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
Satan had said thus Though Job did blesse thee when he had a full estate and though he did blesse thee when thou diddest empty him of his estate and tooke all his goods from him yet if thou doe but touch his body and afflict his bones he will breake forth into cursed language both concerning thy person and concerning thy service I will only minde you further of that which is here secretly couched in this expression Touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face here is a secret imprecation involved he tacitly subjects himselfe to the curse of God if Job curse not God As if Satan should have said If he doe not curse thee to thy face then doe so and so to me or thinke thus and thus of me If you would have the meaning of Satan from the language of his children you may take the plaine English of it thus Touch but his bone and his flesh and damne me if he doe not curse thee send me to Hell presently Satan indeed kept this cursed imprecation close wrapt up in that forme of speaking But now his children speake it out If you will have Satans heart from the mouthes of the sonnes of Belial a cursed and cursing generation among us the plaine English of it is this God damne me send me to Hell presently if he curse thee not Satan we see was more modest then these sonnes of impudence and perdition who openly imprecate upon and devote themselves unto the wrath of God almost every word these doe not only imitate but exceed the copy which Satan sets them here by bold blasphemie and horrid execrations And he will curse thee to thy face We may from hence observe First Satan had tryed in vaine to make Job curse God Now he attempts a second time Note That When Satan cannot prevaile against us by one meanes he doth not despaire of prevailing by another He gives not his cause over for lost because he cannot carry it at first he will try and try againe As it was with Balak Numb 23. when he sent for Balaam to curse the people and saw the businesse did not prosper or succeed according to his malice Balaam could not curse them he brought him to another place Come saith he I pray thee I will bring thee to another place peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence though you could not doe it in one place you may in another So Satan if he cannot worke his will one way he will try a second or a third Satans unweariednesse in a bad cause when it succeeded not reproves those who are so soone weary of a good one if it succeed not Many are ready to give up if one meanes will not doe it they cast off hope and say the cause is desperate If one or two or three or many meanes we use faile we ought to try still never despaire of the end while the worke is good and the meanes are faire In the morning sow thy seed saith the Preacher and in the evening with-hold not thy hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that I may adde with-hold not thy hand in the evening though thou seest the morning seed doth not prosper this may have a blessing though that had not Secondly observe Satan tryeth another way and he tryeth a way more probable and efficacious for his ends then the former when a weaker will not doe it he provides stronger meanes As God in punishing or chastening sinners when a lesser judgement will not humble them he sends a greater God cometh not only with another but with sorer judgements If he will not yet for all this hearken unto me then I will punish you seven times more for your sinnes So Satan when by one temptation he cannot over-come prepares not only another but a stronger he assaults them more and more he not only musters new Forces but more compleate to foile the soule This should teach us when we cannot subdue a corruption in our own hearts by one meanes then to seeke a better And when by one prayer we cannot obtaine a blessing then to pray againe and to pray better to pray with more life with more faith with more humility then mix more fire with prayer more zeale and fervency of spirit mix more water with prayer As Iacob Hose 12. wept and made supplication above all mix more of Christ in prayer goe out in his Name and strength When Balacks first messengers could not obtaine Balaam to come with them Balack was not discourag'd or put off but saith the Text Balack sent yet againe Princes more and more Honourable Numb 22.15 Let not us be discouraged if our first prayers which are our messengers to God are not answered But let us send more and more honourable more strong cryes more spirituall desires which may take upon the heart of God Why should Satan doe more against us then we will doe for our selves Thirdly Note for our owne caution That we must not only expect continued or renewed afflictions and assaults from Satan but we must expect greater and greater afflictions and assaults from Satan He hath some assaults that are but as Foote-men he will bring out his Horse-men at the next bout And if having runne with Foote-men they have wearied thee how wilt thou contend with Horses Jer. 12.5 Be ready then not only to run with the Foote but to contend with Horses prepare your selves for other for more violent charges then you ever felt Satan will if he can lay a closer siege to thy soule then ever he hath done As that one evill spirit returned into the person out of whom he was gone Luk. 11.24 with seven Devils worse then himselfe so he often returnes with seven temptations worser stronger then before Fourthly observe what Satan picks out to be the matter of this second and stronger temptation it is to pinch Job in his flesh to pinch his body Note from hence That the paine of the body is very powerfull to disquiet and trouble the mind Satan is very confident to trouble and vex the mind of Job by casting darts and diseases into his body Physitians have a rule That the manners of the mind follow the temper of the body and it is a more certaine rule That the mind is much carried according to the distemper of the body when the body is distempered the mind is seldome at rest the body and soule are such neere neighbours that they cannot but sympathize in each others sufferings Some interpret that place of the Apostle Gal. 4.13 14. concerning the weakenesse and sicknesse of his body You know saith he how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospell We may safely joyne it with those other troubles afflictions and reproaches which he endured and were so great a disadvantage to his acceptance in the world So the meaning is that though his body was infirme though
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
in that sense to please men with sinning against and provoking God Secondly My Servant by way of speciall right and property So Job and all godly persons are called Gods servants First by the right of election they are Gods chosen servants as Paul is called a chosen vessell that is a chosen servant to carry the name of God 2. They are Gods servants by the right of purchase my servant whom I have bought and purchased so in the 1 Cor. 6. You are bought with a price be not the servants of men that is you are bought with a price to be my servants therefore be not the servants of men in opposition to me or to my disservice in any thing So Job was Gods servant by way of purchase God buyeth every one of his servants with the bloud of his sonne Thirdly My servant by way of Covenant Job was Gods Covenant servant God and he had as it were sealed Indentures Job entered into Covenant with God that he would performe the duty of a servant and God entered into Covenant with him that he should enjoy the priviledge of a servant Now that which is Gods by right of Covenant is his by speciall right Then again We may further understand this and all such like expressions When God saith my servant he doth as it were glory in his servant God speaks of him as of his treasure my servant as a man doth of that which he glorieth in As the Saints glory in God when they use this expression my God and my Lord my Master and my Christ this is a kind of glorying and triumphing in God So this expression carieth such a sense in it Hast thou not considered my servant Job there is one that I have honour by one that I rejoyce and glory in one that I can speake of with much more then content even with tryumph my servant Job Ther 's a man It is mans honour to be Gods servant and God thinkes himselfe honoured by the service of man It was once a curse and it is a great curse still to be the servant of servants as it is said of Cham but it is an honour the great honour of the creature to be a servant to God He that is a servant of Christ is not only free but noble And Christ reckoneth that he hath not only worke done him but honour done him by his willing people and therefore he glories in any such my servant My servant Job There is somewhat also to be considered in that When God speakes of his people by name it noteth