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<< Verse 24. • And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace.' That is, thou shalt experimentally know that thy whole estate and family shall be in peace; that is, thou shalt neither be invaded by foreigners, nor have insurrection in thy borders, nor any unkind any contentions in thy family.

"Peace in a large sense is opposed to any kind of trouble or adversity. It gives sweetness and beauty to all our blessings; without peace, riches are but golden thorns, honour is but higher misery, health but stronger afflictions: pure ordinances and a peaceable habitation are Jerusalem's perfection on earth.

"Observe 1st, That all outward blessings are in themselves but fading and perishing. 2d, To be assured of a mercy, is better than the enjoyment of it; he saith not only thou shalt have peace in thy tabernacle, but thou shalt know it.

"To be delivered from perishing, is the first part of that great blessing we receive by Christ. The second consists in the conveyance of good to us, as pardon of sins, &c. But the third consists in our everlasting assurance to enjoy all this; this is the perfection of bliss.

"And thou shalt visit thy habitation, and not sin.' It is a greater mercy to be delivered from one sin than from sword and famine. Grace is better than peace, and holiness than abundance; riches, honour, and health, are all obscured in this one blessing, a holy humble heart.

“Thou shalt, as a master, view and direct, and call to account thy family, and not sin, namely, by winking at the characters of any of thy domestics, and yet thou shalt have peace. "Verse 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.'

"It is supposed that Eliphaz aimed at the death of Job's children. Thy children perished miserably, but if thou wouldest return, that blessing should be restored; thy posterity should be as the grass for beauty and multitude.

"Neither grace nor blessings of any kind doth infallibly run in blood, yet the children of the godly have many promises made to them.

"As parents are afflicted in the afflictions of their children, so they are blessed in their joys. Relations share mutually in both comforts and crosses. A flourishing numerous family is a great outward blessing. But some have the choicest of blessings who want them. Sons and daughters are greatly prized, but they are not the best blessing. have a name and a place better than of sons and daughters.'* Isaiah lvi. 3.

Thou shalt

"Verse 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full like as a shock of corn

age,

* It is a comfort to parents to see the propriety, especially the spiritual propriety, of their children. If they are truly good, they are truly great, how small a figure soever they make in the world.

cometh in his season.' This includes a willingness to die. Thou shalt not be hurried to thy grave as the foolish rich man was; Luke xii. and likewise the honour and solemnity of burying like Abijah. He only shall be buried with honour.

"In a full age, may be to the utmost length of human life, or one that liveth long and comfortable like Moses, whose eye was not dim, &c.

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Though all good men do not live to grey hairs, yet it is an universal truth that they all die in a good old age; that is, their work is done, and they are ready for death; it is harvest time with them though cropt in the prime of life; they are not taken away till they are ripe: whereas a wicked man living an hundred years hath no full old age, much less a good old age; he is ripe for destruction, but never ripe for death. A happy death is the close of temporal, and the commencement of eternal happiness. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.'*

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Eliphaz next calls upon Job to attend to the sum of all he had said.

"Verse 27. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.' "He asserts the truth of what he had spoken, so it is; then he asks Job to hear it. He be

It is well our times are in God's hand, for those who are his shall die at the best time. However their death may seem to us untimely, it will never be unseasonable.

gan and now concludes in the plural. He supposes he had spoken agreeably to the mind of his two friends; we have not taken these things on trust, we have learned them by experience, after careful examination.

"Hear thou it, that is, believe and obey. When God hears man he grants their requests, and when man hears God, he yields and obeys. "And know thou it for thy good." Hebrew, for thyself, that is, for thy profit. The great end of knowing is, that we may thereby become holy and obedient.

"Observe 1st, That truth deserves a most serious investigation; and, having found it by searching the Scriptures, and attending carefully to the book of providence, we may with confidence communicate it to others.

"2d, That it is necessary to make particular application of general doctrinal truths, for we may know much without being led to a corresponding practice.

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3dly, That a godly man may make a profitable use of any truth of God; for all truths are intended to furnish the man of God for every good work.

"Eliphaz says, Know thou it for thy good. If thou art a godly man, all the good things I have spoken belong to thee; all the delicious promises of the pardon of sin, the love of God, &c. yea, Christ himself, will be all in all to thee. But unbelievers are strangers to the promises; they know not a letter of scripture for their good, the very promises are threatennings to them.

"It is not enough to hear and know the truth, but we must improve it, and be made wiser and better by it; receive the impression of it, and submit to the commanding power of it; know it for thyself, that is, with application to thyself and thy own case; not only, this is true, but this is true concerning me. That which we thus hear and know for ourselves, we hear and know for our good, as the meat we digest we are nourished by, and that is indeed a good sermon that doth us good.

"The whole of this discourse is to convince and humble Job under the hand of God.

CHAPTER VI.

"From Verse 1-7. is Job's reply, and is as if he had said, It is easy to say others complain too much when we feel nothing. But is it any wonder to hear a man groan who hath an oppressive load upon his back? or to hear a man complain whose flesh is filled with poisonous arrows shot from a bent bow drawn by omnipotency? Dost thou not see that all my comforts are taken from me, and if thou hadst duly considered my case, all thy reproofs might have been spared, and they may be justly retorted upon thyself?

"Verse 1. 'But Job answered and said.' As a man ought to give a reason of the hope that is in him, so he should be able to produce a reason of his sorrowful complaints. Silence when we are charged either makes a full con

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