the abused patience of man will turn to greater anger and he groweth the more passionate by how much he hath been the more and the oftner deceived Thus Elihu is still described acting angerly yet in the very next verse we shall find him speaking soberly plainly and to purpose Vers 6. And Elihu the son of Barachell the Buzite answered and said When Elihu saw these three men gravel'd and that after all the outcry they made against Job they were forced to leave him as they found him unconvinced of those crimes of that hypocrisie which they had layd to his charge he hereupon saw himselfe engaged to undertake the matter and offer his opinion Concerning Elihu his name his fathers name Barachel his tribe or stock a Buzite I have spoken at the 2d verse and shall not adde any thing of it here only take notice That here Elihu begins his own preface The former part of the Chapter contained the report of the divine historian concerning Elihu but these are the words of Elihu himselfe here he begins like an Orator to gaine favour with and attention of his hearers or to prepare the minds of his hearers to receive what he had to say And upon this subject or piece of Rhetoricke making Prefaces he spends the whole that remaines of this Chapter And Elihu c. answered and said I am young and ye are very old that is it which he said therefore I was afraid and durst not shew mine opinion As if he had said I am conscious to my selfe of the weaknesse which accompanieth youth I very well know my own incompetency for such a worke I am young Parvus secundum dies Heb The Hebrew is I am few of dayes or little according to dayes if you should reckon or measure me by dayes I am very little And is not every man so If you measure any man by dayes is not he very little Thou hast made my age a span long said David Psal 39.7 that 's quickly measured Job spake thus Chap. 14.1 Man that is borne of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble He saith not this or that man but man take old men the Elders take all men the oldest men are but few of dayes in themselves considered and comparatively to the age or rather the eternity of God their utmost age is but as a drop to the ocean Thus all men even ancient men are few of dayes which is here the description of a young man I am young saith Elihu or few of dayes but compare one man with another so some have few dayes and others many dayes young men have few dayes and old men have many dayes compared with one another I am young and ye are very old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decrepitus The word notes decrepid old age the very dregs of age the utmost line of life old age like a heavy burden bowes the back and criples the limbes of the strongest and stoutest sons of Adam See more of this word Chap. 15.10 Hominis aetates in septem partitur Hippocrates 1 Parvulus ad annum 7 mum 2 Puer ad An 14. 3 Adolescens ad An 21. 4 Juvenis ad An 28. 5 Vir ad An 50. 6 Senex ad An 56. 7 Decrepitus post quamdiu vivit There are severall divisions of the life of man some cast it into foure parts sutable to the foure seasons of the yeare some into five alluding to the Acts of an Interlude or play others into seven in allusion to the Planets now what ever division you make of the life of man this decrepid old age is the last I am young and ye are very old wherefore I was afraid and durst not shew mine opinion What effect that sence which Elihu had of his youth or fewnesse of dayes produced in him is set forth in these words 't was feare I saith he was afraid c. There is as to this poynt a twofold feare First a cowardly feare Secondly a modest feare when Elihu saith he was afraid he doth not meane the feare of a coward but of a modest man it is not not cowardize to be afraid of doing many things to feare to doe those things which are unlawfull or which are uncomely is no part of cowardize This latter feare surprized or rather composed Elihu he was a man bold spirited enough but modesty made him afraid to shew his opinion There is a great elegancy in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est serpere denotat timorem serpentum latebras quaerentium videri metuentium Aben Ezra I durst not shew mine opinion They imply he hid his speech as Serpents hide themselves when men approach Micah 7.17 Serpents which are a terrour to men and make them afraid are also afraid of men their appearance causeth them to run and hide their heads The Rabbins take much paines in their Criticismes about this word to expresse a vertuous modesty As it is a duty to be as Christ exhorts his Disciples to be especially in times of persecution Math 10.10 wise as Serpents so it is a vertue to be fearefull as Serpents even to feare as much to be heard by some men as Serpents feare to be seene by any man Reptilium more dimisi me unde vulgatus reddit Demisso capite veritus sum Drus Thus Elihu held downe his head he was afraid and durst not shew his opinion suddenly nor declare his judgement in the case for the reverence he bare to those graver and elder heads Note hence First Young men are apt to run into mistakes their heat usually exceeds their light Youth drives furiously and commonly carrieth presumption with it or is it selfe hurried by presumption Though God hath given a young man a good understanding quick parts and a ready tongue yet he wants much because he hath not seene much and so is very liable to miscarriage He cannot look through nor see to the end of things for as it is the great and sole priviledge of God to cast an eye quite through all intermediate both actions and revolutions and to see the end from the beginning so it is more peculiar to those that are aged and long experienced to see much of the end of things in their beginnings or to see what is like to be as well as what is 'T is the part of a wise man to consider what may come and whether things tend there is much weakness and deficiency in young men as to this As most young men want sences exercised as the Apostle speakes of all un-improved Christians of what age soever Heb 5.19 as I say most young men want sences exercised to discerne what is good or evill so they want sences exercised to discerne what good or evill is like to be they rarely see effects in their causes or events in their prognosticks Therefore Elihu might well say I am young therefore I durst not venture to shew mine opinion Paul giveth Timothy
