Chap.8. An Expofttion upon the Book of J O B. VerC4. 23 thy children would f in againft God,he f ti f f er ed them tofin theirftü;rh being wicked he gave them up to do all wickednef"es ; They love to wander from him,and he let them wander. We have this fenfe ofthe word (Prov.29. 15.) A child left unto hhimfelfbrings his mother to fhame : The Hebrew is, A childfens away,feat to himfelf, or put into bit own hands. A child fent away to himfelf, or kft alone, bringeth íhame, that is, will certainly run into vile and enormi- ons cour(es , to the fhame ofher that bare him. A child left, or Pent to himfelf,is one that hath no guide, nogovernour,no inftru- dour but him(ilf. Aman that will learn only of himfelf, bath but a fool to his Mafier. How much more then a weak child; what a tnaftcr,what a tutor bath a child,ifhe have'iione but himfelf ? To be left orft nt out to tbemfelves, is, to have none to counfel; or ad- viti then, in a right -way, or to give them any flop and check in an ill way. The cháraCfer that Pau/and Barnabas gave of the former times, when they preached to the Heathens at Lylfra, was this, (AL.14.16.) We exhort you to turn unto the living God that made heaven and earth, who in times. pal}fufe, ed all Nations to walkin their own wayes. He let them go,and never (hied them at all,they had no bridle ofre(iraint, not fo much as a word to bring them back ; Hefufercd all Nations,as ifhe had laid, He left them in thr hand of their tr'aa,greffion, that their own evil hearts fhould do what they would with them. In which fenfe we may allo under- ftand that place (Ails 17.3o.)when Paul at Athens difputed with the Philofophers, he tels them that now God began to look to- wards them,and had lent them the knowledge ofChrifr,The times ofthat ignorance God winked at ; but now be calleth all men evert av,here to repent. The words undergoe a two-fold interpresation Some thus, to note the indulgence of God,7he timepall of th.¿t g- noranceGod winked at; thatlis, he did not deal feverely and firii iywith them, when they finned, becaufe they had no meads,or fo little means to keep them from fin. And there is a ttnth in it, Nihildtind/77bî for though ignorance Both not totally excufe fin, yet it Both a- volunt Paoli bate the degree and meafure of lin. But there is anOther fenfe, verb.: (1" tmcte-' which I rather embrace,7be times of that ignorance God winkedat cirati addi.8os that is, in thofe times wherein there was tì, much darknefs and fine hmi»es, donee fe iLx blindnefs in the world, God let men go on in their tin : they fin- Then pate fa- Lied, and he never called upon them , he never oppofed them, or ciae. Caly. Pent any to teach them better. God did not ntanifeft his will to them as unto the Jews, Pfal:t 47.19)2 o. He 'henna) his word unto Jacobs
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=