Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v6

o Chap. 18. eA'n Expofatien upon the Book of J o B. Verf 4. 21 Fourthly, Others by the rock interpret ?ob's friends, or thenrep é ñ r f (,pinion which his friends held. As if he had faid ; The opinion m ,o which we holdconcerning the panijhnoent of wicked men, is as f reng gi ci.fr:rar sipon ourfpirits, and .0 muchfelled there, as the rock, is in his place, fan folit::ri and therefore thou (halt move us from our opinion, when thou ex?'cire jugi. haft removed a rock, which is numbred among . things impollible, tiald. eùc. , or extreamly difficult. All thereInterpretations center in one amiuos repo common fence : implying that.the Lord having appointed wick- norn;nar, n':nri- ed men to punifhment,. will no more change tins appointment, :e. per¡tames then he will remove the rocks,, or alter the whole fzáto ofthity in (ea onniom'. here uponearth. And Bildad, feems tò intimate that it is mor unreafonable to divert the courfeof Juitice, or to let thewicked goe unpunifhed, then it is miraculous to overthrow the whole courfeofnature. Shall theearth beforfakenfor thee ? orJhall the rock, be removed out of his place ? Hence we may learne this ge- nerallTruth, that godwill not alter his counfells, nor the courfe ofhis providence for any mans fake whatfoever. You may as foone fay, he will alter the whole frame of hea- ven and earth, or that he will remove the Rocks out of their place, as he will doe it : The courfeofSuffice is as firmly fetled as the courfe of nature is. It was indeed a miftake in 'ob's friends, to thinke becaufe God bath fetled a courfe of juftice, that therefore he would never change the formeof juft ce ; for though all the wayes.ofGod are juft, and he will doe jufticeun- to all ; thoughwe may (as the Prophet is charged peremptori- ly ) may to the righteoo it Jhall be well with him, and woe to the wick°d; Yet he varies the manner, the means, the times, and fea- fons of executing juftice, as feemeth heft unto himfelfe. The . juftice of God {hall Rand though the Rocks remove, and the earth be totally forfaken ; yet take heedof faying that juftice bath forfaken the earth, or is removed, becaufe we fee it not ailing in its wonted Rate and outward equipage. That which the I ord fpeaks toThew the unmoveable fetlednefl'e ofhis mer- cy, is as true in reference to the fetledvefheOf his juftice, ( ver, 3 I. 3 5, 36. ) Thusfaith the Lord, whichgiveth the Sanfor a light: by day, and the Ordinances of the Moon, andofthe Starsfor a light . by, night.; which divideth the Seawhen the waves thereof roare ; the Lord

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