demonstration for his purpose from the wonderfull workes of God in nature from the raine thunder snow windes c. which he doth from the 27th verse of the 36th Chapter to the end of the 37th and with that concludes his answer The scope of Elihu in that long and learned Philosophicall Lecture was to teach and assure Job that God who causeth and disposeth those various alterations and terrible impressions in the ayre both for the humbling and benefiting of man doth much more both send and over-rule all those changes afflictions which befall the sons of men here on earth to humble them do them good And further to assure him that if man be not able to give a satisfying reason of those workes of God in nature but is often gravel'd and forced to sit downe in a silent admiration then surely man is much lesse able to fathome the depth of Gods purposes in all the workes of his providence but must in many of them only sit downe quietly and submit For as Elihu concludeth from these premises Chap 37.23 24. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out he is Excellent in power and in Judgement and in plenty of Justice he will not afflict either causelesly or more then needs though we seldome see the causes or acknowledge the need of his afflictions men doe that is they ought therefore feare him and if any are so proud and high in their owne thoughts that they doe not at their perill be it for he respecteth not any that are wise in heart that is as the carnal wisdome of worldly men cannot be a barre so the true wisdome of godly men is no priviledge against the Soveraigne power of God in afflicting them And therefore Job though truely wise in heart must not looke for any such respect from God as to be untoucht by or priviledg'd from affliction For the close of all we may summe up the whole scope of Elihu's under-taking with Job yea of the whole Booke of Job in these six poynts or propositions First No man can stand before God in his owne personall righteousness Secondly How righteous soever any person is yet the Lord may afflict and breake him in what way and in what degree himselfe thinkes fit Thirdly God hath most wise and gracious aymes in afflicting his righteous servants Fourthly His most righteous servants may not take the liberty to complaine as if they were wrong'd or as if God were either rigorous or unrighteous in the least how much or how long soever they are afflicted Fifthly There is nothing gotten by complaining or striving under the afflicting hand of God and therefore Sixthly 'T is best for us or our wisest way when things are at worst with us to give glory to God both as just and good and possessing our soules with patience by faith to waite in hope till he giveth us a fresh experience of his goodnesse eyther by sweetning our troubles to us and supporting us under them or by bringing us out of them as he did Job in the fittest season If in perusing this discourse of Elihu we carry these generall results in our eye we shall read both the Text and Comment with more clearenesse in our understandings at all times and with more profit when at any time under them in our chastenings which that we all may is the prayer of Your affectionate Servant in this worke of Christ JOSEPH CARYL The 24th of the 3d Moneth 1661. AN EXPOSITION WITH Practicall Observations UPON The Thirty-second Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Chapters of the Book of JOB JOB Chap. 32. Vers 1 2 3. So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite of the kindred of Rain against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himselfe rather then God Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job THe last Chapter ended with these words The words of Job are ended the beginning of this tells us his three friends had ended theirs So these three men ceased to answer Job Thus we have had the whole dispute between Job and his three friends Now followeth the determination of it The disputants having done the moderators begin First Elihu and after him God himselfe Elihu spends six whole Chapters in delivering his mind upon this Controversie yet he makes some pauses and overtures moving or inviting Job to a reply But Job interposed not a word We may consider this whole discourse of Elâ—hu in foure distinct parts the first contained in the 32d and 33d Chapters the second in the 34th the third in the 35th and the fourth in the 36th and 37th Chapters of this Book In the first part he directeth his speech first to Jobs three friends in this 32d Chapter Secondly to Job himselfe in the 33d. In this Chapter we may consider first a rationall transition from the dispute between Job and his friends to this discourse of Elihu in the five first verses Secondly we have a very Rhetoricall or patheticall Preface wherein Elihu endeavoureth to gaine attention by giving an account or the reasons of his undertaking in which he interweaves many Apologies for himselfe in venturing upon so hard a taske respecting both his youth and the weight of the argument He amplifies and continueth upon this subject to the end of the 32d Chapter wherein he engageth himselfe by solemne promise to carry on the businesse without respect of persons without feare or flattery Yet more distinctly in this first part The transition first a reason is assigned why Jobs friends left off speaking As it is not good to begin to speak so neither to give over speaking till we see and can give a reason for it The reason here given is because Job was righteous in his own eyes v. 1. Secondly a reason is given not only why Elihu did begin to speak but why he began to speak as he did in anger first against Job which is laid downe in the second verse Because he justified himselfe rather then God Secondly against his friends ver 3. Because they had found no answer yet had condemned Job or because they censured him though they could not confute him In the 4th and 5th verses we have a discovery of the cause of Elihu's modesty in forbearing so long to speak which he further inlargeth in the following parts of the Chapter Vers 1. So these three men ceased to answer Job They who had maintained the dispute all this while ceased rested or sate downe When men speak they usually stand up or stand forth The word in the Hebrew may be rendred thus They sabbatized implying they had found it a week of hard work Verbum ipsum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indâ—cat contentionem desat gationem disputationis praeteritae ingentem vim positam in repugnando refutando Pined and strong labour
