Chap. 14. An Expofition upon the EookofJoB. Nerf. 7. 597 and /Mall not man the nablefl- of the Creatures ? Is this good Reafon or good Divinity, that Trees rife andmenfhall not ? ThéScrip - ture by the reviving of a dying Creature, fets forth the Ref.irre- étionof man.afterDeath, (t Cor. t 5. 3 6.) Thoufool, that which thaaafowefi is not quickned except it die. The feed dieth and then groweth, there is an Argument fromNature, a Tree maydie, and yet grow, there is anArgument fromNature. The Refurreetion of the de ad is anArticle of Faith, and yet our Eyes may Phew us anArgument of it in Nature. We may fee a Refurrec}ion in the a nual revivingof a Tree, theTree in the Wintercafts its leaves, and looks as dead, but when the Sun returns , and with that the heat, the Tree reviveth ; every fpring is as a Refurreâion from. death. There is a truth in this Interpretation, but tomake out fech an Ironyby thegrammes of the words, or fuch an Inference from the fcope of the Text is very hard, if at all potftble And therefore I lay it by. . Secondly, Others interpret lob bemoaning the condition of man (as to this point) inferiour to that of Trees. For firft, the boughs of a Tree may be lopt, yea the body of it quite cut down, and yet it feels no pain ; the Tree is not grieved how much fo- ever you hew, cut, and mangle it : But when God layes his Ax either to the boughs of mans by Sicknefs, Difeafes, and outward AfIlic`tìons, or to his Root bydeath,man feels pain:: Every ftroak puts him to fmart. Secondly, As the Tree is cut and 'cut down without pain, fo it will fprout up again, and renew, which man, doth not. Hence Note, That sí man in cxtreìart afflitiion thinks any condition better then his own. lob feerns to envy the happinefs of a Tree. How long will the thoughts of-man defcend when he is laid low? He would .even change (sates or (as we fay) turn Tables with hones and fhrubs. i here is hopeof a Tree, but I am (as td a Temporel re- f.}oring) part hope. Thirdly, The Words carry anArgument to move the Lord . to fpare lob, or not to cut himdown, though he had beaten off his Leaves and Fruit (his fibftance being fwept away by Robbers), though he had lopt off his Boughs and Branches (his Children being fwept away by Death) yet he defires that he would not prefs upon his Perfon alfo, and cut him quite down, becaufe Gggg 3 then
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