right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evill report and good report We approve our selves and tryall is taken of us as well by things on the right hand as by those upon the left as well by honour as by dishonour The good report or praise which a man meets with in the world is as great a tryal as the ill report or dispraise which he meets with in the world 't is a great tryal to be dispraised to have dirt throwne in our faces and it is a great tryal to be prais'd to be commended and applauded to be lifted up in the thoughts upon the tongues of men Solomon hath an excellent passage Prov. 27.21 As the fineing pot for silver and the furnace for gold so is a man to his praise that is a man is tryed by his praise as the silver is tryed in the fineing pot and as the gold is tryed in the furnace Whenever you are praised you are tryed Then your humility and selfe-denyall are tryed Then you are tryed whether when you are praised by men you can give the whole glory to God Herods praise was the fineing pot and the furnace wherein he was tryed it made him appeare to be but drosse indeed His hearers Cryed the voyce of God and not of man When you cry up such a Preacher such a Magistrate such a Souldier such an Oratour you put him into the fineing pot he that is but drosse consumes The wormes eate up Herod because he gave not Glory to God Act. 12.23 As it was a most dreadfull so it was a most righteous judgement that he should be eaten up of wormes who forgot that he was one and forgot it so farre that he was pleased with their applauses who cryed him up for a God Worldly prosperity power and praise are the right hand way by which God tryeth the sonnes of men Secondly God doth usually try by affliction and that 's the left hand way James 1 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation meaning affliction for when he is tryed he shall receive the crowne of life c. That is when those temptations and afflictions have tryed him and he hath approved himselfe in the tryall then he shall receive the crowne of life c. 1 Pet. 1.6 Though now for a season if need be yee are in heavines through manifold temptations that the tryal of your faith being much more precious then of gold that perisheth Cos aurum probat rectam tentamina mentem Natura vexata pâ—edit seipsam though it be tryed with fire might be found to praise c. Affliction is the tryall of our faith in God and of our patience under the hand of God When nature is vext it shewes it selfe and so doth grace Affliction discovereth both what our vertues and what our corruptions are Thirdly God tryeth man by a kinde of examination David speakes of that Psal 17.3 Thou hast proved mine heart thou hast visited mee in the night thou hast tryed mee and shalt finde nothing In the night the soule is free from busines with the world and therefore freest for busines with God then did God prove and visit David that is examine and sift him by calling to his minde all his wayes and workes in former passages And the issue of this tryall was he found nothing not that his soule was empty of good things or that there was nothing evill in him but God upon examination found nothing of that evill in him which some men suspected him of Namely eyther any ill will or evill designe against Saul in reference to whom he called his cause a righteous cause or the right ver 1. Heare the right O Lord c. Thus God tryed David And thus earthly Judges try men They examine them and their case that 's cald a tryall in this third sence wee are chiefly to understand the meaning of Job in this place Job had long before undergone a tryall by prosperity and praise Job was at that time under tryall by affliction he had past the former and was under the latter yea he was deep in it Intelligitur de stricto dei examine in suo judicio ad quod Job provocaverat Merc but as yet hee had not come to this tryall of Examination or to a judiciary tryall which hee earnestly beggd of God All men shall come to such a tryall in the Great day Wee must all appeare before the Judgement seate of Christ that every one may receive the thingt done in his body accordeng to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Some expound Job appealing here to that Judgement But I conceive that the whole tendency of his discourse aymes at an earlyer Judgement or day of tryall then that And though possibly his expectation was not great if any at all that God would grant him a private Session as we may call it for his personall tryall yet to shew that he had not the least suspition of being acquitted in that day whensoever it should be he importunately professeth he could wish it might be the next day and that he would refuse no paines nor travell for the procuring of such a day were it to be obtained being fully satisfied from the light and dictates of his owne Conscience that when the Lord had so tryed him he as David spake in the place lately opened should finde nothing no such fault or guilt as was charged upon him Christ writing to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus gives him this among other commendations Rev. 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them lyars Many appeare fayre in holines and boast highly of their priviledges even as high as an infallible Spirit and immediate mission who yet being tryed and throughly examined by the Church or by those who are spirituall and have sences exercised to discerne both good and evill will be found lyars counterfeit stuffe and lighter then vanitie But Job was perswaded that though God should try him not onely should nothing be found against him nor he found a lyar but that much would be found for him and himselfe be found in the truth as he plainely expresseth in the close of the verse when hee hath tryed mee whut then I shall come forth as gold Egrediar ex hoc igne probationis meae expurgatissimus Coruscabiâ—â— innocentia mea Pined Here 's the issue of the tryal There are seaven words used in the Original for gold That in the text notes the colour or yellownes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generale vocabulum est a colore sulvo seu flavo transfertur ad aliarum rerum munditiem significandum sic ab aura aurora aurum derivat Isidor Plenus vino aureo i. e. splendido velut aurum and is applyed to signifie any thing that is bright or shineing pure and splendid as Gold is Zach. 4.12 wee read of
