instrument of work Philosophers call it The Organ of Organs man is called The work of Gods hands because the hand is mans instrument in working Now whereas man is called The work of Gods hands it imports three things First An immediety in the work or an immediate work God made man himself without any help Secondly An exactnesse in the work the work proclaims an accurate authour The work of thy hands a speciall piece of work No hand but thine could make such a piece Thirdly It notes the fulnesse and compleatnesse of the work a work consummate and perfect having the last hand put to it Man is the work of Gods hands in all and each of these senses Heaven is called a building of God an house not made with hand 2 Cor. 5.1 Man is a building of God and he is the work of Gods hands yet God made man without hands as much as he made heaven without hands The hand of God implies two things 1. The power of God 2. The wisdom of God Man is the work of both For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and God head Now if the beams and beauty of the divine nature be visible in all that was created then much more in man who is the epitome or sum of all that was created When Job puts the question Is it good unto thee to despise the work of thy hands he alludes to artificers Alio argumento injustitiam a Deo ansert quòd artifices sua opera amare soleant Merc. who having made an excellent piece will not destroy or break it in pieces no they are very tender of their work yea they are apt to boast and grow proud of it The instinct of nature teaches us to love not only that which is our own by naturall production but that also which is our own by artificiall conception or operation Indeed if a man make a mean or an unworthy piece he despises it such work discommends the workman and he will break or burn it rather then let it be made publike to the publishing of his own weaknesse or unskilfulnesse Man was the master-piece of the whole visible Creation Man was made not as other creatures to have a being only but that he might be in the likenesse of God Hoc corpus meū quod in utero matris meae tam concianè aptè formasti destrues and bear his image The Lord needs not be ashamed of neither doth he despise any part of his work much lesse this which is the best and noblest part of his work Hence observe in generall Man is the work of God All of man man throughout is the work of God The fabrique of his body is Gods work I am fearfully and wonderfully made saith David marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret c. In thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Psal 139.14 15. A skilfull architect before he builds draws a model or gives a draught of the building in his book or upon a Table there he will shew you every room and contrivance in his book are all the parts of the building written while as yet there are none of them or before any of them are framed and set up In allusion to Architects and other Artisans David speaks of God In thy book were all my members written that is Thou hast made me as exactly as if thou hadst drawn my severall members and my whole proportion with a pen or pensil in a booke before thou wouldest adventure to form me up The Lord uses no book no pen to decipher his work He had the perfect Idaea of all things in himself from everlasting But He may well be said to work as by patern whose work is the most perfect patern As the body so the soul of man is the work of Gods hand too His power and wisdom wrought it and work mightily in it In regard of bodily substance the most inferiour creatures claim kindred of man and he may be compared to the beast that perisheth But in regard of the soul man transcends them all and may challenge a neernesse if not an equality with the Angels The body is to the soul but as a mud wall which imprisons some pretious treasure at best but like a gold ring to a sparkling diamond If the more unworthy part of man be a work worthy of God how much more is his more worthy part There is yet somewhat in man of Gods making which is better then either of these parts and is indeed all man There is somewhat in man more excellent then man The qualities of a man are superiour to his nature man by his nature differs only from a beast but some men by their qualities differ from other men one man hath better qualities then another but no man hath a better nature then another As the soul is more excellent then the body and reason then sense so inward gifts are more excellent then the soul and grace then reason These are the beauty the gildings and engravings of the inner man The Assyrians are called the work of Gods hands not only in reference to creation but regeneration in Christ Isa 19.25 Blessed be Aegypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel mine inheritance 'T is a promise of the calling of the Gentiles when they who were not a people should receive Christ and be made the spirituall Israel by the mighty work of God This also is the work which David intends when he invites all lands to serve the Lord with gladnesse because it is he that hath made us and not we our selves Psal 100.3 Hence the Apostle cals all believers emphatically The work of God Ephes 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Man is the workmanship of God as he is fitted for naturall and civil works but he is most of all the workmanship of God as he is fitted for spirituall and holy works All is the work of God but this is curious work workmanship indeed From the whole take three cautions First Be not proud of what ye are all 's the work of God How beautifull or comely how wise or holy soever ye are 't is not of your selves What hath any man either in naturals or supernaturals which he hath not received Secondly Despise not what others are or have though they are not such exact pieces though they have not such excellent endowments as your selves yet they are what the hand of God hath wrought them and they have what the hand of God hath wrought in them Be more thankfull if ye are better framed and have more workmanship bestowed upon you sleight not those upon whom God hath bestowed lesse Thirdly Despise
turned up-side down To wipe Ierusalem as a dish was to do that which was never done before Some expound that place of the frequency of affliction that God would smite them again and again as they that make clean a dish wipe it over and over that no filth may stay in it The Seventy and the Vulgar translate Delebo IerusaleÌ„ sicut deleri soleÌ„t tabulae Vulg. I will blot out Ierusalem as they use to blot out a table-table-book that is written all over He that hath a table-table-book full of writing and would write more takes a cloth or a spunge and blotteth out what was written that he may thorowly wipe his table-book he rubs it often with his spunge to get the letters clear out Thus God threatned to do with Ierusalem He would wipe or blot out her golden characters and honourable inscriptions till nothing of Ierusalem but her shame and her sinne should remain unblotted out Was not the judgement brought upon Ierusalem a wonder when the Prophet saith Lam. 4.12 The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed it The Apostle speaks thus of his own and of his fellow-Apostles afflictions 1 Cor. 4.9 We are made a spectacle as upon a theater unto the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to Angels and to men All begin to wonder at us what the matter is what strange creatures we are whom the Lord suffers to be thus used The people of God are often a gazingstock to the world in regard of what they do and not seldom in regard of what they suffer Secondly Observe That when God doth greatly afflict his own people he goes out of his ordinary way He shews himself marvellous or wonderfull a man is never marvelled at when he goes his old pace in his old path God loves to have his hand in the hony-pot therefore it is strange to see him give his people a bitter cup to drink or feeding them with wormwood and with gall Judgement is the strange work of God Isa 28.21 The Lord shall be wrath in the valley of Gibeon that he may do his work his strange work and bring to passe his act his strange act And if every work of judgement be his strange work a work he delighteth not to be conversant in what then are great and sore judgements Though the Lord be infinitely pleased in the executions of judgement yet because if a more may be conceived in infinity he is more pleased with mercy therefore judgement is called his strange work his strange act To see a Prince renowned for clemency and pity passing a severe sentence is a strange sight We say he hath shewed himself marvellous he hath gone against both his practice and his nature his custome and his inclination To see any man do what he useth not hath somewhat of wonder in it much more to see God do so When he taketh up his rod we begin to start how much more when he taketh up his sword when he hunts those like a lion whom he dearly loveth and uses those as wilde beasts who are his precious children when he smites them with rigour whom he carrieth in his own bosome These these are acts which represent him to admiration as many acts of his power and mercy cause the Saints to cry out admiringly yet joyfully Who is a God like unto thee So some acts of his visible severity cause others of them to cry out admiringly yet sorrowfully Why O God dost thou act in appearance so unlike thy self Verse 17. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me or thou bringest new witnesses against me and encreasest thine indignation upon me changes and war are against me This 17th verse is but a further amplification of what he had spoken before setting forth the greatnesse and frequent returns of his trouble Thou renewest The first day of the moneth is called Chodesh Chodesh novilunium primus dies mensis quo quasi luna innovatur in the Hebrew from the word here used because then there was a new moon or a change of the moon so Thou renewest thou makest a change I have many new moons but they are all and alwaies at full in sorrow Thou renewest Thy witnesses The Septuagint saith Thy examinations so it is an allusion to the triall of a malefactour who is examined by the Judge and if he deals not plainly in confession then his examination is renewed Thus saith Job Thou sendest as it were new examiners with more articles and additionall Interrogatories as if I had conceal'd somewhat and had not told thee my whole heart We translate and so the word most properly beareth witnesses the sense is the same As some malefactours are often examined so more evidence and new witnesses are brought against them though in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established yet where there are more witnesses then two or three there is more establishment Again As they who are of a wrangling and unquiet disposition will never sit down in a suit when by the examination of some witnesses they have brought the matter to a triall and are cast yet this doth not satisfie them they will have their writ of errour Non tam videtur de instauratione plurium testium queri quam de sententiae ferendae dilatione morâ Pined and bring the matter about again in another Court Thus saith Job as if the Lord were resolved this sute should never have an end He reneweth his witnesses against me When I think all is concluded and agreed between us I am as much to seek as ever he brings all about again So that after all my travell I am as farre from an end as I was at the beginning I am where I was and am like to continue there for I see the Lord renewing his witnesses against me still The doubt is What or whom he meaneth by these Witnesses Philippus in lo. One saith These witnesses were devils Satan accused him at first and he is not alone either in tempting or accusing he can soon have a legion to joyn with him in any design of wickednesse But I passe that opinion Secondly Others say The Witnesses were Iobs three friends they all testified against him Eliphaz began and Bildad was his second Zophar stood ready to follow all against Iob. Poena â—â—ius peccati quasi destatione decedeÌ„te aliam quasi succenturiatam suffecturus es Coc. Thirdly By Witnesses most and they most clearly understand his afflictions Thou renewest thy witnesses that is thou bringest new troubles to testifie against me When one affliction hath spoken at thy bar against me thou callest for the testimony of another and of another and when there will not be another I know not unlesse it be when I am not When Naomi was become Marah her former pleasures being turned into bitternesse she saith Ruth 1.21 The Lord hath testified against me Iob is very expresse in the
