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
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
what was beyond their time into the remotest antiquities The Church makes humble confession Psal 106.6 We have erred with our fathers let not any turn this into a stubborn resolution and say We will erre with their fathers if that be an errour which our fathers believed and practised we will erre with them So those rebellious Jews pleaded Jer. 44.17 We will doe as our fathers They who will doe as their fathers may suffer with their fathers they who will needs erre by their fathers copy may goe to hell too by their fathers copy Ierome once desired leave of Austin to erre with seven fathers whom he found of his opinion I should not desire that leave nor envy any one the priviledge The Fathers are but children when they erre and they who will erre with their fathers are worse then children Consider then to what antiquity and to what fathers you appeal Many practices are very old yet very erroneous Many old sayings and old doings must be unsaid and undone or we shall be undone for ever How many old sayings of the Jews doth Christ gain-say Mat. 5. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thus and thus But I say unto you c. And Mat. 19. answering the Question about divorce Moses indeed for the hardnesse of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so Besides some like the Gibeonites feign antiquity they can put a gray beard upon a green head and their opinions will be found fennowed and mouldy with errour not with age As we must take heed of novelties so we must be cautious about antiquities Some antiquities of old men are no better than old wives fables of which the Apostle bids us beware unlearned old wives fables are as authentick as many learned mens antiquities pleaded for To have an itch after novelties and to dote upon antiquities are alike vain and dangerous Old fables and young fancies are with me at the same rate No man having drunke old wine saith Christ Luk. 5.35 strait way cals for new for he saith the old is better Old is better then new if it be as good as new But any new truth is better then the oldest errour and every errour the elder it is the worser it is Again Bildad advises Job to prepare himself to the search of his fathers Hence observe We must not presume to finde truth with ease or to come sleightly by it Prepare thy self Prov. 2.3 If thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou dig for it as silver and search for it as for hid treasures then thou shalt finde c. A man that will finde silver must prepare and fit himself to search for silver That lies not upon the surface but in the bosome and bowels of the earth There are four things wherein this preparation consists 1. Humility God doth not teach but resist the proud he gives more grace humility is much grace to the humble A lowly minded man shall know the minde of the most high God 2. Holinesse submitting to and practising the truth we know prepares us for the receiving of more truth He that doth the will of Christ shall know his doctrine Ioh. 7.17 3. Prayer Doth any man want wisdome let him ask of God Jam. 1.5 Truth is the daughter of God and he will not bestow her in marriage upon our mindes unlesse we ask him 4. Love unto truth Truth is a beauty and deserves our love to love truth is not a civility but a duty to search for truth without love to truth is a dishonour to truth and as the not receiving the love of the truth is the cause why many apostatize and fall from it so it is a reason why many are still ignorant and cannot come at it As God the Father of truth must be askt his good will before we can have her So truth the daughter of God shall be loved before we have her Bildad having thus advised Job to search antiquity giveth him a reason of his advice a modest reason reflecting upon himself and upon his friends Verse 9. For we are but of yesterday and know nothing our daies on earth are a shadow As if he had said the reason why we referre thee to the former ages is because we are able to say so little of our selves and from our own experience we are but of yesterday that is the time we have lived is very little our daies have been few upon earth Truth is the daughter of time and we are scarce sons of time we are but of yesterday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heri dicitur de die praeterito tam de propinquo quam de longinquo quasi diceres antea Rab Dav. Apostolus Hebraizans sâ—c utitur vocaâ—ulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 13.8 Yesterday Taken in our common speech signifies only the day immediately going before 2. It is put for the time a little before and is as much as lately 2 King 9.26 Surely I have seen yesterday the bloud of Naboth and the bloud of his sonnes That is It is not long since Naboth and his sons were slain and their bloud is as fresh in my memory as if it were in my eye 3. It is put for all time how long so ever past Heb. 13.8 The Apostle Hebraizing saith Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever yesterday is not put for the day immediately before or for many daies before but for all daies before even from the beginning of the world yea not only are all daies past included in yesterday but the eternity which is past Heri nudius tertius dum simul junguntur proverbialem conficivet hyperbolem tempus ruâ—er actuÌ„ significantem Sic etiam apud Graecos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bold Yesterday and the day before are often translated before or heretofore Gen. 31.2 5. Exod. 40.10 Ruth 2.11 2 Sam. 5.2 noting time not much past the present In this place by yesterday we are not to understand all time past nor the time immediately past but small time past We are but of yesterday that is we have lived but a while in the world yet they were old men the daies which we have seen are as nothing he expresses their lives by the least compleat time past to shew that they had lived but a little time past So in Scripture this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurpatur inâ—efinitè de tempore praeterito ut cras de futuro Drus to morrow opposite to yesterday signifies not only the day immediately to come but any time to come indefinitely 1 Sam. 28.19 the devil answers Saul To morrow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me he did not know exactly and precisely that it should be the very next day but he useth a word which would save his credit if it should have fallen out many daies or some years after To morrow may be
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.