with God If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand Againe ver 20. If I justifie my selfe my mouth shall condemne me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse And while he affirmes the generall viciousnesse of nature he must needs imply his owne Chap. 15.14 What is man that he should be cleane and he which is borne of a woman that he should be righteous Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not cleane in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is man In this universall conclusion he includeth himselfe therefore Job was far from being righteous in his owne eyes in any proud opinion of his owne righteousnesse or freedome from any staine of sin So much for the opening of those words containing the reason why his friends ceased to answer Because he was righteous in his owne eyes It was the designe of these three men not only to convince Job that he was a sinner but to bring him upon his knees as a notorious sinner And yet all their allegations and arguments could not bring him to it My righteousnesse said he Chapt. 27.6 I hold fast I will not let it goe Now when they saw him thus resolved and stiffe in maintaining the goodnesse of his cause and the integrity of his spirit they quitted the businesse or as the text saith ceased to answer Hence note We cease to doe when we cannot attaine our end in doing Impossibilium nullus est conatus When we see it is in vaine to perswade we give over perswading Despayre of working our end puts an end to our working Industry is at a stand yea withdraweth when impossibilities appeare And though nothing be impossible unto God yet we find God himselfe giving over both speaking and smiting when he seeth he is like to doe no good by eyther Thus he expresseth his purpose Isa 1.5 when he had spent many rods of sore Judgements afflictions upon that people when he had stricken them till from the crowne of the head to the sole of the feete they were nothing but a continued wound and yet they received not correction he presently reasons thus Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more As if he had said The end why I smote you was to amend you to bring you home to my selfe to cause you to turne back or returne from your evill wayes but I see I have lost my labour and spent not only my rods but my scorpions in vaine upon you therefore I will cease from this kind of work why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more And when God hath spoken long to a people who regard it not he ceaseth to speak any more but saith Why should ye be taught any more Let the Prophets tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth let him be dumb and silent as the word is Ezek. 3.26 Thou shalt be dumb and shalt not be a reprover why for they are a rebellious house After all thy speaking they continue rebelling therefore speak no more We read the like dreadfull prohibition Hos 4.4 Let no man strive nor reprove another let all wayes of reclaiming this people be laid aside For thy people are as they that strive with the Priest That is they are obdurate and desperately ingaged in wickednesse Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols he cleaveth and sticketh fast to them he will not be pulled from his owne inventions Let him alone Thus God saith to his Prophets and Ministers cease he saith to his Ordinances cease when sinners will not cease to sin and doe wickedly against the Lord. The same unprofitable and incorrigible people are threatned in the same manner by another Prophet Amos 8.9 It shall come to passe in that day saith the Lord God that I will cause the Sun to goe downe at noone And ver 11. I will send a famine in the Land not a famine of bread but of hearing the words of the Lord. God would stop the raining down of heavenly Manna and the people should not heare because they would not Such was the sentence of Christ against the Jewes Math. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not What follows this refusall read and tremble ver 38. Behold your house is left unto you desolate for I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth c. As if he had said because ye have been so unteachable therefore ye shall be taught no more It is sad when we give God occasion to give over either speaking to us or afflicting us God will not alwayes strive with the unwillingnesse much lesse with the wilfulnesse of man nor will men be alwayes doing that to men which they see doth them no good So these three men ceased c. Secondly Note hence When men are obstinate and will not be reclaimed it is good to give over Why should they who in any kind are absolutely resolved be further moved Acts 21.14 When Pauls friends saw he would not be perswaded they ceased they had used much perswasion to keepe him from going up to Jerusalem because of the sufferings that were prophesied should befall him there yet when he stood out in an holy obstinacy against them cloathed with a gracious spirit of courage to suffer for Christ When he would not be perswaded they ceased saying the will of the Lord be done As it was the height of Pauls holiness that he would not be perswaded he was obstinate for Gods cause or for the doing of a duty so it is the height of many mens wickednesse that they will not be perswaded they are obstinate against God or against the doing of their duty Such as are infected with the lust of contending will maintaine that opinion pertinaciously which they cannot maintaine truely As some strive for the love of victory rather then of truth so others strive because they love strife even more then victory and had rather contend then conquer because that puts an end to strife In such cases they doe best who doe no more And if Jobs case had been such if he had held up the discourse not for truth but for victory or because he would have the last word like a clamorous Sophister who hath alwayes somewhat to say though nothing to the purpose In that case I say Jobs friends had done wisely in ceasing to answer They indeed did well upon their owne supposition though as to the truth of Jobs condition they failed greatly Job was not a man of that spirit he that persists in holding and defending truth is not obstinate but constant Further as to the ground why they ceased according to their supposition Observe To be righteous in our owne eyes is hatefull both to God and
