worldly comforts and possessions Death is called an uncloathing 2 Cor. 5.4 We that are in this Tabernacle doe groane being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed that is not that we would die Death is called an uncloathing because it pulleth all outward things off from a man it pulleth off all his raiment his riches his lands his honours yea death uncloathes the very bones our flesh weares off quickely in the grave Wee have a usuall phrase among us and it is a very proper one when a rich man dies we say he left a great estate he leaves it indeed for he cannot carry it with him he must goe out naked how well cloathed so ever he was while he was here The Apostle doth more then intimate that some rich men do scarce beleeve this for sound doctrine he speaks as if he would beat them off from some thought of carrying the world with them out of the world while they live they are buried in their riches and when they die they hope their riches will be buried with them yea and rise with them againe Such a conceit I say the Apostle seemes to meet with for in the 1 Tim. 6.7 having said We brought nothing with us into this world he addeth in the next words and it is certaine we can carry nothing out he doth not say we brought nothing into the world and we can carry nothing out as Job here speakes but as if Jobs assertion had come into question in Pauls time he saith we brought nothing into this world and it is certaine never doubt of the truth of it we can carry nothing out we shall goe out as we came-in Many as the Prophet Habbakkuk speakes Chap. 2.6 lade themselves with thick clay But as the question there followes How long This lading must be laid downe againe If riches end not before thee as thine they must end with thee Yet if any would carry riches and cloathing out of the world it will be their wisdome to labour for spirituall riches for spirituall cloathing when such die as they shall not be found naked so they shall not goe out naked All your other cloathing and riches must be left on this side the grave but get spirituall cloathing and riches and you shall goe out of the world adorn'd and enrich'd for ever the cloathing of grace the robe of righteousnesse a vesture of spirituall ornaments will endure to all eternity Thirdly note here further how the Holy Ghost describes the life of man Naked came I into the world and naked shall I returne The life of man it is nothing else but a comming and a returning Here is nothing said of staying or abiding We have here no continuing City while we are here we can hardly be said to continue here and after a few dayes we shall not be here at all It is but a comming and a going it is but a flood and an ebbe and then we are carried into the Ocean of eternity We may yet consider the words as they are an argument and so I shall note two things from them So Job uses them as an argument both to support himselfe and to acquit God Then observe First That a godly man in his straights studieth arguments to acquit and justifie God in all his dealings with him Job could not have found out upon longest study a better or a stronger argument for the acquitting of God then this is I have as much as I brought then what wrong is done me in all this As wicked men when they fall into straits or troubles especially when they fall into sin study arguments how to shift themselves out and lay all the blame upon God as Adam and Eve our first Parents in Paradise there it began when they had sinned and were naked they began to devise shifts how to put it from themselves and to fasten the fault upon God David on the other side labours as much to cleare God if ever he should be stript naked Psa 51.4 I will confesse my sinne that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and cleare when thou judgest Weigh the reason why David confesseth his sinne in that Psalme I doe it saith he that I may by this meanes acquit God whatsoever God shall doe with me hereafter whatsoever affliction God shall bring upon me men it may be will begin to judge Gâ—d for it and to say that he hath dealt hardly with me notice having been taken what an eminent servant of God I have been Behold saith he I confesse my sinne before thee that thou maist be cleare when thou judgest or as the Apostle Paul quotes the place according to the Septuagint Rom. 3.4 That thou mightest overcome when thou art judged David knew men would be apt to judge God if they saw him afflicted and therefore to stop their mouthes or to give God the day against them he confesses his sin thereby shewing cause why God might chastise him either for correction of sin past or prevention of sin to come Secondly As the argument referreth unto Job himselfe we may observe this That the consideration of what we once were and of what at last we must be may releeve our spirits in the greatest outward afflictions of this life Art thou for the present in a naked condition Consider thou wast naked once and ere long shalt be naked againe Consider the two extreames the beginning and the ending and that will beare thee up in the middle condition There is many a man that complaines and saith I have nothing but the cloathes upon my backe left me and they are but raggs but meane ones neither Why With nothing but the cloathes upon thy backe Know O man thou wast borne with nothing but thy skin upon thy backe Consider this and leave complaining this was one thought which helped Job to beare this burden the want of all And the Apostle Paul useth this argument to the very same purpose 1 Tim. 6.6 having said That godlinesse with contentment is great gaine he subjoynes presently this argument of Job for saith he we brought nothing into this world and it is certaine we shall carry nothing out To consider what not long agoe we were and what very shortly we must be will mightily work the soule to contentation in what estate soever wee are It followes The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away This is the second argument which Job useth to both the former purposes and it is a more spirituall and sublime argument than the former A man who hath nothing in him but nature may say as much as Job did before though he could never say it with Jobs spirit for though godly persons use naturall arguments and common reasons yet being concocted in their spirits they become heavenly and spirituall Naturall men I say or Heathens have taken up such an argument as that as when word was brought to a Heathen Philosopher that his sonne was dead I knew saith he that I
the Lord did leave him thus in the hands of Satan to be afflicted To winde it up If we looke upon Satan then it was without that cause he pretended it was without any direct charge it was a meer suspition Iob had never wronged him But if we respect God it is not without cause God doth all things for weighty reasons And if we respect Iob God possibly yea easily might have found a sin in him any sin in it self considered would do it as the cause of his affliction And he had other actuall reasons in reference both to the being and improvement of his graces why he left him thus in the hands of Satan Hence we may learne First in that God saith Thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause That pure or rather impure malice stirreth Satan against the people of God Though he alwayes pretends somewhat in them yet the cause is in himselfe God now discovers he doth nothing but out of very malice pure malice against his servants Satan hath two names in Scripture noting his two speciall workes Temptation and accusation He sollicits good men to doe evill against God Hence he hath his name the Tempter He sollicites God to conceive evill of good men and hence he hath his name the Slanderer or Accuser Secondly we may note That God doth afflict his people sometimes without respect unto their sinnes Thou diddest move me against him without cause It was not in regard of his hypocrisie or of any thing thou diddest charge him with why I did afflict him and lay my hand upon him Though all men have alwayes sinne enough to be the meritorious cause yet oftentimes sinne is not the moving cause of their afflictions When the Disciples put that question to Christ concerning the blind man Joh. 9.2 Master who did sinne this man or his parents that he was borne blind Iesus answered neither hath this man sinned nor his parents not as if either of them were without sinne but to shew that they had not sinned as to this purpose sc their sinne was not the cause of this blindnesse and therefore in the next words he assignes the cause But sc he was borne blind that the workes of God should be made manifest Afflictions are alwayes from sinne but not alwayes for sinne Neither are they at all for sinne upon beleevers by way of the least satisfaction to the justice of God that chastisement Christ hath so fully borne Isa 53. that no beleevers finger shall ever ake in that sense But they are often afflicted for sinne by way of purgation or prevention Thirdly we may note this likewise That God will at the last give testimony for the clearing of the innocency of his servants against all Satans malicious accusations God himselfe gives testimony here a second time concerning Iob Thou didst move me against him without cause thou diddest move me to it but it is cleare and I give my sentence there was no such cause as thou didst suggest against him why I should destroy him When the Lord had thus called Satan to account concerning Iob whether he had considered him both in his radicall graces and in this additionall grace the holding fast of his integrity Then Satan comes forth to answer this also Hast thou saith God considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill And still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause Yes saith Satan in the 4th verse And Satan answered the Lord and said Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face Here is Satans answer with his motion upon it By his answer he labours to blot and obscure the glory which Job had gained in the former battell and by his motion he labours to bring him about unto a second tryall As by his answer in the former Chapter a little to compare him with himselfe Satan slandered Jobs actions so by his answer here he slanders Jobs sufferings There it was for something that Job served God and here that which Job had suffered is nothing It is Satans trade and he hath many children of the same occupation to slander and to slight whatsoever the servants of God either doe or suffer Before he slandered Jobs active obedience now hee slanders his passive obedience What is this saith hee tush Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life It is a slight tryall that he hath past yet what great matter is it if he hold fast his integrity who would not who could not hold-fast for any thing that hath been done to him yet Let us try him againe For the clearing of this we will examine the words Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life We see here that malice is steeped in wit Satan answereth by a Proverbe Skin for skin c. A proverbiall quick sharp speech the generall sense of which and Satans intendments are very cleare The generall sense of this proverbiall speech is this That life is the most precious treasure that a man will part with any thing upon these tearmes The saving of his life That all a man suffers comes not very neare him while that is out of danger Such is the generall sense and Satans intendment in speaking this is as cleare namely that as Iob before had served God for his wealth so now he doth serve him for his breath that as before Iob kept close to God that hee might enrich him so now Iob keepes close to God lest he should destroy him He seemeth to hold fast his integrity so you tell me but it is onely that he may hold fast his life He served you before for wealth and now he serves you for breath His feare of loosing that makes him humble himselfe and give many thankes Search him to the bottome and you will find him still a mercenary servant holding his integrity that hee may hold in with thee and live This is the generall drift of Satan But to give the speciall meaning of his words doth somewhat trouble Interpreters Skin for skin and all that a man hath will hee give for his life First Skin for skin Some interpret it thus A man will venture the skin of one member to save the skin of another which being cut-off or wounded his life is more in danger As for instance if a blow come at a mans head he will hold up his hand or his naked arme he will venture the skin of his hand to save his head And the reason is because his life is more in danger if he be wounded in his head then in his hand Here is skin for skin he gives the skin of a member which is further off
