fixed by the immutable and immoveable Decree of God Q. How doth the Lord quicken the Dead Answ 1. By ordering all that falls out in the World for the good of his People Ezek. 37.12,13 Thus saith the Lord God Behold O my People I will open your Graves and cause you to come ouâ— of your Graves and bring you into the Land of Israel and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your Graves O my Peoplâ— and brâ—ught you up out of your Graves When things were brought to a dead Lâ—fâ— â—hen he puts to his hand his Strength is mâ—de known and when the danger is most felt then his helping Arm is most welcome When the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue was dead then Ch i st appeared most advantagiousl Mark 5. That was the word he waitâ—d for and longed to hear As Alâ—xander the Great solaced himself with the greatness of his Peril in Indiâ— Tand m par Animo meo periculum video So fareth it with our absolute Monarch of the World it is Joy to his heart to protract his time till he see the height and maturity of danger that so he may get the more honour While things are but dying there is hope in nature and in respect of us but when they are quite dead there is hope if we look up to God and believe him who quickneth the Dead We need not meddle with the great Current of his Counsels his Power in the object of our Faith He can make light in the midst of duskie Nights and Havens in the most forlorn Shipwrack and if we were with him in the Shadow of Death what should we fear in the Arms of Life 2. By infusing Grace and working Life The Method or order he observes is First to kill by the Law and then to quicken by the Gospel First he Wounds and then Heals He useth Rodâ— but such as are dipt in Balm And so the Lord quickens daily and often woâ—ks a Miracle and this in bestowing Powâ—r upon his Son â—o quicken and thosâ—â—re by degrees drawn by Christ to himâ—…lf and united to him bâ— Life Commuâ—… d to them As thâ— Sâ—… resâ—… in the heart retâ—…ns 〈…〉 â—…lf and sends foâ—th 〈◊〉 into â—…y united part â—e woâ—n â—…iâ—h and the whole there iâ—â—ontin i y John 5.25 Verily I say unto you The Hour is coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God they shall hear and Live John 14. and 19. Because I live ye shall live also 3. By returning every Body his own Spirit Ezek. 37.5 I will cause Breath to enter into you and ye shall live The same Body that dies shall rise again According to the hope of blessed Souls who after the Vision of God do yet hope for the Resurrection of their Bodies to which they most ardently wish to be reunited As they who are represented under the Altar Revel 6. and at the Tribunal of Justice ask vengeance of their Blood are instantly Cloathed with White Garments in Token of that bright Flesh which is to be joyned to their Immortal Spirits However some have conceived that the Soul shall be cloathed with a new Body which if it should be granted what would the Resurrection be but a new Creaton This Doctrine of the Resurrection is such that it is too deep for Reason to wade you must let Faith swim It is infinitely above Reason to imagine and we have scarce Faith enough to believe it Have an Eye to Christ rest on the Almighty Power And so let me add in the next place 3. An Use of Instruction and that in two things First Never to dispair 1. Not of the State should that be as low as Israel Ezek. 37.11,12 Son of Man those Bones are the House of Israel behold they say our strength is dryed and our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts Therefore Prophecy and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God Behold O my people I will open your Graves and cause you to come up out of your Graves and bring you into the Land of Israel Though things seem to Humane Apprehension helpless and hopeless look up to the Supream Power who can beyond all our thoughts make those who dwell in the Dust to awake and Sing This Doctrine speaks good news in that respect There is Balm in Gilead and a Physician to heal and this Physician yet dwelleth in our Hemisphere with Healing under his Wings Despair not though it be brought so low as the Disciples John 21.5 who had no Meat This Lord can turn Stones into Bread Let us all pray Lord increase our Faith 2. Despair not of others who are dead and have a long time lain in the Grave of Sin Only speak to and for them as Ezek. 37.9 Come from the four Winds O Breath and breathe upon these Slain that they may Live You that have Sick Dying yea Dead Relations Children Servants Neighbours Let your Bowels yearn over them Lift up a Prayer for them the Prayer of Faith may Heal the Sick and Save a Dead Soul No better Physick to be given at a Dead Lift in