Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v3

53o Chap.ro. An Expofition upon the Bock of J O B. Verf. 12 d'rale£?aram dui atcipiat ether, id ell, omnia qua- in ejus curafunt poteflate ha- 'het. be kept, no not by legions of Angels, who have not the Lor d for their keeper. None can keep us, but he, and he bath prornifed to keep us for evermore. Some men are weary of their ofiìces,and', form are put out of office; God is ncither.In that Prophetical curfe againft Judas, tis faid, Let another take his office (PC tog. 8.) What office ? It is this word, and notes there the office of look- ing to, or of preferving the fouls ofothers, we commonly call it, The cure-ef fouls. Such is the office ofall the. Minifters ofChrift, That'sEpifopacy by Divine right; this in.the text is divine Epif- copacy. That word which here in .ob we tranflate vifitation, and in the Pfalm now cited, office is called Epifcopacy by the Apoftle (All. r. 2 t.) Chrift is the great Bifhop or vilitour both of our fouls and bodies. He is the oecumenical Bithop. The whole world is his Diocefs, He preferveth man and bealt. See more of this point, Chapter, 7.20. Again, For as much as this vifitationwhich extendeth to the whole man, is here in the letter determined upon the Spirit. We may obferve, lira, Taking fpirit for life, That as our well-being, f our being in the world is at the daily diJpofe of God. The living God not only giveth, but maintaineth our lives. 'We live not by bread , while we are healthy, nor by medicines, when we are Fick ; but by the word ofGod. His vifitation Both all. Secondly, Takefpirit for thejoul, then we are taught, That ourfilets are not independently immortal or incorruptible, As the life ofthe whole man is not, fo neither is the life ofthe foul, of, or in it felf, without fupport from God. The Angelical fpirits who were never married to bodies of earth, ¡land not r teerly by Creation, but by Providence. The vifitation of God preferveth thofe fpirits, how much more the fpirits ofmen, which are efpoufed to duff and clay. Thirdly, As fpirit fignifieth the foul, not only in its natu- rail but in its fpiritual Efate, or in the ¡tate of grace, We learn, That ourfpiritual flock and treafure are in danger,and wouldde. eay, if the power and care of God did not preferve our f irits, Grace cannot keep it felf, if left to its felf. We lhould loofe, not only degreesof grace, but all grace, were it left in our own hands,

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