A35538:1490
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 39 › Verse 9-12
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, 'Tis said here of the Unicorn, as of the wild Ass before; Canst thou make him willing? when thou hast used fair means, foul means, one way or other, will he serve thee? he will not.
Hence note; It is hard to change nature.
1Beasts hold fast their natural qualities. The Horse, the Bullock, who are tame by nature, will come to hand; but the wild Ass and the Unicorn, whose nature is quite opposite to service, will never be broken nor brought to it: Thrust out nature with a fork it will return again. Till nature is quite altered and changed, acts will not change. 'Tis thus with man, considered in nature, who as he is compared to a wild Asses Colt (Chap. 11.12.) so he may be compared to an Unicorn. Will man be willing to serve God? no, not by any moral persuasions; no, nor heartily, he may hypocritically, by any outward benefits, nor by any hard usages. Though (as Solomon saith, Prov. 27.22.) thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat, with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. A carnal man will never submit quietly to duty, till God hath changed his nature, and made him a new man, or, till his mind is renewed after the image of God. Conversion is first a change of our nature, and then of our way. This makes conversion so difficult a work. Good education and humane instructions, may change a mans way, but nothing less than the power of God can change his nature. Man is naturally as unwilling to serve God, as the wild beasts are to serve man: He is as stout and as stiff as the Unicorn, as cruel and fierce as the Lion, as crafty as a Fox, as crooked and cross as any creature; unless his heart be changed, he will never to purpose change his course. Man cannot change the course of the Unicorn, because he cannot change his nature; and could not God change mans nature, he could never really change his course.