minde the good they had done that they remembred not they ever did it The Lord keeps a faithfull record of vvhat his people doe but themselves doe not It is our duty to remember to doe good but let God alone to remember the good we have done The Lord is not unrighteous to forget our labour of love Heb. 6.10 but we lose our righteousnesse unlesse vve forget it If we much remember what we doe God will remember it but little The servants of God know well enough when they doe good to do good ignorantly is a degree of doing evil They know vvhen they doe good and they know vvhat good they doe but vvhen 't is done 't is to them as unknown Hezekiah Isa 38.3 put God in minde of his good deeds Lord saith he remember how I walked before thee with an upright heart c. Hezekiah desired the Lord to remember his uprightnes So Nehemiah in divers passages of that book Chap. 13.14.22.29.31 puts the Lord in remembrance of his righteousnesse But it is one thing to put the Lord in remembrance of vvhat vve have done historically and another thing to plead vvhat vve have done legally It s one thing to shew to the Lord the vvork of his own grace in us and another thing minde the Lord of our vvorks to obtain his grace Hezekiah vvould have God to take notice of vvhat he vvas to pity him in his sicknesse Lord I am thus remember the work of thy hands as I am thy creature remember the vvork of thy Spirit as I am a new creature as I am thy servant And Nehemiah puts all upon the score of mercy He did not say Lord remember me for vvhat I have done answer me according to vvhat I have done but Remember me O my God concerning this and spare me according to the greatnesse of thy mercy Chap. 13.22 If Saints at any time remember God of their works it is not to ground an argument of merit upon their vvorks but to shew God the vvorkings of his grace and spirit Though I were righteous I would not answer him What then What vvill Job doe What course vvill he take for himself if he vvill not answer the Lord What This course he takes and it is the best I would make supplication to my Judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. The Septuagint render it thus I would deprecate his judgement that is I vvould sue for mercy As if he had said I am not vvithout hope because I have none in my self I am not lost because I am lost to my self I have a sure way yet left I will make supplication to my Judge or as M. Broughton reads it I would crave pity of my Judge as if he had said Though justice cast me yet mercy will relieve me Mercy will help me as well and honour God more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad facientem judicareme Mont. The word notes humblest submission as when a man begs for his life Jacob Hos 12.4 wept and made supplication The brethren of Joseph Gen. 42.21 were exceedingly afflicted at the remembrance of their hard usage toward him their brother when they sold him to the Aegyptians Fum qui me judecare facit Pagn We would not hearken when he besought us it is this vvord Think with how much submission Joseph being ready to be sold unto strangers supplicated his brethren for pity Or how a man vvill lie begging at an enemies feet vvho is ready to kill him With such submissive language Job resolved to crave pardon and pity at the hands of God Thus he obeys the counsell of Bildad in the 8th Chapter If thou seek unto God and make thy supplication unto him betimes Job seems to answer Your counsell is good friend Bildad Though I were righteous I would not answer him but according to your advice I would make supplication to my Judge The praiers of the Church in greatest straits and distresses are usually expressed by this word supplications All petitionary Prayer is supplication but because we are much abased and laid very low at such times therefore praier then put up is specially called supplication Hence Solomon at the dedication of the Temple putting cases and suppositions of many afflictions incident to that people still concludes At what time they shall confesse their sinnes and pray and make supplication then c. 1 King 8. And Esth 4.8 Mordecai sends to Esther charging her to goe in to the King What to doe To make supplication unto him The lives of the Jews being given away to satisfie the malice of Haman it was time for her to supplicate in the lowliest posture Thus Job had it in the thoughts of his heart to make supplications to his Judge as if he had said If I were to stand at the tribunall of an earthly Judge I would not supplicate but plead I would not petition his favour but stand upon my right I would not crave his pity but expect his justice I would bring forth my reasons and arguments my proofs and witnesses this course would I run with an earthly Judge but my cause being with God I will only put a petition into the Court and submit unto him let him doe with me what he pleaseth Hence we may observe First That there is no weapon can prevail with God but only praier and supplication Jobs thoughts had travel'd thorow all the creatures and found not one of them could stand before God Etsi opus virtutis exercuero ad vitam non ex meritis sed ad veniam convalesco Preci itaque innitendū est cum recta agimus ut omne quod justè vivimus humilitare condiamus Greg. therefore he resolves to fall down before him I will make supplication Praier overcometh when nothing else can Christ conquered by dying and we conquer by submitting And yet it is not supplication as an act of ours but supplication as it is an ordinance of Gods that prevails with him he looks upon praier as having the stamp of his own institution otherwise our greatest humblings could prevail no more then our proudest contendings The Word preached prevails upon the heart not as it is the act of a man who dispenceth it there is no strength in that but as it is an ordinance of God who hath appointed it So humble supplication obtains much with God because he hath said it shall Secondly To make supplication is to crave pity As praier prevails so no plea in praier can prevail unlesse vve plead pity pity mercy mercy a suppliant looks for all good at the hand of free grace We at any time have sinne enough to procure us evil Jer. 4.18 Thy sinnes have procured these things unto thee But we never have goodnesse enough to procure us any mercy Mercy comes for mercies sake Thirdly In that he saith I would make supplication to my Judge Observe God is the Judge of all our actions and intentions Job was in a great contest with men but
AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICALL OBSERVATIONS CONTINUED Upon the Eighth Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the Book of JOB BEING The Summe of thirty two Lectures delivered at Magnus neer the Bridge London By JOSEPH CARYL Preacher of the Word and Pastour of the Congregation there PSAL. 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all LONDON Printed by A. Miller for Henry Overton in Popes-head-alley and Luke Fawne and John Rothwell in Pauls Church-yard and Giles Calvert at the west end of Pauls 1647. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER To those chiefly of this City who have been the Movers and continue the Promoters of this Work I Am your Debtour and because my stock cannot passe out great summes at once therefore I am constrained to discharge my credit by these smaller paiments I need not call upon you for acquittances or cancel'd Bonds I know your ingenuity will confesse more received then I have paid I have paid you in the Book now presented as much as I intended for this time But time will not suffer me to pay you what I intended and had projected for an Epistle And I beleeve your selves will easier excuse a short Epistle then a longer stay for the whole Book Accept both with your wonted candour and let all these Labours on your behalf be the return of your own praiers to the Father of lights by the help of the Spirit of Grace in Jesus Christ for January 12. 1646. Your affectionate Friend and servant in this work of the Lord Ioseph Caryl AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICALL OBSERVATIONS CONTINVED Vpon the Eighth Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the BOOK of JOB JOB 8.1 2 3. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said How long wilt thou speak these things And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong winde Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice THe answer of Eliphaz to Jobs first complaint hath been opened in the fourth and fifth Chapters together with Jobs reply in the sixth and seventh In which he labours to disasperse and vindicate himself from what Eliphaz had rashly taxed him with Hypocrisie The name of an hypocrite like that of a heretike is such as no man ought to be patient under But while Job endeavours to clear himself in the opinion or from the imputations of one of his friends he runnes into a further arrere of prejudices with a second Some of those arguments which he had framed to pay his debt to Eliphaz and save his own integrity being again charged upon his account by his friend Bildad the Shuhite who presents himself a duty very commendable as an Advocate for God and he conceived there was but need he should Job in his reply having in his sense wronged the justice of God he takes himself obliged to stand up and clear it to shew Job his supposed sinne and provoke him to repentance both by threatnings of further wrath and promises of speedy mercy Thus in generall More distinctly there are four parts of Bildads speech First A confutation of Jobs reply to Eliphaz and he gives it us shadowed by an elegant similitude in the second verse How long wilt thou speak these things and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like the strong winde There 's a censure upon all that he had spoken Secondly He gives us an assertive Question concerning the justice of God to clear it from and set it above whatsoever might seem to stain it in the eyes of men This we have at the third verse Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice Not he Thirdly In the body of the Chapter he urges divers arguments to confirm this conclusion that God is just and there are three heads of argument by which he confirms it First From the example of Jobs children and from his own present with the possibility of his future condition in case he repent from the third verse unto the eighth The second argument is drawn from the testimony of antiquity and that 's laid down in the eighth ninth and tenth verses The third argument appears in the similitudes 1. Of a rush or flag in the 11 12 and 13 verses 2. Of a spiders-web in the 14 and 15 verses 3. Of a Tree flourishing for a time but anon plucked up in the 16 17 18 and 19 verses These are the arguments and illustrations of his grand assertion Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice No he doth not And thou maiest learn this lesson from thy own experience from the example of thy children from the testimony of antiquity yea the withering rush the spiders-web the luxuriant roots and branches of a tree may all be thy Masters and instructours to teach thee this truth That God is just The fourth and last part of the Chapter sets forth the favour of God to those who are faithfull and sincere for having maintained the justice of God and shewed how terrible he will be to hypocrites who deal falsly with him he now mitigates and mollifies his discourse by proclaiming the goodnesse of God to sinners repenting yea who are the worst of sinners to hypocrites if they repent pluck off their masks or disguises and truly humble themselves before him This is the subject of the three last verses of the Chapter Behold God will not cast away a perfect man c. As if he had said Though God be just to deal with hypocrites as he hath dealt with thee and thy children yet he will not cast away the perfect and upright shew thy self such and he will receive thee This he quickens by subjoyning the further severity of God to those that shall persist in their hypocrisie ver 20. and in the close of the 22. Neither will he help the evil doers and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought Thus you have both the generall scope and likewise the speciall parts of Bildads discourse which will give us some help towards a more clear discovery of particulars Verse 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said The Speaker is Bildad I shall not stay upon the person who this Bildad was of what line and pedigree was touched in opening the 11. verse of the second Chapter and therefore I shall passe to the matter about which he speaks Verse 2. How long wilt thou speak these things and how long shall the words of thy mouth be as a strong winde He begins very chidingly How long wilt thou speak these things The words import either first admiration How long As if he had said Could any man have beleeved that thou wouldst have spoken such things as these and these so long How strangely hast thou forgot thy self to twist such a threed and spin out a discourse so sinfully so frowardly so long Secondly The words may carry a sense of indignation in the Speaker How long wilt thou speak these things As if he had said I am not able
to creeple justice to make it lame and halt This word is translated to overthrow Job 19.6 Know now that God hath overthrown me and hath compast me in with his net Iob speaks in a great passion as if God had come upon him violently in judgement and cast him We say a man is overthrown or cast in his sute God overthrows men and Nations but he never overthrows justice A man who overthrowes his adversary may settle justice Iob looked upon himself as one against whom God had entred his action and overthrown him in the sute Lamenting Ieremy cries out Lam. 3.59 O Lord thou hast seen my wrong it is this word Thou hast seen how I am vexed and wrested by the hard dealings of men judge thou my cause Thou wilt judge me aright and set me straight again Judgement is perverted two waies 1. By subtilty 2. By power First Some pervert judgement by subtilty They are wise to do evil The Lord hath infinite wisdome and so is able to go beyond and over-reach all creatures he is wise enough to be-fool all the world but he is not wise to doe evil His wisedome is not a trap or a snare to others but an unerring guide and light to himself 2. Some pervert judgement by violence and force if they cannot untie the knot by craft they will cut it asunder by power and if they have not law for it they have will for it and an arm for it and it shall be done The Lord can doe what he will but he hath no will to doe what is evil He can put forth as much strength as he desires but he hath no desire to pervert justice or to act his power to over-aw and master it Further To pervert judgement and justice hath these two things in it 1. To darken and obscure the rule of judgement 2. To torture or mis-interpret the rule of judgement 1. Judgement is perverted by darkning and obscuring the law or rule of justice God doth not doe so He never casts a mist before his Word or a vail over it that he may act against it 2. Neither doth he mis-interpret his law A good law ill expounded is made the warrant of an evil judgement A glosse corrupting the text of the Law corrupts justice Where tongue and conscience are set to sale the wit must finde out somewhat to help the market The words opened invite these Observations First That God is most exact in judgement God is a just God It is a high truth and we should adore it that whatsoever God doth he is just in doing it When reason cannot reach or make it out yet faith must and we must honour God in what we cannot understand The Lord is righteous in all his waies though his waies are past finding out For 1. He hears every cause before he judges He doth not judge one side before he knows the other or judge any man before he hath heard him fully out We see both Gen. 11. and Gen. 18. in those two great acts of justice when God confounded the builders of Babel and when he destroyed Sodome I will goe down and see whether it be altogether according to the report that is come up unto me God needs no intelligence to be brought him unto heaven neither doth he that fils all places goe to any place to enform himself but he speaks thus to note how exact he is in point of justice To shew that he deals with the children of men as a man who hearing a report of such a thing done saith I will not judge of it by what I hear but I will goe see whether it be so or no. Without evidence of the fact the sentence cannot be just though it may be right 2. He examineth and takes confession which is another point of justice So he proceeded with our first parents Gen. 3. proposing interrogatories unto them and then the judgement is pronounced according unto what was confest he judgeth them out of their own mouths ver 17. Because thou hast done this and hearkened unto the voice of thy wife therefore c. 3. God proceeds by the evidence of the Law as well as by the evidence of the fact and this also sets forth the exactnesse of his judgement These two things make judgement perfect you must not only have the evidence of the fact that such a thing is done but you must have the evidence of the Law condemning such a deed Though God himself be an everlasting Law and he may judge all from his own breast yet he hath given out a Law which gives the knowledge of sinne It is said Rom. 2. They that have sinned without the Law shall perish without the Law as if some should be judged without Law but he means without a Law formally published not materially enacted For he speaks of the Gentiles who were not within the hearing of Mount Sinai and had not seen that formality of a Law written in tables of stone yet they had a Law written in their hearts They that have not heard the Law published or seen it written in a book shall be judged by the Law written in their hearts their conscience bearing them witnesse and their thoughts accusing or else excusing one another 4. God is impartiall in giving judgement He doth not strike one and spare another who is under the same condemnation nothing can sway or bias him nothing can preponderate the balance of justice in his hand you cannot put in any consideration to sway his beam beside the right There are three things which usually cause men to pervert justice The Lord is free from them all 1. Fear of greatnesse Some would doe justice but they dare not the businesse concerns a great man and to doe justice upon such is To take a Bear by the tooth as we say or to play with the paw of a Lion Now the Lord is not turned away for fear nor deferrs he justice for any mans big looks The day of the Lord saith the Prophet Isa 2. shall be against the high Oaks He is El-Shaddai the All-mighty the all-powerfull God and therefore cares not for the might or power of man 2. Hope of reward that 's another thing which causeth many to pervert judgement With some their hope is stronger then their fear They care not for the greatnesse of men but they hope for gain A bribe taken or promised clogs and obstructs the course of justice Hos 4.14 Her Rulers with shame doe love Give ye the Hebrew is Her shields Magistrates should be as shields to the people to protect them but what did they They love Give ye that word pleased them They were more pleased with receiving rewards then with doing right The Lord is above all gifts he is Shaddai he hath all in himself and needs not that any should give unto him and he tels them expressely Ezek. 7.19 That their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of
