that appearetbfor a Mime, and then vanifbes away I A vapour is exhaled from the (earth by the heat of the Sun,and is the matterout of which the cloud is made. Mans life is not only like acloud, which is more condenfe and ftrong, but like thole thin vapours, fometimes obferved arifing frommoorifh grounds,which are theoriginal ofclouds,and more vanithing than clouds. Even thefe,are but vanifhing enough, to fhadow the vaniflaing,decaying, quickly difappearing life ofman. As the cloud confumes and vanifbes, ( the next words fpeakout the mind of the comparifon.) So he that goetb down to sbegravefhall comeup no more, Thegrave isa defcentiartd the word which is here ufed for the grave, is, Sheol, about which many difputes are railed among the learned : the root of it fignifiesto defire,or to crave with ear- rielinefs,& the reafon givenis,becaufe the grave is always craving and asking;though the grave hathdevoured the bodies of mil- lions ofmen, yet it is as hungry as it was the firfi morfel, Rill it is asking andcraving:The grave is numbied among thole things which
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