complained but she was check't for complaining that her way was hid from God Isa 40.27 Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel My way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God Yet that place is not to be understood of a hiding from the eye of Gods inspection as if the Church had any suspition that the Lord did not know or did not see how matters went with them or in what condition they were but it is to be understood of the eye of Gods compassion There is a seeing eye or contemplating eye and a compassionating or succouring eye So the meaning of that complaint is only this Why sayest thou my way is hidden from the Lord that is why doest thou speake as if God did not regard thee in thy troubles as if God had no pitty nor compassion on thee no bowels toward thee why sayest thou my way is hid from the Lord In the third of Exodus when God comes to help the people of Israel he telleth Moses I have seene I have seene or I have surely seene namely with an eye compassionating their condition as the next words shew for I know their sorrowes Now when the Church complained that her way was hid from God her meaning was that God did not take notice so as to pitty and deliver her Excepting in that sense she could not conceive that her way was hidden from God neither is the way of the Church So hidden from God but as to our sense for the Lord pities his people when he corrects them and therefore Jacob is chidden for saying so Why sayest thou O Jacob my way is hidden from the Lord Therefore this Text is not to be understood of Jobs way in respect of God but of the hiding of Gods way or the hidden dealings of God toward Job My way is hid saith Job that I cannot understand nor interpret nor expound the meaning of Gods dealing with me I am not able to give an interpretation of it I know not what this thing meaneth My way is hid The way of Gods dealing with him was a hidden way in two respects First In regard of the cause of his affliction It was hidden from him why God had layed so sore and so heavy a burthen upon him and that is it which Elihu in the 34. of this booke ver 31 32. hints at where he telleth Job surely saith he it is meet to be said unto God that which I see not teach thou me He answers such a complaint as this I saith Job cannot see the reason why God doth afflict me Elihu tells him It is meet to be said unto God that which I see not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will doe so no more Lord if thou wilt shew me that my sin is the cause and what sin is the cause I doe here promise I will lay down my sin and through thy helpe doe so no more Or againe It was hidden in regard of the issue or event My way is hid that is I can see no passage out of this way I cannot tell when these troubles will end I see no helpe I have no glimpse of light breaking out to me in this way it is a darke a hidden way unto me This darkenesse troubles him as much as all his troubles And it is as if he had said I am so encompast with clouds that I walke in darkenesse and see no light My life is so entangled and wrapt up in troubles that I see no way of deliverance or escape And this exposition seemes most proper if we take in the latter part of the verse where he saith and whom God hath hedged in This explaines the hiding of his way to be the hedging of his way such an incompassing of him about with sorrowes that he could not make his way out In the first Chapter you may remember that Satan was much troubled that God had made a hedge about Job And now Job himselfe is much troubled that God had made a hedge about him I am the man saith he whom God hath hedged in That which before was the object of Satans envy is now become the object of Jobs complaint a hedge Sure then it was not the same hedge No that which Satan complained of and envied at was a hedge of mercy and a hedge of blessings a hedge of favour and of protection But this which Job complaineth of is a hedge of thorny troubles and of pricking sorrows The former was as we may speake a hedge of Roses and this was a hedge of Bryars That was a hedge so high and strong that no evill could come in to or breake through to annoy him And this was a hedge so high and strong that no good could come or be brought unto him So then take the sense thus Why is light given to a man whose way is hid and whom God hath hedged in that is why doth God continue my life when I am in such a condition as that I can neither discover the reason why I came into it nor am I able to discover any passage out of it And this is it which the Church complaines of Lament 3.7 He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out and verse 9. He hath enclosed my wayes with hewen stones God had built up a wall as it were by art with hewen stones he had set them so close together that there was no passing by no getting through Observe hence first That affliction is usually accompanied with much darkenesse Affliction is often called darknesse in Scripture And as it is darkenesse without so it often causeth darkenesse within An afflicted person hath such darkenesse upon his person that he cannot discerne many times either why God doth afflict him or when God will make an end of his afflictions That in the Prophet Isa 50.10 is true of outward afflictions as well as inward Who is there among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkenesse Ther 's many an afflicted person walkes in a way hidden in a three-fold darknesse First The way is hid in the darkenesse of the cause for which he came into it Secondly The way is hid in the darkenesse of the event how to get out of it Thirdly The way is hid in the darkenesse of his present duty what to doe in it The way of affliction is often wrapt up and hidden in this threefold-darkenesse Further Seeing Job speakes of this as an addition to all his sorrowes and as the complement of them all that he was thus shut up and hedged in and that his way was thus darke in regard of the cause of it Observe That It increaseth an affliction greatly not to know the reason of an affliction or to have the way of Gods dealing hidden from our eyes It is a trouble not to see the reason of things The mind is exceedingly eased when the understanding hath light This
sorrowings are of the same continuance with my refreshings The phrase imports the un-intermittednesse as we may so speake of his sorrowes that he had no stop no breathing time which was not a sighing time no not for a meale time while he was eating with every bit of meate he had a morsell of sorrowes He might say as the Psalmist Psal 102.9 I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drinke with weeping when I drinke my teares flow into my cup When I take in a few drops of comfort I weepe out streames of sorrow Or my sighings come and returne so fast upon me that I have no time to eate my bread I am so plied and followed with these afflictions that I have no leisure to be comforted If at any time a man gets respite from his griefe it is when he eates how respitlesse then was Jobs griefe before whom sorrow and sighings sate as guests continually at his table My roarings are powred out like water As the former words shewed the continuance so this the extremity of Jobs sorrowes It is a great affliction that makes a man of spirit speake or complaine It is a greater affliction that makes a man of spirit weepe or mourne How great an affliction then is it which makes a man of spirit cry out and roare when a man of courage roares he is pained to purpose Job a man of spirit and courage doth not only sigh but roare Sighings are more secret sorrowes but roarings must be heard especially his roarings which were powred out like water Roaring is the Lyons voice and here is an allusion to the hungry Lyon roaring on his prey Or to the troubled waves of the sea which also are said to roare Excessive sorrow is often set forth by roaring Psal 22.1 Why art thou so farre from the voice of my roaring saith David typing the sorrowes of Christ I doe not only cry but I roare out unto thee Lord why doest thou not heare my strong cries cries like the roaring of the Lyon or the noyse of troubled waters So Psal 32.3 David to shew his extremity of paine and trouble while he kept in and did not confesse his sin speakes thus while I kept silence while I smothered my sin in secret I roared for the very disquietnesse of my soule silence in not confessing sin causes roaring under the guilt of sin Those are great burdens of sin and great burdens of sorrow that cause roaring My roarings are powred out like water This notes further yet the abundance and the strength of his sorrowes I am powred out like water I am as it were all melted into sorrowes is said of Christ in that Psalme of his passion Psa 22.14 I am powred out like water my heart in the middest of my bowels is like melted wax When the Prophet Ezekiel would shew how that people should be affected with the tidings of their afflictions he saith Every heart shall melt and all hands shall be feeble and every spirit shall faint and all knees shall be weake as water chap. 21.7 The Hebrew is all knees shall goe into water The sorrowes of repentance are exprest by the powring out of water to note both the abundance of them and the intensivenes of them in that known place 1 Sam. 7.6 They gathered together to Mizpeh and drew water and powred it out before the Lord that is they mourned abundantly and they mourned with all their strength How strong and abundant the sorrowes of Job were hath beene often shewed before and observations drawn down from them And therefore I shall need doe no more then cleare the words and give the sense It followeth For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come unto me For the thing which I greatly feared The causall particle in the beginning doth not alway inferre a cause this verse is not a reason of what he spake before but this particle is often used in Scripture for affirmation or illustration and not as causall or by way of demonstration As Joh. 4.17 Christ tells the woman of Samaria Thâ—u speakest well I have no husband the Greeke is for I have no husband We translate it only by way of assertion So Mat. 7.23 Then will I professe unto them I never knew you the Greeke is then I will professe unto them for I never knew you we render it only as an asseveration So very frequent in the Hebrew the particle Chi which is here used hath in it only the force of an affirmation For the thing I greatly feared is come upon me that is certainely or assuredly the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me as if Job should make this as the conclusion and the summe of all his complainings this is it which now I must conclude that the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come unto mee The thing which I greatly feared The Hebrew is I feared a feare and it is come upon me And so feare is in the Scripture frequently put for the thing feared by a Metanomy of the effect for the cause the abstract being put for the concrete As Prov. 1.26 I will mock when your feare cometh that is when the trouble which you feared shall come upon you As if Job should have said this evill is that which I have fore-seene and fore-thought I had such misgivings in my spirit long before this that such a black day might come upon me and I might be thus hedged in now I see my thoughts are come to passe and my conjectures prove true the thing which I feared and greatly feared is come upon me We translate well I greatly feared the Hebrew is I feared a feare Such expressions raise the sense As when we are said to be bought with a price it notes that there was a great price paid for our redemption To rejoyce with joy shewes the greatnesse of joy So here To feare a feare shewes that he was in a great feare as we translate I feared a feare I greatly feared Here it may be questioned whether these feares of Job were lawfull doth it become us to have such mis-givings of heart in respect of our outward condition The Apostle biddeth us be carefull in nothing Phil. 4 6. and was it a vertue or a grace was it commendable or so much as approveable in Job to be fearfull in all things Christ rebukes his Disciples because they were afraid in a storme and was it well in Job that he was fearfull in a Sun-shine when he had the fairest weather and prospered in all things Doth it become a godly man to be alwayes solicitous about his estate and doubting that troubles will come One would thinke there is trouble enough in troubles when they come a man should not trouble himselfe with them before they come Besides it is said Prov. 10.24 respecting wicked men that God will
AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS Vpon the three first CHAPTERS of the Booke of IOB Delivered in XXI Lectures at MAGNUS neare the Bridge London By JOSEPH CARYL Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne JAMES 5. ver 10 11. Take my bretheren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Behold we count them happy which endure Yee have heard of the patience of Job and have seene the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitifull and of tender mercy LONDON Printed by G. Miller for Henry Overton in Popes-head-Alley and Luke Fawne and Iohn Rothwell in Pauls Church-yard M.DC.XLIII IT is this eleventh Day of May 1643. Ordered by the Committee of the House of Commons in Parliament concerning Printing that this Book intituled An Exposition upon the three first Chapters of IOB be printed for Henry Overton Luke Fawne Iohn Rothwell IOHN WHITE TO THE CHRISTIAN READER To those especially of this City who have bin the Movers and Promoters of this work THis Book of JOB beares the Image of these times and presents us with a resemblance of the past present and much hoped for future condition of this Nation As the personall prosperity of Job so his troubles looke like our Nationall troubles and why may not the parallel be made up by a likenesse in our Restauration Job was the most flourishing the greatest man of all the men of the East We are the greatest and lately were the most flourishing Nation of all the Nations of the North. Our Oxen like his were strong to labour our Sheep brought forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets our garners were full affording all manner of store our sonnes like his as plants growne up in their youth our daughters as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace There was no breaking-in nor going out no complaining in reference to outward wants in our streets We washed our steps with butter and the rock powred us out rivers of oyl The Candle of God shined upon our Heads and the secret of God was upon our Tabernacles Our roots were spread out by the waters and the dew of blessings lay all night upon our branches Unto us the Nations gave ear and waited kept silence at our counsel After our words they spake not again and our speech dropped upon them If we laughed on them they believed it not our glory was fresh in us and the light of our countenance they cast not down we chose out their way and sate chief and dwelt as a King in the army as one that comforteth the Mourners Surely a happy people were we being in such a case yea most happy were we having the Lord many ways declaring himselfe for our God And had we as these mercies did oblige us fill'd up or labour'd to fill up th' other part the better part of Jobs character Had we beene a People perfect and upright fearing God and eschewing evill We might according to the promis'd and often experienc'd tenour of Gods dealing with his people have continued and encreased in all that happinesse unto this day But We herein unlike to Job and like a foolish Nation and unwise have ill-requited the Lord yea we have requited the Lord with evill for and in the midst of all this Goodnesse Our Provocations have bin many and our Backe-slidings have bin multiplied Our sinnes have put a Sword into the Hand of God And God in Justice hath put a Sword into the Hands of unjust men men skilfull to destroy He hath made Babylonians the rod of his anger and the staffe of his Indignation against us He hath given Commission to Caldeans and Sabeans who rob and spoyle us Our young men are slaine by the edge of the Sword and the stinke of our Campes comes up into our Nostrils How many sad Messengers have hastened unto us as unto Job with the Reports of Cities surrendered and plundered of Townes fired and pillaged of Villages and Countries laid waste and almost desolate Now seeing all this is come upon us is it not time for us with Job to rent our Garments yea our hearts with godly sorrow and falling upon the ground worship God and say The Lord hath freely given and the Lord hath justly taken Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Our sinnes have brought these sorrowes let not our sorrowes bring in more sin by causing us to murmur against or charge God foolishly God never sends such troubles upon a Nation he doth sometimes upon a Person and did upon Job without cause that is without respecting sinne as a cause Job might say in one sense My Uprightnesse and my Integritie have procured these things unto me But wee must say our way and our doings have procured these things unto us This is our wickednes Yet though all this evill hath been done by us though all these evils are come upon us yet there is hope in our Israel concerning this thing yea I beleeve there is mercie in and from all these evils to us and all the Israel of our God Onely what Integrity we have let us still hold it stedfastly what evils are and what evils almost are not amongst us let us reforme them speedily Without this at least without hearty desires and faithfull endeavours after this wee may presume but we cannot beleeve or hope our Deliverance I grant that whensoever God restores us he must restore us freely and must both make us good and doe us good for his owne Name sake in Jesus Christ For as he hath punished us lesse then our sinnes deserve so whensoever or in what degree soever he restores us it will bee more then any or all our repentings and reformings can deserve yet he commands us to repent and reforme that we may be restored God never delivered any people for their Repentance and rarely any if any without Repentance Yea I may say it plainely that he never delivered any in Mercie without Repentance for either he gave them Repentance before they were delivered or Repentance which is farre the greater blessing of the two with the Deliverance Better have our troubles continue then our sinnes continue To have Peace returne and our hearts unturn'd were infinitely worse then warre And as Repentance is better then Peace so it will be an argument that we shall have Peace May wee not well conclude that God is upon the giving-hand when he gives a new heart And that hee hath somewhat else to give when he hath given a love unto and a longing after his Truth When God feeds us with and we have a right taste of this Manna in our Wildernesse wee may rest assured that God hath humbled us all this while and all the while his Wisdome shall see fit to humble us yet will be only to proove us that he may doe us good at our latter end and make this Nation at least like Job in the end which he will
you to take an Antidote to take a Preservative to seeke all the meanes you can to heale your soules and to make your peace with God And if Iob prayed thus when he only suspected his sons had sinned what shall we say of those Parents who are little troubled when they see and know their sons have sinned It is safest to repent even of those sinnes we only feare we have committed for then we shall be sure to repent of those we have committed A scrupulous conscience grieves for what it suspects a feared conscience is not grieved for what it is certaine either it selfe or others have done amisse Lastly Where had Iobs sonnes beene that he is thus suspitious Had they beene in any suspected place No it was only in their owne houses Had they beene about any unlawfull thing No it was only at a friendly meeting feasting of brothers and sisters together Yet Iob is affraid least his sonnes had sinned Hence observe That We may quickly offend and breake the Law while we are about things in their own nature lawfull especially in feasting It is an easie matter to sinne while the thing you are about is not sinnefull nay while the thing you are about is holy We may suspect our selves that we have sinned when we have beene praying much more then when we have beene feasting We may suspect our selves that we have sinned when we have beene hearing the word speaking the word just cause then much more we have to suspect our selves when we have beene trading buying or selling and working abroad in the world Lawfull things are oftentimes the occasion of unlawfull All the sinnes of the old world are described thus they eate they dranke they bought they sold they planted c. There is not one of these an act evill in it selfe yet they sinned away their peace and sinned away their soules in dealing about these things Therefore as you must be afraid of all things in their owne nature unlawfull so be jealous of your selves in things that are lawfull It followes And cursed God in their hearts Interpreters are much divided about the sence of these words First Some observe that the Hebrew word Barach doth signifie not only to blesse but to bow the knee So it is used 2 Chron. 6.13 Solomon at the dedicating of the Temple had made a brasen scaffold and upon it he stood and kneeled downe upon his knees before all the Congregation The word there kneeled downe upon his knees in the Originall is the same here used But Then further the word Elohim is used in Scripture not only for the true God for God himselfe but it is applied sometimes to Angels and sometimes to Idols to Devill gods to false gods Exod. 18.11 Now I know that the Lord is greater then all gods sc then all the Idols that the Egyptians did trust upon They observe further that the Hebrew Leb in their hearts Bilebabbam doth signifie not only the heart but the middle or center of a thing As when it is said in the Scripture they went downe into the middest of the Sea the word is they went downe into the heart of the Sea and in the middest of the earth it is the heart of the earth And so when it is said that Absolom was hanging in the middest of the Oake the Originall word is he was left hanging in the heart of the Oake From all all these acceptions of the single termes the sense is made up thus It may be my sonnes have sinned c. that is It may be my sonnes have sinned bowing downe to the false gods that are in the middest of them I confesse Feasting and false-worship sensuality and Idolatry goe often together Exod. 32.6 When the Golden Calfe was made they sate downe to eate c. And Moses foretells Deut. 31.20 When they shall have eaten and filled themselves and waxen fat then will they turne unto other gods Yet I cannot admit this of Jobs children surely he who had bestowed so much care in their institution and had them still under his eye could not suspect them of degenerating so soone into such palpable Idolatry Secondly Others take the word Barach in the Originall in its proper sense It may be my sonnes have sinned and blessed God and they expound and open it thus It may be my sonnes have sinned and instead of being humbled and seeking to God for the pardon of their sinnes they have rejoyced and blessed God Just as if a Theefe that hath sped well and hath got a good prey should thanke God that he hath prospered so well in his wickednesse So here as if Job should say my sonnes have done ill in their feastings and they are so farre from being humbled that they have blessed God in their hearts they have bin lifted up they have given God thanks for the plenty of creatures but have not repented for their abuse of the creatures So we may interpret it by that place Zach. 11.4 where there is such an expression the Lord speaking to Christ saith Feede the flock of the slaughter whose possessours stay them and hold themselves not guilty They that should have beene the feeders of the flock instead of feeding them have destroyed them yea they doe this and hold themselves not guilty and they that sell them say blessed be the Lord for I am rich They grew rich by selling soules as many since have lived by the same trade starving the people to feed themselves the just character of an idle Idoll shepheard and then they said Blessed be God we are growne very rich and have got much goods though we have done little good This is a second interpretation and a cleare one only me thinks it layes too high a staine of wickednesse on Jobs sonnes It is one of the greatest wickednesses for a man to blesse himselfe in his sinnes but for a man to blesse God in his sinnes is farre worse Thirdly Others interpret Benedicere by Valedicere blessing by departing Thus It may be my sonnes have sinned and departed from God in their hearts and they bring some Texts of Scripture wherein the word Barach signifies to depart or to take leave and goe away as Gen. 47.10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh he blessed him and departed So it is said likewise of Joab 2 Sam. 14.22 when he had obtained what he desired he fell to the ground on his face and bowed himselfe and thanked or blessed the King and went out Now they would interpret this Blessed God in their hearts to the same sense It may be my sonnes have sinned and blessed God in their hearts that is have departed from God in their hearts Indeed every sinne is a departure from God as the Apostle speakes Take heed least there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeliefe to depart from the living God Sinne is a turning away from God yet every sinne is not nay few sins
