to such a Man his uprightness Job 3.23 i. e. to convince him that his heart is right tho his way be dark 2. Some understand the uprightness here called his uprightness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ in and by which we are reconciled to and made one with God And this says a late Expositor is the uprightness chiefly intended here And indeed there is no Righteousness like this especially when a Man's case is such as Elihu here speaks of when he is so chastened with pain upon his bed Job 33.19 22. that his soul draws near to the grave and his life to the destroyers Let a Messenger then shew to him this Righteousness and he will say of it as David did when he asked Ahimeleck for a Sword 1 Sam. 21.8 9. and the Priest told him here is the Sword of Goliah if thou wilt take that take it O says David there is none like that give it me No Righteousness like the Righteousness of Christ to such a one Tell him of his own Duties and Good Works his Prayings Repentings Fastings Alms-Deeds c. and he counts them all but Dung in compare with this Righteousness Phil. 3.8 This is a Righteousness which satisfies offended Justice appeases the Wrath of God silences the Curse and the Tumults of our own Consciences This Righteousness affords a Remedy for the sting of sin and the doubts and fears of our minds It is a righteousness which covers our Nakedness and beautifies our Souls Thy beauty was perfect through my Comliness which I put upon thee Ezek. 16.14 It is a Righteousness that pleads for us in Heaven that hath more strength then our sins and more prevalency then our Accuser It is a Righteousness that secures us against the Terrours of Death and intitle us to the Glory of Heaven And therefore no Righteousness like this for it is not the Righteousness of a meer Man but of God blessed for ever Wherever God sees this Righteousness he imputes no sin he discharges the Person from Guilt and receives him into Grace and Favour And that is the sense of the next words Then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going to the Pit I have found a Ransom As in the former words you had the Messenger described in these you have the Message declared And that is a Deliverance from the Pit by a Ransom found out by God In which you have The Inventor I. The Invention A ransom The manner of Inventing Found The fruit of the Invention Deleverance from the Pit The Spring and Source of all The Grace of God Then he is gracious to him and saith Deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a Ransom I cannot speak to the words so distinctly as I would I shall indeavour to open them a little in speaking to four Questions 1. What Pit is it that is here intended 2. What Deliverance is it that is here spoken of 3. What Ransom is this that is said to be found 4. Who finds this Ransom and where doth he sind it Quest. 1. What Pit is it that is here intended Answ A Pit in general is any Mischief or Evil that a Man falls into either Temporal Spiritual or Eternal Sometimes Temporal Evils tho outward are called a Pit So Psalm 7.15 He made a Pit and digged it and is fallen into it himself i. e. He devised Mischief against others and the Mischief is fallen upon his own Head Sometimes the Grave is called a Pit and that frequently So Psalm 88.3 4. My life draws nigh to the grave I am counted with them that go down to the pit So Job 17.16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit when our rest together is in the dust The Grave is a Pit with bars The Decree of God is the Bar of the Grave and his Purpose locks it up till the appointed time comes when all shall arise to Judgment and then the sound of the last Trumpet shall break the bars of the Pit and bring forth all both good and bad to make their Appearance at the Bar of God Sometimes Spiritual Evils are called a Pit either Sins or Temptations or Desertions So Psalm 40.2 He brought me up out of an horrible Pit It is meant of Soul Distresses And Zech. 9.11 By the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners cut of the Pit wherein is no water Tho this literally is spoken of their deliverance from Babylon yet it points to the deliverance of the Soul from the misery of a natural state and the bondage of Corruption Sometimes Hell is called a Pit So Rev. 9.1 you read of the bottomless pit and of the smoke of the pit and of the Angel of the bottomless pit Verso 11. and of the Beast out of the bottomless pit Rev. â—1 7 In all these places the Pit is meant of Hell You see there are many Pits in Scripture The Pit of Mischief the Pit of the Grave the Pit of Temptation the Pit of Desertion and the Pit of Hell And all these Pits sin digs to bury the Comforts of the Soul in Now I take the Pit in the Text to be chiesly intended in the last sense And so it is in the 18th and 28th verses He will deliver his Soul from going into the pit Now what Pit is that the Soul goes into not into the Grave but into Hell And if we take it thus the sense of the Text will be more plain and obvious Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom All for whom Christ is a ransom are not delivered from the Pit of the Grave Job 30.23 for that is the House appointed for all living But they are all delivered from the Pit of Hell The highest degree of Spiritual Life as Man is constituted cannot free him from Natural Death Wherever sin hath but a being Death will have a footing And therefore as dieth the fool so dieth the wise man Eccles 2.16 that is as to the first death but not as to the second for over such the second death hath no power Rev. 20.6 And why because the Grace of God hath signed a Warrant sealed with the Redeemers Blood for his Discharge so ye have it in the Text He is gracious to him and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom Quest. 2. What Deliverance is this that is here spoken of Why such as the Pit is such is the Deliverance As the Pit is intended of Death and Damnation so the Deliverance carries in it a compleat Redemption A Redemption from sin the cause of Damnation and a Redemption from Damnation the fruit of sin 1. It implies a redemption from sin A state of sin is a state of bondage and thraldom As while he is under the power of sin he is inslaved to Satan so while he is under the guilt of sin he is bound over to damnation When sin is
