I 86 Chap. to An expofiiion upon the Bookof j OB. Ve often pray'd abour, and preffed thee with thefe,hn thou giveft no anfwer ; Thou feell all thefeevils, and though much bath been faid to thee about-them, yet thou art as a man that faith nothing ; Thou holdrff thy tongue, evenwhen thypeople are ground between the teeth of their cruell oppreffors. Why doeft thou (hew me thefe fad fpeti:acles ? Why doefl thounot rather heare my cry, fave thy people, andwoke deliverance for them ? Jf it be enqrired, how doth this anfwer the promife ofGod to his people, eh t they fhould cry, and henot deliver, feeing he hath fa:d, Cd upon me in the Ili of trouble, and I will deliver. I anfwer ; The Lord doth alwayes heare fo, as to give his people the promifed good, though he doe not give them the petitioned good. He deferres to;heare, he lets them cryoat of violence, and wrong, and will not helpe for fuch reafons as thefe. Fir(t, that theymay be more fit to receive deliverance ; ma- ny cry out of wrong, who arenot yet fit to be righted. Deli- verances may be our undoing, ifweare not.prepared to receive deliverance. As we waite for theGraceor mercy ofGod, fo God waites to be gracious, .(Ira. 30.18. ) we waite to.receive mercy, and he waites till we are rightly difpofed to receive mercy. Secondly, The Lord dothnot deliver his prefently from the wrong and oppreffton of thewicked, becaufe fome wicked men have not yet done wrong nor tppre(fed enough, and are there- fore fuffered to doe more wrong to others,that themfelves may be more fit for ruine. They mull fill up the meafure oftheir fin ; therefore they are not taken offwith a high hand in the wayof fn. The Lord alwayes puts a n>rallimpediment in theway of fin, he declares his mimic, and.givesthe rule againit it, but he doth not alway put a judiciary impediment, he doth not al- waies come forth withpower and flrength,to flop men from go- ing on in the way offin, He ahuayesfends his earthly Angels or Meflengers with a word to flay the progreffeofwicked men,, but he rarely fends his heavenly Angels ( as he did to T3a- luam ) with A drawne (word to top.their.progrefe in wicked- rteffe, Thirdly,
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