the poynt The aged speak like children when they speak foolishly or unfruitfully He only is a good speaker who speaks that which may doe others good or make them better We say proverbially and truly both of saying and doing As good never a whit as never the better I said dayes should speak and multitude of yeares should teach wisdome Elihu reckons the age of aged men by multitude of yeares this he doth only to highten the matter what wisdome might he not expect from a multitude of yeares that is from such as had lived a multitude of yeares Certainly thought Elihu they will Teach wisdome There is a twofold wisdome First that which is meerely rational Secondly that which is spirituall or there is first a common secondly an holy wisdome Elihu expected wisdome of both sorts but chiefely of the latter from multitude of yeares He expected they would teach the wisdome which the Spirit of God had taught them Sapientiam intelligit quae in vera dei nostri cognitione sita est cujus author sit spiritus dei non hominis animus non anni non usus non experientia Merl that wisdome which consists in the true knowledge of God and of our selves that wisdome which is from above that which man hath not from himselfe nor is taught him by dayes or yeares by use or experience only And it was very probable that they who from their youth had been instructed in the things of God being growne old should also be growne further in this wisdome and riper in this sort of knowledge And therefore Elihu spake according to the rule of right reason when he judged that those three aged men had attained to a very high degree of divine light Such is the goodnesse of God to his people that usually they grow in grace and knowledge as they grow in yeares For though God is Debror to no man but Creditor to all men and though old age in it selfe considered deserves nothing of God yea is not only undeserving but because sin multiplyes as our dayes doe ill deserving yet as Christ saith To him that hath that is who useth and improveth what he hath more shall be given And therefore though true wisdome be a free gift and is infused and wrought by the Spirit of God yet we may in probability and ought according to charity judge that they who have most dayes have also most wisdome Though wisdome be not entayled upon old age yet there we are most likely to finde it I sayd multitude of yeares should teach wisdome Hence observe first We may well expect they should be very wise and knowing who have had much meanes and many opportunities of obtaining knowledge and wisdome And therefore we have reason to expect much wisdome from those who have had a multitude of yeares past over their heads It is a common rule in Logick Causis sufficientibus positis in aâ—tu necessario sequitur effectus When sufficient causes are put in act the effect must needs follow And so where probable causes are in act probably the effect will follow Old men having been well brought up in youth and having had faire opportunities to attaine knowledge and wisdome are rightly presumed and judged well stor'd and stockt with both Where shall we finde wisdome if not among the Ancients where if not among a multitude or throng of yeares and dayes where else should we look for it shall we goe and enquire among the greene heads and young beginners for it shall we goe to novices and children for it We may say surely they who have been long taught have learned much surely they who have heard many soule-searching Sermons and continued from day to day under the droppings of divine truths are full of fruit and very fruitfull whether shall we goe for fruit else if not to these shall we goe to those that live as upon the mountaines of Gilboa where David prayed no raine might fall shall we goe for Gospel-fruit to the wild naked untaught Indians and Barbarians or to the rightly instituted and plentifully instructed Churches of Christ may we not more then say conclude surely these are wise and full of spirituall understanding Quanquam te Marce Fili Annum jam audientem Cratippum idque Athenis abundare oportet praeceptis institutisque philosophiae c. Cic de Offi lib. t. The Roman Orator Cicero took it for granted that his son Marcus was well grounded in and plentifully furnished with the principles of Philosophy because he had been at Athens a whole yeare and there heard Cratippus a famous Philosopher read many excellent Lectures about things natural and morall And may we not say to many thousands of Gospel-hearers and professors what you that have heard such and such able Ministers you that have had the word so long preached and that at London more famous for Gospel knowledge then Athens for philosophy surely you are filled with all knowledge in the mystery of Christ and with all goodnesse in the practice of goâ—linesse And doubtlesse the Lord will argue it with those that have had time and opportunities as a rich price in their hand to get wisdome as Elihu did with his friends being aged men Who can imagine but that they are full of wisdome that they abound in knowledge and spirituall understanding who abounding in dayes and yeares have abounded also in meanes of knowledge Note Secondly As old men should abound in knowledge so they should approve themselves ready to teach the ignorant I said dayes should speak and multitude of yeares should teach wisdome 'T is a duty incumbent upon them who have learned much to teach much To conveigh wisdome and knowledge to others is most proper to such as well as most ornamental and honourable To be