for our obedience he usually adds perswasion to his precept and reasons with us as well as directs us His commands are not alwaies barely authoritative and the resolves of his prerogative So when we call upon God for audience we should adde perswasions to our petitions and reason with him as well as entreat him Only we should be carefull to reason from right Topicks and heads of argument such as these First From the freenesse of the grace of God Secondly From the firmnesse of his promise Thirdly From the greatnesse of our need or of the Churches misery Fourthly From all the concernments of his own glory c. Thus we may reason with God for the doing of any thing we ask according to his will and in these reasonings the spirit life and strength of praier consists So then the only thing which Job declineth as sinfull and unbecomming is to reason with God as a contender he might humbly reason with him as a Petitioner or as a remembrancer Put me in remembrance saith the Lord Isa 43.26 Let us plead together declare thou that thou maiest be justified We may declare our cause and we need not fear to declare our sinnes that God may justifie us but we must not presume to declare our righteousnesse that we may justifie our selves this Job disclaims How much lesse shall I answer him and choose out words to reason with him Towards the further clearing of these words we may take notice that Job puts himself under a double relation In the former part of the verse he puts himself in the Respondents place How much lesse shall I answer him And in the later part of the verse he puts himself in the Opponents place and chuse out words to reason with him His meaning is If the Lord will object against me I am not the man who dares or is able to answer him And if I should take upon me to object against the Lord the Lord may and can easily answer me From which notion of the words two points may be observed First No man can answer what God hath to object against him The Lord hath a thousand arguments which we are not able to give him satisfaction in as was touched in the beginning of this Chapter vers 3. We cannot answer him one of a thousand If God should cast a man to hell what hath he to say for himself as from himself when God objects Thou hast sinned If God afflict a man and lay him low giving him this argument for what he doth I am thy Creatour I formed and made thee if I break thee to peeces what canst thou say against me If the Lord should say I am thy Soveraign I have supreme power over thee may I not doe with thee what I will What hath man to answer Man must be silent and lay his hand upon his mouth he hath not a word of reason or holinesse to reason against God in any of his dispensations Let man on the other side gather as many arguments as he can to object against God he is able to wipe them all off presently to blow them away with a breath All the shifts and apologies the excuses and arguings which any make for their sinnes or which they make for themselves against the justice and wisdome of God are answered with a word So that put man in the opponents or in the respondents place he can make no worke of it Secondly Observe from this phrase Shall I choose out words to reason with him God is not taken with words Fine phrases and eloquent speeches will not carry it with him If we would prevail with God we must speak our hearts to him rather then our words yet we ought to chuse out words as was touched before when we speak to God As we must take heed how we hear while he speaks so we have need to take heed what we speak in his hearing That 's Solomons advice Eccles 5.2 Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God That is speak not vainly and unadvisedly thy tongue running before thy wit Let wisdome guide thy tongue and let thy heart shew thee wisdome Let not thy heart be hasty to utter when it 's office is to conceive not to utter But how can the heart be hasty to utter Utterance is the businesse of the tongue The heart is then hasty to utter when it suffers the tongue to utter what it self hath not thorowly concocted by meditation and made it's own As in the body so in the minde the third concoction is that which nourishes and assimilates So then Solomons meaning is Let not raw unboiled undigested thoughts passe out into discourses or be stampt into words before the Lord. As there is a sinne of curiosity so there may be a sinne of neglect Extreams are equally dangerous The distance that is between God and us proclaims this duty of our most reverent addresses to him He is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few and yet the fewnesse of words pleases God no more then the multitude of them doth We say In many words there can hardly be a scarcity of errours and in a few words there may be not a few errours possibly more errours then words Fewnesse simply taken is not the