two things in Scripture First A speciall care that God hath over them Secondly A speciall love that God hath to them Joh. 10.3 He calleth his owne Sheepe by name this noteth a speciall care Christ hath of his sheepe and a speciall love that he beareth to them So Isa 49.1 The Lord hath called me from the wombe from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name it noteth the speciall care and the speciall love that God had of and bare to Christ See it eminently in that place Exod. 33.12 where Moses speakes thus unto God Yet thou hast said I know thee by name now what it is to know by name is by way of Exposition added in the end of the verse And thou hast also found grace in my sight So that to be knowne by name is in a speciall manner to find grace in the sight of God when it is said here My servant Job it shewes that God did take an extraordinary care of and did in an extraordinary manner love Job above all that were upon the Earth There is a great deale of difference betweene these two expressions to know the name of a man and to know a man by name It is a truth that God knoweth all your names and the names of all the men in the world but he doth not know all by name Therefore the Scripture assures us that God hath the names of none written but the names of his owne as Moses saith in the former Chapter If thou wilt not forgive the sinne of this people blot me I pray thee out of thy Booke which thou hast written Thou knowest me by name my name is written in thy booke So Luk. 10. Christ bad his Disciples that they should not rejoyce so much that they had the spirits subject unto them but in this they should rejoyce that their names were written in heaven Note from hence That God doth take care of his elect children and servants in a speciall manner above all other men in the world The names of Princes or Emperours or Potentates if they belong not to God are not vouchsafed a place in his booke but the names of the meanest of his Saints are recorded for ever and shall be had in everlasting remembrance Hast thou not considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth c. We reade before at the end of the 3d. verse that Job in reference to his riches was the greatest of all the men of the East Now he goeth beyond that in reference to his holines he is the greatest upon the earth there is none like him in the earth This we may understand first as a cause or reason why Job fell under the speciall consideration or observation of Satan Hast thou not considered my servant Job because so some render that particle or in a much or for that there is not the like to him in the Earth As if God should say there is reason why he must needs be taken into thy consideration because there is not such another man as he in the earth You know that a man is quickly taken notice of when there are none like unto him in the place or company where he is If a man walke in the streets or come into a house who is of an extraordinary tallnesse some will aske the question did you not observe such a man for there was never a man in the company never a man in the street so tall as he So one that is extraordinary in beauty or extraordinary in rich apparrell every one hath an eye upon such The reason why many are observed is because they are not like to others they are beyond others in quality or in habit So here Hast thou not considered my servant Job that there is none like unto him in the Earth thou must needs take notice of him Or againe it may be understood thus as the matter which Satan should consider and observe in Job Hast thou not considered my servant Job sc in this thing that there is not a man upon the earth like to him Hast thou not taken notice of this in him Thou who hast looked over all men and hast as it were sifted all mens manners hast thou not observed thus much that there is not such a man upon the earth as Job Hath not that fallen under thy observation So now in the words There is
Job with when he questions doth Job feare God for nought Satan accuseth with a question doth Job feare God for nought The question may be resolved into this Accusation Job doth not feare God for nought The word which we translate for nought hath a threefold sense from the Hebrew First Some render it in vain Doth Job feare God frustra in vaine We are then said to doe a thing in vaine when we cannot attaine the end which we propose in doing of it The Egyptians helpe in vaine that is they cannot procure that salvation and deliverance which was desired or intended and so the sense here may be doth Job feare God in vaine No he doth not he hath his end he looked for riches that he intended in taking up the service of God and that he hath attained Secondly It is interpreted by without cause Doth Job feare God without cause so the word is translated Psal 35.7 where David complaining of his enemies saith without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soule As if he should say I never gave them any cause why they should lay snares for me I never wronged or hurt any of them According to this sense when Satan saith doth Job feare God for nought namely without cause it is as if he had said The Lord hath given Job reason enough he hath given him cause enough to doe what he doth Job seeth reason in his Flocks and in his Heards in his many Children and in his great Houshold in his Substance and in his Honour he seeth reason in all these why he should feare God and be a very obedient servant having so bountifull a Master Doth Job feare God without cause Or thirdly The word is translated by Gratis as we expresse it to doe a thing gratis that is to doe a thing without any reward without any price or without pay I shall instance Scriptures wherein the word is rendred in that sense Gen. 29.15 Laban saith to Jacob when he was come to him to serve him Thou art my kinsman shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought that is shouldest thou serve me gratis or without wages as he explaines his meaning in the next words tell me what shall thy wages be So that to doe a thing for nought is to doe a thing without wages without price And so there is the same interpretation of the word Exod. 21.11 where Moses speaking of the Maid that was taken into the family and was not married saith If he doe not these three unto her then she shall goe out free without money she shall pay nothing she shall goe out gratis or for nought So here we may take in this sense to fill up the forme doth Job serve God gratis doth he serve God without price or without pay Surely no thou hast given him sufficient hyre wages sufficient for all his service Job doth not serve thee gratis out of good will and affection to thee but he serveth thee for hire because thou payest him so plentifully So the generall sense of the words Doth Job feare God for nought is as if Satan had bespoken the Lord in such words as these Lord thou doest enquire of me whether I had considered thy servant Job I confesse I have and I must needs acknowledge that he is a man very diligent and zealous in thy worship and service neither doe I wonder that he is so seeing thou hast out-bid all his labours and indeavours by heapes of benefits There is no question but thou mayest have servants enough upon such termes at such rates as these no marvaile if Job be willing to doe whatsoever thou commandest whenas thou bestowest upon Job whatsoever he desireth Thou seemest as it were to neglect all other men and only to intend the safety and prosperity of thy darling Job Is it any great matter that he who hath received a flocke of seven thousand Sheepe from thee should offer a few 7. or 10. to thee in sacrifice Is it any great matter that he should give some of his fleeces to cloath the poore who hath received from thee so many thousands to cloath and enrich himselfe Is it a strange thing that he should feede a few that hath 500 yoake of Oxen Is not Job well hired to worke for thee doth he feare God for nought who hath recived all these Yet a little more distinctly for the opening of this expression I shall give you Satans sense in three notable falsities or lyes which he twists up together in this one speech Doth Job feare God for nought First That riches will make any man serve God that it is no great matter to be holy when we have abundance a man that prospers in the world cannot choose but be good This Satan implyes in these words and this is an extreame lye for as there is no affliction so there is no outward blessing can change the heart or bring it about unto God They did not serve the Lord in the abundance of all things Deut. 28.47 Abundance doth not draw the heart unto God Yet Satan would inferre that it doth This might well be retorted upon Satan himselfe Satan why diddestnot thou serve God then thou diddest once receive more outward blessings from God then ever Iob did the blessednesse of an Angell yet that glorious Angelicall estate