knowing our selves is a great mercy and to helpe others to the knowledge of what we know is a great duty we loose one speciall end of knowing if we know only for our selves To communicate and diffuse our knowledge to others is the noblest way of using it and the best way of improving it and that in a double respect First it is the best way of improving it as to encrease Secondly it is the best way of improving it as to reward The more we give out our knowledge the more we shall have of it and the more we shall have for it both from God and men The Apostle saith of a Gospel Minister 1 Tim. 3.2 He must be apt to teach not only able but apt that is ready and willing to teach now what the Apostle speaks there of an Elder by office is true of those that are elders in time they also should be apt to teach not only able but ready and willing to teach in and according to their spheare and power I said dayes should speak c. Thirdly Note 'T is a reproach to old age not to be knowing and wâ—se not to be able and apt to teach wisdome That old age
Gospel and to prepare the way for Christ by whom grace and truth came The Baptist was as it were the loop and button between the legall and the Gospel dispensation therefore his name might well be called John And there is frequent use in Scripture of the Adverb which comes from this Verb to signifie injuries received without desert or undeservedly Ps 7.4 Yea I have delivered him that without cause was mine enemy or that was mine enemy gratis And again Psal 35.7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause have they digged for my soul Yet more as the word signifies the doing of good gratis or when there is no desert so any injury done gratis or when no provocation hath been given the party so to doe Now as all the mischief which the wicked plot against or doe to the people of God is undeserved and floweth meerly from their malice so all the good which God doth for his people is undeserved and floweth purely from the fountaine of his free grace or from his compassions which faile not And surely the Lord deserveth highest praises from man for any good he doth him seeing what he doth is gratis or undeserved Further This Hebrew word Chinnam answers the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred freely Rom. 3.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratis i. e. ejus gratia Bez We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ How can unjust men deserve justification Therefore Mr Beza translates We are justified gratis that is by his grace Againe When it is said then he or the Lord is gracious it may be taken two wayes First as to be gracious implyeth the intrinsecall graciousness of his nature or that mercifullness and kindness which dwells in the heart of God and which indeed is God for the graciousnesse of God is the gracious God thus God is alwayes and altogether gracious he is infinitely and uncessantly gracious Secondly when it is said he is gracious it may note only the graciousness of his acts and dispensations thus as I may say the Lord is gracious ad hinc et nunc as he sees cause at this time he is gracious and not at that time that is he puts forth acts of grace now and not then The Lord puts forth acts of grace both according to the pleasure of his own will without respect to any thing in man as also without respecting what man is or doth according to his pleasure And thus we are chiefly to understand it here then he is gracious God is gracious in his nature alwayes and alwayes alike gracious but he is not alwayes alike gracious in his dispensations or in giving forth acts of grace he is gracious to man according to his secret will as he pleaseth but he is gracious according to his revealed will as man pleaseth him Hence Observe first The first cause and spring of all our mercies is the graciousnesse of God Or All our mercyes flow out from the grace of God That 's the fountaine yea that 's the Ocean which seeds and fills all the Channels of mercy which stream to us as our happiness in this world and for our everlasting happiness in the world which is to come All is of grace fundamentally or because the Lord is and will be for ever gracious Thus the Lord spake to Moses Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious My mercy shall flow our when and to whom and where I please And the proclamation which he made of himselfe in all his royall Titles runs in the same straine Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity If we consider God first in doing us good Secondly in forgiving us the evill which we doe Thirdly in delivering us from the evills which we now suffer Fourthly in delivering us from the feare of future sufferings all is from grace and from free grace He doth us good though we are undeserving any good that 's grace yea he doth us good though we are ill deserving and that 's more grace He doth all for us through grace First in spiritualls and Secondly in temporalls not only doe the good things of eternall life but the good things of this present life flow from grace unto his own people Not only the health of their souls but the health of their bodyes not only deliverance from hell but deliverance from sickness also flow from his free grace in Jesus Christ Therefore of all their mercies and salvations both as to the foundation and top-stone of them the people of God must cry as the Prophet Zachery Chap. 4.7 foretells the people of God should say of that longed for deliverance when that great mountaine should become a plain before