parable asserting there was no such reall thing But this one passage gives an undeniable proofe that this was a reall history and the matter really acted This person being described by his owne name and his fathers name and the next of his kindred From the consideration of the person who carried on so great a part in this businesse Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite of the kindred of Ram who was of a strange Country and if allyed to Abraham yet at a great distance we may observe God did preserve a seed of religion and of holy men to maintaine his truth among those who lived in darke places and were wrapt up in many errors and superstitions This was also noted from the first words of this booke There was a man in the Land of Vz A man of gracious accomplishments and of a heavenly light Here also was Elihu the Buzite A man that had great knowledge about holy things as we shall see afterwards in those parts and times when and where abundance of darknesse blindnesse and ignorance reigned Having thus described Elihu The history proceeds Against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himselfe rather then God In the former part of the verse it is said Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu Not specifying against whom nor the cause why here he doubles the same words with an addition first of the person with whom he was angry Against Job was his wrath kindled And as he tells us the marke or object of his wrath so he gives secondly the reason of it Because he justified himself rather then God Before I come to the explication of this latter branch take these two brief notes First A godly man in maintaining a good cause may give just reason of anothers passion or anger Job was a good man and his cause was good yet you see a wise and a good mans wrath is kindled Paul and Barnabas were two good men yet a difference arose between them Acts 15.39 And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder Secondly Considering the cause of this anger in generall Because he justified himselfe rather then God we see it was an anger for Gods cause Hence note Anger for God or in the cause of God is holy anger Though for the most part the flesh or our carnall corruption is the cause of anger and it begins at selfe yet sometimes it is stirr'd in the cause of God It is said of Moses the meekest man on earth Numb 12.3 that when he saw the idolatry of the people Exod. 32.19 His anger waxed hot He was so angry that he cast the Tables of the Law which God had written with his own hand out of his hand and broke them It is said Mar. 3.5 Jesus Christ looked about on them with anger being grieved for the hardnesse of their hearts He also exprest a great deale of zealous anger Joh. 2.15 When he made a whip of small cords and drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id genus irae notat quo fertur quis ad abolitionem peccati cum quo si sit veritas justissimus effectus est Coc Some of the Hebrews tell us that the word here used for anger signifieth anger carried out to the destruction of sin and that is a very gracious anger There are two things which exceedingly declare the holinesse of a mans spirit First when he can patiently beare loads of evills and wrongs in his owne cause or which have but a private respect Secondly When he is ready to take fire in the cause of God many dull and sluggish soules can heare God abused Hoc probes abnegationem tui mundi si injuriarum ferens sis peccatum autem ferre non possiis idque ita ut non ad vindicandum sed ad emendandum exstimulares and their spirits stirre no more then a stone Elihu was angry but it was in the cause of God or Because Job Justified himselfe rather then God When we are angry with sin we are angry as the Apostle adviseth us to be and sin not That 's anger without sin when we are angry with sin and are stirred up to oppose and suppresse the pride and insolency of mans spirit or speeches against God To be angry for our owne honour and interest or Gourd is an argument of undue love to selfe When God spared Nineveh the Prophet was exceeding angry Jon. 4.1 But his was sinfull anger because he was angry for his owne sake fearing to be called a false Prophet He set himselfe downe to see what would become of the City that he might have a personall glory and be cryed up for a Prophet indeed And when God had smitten his Gourd he was angry and angry unto the death ver 8. and all because he missed that which pleased himselfe Many can be angry when they themselves are discredited but when dishonour is cast upon God or his interest slighted how quiet and tame how cold and dull are their spirits The anger of this man was a noble anger as to the occasion and rise of it Jobs selfe-justification or Because he justified himselfe rather then God This is a high poynt and may justly provoke our anger Elihu was not angry with Job because he justified himselfe against his friends but because he justified himselfe rather then God Here a question will arise and it will ask some paines to determine it Was this true did Job justifie himselfe rather then God Was it possible Job should do so I shall give only a generall answer to this question Job did not justifie himself rather then God either explicitely or intentionally but by consequents he did And though it be granted that Job gave just occasion of this sharp reproofe by his rash and passionate speeches uttered in the heate of dispute and in the grief of his heart yet it cannot be denied that Elihu did somewhat strain Jobs words though not beyond their sence yet beyond his sence and gave them the hardest interpretation somewhat beside the rule of charity which they could beare nor did he observe that meeknesse and moderation which might well have become him to a man in that case O how hard is it not to offend or doe ill while we are doing well To cleare this a little further consider There is a twofold straining of words First beyond the sence of the words spoken Secondly beyond the sence of the speaker I doe not say Elihu in affirming this of Job strained his words beyond their sence but he strained them beyond Jobs sence Job spake words which might lay him under this censure that he justified himselfe rather then God But this was far from his intention For doubtlesse he had rather a thousand times his tongue should have been cut out of his mouth then to justifie himselfe with it rather then God or to speak a word to the disparagement of Gods Justice So then
for an answer but could not attaine it they pumpt hard but the water would not come God hid the thing from their eyes so then they had not found any answer because after all their search they could not nor should it seeme strange to us that they could not At best we know but in part here and till God by his Spirit teach us we know nothing at all So that I say it should not seeme strange to us that these wise and good men could find no answer for Job but that which follows seemes strange even to amazement that though they could not yet which how also could they answer to their owne consciences had condemned Job What condemne a man and not answer him 't is worse then to condemne a man and not heare him Possibly he that is condemned unheard may yet deserve a condemnation But if we condemne a man unanswered he certainly as to us is condemned undeservedly And therefore this course of proceeding if any is liable not only to suspition whether it be right but to condemnation as utterly unrighteous Though it may be a good mans case not to find an answer yet