668 Chap. i4. tin Expofition upon the .Book of JOB. Verf.zi, thou (halt not rejoice in the grave that thy fon is rich , neither (halt thougrieve for thy fon that he is poor, when thou ceafef to be among men : for as thy knowledge is periíhed , fo thy love, thy envy , thy forroware perifhed as to the creature here below. A Cons preferment is nothing to the deceafed father , therefore let not fathers venture their confciences and hazard their fouls to prefer their children : be not anxioufly afraid, that when you are deadyour children may be poor, this trouble will never come near your heart when you are dead. God promifed fofiah (a Kin. 22.20.) I will gather thee unto thyfathers,and thou fhalt begather- ed into thy grave inpeace, and thine eyes (hall not fee all (that is not any of) the evil which I will bring upon this place : As if he had faid , I am refolved as I have decreed to bringevil upon this place, but it (hall be nogrief to thee, for thou Ihah firII be taken out of this place; And when the Prophet Ifaiah brought Hez,e- kiah a fad meffage,Behold the days come that all that is in thyhoufe, andall that thyfathers have laidup in"loreuntil this day(hall be car- ried to Babylon, andofthyfoes that (hall iffnefrom thee, which toots (halt beget, jhall they take away, and they(.ball be Eunuchs in the pa- lace of the King ofBabylon (Ifa.39.6,7.) Thenfaid Hezekÿab to faiah, good is the word of the Lord, which thonhas jjoken : he faid moreover , for there(hall be peace and.truth in my days : he fpeaks not flieghtingly of the evils to come ; Hez.ekiah was far from the fpirit of that Roman Emperor who faid When I am once dead, let heaven and earth mingle, what care I what becomes of the world Me norm> when I am once out ofit ? Hez,ekiah was not a man of this temper, tvifceatur ignl yet it was Come abatement of thofe evils to him, that they fhould terra. Calig, not come till he was paf feeling them, or being fenfible of them. The reafon which the Prophet gives , why God takes good men out of the world fometimes is, becaufe he knows a form is co- rning, andhe would not have them overtaken with it, and there- fore he houles them before it come, Ifa. S7. i,2. The righteouspe- rifheth andno man laieth it to heart, andmerciful men are takena- way, none confidering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come : the evil to come is no hurt to them when they are gone. This is Gods defign though few confider it : And as they who are taken away , have no feeling of the evils to come , fo no fellow- feeling , there is no fympathy in heaven , Saints are not troubled there at the troubles ofany here on earth. It is a grace while we arehere, to be troubled at the troubles-of others, and it is our priJ
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