hearts when you are praying and when you are hearing and when you are in holy duties but remember to keepe your hearts when you are feasting and refreshing your selves when you are in your callings when you are buying and selling c. Secondly Note That sinnes of the heart sinnefull thoughts are very dangerous sinnes Job could not accuse his sonnes of load blasphemies he only suspected the silent sinnes of the heart yet he offereth sacrifice for them Againe When Iob hath nothing to charge his sonnes with but onely sinnes of the heart you see it is with an It may be my sonnes have cursed God in their hearts he doth not speake directly or positively that they have done so Whence note That no man can positively conclude what is wrought in the heart of another The heart is Gods peculiar as he only hath the lock and key of the heart to shut or open it so he only hath a window to looke into it we may guesse at the heart we may say it may be further we cannot goe The hearts of men often come forth at their mouthes and appeare in their actions and then indeed we may conclude their hearts are naught For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the hand worketh but unlesse we have that testimony unlesse the heart give that witnesse against it selfe we can only suspect it It may be thus or thus God alone can tell when we curse him in our hearts and if we goe on impenitently in them irreverent thoughts will be interpreted a cursing of God Thus did Job continually This is the third thing to be opened in this verse to wit the constancy of Job We have seene the Acts of his spirituall care and the ground of it his feare least his sonnes had sinned Now we have the constancy of this duty Thus did Job continually Continually The Originall is all the days thus did Job Cunctis diebus all dayes that is all the dayes that this occasion did offer it selfe When his sonnes went to feasting then ever Job went to praying and to sacrificing Continually or all the dayes doth not import that Job did offer sacrifice every day This continually is to be understood in the renewed seasons All the dayes are those dayes wherein occasion was given We are then said to doe a thing continually when we doe it seasonably so those places of Scripture are to be understood Pray without ceasing not that a man should doe nothing else but pray but that he should labour to have his heart in a praying frame alwayes and should actually pray as often as duty requires such an one prayes alwayes So here Iobs offering sacrifice continually noteth only the constancy and perseverance of Iob in the duty that so often as there was an occasion renewed Iob renewed this service and holy care concerning his sonnes for reconciling them unto God Iob had many other things to doe in the world he had a calling yet he offered sacrifice continually It is an excellent point of spirituall wisedome to drive the two trades for Heaven and Earth so as that one shall not intrench upon another for a man to pray so as that it may be said he prayes continually and for a man to follow his calling so as that it may be said he followes his calling continually In that he offered sacrifice as oft as his sonnes did feast Observe this That the heart of man is continually evill Doe not thinke that one sacrifice will serve the heart of man when it hath failed once in a duty and thou hast humbled thy soule for that thinke not thus now my heart will forbeare when I come to such a duty or to such a businesse again now I have taken order with my heart I need not feare any more no the heart will sinne over the same sinne a thousand times it will sinne continually You see here Iob sacrificing every time his sonnes feasted he knew their hearts were apt to conceive those sinnes at any time therefore he seekes God for them at all times Further Observe That renewed sinnes must have renewed repentance Thus did Job continually Till you have done sinning you must never give over repenting If there be a leake in the Ship that lets in the water continually the Pumpe must worke continually to carry it out We are leaking vessels all of us sinne commeth in sin is renewed there must be the pump of repentance to cary it out againe Lastly We may note this Iob did it continually Job was not good by fits That which a man doth out of conscience he will doe with perseverance Nature will have good moods but grace is steady Thus did Job continually whatsoever his affaires or businesses were whatsoever was laid by he would not lay by this duty of sacrificing Let this suffice for the 5th verse containing the care of Job over the soules of his children And so in these five verses already opened we have First Seene the dignity and sincerity of Jobs person Secondly The fullnesse and prosperity of his condition Thirdly The holinesse and piety of his life Certainely a man thus raised thus glorious set up thus in temporalls and in spiritualls thus furnished with substantialls and adorn'd with circumstantials abounding in whatsoever could make a man great and happy both in the eye of God and man surely such a man as this a man thus compleate wanted nothing but some want to try his sincerity in this fulnesse And now behold this hastening upon him God having thus fitted and qualified him will now try him try him like gold in the fornace of affliction You may see matter gathering for this and the fire kindling in the next part of the Chapter Verse 6. Now there was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord c. Take this in the generall from the connection of the two parts Vsually where God gives much grace he tryes grace much To whom God hath given strong shoulders on him for the most part he layeth heavy burthens As soon as Job is spoken of thus prepared the next thing that follows is an affliction Now there was a day c. And so we are come to the second maine division of the Chapter which is the affliction of Job and that is set forth from this 6th verse to the end of the 19th And least we should conceive it to have come upon him by chance it is punctually described foure wayes 1. By the causes of it ver 6 7 c 2. By the instruments of it ver 15 16. c. 3. By the manner of it ver 14 15 16 c. 4. By the time of it ver 13. First his afflictions are set forth in their causes and that is done from the sixth verse to the end of the twelfth And the causes are three-fold First The efficient causes and they were two 1. The supreame and principall efficient cause and that was God ordering
and disposing the affliction of Job 2. The subordinate efficient cause and that was Satan he was an efficient but under God Satan found out other instruments and tooles to doe it by but he was an efficient subordinate unto God And the Text discovers him three wayes 1. By his diligence in tempting ver 7. 2. By his malice in slandering ver 9 10 11. 3. By his cruelty in solliciting the overthrow and affliction of Job ver 11. Secondly We have the materiall cause of Jobs affliction or in what matter he was afflicted and that is laid downe first positively in those words All that he hath is in thy power that is his outward estate that was the matter wherein he was afflicted Then it is laid downe negatively in those words Only upon himselfe put not forth thy hand God doth set him out how farre the affliction shall go in the things that he hath thou shalt afflict him but thou shalt not meddle with his person with his body or with his soule Thirdly The finall cause of Jobs affliction and that is the practicall and experimentall determination decision or stating of a great question that was betweene God and Satan concerning Jobs sincerity God tells Satan that Job was a good and a just man Satan he denies it and saith that Job was an hypocrite Now the determination of this question was the generall finall cause of Jobs affliction When on the one side God affirmes it and on the other side Satan denies how shall it be tryed Who shall be the Moderatour and Vmpire between them Satan will not believe God and God had no reason to believe Satan How then should this be made out It is as if Satan had said Here is your yea and my nay this question will never be ended or decided betweene us unlesse you will admit some course to have Job soundly afflicted This will quickly discover what metall the man is made of therefore let him come to the tryall saith Satan Let him saith God behold all that he hath is in thy power doe thy worst to him onely upon his person put not forth thy hand So that I say the generall finall cause of Jobs affliction is the determination of the question the decision of the dispute betweene God and Satan whether Job was a sincere and holy man or no. And all this to give you the summe of those 6. verses a little further is here set forth and described unto us after the manner of men by an Anthropopathie which is when God expresses himselfe in his actions and dispensations with and toward the world as if he were a man So God doth here he presents himselfe in this businesse after the manner of some great King sitting upon his Throne having his servants attending him and taking an account of them what they had done or giving Instructions and Commissions to them what they shall doe This I say God doth here after the manner of men for otherwise we are not to conceive that God doth make certaine dayes of Session with his creatures wherin he doth call the good and bad Angels together about the affaires of the world we must not have such grosse conceits of God for he needs receive no information from them neither doth he give them or Satan any formall Commission neither is Satan admitted into the presence of God to come so neare God at any time neither is God moved at all by the slanders of Satan or by his accusations to deliver up his servants and children into his hands for a moment But onely the Scripture speakes thus to teach us how God carries himselfe in the affaires of the world even as if he sate upon his throne and call'd every creature before him and gave each a direction what and when and where to worke how farre and which way to move in every action So that these 6. verses following which containe the causes of Jobs affliction are as we may so speake the Scheme or draught of providence that may be the title of them If a man would delineat providence he might doe it thus suppose God upon his throne with Angels good and bad yea all creatures about him and he directing sending ordering every one as a Prince doth his Subjects or as a Master his servants doe you this and doe you that c. so all is ordered according to his Dictate Thus all things in Heaven and Earth are disposed of by the unerring wisdome and limited by the Almighty power of God Such a representation as this we reade in 1 King 22.19 Where Micaiah said to Ahab Heare thou the word of the Lord I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne and all the Hoast of Heaven standing by him And so he goeth on to shew how a spirit came and offered himselfe to be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs Prophets This is only a shadow of providence there was no such thing really acted God did not conveene or call together a Synod of spirits to advise with de Arduis Regni about hard or doubtfull cases nor are wicked spirits admitted into his presence onely by this we are instructed and assured that God doth as exactly order all things in Heaven and earth as if he stood questioning or interrogating good Angels men and devills concerning those matters Having thus given some light about these six verses in generall I shall open the particulars Now there was a day The Jewish Rabbins trouble themselves much to find out what day this was They say it was the first day of the yeare Others that it was the Sabbath day But I account it a disadvantage to a cleare truth when it is proved by an obscure text The Sabbath hath proofe enough before the law though this be spared The holy Ghost hath told us only that there was a day or certain time When the sonnes of God In Gen. 6.2 The posterity of Seth who were the visible Church at that time are called the sons of God The unanimous consent of all Expositors I have met with is that here the sonnes of God are the good Angels so also they are called Cap. 38.7 of this booke Some it may be will object against this Exposition that of the Apostle in Heb. 1.5 To which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my sonne How then doe you interpret here that the sons of God are the Angels when as the Apostle hath exprest to which of the Angels c. I answer that the Angells are not the sonnes of God as the Apostle there expresseth they are not the sonnes of God by eternall Generation but they are the sonnes of God by temporall Creation for so he speakes there To which of the Angels said he thou art my sonne this day have I begotten thee They are not the begotten sonnes of God but they are the created sonnes of God And the Angels are called the sons of God in 3 respects First Because of their
