Chap. 23. vfn Expofjtion upon the Beokof J O B. Verf. r3, Secondly, Wemuff not feeke unto GO for the removing of any evill from us, as being di fplea fed withhis laying it upon us : we mull be quiet under our troubles, and yet we may both defire and endeavour to be quit of them. Though God be in cne mind, yet that doth not necelfìtate man to one condition nor hinder him from (eking a better then that whir in- lie is. I have infifted the longer upon this point, becaufe 7.4 gives it as a general anfwer to all his frie e,d queries about him,and as the bell expedient for reconciling the difference between them and him, He is in one ninde, ,4;rd n ho can turne him? Hence learnè. That as God id unchangeable in hirnfelfe, fo none Can niter change him. Some men are ofa very fteady fpirit, they are not in and out, as we fay, forwardand bsckward : let them alone, and they are true to their own principles. and they will be true to others ac- cording to their promifes. Yet, pollibly,thefe men may be turned' afide, and led out of the way, by t` eperfwafion ofothers.A lub- tiehead and a fmooth oyiy tongue, may worke themoff from their own refolutions. It-hath been a queflion difpured among, moral Philofophers, Whether a mileman maybe anuncertain or a variooeman ; And they refolve it Negatively; Wifdome is as balaff, whichkeeps the minde from floating. And it bath been laid . of a wife manamong the Heathen, that the Sun might as loon be thrufl out of his line, as he from the lineofJufiice ; et let no anon glory in man, no not in wifemen. The wifeft, and mofl confiane among men may doe unwifely and prove unconflant. The moll refolved among thechildren ofmen, may be wrought upon, and brought over to what they purpofed not. But this is thegloryof God, that as he is in one minde, fo nonecan turne him, or make him in two. None can turne him out of the way, either of his in tended Judgements,or promifedmercies ; what he bath a mind to doe, he will not beput by thedoing it. Wemay affirme three things concerning the works ofGod,or concerning God in his workings. Firtl, The worksof God are foe fall of tnyflery, that none can fully? 431
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