An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of…An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the eighth, ninth and tenth chapters of…

3. Man judgeth the cause by the effect, the tree by the fruit, the man by his actions, that's the way of mans judgement, and so man ought to judge. We ought to think well of them, who do well; and when the hand is clean, charity bids us say the heart is clean too. But the Lord seeth not as man seeth; he in judging men transcends the rule he gives men to judge by. He judgeth the fruit by the tree, the effect by the cause, and the action by the man; he had respect to Abel, and then to his offering. If the worker please him not, neither doth his work; as he makes, so he sees the tree good, and then then the fruit good. Till the man mends, his manners never mend in Gods esteem. When a good tree brings forth evil fruit, or an evil tree good fruit, 'tis accidental to them both, not natural. God judgeth us by what we always are, not by what we sometimes act, either in good or evil.

3. Man judgeth the cause by the effect, the tree by the fruit, the man by his actions, that's the way of mans judgement, and so man ought to judge. We ought to think well of them, who do well; and when the hand is clean, charity bids us say the heart is clean too. But the Lord seeth not as man seeth; he in judging men transcends the rule he gives men to judge by. He judgeth the fruit by the tree, the effect by the cause, and the action by the man; he had respect to Abel, and then to his offering. If the worker please him not, neither doth his work; as he makes, so he sees the tree good, and then then the fruit good. Till the man mends, his manners never mend in Gods esteem. When a good tree brings forth evil fruit, or an evil tree good fruit, 'tis accidentall to them both, not naturall. God judgeth us by what we alwaies are, not by what we sometimes act, either in good or evil.

In this also Job comforts himself, that whatsoever fruit he might seem to bring forth, yet the Lord judged him not (as his friends did) by some unsavoury speeches that came from him, but by the savouriness of that spirit which was in him. He knew God judged him by the settled temper of his inward man, and the soundness of his mind, not by the casual distemper of his outward man, or the sound of his tongue. Job was a good tree, and the root of the matter was in him. And Job was assured God would not condemn him for his fruit, if some of it were bitter and unpleasant, while he saw his root was good.