the most desperate Case than Prayer All you that have felt the Disease of Sin and the Powerful Mercy of Christ learn to pity others and hope for their Healing and Quickning He can turn noisom Dunghils into Mines of Gold Brands of Hell into Lightsom Stars in his Firmament 3. Despair not of your selves though you have no Spiritual Life but are all over like a Dead Carkass yet wait at the gate of this great Physician there may be a Time of Love come Ezek. 16.6,8 He works at all hours You may Reap if you Faint not Deus vester est Deus Vivificus Secondly be Instructed to prepare dayly for the generall Resurrection for the coming of the great day of God wherein he may give you new Bodies Immortal Agile Incoruptible Priviledged with Favours and Gilded with the Bright Splendours of the Body of Christ Jesus You are hasting towards that Eternal Estate every day Forsake Forsake the Love of these sleight Cottages those poor Ant-hills which Enthral so many Spirits devested of those Divine Seeds which bud under Generous and Heavenly Breasts 1. Use the means and look through them to Christ still saying I have a Dead Heart O Lord some quickning Grace Christ is not of more Power then Sympathy You hath he quickned who were Dead 2. Be thankful for Spiritual Life in Possession or Expectation In this God hath done more for you than if he had made you Princes of the Earth In this he hath done more for you than if he had made you Angels O be thankful God in Quickning you hath done more for you than if he had given you the World Let your Hearts and Mouths be filled with Praises It is a Mercy calls for your highest Praises in the Days of Eternity THe Second Branch of the Text which Illustrates the Omnipotent
and drink for to morrow we shall die 1 Cor. 15.32 Of those I mean who drown their Souls in their Bodies and would have no time to live longer than they have to sin and when there is an end of sinning wish there would be an end of living And well it would be for them if living like Beasts they might be annihilated like Beasts Thus men do err not knowing the power of God That God who out of nothing Created all things can certainly reduce many things into one When the Body is gone into a thousand substances he can easily make an abstraction and bring that Body together again as a Chymist out of several Metals mingled together can abstract one from the other the Silver from the Gold and the Alchimy from the Silver and reduce every Metal to its own kind Thus should we much more believe of God that he is able to extract and reinvest every Soul with its own Body though they are mingled and confounded with many other Substances The Persecutors of the Primitive Christians burnt their Bodies into Ashes and cast them into the River and all ad tollendam spem Resurrectionis but all in vain for even they also shall arise to a better Resurrection for at the Shrill Voice of the last Trumpet the greatest Jaylors shall surrrender up all their Prisoners all the scatter'd Dust of Adams Seed shall ride upon Windy Wings till it meet together in a collected Body All the Creatures in the world that have made their Meat of mans flesh shall finde that they have eaten Morsels too hard for the digestion of their weak Stomach Isa 26.19 The earth shall cast forth her Dead as a woman doth an untimely Birth the Grave shall be in travel with the Dead and shall be delivered of them Secondly Such as make this work too easie saying they can quicken themselves against all sense and common reason It is to maintain a proposition ridiculous to all humane understanding Can any thing make it self neither can any reasonable Creature raise it self to an higher rank of being than it is A Stone cannot make it self a Tree to have growth and life nor can a Tree make it self a Beast to have sense nor a Beast make it self a man to have Reason nor a Rational man make himself a Saint Or else ascribe it to the Ordinary course of Nature depriving the Lord of his Royal Prerogative Vse 2. Here is matter offered of strong consolation and encouragement to the holy seed of Abraham you believe in him who can quicken the dead For your sakes let me take leave a little to open this Cabinet that you may view the excellency of this powerful God in whom you believe and be sure the prospect will be very pleasing Death and so the Dead may be considered three ways 1. Politice There is a Death of Kingdomes and States as there is a rising and flourishing so there is a decaying and dying they spring flourish and dye the goodliest and stateliest Politick Bodies that ever the earth bore though animated with the searching Spirit of the most profound Policie strengthned with the resolution and valour of the most