Chap. 9. An Expofition upon the Bookof J O B. Verf. 2 47 Hence obferve, Agracious heart gives teftimony to the righteoufrefs of God,though feverely chafined under the hand ofGod. When God deals mo11. hardly with the foul or with the hody,or with foul and body,a holy heart bath not a hard thought of God, I know it tobefo of a truth ; He doth not only acknowledge that God was jutt,whenhepunithed others,but when he afflicted him. The common argument which the friendsofjob rook up to prove God to be jut', waS this ; God is righteous, for he deals with men according to their deferts : but Job argues thus, God is righteous, however he deals withmen, and whatfoever thofe men are, let men be wicked or upright, holyor prophane. Whenwe fee God breaking the wicked, ¡and making gall and wormwood, fire and, brimítone the portion oftheir cup, this argues his Juftice, becaufè heháth threatned fuch with wrathand vengeance. But the Saints gofurther,they proceed upon purer and fublimer principles,main- taining thatGod is juft,though he afflidthe jufteft and holieft man upon the earth. The righteoufnefs of God thines forth to them thorow thedarkeft fufferings ofrighteous men. The righteouftefs ofGod is not groundedupon the objeét about which he dealeth, whether righteous or unrighteous, but upon the ad of his own will,yea upon the pleafure ofhis own will. His righteoufnefs pro - ceedeth from himfelf,and he is a righteous ac`,whatever the objee`f be upon which he ads. We need not fay, God is jutt, becaufè he punilheth the guilty;for God is juft,though he afflid the innocent. We may at once maintain our own innocency, and the juftice of God, while we bleed under his hand, or fmart under the fevereft fcourges. I know it to be fo of a truth. But how(hall man bejufl with God. M. Broughton reads, Andhow can man be juffbefore the Omnipo- tent ? and fo the fenfe runs more fear, taking the u rft particle for IIIud `u Dal a pure copulative, whereas we read it as a difcretive; but how(hall Deurtt man bejuff before God ? Namely, in your fenfe ; asifhe had faid, rent a&,Judi_ you,dífcourfeof Juflice under fuch a notion as renders itimpof lble dale. for any man to be juft before God ; in one fenfe a man may be righteous before God, but in yours no man cane Would you not have aman know himfelfto be jufi, unlefs he know himfelf to bc without fin ? Ifyou take juft,to be the fame as with out in-dwel- ling, fin, then it-is impoßìble for any man to appear ¡Litt before V. 2 God
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