Chap. 18. eon expoftion upon the Rook, of J o B. Vert. 21. 13 3 4 u) Have all the workersofiniquitie no knowledge whoeat up my people as bread, anddoe not callupon theLord ; As if he had Paid, if they had but a little true knowledge among them all, they would not thus greedily devolve my people ; theymade no bones ofop- preíon, they fwailowed the pooreas pleahntly as bread , they did they cared not what, when they knew not what they ought to doe. The flou:l-gates of wickedneffe are open, where the doore . ofknowledge is (hut. When -Chrift tels us ( ?oh 17 3.) ?his is eternal life to know God, and fefus Chriji whomhe bathfeat. Why doth he fay, this is eter- nail life, but becaufe it lets as in a frame of holy life ? It works grace, and therefore it is glory. It is a holy life to knowGod thus, therefore it will be a happie life. As to knowGod is eter- nall life ; fo not to know him is eternall death. He that knowes God, loves him, and he that loves him keeps his commandements, ( ?oh. 14.) and they that doe not knowGod, doe not love him, and they that doe not love him, doe not keep his commande- ments. Many fin again{ their knowledge, but they cannot avoyd fin, who have no knowledge. The blind ease many a fly, yea poy- fon in head ofbread. Further Some underhand this Text of the knowledge that God hath ofman ; not of the knowledge that manbath ofGod ; reading it thus This is the place ofhimwhom God doth net know ; Jr is a truth both wages : for they that doe not know God, are not knowne of God. It is as true a chara&er ofa wicked man that God lothnot know him,as that he doth not knowGod.But loth not Godknow every man ? How then is it faid that God doth not know a wicked man ? As menare Paid not to knowGod, when they doe not love and reverence him, when they doe not feare and obey him,; fo God is Paidnot to know thole men whom liedoth not love nor approve. ( Mat. 7.24.) Depart frommee ye workers ofiniquitie, I knowyou not. Wicked mendoe not know God obedientially, andGod dothnot know wicked men favou- rably ; and whether we fay of a man he knows not God, or of God that he knowes not fuck a man, it equally fpeákes him a wicked man. Laítly, Whereas Bildad ( as his friends before him) makes fo large a defcription ofthe {late of a wicked man, andof the portion due to him; first, in allegories, and then inr'plaine words, ^yesr s:ors agnoJeít dew foriis. Jun. .24.f% d;zm eß rsJ?icere, reve- reri, oSed.Pe s r.are.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=