ye think God would yeeld to me if I should contend with him He multiplieth or He hath multiplied my wounds without cause that is His verbis evidenter exponit quae supra occultè dixerat si venerit adme non video Hoc enim ubique fere in dictis Jobi observanaum quod obscurè dicta per aliqua consequentia exponuntur Aquin. without giving me any account hitherto and do you think that now I shall have liberty to call him to an account or that he will give me one He wounds without cause is * Sine causa manifesta et ab homine afflâ—cto perceptibili Aquin. without cause manifested God hath not told me the reason of his chastenings And I doe not perceive the reason I know not why he contendeth with me And so he expounds what he spake at the 12th verse Loe he passeth by me and I see him not There are mysteries in providence Mans eye is not clear enough to see all that God doth before his eyes Job is his own Expositour This later expression gives us a comment upon the former And it is observable that both in this book and in the whole body of the Scripture easier texts may be found to interpret the harder and clear ones to enlighten those which are darker and more obscure The Word of God is not only a light and a rule to us but to it self Or He multiplieth my wounds without cause is Haec à Job dicta sunt quod intell gat se non tam flagellari quam probari as if Job had said I know the Lord deals not with me as with a guilty person nor doth he judge me as a malefactour mine is a probation not a punishment God doth only try me to see what is in my heart and how I can stand in an evil day He multiplieth my wounds without cause that is without the cause which you have so often objected against me namely that I am an hypocrite and wicked I know God looks upon me as a childe Animus in DeuÌ„ praeclare affectus sed tamen affectus doloribus Sanct. or a friend not as an enemy Therefore I have no cause to multiply words with God though God go on to multiply my wounds without cause To multiply wounds notes numerous and manifold afflictions many in number and many in kinde Iobs were deep deadly wounds and he had many of them he was all over wound body and soul were wounds he was smitten within and without as to multiply to pardon is to pardon abundantly Isa 55.7 So to multiply wounds or to multiply to wound is to wound abundantly Here a Question would be resolved How the justice of God may be acquitted in laying on and multiplying afflictions without cause I shall referre the Reader for further light about this point to the third verse of the second Chapter where those words are opened Thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause yet take here three considerations more by way of answer to the doubt First Whatsoever the Lord wounds and takes from any man he wounds and takes his own He is Lord over all Our health and strength are his our riches are his The world is his and the fulnesse of it Psal 50. If he be hungry he needs not tell us he can goe to his own store It is no wrong to dispose what is our own wheresoever we finde it That rule is as true in revocations as distributions Friend I doe thee no wrong Mat. 20.15 Is it not lawfull for me to doe what I will with mine own Though there were no sinne in man yet there were no injustice in God because he takes nothing from us but what he gave us and hath full power to recall and take away Secondly Suppose man could say that what he had were his own that his riches were his own that health and strength of body were his own yet God may take them away and doe no wrong It is so among men Kings and States call out their Subjects to warre and in that warre their wounds are multiplied without any cause given by them They gave no occasion vvhy they should be appointed to such hazards of life and limb to such hardships of hunger and cold yet there is no injustice in this When God casts man into trouble he cals him out to his service he hath a vvarre some noble enterprize and design to send him upon To you it is given to suffer for his sake saith the Apostle Phil. 1.29 he puts it among the speciall priviledges vvhich some Saints are graced vvith not only above the vvorld but above many of the Saints To whom it is given and that 's a royall gift only to believe Now if in prosecuting this suffering task whether for Christ or from Christ a believer laies out his estate credit liberty or life he is so farre from being wronged that he is honoured Thousands are slain in publike imploiments who have given no cause to be so slain If according to the line of men this be no injustice much lesse is it injustice in God who is without line himself being the only line and rule to himself and to all besides himself Thirdly I may answer it thus Though the Lord multiply wounds without cause yet he doth it without wrong to the wounded because he wounds with an intent to heal and takes away with a purpose to give more as in the present case God made Iob an amends for all the wounds whether of his body or goods good name or spirit Now though it be a truth in respect of man that we may not break anothers head and say vve vvill give him a plaister or take away from a man his possession and say vve vvill give it him again yet God may Man must not be so bold vvith man because he hath no right to take away and vvound nor is he sure that he can restore and heal but it is no boldnesse but a due right in God to doe thus for he as Lord hath power to take away and ability to restore And he restores sometimes in temporals as to Iob but alwaies to his people in spirituals and eternals Hence the Apostle argueth 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us an eternall weight of glory Afflictions vvork glory for us not in a vvay of meriting glory but in a tendency to the receiving of glory and in preparations for it There is no wrong in those losses by which we are made gainers Those losses being sent that we may gain and the sender of the losse being able effectually to make us gainers He multiplieth my wounds without cause Hence observe First Afflictions are no argument that God doth not love us As the Lord hath a multitude of mercies in his heart so a multitude of afflictions in his hand and a multitude of afflictions may consist vvith a multitude of mercies At the same time
