Cap.' 6. din Expoftion upon th Book of J OB. Verte 3 then the feat ofaífet tion is put for the thing which we affc6i. Thisholds out a profitable truth. God can woura.i us in that upon which we moll entirely [et our affeccions. He knows how to cleave our very reines afunder, and he often doth it; that which we inordinately love, is ufually the mark at which he aimes his Arrow : The readyeft way to lofe any comfort , is to over.love it ( I add that by way ofcaution, not ofdiredion.) And indeed, though it be a great deal of(mart to us, yet it may prove a great deal of cafe tous, to be wounded in that which we over-love. God in much mercy to thofc he loves, takes that from them which they love too much, that fo they may love him the more, to whom all their love, and more ifthey had it, is but due : He cleaver their reins, ;hat reins may cleave to him. Secondly, The reines in a metaphor, fignifie that which is moti fecret and hidden (rfal. 16, 7.) My reins alto in(iruel Renet oecuhif me in thenight feafon ; that is, my moil inward thoughts in- limo denetants firudme, I have fecret communion with my felf, and my cer intelligit heart reads me a certain Lecture every night; My reins inJfruF tenettoajulune me in the nightfeafon. This metaphorical interpretation, gives us this plain note. Codpeirceth into our moil- retired thoughts, and can punilh our motsfecretfins. Thofe fins which lye as much out of fight, as the reins do, he feeth, and teeth them as plainly as an Archer doth the White, or Mark, which stands open to the eye ; for all things are naked and manifeft (anatomiz.d, or cut open to the reins of theback, fo much the word bears,and fo manifeft are we) before his eyes withwhomwe have to do. Take it literally, and then to cleave the reins is anexpref lion of putting a man to thegreateft forrow, or paine imagi- nable ; if the back were chined (as we fpeak) and cut quite down, through the reynes, this would be in exquitìte tor/ ment ; the reynes are a very tender part : A deep wound in fome other parts of the body, is but a fcratch, and fuch wounding were a kind of embracing, in comparifon of that,. Secondly, To :cleave thereynes, is to weaken, becaufe the reynes, or the loynes, are the ttreagth ofa cuan, or of any -QS 2 crca-
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