Zerubbabell grace grace unto them That is grace hath begun them and grace alone will maintaine continue and perfect what it hath begun As there is nothing in us except our misery which moves the Lord to begin so there is nothing in us but our inability which moves the Lord to perfect what he hath begun He seeth we cannot and therefore he will perfect what he hath begun and all this he doth that he may exalt his own name and perfect the praise of his free grace towards us More distinctly that all comes from grace or from the graciousness of God may note these five things to us First not only that God doth all for his people freely or without desert But Secondly that he doth all things willingly or without constraint for his people Thirdly that he doth all things forwardly for his people He doth very much unaskt and unsought and he is not much askt or hardly drawne to doe any thing for his people Though he hath said of some things I will be sought unto or inquired after that I may doe them for you Ezek. 36.37 yet his mercies are never forced nor wrested from him by intreaties but flow from a principle of love naturally as water out of a fountain Fourthly he doth all rejoycingly even with his whole heart and with his whole soul Mercy pleaseth him and he is pleased with occasions of shewing mercy 't is no burden to him to doe us good mercy proceeds from his nature and therefore he delighteth in mercy Mic 7.18 yea to be mercifull is his nature and therefore he cannot but delight in it Fifthly graciousness being the very nature of God implyeth that he will do us good liberally and constantly or that as the Apostle James speaks he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he doth not upbraid us with our poverty who receive nor doâ—h he upbraid us with the riches of the gifts which himself bestoweth And because they flow from his nature therefore he doth not in the least empty himself how much soever he fills the creature with his gifts or goodness Some men
parable asserting there was no such reall thing But this one passage gives an undeniable proofe that this was a reall history and the matter really acted This person being described by his owne name and his fathers name and the next of his kindred From the consideration of the person who carried on so great a part in this businesse Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite of the kindred of Ram who was of a strange Country and if allyed to Abraham yet at a great distance we may observe God did preserve a seed of religion and of holy men to maintaine his truth among those who lived in darke places and were wrapt up in many errors and superstitions This was also noted from the first words of this booke There was a man in the Land of Vz A man of gracious accomplishments and of a heavenly light Here also was Elihu the Buzite A man that had great knowledge about holy things as we shall see afterwards in those parts and times when and where abundance of darknesse blindnesse and ignorance reigned Having thus described Elihu The history proceeds Against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himselfe rather then God In the former part of the verse it is said Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu Not specifying against whom nor the cause why here he doubles the same words with an addition first of the person with whom he was angry Against Job was his wrath kindled And as he tells us the marke or object of his wrath so he gives secondly the reason of it Because he justified himself rather then God Before I come to the explication of this latter branch take these two brief notes First A godly man in maintaining a good cause may give just reason of anothers passion or anger Job was a good man and his cause was good yet you see a wise and a good mans wrath is kindled Paul and Barnabas were two good men yet a difference arose between them Acts 15.39 And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder Secondly Considering the cause of this anger in generall Because he justified himselfe rather then God we see it was an anger for Gods cause Hence note Anger for God or in the cause of God is holy anger Though for the most part the flesh or our carnall corruption is the cause of anger and it begins at selfe yet sometimes it is stirr'd in the cause of God It is said of Moses the meekest man on earth Numb 12.3 that when he saw the idolatry of the people Exod. 32.19 His anger waxed hot He was so angry that he cast the Tables of the Law which God had written with his own hand out of his hand and broke them It is said Mar. 3.5 Jesus Christ looked about on them with anger being grieved for the hardnesse of their hearts He also exprest a great deale of zealous anger Joh. 2.15 When he made a whip of small cords and drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id genus irae notat quo fertur quis ad abolitionem peccati cum quo si sit veritas justissimus effectus est Coc Some of the Hebrews tell us that the word here used for anger signifieth anger carried out to the destruction of sin and that is a very gracious anger There are two things which exceedingly declare the holinesse of a mans spirit First when he can patiently beare loads of evills and wrongs in his owne cause or which have but a private respect Secondly When he is ready to take fire in the cause of God many dull and sluggish soules can heare God abused Hoc probes abnegationem tui mundi si injuriarum ferens sis peccatum autem ferre non possiis idque ita ut non ad vindicandum