should depart or abide in the flesh but the straight was not in reference to himself he was assured dying would be to him but a travelling to Christ and therefore death was to him an easie election His straight was only this whether he should not abide still in the flesh to to supply the needs of the Church and forbear glory a while that he might prepare others for glory The same Apostle 2 Cor. 5.4 saith in the first verse We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house made without hands eternall in the heavens When their faith was thus upon the wing soaring up to the assurance of an house made without hands they grew weary of their smoaky cottages presently they could not endure to live in those poor lodges corruptible bodies having a view of such glorious pallaces therefore he adds In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is from heaven The word signifies groaning as a man that hath a weighty burden lying upon him which makes him fetch his winde even from his bowels The body is the burden rather then the house or the clothing of the soul when once the soul knows it shall be clothed with an house which is from heaven As I said before much of hell in this life makes wicked men vveary of this life so also doth much of heaven Cic. in Tuscul Quest de Cleombroto The Roman Oratour tels us that a young man who lived in great prosperity having read Plato about the immortality of the soul was so affected that he threw himself violently from a high wall into the sea that he might have a proof of that immortality by his experience of it The Gospel forbids such haste and knows no such vvaies to happinesse As Christ not vve hath purchased that estate so Christ must lead us we must not thrust our selves into the possession of it but yet the earnests the fore-tastes and first-fruits of heaven which the Saints finde in this life though they be such as eat the marrow and fatnesse such as may have the very cream and spirits of the creature to live upon make them groan often and earnestly for the next life This is good but heaven is better Lastly Which is the case of this text the Saints may grow vveary of their lives from the outward afflictions and troubles of this life Sicknesse and pains upon the body poverty and vvant in the estate reproaches and unkindenesses put upon our persons vvith a thousand evils to vvhich this life is subject every day cause many to vvish and long for an end of their daies And though they are ready to submit to the vvill of God if he have appointed them to a longer conflict vvith these evils yet they cannot but shew their vvillignesse yea their gladnesse to part vvith their lives that they may part vvith such troubles accompaning their lives And as the afflictions of the body naturall so of the body politike may make them vveary of their lives How many in Germany and Ireland have been so vvearied vvith hearing the voice of the oppressour that they have vvished themselves in their graves only to get out of their hearing And vvith us since these troubles began have not many been tired with living Have they not cried after death and wooed the grave as being weary of the world The Prophet Isa 32.2 speaks of a weary land A man meaning Christ shall be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land The land it self being insensible could not be weary but he cals it a weary land because the inhabitants living in the land were wearied with the troubles and continuall vexations which they found there In these cases the soul of a believer stands like Abraham when the Angels passed by at the tent door of his body ready to come forth looking when God will but call yea he cries out that he may be called in the language of Job My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul I will leave c. That is I will carry my complaint no further it shall trouble none but my self The originall signifies also to strengthen or fortifie Nehem. 3.8 They fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall we put in the Margin They left Jerusalem to the broad wall So the sense of Job may be this My pains do not abate but increase why then should I remit or abate my complaint I will strengthen my complaint as long as my sorrows are strengthened My complaint That word hath been explained before it signifies an inward as well as an outward complaint and that most properly Some translate it so here I will groan in silence with my self Per mittam mihi mussitationē Tygur Silentio egomet ingemiscam Philosophabor Polychron Deponam à me querimoniam meam Jun. But the text requires rather that we interpret it of an externall complaint formed up into words The Septuagint are expresse and so is Austin I will leave my words upon my self both interpreting it of a vocall declaration of his minde and meaning The greatest difficulty lies in those words upon my self One renders I will leave my complaint off or lay it aside from my self As if Iob meant to give over this work of complaining and to compose his heart to quietnesse how unquiet soever his estate continued But his following practice seems to confute this interpretation and to deny any such intention Others give this sense I will speak at my own peril and if any danger or inconvenience come of it I will bear it my self I will run that venture Job uses such language chap. 13.13 Hold your peace let me alone that I may speak and let come on me what will We may glosse it with that heroicall resolution of Queen Esther Esth 4.16 So will I go in unto the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish The Hebrew preposition hath various acceptions Praepositio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequenter per super nonnunquam per cum aliquando per adversus redditur Nihil contra Deum in me tantum desaeviam Pined First As we It is translated Vpon Secondly With. Thirdly Against Fourthly Concerning or about We may take in any of or all these translations And from all the meaning of Job seems to rise thus I intend not to speak a word against God I will not charge the Almighty with injustice or with rigour to doe which were highest wickednesse I purpose indeed to complain but I will complain only upon or with my self concerning or against my self I will not utter a word against the wisdome of God or accuse his providence I will not shoot an arrow against heaven or send out a murmur against the most high There are two waies of leaving our complaints