Unconquer'd sighted with Eagles eyes of largest depths and comprehensions of States and Crowns adorned with never so many prosperities and Triumphs yet like the natural Body of a man they have their revolutions and decays Most apparent in the ruines of the Roman Empire once a glorious Body and the once splendor of the Turkish Monarchie and the Venetian Aristocracy which sprang from the most contemptible beginning with the Spanish State which once appear'd like a Comet threatning destruction anâ— giving Laws to all the Nations round about her The Beams and Rasâ—ors of a State may be so linkâ— together so tenton'd and set into one another as might embolden a bare Politician to determine it an indissoluble Constitution But God undermines all with the Breath of his Mouth And Politicians have observed that the longest liv'd State on Earth suffers great alterations and Periods within the compass of four or five hundred years This decay is 1. In matters Ecclesiastical concerning Religion As the Church prays Psalm 80.18 Quicken us we call upon thee And the power of Christ Shines marvellously in the great Empire of his Church which the Father hath put into his hands to build raise and cement with his Blood illuminate with his Light and nourish with his Body To confirm which the Historian hath observ'd how the Doctrine of the Albigensâ—s was preserved notwithstanding all enemies and he hids all the Privy Counsellours of Nature who can tell where the Swallows lie all the Winter and how at the Spring they have a Resurrection from their seeming deadness Let them sâ—iâ—h he also inform uâ— in what invisible Sanctuary this Doctrine did lurk in spice of â—ll opposition and Persecution and how it reviv'd out of its Ashes at the coming of Luther And withal he observes that in those parts of France where the Albigenses were most cruelly handled now the Protestants the Heirs of most of their Tenents most Flourish 2. In matters Civil touching the Law and matter of Government as the Lord promised Isa 26.19 Thy Dead Body shall live c. Before they complained of very hard labour and that they brought forth nothing but Wind now thy Dead Body shall Live Which some refer to the Babylonâ—sh Captivity wherein they were as Dead Bones in the Grave without any Strength Wisdom or visible hope of being delivered yet though they seemed so very much decayed as if they were quite withered and Consumed with Calamity and Death he promised to raise them again and Cloâ—h them with Beauty and Glory Thus the Lord quickens the Dead If he burn his Phenix out of the very Ashes he will raise another 2. Physice And that is the Death of the Body of which we have spoken already The Eâ—rth shâ—ll cast forth her Dead This is easie to God to whom Miracles are as easie as natural operations A Miracle being nothing else but a new Creation 3. Ethice Which is the Death of the Soul Two fold First Temporary either by the absence of Grace or Divine Discretion when Man is indeed Dead or as a dead thing in his own apprehension the Lord quickneth You who were Dead he quickneth Man is Impotent and weak like a dead Member in the Body he is in himself without Strength And as the Organs can make no sound unless Breath be caused to enter into them so neither can a dead Soul make any Harmony till God breathe into it by his Blessed Spirit Secondly Eternal when the person is actually cut off from all hope and irrecoverably shut up in the eternal Abyss So the Lord doth not he will not quicken Luke 16.26 There is a great Gulf a Diamond Wall between Hell and Paradice so that they who pass from earth to Hell cannot return c. Tali privatione non Datur Progressus That Gulf being
as the Fire necessarily burneth and the Sun shineth Free to this or that Act as the reasonable Creature is Contingent beyond Expectation producing Effects accordingly but all known to the first Cause before they were as if they were So that there is no Room nor need for any Scientia Media Thirdly we are Informed how this Divine Omniscience is a ground of Faith viz. On a Three-fold account 1. As it is known to be infallible his Priviledge that cannot deceive nor be deceived 2. As it is known to be Immutable subject to no Alteration or Variation Jam. 1.17 he is described to be withâ—ut variableness or Shadow of Change As the Sun he Shines always with the same Rayes of Brightness Eclipses only excepted an Attribute that runs through all the rest his Mercy Council Love are all immutable his Heart is the same to day and for ever We may be Changed in our opinions and Estate but the Divine Nature never Changeth 3. As it is Incommunicable Every Creature is Finite and this is Infinite The Gods of the Gentiles were often herein