vve have used them both for our owne good and the good of others I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thus saith the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised Jer. 31.18 Ephraims outward moanes were as musick in the eares of God Ephraim did not murmure against God but he bemoaned himselfe Ephraim was not angry at his chastisement but Ephraim mourned being chastised God heard this fully in hearing hee heard it or it pleased him to heare it It is our duty to testifie our sorrow by the saddest notes of a troubled spirit and it is a delight to God when vve doe so not that hee delights in our sorrows but he delights in the witnesse vvhich vve beare to his wisedome righteousnesse and faithfulnesse in sending those sorrowes I heard Ephraim bemoane himselfe Will an offendor that lookes for mercy come before the Judge in rich apparrell or in some affected dresse Comes he not rather in his Prison clothes puts he not on the garments of heavinesse The Messengers of Benhadad put dust on their heads and ropes about their necks and sack-cloth on their loynes when they came to mediate for the life of their Master And thus the Lord speakes to the Israelites Exod. 33.5 when they had sinned and he was wroth Put off your Ornaments that I may know what to doe with you Ornaments are uncomly when God is threatning judgements It is time for us to lay by our bravery when God is about to make us naked Sack-cloth sowed upon the skin and our horne in the dust are the best ensignes of an afflicted state The Prophets counsell indeed is Joel 2.13 Rend your hearts and not your garments Rending the garments may be taken not onely strictly for that act but largely for all outward actings of sorrow Yet when he saith Rent not this is not a prohibition of but a caution about the outward acting of their sorrow Not in Scripture is not alwayes totally negative it is often directive and comparative So in this place Rend your hearts and not your garments is your hearts rather then your garments or be sure to rend your hearts as well as your garments The one must be done the other ought not to be left undone See more of this Chap. 1. Vers 20. upon those word Then Job rent his Mantle Thirdly Observe Great sorrow produceth great effects and leaveth such impressions as testifie where it is The Apostle saith of the sorrow of the World That it worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World may be taken two wayes First For the sorrow of carnall worldly men whose sorrow for sin is only a vexing of their hearts not a breaking or humbling of their hearts which being separate both from true faith for the pardon of sin and from any reall purpose of leaving their sin worketh death both temporall death often wearing out their naturall life lingringly and sometime destroying their naturall life violently as in Judas as also hastning them on to eternall death of which it selfe is a foretast or beginning Secondly This sorrow of the World is a sorrow for the losse of or disappoyntments about worldly things This also worketh both those deaths in meere worldly men and when it is excessive as under a temptation it may be in a godly man it may be sayd to worke the death of the body in him yea great and continued sorrow though it be not excessive worketh towards this death in a godly man drying his bones and drawing out his spirits as is cleare in Job on whose eye-lids the very shadow of death sate while hee wept and sorrowed 'T is hard to dissemble a little griefe but a great deale cannot be hid As godly sorrow manifests it selfe in excellent effects upon the soule of which the Apostle numbers up seven at the eleventh Verse of that Chapter For this selfe same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulnesse it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves c. Now I say as godly sorrow manifests it selfe in manifold effects upon the soule so doth the sorrow of the World set its marks upon the body As a good mans heart is made cleane by weeping the teares of godly sorrow so every mans face is made foule by weeping the teares of worldly sorrow and as godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation and life eternall so the sorrow of the World vvorketh an entrance to temporall death yea we may say that godly sorrow doth sometimes worke temporall death Paul was afrayd lest the incestuous person while he was repenting might be Swallowed up with over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 vvhich as vvee are to understand cheifely of a swallowing up in the gulfe of despaire so we may take in that also as a consequent of the other a swallowing of him up in the Grave of death as if hee had sayd The poore man may both despayre and dye under this burden if you let it lye too long upon him As soone as Heman had sayd in his desertion My soule is full of troubles he presently adds And my life draweth nigh unto the Grave I am counted with them that goe downe to the pit free among the dead Psal 88.3 4 5. To which he subjoyns Ver. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction and then expostulates Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead Shall the dead arise and praise thee As if he had sayd These sorrows will bring me to my grave or in the language of Job On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Till wee enjoy a life beyond the reach of all sorrows wee shall not be beyond the reach of death Hence that promise Revel 21.4 God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine And as that life which hath no death in it shall have no sorrow in it so that life which is a continuall death the life of the damned is nothing else but sorrow There shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore Mat. 13.42 Their eyes shall ever weep their faces shall ever be foule with weeping and on their eye-lids the shadow of death shall dwell for ever Fourthly The hand of God being heavy upon Job he defiled his horne in the dust and fouled his face with weeping he regarded neyther the beauty of his face nor the dignity of his condition all was nothing to him Learne from it Great afflictions take off our respect to the World and all worldly things What is honour What is Gold or Silver What is a goodly House What is a beautifull Wife and pleasant Children What are fine cloathes or a faire face in a day of sorrow or in the approaches of death Spirituals are highest prized when we are lowest Grace shines clearest in worldly darknesse but the light of worldly enjoyments is darknesse to us and that vvhich some esteeme as a Sun is but a
just the sincere thy heart sets thee out sure Possit per dativum ita verti quid attribuit tibi cor tuum Bold Quid docet te cor tuum Rab. Sol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat doctrinam sed ita dicitur a discendo potius quam a docendo Drus Quid docuit te cogitatio tua Targ. and gildes thee over with attributes beyond thy deserving Master Broughton following one of the Rabbins presents us with a different translation from either of these What Doctrine can thy heart give thee or what can thy heart teach thee The word which we render to take to carry or hold up a thing signifies also to learne or teach Doctrine but rather to learne then to teach as Grammarians tell us which somewhat abates the clearenesse of that version yet the Chalde Paraphrase followes the same sense What hath thy owne thought taught thee What learnest thou there as if Eliphaz had sayd Thou hast an evill heart and surely an ill Master will teach but ill Doctrine when the heart is inditing of a good matter Psal 45. then we may learne good lessons from the heart and then we speake most effectually to the hearts of others when we speak from our owne hearts they having first been spoken to by the spirit of God But a corrupt heart can teach no better then it hath and that is corrupt Doctrines These are truths yet too much strained for upon this Text and therefore I passe from them and abide by the ordinary signification of the word as we read it Why doth thy heart take thee up or carry thee away as if he had sayd Thy heart hath seized upon thee and arrested thee thou art led away prisoner or captive by the violence and impetuousnesse of thy owne spirit The word is applyed Ezek. 23.14 to the motion of the spirit of God sent unto Ezekiel to instruct him The spirit lifted me up or caught me away that which the good spirit did unto Ezekiel not onely upon his spirit but upon his body for hee was corporally carryed away from the place where he was that the heart of Job as Eliphaz conceived did unto him it lifted him up and carryed him away There is a kind of violence in the allurements and inticings of the heart As a man is sayd to be carryed away by the ill counsells of others so also by his owne In the former sense the word is used Prov. 6.25 Where Solomon advising to take heed of the Harlot saith he Keep thee from the evill Woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange Woman lust not after her in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye lids There he makes use of this word let her not take thee or let her not carry thee away upon her eye lids let not her wanton eye flatter thee to the sin of wantonnesse and uncleannesse As the eye of a whorish Woman so the whorish heart of a man often takes and carryeth him away Hence observe The heart hath power over and is too hard for the whole Man Passions hurry our hearts and our hearts hurry us and who can tell whither his heart will carry him or where it will set him downe when once it hath taken him up This is certaine it will carry every man beyond the bounds of his duty both to God and man Take it more distinctly in these three particulars The heart quickly carryeth us beyond the bounds of grace Secondly the heart often carryeth us beyond the bounds of reason When passion workes much reason workes not at all Thirdly it may carry us beyond the bounds of honesty yea of modesty 'T is very dangerous to commit our selves to the conduct of passion that unlesse kept under good command will soone run us beyond the line both of Modesty and of Honesty of Reason and of Grace He that is carryed away thus farre must make a long journey of repentance before he can return and come back either to God or to himselfe Some have been carryed visibly away by the Devil by an evill spirit without them if God give commission or permission the Devill can easily doe it very many are carryed away by the evill spirit within them An evill heart is as bad as the Devill the evill spirit without and the evill spirit within carry us both the same way and that is quite out of the way Consider further how the heart carryeth us away even from spirituall duties and holy services and this is not only the case of carnall men who are given up to their hearts lusts but of the Saints their hearts are continually lifting at them and sometimes they are carryed quite away from Prayer and from hearing the Word the heart lifts the man up and steales him out of the Congregation while his body remaines there the body sits