The greatest wonders of creation are unseen God hath packt many rarities mysteries yea miracles together in mans chest All the vitall instruments and wheels whereby the watch of our life is perpetually moved from the first hour to the last are locked up in a curious internall cabinet where God himself prepared the pulleys hung on the weights and wound up the chime by the hand of his infinite power without opening of any part As our own learned Anatomist elegantly teacheth us in the Preface to his sixth book Fourthly The dimensions proportions and poise of mans body are so exact and due that they are made the model of all structures and artificials Castles Houses Ships yea the Ark of Noah was framed after the measure and plot of mans body In him is found a circulate figure and a perfect quadrat yea the true quadrature of a circle whose imaginary lines have so much troubled the Mathematicians of many ages Fifthly In every part usefulnesse and commodiousnesse comelinesse and convenience meet together What beauty is stampt upon the face What majesty in the eye What strength is put into the arms What activity into the hands What musick and melody in the tongue Nothing in this whole fabrique could be well left out or better placed either for ornament or for use Some men make great houses which have many spare rooms or rooms seldom used but as in this house there is not any one room wanting so every room is of continuall use Was ever clay thus honoured thus fashioned Galen gave Epicurus an hundred years to imagine a more commodious scituation configuration or composition of any one part of the body And surely if all the Angels in heaven had studied to this day they could not have cast man into a more curious mould or have given a fairer and more correct edition of him This clay cannot say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Or this work he hath no hands Isa 45.9 The Lord hath made man so well that man cannot tell which way to be made better This work cannot say He that wrought me had no hands that is I am ill wrought as to say you have no eyes you have no ears are reproofs of negligence and inadvertency both in hearing and seeing So when we say to a man Surely you have no hands our meaning is he hath done his work either slothfully or unskilfully But this work of mans body shall not need to say unto God he hath no hands he hath given proof enough that hands and head too were imploied about this work Let us make it appear that we have hands and tongues and hearts for him that we have skin and flesh bones and sinews for him that we have strength and health and life and all for him seeing all these are also derived from him as appears in the next words Thou hast granted me life and favour Job having thus described the naturall conception and formation of his body descendeth to his quickning and preservation When God had formed man out of the dust of the earth he then breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul and thus when God hath formed man in the womb given him skin and flesh bones and sinews then he gives life and breath and all things necessary to the continuation of what he hath wrought up to such excellent perfections Our divine Philosopher teacheth us this doctrine Verse 12. Thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit This verse holds out to us the great Charter of God to man consisting of three royall grants First Life Secondly Favour Thirdly Visitation The bounty of God appears much in granting life more in granting favour most of all in his grant of gracious visitations Thou hast granted me life c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vitas fecisti Mont. Vitam disposuisti mihi Sep. Quasi debito loco ordine The letter of the Hebrew is Thou hast made or fitted for me life and favour The soul is the ornament of the body life the lustre of our clay Thou hast not thrown or hudled my life into my body Thou hast put it in exquisitely and orderly The frame of the body is an exquisite frame but the frame the faculties and powers the actings and motions of the soul are farre more exquisite The inhabitant is more noble then the house and the jewell then the cabinet As the life is better then meat and the body then artificiall raiment Mat. 6.25 So the life is better then the body which is to it a naturall raiment Thou hast granted me life c. Life is here put metonymically for the soul of which it is an effect as the soul is often put for the life whereof it is a cause We translate in the singular number life the Hebrew is plurall Thou hast granted me lives But hath a man more lives then one Some understand Job speaking not only of corporall but spirituall life as our naturall life is the salt of the body to keep that from corrupting so spirituall life or the life of grace is the salt of the soul to keep that from corrupting Secondly Thou hast granted me lives that is say others temporall life and eternall life Thirdly Lives may be taken for the three great powers of life Man hath one life consisting of three distinct lives For whereas there is a life of vegetation and growth such as is in trees and plants and a life of sense and motion such as is in beasts of the earth fowls of the air and fishes of the sea And a life of reason such as is in Angels whereby they understand and discourse these three lives which are divided and shared among all other living creatures are brought together and compacted into the life of man Whole man is the epitome or summe of the whole Creation being enriched and dignified with the powers of the invisible world and of the visible put together under which notion we may expound this Text Thou hast granted me lives a three-fold life or a three-fold acting and exercise of the same life Thou hast granted me lives Observe hence Life is the gift of God With thee is the fountain of lives the well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vena vitarum or the vein of lives Psal 36.9 The Psalmist alludes either first to waters which flow from a fountain and so doth life from God Or secondly To metals With thee is the vein of lives as all minerall veins the veins of gold and silver of lead and iron c. lie as it were in bank in the bosom and bowels of the earth so doth life in God There is not the lest vein of this quick-silver in all the world but comes from him Or thirdly The Psalmist alludeth to the veins of the body which as so many rivers and rivolets derive their bloud from tha◠red-sea the liver God hath a sea of life in himself