wherein thou wast created could not keepe thee in the compasse of obedience thou diddest rebell in the abundance of all blessings and diddest leave thy habitation Satan thou shouldest not have served God for nought Why then didst not thou serve him thine owne Apostacy refutes thy errour in making so little of Jobs obedience because he had received so much Secondly There is this in it Doeth Job feare God for nought Satan intimates that God could have no servants for love none unlesse he did pay them extreamely That God is such a Master and his worke such as none would meddle with vnlesse allured by benefits As if Satan should say you have indeed one eminent servant but you should not have had him unlesse you had beene at double cost with him Here is another lye Satan windeth up closely in this speech For the truth is Gods servants follow him for himselfe the very excellencies of God and sweetnesse of his wayes are the argument and the wages by which his people are chiefely moved and hired to his service God indeed makes many promises to those that serve him but he never makes any bargaines with them His obey him freely Satan makes bargaines to hire men to his service as he did with Christ Mat. 4.9 All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship mee God makes many large and gracious promises but he never makes any such bargaine and agreement with men for their obedience Then there is a third sense full of falsehood which Satan casteth upon Iob Doeth Job feare God for nought that is Iob hath
creature excellence This fire being a strange and extraordinary fire is said to be the fire of God This fire of God is conceived to have been some terrible flash of lightning which in a moment destroy'd and consumed the sheepe and shepheards And this is more probable because it is said to fell downe from heaven that is out of the aire for so often in Scripture heaven is put for the aire the middle region of the aire where Satan hath great power therefore he is called the Prince of the aire and he can doe mighty things command much in that Magazin of Heaven where that dreadfull Artillery which makes men tremble those fiery Meteors thunder and lightning are lodged and stored up Satan let loose by God can doe wonders in the aire He can raise stormes he can discharge the great Ordnance of Heaven thunder and lightning and by his art hee can make them more terrible and dreadfull then they are in nature If the skill and art of man can heighten naturall things then much more the skill of Satan I doubt not but many fearefull impressions are made in the ayre by devils carrying nature by Gods permission farre above it's owne course and these are properly marvels or wonders such as the Magitians wrought in Egypt by the helpe of Satan for miracles are quite out of the devils spheare But he can doe wonders and such was this fire falling from Heaven c. A marvell or wonder is nature mightily improv'd a miracle is nature totally cross'd if not contradicted Observe this for the nature of that fire the effect of it followes in the next words It hath burnt up the sheepe and the servants and consumed them The word in the Originall is It did burne them and eat them up Fire is a devouring element Devouring fire as before a devouring Sword these were devouring judgements upon Job Yet it doth not necessarily inferre that the sheepe were all burnt to ashes but that the sheepe were all killed by that flame of lightning that came from Heaven for it is said of Nadab and Abihu of which we spake before that a fire went out from God and did consume them it is the same Originall word that is here in the Text A fire went out from God and did eat them up yet wee know their bodies were not consumed for they were carried out to their buriall and their garments were upon them So that this consuming doth not note the burning of things to ashes but a striking of them to death it is a devouring fire because it is a destroying fire it takes away life and thus lightnings kill rather by piercing and penetrating than by consuming and devouring But now here it will be questioned for the further opening of this why Satan chooses thus to consume the sheepe with fire why doth he not rather use spoylers to take them away He could doubtlesse have got the Sabeans to have fetched away the flocks of sheepe as well as the droves of greater cattell he could have procured them easily why then doth he cause fire from Heaven to come down the fire of God to consume them I answer his reason for this was to put the greater sting into the affliction He would not have the sheepe taken away after the same manner that the Oxen and Camels were that he might aggravate Jobs trouble and provoke him if he could to be passionate against God yea and for that was his great designe to blaspheme God therefore he procures fire from Heaven to fall upon the sheepe thereby to beget an opinion in Job that God was now become his enemy as well as man When we suffer from man then the afflicted soule flies to God makes his complaint and moane to him as doubtlesse Job did when he heard of those cruell Sabeans and what they had done but lest Job should resort in his thoughts to Heaven and comfort himselfe in God againe the next messenger telleth him that God is his enemy too that the fire of God is fallen upon the sheepe an extraordinary fire as if hee should say God fighteth against thee as well as the Sabeans Alas now to whom should Job make his moane That speech of Eli concerning sinne may well be applyed to suffering If one man sinne against another the Iudge shall judge him but if a man sinne against the Lord who shall intreat for him So if a man suffer from men he may goe unto God but if God himselfe doe appeare to be an enemy and to fight against us to whom shall we goe Indeed Iob knew how to goe to God though he did appeare as an enemy but that is the greatest straight and to doe thus notes the greatest spirituall both skill and strength Hence observe That Satans great designe against the people of God or any servant of God is to provoke them to ill thoughts of God to perswade them that God is their enemy to bring the love and good will of God into suspition therefore he causeth this great fire and it is like formed the servants language in that cutting phrase The fire of God is fallen upon the sheepe Thou canst not put this off as thou mightest doe the other and say this is but the malice or the covetousnesse of the Sabeans that rob'd me of my goods and slew my servants No thou shalt see now that God himselfe is angry Heaven frownes upon thee the fire of God from Heaven consumes thee Turne over the records of all antiquity and see whether God ever dealt thus with any but those cursed Sodomites upon whom God rained fire from Heaven Thou who commest so neare them in the punishment hast reason to judge thy selfe not farre behind them in sin Secondly observe Those afflictions are most grievous wherein God appeares to be against us The malice oâ— devils and the rage of men may be endured but who can stand before God when he is angry If God doth but with-draw his comforts the soule sinkes under smallest tryals how then can it stand if God should reveale his wrath against us when we are in great tryals It may here be questioned why the sheepe were consumed with fire rather than any other of his cattell rather then any other of his substance There are two things in that First the sheepe were used in Sacrifice When the daies of their feasting were ended Job offered Sacrifice and the sheepe chiefly were offered in Sacrifice Now Satan by consuming the sheepe hoped to fasten this upon Iob if possibly he could that God was angry with his very Sacrifices God was angry with his services As if he should say Doest thou thinke that the offering up of thy sheepe in Sacrifice hath beene pleasing to God Certainly if the fire of those Sacrifices had delighted God if he had smelt a savour of rest in them as he is said to have done when Noah offered Sacrifice after the flood Gen. 8.21 he would never have sent a fire
