Iz6 AnExpofitio»of tZie z7 . Pfalme. Vert. r 3. faithGod (hall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwellingplace, and root thee out of the land of the living: not out ofheaven, where he never was planted, nor grew, but of this world, where hegrew, as a great tree, till -od plucked him up, and rooted him out, by death and deftru- aion, If. 38.11 . Ifaid, Ifhall not fee the Lord, even the Lord, in the lan,:i of the living, that is, among the living here onearth : for who can imagine. that Hezekiah meant, he fhould not fee the Lord in heaven ? But here on earth the godly faw him in his ordinances : as Pfal. 63. 2. and 68. 25. andhis meaning he further cleareth in the end of the verfe, IJhall beholdmen nomore With the Inhabitants ofthe world. The fame phrafe in the fame fenfe is ufed, If. 5 3. 8. Eze1Z 26. 2o. and 3 2. 23. Pfal. 1 16.9. and 142. 2. 7ert 11.9. and in the fame fenfe is the likephrafe taken,the light of theliving, lob 3 3.3 c. Pfal. 5 fi.I 3. The reafon why this habitable word is called the lard of the living is,becaufe God created it, anddoth maintain and preferve it for mans habitation, while he lives a naturali life in this world. 7)fal. 115. 16. Theheaven, even the hea- vens are the Lords : the earth bath hegiven to the children of men. And oppofethhereunto the place of the dead, calling it a land ofdarknefïe, and the fhaddow of deatha land of darkneffe, as darknefle it felf, and ofthe fhaddow ofdeath, without anyorder, and where the light is as darknefl , ?oh o. 22, 23. a landofforgetful/Ide,Pfal. 88.12. This ferves for inftruftion, and for admonition. For inftruction, feehere plainly, that it is an errour, and miftaking, to take the land of the living for the Kingdome ofheaven, as generally the Papifts do, following herein the ancient fathers, who * many of them doe fo expound it. Which I do therefore note toPhew, howuncertain a rule it is, to tye our felves, for the right underf anding of Scrip- tures,to the expofition thereofmade to the ancient fathers: for in very many things, they differ in judgement one from another,as the learneddo plainly (hew. (a)And they them- felves, in differences o doe difclaime the authority ofmen, though The Reafon. The ute for inf}ruftion. * Hieron. in Pf. 2.6. Au- gufl. in Pf. 2,6. Cafliodorus. (a) Whitak. de Script. in- terpret. Con- troy. I. quxfl. 5. cap.8 Rey- nolds&Hart.
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