Chap. Io. Ad Expofition upon the BoókofJ O B. Verf. :II 6. 555 wilt never leave of to afli,c`l: m :', till thou haft detiroyed me. Thou bunte]f me as a fierce Ly,;t;Hr.v are they hunted ? Lyons are not ufually hunted to be preferved,'tis rare to hunt Lyons fo,l ;at `becauCe they are hartftll and detiroying creatures, therefore they ,yo,cilia'ai are hunted that they may be d_(troyed, and do no more hart , as v;tam, at and if he had thus expr..ff_d himfelf, Tiioa, I,14rd feemeft to adjudge 1341agnafi. roe not only as an unufefulland ulaíerviceable creature, but alto lenthsbsriin as a dangerous and a noxious creature, as a naturali bruit beaJt dolrcüt. Bald, made to be taken anddejfroyed (2 Pet. 2. a a.) yet I cannot aff.nt that fob (though under the darkuels of afore temptation) had filch thoughts of God, as ifhe had no other end in afilidiug him, but to make an end ofhim. I rather expound him in a third fence, that the compardron is made between Godand the Lyon ; Thou, 0 God, like a Lyon, dolt hunt me. ConfèntofScripture isclear&for this interpretation, which often reprefeiats God inalif,}itsg his people under theno ltion ofa Lyon, as will appear in the proof of the obfervation ari- liing from it ; which is, That the Lordfeemetb oneetimes toput off all pity andcompflion towards his people. So the Church complains (Lam. 3. s o.) He mas unto me as fa hear lying in wait, and as a Lyon in Jecret places. God thteatned by the Prophet H f a(Chap. 5.14. )I will be unto Ephraim a Lyon, and as a youngLyon to the bout: of Judah, I, even I, roili tear and go away. I will afdik them fiercely and terribly. Agiin(HoJ i3. 7.) I mill be unto them as a Lyon, as a le ,pard by the will 1 obferve them. Hezekiah fpeaks the fame language (Ifa. 38. 130 ) I reckm- ed till morning, that as a Lyon,fbwill he break all my bones. As whenman dealeth cruelly with his brother,he is a wolf to him,or a lyon to him (Pfal.17. 12.) ( Mans wing of beafily lulls, is all the metamorphofs or change of men into beads, which Heathen Poets have fo much fancied, or the holy Scriptures Co often men, tioned.) Now, I fay, as man aCìing cruelly upon man, is. called a Lyon,fo alto is God. When God would thew the abate- ments ofnis wrath, then he faith, I am God, and n,t man, (Hof. I I; 8, 9.) How_Pall Igive thee up Ephraim? &c. Thus he debates, by andby he votes and refolves negatively, I will not execute the fiercenefs ofmine anger : I will not return to deffroy E»braim, for I amGod,and not man. But when he would thew the highefi woik- ings of his wrath, thenhe denies to thaw himfelf fomuch as man: ßbbbz Thus
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