restore them not to boast or be proud of them Then secondly it will cure the rich of all contempt of others what the Apostle James observed and censured in the rich of those times is found by too much experience among the rich at this day Yee have despised the poore Chap. 2.6 Consider it is the Lord who gave and he gave as a Lord freely he might have given thine estate to that poore man and have left thee in that condition thou so much despisest in thy brother God gave him as much as his wisdome thought fit and it seemes he hath given thee more then thou art fit for 〈◊〉 despiâ—ing him thou doest asperse the dispensation of God and whilest thou woundest him in his poverty thou woundest God in his providence Consider it is the Lord that gives and then be unconvinc'd if you can that while you contemne man in his wants you question God in his wisdome busie thy selfe hereafter in praising him who gives All and leave despising him who hath received lesse Then likewise let the poore looke upon this Text and it will cure them of two diseases into which they often fall and by which they are much endanger'd even in the vitals of grace discontent and envy It is the Lord that giveth that shapes and cuts out your condition why then should you not be contented with his allowance and be thankfull in your lot If your estates be proportioned from above you ought to be content with your portion Ignorance or in advertency from whom we receive causeth murmuring at what we have Doe not thinke thou hast love from God because thou hast a lesse allowance from God The power of God is as much acted in making a Fly as in making an Elephant and his love may be as much and is often more acted in giving a penny then in giving a talent Know this thou who art a child of God if thy portion be but a penny it hath upon it the Image and Superscription a Fathers love which is better then life This also will cure the poore of envy many times the poore have an evill eye of envy at the rich they cannot beare it that others have so much and they so little Consider it is the Lord that giveth This argument Christ useth Mat. 15.20 to him that was angry that they who came at the latter end of the day had as much as he May not I doe with mine owne what I will Is thine eye evill because mine is good The envious eye is an evill eye envy is the disease of the eyes This Text is one of the best medicines that ever was prescribed Wilt thou be sicke because another is in health and make thy brothers happinesse the ground of thy miserie Doe not thinke that all is lost which is not cast into thy lapp or that thy estate is lesse or worse because thou seest one having a greater or a better Must God aske thee leave or aske thy councell how and in what measure to distribute his favours Were all but well catechised in this one principle that God gives all it would soone dispell this malignant vapour and all would rest satisfied not because they or others have received thus or thus but because God hath thus disposed to all Observe one thing more If the Lord gives us all then we should be willing to give back somewhat unto the Lord againe And this consideration that God gives us will make us willing to give unto God What is the reason that many are so unwilling to give somewhat unto God It is because they will not understand that they are beholding to God for all If they were perswaded of their receipts from him a little Oratory might perswade a gift from them in the cause of God especially when God intreates them who may of right command them when he is content even to take it as a courtesie who may send for it by authority and expect it as a duty God himselfe who fills and enjoyes all things hath sometimes in a sence need of your estates Christ who is Lord of Heaven and Earth is sometimes in want of a penny Christ tels you of his wants and poverty Math. 25. and shewes how and when he is releeved And as Christ wants in a member some particular beleever So he often wants in his whole body which is the Church or whole company of beleevers If you have any spirituall wisdome to discerne times and seasons you may know that now Christ wants mony as I have explain'd Now God in his cause hath need He goes about in those who solicit his cause and askes a reliefe at every one of your doores Now then doe but consider when any thing is asked for the Lords sake that the Lord gave all this will be a key to unlocke your chests this will at once untie your hearts and your purses Will you let Christ want shall the cause of God want while you have it whereas what you have God gave It is expresse concerning Nabal that this was the reason why he would not part with a loafe of bread to relieve David and his Army 1 Sam. 25.11 Shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and send them to a fellow I know not who You see the man was all in his possessives my bread and my water and my flesh he never thought that God had any share or interest in his estate that God gave it therefore he would not give to a servant of God You shall see on the other hand how Davids munificence and that of the Nobles with him 2 Chr. 29. sprung from this root the acknowledgement that nothing was their owne it came in all from God when they had offered so willingly and bountifully towards the building of the Temple David shewes the mine which yeelded so much treasure even this we have digged in all this while All things come of thee and of thine owne we have given thee vers 15. They confessed that all came of God they were but Stewards he was the Owner and his owne they could not with-hold from him God giveth us the use of the creature but he keepeth the right to them in his owne hand when we have the possession of them he hath the property Wherefore let the consideration that God giveth all make us ready and open handed to give unto God when he calleth and requireth it at our hands And the Lord hath taken away When God gives it is an act of bounty and when he takes it is an act of justice for he is Lord soveraigne Lord in both But why doth Job here charge this upon God The Lord hath taken Was it not told him by the messengers that the Chaldeans and Sabeans came and tooke away his cattell plundered and pillaged his estate They told him that the fire consumed his Sheepe and the wind blew downe the house upon his children Why doth Iob say
it be in regard of personall troubles or nationall troubles to hold fast and keepe close to God in such distresses is admirable To continue good while we suffer evill is the height and crowne of goodnesse As it is that which putteth one of the greatest aggravations upon the sinfulnesse of men that they will hold fast their sinnes in the middest of judgements The Prophet Amos with much elegancy of speech and vehemency of spirit urgeth this against the Jewes Cap. 4. I have given you cleannesse of teeth yet have yee not returned unto me I have with-holden the raine yet have yee not returned unto me I have smitten you with blasting yet have ye not returned unto me I have sent among you the pestilence and the sword yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. The Prophet Ieremy takes up the same argument having before spoken of judgements sent upon them Yet saith he they hold fast deceit and refuse to returne Cap. 8.5 they held fast deceit though they were afflicted that aggravated their sinfulnesse Now I say as it makes sinne out of measure sinfull to hold it fast when God afflicteth so it makes grace out of measure gracious putteth a wonderfull splendour and glory upon it if we hold fast our grace when troubles and afflictions meet us in the holding of it forth and God will put an Emphasis upon such a one for grace as he did upon Ahaz for his sinne 2 Chron. 28.22 In the time of his distresse did he trespasse yet more against the Lord This is that King Ahaz that brand is put upon him So there is an honour stamp'd on Job in this testimony that in the time of his distresse he did yet more good This is that Job to serve beleeve and love God more in distresse this is integrity to a wonder this drawes the heart of God toward such and makes them truly glorious in the eyes of godly men That which followes in the text doth yet more advance the honour of Job in this victory still he holdeth fast c. Though thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause Though thou movedst me The word here used to move signifieth more than a bare motion it carries in it a perswasion and more then a bare perswasion it carries in it a vehement instigation As when a man doth perswade a thing by arguments and strong reasons that is the force of the word as in that place 1 King 21.25 There was none like Ahab which did sell himselfe to worke wickednesse in the sight of the Lord whom Jezabel his wife stirred up stirred up is the word in the text thou movedst me Jezabel moved Ahab incited him never gave him over by arguments and reasons by this consideration and that consideration to doe wickedly in Israel So here Satan did as it were plie God with arguments and reasons to instigate him against Job Thou didst move me against him Satan is a cunning Oratour and knowes how to handle a matter that it may take with greatest advantage Some may question how can this be Will God be mooved by Satan Is not the Lord unchangeable Have Satans words and arguments such power with God to moove him to doe a thing I answer it two wayes We may cleare it first thus As the Saints and people of God in prayer are said to move God and to prevaile with God they are said to carry a businesse with God Now you know what they doe in prayer they doe not only spread a petition barely before God but they strengthen it with all the arguments they can argument upon argument pleading upon pleading yet the Lord