3o4 Chap. 9. An Expofition upon tbeBoek of J O B. Verf.2 life dear (I will not'knowmy life, let it go which way it will) fo I may finifh my courfe with joy,and the minijiery which 1 bave receiv- ed (f the Lordjefus. Paul was none of your poor merchants, who are afraid oftheir skins.Pauls life was cheap in his thoughts when he was to make an adventure for Chrift, he (as job here) would not know his life, for the omiffion of a neceffary knowa duty, or the commifíion ofa known fin. This firft f.nfe yields this profitable meditation. He whole heart is upright prefers his uprightnefs beforeall worldly commodities, and before his own life. Chrift calls his Difciples to thisheight ofrefolution (Luk. r+. 26.) Ifany man come to me, andhate not hisfather and mother and ehildren,yea,and his own he cannot be my Difciple: That is,the =n fervice of Chrift, and his life beingput into the ballance ; life muff Abjumor dolore be a light thing weighed with the fervice ofChriff. 49-frrt]Pl all- A fecond interpretation gives this fence, Iamperfelt,yet Iknow terfilmetur not my ownfoul ; that is, I am fo preffed and overwhelmed with quampr.ore thefe afüidtions, that I cannot feel my fell, I fcarce know whe- an, ther I am alive or dead : I know not where I am, my foul cloth- . animam, > Y i. e. meipfum not aft its offices, my foul is (as it were) benummeg in me, or pre dolore, afleep ; there is not that vigour or aflivity in my fpirit, which I tdco nerfsr have found heretofore , I defpife fuch a life as this is, who would v«emmeant. livea life which is a continued death ?there is a truth in this. For dáab. Levi, as extream and exceffive joyes carry a manfo far beyond him- fell, that he fcarceknows whether he be alive or no (Come have had experience offuch raptures and extafies of joy in communi- onwith God)'Twas fo with Paul in cafe fomewhat like (a Cor. 12. )Whether in the body Icannot tell, or whether out of the body, I , cannot tell(faith he) for my part,I could not tell what to make of is y fell, or what became of my body : As ( I fay) it is thus in the excefT sof fpiritual joy and confolation ; fo fometimes in the excefles ofanguifh and furrow , a man fcarce knows whe- ther he be alive or dead, what his ftate is, whether in thebody or out of the body : he regards neither hot nor cold, friend or foe, wife or child ren,he forgets to eat hisbread. A thirdexpounds the words as anadmiration, I amperfec`l,and doye think I know not my own foul ? Do ye think I am not ac- quainted withmy felt? Am I a ftranger at home ? have I fo dew fpifed my life (think ye) that I take no notice ofit, and am ei- ther carelefs or infenfible how things go with me ? Astfhe had. faid,
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