surely a good man will not condemne when he cannot answer But it may be demanded Did Jobs friends indeed find no answer before they condemned him we have heard of their answers all along No sooner had Job ended his former speeches but they presently answered Chap. 4.1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said Chap. 8 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said Chap. 11.1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said yea they all three answered Job a second time and two of them a Third how then could Elihu justly say they found no answer and yet had condemned Job For answer to this objection I say They answered Job but they did not answer sufficiently The vulgar latine translation puts this glosse which is more then the rules of translation allow into the text rendring the originall thus Ed quòd non invenissent responsionem rationalem Vulg Because they had found no rationall answer and yet had condemned Job They did not find out nor hit upon the right answer Improper and insufficient answers how many soever of them we heape up against any mans argument are no answers they are not worthy to be called answers That only is an answer which carrieth a conviction in it which reacheth the state and strength of the question or removeth the objection In this sence Jobs three friends had found no answer and yet had condemned Job The Hebrew is they made him wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept posuerunt eum esse impium or condemned him as a wicked man So the Septuagint they had no answer for him and yet concluded him wicked we say they had condemned Job and the reason of it is because to condemne a man is to leave him under a supposal of wickednesse and to stigmatize or brand him for a wicked man All the wicked shall at last be condemned and none ought to be condemned nor are any condemned justly now but the wicked He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are an abomination to the Lord Pro. 17.15 There is a very elegant transposition of the words in the Hebrew we may render the text thus He that justifieth the wicked and wickedeth the just c. The law of Moses gave an expresse rule against this perversion of Judgement in termes quite crosse to those in Solomon Deut 25.1 If there be any controversie between men and they come unto Judgement that the Judges may Judge them then they shall justifie the righteous and condemne the wicked Which you may render thus They shall justifie the just and wickedise the wicked that is they shall declare the just man just and the wicked man to be wicked That man either really is or is accounted wicked who is cast in his cause and condemned That was a dreadfull sentence the Scripture Acts 1.20 shewes it fulfilled upon the traytor Judas when he is judged let him be condemned Psal 109.7 we put in the margen let him goe out guilty or wicked In this sence Jobs three friends when they condemned him cast him as a wicked man though they had nothing to answer the plea which he made for his owne integrity We must not conceive any such wickednesse in them Damnarunt pro impio etsi nulla in eum crimina probare possent quibus ille suam vitam contaminassent Merc that they were resolved to condemne him right or wrong yet they held their conclusion against the light and reason of all his premises and though they could prove no ill against him yet vehemently suspecting him they concluded he was an ill man and so condemned him Hence note first Some will proceed to condemne both persons and opinions though they can give no reasonable account why they condemne either We read Isa 56.10 of dumbe doggs that cannot barke that is who know not what to speake oâ— say to purpose There are many who in this sence cannot barke yet they will bite and when they have no answer they will condemne and usually dumbe doâ—gs that cannot barke have the sharpest teeth and are best at biting or they are better at condemning then at answering As some finde an answer where there is none that is when such reasons are layd before them as are unanswerable yet they will not give over answering but still seek a knott in a rush and draw the saw of contention aâ—well without end as without cause so others cannot find an answer where it is yet when they cannot answer they can censure and condemne him for wicked or perverse whom they cannot prove so 'T is much easier to say a man is faulty then to find â—â—â—ault yet they who have a mind to find faults are seldome to seeke for somewhat or other which they call so Note secondly To condemne opinions or persons when we cannot answer them is a practise justly condemnable 'T is unjust as was intimated before to condemne a man before he is heard For though possibly a man unheard may have justice when he is condemned yet all agree 't is injustice to condemne him when he is not heard Now if it be injustice to condemne a wicked man before he is heard how unjust is it to condemne a man in whom we can find no wickednesse after we have heard him Thirdly From the manner of the phrase here used Note To condemne a man is to render him wicked Condemnation as was shewed is due only to the wicked and if an innocent be condemned he is reputed wicked and receives punishment as guilty As that sentence of condemnation which proceeds out of the mouth of God against impenitent sinners and evill doers bindes the guilt of their evill deeds upon them and delivers them up to punishment so he that condemnes his brother fastneth guilt upon him and speakes him deserving
them more like to God then younger men Secondly Look to the speciall way wherein Elihu shewed reverence to his Elders even by his long silence he did not rudely not rashly breake into discourse but waited till they had done This modesty of Elihu is both commendable and imitable who would say nothing as longe as Job or any of his friends had any thing to say Mira in hoc elucet antiquuorum in publicis concertationibus gravitas et stupendum inviolabilitèr servati in dicendo ac respondendo ordinis exemplum Bold because they were elder then he As the light of nature teacheth reverence to the aged in all cases so more particularly in this There shines as to this poynt an admirable comlinesse in the disputes of the Ancients and a most eminent example of order inviolably kept both in proposing and answering Their rule or maxime was Let the Seniors speake let the Juniors hear Let Old men teach let young men learne It is the note of a learned Commentator upon this place from what himselfe had observed Living saith he once at Paris in France where in a Monastery Majores natu loquantur juniores audiant senes doceant adolescentes discant Pulcherrima disciplinae sententia Drus three