himselfe is not stirred he is not changed at all by the prayer of his people it is not to be thought that the Lord upon the prayers of his people takes up any new thoughts or puts on any new resolutions to doe this or that for a mercy that is but a day old in regard of our prayer obtaining it is an eternity old in regard of God purposing it therefore God is not changed at all but he is said to be moved to give or doe as or when we pray because he giveth and doth what he himselfe had purposed to give when we should pray for as God from all eternity did purpose to give to his people such and such mercies so he did purpose and decree to give them when they prayed Now then as it is in regard of his peoples prayer and seeking for mercy they move God but it is onely the bringing forth of that which he had in his heart from all eternity to doe for them So here in this case God had a purpose from all eternity to try Job and likewise he did purpose the way and the meanes of it that it should be done upon the motion and instigation of Satan For although God cannot be moved by any to doe a thing which before he intended not he is unchangeable yet as by his eternall will and counsell he doth produce things in time So likewise from eternity he did order and will the manner of their producing he purposed to do good for his Church upon the supplications of his servants and sometimes to afflict his Church or servants at the instigation of Satan Secondly This place thou movedst me against him is to be understood by a figure very frequent in the Scripture God speaking of himselfe after the manner of men because as men usually when they do a thing are moved by others to do it and by perswasions are sometime prevailed with to doe that which they intended not an houre before So God is said to doe a thing upon motion though he intended it from eternity often descending to expresse himselfe by that which is common to men though his manner of doing it be transcendent infinitely beyond men From the force of this word so explained Thou movedst me against him Observe That Satan is an earnest and importunatè solicitour against the people and Church of God he without ceasing provokes God against them he bends his wits and straines his language to the height in pleading against them to get them delivered up into his hands or into the hands of his instruments And if Satan be thus zealous so importunate a sollicitour against the Saints It may teach us to be as earnest and zealous for the Saints Satan doth not onely move but he moveth by arguments he incites It is not enough to pray by proposing our desires but we must pray enforcing and pressing our desires such a holy unquietnesse of spirit as is expressed by the Prophet Isa 62.1 For Zions sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake will I not rest c. Such was that required of the Watch-men set upon the walls of Jerusalem which should never hold their peace day nor night Yee that make mention of the Lord or yee that are the Lords remembrancers keepe not silence and give him
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
sorrowes 2. To communicate unto him their comforts First To mourne with him And secondly To comfort him The former of these two ends viz. their mourning with him we have largely set downe in the two latter verses they put that end into act presently as soone as they came they fell a mourning with him And we may observe 5. distinct acts of Jobs friends solemnly condoling or mourning with him The first act is this They wept And to shew that it was no ordinary weeping the Text saith They lift up their voice and wept The second act of their mourning was their renting of their Mantles And they rent every one his Mantle The third act was the sprinckling of dust upon their heads and the sprinckling of dust toward Heaven which was another aggravating circumstance of their sorrow The fourth act was their sitting downe with him upon the ground seven dayes and seven nights The fifth act of their mourning with him was their silence And none spake a word unto him The Cause or the reason of this solemnity in their mourning the reason of these 5. Acts but especially of the last of their silence is given us in the latter words of the verse For they saw that his griefe was very great therefore it must have great sorrow and great silence to waite the fittest season for the administring of counsell and consolation Thus for the parts and resolution of the words contained in these 3. verses I shall come to the opening of the particulars And when Jobs three friends The word which we translate friends springs from a root which signifieth to feed a mans selfe or others or to eate together as Sheepe eate together and so from the same word a Pastor or a feeder of Sheepe is derived Psal 21.1 The Lord is my Shepheard and feeder And by a Metaphor it is translated for a friend because friends doe usually feed together eate and converse together So David describes a friend Psal 49.9 My familiar friend that did eate of my bread Jobs visitants are thus exprest his friends or familiars The word sometimes notes only a friend at large or any neighbour So in the Law Exod. 20 16. Thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour or it is the same word against thy friend there it is taken in a large sense for a neighbour that is for any besides thy selfe to whom offices of love are due as Christ expounds it Luk. 10.30 But usually it is put strictly for a speciall friend as in Deut. 13.6 when he speakes of inticers to Idolatry If thy friend saith he who is as thine owne soule there is the same word and he shewes by a circumlocution whom he meanes by such a friend namely such a one who is as thine own soule one that lieth in thy bosome and is as neere and deare to thee as thy selfe I suppose here in this place Jobs three friends were not friends at large but intimate and speciall friends or as we use to say bosome friends And therefore when it is said Jobs three friends we are not to understand it as if Job had but three as if these were all the friends Iob had but amongst all his friends these carried away the name these were the chiefe and choice Jobs three friends As it is said concerning Davids Worthies 2 Sam. 23 David had many Worthies but there was a first three a chiefe three among them all So here Iob doubtlesse had many friends a large catalogue of friends but in these you have the toppe of his friends the chiefe hree the first three These three speciall friends came to visit Iob to mourne with him and to comfort him The occasion of this visit presents it selfe next When these three friends heard of all this evill that was come upon Job When they heard of it The troubles of Iob were noysed all the Country over yea into strange Countries Two things are swiftly carried about upon the wings of fame and poasted about by reports First The sinnes Secondly The afflictions of godly men If they fall into any sin it will be heard of all a Country it may be all a Kingdome over It shall be told in Gath and publish'd in the streets of Askelon Againe if they fall into any great affliction every one descants upon it and many will passe deepe censures It becomes matter of wonder that men eminent in godlinesse great professors such as have held forth the name and upheld the truth of Christ that they I say should fall into great afflictions is reported discours'd admir'd all a Country over There is nothing that is more talked of then the trouble that befalleth godly men When the three friends of Job heard of all this evill that was come upon him When this report about Iob came to them they came to Iob. They came saith the Text every one from his owne place The word Place is often used in Scripture to signifie a Country a City or a Region Now here it is conceived that the place from whence they came was not only the place where they dwelt but the place where they governed It is frequently asserted by the Iewish Doctors with whom the Septuagint agree and most of the Jesuits are in it to that these three friends of Iob were Kings either Reges or Reguli such as had the governement of those Countries where they lived Beza rejects this as a Fable and telleth us that this opinion hath no footing or foundation in Scripture but is grounded only upon that usuall boldnesse of the Iewish Doctors But whether they were Kings or subjects whether they came from their private dwellings or from the places of their dominion needs not trouble us This is cleare that they were great men eminent persons in their Country and the disputes which follow testifie that they were men of very great wisedome and understanding according to all the learning of those times These three friends of Job are here set forth by name by a double name By the name first of their persons Secondly by the name of their Country or of their Family For that 's a question whether the additionall name be derived from the Country where they dwelt or from the Family out of which they were extracted Eliphaz the Temanite he is the first We reade Gen. 36.11 that Esau begat Eliphaz that Eliphaz was the eldest sonne of Esau and Eliphaz begat Teman This Teman descending from Esau is supposed to be the Father or the Ancestor of this Eliphaz from whom he is called Eliphaz the Temanite and so Temanite is a note of the Family from whence Eliphaz descended It is usuall likewise in Scripture to give such additionall names from the Countries or places and so Eliphaz the Temanite may be from Teman of which we reade often in Scripture Teman signifies the South It was a Southerne Country Further Teman was a place wherein it is observed that the Schooles