still but the minde which is the man is gone either about worldly businesse and designes or about worldly pleasures and delights He stirres not a foot nor moves a finger and yet he is carryed all the World over He visits both the Indies yet steps not over his own threshold Thus the heart being carryed away carryeth the man away And that 's the reason why God calls so earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum omni custodia My Son give me thy heart for where our hearts goe we goe or wee are carryed with them Keep thy heart with all diligence Prov. 4.24 or With all keeping or above all keeping it must have double keeping double guards keep keep watch watch thy heart will be gone else and thou wilt goe with it if thou looke not to thy heart thy heart will quickly withdraw it selfe and draw thee along also Why doth thy heart carry thee away is a deserved check upon every man when his heart doth so and Let not thy heart carry thee away is a necessary caution for every man lest his heart should doe so Jobs heart was too busie with him though not so busie as Eliphaz judged when he thus checkt him with Why doth thy heart carry thee away And what doth thine eye wink at But is it a fault to wink with the eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nutu utor quia nutus ficri solet vel capite vel oculis it is sayd Joh. 13.24 that Peter beckned to or winked at John the Greeke word signifieth an inviting gesture by the whole head or by the eye he winkt at him I say to aske Christ who it was of whom he spake There was no fault in that but Eliphaz findes fault with this What was the supposed fault There is a twofold faulty winking First When wee wink at faults our owne faults or the faults of other men to beare with or approve them Secondly When we wink at the vertues and good deeds of others to slight or undervalue them possibly Eliphaz taxeth Job for both these as if he winked at his owne faults 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
both upon such rich men and upon their riches if the Lord doth not stop them from getting riches yet he can speak a word and blast all that they have gotten Hence Note That the most substantiall of earthly things are of small or no continuance More particularly That ill gotten goods are not lasting or long-lived Sometimes they melt away and dye in the same hands that got them they alwayes dye and melt away in some of their hands for whom they were gotten There is no tack in their estate in whom there is no Justice That which is gathered by the unrighteousnesse of man shall be scattered by the wrath of God As the little which a righteous man hath is better so it is surer then the great riches of many wicked Sin makes no provision at all for the soule and it makes very ill-provision for the body The title by which we hold worldly things is more considerable then worldly things themselves To hold in Capite from Christ is as the purest so the strongest Tenure Onely he who continues the same for ever and changes not can give continuance to that which is changeable But suppose the wicked mans substance doth continue long for bulke and matter yet the beauty and comfort of it shall not continue for a moment which is the third step of this Gradation 3. Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth Riches are one thing the perfection of riches is another as in spirituall things there is the substance of them and the perfection of them so in temporalls The word signifies the consummation of any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfectio eorum a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfecit alii Minlam vincam dictionem perinde ac si duae essent exponunt quâ—si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex eo quod est illorum i. e. res illorum non extendentur per terram Merc. or the bringing it to its perfective end Isa 33.1 When thou shalt make an end to deale treacherously they shall deale treacherously with thee The Prophet doth nor meane it of making an end by way of cessation as if hand heart or tongue did cease dealing treacherously for so wicked men will never make an end of wickednesse if they might have an eternity to act evill in they would act it eternally but he meanes it of making an end by way of consummation as if he had sayd When they are come to a full stature in treachery and have compleated their conspiracies against goodnesse and good men then they shall be dealt with in their kind and as they best deserve Now as a wicked man would compleat his sin and often reaches the very perfection of it so he would compleat his estate and doth sometimes reach to the perfection of it The wicked man would be perfectly rich he is not satisfied to have a compleat estate or enough for meat drink and cloathing he must have a great estate enough for pride pompe and glory Manna pleases him not he must have Quailes superfluities as well as necessaries He thinkes a little too much in spiritualls but a great deale is not enough for him in temporals His internall imperfections trouble him not his aime is at perfection in externalls That is perfect onely in a strict sense to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away The wicked man would attaine to such perfection but he cannot his owne heart forbids the first for how much soever he hath he would have more added to it he saith not it is enough though it be too much God forbids the latter his portion shall be abated or in the words of the Text He shall not prolong the perfection thereof The utmost perfection