Is there any beauty in darknes in thick darknes where there is no order in darknes where the very light is darknes One of the greatest plagues upon Egypt Nostri theologizantes ad infernum referuÌ„t sed Iob ad sepulchrum respexit Merc. was three daies darknes what then is there in death naturally considered but a plague seeing it is perpetuall darknes If death be such in it self and such to those who die in sin how should our hearts be raised up in thankfulnes to Christ who hath put other terms upon death and the grave by dying for our sins Christ hath made the grave look like a heaven to his Christ hath abolished death not death it self for even believers die but all the trouble and terrour of death the darknes and the disorder of it are taken away Christ hath mortified death kill'd death so that now death is not so much an opening of the door of the grave as it is an opening of the door of heaven Christ who is the Sun of righteousnes lay in the grave and hath left perpetuall beams of light there for his purchased people The way to the grave is very dark but Christ hath set up lights for us or caused light to shine into the way Christ hath put death into a method yea Christ hath put death into a kinde of life or he hath put life into the death of believers All the gastlinesse horrour yea the darknes and death of death is removed The Saints may look upon the grave as a land of light like light it self yea as a land of life like life it self where there is nothing but order and where the darknes is as light Jobs reply to Bildad and complaints to God have carried his discourse as far as death and the grave he gives over in a dark disordered place God still leaving him under much darknes and many disorders of spirit As his great afflictions are yet continued so his weaknesses continue too His graces break forth many times and sometimes his corruption Both are coming to a further discovery while his third friend Zophar takes up the bucklers and renews the battel upon what terms he engages with Job how Job acquits himself and comes off from that engagement is the summe of the four succeeding Chapters FINIS Errata PAg. 18. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 63. l. 5. for 29. r. 19. p. 69 l. 39. for 7. r. 29. p. 152. l. 21. for need r needs p. 201. in marg fòr Apollo r. Achilles in some copies p. 311 l 17. dele the. p. 331. l. 2. dele in p 430. l 22. for affliction r. afflictions p 361. l. 37. for Apologues r. Apologies ib. l. 38. put in to after arguments p. 366. in mâ—rg for polluerunt r. polluerent p. 401. l. 27. for an idol u r. idols are p 413. l. 22. for wearied r. weary p. 418. l. 27. dele not A TABLE Directing to some speciall Points noted in the precedent EXPOSITIONS A ABib the Jewish moneth why so called p. 73 Adamant why so called 160. Affliction A good heart give â— testimony to the righteousnesse of God in the midst of greatest afflictions p. 14 God laies very sore afflictions upon them that are very dear to him p. 279. Afflictions continued cause â—s to suspect that our praier is not answered p. 280. A godly man may be much opprest with the fears of affliction p. â—54 There was not such a spirit of rejoycing in affliction among the Saints of the old Testament as is under the New p. 358. After purgings God goes on sometimes with afflictions p. 372. It is lawfull to pray against affliction p. 399. Affliction removed three waies p. 400. Great afflictions carry a charge of wickednesse upon the afflicted p. 432. An afflicted person is very solicitous about the reason of his afflictions p. 436. Afflictions are searchers p. 469. Afflictions affect with shame p. 573. Vnder great afflictions our requests are modest p. 579. Age what meant by it taken three waies p. 55. Ancient of daies why God is so called p. 460. Angels falling why their sinne greater then mans and God so irreconcilable to them p. 506. Anger in man what it is p. 180 How God is angry p. 181. The troubles that fall upon the creature are the effects of Gods anger p. 181. It is not in the power of man to turn away the anger of God p. 247. How praier is said to do it 10. The anger of God is more grievous to the Saints then all their other afflictions p. 433. Answering of two kindes p. 250. Antiquity True antiquity gives testimony to the truth p. 58. What true antiquity is p. 59. Appearance we must not judge by it p. 360. Arcturus described p. 209. Assurance that we are in a state of grace possible and how wrought p. 479. Awake In what sense God awakes p. 37 38. His awaking and sleeping note only the changes of providence p. 39. Two things awaken God the praier of his people and the rage of his enemies p. 40. B BItternesse put for sorest affliction p. 285. The Lord sometime mixes a very bitter cup for his own people p. 286. Body of man the excellent frame of it p. 516. Five things shew this p. 517. Body of man an excellent frame p. 494. How called a viâ— body ib. Bones and sinews their use in the body of man p. 516. C CAbits a sect of babling Poets p. 7. Cause Second causes can doe nothing without the first p. 493. Chambers of the South what and why so called p. 210. Chistu the tenth moneth among the Jews why so called p. 209. Christ is the medium by which we see God p. 231 Clay that man was made of clay intimates three things p. 504. Commands God can make every word he speaks a command p. 192. Every creature must submit to his command ib. God hath a negative voice of command to stay the motion of any creature p. 193. Comfort comes only from God p. 348. Yet a man in affliction may help on his own comforts or sorrows p. 351. Comforts put off upon two ground ib. Commendation To commend our selvâ—s very unseemly p. 296 297. Conâ—emnation hath three thing in it which make it very gâ—evous p. 432. It is the adjudging a man to be wicked p. 434. Conscience A good conscience to be kept rather then our lives p. 303. God and conscience keep a record of our lives p. 540. Consent to sinne how proper to the wicked p. 478. Contention Man naturally loves it p. 150. Man is apt to contend with God p. 152. Especially about three things p. 153. Man is unable to contend with God in any thing p. 154. Counsels of wicked men not shined on by God p. 447. Custom in sin what p. 476. D DAies-man who p. 385. why so called p. 386. Five things belonging to a daies-man p. 387. A three-fold posture of the daies-man in laying on his
