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Thou renewest the convictions of my sins, which are thy heavy afflictions upon me.

X. Ibid. Changes and war are against me.

Varieties of troubles, by thine appointment, fight against me.

XI. 6 And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is !

If he would manifest unto thee the hidden secrets of his wisdom, thou shouldst find, that in strict rigour he might justly inflict double upon thee, to that thou now sufferest.

XI. 10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, who shall hinder him?

If he have purposed to alter the course of all things, to destroy, or to draw into a narrow compass those things which are now at a large and diffused liberty, who can hinder his will or proceedings?

XI. 12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's coll.

For vain man will be taking upon him to be wise, although indeed he is in himself no better than brutish.

XI. 18 Yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.

If thou do but dig a place where to pitch thy tent, thou shalt dwell there as safely as in a walled city.

XII. 4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him.

I am as one mocked and scorned of you my neighbours; and yet, how meanly so ever ye please to think of me, I am, in my faithful invocations upon God, heard, and graciously answered by him.

XII. 5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

He, that is near to his ruin, as I now am, is, unto those that prosper and are at ease, like unto a lamp, that is near burning out to the very snuff; and therefore despised by them for the present, however it have formerly shined.

XII. 12, 13. With the ancient is wisdom. With him is wisdom. You have told me of your age and wise experience, wherein I detract nothing from you; but what is your wisdom to God's? He is only, and allwise, &c.

XIII. 8 Will ye accept of his person?

Do ye think he hath need of an unjust gratification from you; so as that he would have you give him an undue favour in his cause, out of by-respects?

XIII. 12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes.

Whatsoever thing of yours seems memorable, or what monument soever ye shall set up to yourselves, it shall vanish away, and be scattered like ashes.

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XIII. 14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

Wherefore do I give way to these desperate extremities, as if I would tear my flesh in pieces with my own teeth? and why do I cast away all the care of my life, as now past all possibility of recovery?

XIII. 15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

Though God should have determined thus to make an end of me, yet I will not cease to cast myself upon his hands, and confidently to rely upon his mercy; neither will I ever be driven from the defence of my honest sincerity, before him.

XIII. 19 For now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

I am so full of this grief, that I cannot hold it in; and if I should not thus give it vent, it would presently kill me.

XIII. 20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.

And if it shall please God to vouchsafe to argue this case with me, I shall desire but these two conditions of him; and then I will not withdraw myself for fear, from appearing before him.

XIII. 21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.

One is, that he would take off from me this heavy hand of his present affliction, which overwhelms me with the violence of it; the other, that he would give me courage to bear out this my humble contestation, so as I may not be confounded with the terrors of his Glorious Majesty.

XIII. 23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make thou me to know my transgressions and my sin.

O God, I cannot accuse myself of wilful wickednesses against thee; but if there be any secret iniquity that I am not privy unto, do thou make it known to me, and convince me of it.

XIII. 25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro?

Alas, Lord, am I a fit subject for thee to contend with? Oh consider my weakness, and my unworthiness; and enter not into judgment with my vileness.

XIII. 26 Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. Thou callest me to a back-reckoning for the very sins of my youth; and dost now cause me to feel the smart of them.

XIII. 27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly upon all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

Thou shuttest me in, sure and close, with these strong afflictions, so as I cannot stir out of thy hand thou dost strictly observe all my carriage; and, as if thou hadst set some soft mortar or clay under my feet, to take the impression of my steps, so hast thou curiously noted all my ways.

XIII. 28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth.

Alas, Lord, if I look to the condition of man in general, what a

poor vain thing he is! for, behold, he consumeth away, as a thing that is already rotten.

XIV. 11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up.

As waters, that, after some exundation of the sea or some great river, are left, upon the reflux thereof, behind the rest, upon the plain, which cannot return or continue, but dry up and evaporate; such is man.

XIV. 14 All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

All the days of my appointed time upon earth, will I patiently wait for that day, wherein my God shall change this my mortal condition for immortality; that so I may be ready for the happy day of my dissolution.

XIV. 17 My transgressions are sealed up in a bag.

Thou dost not let go any of my transgressions, but hast made sure work with them, and hast packed and sealed them up, that they may be forthcoming for my present punishment.