challenged and found wanting The first Angels would have had it but sunk under the weight of that desire and Adams Candle aspiring to be a Sun hath burnt the dimmer ever since All these laid together will prove a strong Motive to believe In the Second Vse of this point is discovered the folly of men in two things viz. First In endeavouring to prevent Gods Omnisciency by sinning securely because secretly and digging deep to hide their Plots Hear the Language of the Prophet Isa 24.15,16 We to them that digg deep to hide their Counsels from the Lord. They think no eye seeth them not his who can do nothing but see How vain The Eyes of God are like two Flaming Torches more resplendent than the Sun it self none can steal from his Lightning Flashes Screetch-Owls may find Holes and Nights to keep them from the day which they cannot abide but he that flies from the Face of God where can he find darkness enough to hide himself O blind and insensible Fugative from the Sovereign Essence in the Region of Nothing whither wilt thou go not to find the reproaches of thy Crimes Be Confident he that can save from the deadliest extremities can also see in the darkest obscurities Secondly In endeavouring to usurp it and that 1. By manifest falshood not only of the Pope and his adherents defining and concluding things that are not as though they were but others also who daringly call their Sins Gods Temptations The Woman thou gavest me c. And many have laid the Bastards of Heresie to the door of the Sanctuary and called Diabolical Seductions Evangelical Revelations as if the Father of Lights could bring forth the Issues of Death This is to usurp the Royal Prerogative of Heaven and to invade the Lords Incommunicable Property 2. By Flattery and that either of our selves or others Of our selves calling Carnal Contents Pleasure Dissolute Passions true Mirth Covetousness Providence Vain-Glory Curiosity Presumption Hope Fading Creatures true Riches against our Knowledge Solomon calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that are not in comparison of true Riches Contentment and Duration for they make to themselves Wings and flie away as the Eagle towards Heaven Of others especially the Great and the Rich for sooner will an hot May want flies than such want Flatterers calling them to be what they are not Such was that Parasite who endeavoured to puff up King Canutus by telling him that all his Dominions nay the Seas themselves were at his Command And Onuphirus the Popes Biographer praised Hildebrand or Gregory the Seventh for notable Acts and great Vertues whom Cardinal Pembo truely described to have been a Murtherer an Adulterer a Conjurer every way as bad as might be Mark Anthony was a Prince extreamly dissolute yet was by his Flatterers called God Bacchus and he soon came to that shameful impudence as to have that title engraved on his Statute Such servile Souls there are who bind themselves like Fishers Angling Lines seeing their advantages to depend on impertinent Discourse and that the false Altars of Worldly Greatness will be served with such Smoke spare it no more than a man would water in a River No Age but has been pestered with such Cattle Nero's Courtiers would sooth him up for his singing though it were exceeding ill with a Quam pulcher Caesar Apollo Augustus Like the Flatterer in the Fable who accomodating himself to the time gave the Ape many specious praises saying He was a Vermilian Rose and that those that environ'd him his Young Ones were the Leaves that he was the Sun and those about him were the Raies that he was as Valiant as a Lyon all his off-spring were a Race of Young Lyons With a multitude among our selves who call the niggard Bountiful the Voluptuous Chaste the Proud Humble the Civil Man Religious above their Knowledge they are not so we see it neither can we make them so and therefore should not call them so Vse 3. In the third place this Doctrine yeilds singular comfort to all the Faithful Your Saviour 1. Knows all your enemies to prevent them He that sits in Heaven Laughs them to scorn the Lord will have them in Derision be they never so cunning and politick the Divine Providence shut up in a Cloud Roareth over their heads and in a moment will overthrow the Mountains of Wind which the Tyrants of the World raise one upon the other and make their silly wisdom appear like an Owl unfeathered and asham'd at the Raies of Noon-day though their alâ—itudes may be so many Ravishments to dark the Earth As it was once said of Anthony concerning Augustus so it may be of Christ and the Enemies of his people His Geinus goes beyond theirs 2. He knows all our wants to supply them inward outward of Soul Body for Present for