An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

Secondly, When the Text saith, he desp•seth not, there is more in it than is expressed. We may take it affirmatively, God gives all sorts of men due regard and favour, he takes care of them, and bestows suitable mercies upon them, even upon the meanest and poorest of them: if they be his, if they be faithful and godly, how doth the Lord own them! how doth the Lord honour them! how doth the Lord embrace and lay them in his bosom, though they lye upon the Dunghill, as Job did! As when we are warned not to despise the chastenings of the Lord (Heb. 12.5.) we are taught to take them in good part; and as when the Apostle admonisheth us (1 Thess. 5.20.) not to despise Prophecy, his meaning is not only this, that he would not have us slight it, and throw it at ou• heels, but he would have us give it due esteem, and honour it as one of our choicest mercies, he would have us set a g•e•t price upon it, and bless God heartily for it. So here, when Elihu saith The Lord despiseth not any, his purp••e is to show, that he respects and favours men according to their condition, but most his own faithful and obedient Servants. This Interpretation may give us another Instruction: God hath a due regard and respect to all sorts and conditions of men.

S•condly, When the Text saith, he desp•seth not, there is more in it than is exprest. We may take it affirmatively, God gives all sorts of men due regard and favour, he takes care of them, and bestows suitable mercies upon them, even upon the meanest and poorest of them: if they be his, if they be faithful and godly, how doth the Lord own them! how doth the Lord honour them! how doth the Lord embrace and lay them in his bosome, though they lye upon the Dunghil, as Job did! As when we are warned not to despise the chastnings of the Lord (Heb. 12.5.) we are taught to take them in good part; and as when the Apostle admonisheth us (