chariot She looked for a victorious successe and rich spoiles for her wise Ladies answered her yea she returned answer to her selfe Have they not sped have they not divided the prey to every man a damsell or two to Sisera a prey of divers colours c. This cut her to the heart that she looked for great booty and reckoned upon a victory when Sisera was fast nailed through the temples never to returne That man is greatly burdened from whom others expect much but he who expects much is in danger to be more burdened Therefore David prayes Psal 119.116 Let me not be ashamed of my hope As shame arises from doing a thing against knowne light and common principles so also from loosing or suffering a thing against known hope and common expectation It is noted as an aggravation of that peoples affliction in the Prophet Wee looked for peace and behold no good came and for a time of health and behold trouble Jer. 8.15 For a people to be in expectation of some great mercy doubles the sorrow of their miscarriage Now in these times wee being in our night of trouble and as it were looking when day will breake when our peace will returne when truth will prevaile and be setled when errour and the abettors of it shall be overthrowne How would it augment our sorrowes if we looking for these mercies should not have them As it is a greater affliction to be miserable when we have been happy so when we have long hoped to be happy God expresses himselfe as much troubled when he looses his expectation from us It provokes the Spirit of God to anger against us when he looks for the fruits of his care and love in our obedience and findeth none Isa 5. God looked that his vineyard should have brought forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes He looked for judgement and behold oppression for righteousnesse and behold a cry This disapoointment provoked the Lord to lay his vineyard wast So in the Gospell when Christ cometh to the fig-tree three yeares seeking or looking for fruit and findeth none What then Cut it downe saith Christ he is very angry thus missing his expectation Now as it provokes the anger of God to come looking upon man his creature for duty and finds none so it doth likewise exceedingly grieve the spirit of man when he lookes to God for mercy and findes none And how just is it that God should crosse our expectation when we so often crosse his No mervaile if we looke for light and behold darknesse for peace and behold trouble for successe and behold disappointments Whenas God lookes among us for repentance and behold presumption for faith and behold unbeliefe for patience and behold complaining for reformation and behold backsliding for fruit and behold barrennesse or but leaves Fourthly He saith Let it not see the dawning of the day that is let it be quite out of hope ever to receive any light therefore let it not see so much as a glimpse of light It is the strongest deniall of the whole to deny the least or the first part As when the Apostle would have us abstaine from all evill he exhorts to abstaine from the appearance of evill 1 Thes 5. So here when Job would put his night quite out of hope to see a day he saith Let it not see so much as the dawning that is the least appearance of the day And this as it is the last so the heaviest sentence upon his night Observe then That A hopelesse condition is the worst condition of all other Let a night be never so darke never so tempestuous yet the hope of a morning is a mercy and a light A man will beare any heavinesse when he can say as David Heavinesse may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Solomon tells us that the hope deferr'd makes the heart sicke Prov. 13.12 How sicke then are they who are hopelesse or who have quite lost their hope Everlastingnesse is the head of the arrow the sting and poison of all miseries it is indeed the sting of Hell that Hell is such a night as never shall see the dawning of the day hath more torment and paine in it then all the paines in Hell As the punishment of losse in Hell pinches more then the punishment of sense so in the losse this pinches most that the losse is irrecoverable They are deprived of the glory of God and shall never see the least ray of it for ever They are in darknesse and they have no hope of light at all for ever As that which makes Heaven so full of joy is that Heaven is above all feare so that which makes Hell so full of terrour is that Hell is below all hope Heaven is a day which shall never see any approaches of the night and Hell is a night that shall never see any dawnings of the day So proportionably in any affliction of this life to be hopelesse of deliverance to say it shall never end I am in such a night as shall have no day no not the dawning of a day this is the utmost evill the extremity of affliction So much concerning the curse it selfe which Job powred out with so much passion both against the day of his birth and the night of his conception We shall now here see the reason of this passion in the words which follow JOB 3.10 11 12 13. Verse 10. Because it shut not up the doores of my mothers wombe nor hid sorrow from mine eyes Why died I not from the wombe why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly Why did the knees prevent me or why the brests that I should sucke For now should I have lien still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest WE are now come to the second generall part of this Chapter You may remember the whole was divided into three Sections The first shewed us the curse which Job powred out upon his day The second the cause or ground of that curse And the third a vehement expostulation about the continuance of his life and the lengthning of his dayes We have heard the curse opened already in the nine former verses Now followeth the cause of the curse Iob gives an account or reason of his passion If any should check him with why doest thou thus breath out complaints against the day of thy birth why doest thou write such bitter things against the night of thy conception He answereth as David did his bretheren in another case 1 Sam. 17. Why what have I done or spoken Is there not a cause Or as Ionah when God reproves him about his passion for the withered gourd Doest thou well to be angry Ionah replyes Yes I doe well to be angry even unto death chap. 49. So saith Iob here to any that should rebuke him with doe you well to be thus angry with your day Yes I doe well to be
angry with my day and I shew you why because it shut not up the doores of my mothers wombe c. The reason or the argument stands thus There is cause I should curse that day and that night which not hindering my conception or my birth brought me forth upon the stage of the world to act a part in all these sorrowes But the day and the night did not hinder my conception or my birth therefore I have cause I have reason enough to breake out in such complaints and curse them I doe it because these shut not up the doores of my mothers wombe This is the argument or reason by which he defends his passion and this argument will be found to have more passion in it then reason if we examine it to the bottome For he complaines of that as the cause which was not the cause of his troubles what did the night or the day that he thus chargeth them They had no efficiency in bringing those evills upon him circumstances are not causes Effects are produced in time but time doth not produce effects Only this we may say to helpe it he doth not curse the day as if it could have shut the doores of his mothers wombe but because on that day those doores were not shut But leaving the reason of his speech we will consider the sense of it The Hebrew word for word is thus rendred Because it shut not up the doores of my belly And that the Chaldee Paraphrast renders thus by way of explanation Because it did not shut up the doores of my lips the mouth saith he being as it were the doore or the in-let to the belly or stomack every thing goeth in by that doore and so he carries the sense thus let that night be cursed because it did not stop my breath and so make an end of mee The Septuagint hath it thus because it shut