curse God If he that touches them touches God then he that curseth them curseth God too And God is cursed in any of these senses two wayes first by detracting from himselfe his worship his workes or his servants the good they have or by fastning on them and aspersing them with the evill which they have not Hee will curse thee to thy face Observe two or three Points from this First Note this Satan can only guesse at the hearts of men Hee would undertake and enter warranty with God that Job would blaspheme if God did but touch him but he was deceived Satan did but conjecture at most and speake at a venture If he did not lie knowingly I am sure he did but guesse ignorantly Satan knowes not what is in the heart that 's Gods peculiar that 's Gods cabinet God knew there lay sincerity in the heart of Job all the while although Satan would stand to it that nothing was there but hypocrisie Secondly Wee may note seeing Satan accusing him of hypocrisie would have him afflicted That affliction is the tryall and touchstone of sincerity When God doth afflict you then he doth bring you to the touchstone to see whether you are good mettall or no he doth bring you then to the furnace to try whether you be drosse or gold or what you are Affliction is the great discoverer That unmaskes us Satan was not out in the thing he hit upon the rightest way that could be if any thing would discover Job affliction would Indeed some are discovered by prosperity and outward abundance The warme Sunne makes some cast off that cloake which the winde and the cold caused them to wrap closer about them Some when they have gotten enough from God care not for God when the fish is caught they lay by the net for they doe but goe a fishing with Holynes and the profession of Religion and when they have their ends ther 's an end of their profession Affliction and the crosse try others Some will hold on with God as long as the Sunne shineth as long as it is faire weather but if the storme arise if troubles come whether personall or publike then they pull in their heads then they deny and forsake God then they draw backe from and betray his truth what they such and such men no not they Trouble makes the great tryall bring professors to the fire and then they shew their mettall This course Satan took with Job He knew Job had bin abundantly tryed by fullnesse and abundance and these did not draw his heart from God he must therefore now try another way It is an excellent passage in the Church history concerning Constantius the father of Constantine that to the end he might try the hearts of his Courtiers he proclaimed that all they who would not forsake the worship of the true God should be banished the Court and should have heavy penalties and fines layed upon them presently upon this saith the story all that were base and came to serve him only for ends went away forsooke the true God and worshipped Idols by this meanes he found out who were the true servants of God and whom he meant to make his owne such as he found faithfull to God he thought would prove faithfull to him What this exploratorie decree of Constantius effected in his Court the same did that which the Apostate Julian set forth in good earnest against the Christians He no sooner caused it to be proclaimed that whosoever would not renounce the Faith should be discarded his service and forfeit both life and estate to his high displeasure But presently upon the publication of that decree they who were indeed Christians and they who had only the title of Christians presented themselves as it were on a common stage to the view of all men Such as these are Willows not Oakes And as it was with Naomi and her two daughters in law Orpah and Ruth All the while that she was Naomi beautifull and had enough they both stayed with her but when once Naomi became Marah bitter and empty then Orpah tooke her leave of her but Ruth abides with her Here was the tryall whether Orpah or Ruth had the sincerer affection to Naomi Ruth loved her mothers person Orpah her estate and outward preferments While Religion and prosperity goe together it is hard to say which a man followes but when once they are forced to a separation where the heart was will soone be manifest The upright in heart are like Ruth whatsoever becommeth of the Gospell they will be sharers with it in the same condition be it affliction or be it prosperity be it comfort or be it sorrow be it faire weather or be it foule be it light or be it darknesse they will take their lot with it This is a cleare truth that whatsoever was the cause of our doing a thing that being removed we cease to doe it if outward comforts and accommodations in the world be the cause why we follow Christ in the profession of his Gospell then as soone as ever they faile our profession will faile too When zeale is kindled only with the beames of worldly hopes when worldly hopes faile our zeale is extinct and our indeavour is cut off with our expectation Wee are next to consider the Lords grant of Satans motion And the Lord said unto Satan behold all that he hath is in thy power only upon himselfe put not forth thine hand So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. We have in this verse First Gods Commission or his permission unto Satan Behold all that he hath is in thine hand And Secondly His limitation of the Commission Onely upon himselfe put not forth thine hand Thirdly Satans speedy execution of his Commission So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. The Lord said unto Satan all that he hath is in thy hand in thy power so we translate it the word in the Originall is all is in thy hand Satan mooved that God would put forth his hand against Job and God puts Job into Satans hand Least Satan should cavill that God had toucht him but lightly he puts him into Satans power and le ts him doe it himselfe who would doe it throughly The hand as we before noted is put for power and when any thing is put into the hand it is put into the power or disposition of another Exod. 4.21 Thou shalt doe all the wonders before Pharaoh which I have put into thy hand And Joh. 3.35 The Father loveth the Sonne and hath given all things into his hand This phrase of giving or putting into the hand is taken either for good or for evill Sometime the putting of a thing into ones hand is only for the managing and disposing of it for good As Gen. 39.7 8. Joseph said that his master had committed all that he had into his hand that is to take care of it and to order it for his masters
cloathed with strength proportionable Satan is a mighty Prince commanding in the spirits of wicked men ther 's his Throne he can kindle their lusts and â—â—flame their spirits set them on fire from hell and then cause them to goe on with a rage in doing mischiefe as high as Heaven He can leade men captive at his will though not against their owne will Yet to shew the efficacy of his actings he is said to lead them captive at his will to doe his will and execute his devillships designes It is admirable what Satan can doe upon wicked men who are his willing vassals and bond-slaves if he speake the word they goe if he suggest they submit if he move they obey And likewise we see what a mighty Prince he is in the aire all the elements and the meteors stoope to his direction He cannot onely command men who have reason but he can command the fire the water the winds the thunders therefore he is called the Prince of the power of the ayre those powers that are in the aire he can command For though it be a truth that Satan of himselfe cannot make one sparke of fire or so much as one breath of wind yet if hee be let loose and unchain'd hee can goe to Gods Store-house of wind and fire hee can goe to Gods Magazin of thunder stormes and tempests he can fetch out such store of all these and so enrage them that no man is able to withstand their violence The Apostle taxes all naturall men that they live without God in the world that is they live without a sensible apprehension of the Majesty of the power and holinesse of God they are not affected with God in the world I may say in a sense unto many godly men and it may be a reproofe unto them that they live without the devill in the world that is they have not such apprehensions of the power and policy and sleights of Satan as they ought to have We doe not know or apprehend as we ought and as we might who the devill is or what his power is I doe not speake this as if I would have any meditate and pore upon the power of Satan so as to be afraid of him that 's no part of my intent but it is for this end that our hearts might be raised up to blesse God who doth binde up such an enemy and bound such a power who if hee were let alone would doe us mischiefe an hundred times in a day Nay he would unquiet and unsettle the whole world This is the reason why we should consider the power and policy of Satan to blesse God who stops the mouth of this Lyon so that he cannot stirre to doe that mischiefe unto which his nature doth at once encline and inable him Verse 20. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell downe upon the ground and worshipped Verse 21. And said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Verse 22. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly These three verses containe the third Division of the Chapter as we shewed in the Analysis of it We have seene in the first the character of Job in his prosperous estate and the description of his prosperity We have seen his afflictions in the causes in the time in the instruments in the matter and in the manner of inflicting them In this third part we have the carriage of Job how Job tooke it how he behaved himselfe in this sad condition And likewise how God tooke it that Job did so behave himself So then We may note two things in the generall out of these 3 verses 1. We have the carriage of Job his behaviour 2. We have the testimony of God concerning his carriage and behaviour The carriage and behaviour of Job is laid downe verse 20 21. And concerning his carriage the Text gives us to consider 1. What Job did 2. What Job said 1. What he did and that is in the 20th verse and there we find mentioned five distinct actions of Job upon the receiving of the relation of his affliction 1. He arose 2. He rent his mantle 3. He shaved his head 4. He fell downe upon the ground 5. He worshipped 2. What he said and that is in the 21. verse And he said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked c. His sayings containe two strong and undeniable argumentall Propositions and one cleare Conclusion flowing naturally from them both or from either of them by which he doth acquit the Lord in his afflicting of him and also support and strengthen his own soule under those afflictions The testimony of God concerning Jobs carriage is in the 22. ver The Lord comes in as it were like an umpire to determine who got the day which is resolved when he saith In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly These words expressely set the Laurell of victory upon the head of Job Satan undertooke that Job if touched would curse God now saith God looke upon him touch'd see what he hath done examine all his actions that are past observe what he hath spoken weigh every word that hath come out of his mouth in the ballance of truth and reason and when thou hast done both tell me whether he hath yet cursed me I pronounce that in all he hath done in all he hath said Job hath not charged God foolishly That in the generall for the sum of the Context and for the parts of it To begin first with what Job did his actions Then Job arose and rent his mantle c. Then Job stood out the three former assaults unmoveably but when he had received the fourth then his bowels were moved And then c. Job arose This was his first action to arise is properly an act of one that sitteth he is said to arise that before did sit or lie But yet in Scripture to arise is not alwayes taken so strictly neither is it in this place To arise in the Scripture language notes two things First the speedinesse of doing a thing when a man doth a thing instantly or presently he is said to arise to doe it to arise and doe it though he were standing or walking before This is an Hebraisme He arose and rent his mantle that is He presently rent his mantle upon the hearing of these messages especially the last And so you have the word in divers places as Judg. 20.18 The children of Israel arose and went to the house of the Lord that is they went presently up to the house of the Lord 2 Sam. 14.31 Then Joab arose and went to Absolom the meaning is only this that upon the receiving of that message he went with speed he made no delayes And Nehem. 2.18 when Nehemiah exhorted them to the great worke of building