XIV. 18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

Certainly, if the hugest and strongest mountains do moulder away, and come to nothing; if the very hardest rocks be, through the powerful hand of God, removed out of their places:

XIV. 19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

If the very stones be worn with water falling upon them; and deluges bear down any thing that is fastened in the earth, &c. how much less shall weak and frail man make account to continue upon the face of the earth!

XIV. 21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought lower, but he perceiveth it not.

When he is now in the agony of death, striving with those his last pangs, he little regards what honour his son is newly come unto, or what shame he hath incurred.

XIV. 22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

But his flesh upon him is in extremity of pain, which takes all up his thoughts and senses; and his soul within him mourns for the present violence of his torment, and for the expectation or fear of the future.

XV. 2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

Is it for a wise man, under a pretence of knowledge, to speak vain words, and to have his heart filled with unprofitable and harmful imaginations?

XV. 4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

I do now see that thou hast cast off the fear of God; and art not careful and devout to call upon God, in thy tribulation; yea, in all kind of inferred denial of the Providence of God, thou seemest to discourage others from calling upon him.

XV. 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints. See chapter iv.

verse 18.

XV. 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of his years is hidden to the oppressor.

The great tyrants of the world, however they may seem to flourish, yet have many secret girds and gripes of conscience, and are continually tormented within themselves; and yet, besides, they little know how long they shall be allowed to live upon earth; God keeps the stint of their life secret from them.

XV. 26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his buckler.

He maketh violent and presumptuous opposition to God, as if he could grapple with and overcome the Almighty; and fearlessly runs upon the most eminent judgments of God.

XV. 27 Because he covereth his face with fatness.

Because he lives at ease, and prospers in all his designs, so as, through too much pampering, his cheeks are covered with fatness. XV. 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, &c.

And he is able, through his power, to raise sumptuous buildings in those places, which others have forsaken as barren and unin

habitable.

XV. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. Yet, for all this, though he can for a glory do these great matters, this wealth of his shall not continue long; neither shall this his flourishing estate hold any long while upon the earth.

XV. 30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. He shall irrecoverably lie under those sad and remediless calamities, which are cast upon him; and if any hopes of comfort do begin to look forth, God shall presently scorch and defeat them by the flames of his displeasure, and shall utterly confound him by his just judgments.

XV. 31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity.

Let not the man therefore, that hath been heretofore carried away with the vain confidence in these earthly things, suffer himself to be so deceived any more.

XV. 33 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

That recompence of his shall be so accomplished, that he shall be cut off before his natural period; and his endeavours shall be blasted at their first putting forth, neither shall ever come to any perfection.

XV. 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

very bud;

He shall be as a vine, whose grape is perished in the very

and as an olive, whose flower is cast off at the first putting forth; so as his hopes shall never attain to any maturity.

XV. 35 Their belly prepareth deceit.

Their secret thoughts do but, in the event, deceive themselves.

XVI. 3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou thus answerest?

When wilt thou have made an end of these vain speeches? Or what hath moved thee to make so uncharitable a reply to my words?

XVI. 7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.

But now, God hath loaded me with sorrow, till I am even weary of bearing it; yea thou, O Lord, hast put a distraction betwixt my family, my friends, and myself; and hast made us all

miserable.

XVI. 8 Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me.

The wrinkles, that are suddenly grown in my face, are a sufficient witness of my extreme suffering.

XVI. 9 He teareth me with his teeth who hateth me, &c.

Mine enemy, who beareth deadly hatred against me, hath now his full scope of malice upon me; and, in his cruelty, insulteth over me at pleasure.

XVI. 13 He cleaveth my reins asunder; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.

His wrath reacheth to my inmost parts, even to my reins and gall; and leaveth no part of me free from his tormenting hand.

XVI. 15 And defiled my horn in the dust.

I have laid down all mine honour in the dust; and have justly humbled myself, in the very height of my glory, by casting dust and ashes upon my forlorn head."

XVII. 2 Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

Is not their unjust provocation continually in mine eye; so as I cannot but be a woeful witness of their injury?

XVII. 3 Lay down now, put me in surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

I do much desire to have my case thoroughly tried; let me see then, who will give security to maintain the suit with me, who will agree to join issue with me upon this point.

XVII. 5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

He, that flatters his friend, shall find God plaguing him, both in himself, and in his seed after him:

XVII. 6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and before them I was a tabret.

But for me, this is not my case; I am scorned rather: it hath pleased God to give me over to so great misery, that I am be

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