Chap I3., An Expóftrop upon the Book of JoB. Verf. 24. 517 Jacob, faith the Lord, neither be difmied, O Ifrael, for I willlave theefrom afar, and thyfeed from the land of thy captivicc.. This was a graciousp°omifethat theJews fhould return from Babylon> But who fent them into Babylon ? or was it the part of á friend to fend them intoBabylon ? It was God who lent them int{p- ttabyion, and himfelf interprets his own action (verf: îi.) I have wounded thee with thewoundof an enemy, with the chaflrfement ofa cruelone, for the multitudeof thine iniquity, becarsfe thyfins were increafed. God, who wreftled wirh-7aço6 till he lamed him,fmites° the feedof Jacob till he wounded them, and that not with fome flight wound, but with the woundof an enemy; t hat is, with fuch woundsas anenemy is wounded with : God wo unds a belo- ved people with the wounds of an enemy, even with fuch a wound as an enemy gives, and with fuch a wound as an enemy receives. God was not an enemy to rob, but God wounded him as if he were anenemy. The woundsof God are the wounds "_ of a father, whofe end is to corral, not to kill, he finites us ,as Ay il nico- fl4 children, and counte`i us children whileR he is fmitingus,; : yet late dicitur iva he finites fo hard, and wounds fo deep, as if wrathful angermo- plagapiagra- ved his arm to finite and wound. Great wounds are the wounds vas eft,grsateet ofan enemy ; for, as a man is faid.to hate father-and mother yea, feerre .w /Wet and his own life, when he regards not what they fay to,withhoid an him from the duty which heoweth to Chriff, in-thiscafe (though he truly reverence father andmother) he is faid to hare them; becaufe we commonly hate thofe whofe counfels and delires we rejeE, or they at leatfthink.we do fo: fo, a great wound is cal- led by the Prophet thewound of anenemy, becaufe none but enemiesufe to give fuchwounds There is nooutward conditi- on fo fad, but God fometimes patshis own into it As a wicked mancan do any thing to God but love him , he praies to God, he hears the Wordof God, he gives an outward conformity to theLawof God, but he cannot love God : fo God can doany thing againff his own people, but hate them : Hecan impoveriíh them, weaken them,.. and wound them, he can correet and cha- ften them, he can [peak curffly to them, and deal courfely with them, but he cannot hate them. . Secondly, Oöferve, Rgodly man may doubt whether God love him ór .so, Where God loves he loves to the er.d. All his friends are his fans. A for is not takenfor yearsas a fervant is,: once a fon andever a fon,
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