to lay his siedge nearer and closer to Iob presuming that though he had not prevailed at the first yet he shall at the second charge let me charge him but once more and then see his fall He will curse thee to thy face JOB 2.1 2 3 4 5 6. Verse 1. Againe there was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himselfe before the Lord. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan from whence commest thou And Satan answered the Lord and said from going too and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it 3. And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill and still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause 4. And Satan answered the Lord and said skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life 5. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face 6. And the Lord said unto Satan Behold he is in thine hand but save his life AS the Prophet Ezekiel when in vision he had beene shewed one abomination was led forward to a second and a third and a fourth with Come see a greater abomination than this or these Or as the Angell proclaimeth in the Revelation One woe is past and another woe is at hand The same may we say concerning this History of Jobs sorrowes Having shewed you his first affliction in the former Chapter I must now leade on your attentions with Come behold a second a greater then that and having shewed you one woefull day I must now shew you a second Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves This whole Chapter presents us in the generall with Jobs second tryall About which wee may observe these particulars 1. The occasion of it 2. The causes of it 3. The manner of it 4. The consequents of it 1. The occasion of it was Satans appearing at that heavenly Session and being there questioned about that former affliction of Job he answers with slander and desireth that Job may be brought about to a second tryall 2. The causes of this affliction as of the first are two 1. God And 2. Satan 1. God permitting and limiting it 2. Satan provoking and then inflicting it Both are laid downe in the words of the context now read to the end of the sixth verse 3. The manner of this affliction was the striking and smiting of Jobs body with a sore and noysome disease which you have contained in ver 7 8. 4. The Consequents of this affliction or what followed upon it and those are three 1. His wives sinfull councell ver 9. As soone as she saw him thus smitten What saith shee doest thou still retaine thine integrity Curse God and die There 's her counsell 2. His wise and holy reply ver 10. 3. His friends loving visit vers 11 12 13. They hearing of the affliction of Job came from a farre country to see him and to comfort him These are the distinct parts of the whole Chapter These six verses descipher the occasion and the causes of Jobs affliction Satan inciting and provoking the Lord and the Lord permitting and limitting Satan The three first containe the same matter which we have opened and explained in the former Chapter and they are almost word for word the same therefore I shall not need to stay long upon them Only I shall enquire a little further about two things First about the day of this great appearance And secondly about the persons appearing who are said to be the sons of God To the former of these the Jewish Doctors contend much That this was the first day in the recourse or returne of the yeare intimating if not contending that the first day of every yeare was as Gods day of generall Audit in which he conveen'd or called together his Angels to give him an account of all the passages and dispatches of the yeare past and to give them instructions what to doe the yeare comming which opinion I leave under the censure of a learned Interpreter as grosse and groundlesse Others fixe it upon the last day of the weeke affirming that this was the Sabbath day And that this was a convention or Assembly of the Church on Earth for the solemne worship of God upon that day which is here called A presenting themselves before the Lord in concurrence with which opinion the sonnes of God must needs be interpreted holy men I find some affirming that men are not called the sons of God in all the old Testament but the Angels only And so they take that Text Gen 6.2 The sons of God saw the daughters of men c. for the Angels either good or bad who being taken with the beauty of those daughters assuming bodies came into them of whom came the Giants A conceit as monstrous as those Giants and fitter for a fabulist then a Divine On the other extreame Chrysostome denyes that the Angels are at all called the sonnes of God We may walke safely in a middle way betweene these two For both Angels and men are called the sonnes of God Why Angels are called the sons of God hath been shewed Chap. 1. v. 6. Men are called the sons of God for two reasons either for their power or greatnesse so they Gen. 6.2 might be called the sonnes of God because great and powerfull on the earth Or rather secondly for their piety and holinesse by which they resemble God and in which they serve God as a sonne doth the Father Indeed the Apostle affirmes that the priviledge of sonship was brought-in by the Incarnation of Christ who is said In the fullnesse of time to be made of a woman c. That we might receive the adoption of sonnes Gal. 4.5 But in Scripture a thing is spoken of as newly done when it is more fully done Joh. 7.39 The Holy Ghost is said not to be given at that time because he had not been so plentifully given And the Apostle to the Hebrewes speakes as if the way into Heaven had been but then opened because it was then more clearly opened Heb. 9.8 So we are said to receive the adoption of sons when Christ came in the flesh because then our son-ship was more apparant though before it was as reall So then according to this Interpretation the sence of the words is That upon the Sabbath day when the servants of God the faithfull of that age and place were met together to celebrate the publick worship of God Satan the evill spirit who is ever ready to oppose and resist us to interrupt and hinder us when we appeare before the Lord in holy duties came also among them to
no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Isa 62. ver 6 7. This duty is now doubled on us by the great afflictions and greater feares of Sion When Christ was in his agony he prayed more earnestly Luk. 22.44 And when his Church is in an agony we ought to pray more earnestly At such a time we must mingle more fire with our prayers we must pray more fervently At such a time we must mingle more water with our prayers wee must pray more repentingly We must with Jacob Hos 12. weepe and make supplication At such a time we must mingle more faith with our prayers we must pray more beleevingly In a word at such a time every prayer must be a pleading yea a wrestling with God a wrestling with resolution not to let him goe untill wee have got a blessing till wee prevaile with God to destroy his Churches enemies as Satan in the text moved God to destroy Job his servant and his friend So it followes Thou movedst me against him to destroy him To destroy him The word Destroy signifieth to swallow up or to devoure You have it Gen. 41.4 where it is said that the seven leane eares and seven leane kine did devoure or eat up the seven full eares and the seven fat kine And Exod. 7.12 the text saith That Moses his rod did swallow up the rods of the Magicians Psal 124.3 Vnles the Lord had been on our side they had swallowed us up quicke In all these places it is the same word we have here thou movedst me to destroy him In the former Chapter where Satan desired God to touch Job I shewed what kind of touches Satan desired to lay upon the people of God you see it now cleared by God himselfe Thou movedst me to destroy him to swallow him up Thy words were moderate and diminitive doe but touch him but thy intentions were bloody and destructive thou movedst me to destroy him to make an end of him that was thy meaning Without cause But will the Lord the wise God doe any thing without cause A wise a prudent man will not doe any thing without cause though Satan may be so brutish and unreasonable to move God to doe a thing for which there is no cause would the Lord be so perswaded by his motion to doe it without cause The text seemeth here to speake so thou movedst me to destroy him without cause and God hearkned to his motion before and gave him up all his estate to doe with it what he pleased Briefly to cleare this Without cause It is the same originall word used in the former Chapter Doth Job serve God for nought or without cause as was then opened so here Thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause or thou movedst me against him for nothing or for nought We may consider this phrase of speech without cause three wayes First in reference unto Satan Secondly in reference unto God Thirdly in reference unto Job himselfe From each of these considerations light will shine into this point First in reference unto Satan God tells Satan thou movedst me against him without cause that is Job never gave thee any cause why thou shouldest make such a motion against him Job had never wronged thee or done thee any hurt as David saith of his enemies they are mine enemies without cause I was never injurious or unjust unto them So Satan was Jobs enemy without cause Job never gave him occasion Indeed the holinesse and goodnesse of Job was Satans griefe and Satans trouble but for any other trouble or wrong Job never did him therâ—fore without cause it was in reference unto Satan 2. In reference unto Satan without cause that is Thou didst not alleadge any sufficient cause or charge him with any particular crime thou didst onely bring in a generall suspition against him there was not so much as a common fame as you know it was a course to accuse men upon common fame So saith God here it was nothing but a suspition raised out of thine owne braine as indeed those common fames that we heard of not long since upon which many were accused yea condemn'd were only suspitions borne in the brains of those men So here Job was charged meerly upon the suspition of Satan there was no crime directly alleadged nor any evill report in the world against him cause was not shew'd legally therefore without cause thou movedst me against him 3. In reference unto Satan without cause that is it now appeareth upon the tryall that thou didst move me against him without cause that which thou didst pretend to be the cause was not found in Job thou pretendest he was an hypocrite and served me for himselfe now thou seâ—st thy selfe confuted it appeareth he did serve me for nought sincerely and not for his owne endâ— He is no painted sepulcher no rotten self-seeker If we consider the words in the second place with reference unto God Thou didst move me against him without cause then we must take heed of thinking that God doth any thing without cause No the wise God doth every thing in number weight and measure he doth every thing upon great reason upon the highest reason God will not doe the lowest thing but upon the height of reason he doth the least thing upon greater reason than the greatest Polititians in the world doe the greatest Therefore God had reason important reason to give Job up to be afflicted He did it for the tryall of Job he did it for the magnifying of his free-grace and the graces of his free Spirit in his weake creature he did it that Job might be set up as an example of patience he did it to discover the slander of the devill therefore he did it for strong reasons it was not without cause in reference unto God himselfe Lastly If we consider it in reference unto Job it was not absolutely without cause neither for though there was not that cause in him which Satan pretended namely grosse hypocrisie yet if the Lord should search and sift him narrowly as if he should search and sift the holiest of his servants his pure eyes and holy nature would find sinne enough in them which might justifie him or shew to his justice sufficient cause take the sinne in it selfe not onely to afflict them temporally but to lay his hand upon them for ever Should God I say have tryed him thoroughly and looked upon sinne in it selfe he might finde cause to afflict him in regard of his sinne So then absolutely in reference unto Job it was not without cause God might have found cause in regard of his sinne But there were other causes in reference unto Job it was to try Iob to exercise Iob it was that Iob might have further honour after the tryall There might have been a reason in sinne if the Lord had marked iniquity And there were many reasons in referrence to his good why
