are vanity all goe to one place all are of the dust and all turn to the dust again And whereas the Atheist heard some speake of the ascent of mans spirit after this life he puts it off as but talke and guessing ver 21. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth That is who can tell that there is such a difference between the spirit of a man and of a beast who ever saw the one ascending or the other descending or from what Anatomie was this learned Thus the Atheist derides the doctrine of the soul and will therefore laugh and be merry with his body while it lasts that 's his portion For who shall bring him to sâ—e what shall be after him ver 22. Is it not strange that any who are called sober Christians should plant their opinions in this soyle of Atheisme and make that a proofe of their faith which Solomon brings only as a proofe of some mens infidelity The Preacher in this Book personated those whom he abhor'd and sometimes speakes the practises of other men not his own opinion There is no more reason to ground this Tenet of the Soules Mortality upon those texts then there is of encouragement to intemperancie in that chap. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine own heart Or in that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 32. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die If any would learne Solomons own sence about this point let him reade it as plaine as words can make it Eccl. 12. 7. Then namely when man dies shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it So then to the next before us the soule is not a wind but the Hujusmodi sententiâ— regressum animarum in corpora minin è negant sed necessitatem moriendi confirmant celeri atem life And all those Scriptures where life is compared to wind and dying to the passing of it without returning deny the regresse or returning of the soule to a naturall not to an eternall life and imply the short stay of the soule in the body and certaine departure from it not a not being when it parts These two must part and so part as never to returne to that estate againe Thus Iob expounds himselfe in the words following Mine eye shall no more see good Or as the Hebrew I shall not return to see good answerable to the metaphor of a wind it passeth away and returnes no more To see In this place as often elsewhere is to enjoy I shall not Videre bonum pro frui nota locutio est enjoy good Psal 4. 6. Who will shew or who will cause us to see any good It was not the bare sight of good which they desired but the enjoyment of it So Ier. 17. 6. The man whose heart departeth from God is threatned that he shall not see when good cometh that is he shall not enjoy good when it comes For though to see good be a mercy yet to see it and not to tast it is a curse Therefore at the last day they who thought themselves high in Gods favour but were indeed under his wrath are told that they shall Lam. 13. 26. see Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God and themselves shut out they shall see what they cannot enjoy and that sight shall adde to their sorrow The Prophet cries out Lament 3. 1. I am the man that hath seen affliction that is I am the man that hath felt and had experience of afflictions And Psalm 16. 10. the great promise to Christ is that though he took a corruptible body upon him yet he should not see corruption that is partake of corruption corruption should have no communion with much lesse power over him And we have the same use of the word in this book chap. 20. ver 17. where Zophar tells the hypocrite that God will deprive and strip him of every good thing He shall not see the rivers the floods the brookes of honey and butter It is a rhetoricall expresson comparing the affluence of outward things to floods and rivers and brooks which send forth their streames plentifully as if he had said though there be great store of honey and butter those two are specified for the rest though there be rivers brooks and streames of these commodities yet he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall see none of them that is he shall not enjoy or tast a drop of Sicut Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latini bonum aliquando pro pulchro commodo utili usurpant Isa subinde Hebraei vocabudum Tob Fagius in Gen. 2. 18 them That unbeleeving Lord is told by Elisha that he should see plenty in Samaria the next day but should not eate thereof 2 King 7. 2. Not to see is not to eat and he that sees but eates not is not releeved but troubled at the sight Mine eye shall not see good What good when a man dies shall he see no more good we see but little good while we live and the greatest good is to be seen when we die or rather while we live what doe we see but evill and when the Saints die what have they to see but good how is it then that Iob saith when I die mine eye shall not see good what miserable creatures were we if there were no good to be seen beyond the line of this life our richest stock of comfort lyes in the good we shall see hereafter which is therefore called the blessed-making vision And Iob knew well enough that his eyes should see good after death for he saith chap. 19. 27. with these eyes shall I see God he knew also his soule had an eye to see good and a better good then ever he saw in the world while his body lay in the grave Then his meaning of Mine eye shall no more see good is no more worldly good none of †these good things which I have seen I shall be above the smart of earthly sorrows and above the sence of earthly joyes Good is either natural or civill or spirituall When God created the world he looked upon all that he bad made and he saw that all was very good Civill good is the order peace and prosperity of the world death stops the sight of all this good As for eternall or spirituall good death cannot close or dimme the eye against those objects Then here is no plea for Atheists against the resurrection nor any against the soules Being or being awake till the resurrection Iob speakes only about the speare and course of nature when man dies naturally and is in the state of the dead he enjoyes nothing he acts nothing according to the estate of the living * In his