but I have not set them for Prophets If any presume to declare or resolve what shall be done I resolve to punish their presumption I take delight to frustrate men who delight in this and to befool them who would be thus wise This is my name The God that stretcheth out the heavens alone and that maketh diviners mad Great disappointments enrage and some men lose their reason when they lose the credit of doing things above reason Because they cannot be as Gods to fore-tell good or evil they will not be so much as men He makes the diviners mad The Law was peremptory and severe against them Deut. 18.9 There shall not be found amongst you any one that useth divination or is an observer of times why not an observer of times may we not observe times and seasons May we not look up to the heavens and consider their motions Yes we may observe times holily but not superstitiously as if some times were good others bad some lucky others unlucky as if the power of God were shut up in or over-ruled by his own instruments and inferiour causes this is dishonourable unto God and thus the Jews were forbidden to use any divination or to observe times The heavens and stars are for signs but they are not infallible signs They are ordinary signs of the change of weather Mat. 16.2 3. They are ordinary signs of the seasons of the year Spring and Summer and harvest and winter they are ordinary signs of a fit time to till and manure the ground to plow sowe and reap The earth is fitted and prepared for culture by the motion of the heavens The heavens are at once the Alphabet of the power and wisdom of God and of our works we may read there when to do many businesses Gen. 8.22 While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease Those seasons shall continually return according to the time of the year measured by the Sun Moon and Stars Thus they are signs of ordinary events And God sometimes puts the sign of an extraordinary event in them Mat. 24.29 Immediately after the tribulation of those daies shall the Sunne be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken which some understand allegorically others literally of strange apparitions and impressions in heaven either before the destruction of Jerusalem or the day of judgement So Act. 2.19 20 c. Thus God puts a sign in them of extraordinary events But shall man from them prognosticate and fore-tell extraordinary events as when there shall be famine and pestilence war and trouble in Nations This the Lord abhorreth The counsels of God about these things are written in his own heart what is man that he should transcribe them from the heavens But if men will say they are written there God will blot out what they say and prove theirs to be but humane divinations yea that they were received from hell not written in heaven Isa 47.13 I will destroy the signs of them that divine let now the Astrologers the star-gazers the monethly Prognosticatours stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee Behold they shall be as stubble they shall not be able to deliver themselves It is good to be a starre-beholder but a wicked thing to be a starre-gazer that is to look upon the stars so as if we could spell out the secret providences of God and read future events in the book of those creatures It is our duty to look upon the heavens as they declare the glory of God but it is a sin to look upon the heavens as if they could declare the destinies fates and fortunes of men All which vanities are largely and learnedly confuted by M Perkins in his book called The resolution of the Countrey-man about Prognostications Now that the successe of every creature is in God not in the stars we may see first in the order of the creation God created the earth and commanded it to bring forth fruit upon the third day but the lights in the firmament were made the fourth day The earth can bring forth without the midwifery or help of the heavens God himself made the earth fruitfull without yea before the stars were made Philo Judaers de opificio munâ—i Upon which one of the Ancients gives this observation Surely saith he the Lord in his providence made the earth fruitfull in all its glory before he put the stars in the heavens to the intent to make men see that the fruitfulnesse of the earth doth not depend upon the heavens or stars God needs neither the rain of the clouds nor the warmth of the Sun to produce these effects He that made all second causes to work in their ranks can work without the intervention of any second cause And because the Lord fore-saw men would dote much upon second causes and venture to prognosticate by the heavens the fates of men and the fruitfulnesse of the earth therefore he made the earth fruitfull before he made Arcturus or placed those constellations in the heavens Secondly The providence of God works under the decree of God His providence is the execution of his decree Therefore we must not bring the decrees down to providence but we must raise providence up to the decrees Thirdly The heavens and those heavenly bodies Arcturus c. are but generall causes there are speciall causes besides of the earths barrennesse or fruitfulnesse of tempests at sea and troubles at land and the Lord is able to invert all causes to work beyond causes without causes and against causes So that nothing can be infallibly fore-told from the positions conjunctions or revolutions of those heavenly bodies Lastly Observe That it is our duty to study the heavens and be acquainted with the stars In them the wonderfull works of God are seen and a sober knowledge in nature may be an advantage unto grace Holy David was such a student Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Consideration is not a transient or accidental but a resolved and a deliberate act Shall we think that God hath made those mighty bodies the stars to be past by without consideration Shall men only pore upon a lump of earth and not have their hearts lifted up to consider those lamps of light Shall man make no more use of the stars then the beasts of the earth do namely to see by them When I consider thy heavens saith David Heaven is the most considerable of all inanimate creatures and more considerable then most of the animate and Davids when when I consider the heavens notes not only a certainty that he did it but frequency in doing it Some of the Rabbins tell us that when Isaac went out into the field to meditate Gen.