these hidden things of darknes and Counsels of the heart wee are to understand not onely evill things and wicked counsels sure enough God will bring them to light but even those righteous things and good Councels of the heart which have layne in the darke or unrevealed God will bring to light all the hidden things of darknes the good as well as the bad and then shall every man that is every good man every godly man have praise of God The praise of man is very pleasing unto man but O how unspeakeably pleasing is the praise of God! And this opens a vast difference between the hypocrite and the sincere Can a hypocrite rejoyce in secret saying thus God knoweth the way that I take Hee cannot say thus and I may say three things of the hypocrite in opposition to this First The hypocrite endeavours to hide and put his wayes out of the sight of God as much as he can As he hath not the light of Gods countenance or of his favour shining upon him so he desires not to have the light of his knowledge shining into him Isa 29.15 the Prophet describes some seeking deep to hide their Councels from the Lord and their workes are in the darke both in natural and moral darknes and they say who seeth us and who knoweth us The endeavour of the hypocrite is that he may be hid And Secondly He cryes all 's hid as it is his endeavour that God should not so it is his hope that God doth not know his wayes much lesse his heart He is often sure that men doe neither see nor know he alwayes presumes that God doth not and therefore as one out of doubt he puts his doubts who seeth and who knoweth Though flashes of feare come in upon him sometimes yet he flatters himselfe with presumptious hopes and false perswasions that God knowes him not sees him not and that his dark way shall never be discovered and as in that place of the Prophet they speake indefinitely thereby inferring that God doth not see them so wee have them in the Psalme speaking directly that God shall not Psal 94.5 6 7. They breake in pieces thy people O Lord and slay the widdow and stranger and murther the fatherles yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it As if they had sayd though God should set himselfe to search us out and would never so faine see what we are doing yet he shall not We will carry it so closely and cunningly that the eye of God shall not reach us Their workes were so foule and bloody that the Sunne might be ashamed to looke upon them and they were so close that they beleeved God could not look upon them or bring them to shame for them Thirdly 'T is a terror to an hypocrite to remember that God knoweth his wayes That which Job saith of the wicked in generall is most proper to hypocrites Chap. 24.17 The morning is to them even as the shadow of death if one know them they are in the terrours of the shadow of death The Hebrew is very concise if know we make up the sence thus if one know them that is if God or man know them and their wayes if they be apprehended and discovered any way in their abominable wayes they are in the terrours of the shadow of death that is they are ready to dye with the fright and terror of it Hypocrites are so farre from rejoycing in this that God knowes the way which they take that to be knowne eyther of God or man is their torment Thirdly Consider why doth Job appeale to God in this Cause depending between him and his friends The reason was because he knew his friends mis-judged him through their ignorance Therefore he desiered to be heard by a Judge that perfectly knew his wayes and so was able to make a righteous judgement of him Hence Observe God is every way fitted to be a righteous Judge There are two things especially that fit a man to be a Judge First That he hath a principle of righteousnes in him that he be not byassed and turned aside from doing right indifferently without respect of persons Secondly That he hath a principle of light in him that he be as Jethro adviseth Moses a man of knowledge Both these meete perfectly in God He is just and righteous in all his wayes and hee knowes all our wayes Some Earthly Judges erre for want of a Principle of righteousnes and so in things which they plainely know and see as cleare as the light are ready to be drawne and wrought off by respects and interests Againe there are other Earthly Judges who are right and honest enough in their Principles nothing can take them off or mislead them to the right hand or to the left but they want knowledge and understanding to discerne between good and evill right wrong they cannot see into the merit of the Cause or the integrity of the person before them and thereupon stumble in Judgement Indeed the best of Earthly Judges cannot alwayes when they have done their best finde out who hath the good Cause and who hath the bad and many times they that plead blinde them with their Rhetorick setting a