Elihu doth not say, There they repent, and there they humble themselves, and there they turn to God, but there they cry; that they are troubled is the all, the only thing that troubles them. 'Tis said before, God teacheth man more than the beasts of the Earth; but many in a day of affliction, do no more than the Beasts of the Earth. A Beast, when hurt, will cry, he will rage and roar; and that's as much as many men do when they are hurt, though God hath taught them more, many lessons more, which they should be practising under sorrowful dispensations. The Ox loweth, and is taught no more, when he wants fodder, the Ass brayeth, and is taught no more, when he wants grass; but man is taught to act repentance, and faith, and patience, and submission to the will of God in want. How sad is it when we hear nothing but flesh cry in man, or when nothing is cried for by man but flesh, that is, the supplies of Nature, in the day of his distress. As 'tis said of those (Hosea 7.14.) They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn, and for wine, and they rebel against me. How miserable are they in their miseries, whose tongues cry to God, but not their hearts, or their hearts being silent; who cry for corn and wine, not for grace and repentance, or not for grace to repent; who cry much because they suffer evil, but not at all because they have done evil, yea who are doing evil at the very time when they are crying out because of the evils which they suffer: Such was the wretched frame of those in the Prophet; They assembled themselves for corn and for wine, and rebelled against God. 'Tis bad enough, when there is crying, and nothing but crying, this is to cry but as beasts cry; but to cry and rebel against God, is to be worse than beasts, for beasts do not rebel against God when they are pinched with want, and cry. It is sad to be in afflictions; to be put to cry in afflictions is more sad; only to cry for the affliction is yet more sad, when nothing ⟨p. 88⟩comes from a man but a cry, there is nothing in the crier, but what is merely of man; but to be found sinning against God, while we a e crying out in our affliction is most sad, that's the saddest and worst condition of man in affliction. The Lord teacheth his people better, let us show our selves better taught, than only to cry in our afflictions;
Elihu doth not say, There they repent, and there they humble themselves, and there they turn to God, but there they cry; that they are troubled is the all, the only thing that troubles them. 'Tis said before, God teacheth man more than the beasts of the Earth; but many in a day of affliction, do no more than the Beasts of the Earth. A Beast, when hurt, will cry, he will rage and roare; and that's as much as many men do when they are hurt, though God hath taught them more, many lessons more, which they should be practising under sorrowful dispensations. The Ox loweth, and is taught no more, when he wants fodder, the Ass brayeth, and is taught no more, when he wants grasse; but man is taught to act repentance, and faith, and patience, and submission to the will of God in want. How sad is it when we hear nothing but flesh cry in man, or when nothing is cryed for by man but flesh, that is, the supplyes of Nature, in the day of his distress. As 'tis said of those (Hosea 7.14.) They have not cryed unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn, and for wine, and they rebel against me. How miserable are they in their miseries, whose tongues cry to God, but not their hearts, or their hearts being silent; who cry for corne and wine, not for grace and repentance, or not for grace to repent; who cry much because they suffer evil, but not at all because they have done evil, yea who are doing evil at the very time when they are crying out because of the evils which they suffer: Such was the wretched frame of those in the Prophet; They assembled themselves for corne and for wine, and rebelled against God. 'Tis bad enough, when there is crying, and nothing but crying, this is to cry but as beasts cry; but to cry and rebel against God, is to be worse than beasts, for beasts do not rebel against God when they are pinched with want, and cry. It is sad to be in afflictions; to be put to cry in afflictions is more sad; only to cry for the affliction is yet more sad, when nothing ⟨p. 88⟩comes from a man but a cry, there is nothing in the cryer, but what is meerly of man; but to be found sinning against God, while we a e crying out in our affliction is most sad, that's the saddest and worst condition of man in affliction. The Lord teacheth his people better, let us shew our selves better taught, than only to cry in our afflictions;