sin is but yet he doth not always make sin to be the cause as he says of the young man that was born blind John 92. Master say the Disciples who did sin this Man or his Parents that he is born blind Neither hath this man sinned V. 3. saith Christ nor his Parents but that the works of God should be made manifest in him They were not without sin but yet this blindness was not for sin but an act of God's prerogative So in God's secret dealings with Job he doth not put it upon his sin but upon his own Soveraignty So much is implied in that of God to Satan Thou movest me against him without a cause Job 2.3 2. God in his holy wisdom thus exerciseth his Children to let us see that we hold not our graces and our comforts by the same tenure our graces are held by the tenure of absolute promises but our comforts are held by the tenure of conditional promises and therefore grace may live and thrive tho our comfort withers and dies God hath no where promised that we shall always injoy the light of his Countenance Jer. 32.40 but he hath promised to put his fear into our hearts that we shall not depart from him 1 Job 3.9 And therefore the Seed of God remains when the sight of God is lost 3. It is to teach us to distinguish between the being and the well-being of a Christian and what is necessary to one and the other What is necessary to the being of a Christian he shall never want but what is necessary to his well-being only he may want Now comfort is not necessary to the being of a Christian grace doth not depend upon comfort A Man may be as eminent a Saint without the light of God's face as with it Comfort is an arbitrary Mercy one who hath less grace may have more comfort then another that hath much more nay the same Believer may have most comfort when he hath least grace Many feel more comfort at their first conversion then ever after 4. God doth this for cure The Soul hath its Diseases and Sicknesses as well as the Body and where he finds any spiritual malady to prevail this is his healing Medicine Some times dulness and deadness of heart grows upon us and grace is less vigorous and active now as Physicians use to cast a Man into a Fevor to cure a Lethargy so God gives these strong Medicines to quicken our dull and sleepy Spirits Some times the filial fear of God abates in us and we grow careless and presuming And then tho God be a Father yet he will shew his anger and that is terrible especially when his love hath been much felt Some times the vigorous mortification of sin is neglected and we grow more ready to connive at it and then it is with us as with Israel the Canaamtes get head and God leaves us in their hands to become Thorns and Goads to us Some times Ordinances are not attended upon as they ought to be we grow idle and remiss in Duties and then no wonder tho our comforts are cut off when the means of our Communion with God are neglected Dark Dispensations are designed for a cure of these and such like Evils He for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness Hebr. 12.10 5. God doth it to take us off from living by sense and to discipline us more to the life of faith which is a life peculiar to Believers and distinct from all other ways of living for all else live by sense all below them and all above them All in a state of nature live by sense and all in a state of glory live by sense These in a state of sense depraved those in a state of sense glorified These live by sense upon carnal comsorts they live by sense upon eternal enjoyments The former live by sense for want of faith the latter I've by sense having gotten above saith But the Believer lives partly by sense and partly by faith Now tho God by the light of his Countenance doth some times minister to sense Hab. 2.4 yet he would have his People live by faith and not by sense it being the most noble life which far excels that of sense in the present state For 1. Faith hath a better Object to live upon then sense hath Sense lives upon present Discoveries but Faith lives upon Promises and Propriety and therefore Faith is never at a loss when Sense is Faith hath always somewhat to live upon when sense hath not How often is the Believer's Sun shut in and his beams cut off by interposing Clouds no discoveries no incomes no comforting influences and then you hear of sad complaints and doleful conclusions and all from mistaken sense not because God is lost but because he is not felt 2. Faith secures things to us which sense cannot Nothing that sense lives upon is sure No present comforts are sure The Light of God's Face is not sure the emations of his love are not sure the comforts of the Spirit are not sure these things come and go they are lost and found A Christian often hath them but he knows not how long he shall injoy them nor how soon he may be deprived of them tho he be careful and diligent to preserve them I was not in safety neither had I rest neither was I quiet yet trouble came Job 3.26 But that which Faith lives upon is sure The Covenant is sure the Promise is sure and therefore Interest in God is sure 3. Faith glorifies God more then sense can do Sense can't take God's word without a pawn Hab. 3.17 Faith can Tho the Fig-tree shall not blossom c. Sense can't wait God's leisure Faith can Isa 8.17 I will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the House of Jacob and I will look for him Sense can't bear up under Discouragements Job 13.15 Faith can Tho he slay me yet will I trust in him Sense hath but one Light to work by viz. the Light of God's Countenance and when that light is hid the working hand of sense is sealed up But Faith hath another Light to work by and that is the Light of God's Command and this is a surer and better Light to work by then the former so that Faith hath Light when Sense hath none For when God puts out one Light Sense puts out the other and so makes our case far worse when God intended it by putting Darkness in our Paths when God canses Darkness upon our Spirits Therefore one design of God in these hidings is to draw forth Faith to more vigorous Acts and to teach the Believer to live upon his Interest in God without Evidence Isa 50.10 and to say my God when he cannot see God as Christ did Matth. 27.26 These Earth-quakes in the Soul tho they shake Sense yet Faith is thereby made to stand the faster upon