faire glosse upon a foule Cause or making a faire Cause looke foule and so the Judge is deluded seing he judgeth of things as witnessed and represented as alledged and legally proved and so it may fall out that while he judgeth righteously his judgement may not be right But we as Job here have cause to rejoyce that we have to doe with a Judge who as he is both righteous and knowing so he knowes all things and persons in themselves and not from others He needs not that any should testifie of man for he knoweth what is in man Joh. 2.25 Hee knowes the way that is in me or the way that I take and as it followes When he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold Mr. Broughton reads thus Tryed he me I should come forth Gold that is if God as I desire would vouchsafe to try me I should appeare what I am indeed not what I now appeare When he hath tryed mee There are divers wayes of tryall three especially God tryes first by prosperity that 's a tryall a full estate discovers a man as well as a low and empty estate doth To know how to abound is as high a poynt of grace as how to want Phil. 4.12 to have power in our hands discovers us as well as to be opprest by power Magistracy shewes the man and it shewes many to be but men Magistratus indicat virum Great power over men is a great temptation to man and so likewise is the praise of men 2 Cor. 6.4 But in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses c. and by what else by the Armour of righteousness on the
or to bring some great evill upon them Amos 4.12 Therefore thus will I doe unto thee O Israel and because I will doe this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Wee may take those words prepare to meete thy God O Israel not so much for a challenge as for a direction But how shall Israel prepare to meete God Not with weapons of warre not with sword and speare these will make no defence against God No but with teares and prayers these are the armes and amunition of a Saint there 's no contending with God but onely by humbling our selves before him But you say prayer cannot turne God I answer prayer hath caused and may cause God to turne from his outward actings and dispensations onely it cannot turne God from any of his counsels or resolutions And because prayer hath so great a power upon God to turne him from his outward dispensations therefore he sometimes hath forbidden prayer when he was resolved not to turne from such threatned dispensations Jer. 14.11 Then sayd the Lord unto me pray not for this people for their good As if the Lord had sayd if any thing could prevaile with me thy prayer would But because I am fully purposed to visit their iniquities therefore I will not have thy prayers run waste As for them let them pray as long as they will as their prayers come onely from their necessities not from their hearts so they shall not come neere mine nor doe I care how long their prayers which are but pudle water run waste let them pray and spare not but let them be sure of this that though they pray I will not spare so it follows ver 12. When they fast I will not heare their cry and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence Their owne prayers had no power in them to turne God and he who had a power to stop God by prayer is himselfe stopt from prayer as in the place last quoted so once before Jer. 7.16 Therefore pray not for this people neither lift up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not heare thee And as the Lord stopt Jeremie from prayer for them so he professeth that if they who in former ages had been most prevailing with him should now againe mannage their suite before him yet he would not be moved by it Jer. 15.1 Then said the Lord unto me though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my minde could not be toward this people As if the Lord had sayd Though they should get my chiefe favorites to sollicit their cause and plead on their behalfe yet they should finde me in one minde and that even they could not turne me Jesus Christ never solicited any cause but he sped in it but the best of men may be earnest soliciters and not speed For though good men will not solicit a bad cause before God or pray against his revealed will yet they doe not alwayes hit his secret will And God who sayth to his people generally Ps 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee yet in some particular cases he will not deliver them though they call upon him Prayer is not onely an allowed but a commanded meanes and so the most probable meanes to obtaine deliverance yet that cannot alwayes obtaine or fetch it Yea God who often brings his people into trouble on purpose to provoke them to seeke his helpe yet sometimes will not helpe them though they seeke him And the reason is because he is in one minde and will not be turned from his purposes no not by prayer If once the Lord be resolved to destroy prayer cannot save Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet saith the Lord my minde could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight and let them goe forth such as are for the sword to the sword c. But if prayer cannot turne God then you lay a temptation before us to turne away from prayer I answer first as was shewed before prayer may turne God in reference to his outward dispensations though it cannot turne him from any of his counsels and resolutions But then it may be enquired how shall I doe to direct my prayer For I know not what the purpose or resolution of God is I onely see what his dispensations are And if so I may pray against the minde or purpose of God I may aske for the removing