A35538:1004
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second, being the five last, chapters of the book of Job being the substance of fifty-two lectures or meditations / by Joseph Caryl ...
London: printed by M. and S. Simmons, 1666
Title page typeset from the transcription.
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations UPON The Thirty-eighth, T… › Chapter 38 › Verse 28-30
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Thirdly, Though Cold and Frost be pinching and troublesome while they last, yet they have a very good effect upon the Earth while they last. First, they mellow the Earth. After a lasting Frost the clods of Earth crumble easily, whereas if it lie all the Winter without a Frost, they are more stiff, and not so fit for husbandry: Thus afflictions mellow the heart of man, and make it more fit for Gods husbandry. As Frost dries up the ill humours of the Earth, so doth affliction those of the soul; and thereby prepares it to receive the seed of the Word. When God afflicts his people, it is for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness; that is, that they may profitably improve all those means which he hath appointed to make them more holy. And hence,
Thirdly, Though Cold and Frost be pinching and troublesome while they last, yet they have a very good effect upon the Earth while they last. First, they mellow the Earth. After a lasting Frost the clods of Earth crumble easily, whereas if it lie all the Winter without a Frost, they are more stiffe, and not so fit for husbandry: Thus afflictions mellow the heart of man, and make it more fit for Gods husbandry. As Frost dries up the ill humours of the Earth, so doth affliction those of the soul; and thereby prepares it to receive the seed of the Word. When God afflicts his people, it is for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness; that is, that they may profitab•y improve all those means which he hath appointed to make them more holy. And hence,
Fourthly, As Frost and Cold kill the weeds and worms which eat the roots and hinder the growth of Herbs, Corn, and Plants; so afflictions kill our lusts, those worms and weeds that breed and grow in our hearts, always hindering the fruitfulness, sometime to the utter unfruitfulness, of the seed of the word sown among us and upon us (Matth. 13.22.) The frost of affliction is a means to prevent the worm which breeds naturally out of the corruption of our hearts, even that terrible worm spoken of (