he can attaine unto is but the shadow of perfection and though shadows towards the setting of the Sun grow longer and longer yet no shadow can be prolonged they quickly passe and flye away Solomon tells us Prov. 12.3 A man shall not be established in wickednesse Nec mittet in terra radicem ejus Vulg. but the root of the righteous shall continue A wicked man may be set in the ground but he hath no root in the ground Their stock shall not take root in the earth and he that is God shall blow upon them and they shall wither Isa 40.24 A tree not rooted falls by a puffe of winde or withers while it stands The tree of a wicked man may have a great body but he hath no good root he is not rooted in Christ he hath no hold of the Covenant therefore his perfection cannot continue Hence Observe That as there is no worldly perfection of any long continuance so the perfection of wicked men is of shortest continuance Athenasius sayd of Julian the Apostate when he was in the height in the very zenith and perfection of earthly felicity having ascended the Impereall Throne and giving the Law to a great part of the then knowne World He is but a little cloud Nubecula est cito transibit he will soon vanish And indeed his glory and the perfection of it did not continue for when he was but thirty yeares old in that prime of his naturall course and constitution he was out off his power could not protect his Person nor prolong his perfection on the earth David professeth as from his owne experience Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection The terme of universality All doth not compasse in every kinde of perfection but all the perfections of one kinde The end of Divine perfections cannot be seen when we have seen the most of them there is more of them unseen but the end of all humane perfections may be seen There is a twofold sight First Of the eye Secondly Of the understanding Davids eye had seen the end of many humane perfections and his understanding saw the end of them all he had seen some ending and he saw all must end Never dream of prolonging your perfection here No worldly thing can continue long for the World it selfe shall not continue long If the Scaffold or Stage upon which these perfections are shewed or acted must fall the perfections themselves cannot stand There have been but few that ever advanced so farr as to an earthly perfection but there was never any one that prolonged his perfection on the Earth Adam did not continue in that created perfection which had no imperfection in it how then shall any of his Children continue in an imperfect such is their best perfection As Eliphaz hath shewed us the wicked mans misery in the not prolonging of his perfection so now he shewes us a further degree of it by the prolonging of his affliction Vers 30. He shall not depart out of darknesse Here is the fourth step of this gradation The wicked mans misery in misery He cannot stay in a good nor get out of an ill estate Eliphaz seems to take off an objection for some might
word All that ever was done in the World hath been done by the breath of Gods mouth that is by the word or decree of God So some understand that of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.8 And then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit or breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Antichrist hath stood long and he hath been for some time declining his downfall hastens the breath of God will leave him breathlesse As he hath stood by the flattering breath of men so he shall fall by the consuming breath of God This consuming with breath notes either as before the easinesse of that consumption 't is done with a breath or the way and manner of doing it 't is done by the command and decree of God or by the Preaching of the Gospell which indeed gives Antichrist his fatall blow and shakes all the Towres of mysticall Babylon and is called by the Prophet The rod of his mouth Spiritu oris sc ipsius impii credo potius referrendum esse ad impium quasi ille sibi ipsi fuerit mortis causa dum contra Deum loquitur confidenter libere Sanct. and the breath of his lips Isa 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Life and death sit upon the lips of Christ he hath a reviving breath and a killing breath he quickens the deadest heart and deads the quickest the proudest heart with a word speaking By the breath of his mouth the wicked goe away Further The breath of his mouth say some is the breath of the wicked mans owne mouth By the breath of his mouth shall he goe away That is by the words which breath out of his mouth His passionate distempered speeches shall undoe him while he speaks either outragiously and blasphemously against God or falsely and seditiously towards man his ruine enters at the opening of his lips The motion of the breath is the preserver of life Spiritu oris sui i. e. suis verbis quae spiritu halitu in ore ormantur and while breath lasts life lasts yet many a mans life had lasted longer had it not been for his breath The wicked mans breath proves his death and his tongue which hath been a scourge to others becomes a Sword to himselfe His words possibly have wounded and his breath hath been the death of many But now he is wounded by his owne words and crusht to death by the weight of his owne breath or by the fall of his owne tongue upon him So the Psalmist gives it Psal 64.8 They shall make their owne tongues to fall upon themselves that is Their owne words shall be brought as a Testimony against them and condemne them The tongue is