most the wicked have cause enough to fear those in whom God delights Tâ—â—t of the Prophet which text hath variety of interpretations is taken in this sense Isa 53.8 Who shall declare his generation It is the word of the text Who shall declare his age or the generation of Christ Some understand it of his eterâ—â—â—â— generation Others of his â—â—â—â—â—rall generation when he was â—â—â—â—rnate the mystery whereof was beyond words A third of that eternity which followed his passion As if it were an Antithesis to those words He was taken from prison and he was cut off but who shall declare his generation You may quickly write up the daies that Christ lived here upon earth they were but few even his pilgrimage was short on earth but who can declare his generation Those infinite and eternall ages and revolutions thorow which he shall passe though now you have quickly cut off his life Others by his generation understand the holy seed and issue the children of Christ His Crosse was fruitfull and his sufferings productive of an infinite generation Who can declare it Though you cut off the Father yet this father by dying will give life to an innumerable posterity Who can declare his generation So vers 10. He shall see his seed But besides all these we may with good probability interpret the word generation for the time when Christ sojourned in the flesh Quis cogitare aut dicere potest quam perversi fuerint homines qui tempore ejus victuri sint Pined Who can declare his generation That is who can describe the time or the age wherein Christ lived As if he had said you see here in this glasse of prophecy how they will use Christ how bloudily and cruelly they will deal with him he shall be imprisoned he shall be cut off and numbred among transgressours Who can declare his generation What pen is able with lively colours to paint out the several wickednesses and tyrannies of that age acted against and inflicted upon that holy and innocent lamb Iesus Christ who came to die for the sins of the world Surely his generation or the story of his age will be such as no pen is able to draw out or fully to delineate Who shall declare his age The age which Bildad cals Iob to enquire into is not a part of mans life or the whole life of a man or one age of men or state of times but the whole space of time from the very beginning with all things done or suffered and the persons who have been active or passive doers or sufferers in those times Thus enquire of the former age The reason why he called him to enquire of the former age was because in those times the will of God was not reduced to writing The divinity of the first ages was traditionall The Scriptures were not composed for more than 2000. years after the creation buâ—â—he minde of God was either immediately revealed or carried from father to son from generation to generation being preserved not in paper and 〈◊〉 or other formall records but in the memories and hearts of tâ—â—â—â—ithfull untill the giving of the Dâ—â— Hence it was that Bildad refers Iob to those revelations or to the experiences of the fathers concerning the dealings of God in former ages Columnae duae inscriptae à nepotibus Adami characteres quosdam figuras mathematicas pro siderum observatione potius quaÌ„ ullam historiaÌ„ aut exquisitam de Deo ejus providentia doctrinam habuisse dicuntur Beros l. 8 Ant. Berosus in his eighth book of Antiquities reports that the fathers after Adam set up two great pillars upon which some affirm they inscribed many divine truths but he tels us that those pillars of which some monuments were seen after the floud were filled rather with Astronomicall observations Mathematicall scheams of the heavens and figures of starrs we cannot put much value upon either of these opinions The former cannot warrant us that any thing was registred and written by Gods appointment till the writing of the Law And therefore Bildad according to the usage of those times sends Iob for information to the traditions and reports of the fathers For after the Law was written the Prophets in case of emergent doubts and controversies sent the people not to the traditions or experiences of former ages but To the Law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light or no morning in them Isa 8.20 The word once written was the rule and though it cannot speak yet it must teach us how to speak If we speak not according to this there is no light in us But the word not being written Bildad advises Job well Enquire of the former age And prepare thy self to the search of their fathers Having counsel'd him to enquire of the former age he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prepare thy self to the search of their fathers as if he had said Fundare aptare parare ordinare stabilire significat though I bid thee enquire yet I would not have thee rush hand over head upon this enquiry Prepare thy self The word signifies to lay a good foundation Due preparations are the foundations of action Hence it signifies also to establish because a matter is established and confirmed by wise preparations and considerate addresses to it Those things stand fastest about which we make not too much haste Further the word signifies the fixing of the minde Fix thy heart upon this work keep thy spirits intent Psal 108.1 My heart is fixed saith David which some render My heart is prepared I will sing and give praise Prepare thy self To the search of their fathers Before he advised him to enquire of the former age here To search their fathers as if he had said Do not confine thy self to the immediately fore-passed times but go as high as thou canst The former age as was touched upon that passage may include all times past but here to avoid all mistakes he gives it in expresly The fathers of the former age are the fathers of every age All that have lived before us come under the relation of our fathers The fathers were dead but they lived in their monuments and works these he must search so farre as any mark or remembrance of them could be found Hence observe First That as it is a duty in all so it was a custome in ancient times carefully to record the dealings of God with them for the use of ensuing generations To what end should Job search if nothing were to be found The Jews were commanded to remember the works of God for their learning after the word was written Psal 78.5 He established a testimony in Jacob c. That they should make them known to their children God hath alwaies had a book of his acts and monuments as well as of his laws and institutions Names given to children and yearly feasts
David hid the Commandments of God in his heart Mary laid up the words of Christ there To have the word only swimming in our brains is to as little purpose as to have it only in our note-Note-books To have truth only in our brains or in our books will do us as little good as water in our shoes It is a sad thing to consider how many thousand Sermons are written almost word for word in books and scarce a letter of them written in the heart The promise of the new Covenant is that God will write his law in our hearts Let not any rest satisfied in having the word written in their books Observe further Holy men of old did highly esteem the word and truths of God You may know the esteem they had of these by the place where they laid these the heart is the best place the fairest room in man To put a thing into the heart notes highest esteem and approbation When we say a thing is in our hearts we cannot say more to expresse our esteem of it When the Apostle Phil. 1.7 professes to the Philippians I have you in my heart his meaning is you are most dear and precious to me When vve see a man preparing a speciall place a safe place a convenient place to lay a thing in we conclude that the thing he vvould lay up is of value and account vvith him vvhen vve are preparing and fitting our hearts to put the vvord and truths of God in hereby we give a real testimony that we honour the word of God For the most part the truths of God as we say of things we neglect are cast at mens heels rather then laid up in their hearts We may know the esteem a Queen of England had of the City of Calice when she said It was in her heart and there they should finde it if they opened her So much concerning these three verses containing an argument from antiquity and the testimony of the first ages by which Bildad confirms his former position That God is just JOB Chap. 8. Vers 11 12 13 14 15. Can the rush grow up without mire Can the flag grow up without water Whilest it is yet in his greennesse and not cut down it withereth before any other herb So are the paths of all that forget God and the hypocrites hope shall perish Whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a spiders web He shall lean upon his house but it shall not stand he shall hold it fast but it shall not endure THis context from the 11th to the 20th verse contains an illustration for so are similitudes of the former argument and it is taken from a three-fold similitude First of a rush which is explained vers 11 12. and applied in the 13th verse The second is of a Spiders web explained and applied vers 14 15. The third of a luxuriant flourishing tree explained verse 16 17 18. applied verse nineteenth Behold this is the joy of his way c. The summe of all may be given in this brief That it is as equall and ordinary in the course of divine justice to destroy wicked men as it is in the course of nature for a rush to wither when it wants water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iuncus à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bibit ingurgi tavit quia juncus est aquae immersus eam semper imhibens Consâ—ritur hibula Memphytis cymba papyro Luc. l. 4. Perque papyriferi septemflua flumina Nili or for a spiders web to break when it is leaned upon or for a tree to be hewen down when it either undergrows or overgrows its owners house when casting it's roots under the foundation it loosens the stones and weakens the ground-work or when it spreads its boughs and grows so high that it drops upon the roof or darkens the windows of it Ver. 11. Can the rush grow without mire It cannot The originall word for a rush speaks its nature the root signifying to suck and drink in or alwaies to be guzling down The rush lives in liquour and is alwaies drinking These abounded neer the banks of Nilus in Aegypt There Moses was put into an Ark or skiff made of bulrushes Exod. 2.3 The Prophet Isa 18.1 2. tels us of a land sending Ambassadours by the sea even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elatus eminuit est mediae significationis sumitur pro vitiosa elatione quae est superbia etiam pro magnificentia decore Rivet in Hos 5.5 Limosuâ— juncus palustres juncâ— Amphibia Can the rush grow In strength lustre and beauty The word implies growing with a kinde of pride so plants doe in a rich or proper soyl they lift up their heads and carry it highly Can the rush grow without mire Which is as much as to say can a man live without food Mire is the rushes meat and drink It loves and delights in a moorish soyl and by the rivers side A rush upon the dry land is like a fish upon the dry land At most the rush among vegetables and plants is like those fowls and beasts among sensitives which live part upon the water and part upon the land Can the flag grow without water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Locus graminis ubi pascuntur pecora forsan ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frater quod ex una stirpe velute multifratres gignantur quasi herbarum quaedam fraternitas The word signifies any fertile place for grasse a medow Gen. 41.2 Pharaoh saw in his dream seven welfavoured kine and fat-fleshed and they fed in a medow Some render it so here Can the medow grow without water Both flags and medows are such drinkers that they quickly wither if they want water which Bildad gives us plainly in the next verse Verse 12. Whilest it is yet in his greennesse and not cut down it withereth before any other herb Whilest it is yet in his greennesse Or shooting up in his stemme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abib est spica maturescens veâ—spica cum calamo inde Ibbo virgultuÌ„ aut lignum virens in eo sc tempore quo est parens novarum frugum froâ—dium Vel ob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pater q. d. in paternitate sua Some derive the Hebrew word from Ab Father and so it may be rendered from the letter of the Hebrew though the expression be somewhat uncouth While it is yet in it's paternity or fatherhood that is while it is flourishing and procreative Others derive it from Abib which signifies an ear of corn or the ear with the stalk Hence the moneth Abib among the Jews had its name because in those climates corn was then eared and began to be ripe it was the first moneth to the Israelites because of their coming out of Aegypt and answered to part of our March and part of April Exod. 13.4 Chap. 23.15 This day came ye out in the moneth
