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prefix beth sometimes denoting the nominative case. Or it may signify a fulness of joy: Be thou very joyful, as the like phrase seems to import, Exod. xxxii. 22; 1 John v. 19; John ix. 34; Mark v. 2, 25; Ps. xxix. 4. and xxxiii. 4. When God gives thee prosperity, do thou enjoy it with a cheerful and thankful heart."But in the day of adversity consider," or, "see." Times of trouble and affliction are called evil days, Amos v. 13; Eph. v. 16; Eccles. xii. 1. Consider the righteous providence of God; behave thyself wisely and suitably to his visitation; see from what hand it comes, to what issue it tends; be not fretful; use not sinful means to extricate thyself from trouble; view it as the work of God, which, though it seem crooked, thou canst not make straight, nor by murmuring and wrestling mend thyself. Therefore, in the day of evil, see to thyself, take heed of any indecent and unbecoming behaviour of heart so much the word seeing sometimes imports, Mark xii. 38. and xiii. 9; 1 Cor. x. 12; as well as a serious observation of what is proposed to us, 1 Sam. xxiv. 11; and accurately weighing it, that we may derive instruction from it, Mic. vi. 9; Ps. xciv. 12. and cxix. 71; Isai. xxvi. 11. and xlii. 25.-" God also hath set the one over against the other;" has so ordered and tempered the life of man, that good

and evil should, as it were, be interwoven with each other, in order that their vicissitude should withdraw the heart from surfeiting in prosperity, and from desponding in adversity. As God has set winter and summer, day and night, over against each other, Gen. viii. 22; Ps. lxxiv. 16, 17; so good and evil in the life of man, Lam. iii. 38; Isai. xlv. 7; that in prosperity no one may say, I shall never be moved; nor in adversity, I shall never be delivered: but that in the former we may learn moderation, and in the latter, may exercise faith and hope, and thankfully receive good and evil at the hands of God, Job i. 21. and ii. 10. Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur. Thus, as in a curious and well proportioned building, one side corresponds with that over against it; or, as in a balance the weight in one scale poises and answers to the wares in the other: so does God measure out good and evil in the lives of men, and proportion the one to the other, as may be best fitted to human frailty, and most conduce to the spiritual good of his servants, 1 Cor. x. 13; Ps. xc. 15. and ciii. 9. 14; 2 Cor. i. 4, 5, 9, 10; Isai. lvii. 16-18.-" To the end that man should find nothing after him;" or, that man should not be able to find out or to foresee any thing that is to befal him after

wards so that, as he cannot, by his providence or prudence, prevent that order and vicissitude of events which God has foreordained, he may resolve patiently to submit to the will of the Lord (which must stand notwithstanding all our disquietude), and to adore his wisdom and goodness, who, whilst he does what pleaseth him in heaven and on earth, so disposes and tempers all things for the benefit of his people, that no one that comes after him can mend his work, or be able to order things better to his own advantage than God has done; and consequently, since no man can find out any thing superfluous, defective, or irregular in the divine proceedings, or which, if he had been consulted, could have been better ordered, we ought to take heed of fretting or complaining, or finding fault with the providence of God; and firmly believe, that what the Lord does, is best done, and accordingly acquiesce in it, and yield to it with silence and submission, 1 Sam. iii. 18; 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. and xvi. 10; Ps. xxxix. 9; Acts xi. 17, 18; Isai. xxxix. 8; Rom. viii. 38; Job ix. 12, 13, 14, 15, 32; Mic. vii. 9; Lam. iii. 26-39; Job xl. 4.

15. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked

man that prolongeth his life in his wicked

ness.

"All things have I seen in the days of my vanity." He confirms the former doctrine of God's dark and wonderful providence, by his own observation and experience: all these things have I observed in my vain and short life, ch. vi. 12.-" There is a just man that perishes in his righteousness," is oppressed and ruined, being innocent, or for his righteousness, as Naboth, 1 Kings xxi. Hab. i. 13. In sometimes has the signification of for, as Gen. xxix. 18; Hos. xii. 12; Gen. xviii. 28; Jon. i. 14; Mat. vi. 7; Acts vii. 29.-" And there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness;" i. e. lives in a wicked course with impunity and without controul, and that frequently because he is wicked, Job xxi. 7; Jer. xii. 1, 2: the Lord hereby teaching us, that there is an appointed day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, called the day of the revelation of his righteous judgments, Acts xvii. 31; Rom. ii. 5. He is most just and righteous now in all his dispensations of providence, but he often hideth himself in them, Isai. xlv. 15. that he may exercise the faith and patience of his servants, and that the perdition of wicked men, by his long suffering and patience, may at last be more conspicuous.

16. Be not righteous overmuch; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

Some suppose this to be spoken in the name and according to the judgment of carnal reason, as a politic precept to neutrality and indifference in religion. Since strict piety so often exposes men to danger, be not therefore over forward and religious, over wise and scrupulous; be not so inflexible upon the ground of conscience; remit a little of thy preciseness, and accommodate thyself to the exigence of times and circumstances; slacken thy hand, strike sail, and loose the rudder bonds in a tempest. Why shouldst thou unnecessarily expose thyself to danger? But I rather conceive, that the name of the mean is here given to the extreme; for a person may frequently perform an action conscientiously, and from a conviction of its being a duty, and thereby involve himself in much trouble and danger, when there was no necessity for it, 1 Sam. xv. 21; 2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2; John xiii. 8; Rom. x. 2, 3; Phil. iii. 6; Acts. xxvi. 9; John xvi. 2; Col. ii. 18; 1 Tim. v. 23 and in this sense the meaning is, "be not righteous overmuch;" be not too much bent on a thing in thy own opinion, but temper thy zeal with godly wisdom, advise with others

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