a little member saith the Apostle James Chap. 3.5 and therefore a light member yet it falls heavy as heavy as lead A man were better have his House fall upon him then that in this sense his tongue should fall upon him Some have been pressed to death because they would not speak but stood mute before the Judge but more have been pressed to death by their sinfull freedome or rather licentiousnesse in speaking this hath brought them to judgement and cast them in judgement Their tongue hath fallen upon them and by the breath of their mouth they have gone away Lastly but I will not stay upon it because the Originall doth not well beare it these words are cast into the forme of a similitude describing the manner how the wicked man and all his glory shall goe away even as a breath or as his breath As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away that is he shall go speedily he shall goe suddenly A breath is soon fetcht it is both come and gone in a moment A breathing time is a Proverbiall for a little time much like that In the twinckling of an eye Thus man comes and goes is come and gone especially a wicked man who is driven by the wrath of God as soon as seen by others as soon as he hath breathed himselfe It will not be long ere he goes and he will not be long a going For as the breath of his mouth he shall goe away The breath of man goes continually and so doth the life of man while man sleeps his breath goes and so doth his life while man stands still his breath goes and so doth his life The breath indeed is sometimes in a hurry and goes faster then it doth at other times but though the life of man doth not goe faster at one time then at another yet it alwayes goes Or if at any time our life may be sayd to goe faster then at another it is when our breath is by some stop in its passage at a stand and when ever our breath comes to a full stop our life is not onely going but quite gone The life of man hath so much dependence upon his breath that it is called Breath and the breath of life When God formed man out of the dust of the ground he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soule Gen. 2.7 And as soon as God calls back this breath of life man becomes a dead body or a carkasse The life of man must needs goe as his breath for it goes with his breath and when the life of a wicked man is gone all that he called his his worldly glory goes with him In that day all his thoughts perish For As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away Eliphaz having layd downe the wicked mans sad condition and the causes of it concludes with a use or application of the whole Doctrine at the 31. Verse Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity c. JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 31 32 33 34 35. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence It shall be accomplished before his time and his branch shall not be greene He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and shall cast off his flower as the Olive For the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit ELiphaz layd downe his Doctrine at the 20. Verse of this Chapter That a wicked mans life is a miserable life he travells in paine all his dayes and having insisted long upon the proofe he now gives us the application of it in a use of dehortation Vers 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity He inforceth this dehortation by a summary repetition of the Doctrine before delivered which he doth First Plainly in the close of the 31. and in the beginning of the 32. Verses For vanity shall he his recompence it shall be accomplished before its time Secondly He doth it allegorically in the
Which were cut downe out of time That old way was the way of sin the way of holinesse is the oldest way but the way of sin is a very old way They who have trod the way of sin were cut downe by judgement and they were cut downe out of time that is the course of divine Justice prevented the course of nature and struck them to death before death useth to strike So some render it here and then the sense riseth thus Thou hast cut me downe by the stroke of these afflictions and this is a witnesse against me In significatione Chaldaica exponitur pro ligare constringere Secondly The word according to the Chaldee signifies to binde and fasten one with Cords or with fetters of Iron as Malefactors are bound in Prison Prov. 5.22 His owne iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be holden with the Coards of his sin The Hebrew word which we render to hold or fasten is expressed by this of Job in the Chaldee Paraphrase Taking this sense of the word the interpretation given of the whole is Thou hast bound or straitened mee with the cords of my affliction Quod his dolorum vinculis constrictum me tenes ne qua elabi queam testimonium fecit in me Merc. lest I should get out or make an escape and this is a witnesse against me There is a truth in both these readings as to this place but because wrinkles are more proper to the leannesse which followes therefore I shall not stay upon them but keep to our owne reading Thou hast filled me with wrinkles Wrinckles are caused two wayes First Through old age for then the moysture of the body being consumed and so the skin contracted wrinckles appeare These naturall wrinckles cannot be avoyded if nature hold out to old age Secondly There are accidentall wrinckles such as are caused by strong diseases which sucking up or drawing out the moysture of the body fade the beauty of it Great sicknesses hasten on