whatsoever reasons you endeavour to support your discourse 2 Hear diligently my speech and let this be your consolations I perswade my selfe that if you will but hearken to mine you will change your Opinion and that at last you will be sorry that you have accused an Innocent I know that every thing displeaseth you in my person 3 Suffer me that I may speak and after that I have spoken mock on and that heaven which would make me odious hath also made my discourse insupportable But make a triall upon your minde to heare me and when I have deduced my reasons if they please you not I give you leave to laugh at me Observe then 4 As for me is my complaint to man and if it were so why should not my spirit be troubled that it is not with you so much as with God that I dispute and that I complaine more of his rigour than of yours for if you have an ill opinion of mine innocence my afflictions serve as an excuse for your suspitions But God who reades my heart cannot be ignorant of it and when I thinke that he doth not take the paines to make you know it methinks I have cause to complaine of it Since he will not give me this satisfaction 5 Mark me and be astonished and lay your hand upon your mouth and that he hath resolved that my evils should be publique and my innocence hidden looke upon me at least but without ingaging your selves to comfort or to bemoane me put your finger upon your mouth and testifie your trouble and your love but by your astonishment and your silence For my part 6 Even when I remember I am afraid and trembling taketh hold on my flesh I cannot entertaine my self with my misfortunes but I tremble and though they say that the memory of past evils is agreeable mine are so violent that I cannot thinke of them without extreme sorrow And all the while that my minde entertaines it selfe with this fatall subject all the parts of my body shake with horrour 7 Wherefore doe the wicked live become old yea are mighty in power Yet so miserable a condition ought not prejudice my innocence for if my disgrace were a cause of my sin the prosperity of the wicked would be a marke of their vertue and we should be obliged to believe that all those who are happy are innocent yet we see that sinners live long and that honours are not wanting to their ambition nor riches to their avarice Their family is alwaies numerous 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them and their off-spring before their eyes and heaven which gives them children takes the care of preserving them that they may injoy them long inasmuch as in few yeers they make many alliances and see issue from their daughters a long traine of children Their houses enjoy a profound rest 9 Their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them there is no accident that may trouble them and with what sinne soever they offend the goodnesse of God 10 Their bull gendereth faileth not their cow calveth and casteth not her calf his justice never punishes them the cares of his providence extend themselves even over their flocks for their Kine never miscarry when they are happily delivered there arrives no misfortunes to their young ones and heaven gives them milke in abundance to nourish them But without standing to describe so ordinary a thing 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance I will represent you the fruitfulnesse of their wives which is so great that their children equall their flocks in number and skip about their houses like young lambs in the fields They can scarce go but they set them to dance 12 They take the timbrell and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the organ their tongue is not yet untyed when they teach them to sing and as if their life were a perpetuall Revels Vials and Lutes are heard every day in their houses They passe away their years so pleasantly 13 They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave and when the time of dying is come and that sicknesse takes them out of the world they languish not long in a bed but descend quietly and suddenly into the grave Notwithstanding one cannot say it is their piety that brought these blessings upon them 14 Therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes for as long as they lived with us they boldly professed that they would have no part with God and that his Lawes being indifferent to them they were not resolved to take the paines to keepe them They made a show of being ignorant that there was a God 15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him that they might not be obliged to serve him and to dispense with themselves from praying to him they perswaded themselves that he did not watch over our actions and that he had abandoned to an imaginary Destiny the conduct of the Universe Thinke not though that I am of their party if I describe their happinesse 16 Lo their good is not in their hand the counsel of the wicked is farre from me for I know that that of the wicked though it be durable is not eternall and whatsoever assurance they shew they are not Masters of their fortunes wherefore their sentiments have beene alwaies contrary to mine and our manner of living hath not been lesse different than our opinions I am of accord with you 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out and how oft commeth their destruction upon them God distributeth sorrows in his anger that their prosperity hath no lustre which is not deceitfull that the sorrowes which succeed their pleasures shall make no lesse spoyle in their souls than the Torrents in the fields And that they shall not be forgotten in that fatall day 18 They are as stubble before the winde as chaff that the storm carrieth away when the hand of God which cannot commit injustice shall distribute punishment according to desert In the presence of that terrible Judge whom they can neither frighten nor corrupt 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children he rewardeth him and he shall know it it shall be with those wicked men as with the straw which the winde plays with or as the dust which the whirle-winde carries not into the Ayre but to disperse and scatter it Finally 20 His eyes shall fee his destruction he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty their punishment shall not stop in them but shall passe even to their Children who shall be unhappy for having had guilty fathers and when they shall see their sinne punished