upon his estate upon the branches and the fruit of that goodly tree much like that in the vision Dan. 4. 13 14. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and behold a watcher and a holy One came downe from Heaven He cryed aloud and said thus Hew downe the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit c. This Allegory may be rendred in the plaine words of Eliphaz I cursed his habitation his children are far from safety The Master of the Family is the tree His children are either fruit or branches His leaves are riches and honour the beauty and pleasantnesse of his habitation Some things in the letter of the text are to be opened but I shall first observe one thing in the generall from the connection of this fourth verse with the third I suddenly cursed his habitation verse 3. Then follows his children are far from safety Observe from it That Creatures cannot stand before the curse of God How strongly soever they are rooted the blast of the breath of Gods displeasure will either blow them downe or wither them standing The curse comes powerfully suddenly and secretly it is often an invisible stroake When we see neither axe nor spade at the roote nor strome at rhe top yet downe it comes or stands without leafe or fruit When Christ in the Gospell curst the fruitlesse figg-tree his Disciples passing by that way wondred saying how quickly is this figg-tree whithered it was but onely a word from Christ Never beare fruit more and the fig-tree which had no fruit lost its life Some are such tall Cedars such mighty Oakes that men conclude there is no stirring of them no Axe can fell them or blast loosen them yet a word from the Lord will turne them up side downe or if he doe but say to them never fruit grow upon your actions or out of your counsels presently they wither The curse causlesse shall not come but when there is a cause and God speaks the word the curse will come Neither power nor policies neither threatnings or entreaties can hinder or block it up It is said of the water of jealousie in the booke of Numbers that when the woman dranke that water if there were cause of her husbands suspition presently her belly swel'd and her thighes did rot the effect was inevitable So if God bid judgement take hold of a man family or Nation it will obey A word made the world and a word is able to destroy it There is no armour of proofe against the shot or stroake of a curse Suddenly I cursed his habitation and the next news is His children are far from safety If God speake the word it is done as soone as spoken as that mysterious Letter said of the Gun-pouder plot As soone as the paper is burnt the thing is done Surely God can cause his judgements to passe upon his implacable enemies such horrid conspiratours against Churches and Common-wealths truth and peace with as much speed as a paper burns with a blaze and a blast they are consumed That in the generall from the connexion of these two verses Assoone as he was cursed his children and his estate all that he had went to wrack and ruine I shall now open the words distinctly His children are far from safety Some reade Were far from safety and so the whole passage in the time past because he speaks of a particular example which he himself had observeâ— in those daies as is cleare v. 2. Having shewed the curse upon the eoot he now shews the withering of the brauches Some of the Rabbins understand by Children the Followers or Imitators of wicked men such as assisted them or such as were like them These are morall children but take it rather in the letter for naturall children such as were borne to them or adopted by them these come under their fathers unhappinesse They are far from safety The Hebrew word is commonly rendred salvation His children are farre from salvation But then we must understand it for temporall salvation which our translation expresses clearely by safety His children are farre from safety It is possible that the children of a wicked man may be neare unto eternall salvation Though godly parents have a promise for their seed yet grace doth not runne in a bloud neither is the love of God tied or entayl'd upon any linage of men Election sometimes crosses the line and steps into the family of a reprobate father Therefore it is not said His children are farre from salvation in a strict but in a large sence We find the word salvation frequently used for safetie 2 Kings 13. 17. when Elisha bad Joash the King of Israel shot the arrow he called it the arrow of the Lords salvation which we render the arrow of the Lords deliverance So Moses bespeakes the trembling Israelites aâ— the red Sea Stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord that is behold what safety the Lord will give you from all these dangers what deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh The Prophet represents the Jewes thus bemoaning their outward judgements We roare all like Beares and mourne sore like Doves we looke for judgement but there is none for salvation but it is farre off Isa 59. 11. They are far from safety To be far from safety is a phrase importing extreame danger As when a man is said to be far from light he is in extreame darknesse and when a man is said to be far from health he is in extreame sicknesse and when a man is said to be far from riches he is in extreame poverty So here His children are far from safety that is they are in extreame danger and perill they walk as it were in the regions of trouble in the valley of the shadow of death continually That phrase is used also respecting the spirituall estate of unbeleevers They are far off from God far off from the Covenant Isa 57. 19. Ephes 12. 13. that is they have no benefit by the Covenant no interest in no favour at all or mercy from the Lord. To be far off from mercy is to be neare wrath and to be far from safety is to dwell upon the borders of danger And they are crushed in the gate In the forth Chapter Eliphaz describes man as crushed before the moth to shew how suddenly how easily man is destroyed This mans children are crushed in the gate as a man would crush a flie or a moth between his fingers They are crushed in the gate That notes two things First the publikenesse of their destruction they shall be destroyed in the sight of all men for the gate was a publike place Pro 31. 31. her workes praise her in the gates that is she is publikely knowne by her good works To doe a thing in the gate is opposed to the doing of a thing secretly To suffer in the gate is to suffer publikely Secondly to be crushed in the gate