sed ad emendandum exstimulares and their spirits stirre no more then a stone Elihu was angry but it was in the cause of God or Because Job Justified himselfe rather then God When we are angry with sin we are angry as the Apostle adviseth us to be and sin not That 's anger without sin when we are angry with sin and are stirred up to oppose and suppresse the pride and insolency of mans spirit or speeches against God To be angry for our owne honour and interest or Gourd is an argument of undue love to selfe When God spared Nineveh the Prophet was exceeding angry Jon. 4.1 But his was sinfull anger because he was angry for his owne sake fearing to be called a false Prophet He set himselfe downe to see what would become of the City that he might have a personall glory and be cryed up for a Prophet indeed And when God had smitten his Gourd he was angry and angry unto the death ver 8. and all because he missed that which pleased himselfe Many can be angry when they themselves are discredited but when dishonour is cast upon God or his interest slighted how quiet and tame how cold and dull are their spirits The anger of this man was a noble anger as to the occasion and rise of it Jobs selfe-justification or Because he justified himselfe rather then God This is a high poynt and may justly provoke our anger Elihu was not angry with Job because he justified himselfe against his friends but because he justified himselfe rather then God Here a question will arise and it will ask some paines to determine it Was this true did Job justifie himselfe rather then God Was it possible Job should do so I shall give only a generall answer to this question Job did not justifie himself rather then God either explicitely or intentionally but by consequents he did And though it be granted that Job gave just occasion of this sharp reproofe by his rash and passionate speeches uttered in the heate of dispute and in the grief of his heart yet it cannot be denied that Elihu did somewhat strain Jobs words though not beyond their sence yet beyond his sence and gave them the hardest interpretation somewhat beside the rule of charity which they could beare nor did he observe that meeknesse and moderation which might well have become him to a man in that case O how hard is it not to offend or doe ill while we are doing well To cleare this a little further consider There is a twofold straining of words First beyond the sence of the words spoken Secondly beyond the sence of the speaker I doe not say Elihu in affirming this of Job strained his words beyond their sence but he strained them beyond Jobs sence Job spake words which might lay him under this censure that he justified himselfe rather then God But this was far from his intention For doubtlesse he had rather a thousand times his tongue should have been cut out of his mouth then to justifie himselfe with it rather then God or to speak a word to the disparagement of Gods Justice So then
scelus est veritatem palliare Merc But it is a farre greater sin to commend the sins of others or to commend others in their sin And we may take the measure of this sin by the punishment of it When we heare the Lord threatning flatterers with suddaine destruction doth it not proclaime to all the world that their sin is full of provocation The Lord beares long with many sorts of sinners but not with sinners of this sort My maker would soone take me away Whence note Secondly God can make quicke dispatch with sinners As the grace of God towards sinners Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia so his wrath needs no long time in preparations When we designe great actions we must take time to fit our selves Princes must have time to set out an Army or a Navy when they would either defend themselves against or revenge themselves upon their enemies But God can presently proceed to action yea to execution He that made all with a word speaking can destroy the wicked as soone as speake the word he can doe it in the twinkling of an eye with the turning of a hand My Maker would soone take me away Thirdly Because Elihu being about to speake in that great cause sets God before him and God in his judgements in case he should speake or doe amisse Note Thirdly They that doe or speake evill have reason to expect evill at the hand of God If I should flatter saith Elihu my Maker would soone take me away I have reason to feare he will not that God takes away every sinner as soone as he sins God rarely useth Martiall Law or executes men upon the place we should live and walke more by sence then by faith if he should doe so but any sinner may expect it God I say is very patient and long-suffering he doth not often take sinners away either in the act or immediately after the act of sin Yet there is no sinner but hath cause to feare lest as soone as he hath done any evill God should make him feele evill and instantly take him away David prayeth Psal 28.3 Draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity There is a two-fold drawing away with the workers of iniquity First to doe as they doe that is wickedly Thus many are drawne away with the workers of iniquity and 't is a good and most necessary part of prayer to beg that God would not thus draw us away with the workers of iniquity that is that he would not suffer the workers of iniquity to draw us away into their lewd and sinfull courses Secondly there is a drawing away to punishment and execution In that sence I conceive David prayed Lord draw me not away with the workers of iniquity