Indians were brought up and instructed in the Christian Religion I could not but admire to behold how studiously and strictly they kept to the Lawes of speaking the younger not offering a word till the Elder had done The practice of these Indians brought with them out of Heathenisme may reprove the imprudence of many yea the impudence of some young men among us who will be first in talk when their betters and elders are in place The Prophet threatned this as a great judgment Isa 3.5 The Child shall behave himself proudly against the Ancient The child is not to be taken here strictly but for any inferiour in age though possibly himself be arrived to the state of manhood As if the Prophet had said there shall be a generall confusion among all degrees of men without respect had to age or place every stripling will take the boldness to talk and act unseemly before his betters Obeysance and silence bowing the body and holding the peace are respects which ought to be paid to our Superiours whether in time or authority But as young men should not be forward to speak in the presence of their elders so they should not be afraid to speak when there is cause for it especially when their elders forbear or refuse to speak any more Thus Elihu who had long kept his mouth as David in another case did Psal 39.1 with a bridle and was dumb with silence yet at last his heart was hot within him and while he was musing the fire burned and as it followeth he spake with his tongue Vers 5. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men then his wrath was kindled When Elihu saw it that is when he was as much assured of it by their gesture and carriage as if it had been visible that those three men had no more to say or would say no more for the words may be referred indifferently to their will or power when I say he saw they had no more to say Either first to convince Job of error or secondly to defend the truth of God which they had undertaken when he saw this his wrath was kindled at that instant time and for that very reason his wrath was kindled Some conceive as was shewed before that this anger proceeded from the passionateness of his spirit and so tax him with it as his fault but I rather consent with those who say it proceeded from his zeal for God and so it was his vertue and his praise I have met with these words two or three times already since I entred upon this Chapter and therefore I shall not stay upon them here And as this anger of Elihu was spoken of before so the same reason which was given before of his anger is repeated and reported hear again Then his wrath was kindled because they had no answer in their mouths that is because they had no more to say against Job whom they had condemned and because they had no more to say for God whose cause in afflicting Job they had defended I shall only adde a few brief Notes upon this Verse and so passe on First Some men answer till they have no more to answer 'T is very possible for a good and a wise man to be at the bottom of his reason in some points or to be brought to such a wall that he can go no further David saith I have seen an end of all perfection which as it is true of all outward commodities and conveniences which men enjoy so both of their corporal and intellectual abilities or of what they can either do or say The best of men may see the end of their best perfections in all things but Grace and the hope of Glory Their stock and treasure may be quite spent their spring exhausted and they gone ro their utmost line and length There 's no more answer in their mouth nor work in their hand Secondly note It may put a wise man into passion to see how ill some wise men use their reason or that they can make no further use of it Then was the anger of Elihu kindled when he saw they could answer no more or that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men Thirdly As the anger of Elihu is often spoken of so still we find some what or other is assigned as a ground of it Whence note We should see good reason for our anger before we are angry whether in our own cause or in the cause of God There is nothing can excuse anger but the cause of it Reason is a good plea for passion And he that hath a true reason for his anger will probably manage his anger with reason yea and mingle it with grace And so his proves not only a rational but a gracious anger Fourthly note Provoked patience breaks out into greater passion In the former Verse we find Job waiting he waited long and patiently but being disappointed of what he waited for his wrath broke out His anger was kindled As when God waits long and is disappointed his anger is encreased in the manifestation of it Rom. 2.4 5. ver Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leads thee to repentance but after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath c. As if he had said the more patience God spends upon thee the more wrath is treasured up â—â—r thee and that wrath will break out the more fiercely and violently to consume thee the longer it hath been treasured up Now I say as the wrath of God is the more declared against man by how much his patience is the more abused So
somewhat a strange warning 2 Tim. 2.22 Flee youthfull lusts Timothy was young but was he noted for indulgence to any youthfull lusts what lusts doth he meane surely not drunkennesse nor uncleannesse nor any loose behaviour for though the most sober and temperate young men have in them the seed of all these yea of every lust yet Timothy at that time was a pattern a mirrour not only of sob iety but of holinesse and Paul was even forced to bid him take more liberty in the use of the creature then he used to allow himselfe Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomack sake and for thy often infirmities Surely Timothy was a man that fled such youthfull lusts fast and far enough when he drank nothing but water and must be bid to drink a little wine 1 Tim 5.23 What lusts then were they which Timothy was exhorted to flee the words following ver 23 24 25. seeme to cleare it that because he was young he should take heed of rushing into unnecessary Questions and disputes which young men are apt to doe in the heat of their spirits nor are there any lusts of the lower or sensuall appetite to which the heart of man is more intemperately and vainely carried out then to those of the understanding and therefore the Apostle counsels Timothy to avoid unprofitable Questions knowing that these gender strife Those Questions cannot promote faith in or holinesse towards God which only stirre up and foment strife among men and the servants of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all and patient These vertues and graces