commune with thee wilt thou be grieved but who can with hold himself from speaking Eliphaz the most ancient of his friends judging that his complaints offended the Divine Justice spoke in its defence and began his discourse in this manner I know not if in the griefe which afflicts you you are capable of hearing us and whether our reasons will not exasperate your evils instead of sweetning them But who can hinder a discourse from coming forth which is already conceived who would conceale from his friend those sentiments which are profitable to his soule and which coming from a good intention ought in reason to produce a good effect 3 Behold thou hast instructed many and thou hast strengthened the weakhands And for to propose to you no other examples than your owne remember that when heaven blest your labours and favoured your designes you gave instructions to all the world and there was not a man who had more addresse than you in comforting the afflicted and raising up the courage of them in whom grief had beaten it down Your discourses animated the feeble 4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling thou hast strengthened the seeble knees if the assault of temptations did shake them you assured them by your reasons and if the apprehension of evils to come astonished them you prepared them for them so well that they were never lesse touched with them than when they saw them arrived 5 But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest it toucheth thee and thou art troubled Notwithstanding when the tempest fell upon your selfe and that the evils of which you had cured others assaulted you your prudence left you in your need and the affliction which hath put your soul in disorder hath made you lose your courage 6 Is not this thy fear thy confidence the uprightnes of thy wayes and â—hy hope Where is that feare and that constancy which tendred you admirable and whose just temperature made you that you were neither cowardly in fight nor insolent in victory where is that patience gone which seemed to be proofe against all evils and which could finde none but what were easie to conquer what is become of that integrity which accompanied all your actions and which in a corrupt age made you have the name of Just 7 Remember I pray thee who ever petished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off But because you take a vanity in the vertues which you have lost I pray you remember that God never abandoned the innocent that he hath alwayes taken the part of the just and never suffered them to perish Indeed we have seene that those men 8 Even as I have seen they that plow iniquiry and sow wickednesse reap the same who make them selves illustrious but by their crimes who doe evill with pleasure to whom others miseries are more sweet than a plentifull harvest is agreeable to the Husbandman 9 By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed have not been able to avoid his justice and that as those great Trees which are planted upon the Mountaines they have been made the sport of the windes and tempests Hath not experience taught you 10 The roaring of the lion and the voyce of the fierce lion and the teeth of the young lions are broken that men who raigned like Lions that their children who equalled them in cruelty that their wives who surpassed them in insolence have ended their lives tragically and that heaven hath made seene in their persons that it never leaves sinners without chastisement Know you not that those great ones 11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey and the stont lions whelpes are scattered abroad who under the face of men carry the hearts of Tygers and those who not being of the same birth are notwithstanding of the same humour receive the punishments which their sinnes deserve and that as there are no innocent ones abandoned there are no culpable ones unpunished But because you doubt of these truths 12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me and mine eare received a little thereof and your afflictions themselvs cannot perswade you that you are guilty I shall tell you a secret which was revealed to me and trust you with some words which though they dropt softly into my eare are imprinted strongly in my heart Imagine then that during the horrours of the night 13 In thoughts from the visions of the night when deep sleep falleth on men when sleepe sliding into the eyes of men makes it self master of all their sences and leaves no freedome to the minde but to treat with God and receive his inspirations A strange feare 14 Feare came upon me and trembling which made all my bence to shake the cause of which was hidden from me seized upon my soule and as strong agitations of the minde make powerfull impressions upon the body there was not a part of me but was moved at it the bones themselves which steme to be the foundations of this living Edifice felt astonishment A furious winde which arose in my Chamber 15 Then a spirit passed before my face the haire of my flesh stood up redoubled my feare and my haire being sensible of this accident stood an end and taught me that of all feares those which surprise us doe most astonish us This tempest calmed by the presence of a man 16 It stood still but I could not discerne the form thereof an image was before mine eyes there was silence and I heard a voice saying whose face was vnknowne to me and whose features notwithstanding remaine so livelily imprinted in my imagination that me thinkes I have his portraiture yet before my eyes He opened his mouch and spake to me in a voyce whose sweetnes equalled that of the westerne wendes May men be found who pretend to justifie themselves before God 17 Shall mortall man be more just then God shall a man be more pure then his Maker and must not that creature have lost his judgement who will contest with his Creator and dispute with him his innocence Those noble spirits dis-ingaged from the body 18 Behold he putteth no trust in his servants and his angels he tharged with folly those quick intelligences which have no commerce with flesh and blood and for increase of their happinesse have the glory to be his Domestiques could not subsist in nature nor persevere in grace if they were not ayded by his bounty So all they who have despised him are become guilty and the purity of their being hath not hindred God from finding in their person disorders to reforme and crimes to punish If it be true that these noble creatures cannot justifie themselves before him 19 How much lesse on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth
by night Also it often comes to passe that when they have a designe to ruine a miserable man 15 But he saved the poor from the sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty God protects him by his power and as if it were not enough to have preserved his body from their violence he defends his reputation from their calumny and by the same miracle delivers him from their hands and their tongues 16 So the poor hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth After so many visible marks of his bounty the afflicted have cause to be satisfied their misery it selfe ought to entertaine their hope and the wicked seeing that their calumny is serviceable to the innocent are forced to shut their mouthes and to keep silence 17 Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty Since God then takes the miserable into his protection are not you bound to believe that they are happy and that without being unreasonable they cannot complaine of an evill which ought to be as glorious to them as it is profitable He afflicts them but he comforts them 18 For he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole he causeth their evils but he findes them remedies he hurts them but he heales them and his hands are so delicate in touching their wounds that there is no one but would willingly be hurt to have the pleasure of being so gently cured Be assured then if you suffer patiently the evils which oppresse you 19 He shall deliver thee in fix troubles yea in seven toere shall no evill touch thee God who abandoneth not his will deliver you one day and after this season there will come another where evils as if they were struck with respect shall not dare to approach you When famine shall render the earth barren 20 In famine he shall redeeme thee from death and in warre from the power of the sword and the obstinate labour of the husbandman cannot overcome its ingratitude God shall defend you from death and when in day of battell the enemies Souldiers shall assault you on all sides he shall preserve you from their fury Detractors shall spare your reputation 21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thon be afraid of destruction when it cometh in the unbridled license which they take to blot the innocent you shall be covered from their calumnyes and in the publike calamity when all the world is in alarm you shall be without hurt and without feare Whether your enemies besiege your places 22 At destrnction and famine thou shalt laugh neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the enrth or make incursions upon your Frontiers you shall mock at their successelesse attempts and your Troopes shall chase them away without danger The respect to your person shall extend even to the Beasts and when famine shall force them from their dens the encountring them which is so dangerous shall not be fatall to you Certainely they may well reverence you 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with thee since the stones which are insensible shall remove themselves with respect out of your way or by another miracle they shall soften under your feet But so good an Office shall not remaine without recompence for those which marke your inheritance and serve it for bounds shall be respected of all the world and as if they were sacred your neighbours shall not dare to touch them You shall not be of the number of those who are not unhappy 24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sinne but because they are ignorant of their happinesse yours shall be knowne to you you shall enjoy a profound peace in your house 25 Thou shalt know also that thy feed shall be great thine off-spring as the grasse of the earth and as riches shall not puffe up your heart with vanity you shall taste the pleasure of them without offence Experience which shall verifie my predictions shall teach you that it is God who gives heyres to Fathers 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corne cometh in in his season for yours shall bee as remarkable for their number as their merit and your house shall bee as fruitfull in children as the meadowes in flowers and the fields in sheaves Poverty which old age so much fears shall not afflict the last yeares of your life you shall dye with abundance as you have lived with it and as they carry corne into the Barne when it is ripe they shall carry you to the grave when you are weary of living Moreover doubt not of the 27 Lo this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good event of these things they shal come to passe as I have foretold them and if you think of them sometimes they will sweeten your displeasures and of a happinesse which is to come you shall make a present felicity CHAP. VI. THE ARGUMENT JOB replyes and makes it appeare that his punishments surpasse his crimes That their extreame rigour hath made his friends disperse That his courage would not permit him to implore their assistance And that heaven will punish their ingratitude JOB observing by his friends discourse 1 But Job answered and said that his Reasons had made no impression in his minde and that he neither knew the designe of God in his afflictions nor his owne in his complaints replyed to him in these tearms I would the sins which I have committed 2 Oh that my griefe were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balance together and which have provoked the anger of God against me were put in balance with the paines which I suffer I am assured that these would weigh more than all the sand of the sea 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea therefore my words are swallowed up and that there is no constancy but would be overwhelmed under so weighty a burden wherefore having nothing but displeasures in my heart it is no wonder if I have nothing but complaints in my mouth It seemes God will discharge upon my body all the arrowes of his fury 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within mee the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrours of God doe set themselves in aray against me he drawes not a shot but hurts me and as if he would joyn skill with his force his invenomed shafts sprinkle in my veines a mortall poison which drinkes my blood and dryes up all my strength and as if this kinde of punishment were not cruell enough he addes feare to my griefe
