274 Cahp.i,6. AnExpofitiote npou the Book, of J; O' B. vertu . sword in the bowels. A reviling,(reproaching tongue is com- pared in Scripture to three.things.. Fiat, To a Raifor. Secondly, To a Sword. Thirdly, To an Arrow. A Raifor is fo keen, that it takes off every little hair, re- proach cuts a hair , it will have to do even with undifcern. able evils. A Sword wounds at hand, and finites thofe that are near : An Arrow wounds a far off: So that whether a manbe far off, or near, whether his error be fmall or great, or but Imaginary ; it is all one to a reprachful fpirit, his Tongue ferves him for all turns. David was tried by all manner of reproaches ; but thofe which pinched and preffed him molt, were his reproaches about Spiritual things. Any reproach is bad enough, but a reproach in Religion, is worft ; tobe reproached with our Prayers , asd with our God, Where isy.our God? Such'reproaches, how deep do they go ? They flick to the very heart. Credit is a precious commodity ; a man is more tender of it, then of his fletlh ; now all reproach falls upon our credit, and the more excellent that piece of our Credit is, upon which the reproach falls, the more grievous is that reproach tous. Credit in fpiritual things is the molt excellent Credit : Thus David was reproached , and fo was Job, isthis thyfear, and thy confidence?Is this the thing thou haft fo long'boafted of ? Chrift was to bear the greateft burden of affliótion, and therefore he did not only bear the Crofs, but reproach with it he fuffered death , and reproach withdeath; he fuffered the fhameful death of the Crofs, in which there was more then a reproach, a Curfe, Cried is every one that hangeth on a Tree : Chrift mutt dye an Ignominious death , as well as a painful, and the ignov rainy was a heavier burthen then the pain. We are ex- horted ( Heb. I 3.13 )' To go' out bearing bis reproach ; ' as in- timating that to bear the reproach of Chrill , would be har- der to us, and a ftronger temptation, then to bear the Crofs ofChrift. As the greateft part of Chrifts fuferings for us, was tobear our reproach, fo the greateft part of our fufferings for Chrift is to bear Ghrifls reproach Let us go forth unto bimwithout theCamp,bearinghis repróach.And indeed`reproa'elñ. is fogreat a burden, that were not s this confidetation in it that
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