Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v4

92 Chap. t t. eon expofiionupon the Book, of JOB. Verf:zz, the yoke , but now he hath the voiceofa man, yea the voice of a Saint, '"urn thou me, andIfhall be turnedfor thouart the Lord my God. happy chaflenings , which make fuch changes ! And chaflifngs have many advantages to make fuch changes, to turn beafis into men. For. z . They imbitter the world to us , the world is fuch a beaft that it makes men beafts , andwhen the world is taken out of our hearts , the beaft departs from us, and is taken out of our hearts. z. Affiliions make finne more vifible, judgements real- lize the evil that is in finne_; and !hew us the poifon of that ferpent. °3. Affiliions are proper to tame our wildneffe, and take down the loftinefle of our fpirits. Nebuchadnezzar for his pride was (in a manner, in his manners he was before) turned into a beaft. His outward thape was not changed ( The Poets Metamorphofs -was in morals., and fo was this in the Prophet) but he lived.like a beaft , or he lead the lifeof a beaft. Some for fine, are put to live, like bees, and all men in finne live like beafts. Nebuchadnezzar living among beafts, and like a beaft, learned to be a man ; For at the endof the daies, faith he, I Nebuchadnezzar lift up mine eyes toheaven, andmine . aanderftanding returneduntome( Dan.q:.24.)Thus Nebuchadnezzar was born a man,.I do Not fay he was born an holy man,but a man he was born, His underfanding returnedunto him,andhis Councel- lours and his Lords fought untohim,they owned him then not only as a man but as a Monarch. Affiliions civilljze moil , and they fpirituallize many. They are more brutifh then beafts,. who (as the Prophet defcribes them, Ifa.5t. 2.0.) continue like wildebudsfull of thefury. ( and empty of. the fpirit) ofthe Lord, when they are entangled in there. nets, or taken with there toils.. And becaufe there is fo great a tendency in affiltion. to humble and purifie vain man from his finne, therefore affi- llion is brought in as a. great aggravation of the finne of man. How beafily are they that will not return from their folly when they are fmitten and broken with judge- ments ? Hence that iterated expoflulation (e4mos 4.) 1 bave fmitten Jots, &c, jet have ye not returnedunto me, faith the,

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