Future Cheer up your drooping Spirits in the Consideration of your Saviour In him dwelleth all fulness as he is Mediatour established and destinated for your Salvation so that all Perfection Riches Grace and Excellencies meet there together Divinity and Humanity fill'd with all the Qualities and Properties that pertain to them there concur which Christ hath not for himself but for his People as the Sea hath Water to Convey unto the Earth and the great Luminary hath Brightness to Enlighten the Heavens and the Earth that from it as from a Common source might Stream forth into all things all the Flame and Warmth they want 3. Christ knows all your Sins to Pardon and Subdue them He calleth you now what you are not Cant. 4.7 Thou art all fair my Love and there is no Spot in thee You shall be because he will make you so Your Light shall be without any Shadow your Beauty without the least Spot to disgrace it Those Roses that are now in their Blossom shall be fully blown and those Stars which are now
not Dispair looks on things through black Spectacles and gives all for lost Hope doth the contrary Q How is it possible to hope against Hope Answ 1. Because of the Power of Christ upon which the Soul doth in great Straits rowl it self Whatever Lets and Impediments do arise between the Promise and the fulfilling of it though they be as high as Mountains and as the Gates of Hell yet the Believer can by Faith look upon them all but as Difficulties which cannot check the Power of Christ but only Magnifie it For as jealous Thoughts of the Divine Arm or fear that it may be encountred with some insuperable opposition makes the Hope of Promised Good to be weak and uncertain so the faithful and serious consideration of Gods Power a resting upon it produceth Hope against Hope it turns every Valley of Achor into a door of Hope administers Manna in the Wilderness and draws water out of the Rock brings light out of darkness comfort out of every Tryal Thus Miconius wrote to Calvin upon view of the Churches Enemies reflecting upon the Power of Christ Gaudeo quod Christus Dominus est alioquin totus Desperassem I am Glad that Christ Reigns otherwise I should utterly despair So the Believer in the midst of Straits rejoyceth in the Power of Christ who lives and Reigns for ever and ever 2. The Spirit of Christ inwardly works and nourisheth some Sparks of Hope always in the Hearts of his people Thus it was with Job David Paul and a vast number of other faithful Souls who sparkling with the lightning Rays of Hope have lift up their Palms in the midst of Hazzards and Gain'd Heaven by Violence still laying the degrees of their Honour in the depth of suffering This like an Anchor holds the Ship of the Soul in her greatest Storms and like an Helmet keeps off the Blows of the Sword or Arrows from entring 1 Thessal 5.8 Let us who are of the day be sober putting on the Breast-Plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the Hope of Salvation In time of publick Calamities the Righteous have Hope Joel 3.16 The Lord will roar out of Zion the Heaven and Earth shall shake but the Lord will be the Hope of his People So that if all outward hope be taken away their hope in God is not taken away Upon this account it was that the Jews being Prisoners in Babylon are called Prisoners of Hope Zech. 9.10 If Heaven and Earth be ready to come together yet through the strength of the Divine Spirit working in their Hearts Believers have Hope which as a Bow in the Heavens all furnished with Emeralds never loseth it force 3. Their former Experiences are a Foundation of Hope against Hope Rom. 5.4 And Experience Hope Hos 2.5 I will give the Valley of Achor for a door of Hope This Valley of Achor so called from Achans Sacriledge to deter men from Sin some think to be the same with Engeddi mentioned so often in the Canticles however both are neer to Jericho and in it they tasted the first Fruits of Canaan as an earnest of the rest in it they saw abundance of Plenty and were Delighted and Refreshed therewith all that the Lord did then for his People and now saith he will give it to the Church for a door of Hope A Believer brings in a Catalogue of Experiences Psal 119.65 Thou hast dealt well with thy Servant In how many Cases hath he had Experience of God when Sin and Temptation have been strong he hath come in with Auxiliary Forces and his Grace hath proved sufficient When the poor Soul hath been even sinking under Fear God hath recovered him out of the Quick-Sands and lifted his head above the deep Water Psal 33. O Lord thou art my Glory and the lifter up of my Head When David was in the Mouth of Danger the Lord delivered him I was pluckt out of the Mouth of the Lyon so