Chap, i4. An Expofitionupon the BookofJoa. Vert 8,9. 599 Laffly, Many Trees (theirRoots remaining in theEarth) will grow after cutting, though not in a full body, yet in Sprouts, their tender Branches will not ceafe, or as fome render the He- brew, Their rockers will not leave : We often fee young Slips rife at the Root, when the Tree it Pelf is cut down. And this I con- ceive to be the meaning of 7ob, who calls filch fhoots Suckers, becaufe they liveupon the Root, like little Children at their Mo- thers breaff. lobcarries on the Explication yet further. Verfe 8. Though the Roots thereof wax old in the Earth, and the Stock, thereof die in the ground. In which words he puts a fuppofition of greater improba- bility. 'l is muclrthat a Tree cut down fhould grow, much more if the root waxold, and theflock die in theground. It (hewed not only the Improbabilitybut Impotlibility (inNature) that Sarah Mould have a Son when the was waxen old, and her Womb (as the Apoffie fpeaks, Rom. 4.) was dead. And will the dead Root of a Treegrow naturally again ? I conceive this dying of the Root is only the decayingof the Root, or that he intends on- ly a partial not a total Death : Chriff tells us aoh.i2.24) That except a cornof wheatfall into the ground and die, it abidethalone,. that is, it doth not increafe or bring forth more corns) dot if it die it bri cgethforthmuch fruit. Thedeath of corn in theground is not a total death, but only a corruption or alterationof ir, for if the Seminal life and Vertue of it be quiteExtingúifht or drawn out, it could not yield either Blade orEar without a mi- Odor leavm racle ; yet becaufe that alteration of it is a kind of death, there- rei alicujou: fore it is ufed as an "Illuffration of Chriffs rifing, and alfo of contralium ours, (by Paul, i Cor. 15.) from a total Death. Now as ae- denotar. cordingto the courfe which God bath fet inNature, a Corn ofSuavis Me- Wheat (in this fenfe) dying, bringeth forth-fruit ; fo according taphora Di- to the courfe of Nature, the root of a tree- (in this fenfe) dyingcuntur arbo- ordeads buds and brings forthBoughs, as it follows in -the next res goal; ad words, capiendsam Verfe 9. Yet through thefeet of Water, it will bud, andbring forth aqua odorem Boughs like aPlant. & ad humo- It is an elegant Metaphor, as if a tree fmelt the water as foon rem conti. as it came near : And it notes thusmuch ; That the tree upon the gendumfe firff finking in, or fpringing up of the Water , is refrefhed and fuafque ra- madefruitful. When the three Children were calf into the fiery pires conver- Furnace, 'tis laid, Thefinell offire hadProt paffedupon them, (Dan. sere, Pined 3 27 )
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