grace of words But because they who speak but little doe usually thinke the more and so their words are steept long in their hearts therefore few words are usually choice words It is sinne if we are well conceited of our words And it is sinne if our words be not our best conceptions How shall I choose out words to reason with him Verse 15. Whom though I were righteous yet would I not answer but I would make supplication to my Judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This brings the matter to the height Who I reason and plead with God I answer him No Though I were righteous yet would I not answer him The strength of the argument lies thus as if Job had said I am so farre from entring a contest with God that I professe I would not doe it though I had the greatest advantage and fitnesse to doe it of any man in the world though I were righteous I would not do it I doe not say that the reason why I would not plead with God is because I am wicked sinfull and abominable more guilty and unrighteous then my neighbours or then you my friends but how righteous soever I were I would not do it Job speaks as a man who would shew how much he dreads the power and strength of another What I fight with such a man I contend with such a man No I professe I would not fight with him though I were as well weapon'd arm'd and prepared as any man in the world I would not come near him If there be any armour or weapon any furniture or preparations which may enable man to contend with God it
vvhen vve are visibly encompast about and besieged vvith an army of sorrows and opposers an army of invisible comforts and protectours may be encamping round about us As Elisha assured his servant 2 King 6.17 Secondly Which I shall but only name because I have met it heretofore The Lord is not accountable to any creature for his actions He multiplieth my wounds without cause or He multiplieth my wounds without shewing cause God is the only Judge who may give sentence without hearing parties or shewing cause It is unrighteous in an earthly Judge to doe so he must not judge a man to any suffering and not shew reason of his judgement But the first cause needs not shew second causes God hath the reason of all things in himself and therefore we cannot call him to give his reason Where the will of the Agent may lawfully be all the reason of his actions there is no reason he should give any account of his actions but vvhat himself wils The next verse is of the same tenour in sense vvith the former the difference is only in expression Verse 18. He will not suffer me to take my breath but filleth me with bitternesse He not only breaks me vvith a tempest and multiplies my wounds but He will not suffer me to take my breath This implies the unintermittednesse of afflictions as if he had said I have not only many afflictions Non dedit mihi retrahere spiritum and great afflictions but continuall afflictions The Hebrew is He will not give me to draw back my breath or suffer my breath to return The vvords are of the same importance vvith those of the 7th Chapter ver 19. How long wilt thou not depart from me Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle That is vvilt thou not give me so much respite as to swallow down my spittle Here which is more he affirms He will not give me so much as a breathing time Some interpret this of a bodily distemper or disease that God had brought a sicknesse upon him vvhich did even stop his breath as if Iob had been troubled with hardnesse of breathing Quidam ad morbum referuÌ„t quasi Job Astmate laborasset Beda with the Tissick as Physicians call it or a stopping in the lungs But we may rather take it figuratively my sorrows put me out of breath the Lord doth not only afflict me without giving me any account but I have uncessant afflictions which cannot be counted No man can tell how often he doth or suffers that which he alwaies doth or suffers I am so farre from seeing a period of my troubles that I have not so much as any pause or stop He speaks in that high strain of rhetorick called hyperbole for in strictnesse of the letter not to suffer a man to take his breath is to kill and quite destroy him but when he saith God will not suffer me to breathe it noteth the continuation of his sorrows not the expiration of his daies Again Not to suffer a man to take his breath before he hath done such a thing is a * Fortosse proverbâ—â—n erat ad significanduÌ„ facere aliquid indesinenter absque ulla vel minima morula aut intermissione Vna saliva Hieron in ep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. uno spiritu aliquid facere est diligenter facere Theoph. in Charact. Clivum istum uno si potes spiritu exupera SeÌ„ Proverb for speedy doing Like that used by some of the Ancients to doe a thing with one spit that is in as little time as a man may spit When the b Va presto non