Abib this moneth shall be to you the beginning of moneths So then this greennesse of the rush implies the strength and best of it the goodlinesse and beauty of it And not cut down That is before it is cropt and pull'd up by the hand or is fully ripe It withereth before any other herb That is sooner or more speedily then any other herb of lesser shew but better rooting There are two causes why trees wither both which are here removed from the rush and yet it withers First Age but the rush withers while it is young in its greennesse Secondly Violence when it is pull'd up or cut down by force of hand but the rush withers while it is not cut down Both argue enough the little subsistency which the rush hath in it self to seek any further account about it were but to seek a knot in a rush Vers 13. So are the paths of all that forget God c. Bildad having explained his similitude now applies it The comparison may be made out three waies First That hypocrites are kept in life and lustre by outward earthly supplies only as the rush is by mire and water and therefore when these fail they fail also Secondly As the rush dies because it hath no water so an hypocrite declines and wastes because he is not watered by the blessings of God and hath no rooting in grace The seed cast on the stony ground Matth. 13.6 withered because it had no earth â—he lack of earth to the one is the same with the lack of water to the other Thirdly In the generall that as a rush flourishes a while but quickly withers so the best estate of an hypocrite his greennesse is of no long continuance his seeming graces like his joyes are but for a moment Hence observe Naturall things are shadows to us of spirituall We may learn many lessons from speechlesse creatures While we turn the leaves and peruse the contents of this great volume the book of nature we may finde much of the God of nature David took instructions from it daily Psal 8. When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindefull of him I say likewise when we behold the grasse and flowers of the field the flag the rush in the water we may not only put the Question What is man but we may resolve the Question what the man is when we look upon the meanest creatures we may see peeces of our selves they are as we are in many considerations and we as they what is man Man is as grasse What is a wicked man an hypocrite He is a rush He is like the chaff which the winde drives away What is a godly man He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season The Spirit of God from things sensible and visible raiseth us up to things spirituall and invisible The Ancients were very frequent in this kinde of study Praemifit Deus naturam magistram submissurus prophetiam quo faciliùs credas prophetiae discipulus naturae Tertul. Familiare est Syris maximè Palestinia ad omnem sermonem suum parabolas jungere ut quod per simplex praeceptum teneri non potest per similitudines teneatur Hier. in c. 19. Mat. perusing the book of nature and taking helps to better the understanding by every object of the eye It is well observed by one of them That God sent us the book of nature before he sent the book of Scripture The minde of God was written upon the things which he had made before he made tables or books to write his minde in The Fathers had many revelations from the beginning but they had not Scripture from the beginning Some conceive that Isaac going out into the fields to meditate meditated upon the text of the creature and used to raise his heart by those steps of earth to heavenly contemplations It is said of Solomon 1 King 4.32 33. That he spake three thousand Proverbs and his songs were a thousand and five and that he spake of trees from the Cedar tree that is in Lebaâ—â—n even unto the hysop that springeth out of the wall which * Cuilibet specie plantarum suam adhibuit parabolam Joseph in loc Josephus expounds thus Solomon applied his three thousand parables or similitudes unto those trees or plants about which he discoursed drawing some divine morall from every plant whose nature as a Philosopher he had described More distinctly for the spiritualizing of this similitude consider wherein a wicked man or an hypocrite is like unto a rush the rush may be of good value to us being thus improved First The rush is a very spungy hoven hollow substance it is not solid or close-grain'd An hypocrite hath no solidity we call him a hollow-hearted man Secondly Hypocrites are well compared to a rush or a flag because in windy weather they sit which way soever the winde sits They take no haâ—â— by a storm because they yeeld to every turn let the winde blow which way it will the rush breaks neither body nor branch Let things turn which way they will hypocrites can shift and bend and yeeld with them And therefore when storms arise which pull down and destroy many goodly trees of Gods own planting these rushes continue Hypocrites keep their standing because they never stand A great man being asked how he kept his honour and preferment in so many changes of winde and weather of times and Princes answered By being a willow and not an Oak He that can sway seldome breaks Hypocrites in the Church and State live by the same principles Thirdly A bulrush or a flag in time of a storm hangs down the head but when the storm is over it holds up the head and stands upright again This resemblance between the hypocrite and a bulrush is given by the Prophet Isa 58.5 Is this the fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul Is it to bow downe his head as a bulrush c The bulrush in a storm seems to be humbled to the very ground but in fair weather it is as high as ever Hypocrites in times of publike humiliation hang down their heads and seem to lay their mouths in the dust but when the day is past they quickly forget their sorrows If I saith the Apostle Gal. 1.18 build again the things which I have destroyed I make my self a transgressour Hypocrites are the worst sort of transgressours for they seem to destroy their sins one day but they indeed build them again the next Fourthly The rush and the flag grow only in miry places where they may have abundance of water and moisture which notes a kinde of sensuality in them and therefore they have their names from drinking So hypocrites seem to be heavenly but are indeed earthly they are like the rush they cannot live without
will stop this sword from going on If he speak to the sword the sword shall wound no more We may entreat the sword to wound no more as they Jer. 47.6 cried out O thou sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou be quiet put thy self into thy scabbard rest and be still The answer was How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon c. Our answer might be changing place the same How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against England A word from God draws and a word from God sheaths the sword He that commands the Sunne and it riseth not can command the sword and it smiteth not the fire and it burns not the water and it drowns not the Lions and they devour not How happy are they who serve the Lord over all Observe fourthly seeing He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not That The daily rising of the Sunne is an act of grace and favour to the world The Sunne doth not rise alone of it self it is the Lord as we may say that helps it up every morning Therefore it is said Mat. 5.45 He makes his Sunne to rise His Sunne mark how Christ speaks of the Sunne as Gods own that Sunne which he can either cause to rise or not to rise cause to rise upon one people and not upon another He makes his Sunne to rise there is an act of common grace in making it to rise upon any especially in making it to rise upon all upon the evil and upon the good Mat. 5.41 That God makes the Sunne rise to give them light who use their eyes onely to rebell against the light how admirable is it Lastly As to the speciall aim of Job we see what a proof we have of the omnipotency of God He is great in power and mighty in strength Why because he can stop the Sunne He that can stay the Sunne what can he not doe We say to men that attempt impossibilities Climb up to the Moon it is more to stay the Sun than to climb the moon And if the Lord be able to overcome this difficulty what difficulty can he not overcome Here 's a clear proof of the infinite power and wisdome of God Qui efficit noctem diem nam donec oritur sol est nox adveniente die quasi obsignatae occultantur stellae Juâ— He speaks to the Sunne and it riseth not And He sealeth up the stars The Sunne is the light of the day the stars the light of the night He sealeth up the stars Some take it to be a Periphrasis or a description of night and day because till the Sunne riseth it is night and when day appears the stars are sealed up or disappear The Sun riseth and the stars are obscured we see them not So the former clause He commandeth the Sun and it riseth not is a description of the night and this later he sealeth up the stars is a description of the day The plain sense of both being this He maketh both night and day Secondly say others This seal is set upon the Sunne in behalf of the stars He sealeth up the Sunne for the stars that is Pro stellis signavit â—â—solem signaculo quasi in favorem stellarum Deus continet solis splendorem in altero Haemispherto Cajet in favour of the starres that the starres might sometime appear in their lustre and glory to the world he keepeth the Sunne from appearing But as we translate we may better keep the seal upon the stars He sealeth up the stars And so sealing may import either of those two things First The safe custody of the stars He sealeth up the stars that is he preserveth the stars in their orbs in the places where he hath set them they shall never drop out Sealing is often used for assurance and safe-keeping Darius Dan. 6. Anrulos non tam oâ—natus quam custodiae gratia olim inventos diâ—it Macrobius l. 7. Saturn c. 3. sealed the stone upon the den of Lions that so Daniel might not be rescued or fetcht out from the danger The Jews that they might keep Christ fast enough seal'd the stone of the sepulchre wherein his body was laid Mat. 27. And in a spirituall sense the sealing of the Spirit is to make the soul safe in the love and favour of God A soul that is sealed by the Spirit of God is secured of the love of God and shall never drop out of his heart So He sealeth up the stars is He makes the stars firm and fast in their Sphears But rather Secondly Sealing is for secrecie or for the hiding of a thing from the sight of others So in the sealing of letters that they be not seen and of treasures that they be not stoln or taken away Deut. 32.34 Job 14.17 Thus the Lord seals up the stars Clausae videntur cum non videntur Stellae omnia