or taking away of that which he is purposed shall continue and I may aske the gift of that which he is resolved not to bestow To this I answer First That though the minde of God to give us such a mercy or to withdraw such an affliction be a secret to us yet this is revealed that it is our dutie to pray about these things What God will give or doe for us when we pray is a secret but this is revealed that in all things we ought to pray That 's the Apostles rule Phil. 4.6 Be carefull in nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests knowne unto God Secondly Suppose the things we pray about whether for the having or removing of them be such as it is not the minde of God either to give or to remove Yet we may please God in praying for the attainement of those things which it is not his pleasure to give and in praying for the taking away oâ— those things which it is not his pleasure to remove We doe not offend God by asking that which he will not give if the thing be such as is in the generall nature of it according to his will The Lord takes it well at our hands that we pray and is well pleased to heare us pray when he is not pleased to heare that is to grant our prayers Thirdly Be not turned from prayer because prayer cannot turne God for it is a great argument that the minde or purpose of God and his decree is to give such a mercy or to remove such an evill if we have an heart to pray much for or about it For God who hath sayd I will be sought unto that I may doe it for them Ezek. 36. hath not sayd unto the seed of Jacob seeke ye me in vaine Isa 45.19 And when God stirres up his people to pray it is an argument he is ready to heare Thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine eare to heare Psal 10.17 So that as God takes it well at our hands that we pray for many things which he hath no purpose to give us so it is a good ground of faith that he hath a purpose to doe such or such things for us when he puts it into our hearts to pray for them Lastly Let not any stumble at the dutie of prayer because of Gods unchangeablenes for
enter with thee into judgement ELIPHAZ now enters his third and last contest with Job in which some tell us that he behaveth himselfe like a man who seekes Victory rather then Truth who though he hath been sufficiently answered yet will not seem to be overcome yea that he takes up the same weapons to maintain this third with which hee maintain'd his two former Encounters The first in the fourth and fifth Chapters and the second in the 15th as if he were resolved to contradict though he could not confute the reasons wherewith Job had made his defence But as such a carriage as this in Disputation is altogether vaine in it selfe so it is most uncomely in a wise and godly man who ought not to refuse truth and reason though spoken by an Adversary but rather modestly to sit downe and confesse his own errour and mistaking And therefore though Eliphaz in this answer or triplication doth but roule the same stone and move upon the same hinge in generall still adjudging Job to suffer for his sinne and to be punisht as an evill doer yet he puts all into a new method and varies the sceane or manner of his argumentation which may be reduced to this forme as if Eliphaz had said O Job if thou sufferest all these evills for some cause as certainely thou dost for these things could not come by chance but by the wise disposure and providence of God then that cause or reason for which thou sufferest must either be found in God or in thy selfe If thou sayest the reason is in God and that he doth it by his prerogative thou dost rashly intrude thy selfe into his secrets and art over-bold or curious in searching into his hidden counsells and when thou hast made out thy conjectures we may as easily denie as thou dost affirm but if thou hast recourse to and reflâ—ctest upon thy owne selfe for the cause of thy sorrows and sufferings surely thou canst finde out or pitch upon nothing else but thy sinfulnesse and abounding transgressions which while thou refusest to acknowledg thou dost but harden thy heart against God and growest impatient under the rebukes of his afflicting hand therefore I admonish thee to repent c. This seems to be the summe of that whole discourse which Eliphaz gives in this Chapter as will further appear in the explication of the parts Againe we may contract his scope and give it in this briefe Job having constantly affirmed against his friends that God equally afflicts the righteous and the wicked and having said which might have gained respect to what he was about to say that hee pleaded for God Chap. 21.4 As for me is my complaint to man or for man no it is to God or in Gods behalf Hereupon Eliphaz taxes him with this presumption as if he would needs undertake to be a patron for God and so to bring him in some advantage or to stand him in stead for the maintaining of his cause therefore he begins his speech with this chiding expostulation Can man be profitable unto God or suppose thou wert which I shall presently disprove as thou hast often boasted righteous yet is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous This seems to be the intent of the whole Chapter in which we may further take notice of two distinct parts The first is reprehensory Eliphaz reproves and rebukes Job sorely to the end of the 20. verse The second is hortatory Eliphaz moveth Job earnestly to repentance in which he coucheth many Promises and gives Assurance that it shall not be in vaine from the 20th ver to the end of the Chapter Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee c. The first part