but also lowder and lowder It becomes us not only to continue our mourning and our crying unto God but to cry lowder and lowder If we increase not our humiliations God will yet increase our judgements if we will not sit in ashes he will bring us to ashes and punish us yet seven times more for our sins Wherefore receive the counsell of the Apostle James in these your afflictions Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heavinesse Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up God lifts them up who cast themselves down and if in this sence we be afflicted we shall not be afflicted Christ hath purchased Free Grace bestowes deliverance and we receive it when we returne repent and beleeve JOB 2.9 10. Then said his wife unto him Doest thou still retaine thine integritie Curse God and die But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh what shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil In all this did not Job sin with his lips WEE have already considered out of the former parts of the Chapter Jobs second affliction First in the occasion of it secondly in the causes of it and thirdly in the manner of it together with those aggravating circumstances which made his sorrowes out of measure sorrowfull And now we must look upon that Jewell among the ashes and consider what befell him there These things make the fourth part of the Chapter namely the consequents of his affliction These consequents are three 1. His wives unseemly and sinfull counsell vers 9. 2. His wise and holy reply vers 10. 3. His friends visit to comfort him verses 11 12 13. First we will discusse his wives unseemly and sinfull counsell Then said his wife unto him c. There are two Questions raised concerning Jobs wife 1. Who she was 2. How it came to passe that she was spared when all his outward comforts were removed For the first in a word It is the opinion of many among the ancient Jewes that Job lived in the time of Jacob the Patriark And that he took to wife Dinah Jacobs daughter but I leave the Rabbins to prove that if they can Why she was spared in the time of so generall a calamity may beare some further inquirie For seeing a wife is the chiefest of creature comforts and the very reason why God at the first did institute that relation was that man might have a help meet for him it may seeme somewhat strange why Satan going about to bring upon Job trouble in its perfection should leave him that which is the perfection of all outward comforts a wife What were Jobs Oxen and Asses and Sheep and Camels to a wife And what were his children to a wife When Adam had not only such a number of cattell but all the cattell and riches in the world in his possession and under his dominion God saw him defective till he provided him a wife a wife was the complement of all How then cometh it to passe that when Satan would afflict Iob to the uttermost he leaves him his wife To cleare this before we come to examine the words that she spake The Jewes which are the Authors of that afore-named opinion that his wife was Dinah tell us to lengthen out the dreame that she was spared for Iacob her fathers sake It is a truth That children doe often fare the better for holy Fore-fathers It is no mean privilege to be born of those that are in Covenant As God visits the iniquitie of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him so he shewes mercy to thousands of those that love him c. Exod. 20.5 6. but in this place we have no stock to graft this truth upon but a meere imagination I passe on Secondly some conceive that his wife was out of Satans Commission that he had nothing to do to meddle with her she being comprehended under that clause of exception in the first Chapter vers 12. All that he hath is in thy power only upon himselfe put not forth thine hand his wife they say was a part of himself according to that Gen. 2.24 And they viz. the husband and the wife shall be one flesh So that Satan could not smite her but he must smite Iob too therefore she was exempted say they and set beyond the reach of Satans stroake Though this may have some shew of wit in it and somewhat of reason too referring unto the first part of Iobs affliction yet there is no shew of either in reference unto the second where Satan had a Commission to afflict his bodie his flesh and his bone for then she also take it in the sense before was comprehended under the Commission of Satan being though not as Eve from Adam bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet according to the law of marriage given to all One flesh with him Gen. 2.24 Therefore in the third place that which I conceive and agree with others in for the true reason why she was spared is this That she might be a further instrument of her husbands affliction Satan meant to make use of her for his owne purpose to drive on the main designe and whereas she should have been a help to her husband Satan employes her against her husband this was his aime and therefore she was spared Hence one of the Ancients cals her the strongest and fittest weapon with which Satan did assault the choisest Arrow in his Quiver by which he wounded the soul and spirit of Iob. She that should have had her hands busied in the washing suppling curing and healing of his wounds smites him with her tongue a piercing and a poyson'd instrument The rib was not smitten that it might smite the head Another compares her to a Ladder by which Satan hoped to scale this impregnable tower that death might creep in at the window of his eares by hearing and consenting to her sinfull perswasions Seeing then Satan spared Jobs wife that she might be the instrument of this additionall affliction which most conclude to be as the sting of all his afflictions First note this That Satans mercies have alwayes somewhat of crueltie in them He spareth the wife but it was that she might further vex the husband His mercies are like the mercies of wicked men Their tender mercies are cruell that is they are no mercies at all Prov. 12.10 There is a punishing mercy and there is a sparing cruelty among men Such are Satans sparings ever lined with cruell and bloudy intendments Secondly observe That the greatest outward blessings may prove the greatest outward afflictions A wife is made a crosse a snare Our greatest danger may be from our helper And that which was given for our good may be to us an occasion of falsing Satan can
Solomons advice Eccles 7.14 In the day of prosperity be joyfull but in the day of adversitie consider What shall we consider Consider this and marke it well that as the day of prosperity was from God so the day of adversitie is from God likewise for it followes God also hath set the one over against the other Therefore seeing God hath set one over against the other thou must take the one well as well as the other at least thou must beare the latter as patiently as thou did'st receive the former joyfully They who have shared with others in gaines thinke it but equall to share with them in losses they set the one over against the other And so must we in respect of Gods dispensations towards us If we set our present wants over against our former fullnesse our present sorrowes over against our former comforts our present sicknesse over against our former health our present warre over against our former peace If we thus set the one over against the other our accounts will be ballanc'd yea our former receipts of good will be far greater and out-ballance our present sufferings of evill Especially if we remember that we never deserved the least part of the good we have received but we have deserved more then all the evill that we suffer Wee may say as Ezra did Chap. 9.13 Thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities and we may say as Jacob Gen. 32.10 Lord we are not worthy the least of all thy mercies This argument may be of great use to us of this Nation in these times of darkenesse and feare What shall not we receive evill from the hand of God who have received so much good we have received many yeares of peace from God foure-score yeares of peace shall we receive so many yeares of peace from the hands of God and shall we take it ill if we receive some yeares of warre We have received many yeares of plenty shall we take it ill if we should have some yeares of scarcitie We have had the Gospell many yeares every one sitting under his Vine and under his Fig-tree what if now we hold the Gospell standing upon our guard or marching in the field what if we hold it a while sitting in Tents and standing under our displayed banners Fourthly Forasmuch as the same word is applied here to expresse the act of the mind in reference both to good and evill Observe That outward evills are to be received in the same manner and with the same mind that good things are received with Yet a caution is to be given in with this There are two sorts of outward evils or sufferings Sinne is the cause of some sufferings and grace is the cause of other sufferings either grace acted or grace to be tryed Now we are not to receive the evill of suffering whereof sin is the cause with the same mind as we doe good joy and cheerefulnesse doth not become such evills But when our sufferings are caused by grace either of those wayes then it becomes us to rejoyce The Apostle saith more Rom. 5.3 We glory in tribulation And againe 2 Cor. 6.10 as sorrowfull yet alway rejoycing The sorrow of godly men is like the joy of the wicked only in appearance Paul had only a shadow of sorrow as sorrowfull but his joy was substantiall and continuall alwayes rejoycing though his outward estate cast up amounted but to this poore and having nothing The reason is because God is the same in all variety of our estates God loves as well when we are poore as when we are rich yea as well when himselfe smites as when he heales He is as good to us when we receive evill as when we receive good therefore if God be the same surely we ought to be the same too and take it as kindly at his hands when we are impoverisht as when we are inricht when we are sick as when we are in health when we are in prison as when we are free Shall present evills make us either insensible of or unthankfull for past mercies Shall present troubles be as a grave wherein to bury the memory of all our former comforts shall as it was in Pharaohs dreame the leane kine and the blasted eares of corne eate up and devoure the fat kine and the full eares The Heathen Philosopher censures him for a foole who thinks there is no benefit in benefits nor blessing in blessings except they be present And he brands him as unthankfull who accounts the end of a mercy an injury or thinks he is wrong'd when free gifts are not continued If a Heathen saw so much obligation in the past benefits of a man Christians should see it much more in the past mercies and blessings of their God Wherefore to conclude this point with the counsell of the Ancient Remember the heapes of good things received weigh the good and the evill together Thou shalt never find any mans life at all times alike It is the priviledge of God alone to be without changes but if thou grievest at what is present take comfort in what is past Now thou mournest but heretofore thou didst rejoyce now thou art in want but thou hast had aboundance We have a saying It is a miserable thing to have been happy But a godly man is happy in the mid'st of all his misery he may say with undaunted Luther Let him be miserable that can be miserable I cannot He that hath not a God to loose nor a soule to loose cannot be miserable whatsoever he looses while Christ is safe a beleever hath no reason to be unsatisfied Thus we have discus'd Jobs answer and have found it full of wisedome and of holinesse like those words of the Wise which the Preacher saith Eccles 12.11 are as goads and as nailes fastned by the Masters of Assemblies Jobs words were as goads by the sharpnesse of reproofe to awake and quicken lazie drones they were as nailes by the piercing efficacy and strength of reason to confirme and fasten wavering minds We have the word and warrant of God for this in that high Elogium or commendation given him at the conclusion of all In all this did not Job sinne with his lips Job reprooves his wife for speaking so and he refutes what she had spoken in both he hits the right Now In all this did not Job sinne with his lips This is the same testimony for the matter and almost the same in words with that given of Jobs victory in the close of the first dayes battell and having explicated them in that place I shall but briefely touch them here In all this did not Job sin with his lips We see in generall the holy Ghost gives the victory to Job Satan is foiled his plot failes the weapons of his war-fare are all broken and successelesse all his fiery darts are either quench't or beaten back upon himselfe Job stands like a mighty rock or like a house built