keepe a feast to me in the yeare Exod. 23. 14. Three times in a yeare all thy males shall appeare before the Lord ver 17. The candlestick had three branches Exod. 25. 32. and three cubits was the height of the Altar Exod. 27. 1. Three Cities of refuge were appontinted for the manslayer Deut. 19. 7. and the addition made is of another three ver 9. Three witnesses gave the compleatest evidence requireable as Two the least admittable in the law Deut. 17. 6. That besides a rule there was a mystery in most of these I think no man doubts though what the mystery was may be presumption in any man to determine Of this we are sure that the highest mystery and perfection of all numbers and things is found in One Three That Three in One The sacred Trinity And in the common speech of most if not of all languages Thrice happy Thrice great Thrice honourable note a man advanced to the very pinnacle of Happinesse Greatnesse and Honour The number Three or the Numeral Thrice imply a compleatnesse in all numbers That the number six notes perfection may be seene in the work of Creation The Lord could as easily have made the world in six or in one moment as in six dayes but the Lord saw it good to take a compleate number of dayes for so compleate a worke God threatens Gog his perfect and compleate enemy with a compleate punishment or with judgement in perfection The justice of God can be as compleate in punishing as the malice of man can be in sinning Ezek. 39. 2. I am against thee O God the chiefe Prince of Meshech and Tubal I will turne thee backe and leave but the sixth part of thee so we translate yet in the margin of our books we find the Hebrew thus I will strike thee with six plagues or I will draw thee back with a hooke of six teeth Seven is a famous number implying First multitude Secondly perfection The barren hath borne seven saith Hannah in her song 1 Sam. 2. 5. that is many she is a compleate mother she hath a flourishing family many children And in opposition to this Jer. 15. 9. She that hath born seven languisheth that is she that had many children now hath none Seven devils were cast out of the woman Luk. 8. 2. that is a multitude of devils So the seven Spirits the seven Churches the seven Trumpets the seven Seales the seven Vials c. in the Revelation speake the compleatnesse and perfection of each in their kind whether good or evill and that is appliable to the particular sense of the text Prov. 24. 16. The just falleth seven times a day that is he falleth often almost continually into trouble and yet he rises againe God delivers him The Hebrew word Shebange is neere in sound to our English seven and to note that seven is a compleate full number the same Hebrew word signifies seven and full seven and satisfied or compleate And the word to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saturatus impletus abundavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Juravit inde juramentem a Septenario numero ut quidam patant quod juramenta fieri debeant multis adhibitis idoneis multumque confirmatis testibus et causis is of the same extraction in that language with the word seven the reason is added because in or about an oath many and important causes and grounds are required But to passe from single numbers I shall consider them in construction or conjunction as here six and seven He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee Some understand this strictly and precisely of those two numbers six and seven And expound the text by the enumeration of those six or seven particular evils made by Eliphaz in the following verses For having said in generall that God will deliver his in six troubles and in seven he reckoneth up severall troubles and gives us as it were a catologue or a particular of those evils by name amounting to six or seven As 1. Famine 2. Warre 3. Scourge of the tongue 4. Destruction 5. Evill beasts 6. Hurtfull stones here are six and if a seventh evill come upon thee in seven no evill shall touch thee But I rather take this expression six yea seven to be a fixed number put for an unfixed a certaine number for an uncertaine and that uncertaine number to be a great number the greatest number any number imaginable We find this kind of speaking frequently in Scripture In the thirty third of this booke of Job v. 29. Loe these things God workes twice and thrice which we translate these things God workes often-times when numbers are doubled with an increase in the latter it notes a mighty growth of the whole number Twice and twice we know is but foure times but twice and thrice may be more then five times twice and thrice is oftentimes no man knowes how often We find the number next above this in the same signification Three and foure are put for many very many Amos 1. 3. For three transgressions of Damascus and for foure Some understand it of three or foure speciall sins of which Damascus was chiefely guilty namely 1. Idolatry 2. Incest 3. Luxurie 4. Oppression Or Three may be taken for a Cardinal number and Foure for an Ordinal for the Fourth as if some fourth sin were so sinfull and had such a malignity in it as the Lord would not pardon Thus Foure is put for the fourth Prov. 30. 15 18 21 29. Three things are never satisfied yea foure things say not it is enough That is a fourth thing sc fire being the most insatiable of all the rest saith not it is enough The copulative particle and is often in Scripture taken comparatively for much more Psal 125. The mountaines are round about Jerusalem and the Lord is about his people So the Hebrew we translate by a comparative of similitude As So. But more emphatically to the scope of the place by a comparative of excesse Thus As the mountaines are about Jerusalem sc to fortifie and defend it so much more is the Lord about his people fortifie and defend them In this sense we may take the copulative And in Amos. For three transgressions the Lord would not turne c. but much more for a fourth would he not turne away the punishment thereof The former three were enough to provoke the Lord to destroy you but for this fourth he is resolved to be irreconcileable and will destroy you Others adde Three to Foure which make seven as if the Holy Ghost had said for seven that is manifold transgressions of Damascus I will not turne away c. But rather take the numbers distinct for Three and Foure that is for the many for the multitude of transgressions committed in Damascus I will not turne away the punishment thereof Not that the mercies of God are exceeded by any number