his reprehension begins at the second vers V. 2. Can a man be profitable unto God There are three readings of these words First thus Can a man be compared to God Numquid Deo comparari potest homo etiam cum perfectae fuerit scientiae Vulg. Some labour much in the defence of this reading but I shall not stay upon it For though it be a truth that man cannot be compared to God how wise or how good soever he is What 's the wisdome or the goodnesse of man to God Yet the Originall Text doth not freely yeeld it selfe up to that translation which bears this truth 2. Master Broughton renders thus Can the humane wight teach the Omnipotent that word which we render to be profitable he Quidam verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro docere exponunt in utroque hamistichio Merc. to Teach The Chaldee Paraphrase favours this translation and some render it so in both parts of the verse Can a man teach God As he that is wise may teach himselfe If a man should be so bold to take upon him to teach God would God regard his teachings but I shall passe by this also especially considering that Eliphaz had no reason to tax Job with such a Presumption as if he had taken upon him to direct God how to order his affaires when as Job himselfe Chap. 21. v. 22. had strongly repressed and condemned such a boldnesse Shall any teach God knowledge Job having so lately exalted God above mans teaching as was shewed in opening that verse it is not probable that Eliphaz should reprove him as conceiting himselfe wise enough to teach God Or that he thought Job either had done or was about to doe that which with his last breath almost he confessed no man could do The third is our reading Can a man be profitable unto God Can a man he doth not mean an ordinary weak sickly frail man but a man yea any man at his best the word here used notes a man in his health strength and glory a man in the flower and perfection not only of his naturall abilities but in the richest furniture and array of his acquired yea inspired abilities Take this man a man of these atttainments a man thus accomplisht and Can he be profitable to God For as when the Psalmist saith Psal 33.17 A horse is a vaine thing to save a man By the horse there wee are not to understand a leane poor weak slow-pac'd horse or a strong swift horse unman'd Such a horse indeed is a very vain thing to save a man by Such a horse may do a man more hurt then help when hee comes into danger but the Psalmist means a horse of the greatest strength courage and swiftnesse A horse exactly man'd and taught all his postures even such a horse is a vaine thing to save a man Againe when the Scripture saith Christ came to save sinners we must not understand it of lesser lower or of the ordinary sort of sinners only but even of the highest and the greatest for such Jesus Christ came to save as well as the least of sinners So here when 't is said Can a man be profitable to God we must expound it of the
is when there was no reason to take so great a pledge of thy brother the thing which thou didst lend him was but some trifle yet thou wouldest have a pledge of thy brother for it thou wouldest have great security for an inconsiderable debt that 's the course of many oppressors by lending a little they will have much to secure it And this is to take a pledge from a brother for nought there should be some equality between the debt and the security he that lends a trifle a small matter and requires great assurance takes a pledge of his brother for nought So that all unreasonable and unequall demands for security eyther taking where charity bids us trust from the poore or taking it where in justice we should not take any thing when nothing was lent or when there is no reason we should take so much any of these harsh and injurious practices is the taking a pledge of our brother for nought Hence observe That the lesse cause we have to doe any evill the greater is the evill which we doe But hath any man a cause to doe any evill he hath not by cause I meane a provocation there is no cause for which we should doe any evill but there may be many provocations or temptations to doe evill Peninah provoked Hannah sore to make her fret 1 Sam. 1.6 It was not for nought or without cause that Moses his passion was stirr'd and that he spake unadvisedly with his lips the murmuring and complainings of that unsteady people provoked his Spirit Psal 106.33 Now the lesse provocation the greater alwayes is the sinne as to sinne against admonition or against any of those meanes that might keepe us from sinne makes the sin greater so when there is no occasion leading us unto sinne This was one reason of greatening the sin of our first parents in eating the forbidden fruit why did they eate were they ready to starve were they in any streights had they not the whole garden before them did they not eate the forbidden fruit without cause or for nought Solomon saith Pro. 6.30 Men doe not despise a theife if he steale to satisfie his soule when he is hungry for though to steale for meere hunger doth not take away the sinfullnes of the fact yet it doth much abate it because the man is provoked to doe it for the supply of his present and pressing need But for a rich man who hath no need to steale for a man to steale who is not hungry how sinfull is it Our greatest necessities cannot wholly excuse our sin but to sin where there is no necessity doth greatly encrease our sinne Saul thought he should come off without blame when he had so much to say for his rash sacrifice 1 Sam. 13.12 I said the Philistines will come downe upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication unto the Lord I forced my selfe therefore and offered a burnt offering But doth Samuel approve this plea We have his resolution in the next verse Thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the Commandement of the Lord thy God Though Saul found himselfe under a moral force to doe what he did yet that did not free him eyther from guilt or punishment when he ventured to doe it David smarted for numbring Israel though Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number them 1 Chron. 