coeli lumina vetur characteres quidam efficiunt librum Pined when he clouds or obscures the stars and will not let them be seen Some make it an allusion to a book The heavens are a great volume wherein many truths of God are written his name is there and the stars are as so many characters or letters of his Name He often seals up this great volume and so blots these letters that no man can read or distinguish them Thirdly The meaning of He sealeth up the stars may be taken thus He keeps in and closes up the vertue and influences of the stars he stops those treasures which usually come down from the stars upon the earth Naturall Philosophy teaches us that all the fatnesse and fruitfulnesse of the earth is convaied from the heavens Heaven nurses and suckles the earth and if the Lord please he can dry up those brests seal up those influences stop those secret workings which the heavenly bodies have upon the earth Observe hence That the influences of the heavens are in the hand of God to let them out or stay them as he pleaseth As he can seal up the spirituall treasures of heaven that the soul shall receive no light comfort or refreshing from them in ordinances so he seals up the naturall influences of the heavens that the earth and the fruits of it here below shall receive no quickning no refreshing from them And the earth languishes when the Lord suspendeth and sealeth up the naturall influences of heaven as the soul languisheth when the Lord stops up the spirituall influences of heaven when he seals up that star of Jacob that day-star from on high Jesus Christ What we hear of God in naturall things should keep us in continuall dependance upon him for spirituals he seals with the comforts of his own Spirit and he seales up all comforts from our spirits Verse 8. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea This verse gives us a further argument
speak well of himself to God Let God report him perfect to men he will not report himselfe perfect before God Though Job had a free and a full certificate of his innocency not one bought begged or got with flattery yet he forbears in this case to bring it forth and read it to his friends They who have most reall worth and holinesse in them are least in their own eyes and lowest in their own thoughts they of whom God gives the fairest testimony give the meanest of themselves he cares not much to appear to be what God assures him he is God was positive without Ifs or And 's in his opinion of him Thou art perfect but he puts it into a supposition and concludes with an if If I were perfect c. In the 21. verse Job carries on the same businesse and bewraies a more humble and self denying frame of minde then before Though I were perfect yet c. There is a contention among Interpreters to which part of the Chapter this 21. verse belongs whether to that which went before or to that which follows after I shall open it first as the sense of it may be connected with the matter preceding Verse 21. Though I were perfect yet would I not know my own soul I would despise my life Though I were perfect Observe the gradation He had said before If I plead with God and justifie my self I shall be condemned and proved perverse But put my case at the best that I justifying my self the Lord should accept my justification and should concurre with my vote that I am perfect yet I could take no joy in this If the Lord should condescend to know me under that notion I would not adventure to know my own soul under the notion of my perfections The thing is an abhorring to me I would not know my soul Why not There are two senses given first thus If I were perfect that is if upon debate and pleading with God I should come off perfect in my own judgement certainly then I did not know my own soul That 's one sense and so it fals in well with the former words If I should justifie my self my mouth would prove me perverse And so the point that I shall note from it is That ignorance of our selves is the cause of proud and high thoughts of our selves He that knows himself must know himself to be imperfect seeing our greatest perfection in this life is to know our own imperfections When we see any standing upon their own bottoms and crying up themselves poor souls how are they benighted How little doe they know of their own hearts or lives How little doe they know of God! They are in darknesse therefore they see not their own spots If a man whose face is foul or deformed should boast of his beauty would you not say this man knows not his own face Or surely he hath not look'd in a glasse to day May we not much rather say to him who justifies himself and saith He is perfect Sure you never saw your face in the glasse in that pure Crystall glasse of the Word He that is in Gospel-light sees himself and as light encreaseth so doth his sight of himself And the more he sees himself the more evil he sees in himself In a cloudy day we think the air is clear but the shining of the Sun shews us millions of motes in the air if a man sees no motes in his life some see not beams there it is because he walks in darknesse and hath not the light He doth not know his own soul That 's a usefull interpretation of the words and the first sense Secondly If I were perfect Talem de me cogitationem non admittam sed omnino contemnam de monte mea penitus excutiam Quantum vis bene recteque vixerim hac penitus despiciam Bold Admirabili omni acceptatione dignissima doctrina ac si essâ—t ex purissimis evangelij fontibus hausta E coelo descendit Nosce teipsum Noverim me noverim te August If it should be told me I were perfect I would not know my own soul that is I would not take notice of my self as perfect I would be a stranger to my self under that title I would shake the thoughts of such a perfection out of my minde as much as I would shake the thoughts of sinfull corruption out of my minde It is as dangerous to lodge or nourish thoughts of our own perfection as to lodge thoughts of the most sinfull corruptions A holy heart loves good thoughts but it loves not thoughts of its own goodnesse So then I would not know my soul imports not affected ignorance but elected knowledge Job was no stranger to his own soul he had studied himself and was well verst in his own bosom Self-knowledge is a duty And self-knowledge may be a sinne Christians should read themselves more then books and yet they may pore too much upon themselves Heathens gave us this lesson and they say it came from heaven Know thy self Augustine is quick upon it Lord I know ME and I know THEE To know God and our selves is the summe of all knowledge God doth not know him who knows not himself There is a double knowledge of our selves First Of sinfull self or of our sins and failings Secondly Of renewed self or of our vertues and graces Not to know how frail we are how sinfull we are to what corruptions and temptations we are most subject is a sinfull and corrupt ignorance To know our imperfections is a part of our perfection Secondly Not to know our graces and vertues Talis ignorans a Deo ignoratur what the work of the Spirit and the new nature within us is this also is a sinfull ignorance It is no honour to be what we doe not know our selves to be it is to be in the state of a beast not to reflect upon our own estate The new creature is light and carries a light for it's own discovery The reprovable knowledge of our own souls is not the knowledge of intuition whereby we apprehend what we are but the knowledge of ostentation whereby we are proud of or trust upon what we are Non noscere animam phrasis est Hebraea quae tantum rei despectum prae se fert ut illam etiam respicere aut aliquo modo noscere quis renuat We have an ordinary saying amongst us which reaches this sense fully Such a woman is beautifull and she knows it Such a one is a proper man and he knows it Such a one hath many good parts a very fine wit and he knows it that is such persons pride and lift themselves up in their perfections You shall have a soul that will know it self into I know not how much pride many stand reflecting upon their own perfections either externall how proper strong and beautifull they are or internall how vvitty and eloquent they are vvhat excellent parts
thou deal with me as with a wicked man Thou knowest that I am not wicked for by thy preventing grace thou hast kept me from all wickednes and stopt me from many sins Whence note That the remembrance of the power of God in keeping us pure from greater sins is an argument that he will spare us though we have through infirmity fallen into sin He that holds us from iniquity will not destroy us for iniquity Some are stopt from sinne and storm when they are stopt these have no reason to think God will spare them because he hath stopt them Thousands are stopt from sin who neither know what it is to sinne nor that they have been stopt from sinne These cannot plead this point As it is no vertue to endure what is not grievous to us so no grace not to do what is not joyous to us when we do it But to know we are stopt from a pleasing sin and rejoyce at it to see how our corruptions have been prevented and to blesse God for it this is a great degree of grace As there is a preventing grace which beginneth with us while we are strangers from God and are walking on in the waies of sin so there is a preventing grace watching over us after we are turned to God lest we fall into sin Experience of this may be a sweet support unto the soul under the saddest afflictions and in the darkest night of spirituall desertions Thirdly The word signifieth to keep in prison or in safe custody The Noun is a prison in Hebrew And thus the sense is given three waies as an Assertion as an Interrogation as an Imprecation First as an Assertion If I have sinned thou wilt or thou maiest imprison me and not acquit me from mine iniquity Whence note That the best and dearest of Gods servants may look for straits if they walk loosly The Lord will shut them up if they presume and take undue liberty or grow licentious They shall be either humbled or destroyed who turn the grace of God that is the manifestation of his grace either by his word or by his works into wantonnesse God will not cocker his own children and dandle them so as to forget to correct them if they forget him and their own duty If Israel sin Israel shall smart for it and if Iob sinne Iob must look to be laid in prison for it Thus he speaks acquitting God from shining upon the counsels of wicked men seeing he will not spare no not his own children if they sinne against him Secondly The sense is given by an Interrogation If I sinne Valde durum videtur ut si quid peccaverim perpetuò me in carcere custodiaque arctissima dotineas neque unquam peccati paenas remâ—ttere velis â—ined An simulac pecco observas me c. Jun. Verba jurantis contestantis suam innocentiam si peccavi imprecor mihi durissimam custodiam Bold Wilt thou therefore shut me up in prison Wilt thou not acquit me from mine iniquity And so he pleadeth with God as using too much severity and harshnesse against him What shall I be laid by the heels for every fault Shall I be arrested and clapt up in irons for every sinne Wilt thou imprison me and not acquit me from mine