searched it and what follows so it is He speaks with authority not timerously as if he doubted whether it were so or no but so it is we will bide by it we have it upon enquiry and diligent search Observe fourthly The truths we know our selves we should communicate unto others Here it is we have searched it but we will not put the light we have found under a bushell we will not hide the talent we have in a napkin Here it is make what use of it thou canst know it for thy good Observe fifthly Truth may challenge credit and command the eare Hear thou it Truth needs not stand begging audience or creep upon the ground with flattering insinuations or humble submissions to gaine acceptance Truth is a great Prince and may speak in the language of Princes We will We require It commands rather then entreats or all its entreaties commands every word a law or a charge Hear thou it Observe in the sixth place That It is needfull to make speciall application of generall doctrinall truths Eliphaz had delivered a doctrinall truth and here he makes application And though he failed much in the application of it to Job yet there were generall truths very appliable in the things he delivered Therefore he stays not in generals nor leaves his doctrine hovering in the ayre but brings it home to the heart and layes it close to the conscience Hear thou it and know it thou for thy good And not onely are nationall and speculative truths to be brought home and applied but even common experimentall truths such were these discussed and handled by Eliphaz Observe seventhly A man may know much and yet get no good by it Know this for thy good The Devil is a great Scholler he knows much but he knows nothing for his benefit but all for his hurt Many a man knowes almost all that is knowable but he knowes nothing which is to him profitable Nothing gaines by his knowledge but onely his pride he is puffed up with knowledge not built up and that knowledge which puffes up will at last puffe down or cast us down Eightly Observe A godly man may make a profitable use of any Truth You see what truths Eliphaz spake many of them ordinary common Doctrines and many of them sore threatnings and judgements upon wicked men yet know thou this for thy good There is no veine of Doctrine in the book of God but a man may make use yea treasure of it All truth is so symbolical to the regenerate part that it cannot but more sublimate and spiritualize a spirituall heart though it selfe be a truth about things earthly and temporall Observe lastly All truths especially truths contained in the promises are the portion of a godly man Know thou it for thy good saith he As if he should say if thou art a godly man then all the good things I have here spoken of belonging to godly men belong to thee they are thy portion also While a believer reads the book of God he sees great riches many precious things in the promises and whatsoever good he findes there there is nothing of it too good for him he may know it all for his own good those sweet delicious promises of the pardon of sin of the love of God of the freenesse of grace of the glory to come the promises of Christ and of all that is Christs all these things are his when he reads them he may set his mark upon them and know them for his goods know them as his own proper goods Unbelievers are strangers to the promises and the promises are as strange to them they know not the promises and the promises will not know them They know not a letter of Scripture for their good The very promises are threatnings to them and the very blessings of the book of God are their curse As the clouds passe over this and that piece of ground and then dissolve upon a third by the directing and all disposing providence of God So the promises which are full of blessings full of comforts as the clouds are of showers passe over a wicked mans head and let not down one drop of mercy or comfort upon him but leave him like the dry hearth or barren wildernesse which seeth not when good cometh Jer. 17. 6. But when the cloud moves a little farther and meets with the family or person of a godly man there it dissolves and powreth out a plentifull raine both of temporall and spirituall blessings to refresh and confirme that inheritance of the Lord Psal 68. 9. And so much for this fifth Chapter wherein with the fourth we have handled the first part of the dispute undertaken against Job by Eliphaz the first of his three friends The whole discourse consisting of divers arguments to convince and humble him under the hand of God of divers counsels and motives to perswade and direct him to seek unto God and submit to his correcting hand All he was to speak being let in by a loving preface and all he spake being ratified with an assuring conclusion that all he had spoken was for his good if he would hear believe and obey In the next Chapters we shall hear Job making his defence scattering the charge thus brought against him stiffely maintaining and importunately renewing his first complaint JOB Chap. 6. Vers 1 2 3. But Job answered and said O that my griefe were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the ballances together For now it would he heavier than the sand of the sea therefore my words are swallowed up c. THis sixth Chapter begins Jobs replication which is continued to the end of the seventh He replies exactly to the severall parts of the charge given by Eliphaz who in the two fore-going Chapters undertook both to reprove the impatience of Job and to advise him a more holy and better temper'd carriage towards God under his afflictions In this reply Job shapes and formes up answers unto both I shall endeavour to give you a briefe of the whole and then to particulars First Job enters with a refutation of those reproofes of impatience which Eliphaz had heap't upon him and with that subjoyns a refusall of the counsels in his sence which he had given him In this work seven verses of the Chapter are spent Secondly We have a renovation or a re-inforcement of his grief and desire to die from the 8 to the end of the 13 verse O that I might have my request that God would cut me off c. As if he had said I am so far from being satisfied with what thou hast spoken against me or from recanting and recalling what I have spoken in those my breathings after death that I will be bold to make the same suit to God againe O that I might have my request and that God would cut me off c. Thirdly He proceeds to a charge of rash censure of uncharitable yea of deceitfull dealing upon his