are opposed chiefely to the youthfull lusts which Paul exhorts Timothy to take heed of As if he had said Be not too hot-headed and hasty as young men are very apt to be in pursuing of controversies and entangling thy selfe in the thickets of Opinionists Elihu was of an excellent temper who because young was afraid and durst not shew his opinion Secondly Note It is good to feare and suspect our own judgements or to feare that we may erre they seldome doe or speak amisse who feare they may An over-confidence of being in the right hath setled many in a wrong way to be under a sence of our readinesse to fall preserves us from falling Hosea 13.1 When Ephraim spake trembling then he exalted himselfe There are severall sences given of that place but according to our translation the meaning is carried thus When Ephraim was in an humble frame and jealous of himselfe not confident nor over-bold as some are who presume to carry all before them when he spake trembling or did even tremble to speake then he did that which tended to his own advancement and exaltation This gracious trembling doth at once settle us the faster and rayse us the higher in the wayes and things of God It is a high poynt of wisdome to have low apprehensions of our selves though that be true Tanti eris aliis quanti tibi fueris You shall be esteemed of others as you esteem your selves If a man under-value himselfe others will yet 't is best erring on that hand Let the price be much too low rather then any thing too high when you are occasioned to put a value upon or rate your selves Againe Consider what an excellent speaker Elihu was when he came to it as will appeare hereafter yet see how he stood trembling he durst not speake nor offer his opinion Hence note Vsually they who have most ability to speak are most backward to speak or sparing of speech They are not easily brought to it who have it in them The belly of Elihu was as full with matter as an Egge with meate or a bottle with wine yet how slow was he in opening himselfe They who are and have least are most desirous if not ambitious to appeare most and would make up in seeming what they are not in being As Elihu in this verse hath shewed himselfe afraid to say any thing so he shewes us in the next who he hoped would have said all and altogether have saved him a labour Vers 7. I said dayes should speak and multitude of yeares should teach wisdome Or as the text may be rendred let dayes speak Loquantur dies sunt enim verba permittentis q.d. sinam loqui illos non praeripiam eis loquendi locum Pisc dayes shall not be hindred by me from speaking let dayes speak their fill But what meaneth he when he saith let dayes speak how can dayes speak 't is an elegancy in Rhetorick when that which belongs to a person is ascribed to a thing as here speech to time let dayes speak that is let those who number many dayes who have lived and seene many dayes let them speak they who have lived most dayes on earth are yet indeed as Bildad told Job Chap. 8.9 but of yesterday and so have lived as it were but a day yet according to common account some men are so very old that you may call them dayes and to them we may well say let Dayes speak Johannes de Temporibus We read of one who was called John of Times because he had lived if the Records spake true three hundred yeares and more An old man is a man of dayes and thus Elihu might say let dayes that is old men speak But Children can speak why then doth he say dayes should speak I answer There is a twofold speaking First naturall thus Children as soone as they are out of their swadling-bands learne to speak such speaking is but a naturall act Secondly There is a speaking which is an artificiall or studied act thus Orators and men of eloquence speake such speaking Elihu intended when he sayd dayes should speak He looked they should speake to purpose speak by rule even the quintessence of reason he presumed they would have brought forth somewhat worthy of their yeares and that he should have received such instruction from them as they had learned from old age it selfe I sayd dayes should speak Children can speak words but old men should speak things every word should have its weight their tongues should drop as the honey-combe and be a tree of life to feed and refresh many It is most truly said of the word of God in Scripture Every tittle of it hath a mountaine of sence a mighty weight of truth in it And surely the words of old men should be weighty and convincing They should speak truth with such evidence both of testimony and reason as may put to silence all those who speak against or besides either truth or reason As day unto day saith David Psal 19.2 uttereth speech that is every day speakes somewhat so men of dayes should speak much both for instruction and conviction I said dayes should speak Hence note That 's not to be esteemed as done at all which is not well done or not done to purpose An old man doth not speak unlesse he speaks wisely edifyingly and to
used in the second Psalme v. 12. If his wrath be kindled but a little or but as a little thing if the wrath of Christ be kindled only so farre that you see but a sparke of it blessed are they that trust in him There is no standing before the least wrath of the great God by the greatest of the sons of men We translate He would soone take me away or he would doe it in a little time my ruine needs not be long in working he would rid his hands of me presently to take or snatch a man away notes three things First A violent death or a violence in death Secondly A speedy or sudden death a quick dispatch When the fire was kindled and the word sent out against Korah Dathan and Abiram their maker soone took them away he bid the earth open and it tooke them away in the twinckling of an eye they went downe quick into hell It is sayd of a wicked man in this booke Chap 27.21 The East wind carrieth him away there also this word is used that is judgement like some fierce impetuous winde shall blow him from his standing and blast all his glory Some give the sence by the effect of fire Sunt qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tolleret me exponant combureret me ut aliquando sumitur hoc verbum a flamma quae in sublimi tollitur Merc My Maker would soone burne or consume me The word in the Hebrew signifieth to burne as well as to take away and we know the burning of a thing is the taking of it quite away fire makes cleane riddance And againe Fire or flame riseth up as a thing that is taken up into the aire and that which is burned in the fire may be sayd to be taken up with it Thus also 't is translated 2 Sam 5.20 21. David came unto Baal-perazim and David smote them there c. and there they left their