Chap.16. An Expofition upon theBooJ=,ofJ O B. Verf:12.- God doth not willingly, much lefs fportingly,af lift the Chi!, dren of Men,Lam.3.33. yet it pleafeth him w aftli6l them; yea, as Job (peaks, Chap. 9. He laughs at the trial ofthe in, notent ; that is, He caries himfelf ( as to their fenfe ) as if he did not regard what they fuffered, though indeed he be in- finitely tender of them in all their futfcrings ; yet becaufe they donot aiwayes underftand the language of this laughter, it makes them cry out as if God had forfaken them,and were ei- ther really turned an enemy againil them , or at leali, did not ufe them as his friends from which neer relation, nothing appears more remote, then to be let up and (hot at as a mark, Obferve. Thirdly, Afie on doth not hit the Saints by chance, but by dir is a great difference between (hooting at random , and (hooting at a mark. God doth not draw his Bow at a ven- ture, as he who flewAhab did, t Kings 22. 3 q.. or (hoot at the whole hots of mankind, let the Arrow light where and on whom it will,but he tinglesout the particular perlon, whom he intends to hit. Every one of his arrows goes upon a fpe, cial errand, and touches no bread but that again(t whom it was lent : Andas this fpeaks the honour of God', who de- termines as much, upon whom, as what to do, and chufeth out thole at whom he means to shoot, as well as the means by which he (hoots at them ; fo it (hould ettablith our hearts to receive his thot,and in this fenfe to be like a fenfelefs mark .which fors not from the Arrow, nor withdraws from the deadly Bullet. It is not only the grace , but the glory of a Believer, when he can (land as a But-mark, and take afidion quietly. The Apoftle fpeaks near this language , and fully this truth , r Mel: t. 3. I would that no manfhouldbe moved for;thefeaffli(iions;foryou yourfelves know that we are appointed thereunto , As if he had Paid; I would have you (land as Potts, notwithítanding all thefe affli6ions: Not that he would have themrcarelefs,or fecure; but couragious, and full of holy un dauntednefs : I would have no man flinch, or fuir a foot, no rnarethen a mark thar is thot at, Why ? Knowing that we are appointed thereto : As amark is appointed to be thot at,and fet up on purpofe that the Arrowmay be direaed againtl it ; fo 295
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