43o Chap. is. /In Expofitionupon the Book of joB. Verf. and would give me no affiltance, I refolved to put it to an ad- venture; I put my life in my hands andpafedover againil the children of Ammon : I went upongreat difadvantages,my Army was not a match for the enemy, nor fit to meet them in the field, yet I ran that hazard, Iput my life in my hands. So (r Sam.zg. 4.) when Jonathan pleaded for Davidbefore his father Saul, and told him what good fervice he had done for him,and what he had deferved of the kingdom, he inftanceth in that unparalleld aft of valour,when he undertookproud Geliah. Hedid put ( faith he) his lifein his hand,andflew.the Pbiliffine,thatis,heput himfelf into a great danger: the Philiffine was fach a monfler of men,that the whole Army of l frael trembled at his challenge ; therefore Purely a fingle manwas ingreatdanger to deal with him hand to hand : David doingfo put his life inhis hand. The Witch of Endor is at this language with Saul (zSam. 2,84.1.) 1haveput my life in myhand, thatis, I have ventured my life in railing up ofSamuel; thisThe faid becaufe there was a law lately made againil Witches by Saul himfelf. Once more, David ufeth the fame exprefïìion (Pfal, 119. 109.) My foul is continually in mine hand, yet do 1not forget thy law. The fouls of the Saints arealwaies in the handsof God, and it is both their fafety and their honour that they are fo. Whydoth David fay,my foul is inmine hand,had he cali'd it out of the hand of God, and taken the careofit uponhimfelf? No- EAHebraiJmu,, thing lefs. His meaning is only this, 1walk in the midff ofdan_ rafithbarer` gers,and amonga thaufand deaths continually, 1: am in deathsoften, periculo expof_ my life is expofed toperils every day, yet do hotforget thylaw tam; Hier Ep. I keep clofe to thee, and will keep dole to thee whatfoever ad Simians. comes of it. fluggaffine, upon that place, doth ingenuoufiy CON.. Ev ? xfttl fefs that heunderf}ood not what David meant, by having his ^16x"' ex¢n foul inhis hands: But Jerome, another of theAncients teacl?eth g nil to o proverb, pro erfa;i us, that it is an Hebraifm, fig Y a flate of extreametl peril. inter pericule. The Greeks alto have drawn It into aproverb,fpeaking the fame Quad manu thing. portatur facile But why doth the holding or putting the life in the hand, excidac,facile e lignifie the expoing of the life to d peril ? There is a two-fold dirigi po_ '' i teft, & j Ter- reafonof it. vatur fola Dei Firfl, Becaufe thofe things which are carried openly in the proteltione fess hand are apt to fall out of the hand, and being carried infight vari vidriar, they are apt to be fnatcht or wrefleh our of the hand. And Acre. therefore, though tobe in the hand of God, fignifiesfafety, be- caufe
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=