21.1 What shall we say then of those who doe more then David altogether unprovoked by Satan who rather tempt themselves then are tempted unto evill As the Good we doe is so much the better so the evill we doe is by so much the worse by how much we doe it the more freely and unconstrained Thus Eliphaz aggravates the first Instance of Jobs supposed wickedness To take a pledge from a man in the manner expounded is not onely illiberal but sinfull To take a pledge from a brother in distresse is more sinfull but to take a pledge of a brother for nought is a degree of sin which hath many degrees of sinfullnes beyond both the former Eliphaz hath yet but begun Jobs Inditement this is the first Crime objected A second and a third and more are following Thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought And stript the naked of their Clothing It may be questioned If they were naked how could they be stript of their clothing he that is naked hath no cloaths to be stript of Nudus nec a centum viris spoliatur 'T is gon into a Proverb A naked man cannot be stript by a hundred men hee that hath nothing can loose nothing How then is it said here Thou hast stript the naked of their cloathing I answer The naked are not here to be taken strictly for such as have no cloaths at all but for those who have but few cloaths or for such as are but meanly and thinly clothed any that are poore and low any who are in want may be numbred among the naked 'T is frequent as in Scripture so in Common speech to expresse those as beeing quite without that of which they have but little Quaedam etiāsi vera non sint propter similitudinem eodem vocabulo comprehenja sunt sic qui male vestitum pannosū videt nudum se vidisse dicit Sen. l. 5. Ben cap. 13. Wee say of a man that hath but a little knowledge he is an Ignorant man and of a man who hath but a little learning that he is an Illiterate or an unlearned man Thus we may say of a man that hath but little store of cloaths little store of the world about him that he is naked that he hath nothing The Apostle useth this Language 1 Cor. 4.11 Even to this present houre wee both hunger and thirst and are naked c. not that the Apostles went about without cloaths but they were but mean in their Apparrell poore in their Appearances and that he calls nakednes So the Apostle James in the second Chapter of that Epistle vers 15. If a Brother or a Sister be naked c. Hee doth not mean it onely of such as have never a ragg to cover their nakedness but of such as are ill furnished with cloaths The Lord threatens his owne People Deut. 28th from the 4th ver to the 48th in case of their disobedience with this affliction Because thou servedst not the Lord with gladness of heart in the abundance of all things therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies in hunger and in thirst and in nakednes c. That is thou shalt not have thy Wardrobes stored and filled with change of rayment but thou shalt feele and be pincht with want and poverty So here Thou hast stript the naked of their clothing That is those that were ill clothed thou hast uncloathed and in stead of releiving their wants thou hast encreased them And thus the words may allude to the taking of a Pledge about which Eliphaz spake before Thou hast stript the naked
not men of the Earth Carnall men are Earthly-minded they minde the Earth and that 's both their hope and buisines they are not onely Earth in their Constitution but Earth in their affections therefore they are called men of the Earth these men had much of the Earth in their possession as well as they had all of it in their affections desires The mighty man he had the Earth Observe hence That Evill Magistrates in Power are more ready to favour great men then to releive poore men Eliphaz knew that Job was a Magistrate a man in Power and he supposeth that under his government the poore got no bread but the mighty men had the Earth they had favour to have and doe what they lift It is very Common with the men of the world to be very free to those that are of the world they are like those Clouds which we may observe sometimes blowne over the dry Land and emptying themselves into the Sea The mighty that had store before have more and the poore who had nothing have nothing at all Men love to bestow kindnesses upon them onely to whom they are like or whom they love A good man helps those that are good and wicked men care for none but such as themselves Wicked men are called Oakes Zech. 11.2 Howle yee firr trees for the Cedar is fallen that is the great man is fallen because all the mighty are spoyled howle O yee Oakes of Bashan for the forrest of the vintage is come downe The Chaldee Paraphrase saith Howle yee Governors of Provinces And hee calls these Governers Oakes first because of their strength and secondly because of their fruit What fruit doe Oakes beare onely acornes and who are fed with acornes onely swine Acornes are but hogg◠meate hee gives the allusion thus wicked men in power beare fruit but it is onely for swine that is for wicked men they bestow the tokens of their bounty the