upon ourselves First When we let them lie wholly upon our selves and will not go to God for strength or patience to bear them Who can sufficiently mourn over them who leave their complaints in this sense upon themselves It is sinfull and foolish to leave our complaints thus upon our selves 'T is a duty to leave them upon God and to pour them into the bosom of Christ who can and who only can either ease us of them or make them easie to us who can and who only can take off our burdens or enable us to carry them The burden of our ordinary cares will break our backs if left upon our selves how then shall we in our own strength stand under the burden of extreamest sorrows Secondly We leave our complaint upon our selves When we make no excuses or evasions but plainly charge the fault upon our selves Thus we ought to leave all our complaints upon our selves It is sinfull and foolish to charge any of them wholly upon the devil or at all upon God An honest heart takes them home and saith God is righteous but I am a transgressour what he hath done he may do and he hath done justly in all that he hath done This is the sense of Iobs resolution I will leave my complaint upon my self Hence observe Whatsoever a godly man suffereth he will not charge God with it but himself He is more carefull of the honour of God then of his own peace and had rather die then the glory of God should suffer O Lord saith Daniel chap. 9.7 righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face And vers 14. the Lord is righteous in all his works which he doth for we obeyed not his voice When the Angel was smiting Israel with the plague of pestilence David bespeaks the Lord in reference to the people Loe I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheep What have they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against me c. 2 Sam. 24.17 I take the blame to my self Lord upon me let thy stroak be even upon me not upon Israel So saith the soul in reference unto God upon me be the blame of all the troubles and afflictions which I feel not upon God What hath God done All that he hath done is right and just and good It is an argument of a holy frame of heart to be often judging our selves and alwaies acquitting of God To be often complaining of our selves and to be ever exalting God To be alwaies thanking him for our comforts and alwaies saying we may thank our selves for our sorrows Whatsoever the Lord saith or doth concerning us we should not only say with Hezekiah when a sad message was brought him 2 King 20.19 Good is the Word of the Lord but also Good are the works of the Lord. Many men are ready to lay their sins much more their sorrows upon God So the Apostle represents them Rom. 9.19 Thou wilt say unto me Why doth he then finde fault Why doth God complain of us we have more reason to complain of and charge our faults on God If he hardeneth whom he will Why are we blamed for being hardened For who hath resisted his will Thus they question God Who hath resisted thy will whose lives are nothing else but a continued warre against and resistance of his will They who strive most to comply with the will of God complain often of themselves for resisting it And though they know God hardeneth vvhom he vvill yet they will not leave the hardening of any upon God as his fault but as his prerogative They confesse it to be as great an act of holinesse in God to harden some men in sin as it is to soften others by his grace Mercy appears chiefly in the one justice appears chiefly in the other but holinesse equally in both I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul A bitter soul bringeth forth bitter words Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh If there be abundance of joy in the heart the mouth will speak joyfully and if there be abundance of sorrow in the heart the mouth speaks sorrowfully Loquar quicquid mihi afflictio suggesserit As when there is abundance of filth in the heart the mouth speaks filthinesse We may see the lines and image of mans minde drawn upon his words One man speaks in the anger of his soul and he speaks angerly Another speaks in the pride of his soul and he speaks proudly A third speaks in the profanenesse of his soul and he speaks profanely Again one speaks in the courage of his soul and he speaks couragiously Another speaks in the patience of his soul and he speaks patiently A third speaks in the faith of his soul and he speaks beleevingly There is a neernesse to this sense in that of the sixtieth Psalm vers 6. God hath spoken in his holinesse and we are assured he cannot but speak holily who is all holy I saith Job will speak in the bitternesse of my soul and he spake bitterly his soul was bitter and so was his speech too What he means by the bitternesse of his soul hath been opened heretofore in the third Chapter and in the seventh Chapter vers 11. thither I refer the Reader In brief I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul is either this I will let out the sorrows of my heart at my tongue and it shall appear by what I say what I feel Or Further I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul may be taken as an Apology for what he spake As if he had said Doe not charge my complaint upon my own account Nō rā mea futura sunt verba quam meae amaritudinis haec enim imperat extorquet orationem If I speak bitterly it is not I that speak but the bitternesse that is in me As Paul when he did what he would not pleads in the seventh of the Romans It is no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me It is not I Paul an Apostle not I regenerate Paul but the remains of unregenerate Paul of Paul a Pharisee which rebell against the Law of God In the same manner saith Iob here and so say the Saints Are we at any time impatient and complain more then becommeth us know it is not we that speak but the bitternesse of our hearts The thing which we would not that speak we and therefore it is not we that speak but the sorrow that dwelleth in us So then speaking in the bitternesse of the soul notes either the excesse or greatnesse of a complaint or the cause and spring of a complaint The complaints of Job came not from the ordinary temper of his spirit but from the troubles of his estate distempering his spirit he desired rather to be praising and glorifying God for his receits then complaining over his own wants But his wants were such as he could not refrain from complaining I will