give to men in my discourse those glorious gualities which belong onely to God 22 For I know not to give flattering titles in so doing my Maker would soone take me away Though reason did not oblige me to have these thoughts the feare of the future would cause them in me for I know not how long I must live the day of my death is as hidden as it is certaine and without conferring with my Creator I cannot foresee when he will take me out of the world CHAP. XXXIII THE ARGUMENT ELiku addresseeh his discourse to Job and after he had gently insinuated into his minde he sharply reproves him for the liberty of his words which he qualifies with the name of blasphemies and represents to him divers meanes wherewith God serves himself to reduce sinners to their duty ELihu 1 Wherefore Job I pray thee hear my speeches and hearken to all my words who judged that his Auditors were disposed to heare him and that there remained not any thing more to prepare the minde of Job said to him As you are most interested in the cause you are most obiged to heare me lend your eare then to my discourses and despise not reasons which as well regard the good of your soule as the honour of God 2 Behold now I have opened my mouth my tongue hath spoken in my mouth Behold then I open my mouth to speake to you with liberty and I oblige my tongue to furnish me with words which ought to be so much the lesse suspected as they are mine and as I shall imploy them for truth onely and not for the passion of your enemies 3 My words shall be of the uprightesse of my heart and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly You shall see by the sincerity of my discourse that my designe is not to confound you but to instruct you with this right intention I shall deduce my reasons so cleerely that it shall be no trouble to you to comprehend them 4 The Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life Those promises which I make you must not seeme impossible to you since it is the Spirit of God which makes me speake and my tongue being but the interpreter of his thoughts my eloquence is more divine than human 5 If thou canst answer me set thy words in order before me stand up But doe not beleeve that in the lists where we enter I would have all the advantage be on my side I desire that our weapons may be equall that you may fight with all your forces that you turne not away your face and that it be permitted you as well to assault me as to defend your selfe 6 Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay And certainely the match is very equall for if God be your Father he is also mine if we are his Children we are Brothers and if he hath moulded my body of dirt he hath not formed yours of a more noble matter 7 Behold my tertour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavie upon thee I beseech you onely that the wonders which I shall tell you may not astonish you that that heat which accompanies the discourses of young men may give you no alarum and that the eloquence wherewith heaven hath favoured me may not render suspected the truth which I shall declare But for feare you should beleeve that I would make monsters to destroy them 8 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing and I have heard the voice of thy words saying and put false opinions upon you to oppose them I shall faithfully relate them in the same words which you served your selfe with to make us comprehend them You have said with more insolence then truth 9 I am clean without transgression I am innocent neither is there iniquity in me that your heart was pure that sinne had never sullied it that all your intentions had been good and that youâ— actions had not been lesse innocent that heaven haâ— sought cccasions to hurt you that without having found reall sinnes which it mighâ— justly punish it had fained imaginary ones and that making your complaints passe for crimes it had treated you as rigorously as if you had been its enemy That to secure it selfe of you as they doe of Malefactors 10 Behold he findeth occasions against me he counteth me for his enemy it was not content to put irons upon your legges but it had put salve to spy all your actions 11 He putteth my feetin the stocks he marketh all my paths and set Guards upon you to relate unto it all your words These discourses are blasphemies 12 Behold in this thou art not just I wil answer thee that God is greater then man but least you should thinke that I will sence my selfe rather with authority then reason I shall tell you that the Majesty of God obligeth us to reverence all his designes and that his greatnesse forbids us for to condemne his judgements You pretend that he doth wrong 13 Why dost thoustrive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters and that his proceeding is unjust because he despiseth your words and answers not to all the reproaches which you use in the resentment of your griefes But besides that these injurious complaints oblige not him to reply to you 14 For God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not know that his greatnesse dispenseth with him for speaking so often and that when he hath once made us to understand his will nothing obligeth him to informe us of it anew and when he hath given us any advice we ought to follow it and not to demand any other Sometimes he advertiseth men in the night 15 In a dreame in a vision of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men in slumbrings upon the bed and when Ghosts fly through the Ayre and that all is filled with darknesse and dreames and that rest charmes the sences and that men plunged in sleep are neither in the number of the living nor the dead He speakes secretly to the eares of their heart 16 Then he openeth the ears of men sealeth their destruction whilst those of their body are shut up and in a condition where it seemes they are uncapable of apprehending any thing he declares to them his will and by imaginations which he paints in their fancies he afflicts or comforts them As he labours for their salvation as well as for his owne honour 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man he gives them this advice but to make them better for whether it be to withdraw them from their finne or for to deliver them from the pride which tyrannizes over them and make them free in making them become humble Or whether it be