fietare q. d. uno halitu egressum regressum perfice Italians would expresse acting without delay they say Goe about this businesse and doe not fetch a breath till you are here again goe and come with a breath That direction given by Elisha to his servant Gehezi when he sent him to restore the Shunammites son 2 King 4.29 Take my staff in thine hand and go thy way if thou meet any man salute him not and if any salute thee answer him not again c. And that of Christ to his Disciples when he gave them their Commission to preach the Gospel Luk. 10.4 Salute no man by the way are of the same intendment Christ did not mean that his Disciples should be uncivil nor Elisha his he did not forbid them to use common courtesies to men when they went to call men to speciall grace No but his meaning is Go speedily about the work doe not stand complementing and talking with How doe you and how doe you by the way doe not entertain the time or trifle it away with Ceremonies having an imploiment of such infinite concernment put into your hands So he seems to allude to and reprove that ill custome of idle servants who when they are sent forth upon businesse will yet stand and talk with every one they meet Now as not to suffer a man to talk a word while he is upon a service imports sudden dispatch So when Iob saith He will not suffer me to take my breath in these my sufferings his meaning is mine are no lazy dull sufferings I am forced to be active at them I cannot stand breathing and cooling my self I have no leisure no vacation at all from this passive service He will not suffer me to take my breath But or for he filleth me with bitternesse or with bitternesses I have opened this word before c. 3.10 As in Scripture sweetnes implies all comfort so bitternesse all trouble and sorrow When God complains about the services of his people Ier. 6.20 Sicut dulcedo omnia jucunda amica naturae significat sic nomine amaritudinis praesertim in numero multitudinis gravissimae quaeque offlictiones intelliguntur Bold Victimae non dulcuerunt Hos 9.4 Hose 9. he saith Your Sacrifices are not sweet to me So the Originall that is your Sacrifices are not acceptable to me or pleasing to me Sweet things are pleasing things bitter things are unpleasing Afflictions are unpleasant to flesh and bloud Heb. 12.11 No affliction for the present is joyous but grievous Bitternesse is put for the extreamest affliction and in the plurall as here for all afflictions Surely the bitternesse of death is past saith Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 that is I have escaped bitter death at this time the souldier spared me in the heat of the battell surely then a Prophet will not slay me in cold bloud To be filled with bitternesse notes abundance of afflictions As to be filled with the Spirit to be filled with the fulnesse of Christ c. note the plentifull receiving of the Spirit and of the grace of Christ To taste of a bitter cup to sip a little of it is unpleasant but to drinke large draughts to be fild with bitternesse who can abide it When Christ was come to Golgotha They gave him vineger to drinke mingled with gall but though
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
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
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
unlike mans in four things p. 455 456. God is most exact in justice p. 15. Three things cause men to pervert justice p. 16. Justice of God how acquitted when he afflicts us without cause p. 282. Justice or righteousnesse two-fold p. 148. Justification cannot be by works p. 155 299. Self-justification will prove self-condemnation p. 295. Three reasons of it ib. Justification sure though the person justified have doubts concerning it p. 359. We are never so black in Gods eye as when we are whitest in our own p. 369. K KNowledge Life of man so short that he cannot get much knowledge p. 64. We should have humble thoughts of our own knowledge ib. A godly man is a knowing man p. 146. The more we know God the more humble we are p. 252. Knowledge of ourselves two-fold p. 301. Knowledge of God concerning man and all other things described p. 471 472. 