Such an immovable discovery the Lord set upon the heart of Job when he let in the light of himself, that he sits down in silence, and hath not one word to say, no way to wave it or to slip aside from under the evidence of it, Job. 40. 4, 5. Once have I spoken, but I will say no more; yea twice, but I will go no further. While his friends were talking with him, their Arguments were so feeble that he could find a way out, and could free himself from the stroke, and deliver himself from the dint of the blow: but now the conviction besieged him with such evidence that no carnal reason could relieve him, stops all passages that there is not a muse or crevice for him to creep out, therefore he sits down in silence, sees he cannot ease himself, nor wind away by any pretences and wiles he can devise: It is so with a corrupt heart beleaguered with the light, so that if his carnal friends, or ignorant neighbours, his loose companions would strive to take off his thoughts, alter his apprehensions, and abate the edge of the blow, and […] to put in bail for him; his state is not so miserable and helpless, nor his sins so vile, quiet your heart, there is mercy with God, and satisfaction in the merits of Christ. He replies, I have often cozened my self with such devices, miserable comforters are ye all. I have thought as you do, and said that which you speak in former times; but alas, these shifts will not serve the turn. Christ came not to comfort sinners, but to convert them also; to humble sinners as well as redeem them; he came to save ⟨p. 84⟩sinners but to destroy their sins first; I never found […] […]. I must not expect the other, nor you neither, This is to […] the thoughts, to bring them under […] […], under the Authority of the Truth that they may not once hush or […], 2 Cor. 10. 5. And this is that spirit of […] the Apostle speaks of, Rom. 8. 15. It makes us […] of our slavery, and binds a man hand and foot as it were, fenceth his way with fears, besets his passage on every side with expectation of evil, which he cannot tell how to bear, or how to avoid; he sees he can procure no […] nor […] to himself, and fears he shall never obtain none from the Lord, dares not commit sin as formerly, yet cannot tell how to be freed from it. So that as Reuben sometimes in another case, so the sinner in this, and I, whither shall I go? Gen. 37. 30.
Such an immovable discovery the Lord set upon the heart of Job when he let in the light of himself, that he sits down in silence, and hath not one word to say, no way to wave it or to slip aside from under the evidence of it, Job. 40. 4, 5. Once have I spoken, but I will say no more; yea twice, but I will go no further. While his friends were talking with him, their Arguments were so feeble that he could find a way out, and could free himself from the stroak, and deliver himself from the dint of the blow: but now the conviction besieged him with such evidence that no carnal reason could relieve him, stops all passages that there is not a muse or crevis for him to creep out, therefore he sits down in silence, sees he cannot ease himself, nor wind away by any pretences and wiles he can devise: It is so with a corrupt heart beleaguer'd with the light, so that if his carnal friends, or ignorant neighbors, his loose companions would strive to take off his thoughts, alter his apprehensions, and abate the edg of the blow, and 〈…〉 to put in bail for him; his state is not so miserable and helpless, nor his sins so vile, quiet your heart, there is mercy with God, and satisfaction in the merits of Christ. He replies, I have often cozened my self with such devices, miserable comforters are ye all. I have thought as you do, and said that which you speak in former times; but alas, these shifts will not serve the turn. Christ came not to comfort sinners, but to convert them also; to humble sinners as well as redeem them; he came to save ⟨p. 84⟩sinners but to destroy their sins first; I never found 〈…〉 〈…〉. I must not expect the other, nor you neither, This is to 〈…〉 the thoughts, to bring them under 〈…〉 〈…〉, under the Authority of the Truth that they may not once hush or 〈…〉, 2 Cor. 10. 5. And this is that spirit of 〈…〉 the Apostle speaks of, Rom. 8. 15. It makes us 〈…〉 of our slavery, and binds a man hand and foot as it were, fenceth his way with fears, besets his passage on every side with expectation of evil, which he cannot tell how to bear, or how to avoid; he sees he can procure no 〈…〉 nor to himself, and fears he shall never obtain none from the Lord, dares not commit sin as formerly, yet cannot tell how to be freed from it. So that as Reuben somtimes in another case, so the sinner in this, and I, whither shall I go?