being firm and stiff in themselves are moveable by the sinews There are other parts of the body which concur to the making up of this armour gristles muscles ligaments membranes all which serve for motion fastning and defence as well as bones and sinews but these being the principall and most known are here expressed for all the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippocr Bones give the body stability straitnesse and form They are as the carcase of a ship whereto the rest of the parts are fastned and by which they are sustained They are as the posts pillars beams and rafters of a house by whose knittings and contignations the whole building is both proportioned and supported And though the bones are for number very many and in their forms exceeding various some thick some thin some plain some hollow some of a greater others of a lesser bore yet are they so connected and fitted together by articulation or by coalition by contiguity or continuity as the Anatomists speak that they all appear as one bone or pack of bones Sinews or nerves derive their pedigree from the brain and are the organs by which the animall spirits are conveyed and flow into the whole body and with them both sense and motion Sinews have so much of strength in them that the same word is put to signifie both strength and sinews and to do a thing strongly and vigorously is to doe it nervosè sinewously It is wonderfull which Naturalists write of the conjugations and uses of the sinews to whose labours I referre the studious Reader for further satisfaction I have given enough to shew what this Text cals me to That God hath indeed clothed man with skin and flesh and fenced him with bones and sinews Some have quarrelled with the wisdom and goodnesse of God for turning man altogether naked and unarmed into the world This Scripture is enough to confute the unreasonablenesse of that quarrel Job thankfully acknowledgeth That he was both clothed and armed though not in the sense of these complainers It is more honourable for man to make himself artificiall clothing and arms then to have had none but naturall God hath given man reason to invent hands to prepare and a tongue to call for those things which by a Law of nature are imposed upon other creatures the power of reason and the skill of the hand are a better safeguard to man then any the beasts have and can provide whatsoever man wants to secure him either from cold or danger And though the body as now it stands be but as it were the sepulchre of that which God at first created though we lie open to so many diseases and deaths that the soul may well be said to inhabit an unwalled and an unfortified City yet man hath great cause for ever to extoll the bounty of God in those still continued ennoblements of this earthly mansion his mortall body Yea The noble structure and symmetry of our bodies invites our souls not only to thankfulnesse but to admiration One of the Ancients stileth man a great miracle Another The miracle of miracles A third The measure of all things A fourth The patern of the universe the worlds epitome The world in a small volume or a little world They also have distinguished the whole frame of the body into three stories in allusion to a like frame observable in the world First The superiour which they call intellectuall or angelicall because they conceived it to be the habitation of Angels or Intelligences The second or middle part they call celestiall or heavenly the seat of the Sunne and starres The third Elementary in which all corporeall creatures are procreated and nourished This division of the world is eminent in man for he also is a building of three stories The head which is the seat of reason the mansion the tower of wisdome and understanding is placed highest the brest or middle venter is the celestiall part wherein the heart like the Sun is predominant some have called the Sun The heart of the world and the heart The Sunne of mans body by whose lustre beams and influences all the other parts are quickned and refreshed hence we say when the heart fails all fails and while the heart holds all holds The third part of the body or the lower venter containing all parts necessary for the nutrition of individuals or the propagation of the species carrieth a cleare resemblance with the elementary or lowest parts of the universe There are five things in particular which as so many rounds of a lather may help us to raise our thoughts higher in the duty of holy admiration about this work of God First That God frameth up this goodly and beautifull fabrique out of such mean and improbable materials To consider out of what stuff our bodies are made advanceth the honour of him who made us Man can make his work except the form no better then the matter out of which he formeth it But as the form of mans body is better then the matter so the matter becomes better then it was before it received that form Secondly The matter out of which God maketh man is originally homogeneall or but of one kinde yet there is a strange heterogeny or variety in the very substance as well as in the shape of the severall parts which are therefore divided by the survaiers of this building into parts similar and dissimilar Is it not incredible to meer reason that one lump should be spread out into thin tender skin wrought into soft flesh extended into tough sinews hardened into strong bones that one piece should make an outward jerkin or cassock of skin an under garment of flesh columns and rafters of bones bands and ties of sinews that the same should make veins like chanels to carry and blood like water to be carried into every part to moisten and refresh it When an Artificer buildeth an house he requires more materials then one he must have stones and timber iron lead Quomodo ex re tantula sibi simili tamvariae discrepantes partes extiterunt haec profecto est stupenda omnino opifiâ—iâ— nostri sapientia vis ad quicquid efficienduÌ„ Merl. c. to compleat his fabrique but the Lord frameth all the parts rooms and contrivances of the body out of one and the same masse Thou dost not know saith Solomon how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with childe Eccles 11.5 Who can know by a meer rationall demonstration how a solid substance should grow out of that which is so fluid And that parts materially as well as figuratively unlike should arise out of a like matter Thirdly The work of God in the framing of man is internall as well as externall A statuary or an engraver will make the image or pourtraiture of a man but his work is all outward he cannot make bowels or fashion a heart within he cannot cut out veins bones and sinews