iniquity They who are most wicked deserve no worse then this and shall I if I do but sin receive such measure Where are thy compassions and the sounding of thy bowels are they restrained It should seem so else thou wouldest not thus restrain and imprison me Thirdly As an Imprecation If I have sinned according as I am charged imprison me as long as thou wilt and do not acquit me from mine iniquity If I am such a man as my friends judge me to be I expect no favour let me be poor and sick still torture me rack me do what thou wilt with me Like that of David Psal 7.4 5. If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me c. Let the enemy persecute my soul and take it yea let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honour in the dust I ask no favour if I am such a man as mine enemies have represented me or if I have done that for which they challenge me Fourthly To observe and mark and it importeth a criticall a curious observation to mark exactly Psal 130.3 If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquity who shall stand But doth not the Lord mark iniquity Doth not he take notice of every sin acted by any of the children of men especially by his own children Why then doth the Psalmist put it upon an If If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity 'T is true the Lord marks all iniquity to know it but he doth not mark any iniquity in his children to condemn them for it So the meaning of the Psalm is That if the Lord should mark sinne with a strict and severe eye as a Judge to charge it upon the person sinning no man could bear it Master Broughton translates When I sinne thou dost watch me watching is more then marking Refertur ad exquisitam Dei observationem universarum humanae vitae actionum Rab. Abrah Tygur Reg 70. Observas me ne unquam lateant peccata August Quoties peccavi id diligentissimè notasti Merc. as if the Lord had taken up a stand upon a high place and did there compose himself to see what 's done or to make annotations upon the whole text of mens lives all the world over Whence observe That God takes notice of the sinnes and failings of his owne people If I sin then thou markest me and in the 14th Chapter verse 16. Thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sin Thou numbrest my steps What steps He meaneth not the steps of his outward but of his inward man or the steps of his outward man in order to the inward There is a morall walking Walk before me and be upright walking is conversing or acting so Thou numbrest my steps thou tellest my morall motions the actings of my soul and body what I do and what I think Dost thou not watch over my sinne And again Chap. 31.4 Doth not he see my waies and count all my steps That is how my conversation is ordered both toward himself and toward my neighbour Thus the Lord counteth all our steps we cannot step aside or tread awry but he observes us There are two that keep a record of our lives First God he followeth us up and down as with pen ink and paper to write our actings Secondly Our own consciences which are as God within us keep a record too they write our lives and count our steps Many cannot read the book of conscience and so know little that is in it But a time will come if conscience be not purged by the bloud of Christ when they shall perfectly read all their sins in the book of conscience And if conscience which is Gods deputy
if he had said There shall be sorrow in those places where usually the greatest joy was found or there shall be sorrow in every place Joy shall dislodge and give place to sorrow for I will passe thorow thee saith the Lord. So that as the work of providence in sparing and the work of providence in punishing may be understood by this word with a little varying of the construction He passeth by me in the waies of mercy and I see him not Deus simplicissimus est spiritus invisibilis itaque neque nos adorientem cum venit neque cum obis pedem referentem sentiâ—e possumus and he passeth thorow me in the waies of judgement and I see him not I cannot see or understand him as I ought either in waies of judgement or of mercy Thirdly we may take the words as they are an argument to prove the power and wisdom of God to be such as man is no way able to match or to deal withall which is the subject Job is upon He would set the Lord infinitely above all that is in the creature and he doth it there by an argument drawn from his nature What is his nature Why he is most simple he is a spirit without any mixture without any composition without any materiality he is invisible bodily eies cannot behold him therefore certainly bodies are not able to overcome him Man being a materiall substance is not able to see the Lord then surely he is not able to contend with much lesse to conquer the Lord What then doth he medling with him It was said at the 4th verse of this Chapter Who ever hardened himself against him and hath prospered Is flesh and bloud any match for a spirit If man would strive with God where should he have him He goeth by me â—nd I see him not he passeth on also and I perceive him not I know not where to meet him he can come upon me on every side he may take me at all advantages and destroy me for I know not how to guard or defend my self If a man were to fight with an enemy whom he could not see and yet his enemy saw him what an advantage had his enemy against him Doth any man harden himself against God He goeth by and we see him not How then can we deal with him or stand against him Thus I say it may be an argument to make good that great assertion That there is no contending with God flesh and bloud are too weak for a spirit It is the argument which the Apostle uses to shew that the devil is too hard for man We wrestle not with flesh and bloud but with principalities and powers with spirituall wickednesses c. Ephes 6. They passe by us and we understand it not they are now here amongst us and we take no notice of it We are no matches for evil spirits much lesse are we able to match the most holy Spirit Est invicti hostis descriptio Spirituall wickednesses are strong but spirituall holinesses are stronger This third interpretation renders the words a description of an invincible enemy Fourthly It may be understood in the generall Significatur hic summa distantia inter Deum homines Deus omnia videt rebus omnibus praesentia efficaciâ— sua intervenit homo suo affixus loco Deum non videt nisi in effectis Coc. to note the infinite distance which is between God and man or the dignity of God above man The Lord is omnipresent he is going by and he is passing on he is in all places and he acts his power and wisdom where he pleases Poor man is confined to a place to a spot of earth when he is here he cannot be there but God is every where And though God be every where yet he cannot be seen any where where he is God sees all himself being unseen and fils all places his presence being is unperceived nothing is hid from him yet he is hid to every thing but the faith of his own people Thus He goeth and we see him not he passeth on and we perceive him not And so the whole is a confirmation and proof of the generall assertion that the Lord is infinite in power and wisdom and that man is an ignorant narrow-room'd and narrow-hearted weak creature compared unto him We may form up the Argument thus Si quod documentum potentiae sapientiae suae â—e dat Deus ob oculos meos non sum is qui id pervestigare possum adeo inscrutabilia sunâ— judicia ejus Juâ— Transeundi transmeandi verbis concinnè significat ea documenta sapieÌ„tiae quae Deus exh bet quasi praesens praeâ—entes erudiret He is weak and ignorant in comparison of God who cannot see or comprehend where God is or what God doth But man is not able to comprehend or see where God is or what God doth Therefore man iâ— weake and ignorant in comparison of God The ground is this He that cannot comprehend or see what another doth is not able to hinder or match him in what he doth But such is the state and condition of man he is so far from being able to equall God in dignity or hinder what he doth that he cannot finde out or know what God doth Yet this is not to be taken strictly as if man did not at all perceive or understand what God doth Job in the former context gave us a large account of the works of God what wonders he had done The Saints finde out some of Gods doings in the world though the blinde world see not any thing he doth But he speaks comparatively The Lord passeth on and we perceive it not that is it is little of God that we perceive it is little of the workings of God that we see at the best There are many persons who do not see him at all and many works that are not seen at all by any person Ita significat ex ioperibus Dei vix centissimum quodque ut par est ab hominibus expendi â—ined And they the eies of whose understandings are anointed to see most clearly are not able to see all that God doth None can see all some will not see what they may Isa 26.10 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see it and in the former verse In the land of uprightnesse will he deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. That which good men see is but little and evil men see nothing So that as the Lord goeth altogether invisibly in his essence so mostly in his actions man sees but few things of the many and little of the great things which God doth Nemo potest scire an Deum habeat in se habitantem in se manentem Jâ—cob Janson in loc I meet with a grosse exposition of this text given by some Papists No man saith one of them can know whether God dwell