who are taken away by some sudden stroake of judgement though I may have provoked thee yet let not forth thy wrath upon me as thou sometimes doest upon the workers of iniquity doe not draw me out as cattell out of the pasture where they have been fed and fatted for the slaughter Every worker of iniquity is in danger of present death and may looke that God will be a swift witness against him though most are reprieved yet no man is sure of that Againe In that Elihu represents God to himselfe ready to take him away in case of flattery and prevarication in that cause Note Fourthly It is good for us to over-awe our soules with the remembrance of the judgements and terrours of God 'T is profitable sometimes to converse with the threatnings as well as with the promises 't is profitable to remember what God is able to do against us as well as to remember what God is able to do for us Even believers should goe into the dreadfull treasuries of wrath into the thunders lightnings of divine displeasure as well as into the delightfull treasuries of mercy of love compassion it is good for a good man to thinke God may take me away as well as to thinke God will save and deliver me we need even these meditations of God to keepe downe our corruptions and to fright our lusts Though it be the more Gospel way to make use of love yet the Gospel it selfe teacheth us to make use of wrath 2 Cor 5.11 Knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Lastly Note When we goe about any great worke when we are either to speak or doe in any weighty matter it is good for us to set God before our eyes to thinke of and remember our Maker As in great undertakings we should remember our Maker waiting for and depending upon his assistance strength and blessing in what we doe or goe about so we should remember him to keepe our hearts right And to remember seriously believingly and spiritually that God beholds and seeth us in all our wayes and workes and that according to the frame of our hearts and the way that we take in every action such will the reward and the issue be cannot but have a mighty command and an answerable effect upon us We can hardly doe amisse with â—od in our eye And therefore as it is sayd of a wicked man Psal 10.4 that through the pride of his countenance he will not seeke after God God is not in all his thoughts So David said of himselfe though in that Psalme he speakes chiefely as a type of Christ and so in proportion or as to sincerity every godly man saith like David Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand therefore I shall not be moved that is as I shall not be utterly overthrowne by any evill of trouble so I shall not be overcome by any evill of temptation or I shall not be moved either in a way of discouragement by the troubles I meete with or in a way of enticement by the temptations I meete with How stedfast how unmoveable are they in the worke of the Lord how doe they keepe off from every evill worke who set the Lord alwayes before them and have him at their right hand Could we but set the Lord before us either in his mercies or in his terrors we should not be moved from doing our duty in whatsoever we are called to doe Thus farre Elihu hath drawne out his speech in a way of preface preparing himselfe for his great undertaking with Job He hath now fully shewed the grounds why he undertooke to deale with him and what method he would use in that undertaking In the next Chapter and so forward to the end of the 37th we have what he sayd and how he managed the whole matter JOB Chap. 33. Vers 1 2 3. Wherefore Job I pray thee heare my speeches and hearken to all my words Behold now I have opened my mouth my tongue hath spoken in my mouth My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart and my lips shall utter knowledge clearely ELihu having spent the whole
corruption Man is called not only Adam noting the matter of which he was made earth red earth but he is called Enosh that is sorrowfull sighing groaning man he is a pined and a pining man He is also called Abel vanity a poor vain man which two latter Titles have befallen man since man fell from God Fourthly which may check the grosse Atheisme of many Observe Pain and sicknesse come not by chance nor are we to stay in nature for the cause of their coming They come not at all by chance nor doe they come altogether from naturall causes Nature hath somewhat to doe in their coming but somewhat else much more even so much more that in respect of that naturall considerations may be quite shut out and the whole cause ascribed to that But what is that surely nothing else but and nothing lesse then the will of God He is pleased to give commission to pains and sicknesses and then they come Elihu would teach Job what he owned before that God was the sender and orderer of all his afflictions as of the losses he had in his estate and children so of the pains and sicknesses which he felt in his body Moses tells the children of Israel not only that sword and captivity but the Pestilence Consumptions Feavers and burning Agues are sent by God himself Deut. 28.21 22. What are diseases but the Lords Messengers When he pleaseth he can trouble the temper and cause the humours of the body to corrupt He can make them contend with one another to the death let Physitians doe what they can to quiet and pacifie them Yea though some skillfull Physitians have kept their own bodies in so due a temper and to so exact a diet that they could not see which way a disease could take hold of them or