A35538:818
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 22-23
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.
Observe, First; Obstinate and impenitent sinners make war (in a manner) with God himself.
Though they send not a Herald formally to defy him, yet a resolved progress in sin (let God say what he will, and do what he will) is a real defiance of him, or a bidding him do his worst.1 It was said of the old Giants (men of great stature) They were fighters against the Gods. We may say, men of all statures, even dwarfs and pygmies for bodily stature, raise war against the great God by presumptuous sinning. Did not men make a war upon God by doing evil, God would never make war upon them, by sending evil. Men are vain when they fall into sin, but they are worse than vanity, when they stand out in sinning. Who (saith the Lord, Isa. 27.4.) would set briars and thorns against me in battle (none but a mad-man will) I would go through, or (as the Margin hath it) march against them, I would burn them together. Can briars and thorns abide contending with God, who is a consuming fire? If God send forth an army of his meanest and most contemptible soldiers, flies from the air, lice from the earth, even a mighty Pharaoh must call for a treaty, and beg a parley. If he command snow and hail, much more lightning and thunder out of the clouds to fight against his enemies, how soon are they overwhelmed and confounded! 'Tis best therefore never to begin this war, and the next best is, speedily to sue for peace.
Though they send not a Herald formally to defie him, yet a resolved progress in sin (let God say what he will, and do what he will) is a real defiance of him, or a bidding him do his worst.1 It was said of the old Giants (men of great stature) They were fighters against the Gods. We may say, men of all statures, even dwarfs and pigmies for bodily stature, raise war against the great God by presumptuous sinning. Did not men make a war upon God by doing evil, God would never make war upon them, by sending evil. Men are vain when they fall into sin, but they are worse than vanity, when they stand out in sinning. Who (saith the Lord,