gray hayres and make a young man looke old Job was not filled with the wrinckles of old age hee was in the strength of nature at that time but he was filled with the wrinckles of sicknesse and sorrow griefe had made furrows in his face and his teares had often filled them we commonly say Sorrow is dry 't is so because it is a dryer Solomon tels us that A merry heart doth good like a medicine but a broken spirit which is the effect of much sorrow dryeth up the bones Prov. 17.22 The Church cryes out in the Book of Lamentations My flesh and my skin he hath made old Lam. 3.4 How did God make them old He made them old not by giving them many yeares but by giving them many troubles Many troubles in one yeare will make a man older then many yeares We have heard of some whose hearts being filled with vexing cares have filled their heads with gray hayres in a very short time As some have an Art to ripen Fruits before nature ripens them so the Lord hath a power to hasten old age before nature makes us old Thou hast made my skin old that is full of wrinckles and leannesse these are the liveries which old age gives The Apostle assures us that Christ shall one day present the Church to himselfe in the perfection of spirituall beauty and glory that beauty and glory is described by the removall of that from her spirituall estate which Job complaines of in his temporall estate Job was full of spots and wrinkles but shee shall appeare Not having spot or wrinckle Ephes 5.27 that is Without any note or marke of old age upon her A spot defaceth the beauty of a Garment and wrinckles spoyle the beauty of the face An old Garment is full of spots and an old face is full of wrinkles Old things passe away when we are made new creatures by grace yet in that state because we are not perfectly freed from the old man our garments have some spots and our faces some wrinkles upon them But in the state of glory when all old things even all the image of the old Adam shall be totally abolished we shall not have so much as one spot or one wrinkle Beleevers have now a righteousnesse in Christ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing they shall then have a holinesse in themselves without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that is They shall not onely not have any spot or wrinkle upon them but they shall have nothing like it nothing which hath any relation to it nothing which either themselves or others shall mistake for it they shall neither suspect nor be suspected to have a spot or a wrinkle about them A perfect soule-state and a perfect state of body hath no wrinkle in it Job to shew the decayes and blemishes of his body saith hee was full of wrinkles Againe These wrinkles by an elegant metaphor may referr to his whole outward condition For as a mans face is wrinkled when he growes old so are his riches when he growes poore and so is his honour when he growes out of repute Poverty is the wrinkle of riches and disgrace is the wrinkle of honour we may take in all three here for not onely was Jobs body but his wealth and honour were extreamely wrinkled and therefore he had great cause to cry out according to all the the interpretations Thou hast filled me with wrinkles Which witnesse against me I shall give the meaning of that when I have opened the latter clause where it is repeated My leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face both parts of the Verse have the same meaning My leannesse rising up in me Some thinke that Job answers vvhat Eliphaz had given as part of the description of a vvicked man in the fulnesse of his prosperity Chap. 15.27 where he tells us that Hee covereth his face with fatnesse and maketh collops of fat on his flanks as if he had said Freind Eliphaz thou hast told me that wicked men are fat and full if so what are they who are leane and meagre canst thou according to thy owne rule read wickednesse in my physiognomie My leannesse riseth up in me canst thou raise an argument from that against me My leannesse Jobs body was leane his Purse and Name were leane his leannesse and his wrinkles were of the same extent both reaching all his worldly concernments The Lord threatens Idolaters Zeph. 2.11 that he will famish or make leane so we put in the Margin all their Gods Jehovah the true God who saith to man Psal 50.12 If I were hungry I would not tell thee tels these false Gods that hee will make them hungry But what was the meat of these Gods It was the honour and credit the worship and service which they had among men Indeed they who deny the true God his due honour and worship doe what they can to famish or make him leane and when the true
our rest together is in the dust They shall goe downe Spes meae omnia mea recte in plurali dicit significans non spem tantum sibi ab illis propositam sed omnes alias spes hujus vitae Merc. Who or vvhat shall goe downe There is no expresse Relative in the Hebrew They that is say some these hopes he speakes in the plurall Number as if hee had sayd All my hopes about this life are going downe to the pit The best of worldly hopes and worldly things are dying and perishing mine are to me as dead and perished Secondly Others understand it of Job himselfe for the word vvhich wee translate Barrs signifies also the members of the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vectes significat ea omnia quae velut vectes aliquid sustentant Aliqui Rabbini ad ipsum Jobum referant quod ipsius fulchra i. e. membra brachia vires robur descendent Vectibus sepulchralibus descendent Jun. Mâ—ae