Chap.B: An Expoftion upon the Bookof J OB, Verf. -a 2. car) shift, and bend, and yield with them. And therefore when Norms arife, which pull downand defiroy many goodly trees of (sods Own planting, thefe rufhes continue. Hypocrites keep their fianding, hecaufe they never Hand. A great man being asked how he kept hì -honour and preferment in fo many changes of wind and weather, of times and Princes, anfwered, By being a willow, and not an Oak. He that can fway, feldome breaks. Hypocrites in the Church and State, live by the fame principles. Thirdly, A bulrufh or a flag in time of a form hangs down the head, but when the form isover, it holds up -the head, and Rands upright again. This refemblance between the hypocrite and a bulrufh is given by the Prophet ( 5 8. 5.) Lr this thefail that I have cbofin, a dayfor a man to a_$lia hisfoul ? Is it to bow down his headasa bulrufh? &c. The bulrufh ina form feems to be humbled to the very ground, but in fair weather it is as high ever. Hypo- crites in times ofpublickhumiliation, hangdown their heads, and item to lay their mouths in the duf, but when the day is páf,they quickly forget their forrows. IfI (faith the Apofle, Gal. z. 18.) bvildagain rbe things which Ihave deflroyed,Imake myfelfatroll: greffoúr.. Hypocrites are the worf fort oftranfgreffours, for they teem todefiroy their fins one day,but they indeed build them again the next. Fourth;y, The rufli and the flaggrow only inmiry places,where they may have abundance of water and moifure, which notes a hind of feuiûality in them, and therefore they have their names fromdrinkitrg. So hypocrites Item to be heavenly, but are indeed earthly : they are like the rufh, they cannot live without fore of water, they are fenfual, they mull pleafe their appetites, and de- livht their palates. The Apofle defcribes them fo, Theyfervenot the ,Lord j eft, s, but their own bellies ; they mull be fupported with the affluence of outward things , elfe they cannot hold out in profèflion. Whereas the godly and true believers can live, when the water is draind or dry'd away, when outward things fail and are gone. So the Prophet Habakkuk profeffes, Chap., 3. ult. Al- though thefig-tree(hall not bloffome,neither (hallfruit be in the vines, though -thefields fhallyield no meat, and there be no herds in theflail, yet I will rejoyce in the Lord, andwilljoy in theGodofmyfalvation.. Agodly man will grow when all the world decayes to him ; he will reJoyce in God when all outward comforts fail him ; hypo - crites snuft have fenfual fupplies , or theyare loft. Afeigned love of
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