My flesh, beyond all the ordinary condition of other men, is, even in my life-time, annoyed with worms, that grow in my ulcerous sores; and with cloddy scabs, that fall off from me.

VII. 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

Am I as some boisterous or raging sea, or some huge unruly whale, that thou shouldst need to set such bounds of restraint upon me, and hold me in from passing out of this my limited misery? VII. 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling.

So that my soul would rather, if I might have my free choice, wish to have my sorrow ended with a present dispatch by strangling, than thus to linger in continual torment.

VII. 19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

How long shall it be, ere thou wilt release thy heavy hand, that is upon me; and give me but so much respite, as while a man may swallow down his spittle?

VII. 21 For now I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

For now I am dying; and, when that brunt is past, if thou wouldst make further use of me, for the manifesting of thy power and my patience, I shall not be at all.

VIII. 11, 12, 13 Can a rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth, &c. And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish.

Look how ordinary a thing it is, for the rush that grows up without mire, or the flag that sprouts up without water, to wither and die without any hand cutting it off; so usual a thing it is with God, to cause the ungrounded hypocrite to perish, after all the vain hopes that his profession have raised

VIII. 17 His roots are wrapped about the heup, and seeth the place of stones.

His roots are so vigorous, that, by the force of their own inward moisture, they can grow and spread, notwithstanding any opposition of rubbish or stones in their way.

VIII. 18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

And, if his master have a mind to destroy him and root him up, the very place where he grew shall not be acknown of him; neither shall there be any mention left, that such a one grew there.

VIII. 21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.

Neither therefore will God leave thee in this extremity, (if thou be, as thou pretendest, upright with him); nor will desist from mitigating thy affliction, so as that thou shalt receive full and perfect consolation.

IX. 7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.

Who, when he pleaseth, can command the sun not to rise in the morning, that it may make day; and can forbid the stars to ap pear in the evening, and restrain the succession of the night.

IX. 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

Who ordereth all the set seasons of the year; and both maketh and disposeth of those remarkable constellations, by which the four seasons of the year are sensibly distinguished and governed; Arcturus which ariseth in autumn, Orion in winter, Pleiades or the seven stars in the spring; and those other stars, which lie hidden in the southern coasts of heaven, which rise to us in the heat of summer.

IX. 21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

Though I were perfect, yet would I not stand out in the justification of myself before his presence; but, if he have determined my death, would willingly surrender my life into his hands.

IX. 22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

This is one especial thing, that I have noted and justly stood upon, that the outward proceedings of God are indifferent towards all : he taketh away both the upright and the wicked man.

IX. 24 He covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

He bringeth contempt upon the great rulers of the earth; and if it be not he that doth it, where and who is he besides, that hath this power, and executes these judgments?

IX. 31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.

Let me seem never so pure in mine own eyes, yet, O Lord, the rigour of thy justice shall shew me as foul, as the man that is plunged in some filthy ditch; who is so defiled, that his very clothes make him more loathsome.

X. 3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?

O God, is it any profit or advantage to thy glory, that thou dealest so rigorously with me?

X. 10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Hast thou not made me in a wonderful fashion; while, of the. liquid matter of my marvellous conception, thou hast formed this solid substance of my body, by several degrees of thy powerful work?

X. 13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart. I know that this is with thee.

And though thou bestowedst so much cost upon me in my formation, yet thou didst from eternity retain in thyself this purpose of afflicting me: I know that this was from eternity determined by thee.

X. 17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me.

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.

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.