of your fathers you esteemed my words as wind but they were a strong wind they blew down the power of your fathers The Apostle gives this honour to all the word of God which is all right that it is mighty or forcible through God to bring down strong holds and to bring every thought into subjection unto Christ And Heb. 4. 12. The word of God is mighty in operation The energie of it is such that nothing can stand before it no lust can stand before it no errour can stand before it it bears down all with fine force Therefore take heed of standing in the way of right words Truth comes with such a force that no man is able to beare up against it It is better to have all the men of the world against us Than to have one word of God against us One word of truth will doe more against us than all the Armies in the world no force can stand against this force the force of the word will destroy the force of the sword Truth will be the great Conquerour at last Thirdly Take it in the Concrete in reference to the speaker How forcible is the word of an upright man Then Observe The words of one that is upright hearted carry great strength and power with them Truth loses by the patronage and defence which some give it Truth gets little by the tongues of those men who have no grace in their hearts Truth in the mouth of a wicked man is weakened by the falseness of his heart and filthiness of his life Sometimes precious truths are spoken by vilest men but what force have they they are not received or owned Christ could not abide to hear the Devil speak truth A godly man speakes with Authority as it is said of Christ He spake as one having authority and not as the Scribes the Scribes taught that which was truth sometimes and the Scribes had alwayes authority to teach the chair of Moses was theirs they were not intruders upon an office they had no call to When Christ saith the Scribes and Pharises sit in Moses chair Matt. 23. 2. He speakes not onely de facto of what they did but de jure of what they had right to doe They were not usurpers or actors beyond their line But though the Scribes had the right of authority to teach yet their teaching had no force of authority it was but talke And it appears plainly that the words of that hypocritical generation the Scribes and Pharisees bare no weight with the people because Christ gives them a charge to observe and doe what the Scribes and Pharisees bid them As intimating that the doctrine of those Scribes though true was low-priz'd and lay much unpractis'd Mat. 23. 3. We must not shorten the hand of God as if he might not use those who have no truth to publish a truth He may imploy what instruments he pleases and he can make those that are evil instruments of good But look upon it ordinarily thus it is the word of truth hath most power strength and force from the lips of those who are upright in heart and holy in life How forcible are their words The words of the wise are like goads or like nailes fastened by the Masters of the Assembly Eccl. 11. But the words of wicked masters in the assembly are like nailes without points they will not drive or take hold there is no fastning of them Or the words of wicked men are like weak nailes which break in the driving What doe you arguing reproving teaching you that carry your selves thus what force have your words Truth loses both strength and credit in your mouthes Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe thou that preachest a man should not steal doest thou steal thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery doest thou commit adultery c are the Apostles chiding expostulations with the Jewish Doctors Rom. 2. And upon this he charges them with dishonoring God and causing his name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles vers 23 24. But what was the blasphemy Surely this The Gentiles grew to have a low esteeme of the word of God his Law was of no force with them because those teachers were so false to it and unspoke with their lives whatsoever their tongues had spoken That which hath no force upon the speakers heart hath seldome any upon the hearers What doe your teachings teach or your comfortings comfort what doe your arguings argue or your reprovings reproove Shall vice reprove sin as we speake proverbially or if it doth sin is not much hurt with those reprofs Words spoken from the heart goe to the heart and words read in the life are most forcible to reforme the life Then the word goes forth cloathed with list and power when the preacher can reade his Sermon in his own heart and the people in his life He that speakes onely out of books does much after his rate who as we say speakes without book And he that lives not what he speakes what in him lies kills what he speakes And how shall such a dead letter t is almost a miracle if it doth conveigh a quickning spirit Such arguings seldome reprove any but the arguer and him they alwayes reprove JOB Chap. 6. vers 26 27 28 29 30. Doe ye imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are as wind Yea ye overwhelm the fatherlesse and you digge a pit for your friend Now therefore be content look upon me for it is evident unto you if I lie Return I pray you let it not be iniquity yea return again my righteousness is in it Is there iniquity in my tongue Cannot my taste discern perverse things IN the two former verses Job made an humble submission of himself unto the better counsel and instruction of his friends if they could yet shew him wherein he had erred In these five verses he doth two things further First he expostulates with his friends about their former speech and carriage toward him Secondly he admonishes them to be better advised more moderate and considerate in what they had yet to say unto him The former of these is contained in the 26. and 27. verses And there are two branches of it 1. He taxes them for making so light of what he had said Doe ye imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are as wind ver 26. 2. He taxeth them for laying such heavy load upon him in what they had said Yea ye overwhelm the fatherlesse and you digge a pit for your friend vers 27. As if he had spoken plainly thus You have carried the matter hitherto with me as if I had spoken nothing but bare empty words words without any weight yea as if I were rageing mad distracted desperate not knowing nor caring what I did or what I speak as if my whole discourse were no better then meere vapouring a puffe of wind