473. c. It is matter of great consolation to the Saints that God knows them p. 475. His knowledge of us gives us an assurance of four things ib. and 476. L LAughter Filling the mouth with it what p. 133. Laughter of two sorts ib. How the Lord laughs at the afflictions of his people opened p. 315 316 c. Law Why God cals his laws judgements 12. Good laws without good men never made a happy people p. 48. Law-sutes to be avoided 392. Life What it is p. 412. Life taken two waies ibid. Life may grow to be a burthen p. 419 Grounds of this burdensomnes of life both in wicked and godly men shewed p. 419 420 c. Life is the gift of God p. 521. a favour p. 523. Loathing two-fold p. 86. Lion God comes forth as a lion against his own servants p 555. Losses Great losses have great repairs p 50. Love of God everlasting 132. Lust The shortest time is too long to serve any lust in p. 5. M MAle children why expressed in the Hebrew by a word which signifies memory p. 500. Man is the work of Gods hands p. 443. Three cautions from it p. 444. It moves the Lord to compassion to tell him we are the work of his hands p. 445. Memory or remembrance how ascribed to God p. 55. It implieth two things ib. Mercies come in by degrees we may be over-mercy'd as well as over afflicted p. 51. Misery vid. Afflictions Mountains Figurative mountains of two sorts p. 171 172. To remove a mountain used proverbially for doing the most difficult things p. 174. 175. N NAtural things are shadows to us of spirituall p. 74. Negative voice God hath one upon all creatures p. 193. Where the negative voice lies there is the greatest power p. 194 O OLd-men are presumed to know much p. 69. Oppression two-fold p. 439. Orion described p. 209. P PAnther His fiercenes against man-kinde p. 141. Pardon of sin is our acquittance from sin p. 542. Passions ascribed to God have no power over him p. 247. Path Our ordinary course of life compared to a path p. 77 78. Perseverance in evil is worse then the doing of evil p. 4. Pleiades what and why so called p. 209. Pillars Two set up before the floud p. 56. Pillars of the earth what p. 185. The reall pillar of the earth is Gods power p. 186. Metaphorical pillars of the earth who p. 187. Power of God as visible in changing as in setling the course of nature p. 76. Power of God can do greater things then ever he hath done p. 184. Power of God such that he needs not the help of any creature p. 202. None can rescue from the hand of his power p. 236. His power is absolute p. 241. Prayer early in the morning p. 28. Prayer is a seeking of God ib. God must be sought speedily and diligently 29. In prayer we must expect all from free grace p. 30. Prayer of the upright prevails p. 35. Holy prayer is certainly and presently heard p. 39. Prayer awakens God p. 40. It should be fervent p. 40. Prayer cannot stay the anger of God sometimes against a people p. 237. How praier is said to prevail with God p. 247. Prayer a reasoning with God p. 256. Nothing of man so prevailing with God as prayer p. 367. Faith in prayer p. 273. Prayers may be answered while we are still afflicted p. 278. Preservation the work of God p. 529. He preserves both naturall and spirituall life p. 530. Pride we are apt to be proud of strength p. 243. Pride comes from ignorance of our selves 300. Prognostication by the stars sinfull and vain p. 219. Providence of God orders the greatest confusions in the world p. 331. Confusions argue the power of God p. 332. Purposes to sin how proper to wicked men p. 477. Q QUestion 's In all disputes and questions we should yeeld as much as without wrong to truth may be yeelded to p. 146. Three kindes of questions p. 570. Extravagant questions what fruit they produce p. 572. R REasoning with God two-fold how we may or may not reason with God p. 255. Reasoning with god in prayer p. 256. Remembrancer A great honour to be so to God 501. Saints use to put God in remembrance of four things ib. c. Repentance two-fold sinfull and for sin p. 377. Reproofs are often grounded upon mistakes p 6. Righteousnesse what it is p. 44. Righteousnesse the mother of prosperity p. 46. Two things make a Nation an habitation of righteousnesse p. 47 48. Man is called righteous in a two-fold opposition p. 261. Two sorts of righteousnesse p. 262. How a righteous person may answer God and how not 262. Mans righteousnesse is not pleadable before God p. 264. A godly man reckons his righteousnesse as nothing p. 265 Rod What it signifies in Scripture p. 395. Affliction called a rod in a three-fold consideration p. 398. S SCourge put for any kinde of affliction p. 312. A sudden scourge what p. 313 Sea The sea in its highest rage is under the command of God p. 204. Sealing of a thing imports two things p. 197. Shaddai Three significations of it opened in reference to justice p. 11. Shadow notes things p. 66. Mans life how like a shadow 67. Shame The fruit of sin what shame is and how caused p. 137 c. Three degrees of Scripture expression about shame p. 139. To be cloathed with shame notes four things p. 140. Ship How time passes like a ship p. 337 338. Sincerity causeth us to rate our selves low p. 407. Sin God gives men up to the power of sin p. 25. Sin is a punishment p. 25. Sin shall not go long unpunished by outward evils p. 27. They who are equall in sin may be unequall in punishment p. 32. How God assists and how not in the committing of sin p. 128 129. All sin is resisted by God p. 131 All our weaknesses are the effects of sin p. 263. A godly man may relapse into sin p. 417. Sin is a debt p. 541. Small and great in a two-fold sense