Saint Paul The Believer hath many Experiences and these beget Hope Thou hast and wilt Deliver saith Experimental David 4. By looking on things not as they are at present or in their own power but as they shall be by the Lords promise Surely saith the poor Believer He is faithful that hath promised As he is able to fulfil the least Iota of whatever he hath spoken so he is infallible in what he promiseth As no impediment can arise to hinder his Power so no contingency can fall out to alter his Will all his Promises being in Christ Jesus yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 These and such like Meditations serve to uphold and keep Believers from being injurious to God or themselves and to believe in Hope against Hope Vse 2. This Doctrine administers incomparable Comfort whosoever is Christs is enabled to believe in Hope against Hope When Comfort can neither be seen felt nor apprehended when Fears and Distresses are on every side and all hope of safety is taken away when nature affords no ground of Hope or encouragement to expect the fulfilling of a Promise but suggesting many posing arguments to impede and gainsay the Truths of it and to make Faith as feeble as their Bodies when old and Crazy then to hope against Hope 1. That the Church shall be raised and preserved from so many Enemies is against Hope 2 Chron. 20.12 O our God wilt thou not judg us for we have no Might against this great Company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee 2. That a Wound shall be Healed It is against Hope Prov. 18.14 A Wounded Spirit who can bear 3. That many and strong Lusts shall be vanquished and subdued Rom. 7.24 O Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Sin and Death 4. That an impure Soul shall be prepared for and received into Heaven it is against hope yet see Isa 1.18 Come let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Red as Crimson I will make them white as Snow To day shalt thou be with me in Paradice Oh strive for this Heavenly Hope Q. How may it be Attained A. As other Graces are wrought so is this It is the work of God wherefore he is called The God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5.10 He is the first Planter the Promoter and Finisher of Grace God is called the Father of Lights and he must light up this Candle in your Souls More particularly it is obtained 1. By Experience Rom. 5.4 as David argued 1 Sam. 17.37 And Holy Paul 2 Cor. 1.20 Experience breeds Confidence Thou hast thou shalt is the ordinary argument used by the Psalmist And so the Church comforted her self and Nourisheth her Hope Lament 3.21,24 This I Recalled to mind therefore I hope in thee And The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I Hope in him The observation of Gods Merciful Acts of Providence to his Church in general as to any of his People in
particular is the way to kindle Hope 2. By Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures Rom. 15.4 As the Blood and Spirits are conveyed by the Veins and Arteries so is the Spirit of God by the Word and Promise helping the Soul to lay hold on Christ by Faith which is a Grace as of Union so of Establishment Q. How may it be known where it is Answ 1. By the Object thereof God in Christ things Above not Means not Creatures principally or Terminatively A man of such hope dares not pluck off the Crown from the head of Free Grace or snatch it out of the hand of Divine Power to set it on the head of any Creature But he makes God his hope Thus is Abrahams Faith described 2. By the manner of working First it begets a Care and Love to Purity 1 John 3.3 He that hath this Hope Purifieth himself even as he is Pure As Lightning is to the Air such is Hope to the Soul It purifieth the Soul after an high Strain even as God is pure Secundum speciem though not ad gradum i. e. In kind and Quality though not in Act yet in desire and affection Hope purgeth the Conscience from dead works to serve the Living and True God By it the Soul draws nigh to God and comes to have a sight and view of him and is thereby assimulated to him Proportionable to our Faith so is our Holiness and according to our expectations will be our Conversations Secondly It quickens to Duty is a Whetstone to Industry It is Hope that carries the Ship to Sea and ploughs the Curled Ocean It is Hope that weilds the Souldiers Weapon and steels his Helmet It is Hope that feeds the Sower even when he seems to cast away his Seed very Tears are dropt in hope and so Mournful Souls are led along the milky way to the Eternal Father Hope teacheth men to cast Bread upon the waters where it may be fed and afterward restored Thus Divine Hope is active in its influence is as Wind to the Sails