the soule whereby we discerne or distinguish just from unjust truth from false-hood as sweet is distinguished from bitter by the pallate is elegantly called the pallate of the soul Cannot my taste discern The Hebrew is Cannot my taste * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scriptura saepe linguae faucibus manibus tribuit quod men t is intellectus proprium est sc med tari intelligere Magna est rationis orationis cognatio understand perverse things It is usuall in Scripture to ascribe understanding not onely to the senses but also to the tongue and sometimes to the hand Understanding is ascribed to the tongue in the place before named Psal 52. where the tongue is said to de vise mischiefe The tongue properly cannot devise the tongue doth but utter mischiefe it is the mind or heart that deviseth The shop is within where mischiefe is forged and framed yet the contrivance of it is in that text given to the tongue There is a two-fold reason of it why the holy Ghost attributes the worke of the understanding to the tongue hand or senses First there is a great affinity beween reason and speech and therefore the tongue which is the instrument of speech is honoured with the worke of the understanding And so grat is the affinity beween reason and speech that no creature void of reason can speak Speech is a peculiar property of the rationall creature Speech is or ought to be the immediate issue or birth of reason Words are conceived in the mind and born at the tongue And words are the image of the mind We may see what work is wrought in the mind by that which is spoken by the tongue The shape of a mans heart when he speakes himself comes out at his mouth And therefore before a man speakes he meditates Meditation is the conception of words As speaking is the production of them Thus the Lord charges Joshua Chap. 1. 8. The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night One would think it should rather have been said The book of the Law shall not depart out of thine heart but thou shalt meditate therein or if not cut of thy mouth then Ita meditaberis ut exipsa cogitatione mentis effervescente redundent ebulliant in ore verba thou shalt speak of it Meditation is too high a worke for the mouth Yet because there ought to be much meditation about the Law of God before a word of it comes out of the mouth therefore the Lord saith The book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that is as oft as thou shalt speak thou shalt meditate thou shalt not speake rashly it shall not be the work of thy tongue alone but of thy mind and tongue together There is a second reason why acts of the understanding are ascribed to the tongue or to the senses because when a thing is well spoken or duly acted by any sense Reason is the guide and the bodily Organ is under the dictates of the minde or understanding So Gen. 41. 14. when old Jacob in giving the blessing unto Josephs children Manasseh and Ephraim laid his right hand upon the younger and his left hand upon the elder the text saith he made his hands to understand we translate he guided his hands wittingly there was so much reason such divine reason in that act of Jacobs hands in laying his right-hand upon the younger that the Prudenter egit manibus sun ac siiplae manus mysteriorum consciae erant Onkel Hebrew gives it with this elegancie he made his hands to understand which one of the Jewish Writers learnedly expounds thus He order'd his hands wisely as if they had been made acquainted with that great mystery of Gods counsels that the greater blessing was the portion of the younger sonne And so the Psalmist Psal 78 72. speaking of Davids raigne and government saith He governed them by the skilfulnesse of his hands The Hebrew is by the understanding of his hands and more the understandings of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In intelligentiis manuum vel volâ—rum his hands Or as one renders it The discretions of his hands or the prudency of his Palmes ascribing all kind of politicall knowledge and understanding unto David David in the outward administrations of the kingdome acted with so much reason and justice that his very hands are said to understand His hands understood more than the heads of other Princes As Davids hands so Jobs pallate or taite had an understanding Cannot my pallate understand Yet further it is frequent in Scripture metaphorically to translate things which are only acted or apprehended by the inward senses to the outward Taste properly is of meat and drink the humour or moisture which is in meats sutable to the salivall humour in the mouth causeth pleasantness of taste Here Job speaks of Doctrines or of actions Cannot my taste discerne perverse things If a thing be perversly or properly truely or falsely spoken cannot I taste it quickly And hence the word of God is compared to those things which are the object of taste as to milk and to strong meat 1 Cor. 3. 2. I saith the Apostle have fed you with milk and not with meat That is with easie and common truths not with the more mysterious parts of Gospel-knowledge because ye were not able to bear it The taste of such mysteries was too strong for your pallates The same Metaphor is enlarged by the Apostle Heb. 5. 12 13 14. And in this Book we find it more than once Doth not the eare trie words and the mouth taste his meat Job 12. 11. Chap. 34. 3. That is doth not the eare try words as the mouth tastes meat Cannot my taste discern Perverse things That is words ill spoken or wrong placed The word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also any calamity or sad accident And so Mr. Broughton renders it Cannot my pallate declare all kind of heavy sorrowes Do ye think I have lost my judgment of things and that I cannot tell when I am pinch't or pain'd First in that he saith here Is there iniquity in my tongue Observe The tongue oft-times discovers the iniquity of the heart If there be iniquity in the heart it will one time or other break forth at and blister upon the tongue He that is rotten at his heart is commonly rotten in his talk Matth. 12. 34. Out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speakes And when there is aboundance of iniquity in the heart there is seldome a dearth or scarcity of it in the mouth especially in times of trouble that iniquity and corruption that disease and plague of the heart will break forth at the lips As Evill words corrupt good manners So evil words discover that our manners are corrupt There are few men but as the Damosel spake to