overplus of their plenty upon hoggs and swine that is upon carnal and sensual men Parietes vestites auro homines veste nudatis panem postulat homo equus tuus aurum sub dentibus mandit Ambros they have nothing for the People of God for those that are the true objects of charity they make their horses fatt their doggs fatt none are leane but Gods poore Thus one of the Ancients reprehends those great ones of his time Ye cloath the walles of your houses with gold with Arras hangings and ye let the poore goe naked the poore aske bread and ye give it them not it may be your horse chewes a golden Bitt and the poore man hath not a Bitt of Bread The spirits of carnall men are carried out from that which is their duty they care not how profuse and lavish they are to those who suits with their own hearts the poore have nothing while the mighty man hath the Earth Thus Eliphaz reproved Job though indeed it was otherwise with him as appeares in the defence which he afterwards made for himselfe against these grosse insinuations And as to this particular he answers Chap. 29.17 I brake the Jawes of the wicked and pluckt the spoyle from between his teeth he indeed puld the earth from the mighty or the mighty from the earth though Eliphaz here sayd The mighty had the earth and The honourable man dwelt in it Acceptus vel elevatus facie habitabat in ea Hebr. The Hebrew is The man whose face is lifted up which phrase is Interpreted two wayes First Passively Secondly Actively Passively thus the man who is lifted up by others that is who is respected who is reverenced according to his place or worth Hebraei principem vocant Nasi quasi elevatū facie ab alijs acceptum All which agree with our rendering the honourable man And in the Hebrew Princes and great ones are exprest by that word which signifies to lift up the face because such are lifted up above others and are much respected by others So the word is used Gen. 19.21 See saith the Angel to Lot I have accepted thee The Hebrew is I have lifted up thy face that is I have respected and honoured thee by granting thy request Secondly It may be taken actively The man that lifts up the face dwells in the Earth What is it to lift up the face Acceptor personarum habitabat in ea Pagn it is to Accept Persons in Judgement to accept him that hath the worst cause and to reject him that hath the best cause for private ends As if Eliphaz had sayd Hee that respects persons that is who perverts justice hee hath the Earth and so here seemes to be a description of all sorts of wicked men flourishing in Jobs time and under his wing Some oppresse openly the mighty man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est habere respectum personarum sc quod pauper sit aut dives aut nobilis aut honoratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Habitare sedere the man of armes comes by main force and obtaines the earth or the riches and fatnes of the earth Others oppresse secretly and cunningly they accept persons and are byassed in Judgement by their own interest and advantages The man of this straine dwelt in it The word notes two things First to continue he dwelt there thou let'st him abide whereas if he had come into the Land thou should'st quickly have rooted him out Secondly The word signifies not onely to dwell but to sit and to sit in Scripture Language notes authority or dominion he dwelt or sate in it that is hee was the man in authority hee had the power and the great places of government were entrusted in his hand From both these observe First That evill Magistrates are apt to pervert Justice in favour of those who are great in power Favour should be shewed according to the Justnes of mens causes and not according to the greatnesse of their persons But usually the mighty men have the Earth all goes on their side and the honourable man dwels there be sits safe quiet well and warme This is so commonly seene that 't is become a Proverb Potentis est turpa pauper ubique jacet The mighty man hath the whole earth for his house to dwell in the poore man lyes every where but seldome dwels any where The wicked are said to have their portion in this life they would have the Earth to themselves and they shall have nothing but Earth So the Prophet describes them Esay 5.8 Woe unto them that joyne house to house that lay field to field that there may be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the Earth Man is naturally a sociable Creature and it may seem strange that he should desire to be alone in the midst of the Earth Therefore by his desire to be alone we must not understand a strict lonenes or solitarines as if rich men had a minde to live alone so
good It is not enough for a man to say he doth not judge his brother maliciously he ought not to judge him ignorantly Though to speake or judge ill of another because wee wish him ill be the greater sinne yet barely to speake or judge ill of another by whom we know no ill is very sinfull And then 't is most sinfull when wee doe it not onely as not knowing any evill they have done but because we know heare or see the evills which they suffer 'T is dangerous as well as improper to make the hardest and harshest dealings of God with any man the ground of our hard and harsh thoughts of him Thirdly Consider who they were whom Job is supposed to have oppressed they were not the great ones not the mighty men of the earth but the fatherlesse and the widow Whence note That the poore are usually the subject of oppression The greater fish in the sea of this world devoure and live upon the lesser The strong should support the weake and they who are upper-most