Wheels to the Chariot and wings to the Bird It makes active in Religion To Run the way of Gods Commandments and never ceaseth till its object be obtained The Furnace shall not terrifie a mans hope in Christ As fire it is sparkling and Flaming Though the Winds blow the Rain fall and Rage yet Hope seated in the Heart of a Believer as on a Rock grows up against Hope and so perseveres in expectation till Charity that circling endless thing hath perfected its wings to make its Flight to the Eternal City of Repose passing the Vail into the Tabernacle of the Sanctuary where JESVS the Forerunner hath made his Entry for the Salvation of his Faithful Ones Glory be to God in the Highest The Justice of GOD ASSERTED IN Seeming Contrariant Providences And Vindicated from the Cavils of Corrupt Men under them Psal 145.17 The Lord is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works Rev. 153. Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints London Printed for Benj. Alsop at the Angel and Bible in the Poultrey and are to be sold by James Cowsey Bookseller in Exeter 1682. THE JUSTICE of GOD ASSERTED In Seeming Contrariant PROVIDENCES Job 34.17 Wilt thou Condemn him that is most just JOB's Great Afflictions make a great noise in the world they Sounded so far as his Friends at a great Distance from him hear of them whether by the Ministry of good or bad Angels or of neither it Skills not Ill News is swift of Foot saith the Greek Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and like ill weather which comes ere it be sent for The Sins and Mâ—scries of Good People are much talked of and soon bruited abroad This brings Jobs Friends out of a Desire and Design to Condole with and Comfort him the Character of true Friendship which is suited to a day of Adversity though it fell out otherwise for they tormented him well nigh as much as Satan himself though it were of Ignorance and Unwittingly rather than of ill will or fore-thought Malice Eliphaz the Temanite Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite all likely Idumeans and men much esteemed for wisdom and Godliness as is manifest in their several Disputations and Discourses in which they admonish him to Repent assuring him that he could be no less than a gross Sinner and Hypocrite because so grievously Afflicted a great Mistake in them and usuâ—lly the Reproach of the world upon the Generâ—…ion of the Just To Answer this â—ob now Addresseth himself though Tormented in Body Perplâ—xed in Mind stoutly defending his own Innoâ—eâ— y and seeming to Tax the Lord as Dogs in a Chain Bark at their own Masters To this his Friends make a sharp Reply from the 15th Chap. to the 22. and he answereth them again with greater Courage and Boldness than before Whereupon they begin a second Reply and the Discourse Continues till the Parties grew weary of Job who shewed himself a Valiant and Resolute Champion only as every Pomegranate hath some rotten Kernels in it so Job had his Frailties and out-bursts Caused by Extremity of Pain and Excess of Passion and who amongst the best Spirits in Strange and Heavy Accidents do not pay some Tribute to the Natural Passions of Men These Ending Elihu a stander by a good Man steps in as being all in a Flame undertakes to carry on the work against and Reciteth Jobs Speeches Chap. 32. but not so candidly and refelleth them but not so mildly as was meet True it was Job in his Heat had let fall many Lavish Speeches but yet it was far from him to say either that himself was without Sin or that God was unjust as Elihu would bear him down very unfitly taking some sayings of his that way Sounding Whence may be Noted by the way That Words prove not alway what they Intend but as they are Interpreted The words of the best men are not free from straining they would yield Milk when they are forced to yield Blood Inferences may be made upon what we say or do such as we never thought of Arbitror nonnullus in quibusdam Locis Librorum meorum Opinaturos me Sensisse quod non Sensi aut non Sensisse quod Sensi saith Austin Lib. 1. de Trinitat ad Finem and it fell out accordingly for as Baronius Witnesseth after Austins Death arose up divers qui ex ejus Scriptis male Perceptis Complures Invexerunt Errores who out of his Writings wrested and misconstructed brought in many Errors which they endeavoured to maintain by the name and Authority of Saint Augustin And the like may be said of Luther Which may teach us to set a Watch over the Door of our Lips to Weigh our Words in Ballance to Utter few and Seasonable Words Elihu we see heated a Fire is kindled on the Hearth of his Heart by the Spirit of Judgment and burning and such as many Waters cannot Quench Wherein though