in the bitternesse of my soul What the bitternesse Amarum non solum dulci opponitur sed etiam jucundo Amariorem me fecit senectus i. e asperiorem Plauâ— of the soule is hath been expounded already in the third Chapter therefore I shall not stay upon it It notes only the height or extremity of affliction Bitter is opposed to unpleasant as well as to sweet In the bitternesse of my soule The affliction appeared most upon his body but it afflicted him most in his soule He speaks little of the pain of his body in comparison of the trouble upon his spirit he insists principally upon that I will speake in the anguish of my spirit I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule not in the pains of my flesh or sufferings of my body and yet that forme of speaking excludes not his sence and sensiblenesse of bodily paines for a man may well say his soul is in bitternesse by reason of the paines of his body Being in this condition we see what his remedy was he falls a crying and a complaining before God telling how it was with him Jobs complaints have been spoken of in former passages of the Book and why he complaines hath been shewed An afflicted soule finds some ease in complaining of affliction To complaine out of impatience distrust and hard thoughts of God is very sinfull in that sence we must be silent as David Psal 39. 9. when the hand of God was heavy upon him I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it in reference to the dealing of God with him David had not a word to say Our Lord Christ the great patterne of suffering was as a sheepe before the shearer dumbe and opened not his mouth no impatient speech came from him Though the griefe of Job was very great and so it might somewhat as hath formerly been cleared excuse the greatnesse of his complaint yet in this Job shewed himselfe a Docemur quantae sint hominis virâ—s sibi à Deo derelisti Merc. man subject to like passions as we are Man thinks to get cure by complaining but usually he gets a wound What poore shifts are we poore creatures often put to How often doe we entangle our selves because we are straightned Though Jobs heart kept close to God in the maine though his spirit was preserved untoucht of blaspheming yet we find him touching too often and too loud upon this string of complaining He cannot be excused from some motions of impatience while we hear him setling upon these resolutions to take his fill of or to let loose the reins of his passion to complain I will complaine in the bitterness of my soul Anguish is a very ill guide of the tongue It must needs be troubled matter which passion dictates Observe further That when sorrow continues and hangs long upon us it grows boysterous and resolute We have three wils in the text as if Job had turned all his reason into Will and his will into passion I will not refraine I will speak in the anguish of my spirit I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule He was grown to a kinde of resolvednesse in his sorrow It is as unsafe for man in this sence to will what Nec tamen is fuit Job qui quod sibi licere non putaret protervè ac procaciter vellet aggredi Meri he doth as to do what he will we ought to will the will of God but we must submit our own We should not mourne over our afflictions nor rejoyce over our comforts but as God wils Yet in this the wil of Job was rather strong then pertinacious He was not a man of that rough make to oppose his wil against the wil and good pleasure of God though that were a paine to him Having thus resolved to complain he complains in this very high Language Verse 12. Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest a watch over me These are his first words words full of deep complaint like the sea which whether he was or no he would be answered Am I a sea Tell me His question is of like importance with that at the 12. verse of the 6. Chapter Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh brasse He expostulates with God why hast thou laid such trouble upon me Am I stone or brass that I should be able to bear it And here like a sea swolne with bitter waters in the bitterness of his soul he begins to break the bounds again Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest a watch over me A sea or a whale The sea and the whale are often joyned in Scripture Psal 104. 25 26. O Lord how manifold are thy works c. the earth is full of thy riches so is the great and the wide sea there goe the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein Againe Psal 74. 13. 14. Thou diddest divide the sea by thy strength thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters thou brakest the head of Leviathan in pieces But why doth Job speake this language In briefe the meaning is this The sea you know is a mighty boisterous and unruly creature and the whale is the strongest mightest and most dreadfull creature in the sea the greatest of the creatures whether upon sea or land The sea is the most boisterous of all the inanimate creatures and the whale is the most boisterous of all living creatures So that here Job gives instance in two creatures which are the most head-strong violent and out-ragious in the whole creation The whale and the sea And he sets forth his own weaknesse by the Antithesis of these two creatures surpassing all in strength with which God only is able to graple and encounter And in asking Am I a sea or a whale he may be conceived to speake thus Lord thou seemest to deale with me in a way beyond all thy dealings with the children of men Thou carriest thy selfe towards me as if I were more proud heady hard to be reclaimed then any man in the world thou seemest to take such a course with me as with the unruly sea and with the boisterous whale to keepe me in compasse He speaks as if God laid too heavy an affliction upon him and tooke too strong a course to tame him or as if he might be more gently dealt with and that God needed not prepare such bonds and fetters for him or lay such law upon him as upon the mighty sea and the monstrous whale But for the words in particular Am I a sea There are three things in the sea specially considerable at which Mare barbarum indomitum elementum est Job might have an aime here First the turbulency of the sea the sea is stormy and turbulent so stormy and turbulent that it threatneth to over-whelme all to over-whelme the ships sailing upon it to over-whelme the Visat est