videbitis istas expectationes quas praedicatis una cum corpore ferretro efferri in sepulchrum Jun. As if he had sayd I my selfe shall goe downe to the Pit or Grave A third thus They shall descend upon the barrs of the Grave The meaning is Yee shall quickly see mee and all my worldly hopes which yee so much speake of put together in a Coffin and carryed out upon a Beire to the Grave for buriall This going downe to the barrs of the Pit according to our reading imports that he and his hopes should descend to the lower parts of the earth the Grave and be buryed there the pit would shut him in and make him fast enough The Grave is a Prison and there are Barrs or bolts belonging to that Prison vvhich shut the Prisoners in there 's no breaking of that Prison The Decree of God is the Barre of the Grave and his purpose locks it up till the day which himselfe hath appointed for the resurrection from the dead and the judgement vvhich is to follow As the evill Angels are reserved in chaines of darknesse to the Judgement of the great day so are the bodies of men chained and barred downe in the darknesse of the Grave till God sends out the Arch-angel with the sound of a Trumpet to summon them to his Barr. Yet further these words are interpreted as spoken in derision of those overtures which his Freinds made to him about worldly happinesse Per irrisiâ—nem haec dicta sunt Cajet As if he had sayd You perswade me that I shall have much good in the World very well let it be so but doe you thinke that I can carry my Goods my Houses and Lands my Silver and Gold my Corne and my Wine to make merry with in the Grave Shall I and the greatnesse you promise me live together in the Grave and make our abode in darknesse The Septuagint seeme to favour that sense rendering it An bona mea mecum ad infernos descendent aut pariter super pulverem descendemus Shall my Goods goe with me to the Grave or shall wee descend into the dust hand in hand vvhen I surrender this battered Fort into the hands of death shall I march out with Bagg and Baggage to these Subterranean dwellings The Apostle affirmes That we brought nothing with us into this World and he doth more then affirme It is certaine saith he we can carry nothing out 1 Tim. 6.7 And therefore vvhat doth it availe a dying man to tell him of riches seeing vvhen he dyes he must leave all his riches Master Broughton translates plainely thus To the midst of the Grave all shall descend when wee shall goe downe together in the dust From which our reading of the latter clause varies but a little When we shall rest together in the dust The vvord vvhich we expresse by rest is derived by some from a root signifying to descend or goe downe hence the difference of translation The Hebrew particle im which we render When signifies also For or Forasmuch Further it is sometimes taken conditionally for If as also interrogatively for utrum whether according to all which acceptions this clause hath undergone a variety of reading But I passe them by and keep to our owne When our rest together is in the dust or for as much as we shall rest together in the dust Of this rest I have spoken before Chap. 3.17 There the weary be at rest thither I referr the Reader Wee may also take Jobs sense in this place by that which hee speakes so cleerely out to this point Chap. 30. Vers 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living I shall not stay here to draw out Observations matter of this purport about the certainty of and about our rest in death having occurred heretofore All that I shall add for the close of this Verse and Chapter shall onely be an offer towards the resolution of a doubt vvhich may arise upon the vvhole matter of Jobs continued resolves for death and his refusals of any entertainment of the hopes of life Hence it may be questioned Did not Job sin in giving up his hope and in refu ing to be comforted when his Freinds wise and godly men laboured to assure him of deliverance I answer First Job was vvilling to be comforted but hee did not like their way of comforting which vvas indeed a wounding for the promises vvhich they made him did all along carry an implication of his guilt they never promising him any deliverance but upon the supposition of his repentance from those wickednesses vvith vvhich they charged him vvhereas hee utterly denyed their charge in the sense which they layd against him Secondly I answer Wee cannot altogether acquit Job from blame in judging his state so deplorable and remedilesse For though with an eye to the creature and all second causes there was no probability or possibility for his recovery yet Job should have raised his hopes upon the power and Al-sufficiency of God he might have remembred that as his affliction was extraordinary and the hand of God very visible in it So his deliverance also might have been as extraordinary and that God could have put forth as strong and as visible a hand to restore him as he did to cast him downe 'T is sayd of Abraham Rom. 4.18 19. that he against hope beleeved in hope nothing appeared for the support of his hopes yet Abraham did not say Where is my hope or why should I waite for Children He considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred yeares old neyther yet the deadnesse of Sarah's wombe These naturall impediments came not to his minde while he had a word from the Lord of nature Hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbeleife but was strong in Faith giving glory to God But we may say of Job from the continuall tenour of his owne answers that he