musick no not the voice of a mil-stone We have great cause to feare that the joyfull voice may suddainely be taken away not only from our nights but also from our dayes not only from our houses but also from our Temples For the voice of sin hath bin heard from both Darknesse hath begun to seize upon our light the seed of division is not only sowne but sprung up among us our troubles increase yea our joyfull voice is already changed into the sound of the trumpet and the Alarum of War into the neighings of Horses and the confused noise of bloody battels Isa 9.5 And which may afflict our hearts more we heare the mournefull voice of the Widdow crying out My Husband my Husband We heare the mournefull voice of the Orphan crying out my Father my Father Husband and Father slaine by the sword while they went out to helpe the Lord against the mighty It is time for us to sit solitary and alone to mourne every family apart and our wives apart Zach. 12.12 to lift up our voice in prayer night and day least the joyfull voice be utterly taken away and for ever silenced amongst us Least it be said of us as of Jerusalem Lam. 1.1 How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become as a widdow she that was great among the Nations and Princes among the Provinces how is she become tributary As that Heathen said of the time past I had perished if I had not perished So we may say of the time to come We shall mourne if we doe not mourne we shall be solitary if we sit not alone Our nights of sinfull joy in chambering and wontonnesse have bereft us and will bereave us more of refreshing joyes And instead of the voice of friend and brother you may heare only the voice of the enemy and avenger and that is no joyfull voice When Jacob was enformed of the approach of Esau his bloody brother he put all things in order and presently the Text saith Jacob was left alone Gen. 32.24 What deserted did his company run from him No it was an elected solitarinesse not a necessitated solitarinesse he desired to be alone and he staid alone that he might not be alone He staid alone that he might get God neerer in communion with him and his that his family might not be scattered from him and his house left desolate So if we would be voluntarily alone from the world to be with God wrastling out nights in prayer as Jacob did we might as he did prevent solitary nights and prevaile with God by the voice of prayer in the mediation of Jesus Christ and the powerfull cry of his blood to continue unto us the voice of joy JOB 3.8 9. Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning Let the Starres of the twi-light thereof be darke let it looke for light but have none neither let it see the dawning of the day IN the former verses Job himselfe curseth the night in this he inviteth others to curse it that his sorrow might appeare not only serious but solemne he calleth for those who made mourning their profession and to weepe for and with others their trade such as used to rise early and awaken their companions to come away and joyn in prepared and studied lamentation This I take to be the summe and sense of these words which yet in the letter are very full of difficulty and have divided interpreters exceedingly I shall briefely touch the most of those senses given and then more fully present you with what I apprehend as sutable to this Text and consonant unto truth First Take a briefe of the divers readings of this verse Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning So we in our Bibles The Vulgar and the Septuagint reade it thus Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up Leviathan Another renders the latter clause Who are ready to raise up the Dragon Theodot Mr. Broughtons translation runs thus May they curse it who doe curse the day who will hunt Leviathan Junius and Tremelius have a translation different from all these I would they had cursed thee that inlighten the day who are ready to stirre up Leviathan or the Whale That which all other Interpreters I have met with call cursing of the day they call inlightning the day You see there is much variety about the rendring of these words out of the Hebrew And there is as much diversity of opinion grounded thereupon First Some apprehend that Job in this verse alludes to the custome of a certaine people in Ethiopia called the Atlantes frequently mentioned in divers histories who living under the torrid Zone in an extreame hot climate used to curse the Sunne when it arose because it scorched them with vehement heate This made them in love with the night and hate the day And so the sense is made out thus Let them curse this night who use to curse the Sun-rising every day whose paine hightning and imbittering their spirits caused them to powre out the most bitter and revengefull execrations But I will lay this by though some set much store by it as a speciall treasure of invention For I much question not only whether this custome of cursing the day amongst that people was known unto Job but whether he ever heard of such a people being so remote and distant from him Secondly I shall a little open the meaning of that Translation given by Junius Let them curse it who inlighten the day who are ready to raise up Leviathan or the Whale By those who inlighten the day he saith the Starres are to be understood Let those curse thee who inlighten the day that is let the Starres curse thee And who are ready to raise up Leviathan that is let the windes be against thee let the winds curse thee or be a curse unto thee The reason he gives is because Starres are Illustratores Diei the inlightners of the day And to salve it we must not saith he take the day strictly for a day artificiall for then the Starres are of no use but for that part of the day naturall which is darke namely the night the Starres are the inlightners of the day namely of the darke part of the day the night And so Job calls here to the very Starres that they should oppose and trouble that night We reade in that notable history Jug 5.20 That the Starres in their courses did fight against Sisera such expressions there are making as it were the Heavens angry and the Starres to oppose the designes of men The host of Heaven is under the command of the Lord of Hosts when he calls them forth to the help of his people Thus he conceives Job inviting the Starres to take part with him in this quarrell against his night Let the Starres curse the day those
made Jeremie enquire Why doth the way of the wicked prosper As if he had said If I could see the reason of it it would satisfie me but while thou keepest me in the darke and I can give no account to my owne soule or those that aske me of this thy dispensation to wicked men this is the burthen of my soule It is usually said They are happy who know the causes of things And in regard of the diseases of the body we say that a disease is halfe cured when the cause of it is discovered But when a Physition is in the darke and cannot find out the cause of a disease he must needs be in the darke for the remedy of it So it is also with a man in regard of any affliction when he cannot find out the cause he knoweth not what to pitch upon as a remedy When Rebekah Gen. 25.22 had twins in her wombe and they strugled together within her she was much troubled and nothing would satisfie her untill she went to God to know the reason of the thing Lord saith she why am I thus And when God had told her that two Nations were in her wombe and that two manner of people should be separated from her bowels she made no more complaints So when there are such strivings such struglings and contrary motions of trouble in us or about us the soule goes to God and enquires why is it thus Lord I am more troubled with the ignorance of my troubles then with the weight or smart of them Thirdly Take the words as respecting the issue or deliverance from trouble and they affoord us this observation That It is a great addition to an affliction not to see or discerne a way to escape or get out of affliction To be in an affliction out of which there appeares no passage unlesse the soule be mightily supported by the hand and power of Christ brings within a step of despaire The Apostle speakes as much when he saith 1 Cor. 10.13 There is no temptation hath taken hold of you but that which is common to man and then it followes but God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to beare it As if he should say If God did not indeed discover or make out to you some way of escaping I must needs say you were never able to beare it but saith he God will make a way for you to escape that ye may be able to beare it Meaning that the opening of this way would revive their spirits and then they would be able through the strength of Christ to beare it If so then how shall the soule beare an affliction when God instead of making a way to escape doth as it were make a hedge to stop all escape Therefore when the Lord would support his people in their troubles he promised that they should have a doore of hope opened to them I will give her the valley of Achor for a doore of hope Hos 2.15 He would give her some appearance some glimpses and openings of deliverance in and from their present dangers It is threatned Deut. 28.25 thou shalt come out one way against thine enemies and flie seven wayes before them they should flie many wayes but they should escape no way Thou shalt come out one one way and flie seven wayes that is thou shalt try this and that and every way to escape but thou shalt find a hedge at every wayes end to stop and hinder thy escape We use to say of a man in a distressed condition He is in a wood or in a wildernesse And when God entangles men in their own devises it is said He powreth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wildernesse where there is no way Psalm 107.40 So Pharaoh said of the children of Israel they are entangled in the land the wildernesse hath shut them in Exod. 14.3 And when a people are as the children of Israel were having a a Sea before them an army behind them and Mountaines on either hand Then they may say as Job did their way is hid and God hath hedged them in For my sighing cometh before I eate and my roarings are powred out like water Here Job takes up the former proposition and applies it particularly to his own person Before he said only in the generall why is light given to him that is in misery and why is light given to a man whose way is hid and whom God hath hedged in Now he saith in effect it is thus with me I am a man in misery and I am a man whose way God hath hid and hedged in wherefore then is my life continued And he proves that he was in such a condition by the effects of it sighes and roarings So that this verse holds forth two things about Jobs sorrow First The continuance of it in those words My sighing comes before I eate Secondly The extremity of it in those My roarings are powred out c. The argument may be thus framed That man is in extreame and continuall misery who doth not so much breath as sigh who when he would speake is forced to roare But thus it is with me my sighing cometh before I eate and my roarings are powred out like water therefore my misery is extreame and continuall My sighing cometh before I eate In the Hebrew it is word for word thus before the face of my bread my sighings come Which Hebraisme before the face of my bread hath a great emphasis in it It notes the continuance of his sorrowes without any intermission When a thing is said to be before the face of another it notes an equall continuance with that before the face of which it is said to be As in the negative Exod. 20.3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me so we translate it the Hebrew is Thou shalt have no other gods before my face that is so long as I continue to be thy God thou shalt have no other god but I shall be thy God to all eternity therefore thou shalt have no other gods but me for ever So in the affirmative Psalm 72.5 where under the type of Solomons Kingdome the continuance of the Kingdome of Christ is prophecied the Holy Ghost saith It shall continue so long as the Sunne and Moone endureth the Hebrew is it shall continue before the face of the Sunne and of the Moone that is there shall be an equall duration of the Kingdome of Christ and of those lights of Heaven the Sun and the Moone The Kingdome of Christ shall last as long as the world shall last So then according to this sense before the face of my bread my sighings come is as if he had said looke how long I have my bread before me looke how much time I spend in eating so much time I spend in sighing my