a gift as whosoever hath it is sure and safe for ever And therefore the gift being much more precious than that of Simon Magus Take heed of offering this kind of mony for it your works and doings To doe so is the worst Simonie in the world Better offer literall money for those gifts of the holy Ghost then this figurative money for the favour of God in the pardon of sin What Peter threatned Simon Magus may be affirmed of them Their money must perish with them That is their prayers and teares their sorrows and their humblings their almes and good deeds forasmuch as they have thought that this gift of pardon may be obtained by such money They have neither part nor lot in that mercy for their hearts are not right in the sight of God A good worke trusted to is as mortall as a sin unrepented of Againe There is somewhat to be done when we have sinn'd but nothing to be paid That 's Gospel-language when a man hath sinned to say What shall I doe Those converts in the Acts who enquired What shall we doe were told by the Apostles of some what to be done Repent and be baptized believe and thou shalt be saved These are waies wherein salvation is tender'd not works for which it is bestowed It is a dangerous error so to lift up the grace of God as to deny the industry of man through grace because he can do nothing by way of satisfaction that therefore he must doe nothing The Apostles gave Gospel-counsell yet when men asked them what shall we doe to be saved They said not ye must doe nothing God will save you by his free-grace no they called them to repent and beleeve c. Take heed when ye have sinned to say we need not mourne for sin we need not be humbled we need not repent for Lord what can we do unto thee O thou Saviour of men These are the inferences of our own spirits not of the Spirit of Christ They who lift up the grace of Christ to lessen the necessity of gracious actings in themselves shew they know not the meaning of his grace and have not indeed tasted how gracious the Lord is To deny our owne righteousnesse and to be very active in the waies of righteousnesse is the due Gospel-temper The Apostle Phil. 3. 8. counts all things but losse and dung all duties and humblings all legall righteousnesse and obedience not that he refused righteousnesse or neglected duties but he would not mingle them with Christ or bring them in as contributions to the purchase of blessednesse Our righteousnesse and holy duties are dung and drosse in justification but they are gold and precious things in sanctification without these we cannot walk worthy of our holy calling or as it becomes the Gospel of Christ So much for these words what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Here is the Compellation or the title under which Job bespeaks the Lord and it is a royall one The preserver of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Narsar conservavit observa vit custodivit dise dit de qualibet custodia dicitur significat etiam se ris vectebasque elaudere licet proprie custos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur sed confundi scias Drus The words signifies both to preserve and to observe and hence it is applied to our keeping the law of God Psal 119. 22. I have kept thy testimonies I have kept them by observation that is I have obeyed thy Commandements The word is often applied to God in reference to mans protection and preservation Deut. 32. 10. Moses describes the care of God over his people Israel He found them in the wildernesse as a people wandring and going astray and he kept them as the apple of his eye that is he looked to them and had a continuall tender care over them So Psal 17. 8. Keep me as the apple of thine eye The Septuagint render it O thou observer of men What shall I doe unto thee O thou who art the observer and looker into the very hearts of men Lord saith he what wilt thou have me to doe Thou lookest quite through me and seest all that is in me I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui prespectam habis mentem hominum Sept. need not declare my selfe unto thee thou knowest me altogether Thou who art the searcher of the heart and the trier of the reins Thou who art a most vigilant watcher over all my waies what have I done or spoken but thou knowest and canst easily observe Thus Job speaks at the 14th of this booke vers 16. Thou numberest my steps a man observes another curiously when he tels how many steps he treads it is an expression noting the exactest observation Salomon joynes the act of keeping with observing Prov. 24. 12. If thou saiest behold he knoweth it not this is the refutation of an Atheist doth not he that pondereth the hears consider it and he that keepeth thy soule doth not he know He that preserves us in our wayes must needs see us in all our waies Again Preserving or keeping may be understood two waies First There is a preserving or keeping of man that he shal not escape And Secondly A preserving or keeping of man that he shall not Custos hominu sc qui homine talibus malis quasi quadam custodia includis it non sit effugium take hurt Some understand it in the first sence O thou preserver of men that is O thou who art so strict a keeper and watcher over men that they cannot escape thine hand A man is said to be in safe custodie when he is a prisoner and so the sence is thus given Lord thou hast me fast enough I cannot breake away from thee I am lockt up within iron-gates and barrs what wouldest thou have me doe unto thee Thou maiest put what conditions thou pleasest upon me I must submit Such language we have Lam. 3. 5 7. which may illustrate this He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall and travell he hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath made my chaine heavie You see he speakes of God as we may speake with reverence as of the master of a prison who saith to his under-officers there is such a one looke to him well make his chaine heavie that he may not get a way put him in a place where there is a strong wall least he breake prison This sence of the word makes Job speaking like Jeremy He hath builded against me he hath compassed me about he hath made my chaine heavie upon me But the second sence according to the letter of our Translation is most cleare and apt O thou preserver of men Thou who keepest man least he take hurt or fall into danger As if Job had bespoke God thus Thou art the Saviour and protectour of men thou hast not only given man a being but thou providest for his