have any advantage against them yet sicknesse hath come upon them like an armed man and carryed them away to the grave Further When Elihu saith of the sick man the multitude of his bones are chastened with strong paine Note No man is so strong but the Lord is able to bring him down by pain and sicknesse He that is strong as an Oake and hath as it were a body of brasse and sinews of iron yet the Lord can make him as weak as water The Lord hath strong pains for strong men and can quickly turne our strength into weaknesse Thus Hezekiah lamented in his sicknesse Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my bones God can arme diseases with the strength of a Lion who not only teareth the flesh but breaketh the bones with his teeth David saith Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity The word there rendred beauty signifieth desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiderabile bene sanum et bene curatum corpus denotat thou makest his desire or that which is most desireable in him to fade away we well translate beauty because beauty draweth the desires of man after it and is so much desired yea lusted after by man Now as when the Lord doth but touch the body he can make the beauty so also the strength of it to consume away as a moth Sixtly whereas it is said He is chastened with pain upon his bed We learne The Lord can make those things easelesse and restless to us which use to give us most ease and rest He that being up is weary weary with walking riding or labouring hopeth to find ease in his bed yet then doth pain deny him rest there and filleth him as Job complained Chap. 7.4 with tossings too and fro unto the dawning of the day The Lord can make the Stocks or a Rack easie to us and our beds as uneasie to us as the Stocks or a Rack usually are Lastly observe The purpose of God in chastening man with sickness is to teach and instruct him not vex and destroy him The Lord hath many designes upon man when he afflicts him about all which he instructs him by affliction He designes First To humble and breake the stoutness of mans spirit hence sicknesses and afflictions are called humiliations and the same word signifies both to be afflicted and humbled Secondly To make men taste how bitter a thing sin is This is thy wickâ—dness saith the Lord of his sore Judgements brought upon his people Israel Jer 4.18 Because it is bitter Ye would not taste the evill or bitterness of sin by instruction therefore I will teach you by affliction Thirdly To put sorrowfull sinfull man upon the search of his owne heart and the finding out of the errour of his wayes While men are strong and healthfull they seldome find leisure for that worke And therefore they are confined by sickness to their houses to their chambers yea to their beds that they may attend it and read over the whole book of their lives Lam 3.39 40. Wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Let us search and try our wayes and turne to the Lord. That 's mans worke upon his bed and 't is Gods aime in binding him to his bed that he may have liberty for that worke Fourthly Afflictions are design'd by God to bring man out of love with sin yea to stirre up a holy hatred and revenge in him against it as upon many other accounts so upon this because it rewardeth him so ill and he finds such unsavoury fruits of it A little digging will discover sin to be the roote of all those evill and bitter fruits which we at any time are fed with in this world Sin is the gall in our cup and the gravel in our bread and we are made to taste bitterness and finde trouble that we may both know and acknowledge it to be so Fifthly The purpose of God in afflicting us is to set us a praying to and seeking after him We seldome know our need of him till we feele it Hos 5.15 In their affliction they will seek me early affliction puts man upon supplication yet every man who is afflicted doth not presently seek God many in their affliction mind not God they seek to men not to God a crosse without a Christ never made any seek God but affliction through the workings of the Spirit of Christ is a meanes to bring the soule to God and we see the effect of it at the beginning of the next Chapter in the same Prophet Hos 6.1 Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heale us c. Sixthly God is pleased to exercise us with crosses for the exercise of our Graces or to set grace aworke Grace hath most businesse to doe when we are taken off from all worldly business and are layd upon our bed our sick-bed Some worke is not done so well any where else as there And many graces worke best when 't is worst
others judge what the Word of God no! but whether they speake according to the word of God or no In this sense every one must judg sor himselfe we must not take all for granted but try what we heare by the eare as we doe what we eat by the mouth Thirdly Note A spiritually judicious and considerate man will take time to judge of things that are spoken as the pallate doth of meates that are eaten The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat God hath given man a faculty for that end and he is to use his faculty We commonly fay Look before you leape Surely then we should tast before we eate and prove all things whether they are good or no before we electively hold that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 The noble Bereans received the word with all readinesse of mind yet they would make no more hast then good speed to receive it for as the Text saith Acts 17.11 They searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so Fourthly Here are two Organs of sense spoken of the ear and the mouth both are of great use to man but one of them the eare is of a more frequent and noble use Beasts have both mouths and eares but because theirs is only a sensitive life they make more use of their mouths then of their eares Whereas man whose life is rationall yea and spirituall too must or ought to make more use of his eares then of his mouth How doth this reprove all those who are more in trying meats then in trying words or more for tasting then they are for hearing It was a complaint of some in the former age that they made themselves like bruit beasts which having both those powers of hearing and tasting have yet no regard to hearing but are all for feeding and eating They carry it like beasts and are more bruitish then a beast who employ their mouths more then their eares A beast is made in that low forme to live to eat and worke and so to dye man is of a higher forme next to that of Angells and for him to spend his time in eating and drinking as if his worke lay at his mouth not at his ear is to degrade himself and lead a bruitish life The Apostle brings in such bruits speaking thus 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye not a word of using their eares they say not come let us hear the word of God let us seek bread for our soules but come let us eat and drink now for a man to be so much in eating as to neglect hearing and meditating what doth he but make himselfe like a beast of the earth who should be like the Angels in Heaven dayly rising up to a spirituall and heavenly life God lifts us up to Heaven as I may say by the eares Our eares were not given us only to heare delightfull sounds or to commune one with another about the affaires of this life the use of the eare is yet more noble even to helpe us in the receiving of all saving and sanctifying knowledge Faith comes by hearing Rom. 15.17 and so doth every grace both as to the implantation and growth of it till we come to glory Therefore consider how you use this excellent sense of hearing and how you improve in spirituals by what you have heard We were made after the Image of God in knowledge and righteousnesse and it should be the great designe of our lives to get this image renewed and that is done at the eare 't is wrought by hearing faith repentance and every grace come in and are wrought at the eare Some scoffe at this latter age calling it a hearing age not a working age we say they are much for ear-work little for hand-work all for Preaching nothing for doing nor can this reproach be quite wiped off seeing with our plenty of Preaching there is so little practising as if men had turned all the members of their body into eares and were nothing but hearing To doe nothing but heare or to heare and doe nothing to heare much and act little is a high provocation To have a swel'd head and a feeble hand is the disease of Religion Yet let not voluptuous Epicures who are all for the palate and belly-cheere think to excuse themselves for not hearing or for seldome hearing because some who hear much are found doing little or seldome do what they hear for as these shall be condemned by the word which they have heard and not done so shall these for not hearing the word which would have shewed them what to doe It hath been anciently said The belly hath no eares nor will they either mind hearing or mind what they hear who mind their bellyes not for hunger and the support of nature that is as Solomon speaks Eccles 10.17 for strength but for drunkennesse or surfet Cum eo vivere non possum cui palatum magis sapiat quam cor Plutarchus in vita Catonis When a voluptuous person desired Cato that he might live with him No said Cato I like not your society I doe not love to converse with a man who useth his mouth more then his eares who is busied more to please his tast in eating and drinking then to enrich his understanding by hearing and discoursing The Apostle Tit. 1.12 referring them to one of their own Poets calleth the Cretians evill beasts slow bellies They were not slow to fill their bellyes but their full bellyes their belly being their God as he told some among the Philippians Chap. 3.19 made them slow yea reprobate to every good word and worke Solomon gives man a great charge when he saith Prov. 23.23 Buy truth and sell it not The mart for those most precious commodities grace and truth is kept not at the belly but at the eare there we buy without money and without price both grace and truth to get these is to be wise merchants The best market we can make the best trade we can drive is with and at our eares The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat And from this Elihu infers Vers 4. Let us chuse to our selves judgment let us know among our selves what is good This verse containes the second request which Elihu made to Jobs friends The summe of it is that they might proceed judiciously and fairly in the cause before them As if he had said Seeing it is the office of the eare to try words as the mouth tasteth meat let us see what we can do with our eares towards the determination of this matter Job hath often wished to find one with whom he might debate and try this cause in judgment let us give him his wish and having throughly weighed the matter and merits of his cause let us see what justice will award him Let us chuse to our selves judgment c. Let us chuse To elect or chuse is the worke of the will And to chuse