A35538:1131
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 34-38
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.
Fourthly, We may infer, if the Lord hath put wisdom into man, then man ought to be thankful to the Lord for the wisdom he hath. As man should not be proud of his wisdom, because how much soever he hath, he hath received it; so man ought to be very thankful for wisdom, because how much or how little soever it is he hath received it. If all receipts from God call for thanks, how much more this receipt of wisdom? which, next to grace, is the most precious thing we receive from him, and is it self sometimes put for grace.
Fourthly, We may infer, if the Lord hath put wisdom into man, then man ought to be thankful to the Lord for the wisdom he hath. As man should not be p•oud of his wisdom, because how much soever he hath, he hath received it; so man ought to be very thankful for wisdom, because how much or how little soever it is he hath received it. If all receipts from God call for thanks, how much more this receipt of wisdom? which, next to grace, is the most precious thing we receive from him, and is it self sometimes put for grace.
Fifthly, If wisdom be of Gods putting into man? then let men be careful to use their wisdom for God. That stock which another man hath put into our hands, he expects we should use it for him; especially, that we should not use it against him, or to his disadvantage. How wicked are they, who are so far from using their wisdom for God, that they use it against God, that is, against his interest, truth, and servants. Pharaoh said (Exod. 1.10.) Come on, let us deal wisely with them. And what was it for, but to vex and enslave Gods first born, the people of Israel. He that employs his wisdom to any evil purpose, employeth it against God, and so arms himself with what he hath received from God to resist God: Woe to those who do so. Wisdom is of Gods giving; use it then for him, and dedicate it to him; above all, take heed of using it against him. It had been better for that man that he had been a brute, than that he should be so brutish, as to employ his understanding and reason against God.