second time without sin unto Salvation 1 Thess 4.18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words And thus I have done with this Subject But there is another Subject which I would speak a little to Tho it is not my custom to speak of the dead yet it is pity so much learning and worth so much humility and modesty so much vertue and grace so much service and usefulness such persecutions and sufferings for Christ should be concealed But I shall pass all this by having no Authority to take the Commission out of the hand of his good works Prov. 31.31 they are to praise him in the gates and not I. And therefore whereas the manner is to shew the bright side of the deceased I shall shew his dark side viz. the troubles of his mind in his last sickness and which were as one of his Physicians informs me much occasioned by it Nor should I speak of this but that I understand there are some who have made it a matter of scoff and reproach which argues great ignorance of the person and great prophaneness of Spirit That he was for some days under great darkness about his state and great troubles of mind by reason of the hidings of God is true But what of this doth it make the goodness of his condition questionable is it any new and unheard of thing hath it not been so with the best of the Saints of God Read but the 77th Psalm and consider Asaph's case I remembred God and was troubled V. 3. A 4. V. 7. V. 8. V. 9. and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak Will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies What desponding Language is this which speaks great trouble of mind and great darkness of spirit and yet Asaph was an eminent Saint of God And so was Heman and yet what dreadful troubles and terrours was he under read the 88th Psalm throughout and you will see what a condition he was in what doubts and fears what clouds and darkness what discouragements and despondencies he was under V. 14 V. 15. Lord why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy face from me I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up while I suffer thy terrours I am distracted Thy fierce wrath goeth over me V. 16. thy terrours have cut me off What amazing terrours did he lye under And it seems to have been thus with him not for a few days but all his days I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up And hence some have thought that his Sun arose in a Cloud and set in a Cloud and yet a man of great grace And this was David's case and that not once but often and some times for a long while together Psal 13.1 How long wilt thou forget me O Lord how long wilt thou hide thy face from me And Psalm 89.46 How long Lord wilt thou hide thy self for ever shall thy wrath burn like fire And yet who a man of greater holiness then David Act 13.22 A man after God's own heart And was it not thus with Job See Chap. 13.24 25 26. Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro wilt thou pursue the dry stubble for thou writest bitter things against me And Chap. 19.6 Know now that God hath overthrown me Verse 8. He hath set darkness in my paths Verse 11. He hath kindled his wrath against me and counteth me one of his enemies And yet Job was the None-such of his day for holiness God himself says so Job 2.3 There is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil Therefore this is no new thing How often have we known such things in our own experience or at least known or heard of them who have And that not among private Christians only but among the Ministers of Christ and such as have been like him who was lately yours persons of great grace and great usefulness such as Mr. Peacock Mr. Perkins and others which I could name Men famous in the Church of God in their days and yet full of darkness and distress of Conscience upon a sick and dying Bed And as this is no new thing for the Children of God to be thus exercised so it is no new thing when the hand of God is upon them to have the mouths of profane ones open against them It was so with David Psal 69.26 They persecute him whom thou hast smitten and talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded And it was Job's case too tho in his Prosperity he was honoured of all even of them that were old Chap. 29.8 yet in his Affliction he was the scoff even of them that were young Chap. 30.1 9 10. They that are younger then I have me in derision And now I an their Song yea I am their by-word They abhor me and spare not to spit in my face Because he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me they have also let loose the bridle before me And this is a practice not only impious and ungodly but inhumane and unnatural Not only grace but good nature and common ingenuity teaches us to pity them that are in Misery To sorrow at anothers joys or rejoyce in anothers sorrows are affections more becoming Devils then Men especially then Christians And therefore I shall pass this by as not worth the noticing That which I judge more worthy to be considered as being more for instruction and advantage is the reason of this dispensation of God Quest Why doth God deal thus with his People why doth he at any time hide himself and leave them under such darkness and discomfort Answ That is Answer sufficient which Elihu gives to Job in the 12th and 13th Verses of this 33d Chapter God is greater then Man he giveth not account of any of his matters Rom. 9.20 Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Let the potsheard strive with the potsheards of the Earth But yet the Scripture holds forth several Reasons of these Dispensations of God And therefore I shall not speak of that dusky honour and melancholy disposition which many times by distempering the Body disturbs the Soul too which follows bodily temper filling it with doubts and fears and inclining it to suspect the worst in every case But I shall rather speak of the spiritual Causes of such darkness and trouble of mind 1. God may act herein to shew his Prerogative and absolute Soveraignty over Man None can deny him a liberty to glorifie himself in his own way and by what methods he pleaseth God never wants a cause where