should uphold those who are under them But because the weake and the underlings may most easily be opprest therefore they are most usually opprest As Covetousnesse is cruell so 't is cowardly and dares not meddle with its match God in reference to Spiritualls filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he sendeth empty away Luk. 1.53 Ungodly men in reference to temporals would send the rich away empty if they could but they are so farre from filling the hungry with good things that they take away all the good things they can from the hungry they care not if they starve the hungry if they make the poore poorer and take all from them who have but little Fourthly Job having been a Magistrate and so by his place a Minister of Justice is strongly pressed with the doing of injustice Whence note First That they who have power may easily though not alwayes justly be suspected for the abuse of it To have a power in our hands whereby we may doe good is a temptation to doe evill 'T is hard to keepe power within its bounds and to rule that by which others are ruled The Prophet Isa 1.10 calls the rulers of Sion rulers of Sodome because they ruled like them or rather worse then they eating up the people under their charge rather then feeding them and vexing those whom they undertooke to governe and to be a Shield unto against the vexations of others Secondly Note That as oppression is a sinne in any man so it is most sinfull in those who have power in their hands to releeve the oppressed Such act not onely contrary to a common rule but contrary to their speciall duty by how much we have the more obligation not to doe a thing by so much we sin the more if we doe it Thirdly Note That as it is very sinfull in Magistrates to wrong any man so it is most sinfull to wrong them or to deny them right who have most need of it the widow and the fatherlesse Magistrates are called Gods And God who hath honoured them by putting his name upon them expects that they should honour him by imitating or acting like unto him What a Magistrate doth he should doe like God he should doe it so that every one may be convinced that God is in him and with him of a truth As God takes care of the widow and of the fatherlesse so should he God is knowne by this Title A father of the fatherlesse and a Judge of the widow is God in his holy habitation Psal 68.5 That is in Heaven for that 's the habitation of his holines and of his glory there he dwells Judging for the widow and the fatherlesse And as that is the speciall businesse as it were of God in Heaven so they who are Gods on earth ought to make it their speciall businesse to judge for the widow and the fatherlesse Hence wee finde the widow and the fatherlesse commended by name to the care of the Magistrate The fatherlesse have no naturall parents living or none neere of kinne remaining to maintaine and defend them therefore the Magistrate who is pater patriae the common father of his Country should be their Foster-Father They who want power are the charge should be the speciall care of those in power Thus they are commanded Psa 82.3 4. Defend the poore fatherless doe justice to the afflicted needy deliver the poore and needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked Here 's their worke and the neglect of this worke how busie so ever Magistrates are about other worke is often complained of aloud in Scripture as a crying sinne as a sinne that ruines Nations and drawes downe publicke Judgements upon a people Isaiah 1.17 Cease to doe evill learne to doe well seeke Judgement relieve the oppressed Judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow And at the 23 verse They judge not the fatherlesse neither doth the Cause of the widow come unto them Againe Jer. 5.28 They judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse It is a sin not to judge any mans Cause not to judge the Cause of the richest of the greatest yet it is more sinfull not to judge the Cause of the widow and the fatherlesse And when he saith They judge not the Cause c. the meaning is they judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse impartially and righteously And indeed he that doth not judge righteously doth not judge at all and when the Prophet saith They judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse it is as if he had said Among all the Causes that lye unjudged this is the Cause that God takes most notice of and is most displeased with the neglect of it even when the Cause of the fatherlesse is not pleaded or judged All are forward enough to plead the Cause of the rich but when the Client is poore and appeares in forma pauperis his cause seld me finds any but a poore and formal pleading We read Acts 6.1 That there was a great murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrewâ—s because their widdowes were neglected in the daily Administration Church-Officers in their capacity as well as State-Officers in theirs ought to have a carefull eye upon widows that are in want And the Apostle James Cha. 1.27 summes up as it were all Religion into this one duty Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and the widow Not as if this were indeed all religion or the all of religion but as when the Spirit in Scripture hath to doe with prophane persons or meere moral honest men who place all religion in civill righteousnesse and workes of charity then he calls them to first Table duties or to the sincere worship of God so when the Spirit is speaking to those who place all their religion in worship or in first Table duties neglecting the duties of charity and righteousnes then we finde