not up the doores of my Mothers belly which answers our translation the doores of my mothers wombe Mr. Broughton to the same sense because it shut not up the doore of the belly that did beare me that is my mothers belly I shall in silence passe over that secret or mystery in nature which may be the ground of this expression There are two secrets in Divinity which are the grounds of it and of them I shall speake The first is this When God layes that affliction of barrennesse upon the woman he according to the phrase of Scripture is said to shut up the wombe And when he sendeth the blessing of fruitfulnesse he is said to open the wombe We have both Gen. 20.18 When Abimelech had taken Sarah Abrahams wife the Lord fast closed up all the wombes of the house of Abimelech The meaning of it is this he made all the women barren or withheld the blessing of conception The Jewish Expositors render the meaning in the very words of this Text that the Lord had shut up all the doores of the wombes of the house of Abimelech And so likewise for fruitfulnesse God is said to open the wombe as Gen. 29.31 And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated he opened her wombe but Rachel was barren Then to shut the doores of the wombe notes the power of God in denying and to open those doores the blessing of God in giving conception and making fruitfull Secondly It may referre to the birth for there must be an opening of those doores and that by an Almighty power for production as well as for conception And therefore David Psal 22.9 ascribes it to the Lord Lord thou art he who tookest me out of my mothers wombe It was not the Midwife did it It was not the womens helpe that stood about his mother but Lord thou didest it The hand of God only is able to open that doore and let man into the world Unlesse he as we may so speake turne the key the poore infant must for ever lye in prison and make his mothers wombe his grave In either or both these respects Job here speakes against the night because it shut not up the doores of his mothers wombe to stop his conception or stay him in the birth For then either he had not been or he had not been brought forth as the subject of all those calamities Hence observe first That fruitfulnesse or conception is the especiall worke and blessing of God God carries the key of the wombe in his own hand From him we receive life and breath Acts 17.25 yea in his booke are all our members written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Wee are fearefully and wonderfully made Our substance is not hid from God when we are made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth As the holy Ghost admirably and most elegantly describes the conception and formation of man in the wombe Psal 139.14 15 16. There are foure keyes of nature all kept in the hand of God First The key of the Raine The clouds cannot open themselves the flood-gates of Heaven cannot be unlocked nor those sluces opened to let downe a drop of raine untill God turne the key Deut. 28.12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure the Heaven to give the raine unto thy land in his season Secondly The key of Nutrition or of Foode Psal 145.16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing The strength of the creature is shut up in the hand of God and untill he unlock his hand the creatures cannot strengthen or nourish us though we have our houses and our hands full of them Thirdly The key of the Grave Eze. 37.13 I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves We are so fast lockt up in death that all the power in the world is not able to release us till God speake the word and turne the key of the graves-doore That place in Ezekiel is meant I know of a civill death But it is as true of naturall death And the argument is stronger for it If when a Nation as the nation of the Jewes then did lyes in the grave of bondage and captivity no man can unlock that doore without the key of Gods speciall providence much lesse can any hand or power but his open the doore and bring us out of the grave of our corporall dissolution There is this fourth key belonging to the doore spoken of in the Text the doore of the wombe Which was shadowed in that ceremoniall law among the Jewes of giving their first-borne unto God as a thankefull acknowledgement that the beginning of all propagation and increase was from him Further observe That our birth and production is the speciall worke of God Thou art he that tookest me out of my mothers wombe saith David And he apprehended the power of God so great in his naturall birth that he from thence takes an argument to strengthen his faith that God could doe any
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
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
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
borne such a devised worship God doth never trust man with the making of holy Institutions There is nothing doth please him in any act of worship unlesse he sees himselfe obeyed Obedience is better then Sacrifice and therfore a Sacrifice which is not out of obedience cannot be accepted he that sacrificeth doth but offer up a beast but he that obeyeth offereth up himselfe sacrificeth his owne will It could not be therfore but that Job had a word a word as all the world had at that time a word given by God and so carried downe from one to another by tradition as it was for more then 2000. yeares All the will that God would reveale or had revealed to them was carried from hand to hand or from heart to heart from the Fathers to the children till at the last the Law was written and the Scripture penned by Moses So then Job offered Sacrifice according to an Institution though it was not an Institution written yet it was an Institution sent foorth and given by God Himselfe Yet there is a third Quere upon it Suppose that there was an Institution of God for sacrificing why did God call for Sacrifices What is his meaning Doth God delight in the bloud of Bulls and Goats Thou delightest not in sacrifices saith David thou desirest not burnt offerings And what was the Sacrifice unto Job or unto his sonnes Could the killing of a Beast take away sinne Why then doth Job when he feareth that his sons had sinned goe presently and offer Sacrifice For answer It is true that the Sacrifices in themselves were nothing either to God or man they could doe no good they had no power in them either to pacifie God or to purge the soules of men But looke upon the Sacrifice as it was an Institution and then God saw his Sonne Jesus Christ in it and was well-pleased and likewise man beheld and believed Christ in it and was purged When the Sacrifice was offering man saw Christ suffering this tooke away his sin and pacified his conscience A Sacrifice in it self as it was the killing or burning of a Beast had no vertue in it but as it had respect unto Christ so God saw the death of his son and that satisfied him and man saw the death of his Saviour and that justified him Againe it was not the bare Sacrifice that was effectuall but the faith of Job and the faith of his sons carried up in prayer these mingled with the Sacrifice wrought the cure Therfore we find in the time of the Sacrifice still the people were at prayer they knew the Sacrifice the Incense could doe nothing but as joyned with the faith of the Sacrificer in prayer We reade Luk. 1.10 when Zacharias the Priest was offering the Incense within in the Temple the Text saith that the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of Incense The Incense might burne long enough and yet the anger of God burne too the Incense might burne and yet the people not purified but consumed But while the Incense was burning while the Sacrifice was offering the people were praying and beleeving These actings of faith and powrings out of prayer made the Sacrifice as effectuall for man so acceptable unto God Then in that he offered burnt-offerings which burnt-offerings were made when he feared that his sons had sinned these offerings typing out and leading them to Christ and his death We may note this That Christ was ever the only remedy and cure of sin As soone as ever there vvas any feare of sinne presently they had recourse to a sacrifice and what was that They went to Christ Christ hath been the helpe against sin in all the generations of the world from the first and will be to the last If any man sin saith the Apostle John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes He is the Propitiatory Sacrifice for our sins It follows According to the number of them all That is he offered for each of his sonnes a Sacrifice There were some Sacrifices which did serve for the whole Congregation as we may see in Levit. 4.13 14. and in divers other Chapters of that booke Besides these there were personall Sacrifices Levit. 