Chap.27. 4n Expofttion upon the Book of J o B. Vetf. 3; wellas the Spirit in our hearts is the gift, the onely gift of God; all the powers in heaven and earth ( without God ) cannot give breath, nor make life. Art bath imitated living things, but never was there any mill which couldhmake things live ; the Painter can make the image of a man, but he cannot put life into his image, God onely Both that. Fìrff, Then our life depends upon God, we live or dye at his plealure. (Pfal. 104. 29. ) Thou hideft thyface,they are troubled; thou taFzeft away their breath, they dye and returne to their due. Life is breath given, death is breath taken away. Daniel tellsWe- buchadnezzar,TheGod in mhofehand thy breath ùsandwhofe areall thy ways, haft thou not honoured ( Chan. 5. 2;. ) He defcribeth God in his Greatneffe by having that G. ear Kings breath in his hand, that is, in his power ; He gave it thee, and he can take it from thee whenhe will. Davidputs this power among thole Ex cellencies of God for which he is to be magnified by mankinde ( Pfal. 66. 8, 9.) O bleffe our God,ye people, andmake the voyce of his praife to be heard, which holdeth our foule in life. The Hebrew ( as our Margin hath it ) is, whichputteth our foulin life. Wemay take in both readings, and not at all enlarge the text beyond its due bounds, for God fir(+ putteth our foule in life, that is,he cal- feth our foule,that is, our felves or our perlons to live by bringing and uniting foule and body together. Secondly, Ile holdeth our foule in life, by preferving or delivering us from thofe daily dan- gers and evils which threatento feparate or divorce our foules from our bodyes. If God did not hold and keepeour foules in life, our foules could not continue in life one minute. No fooner' cloth the living God withdraw his hand of prefervation, but man is among the dead, or upon the bordersof difl'olution; difeafes and dangers would foone breake this union, and unty this marri- age-knot between foule and body, if God did not hold it when God lets goe his hold,out it goes, when God calleth,out it muff. As God laid to,46raho40,( Gen, i i .)Get thee out ofthy Colin- try, and from thyk¿indred,andfrom thy fathers boufe; God called him from his owne home, and he willinglyobeyed; So when God calles our fpirit out of the body, and commands it to diflodge, it muff diflodge and come out whether we will or no. And peeing our life or breath depends upon God , and a call from him fetch- eth it forth at any time, let us pray (to fpeake in allufion to that of
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