or abide in him or no. And Bellarmine in his 5th book and 5th Chapter concerning justification citeth it to prove That a believer cannot know that he is justified but must believe blinde-fold or take the work of justification by grace in the dark For saith he God goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on and we perceive him not Allenâ—ssi â—e huÌ„c locum citat Bellarâ—inus ut probet nuâ—uÌ„ fidâ—lem scire an justificatus sit Coc. That is as his glosse speaks God commeth in favour to justifie or he leaveth under wrath and yet man remains ignorant both of the one and of the other state Surely he was at a great pinch to finde a proof for his point when he was forced to repair to this Scripture to seek one Providence toward man-kinde not the justification of a sinner is the proper subject of this text And as there is nothing for a blinde-fold justification here so many other Scriptures are expresly against it To say that a man cannot know when God loveth him or shineth upon him is to contradict what our Saviour asserts Joh. 14.17 I will send the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Ye know him saith Christ to his people the Saints see God in a spirituall sense or in his workings upon their spirits And though God works much upon our spirits which we know not yet we have a promise of the Spirit by whom we know God in his workings Few know when God is nigh or when he is a farre off what his goings away mean or what his commings But when he cometh to the Saints they know he commeth and when he hideth or departeth from them they know his hidings and departures Hence their joies and over-flowings of comfort when he manifests his presence and hence their bitter complainings and cryings after him where he seems to absent himself and hide his face yet this Text hath a truth in it in reference to the inward and spirituall as well as the outward and providentiall dealings of God that sometimes He goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on also and we perceive him not Hence learn First That God is invisible in his essence and incomprehensible in many of his actions Mans eie cannot see him Mans understanding cannot comprehend what he doth But why speaks Job this as a matter of wonder if it be the common condition of man-kinde Behold he passeth by and I see him not who can see him who can perceive or comprehend him When Moses Exod. 33.20 desired to see his face the Lord answers No man can see my face and live God spake to Moses face to face that is familiarly as a man speaketh to his friend yet Moses did not could not see the face of God No man can see God in his essence or nature A sight of God would astonish yea swallow up the creature It is death to see the living God and man must die before he can see God so fully as he may and know as he is known But though the face of God be invisible yet his back-parts may be seen Behold saith the Lord to Moses there is a place by me stand thou there upon a rock and thou shalt see my back-parts thou shalt see much of my glory shining forth as much as thou canst bear as much as will satisfie thy desire were it a thousand times larger then it is though not so much as thou hast not knowing what thou askest desired of me My Name shall be proclaimed Gracious and mercifull c. the back-parts of God may be seen the invisible God discovereth much of himself to man and shews us a shadow of that substance which cannot be seen Some may object that of the Prophet Isaias crying out Woe unto me for mine eies have seen the King the Lord of hosts Chap. 6.5 Seen him could Isaias see him whom Job and Moses could not Isaias did not see him in his essence and nature but in the manifestations and breakings forth of his glory His train filled the Temple saith the Text vers 1. or his skirts It is an allusion to great Kings who when they walk in State have their trains or the skirt of their royall robe held up T' was this train which Isaias saw He saw not God who was present but he saw the manifest signs of his presence That speech of Isaiah seemed to savour of and border upon highest blasphemy and was therefore charged as an article of accusation against him he was indited of blasphemy for speaking those words I have seen the Lord his enemies taking or wresting it as if he had made the Lord corporeall and visible with the eie of the body And it is conceived he was put to death upon that and one other passage in his prophecy Cha. 1.10 calling the Princes of Judah Princes of Sodom and the people thereof the people of Gomorrah But though God be thus invisible in his essence yet there is a way by which the essence of God may be seen And of that Moses to whom the Lord said Thou canst not see my face the Authour to the Hebrews saith Heb. 11.24 That he saw him who was invisible the letter of the text carries a contradiction in the adjunct it is as much as if one should say He saw that which could not be seen The meaning is He saw him by the eye of faith who could not be seen by the eye of sense faith sees not only the back-parts but the face of Jehovah the essence of God is as clear to that eye as any of his attributes yea his essence is as plain to faith as any of his works are to sense Thus he is seen Whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 not the Saints in heaven they are not able to see the Lord in his essence He passeth by them there and they see him not in heaven we are promised a sight of him yet not that fight Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God and without holinesse no man shall see the Lord then holy men shall see him the state of the Saints in glory is vision as here it is faith 2 Cor. 13.12 We shall see him face to face and as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 These Scriptures which speak of the estate of the Saints beholding God in glory are not to be understood as if the nature and essence of God could be seen for no man hath seen that nor ever shall but they are meant of a more full and glorious manifestation of God We shall see then face to face that is more plainly for it is opposed to seeing him in a glasse we see him now in a glasse that is darkly in ordinances in duties in his word and in his works but there shall be no need of these glasses in heaven We
point at the sixteenth Chapter of this book and the eighth verse which may be a Commentary upon this Thou hast filled me with wrinckles which is a witnesse against me and my leannesse rising up in me beareth witnes to my face Afflictions bring in evidence and testifie many waies They sometimes witnesse for us evidencing our graces our faith patience sincerity and submission to the hand of God they are witnesses also of our adoption or spirituall sonship Heb. 12.8 If you be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons It is no good sign to be free from sufferings Hear ye the rod saith the Prophet Micah as we ought to hear it calling us from sin so we may hear it calling us sons Chastenings speak our priviledges as well as our duties They often witnesse against us First That sin is seated in us and hath been acted by us If we had no sin vve should know no sorrow Though some afflictions are not sent out directly against sin yet every affliction is both a consequent and a testimony of remaining sin The bundle of rods at our backs saith there is folly and sin bound up in our hearts and vvhen once we are purged from all sin vve shall hear no more of any affliction of any rod. We shall be past suffering as soon as vve are past sinning Secondly They are vvitnesses in speciall of that great sin the pride of our hearts and lives If there were not swellings and impostumations of pride in our spirits vve should not feel such lancings Paul himself acknowledges that they vvere growing upon him if God had not taken a severe course to keep them down Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me 2 Cor. 12.7 Hence afflictions are called humiliations both because an afflicted person is humbled or laid low by the hand of God as also because afflictions are sent to humble and lay us low in our selves Now if one speciall businesse vvhich affliction hath vvith us be to humble us then doubtlesse affliction vvitnesseth that there is pride in us That vvhich is sent to remove an evil shews the presence of it Thirdly They are vvitnesses by bringing to our remembrance the acting of forgotten sins Affliction is a help to memory That vvhich vve forget we have done or spoken vvitnesses coming in make us remember so also do our troubles When the brethren of Joseph had been put in ward three daies and heard him demand one of them to be left as an hostage in prison till they brought Benjamin This distresse caused them to say We are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distresse come upon us Gen. 42.21 The guilt of that sin was about twenty years old but they felt not the smart of it till themselves smarted for it their imprisonment set their memories at liberty and vvhen they saw themselves in danger to become bond-men to the Aegyptians they had vvitnesse enough of their selling Joseph for a captive to the Ishmaelites Fourthly Afflictions vvitnesse obstinacy and resolvednesse in the waies of sin or that afflicted persons or Nations turn not for sinne Every vvound vvill open it's mouth as a vvitnesse and every stroak will bring an evidence against the impenitent The troubles which God brought upon Ahaz witnessed emphatically 2 Chron. 28.22 This is that King Ahaz who in the time of his distresse did trespasse yet more against the Lord. If we are not bettered by our distresses our distresses testifie that we are naught how much more when we are worse in our distresse As all good things which we have received so all evils which we have suffered will rise up in judgement against those who still continue evil Fifthly Afflictions witnesse two things concerning God First That he hath an eye upon us and care of us He will not let us want any thing that is needfull for us no not affliction Due chastisement given a childe is an argument that his father loveth him and looks to him Secondly They are witnesses of Gods fatherly displeasure Some say God cannot be displeased with his children because his love is everlasting But will any man say A father doth not love his childe because he corrects him yet a father never correcteth his childe but when he is displeased with him Parents may not strike unprovoked and 't is rare that God doth so A man may be much displeased with and much love the same person at the same time and 't is very usuall for God to do so Afflictions never testifie any the least hatred of God against his people but they often testifie some and sometimes great displeasure against his people Lastly Afflictions upon the godly are reckoned very sufficient and credible witnesses by the world that either they are not godly or that surely some great ungodlinesse hath been acted by them How many precious men have been cast upon this evidence for traitors and rebels against God Iobs friends took this for proof enough that he was wicked They could not be perswaded he was good because he endured so many evils As the high Priest cried out against Christ what further need have we of witnesses behold now ye have heard his blasphemy so said Iobs friends concerning him What need have vve of further vvitnesse Behold vve have seen his misery What do these losses in his estate and ruines upon his family What do these sores upon his body and sorrows in his soul but publish unto us what he hath kept close and concealed the profanenesse of his spirit and the hypocrisie of his former profession Iob perceiving his friends making use all along of this proof as of their chiefest and strongest medium might well complain to God upon the renewall of every daies affliction Thou renewest thy witnesses against me And encreasest thine indignation upon me or Thy indignation encreaseth upon me In the beginning of the verse his own afflictions did encrease but here the indignation of God Indignation is more grievous then affliction and the indignation of God is the most grievous indignation The word signifies wrath displeasure fierce fiery wrath hot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consuming displeasure Increasest There is a double increase here noted First Extensive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly Intensive an increase both in multitude and magnitude As if he had said I have more troubles in number and more in weight Indignation is here put for the effects of indignation neither the wrath nor the love of God do ever encrease in him but in their exertions or in the putting of them forth towards us Observe from it First That a godly man may conceive himself under the indignation of God The Church stoops to it Mich. 7.9 I will bear the indignation of