Chap. 19. 1n expofïtion upon the 'Bookof J o s. Vero: t b. 2I I though all round about its is perifhing, yet we have fomewhat within sts that fhall never per& Thou haft deftroyed me round about : and Iamgone. That is, according to the Arabick Idiom, Ìam dead ; dying Excedo é vivis is a going away, I am gone ; I am a loft man, I am removing df jam Ire ox' from the Land ofthe living, ce¡iire dioac, I am gone : He was not gone when he fpake this, and yet he martku'", fc: faith, Iam one, 71Cí! mor7bun- g d"m Pined, That which we looke upon as certainlyfuture, or inevitably to come to pate, is to us as if it were prefent, or already poll. That good which we are lure to have, is as good as had; and that evill which we either mutt feele , or have deferved to feele, is as already felt. Abimeleckhaving deferved prefent death, the Lord tells him ; Thou art but a dead man, becaufe ofthe woman whom thou haft taken, ( Gen, 20. 3,) becaufe in ftri&nefle of Juítice, 'twas death to take another mans wife, therefore he is fpoken to as a man among the dead. So becaufe believers are lure of eternal! life, therefore the Scripture ea.' preffeth them in a prefent poffeffionof life, or as being p rftfrom death to life, as if they hadnot onely force beginnings, and fore tafts of it by faith and hope, but were in the full fruition and vifions of it. Thus here, becaufe all outward appearances and probabilities fpake yob goingout of the world and dying, there- fore he concludes himfelfe gone out of the world, and dead, .I am gone. And he bath removed my hope as a rage. Hebath made my hope to depart, orgoe away, fo in firic`tneffe ofthe letter, as if he had laid ; I am gone, andmy hope is gone ; and the reafon why he laid he was gone, was, becaufe his hope was gone ; hope is the molt flayed comfort that we have, the Taft that departs, yea that which can fcarce depart ; hope cannot be reckoned among our,. moveables, for it is compared to an Anchor, and to an Anchor that will not dragge ; Wee have ( faith the Apoftle, Heb. 6. 19.) this hope as an Anchor ofthe 1pule, bothfare andffedfaft; yet, ?ob perceived his Anchor mo- ving, yea removed. Recedere ala abire fach fpem. F e .. . t:Te
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