1. where the Lawes about Sacrifices are set forth If any soule had sinned that particular soule must come to the Priest and bring a Sacrifice for his sin So here Job doth not offer only one generall family sacrifice for them all but he offereth up a distinct particular sacrifice for every particular son This teacheth us First That every one is saved and pardoned by the speciall and particular actings of his owne faith Every soule must beleeve for it selfe Every one must have a sacrifice We have Congregationall prayers and we have personall prayers now it is not enough for people to pray in publike with the Minister or for the Minister who is the mouth of the Congregation to God to offer up a prayer for the pardon of the people But every one must apart and by himselfe sue out his own pardon which is as it were his owne sacrifice by offering up and tendering of Jesus Christ unto God for the pardon of his sins Then againe you may note in that Job offered a Sacrifice for every one of his sons That it is not enough for Parents to pray in generall for their children but they ought to pray particularly for them As Parents who have many children provide portions according to the number of them all and proportion out their care personally according to the number of them all and in the Family they provide meat and cloathing according to the particular number of them all So likewise they ought to be at a proportionable expence in spirituals to lay out and lay up prayers and intercessions according to the number of them all not only to pray in generall that God would blesse their children and their family but even to set them one by one before God and so beg and sue out a speciall blessing upon the head of every one of them as without all question Job did when the Sacrifice for every son was made he sent up a prayer to God for the pardon and acceptance of every son That for the opening of the second act in the Text first he sent and sanctified them and secondly he offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all Now follows the ground or the reason of this act of Job both in sanctifying them and in offering Sacrifices for them For Job said it may be my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Holy duties must be grounded upon reason There must be a reason why we pray before we pray we must see cause for it and great cause too To pray out of custome and formality to offer sacrifice onely because it is a day of Sacrifice is not praying nor sacrificing Job had a speciall
reason For Job said it may be my sons have sinned Let us examine the reason a little It may be my sons have sinned What is it come to an it may be with Job that his sons have sinned What sons had Job Surely they were more than men that the Father is but at a Question whether his sonnes have sinned or no Solomon after an If concerning sin resolves it into a conclusion 1 King 8.46 If saith he they sinne against thee here he makes a supposition but you see he goes not one step from it before he makes a direct assertion for saith he there is no man that sinneth not and yet Job puts it with anuncorrected If or it may be my sons have sinned For the opening of this Without all question Job was fully and thoroughly studied in that point of the universall corruption of man his disputings as we shall see afterwards in this booke sufficiently evince it What is man saith he that he should be perfect 〈◊〉 he that is borne of a woman that he should be cleane Here by sinning then we are to understand something more than ordinary sinning To sin sometime is put for common and daily infirmities such as doe inseparably and inevitably cleave unto us such as considering the state and condition wherin we are having corrupt flesh and bloud about us we cannot be freed from As a man who in the morning washeth his hands and goes abroad about his businesse and affaires in the world though he doth not puddle in the mire or take among dung-hils yet when he returnes home againe to dinner or at night if he wash he finds that he hath contracted some uncleannesse and that his hands are foule we cannot converse in an uncleane and dirty world with our bodies but some uncleannesse will fasten upon them So it is with the soule the soules of the best of the purest of the holiest though they do not rake in the dung-hill and wallow in the mire of sin basely and filthily yet they doe from day to day yea from moment to moment contract some filth and uncleannesse And in this sense it is that there is no man that liveth and sinneth not Every man hath a Fountaine of Vncleannesse in him and there will be ever some sinne some filthinesse bubbling and boyling up if not flowing forth Secondly To sin is put for some speciall act of sin that which in Scripture is called a Fall If any man be overtaken with a fault you that are spirituall restore him And in this sense the Apostle John saith which is a cleare answer to this doubt and doth open the terme I write unto you little children that you sinne not He did not write to them an impossible thing he writ to them about that which in a Gospell sense they might attain unto There are 3 degrees of sinning 1. There is one kind of sinning which is called a daily infirmitie which the Saints of God the best in this life are not freed from 2. There is another kind of sinning which is to sinne wilfully and with pure delight and thus he that is borne of God cannot sinne 3. There is another kind of sinning which is called falling into sinne or the falls of the Saints and sometimes we know they have fallen into great and scandalous sins In this sense it is that the Apostle saith Little children I write to you that you sinne not That is though you have daily infirmities yet take heed of scandalous sinnings So here in the Text where it is said It may be my sonnes have sinned It is not meant either in the first or second sense it is not meant as if he thought his sons were without infirmities nor is it meant that he did suspect them of those sins which are indeed incompatible with the state of grace sins of perfect wilfulnesse and of malice or the like but it is of those sins in the middle sort It may be my sons have sinned that is have sinned so as to provoke God and scandalize men in this their feasting in their meeting together We may note from that first He that liveth without grosse sinnes in a Gospell sense liveth without sin To be without great and grosse sinne is our holinesse upon earth to be without any sinne is the holinesse of Heaven He that liveth without fault sine querela as it is said of Zachary and Elizabeth that they lived blamelesly in Gospell account is said to live without any sin at all Another point we may collect from this It may be my sonnes have sinned Certainly then Jobs sonnes were godly If Job be at a question whether they have sinned they were godly without question When a man lives so that he leaves onely a suspition that he hath sinned we may be at a conclusion that he is sanctified For other persons can do nothing else but sin even in holy actions much more in civill or naturall Again It may be my sonnes have sinned it was a suspition in Job concerning his children Hence observe It is no breach of charity to suspect ill of others while we intend their good Indeed upon an It may be upon a peradventure to accuse and charge another is very uncharitable but upon a peradventure or an It may be such a one my child or my friend or my brother hath sinned to be put to pray for him this is very charitable A good heart turnes it's suspitions of others sinnings and failings into prayers and intercessions that they may be pardon'd not into accusations and slanders that they may be defam'd The use which Job made here of his suspition of his sonnes sinning was to turne it into prayer and supplication for the pardon of their sinne One thing further from this It may be my sonnes have sinned Job knew of no evill that his sons had committed he had no report that we reade of that his sons had behaved themselves unseemely in their meetings and feastings he onely doubteth he only is jealous and afraid that they had yet at this time he prayeth and sacrificeth and laboureth a reconcilement for them Note from hence A suspitiâ—n that we our selves or others have sinned against God is ground enough for us to seeke a reconcilement for our selves or others with God If you that are tender Parents have but a suspition if there be but all it may be that your child hath the Plague or taken the infection will it not be ground enough for you to goe presently and give your child a good medicine If any one of you have but a suspition that either your selves or your friends have taken poyson though you be not certaine of it will it not be ground enough for you to take or to give an Antidote presently Sinne is as a plague it is as a poyson therefore while you have but a suspition either of your selves or of others that you have sinned or failed thus or thus here is ground enough for