dropping upon them when they suppose the Sunne shineth upon them Secondly Consider who speaks this If I saith Iob be wicked then woe unto me Hence observe That A godly man may put the worst cases to himself The Scripture puts such cases to godly men therefore they may put such to themselves Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die saith the Apostle writing to the Saints Though such a supposition cannot be resolved into this position A godly man shall die yet the supposition is true If he liveth after the flesh he shall die So the Apostle of himself and his fellow-Apostles yea of the Angels If we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached let him be accursed Gal. 1.9 And as Paul prophecied a curse upon any either Apostle or angel who should preach a false Gospel so a woe upon himself if he should neglect to preach the true Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 They who are above all curses may be threatned with a curse And they who shall certainly be preserved from doing that which inevitably brings the curse may be told of a curse in case they should do it They put dangerous suppositions opposite to these who say Let a godly man be never so wicked yet it shall be well with him let him sinne as much as he will yet it shall be well with him The Spirit of God never puts such suppositions As the Scripture speaks often to perswade so sometimes to terrifie the godly from sinne but never a tittle which may be an encouragement to sin It speaks much to keep up their hearts in an assurance of pardon in case they fall into sin and much more to keep down their corruptions and to preserve them from falling into sin Though there be a truth in it that how much so ever a godly man sinneth he shall be pardoned yet the Scripture useth no such language and the form of wholsom words teacheth every man rather to speak thus If I be wicked then woe unto me If I be righteous yet will I not lift up my head These words stand in an elegant opposition against the former Here are persons and states opposite persons The wicked and the righteous If I be wicked if I be righteous states Woe and lifting up the head If I be wicked then woe unto me If I be righteous then will I not lift up mine head He doth not say If I be righteous I shall be happy though that be a truth but which was more sutable to his purpose If I be righteous yet will I not lift up my head Some put this into a dilemma or double argument by which Iob would aggravate the greatnesse of his affliction As if he had said Let me look which way I will my case is very said if I be wicked then woe be to me If I be righteous yet I am so full of sorrows that I am not able to hold up my head But I rather interpret this later part of the verse as a description of Jobs humility in the best of his spirituall estate then as any aggravation of the ilnes of his temporall estate If I be righteous He speaks not as if he doubted whether he were righteous or no. Iob had shewed the setlednesse of his spirit in that assurance more then once before but he puts the best of his case to shew how low he was in his own thoughts when he was at best There is a two-fold righteousnesse First of Justification Secondly of Sanctification of sincerity or uprightnesse and so his meaning is Suppose I am such as I have asserted my self to be and as God himself hath testified me to be perfect and upright yet I will not lift up my head Some read I cannot others I dare not lift up my head I will not lift up my head Not lift up thy head man if thou wert righteous Why who in the world shall lift up their heads if the righteous shall not Are there any that have such cause to lift up their heads as they He might say indeed If I were rich or if I were honourable yet I will not lift up my head these are things which cannot and therefore should not lift up any mans spirit an inch from the ground but to say If I were righteous I would not lift up my head seems a degradation or an abasement of righteousnesse To clear this I shall open the phrase a little To lift up the head of another man is to advance him Thus Pharaoh lifted up the head of his chief Butler Gen. 40.13 And the King of Babylon lifted up the head of Iehojakin King of Iudah and brought him forth out of prison Jer. 52.21 In this sense David cals God The lifter up of his head Ps 3.3 To lift up our own heads is to prevail and to get above pressing evils victoriously Judg. 8.28 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel so that they lifted up their heads no more That is Gideon routed and made so compleat a conquest over the Midianites that they were totally broken and could no more insult over Israel The victory of Christ over all our spirituall enemies is thus described Psal 110.7 He shall drink of the brook in the way that is of the waters of affliction and sorrow which either the wrath of God or the rage of men gave him to drink while he was in the way of perfecting the work of our redemption and because he shall do this Therefore shall be lift up his head that is he shall prevail by his passion and overcome by dying yea he shall overcome death by a triumphant resurrection Attolere caput notat gaudium fiduciā Coc. Again There is a two-fold lifting up of the head First a lifting up of the head with joy and consolation Luk. 21.28 Secondly A lifting up of the head with pride and ostentation Psal 83.2 Loe thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head that is they have proudly boasted and vaunted themselves The later is Jobs sense If I be righteous I will not lift up my head in pride he might and he did lift up his head in joy because he knew himself righteous Once more There is a lifting up of our heads in our selves and a lifting up of our heads in Christ Job disclaims the former here but he all along assumes the later We cannot lift up our heads too high in the thoughts of free grace nor hang them down too low in the thought of our own works Non levabo caput h e. demisso capite ac mente coram te ambulabo Further While Job saith I will not lift up my head he meaneth lesse then he speaketh In Scripture there is sometimes lesse expressed then is intended and sometimes more That of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.58 Your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord rises in sense higher then the