Images and David and his men burnt them we put in the margin and David and his men tooke them away which is the translation here in Job Either of the readings is cleare and full to the purpose God hath fire he hath hell-fire unquenchable for sinners their maker can quickly consume and burne them up Isa 27.4 Who would set the briars and thorns in battell against me I would passe through them and burne them up together How quickly can the Lord burne wicked men who like briars and thorns scratch and teare the innocent wicked men can no more stand before the wrath of God then briars and thorns can stand before a flaming fire That 's a good reading ours comes to the same sence my Maker would soone take me away Hence observe First As flattery and accepting of persons are great so they are very dangerous sins they are wrath-provoking sins If we flatter men God will not flatter us he will deale plainly with us To receive flattery or to suffer our selves to be flattered is very dangerous as we see in the example of Herod Acts 12.22 23. who having made a very eloquent Oration The people gave a shout saying it is the voice of a God and not of a man They gave him flattering titles or as some render the former part of this verse they wonder'd at his person But what was the issue of it Presently saith the text the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten up with wormes and gave up the ghost Thus his Maker tooke him soone away for taking that glory to himselfe O take heed of entertaining flatteries when given we should put them back from us as we would a poysonous cup. High commendations of Sermons given to the Preacher may have a sad consequence When men give much glory to men 't is hard for men to give the glory back againe to God Herod was so pleased and tickled with the glory which the people gave him that he could not part with it and so lost himselfe Because he forgat that he was a worme he was destroyed by wormes The translation given us by the Septuagint of this text in Job 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et me tineae edent Sept complyes fully with that dreadfull example in the Acts I know not how to give flattering titles for in so doing the wormes or moths will eate me up The words of Elihu thus rendred in Job are a threatning assertion That the wormes shall eate those that give flatteries and the judgement which fell uâ—on Herod is an example threatning all those that receive flattering titiles with that dreadfull doome of being eaten up by wormes And doubtlesse if not that yet either some other corporal and visible judgement or which is much worse some spirituall and invisible judgement will overtake those who love either to flatter others or to be flattered themselves And as that example shewes how dangerous it is to receive flatteries so to give flatteries hath in it a double danger First It is dangerous to others When Parasites flatter Princes when Ministers flatter the people how doth it ensnare their soules 'T is hell and death to flatter sinners and not to deale plainly with them to give lenitives instead of corosives to give oyle where vineger should be given to heale the hurt of the soule deceitfully is the greatest hurt and wounding to the soule Flatteries are those pillows spoken of in the Prophet Ezek 13.18 sowed to the Arme-holes or elbowes of wicked men upon which many sleepe without feare till they dye without hope yea these flatteries as well as any falsities and errors of doctrine whether respecting faith or worship are that untempered morter of and against which the Prophet speakes in the same Chapter v. 10.15 wherewith some daubed that wall of vaine confidence which others built while they seduced the people saying peace and there was no peace How often doe the true Prophets warne the people against these flatteries of the false Prophets And how sadly doth the Prophet Jeremy bewaile them Lam 2.14 Thy Prophets have seene vaine and foolish things for thee and they have not discovered thine iniquity to turne away thy captivity but have seene for thee false burdens and causes of banishment that is the visions which they have seene they pretend at least to have had from God but they are their owne dreames and brain-sick phansies and so the cause of thy banishment they have undone thee with these deceits soothing thee up in those thy sins which procured thy banishment and caused the Lord to thrust thee out and send thee farre away from thine owne Land They have fed yea filled thee with false hopes till thy condition was hopelesse How many thousands have been destroyed by flatteries both for here and for ever And if flattery be so dangerous to the receiver then Secondly It must needs be much more dangerous to the giver It is no small sin to palliate or cover the sins of others Non leve
did beare such a construction And the Lord suffer'd Elihu to urge them upon him to the utmost Yet notwithstanding all that hath been sayd I doe conceive that Elihu had not the least imagination that the meaning of Job in those assertions concerning himselfe was that he had not sinned at all or that there was no sin in him But taking his words in the best and fairest construction they could beare he yet saw cause to check and reprove him for saying so much in that condition about his innocency whereas he should have been chiefly taken up in glorifying God and humbling himselfe under his mighty hand So much for the answer to the fourth query what reason Elihu had to charge Job thus It hath been shewed whaâ— may be sayd in favour of Job And also that Elihu might without breach of charity charge him with these sayings To shut up this verse take only two briefe notes from the whole First The best of men have their failings and are apt to over-report themselves Our most deliberate actions and speeches have some tincture of the flesh how much more those which passe us in a passion Though Job spake what was true yet he spake more then was meete And they that heard him might take just occasion of offence not knowing his spirit and the strain of his heart in speaking so The Apostle James saith James 3. 2. If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body He hath a mighty command over his spirit that can command his tongue especially when he is provoked It is a reall part of perfection not to offend in word This good man spake many things well yet all was not well spoken Againe In that Job spake thus under the pressure of affliction Observe In times of affliction it is better to be much in bewailing of sin then in making reports wherein we have not sinned There will no hurt come of that but while we are reporting our innocency and good deeds though what we speak be true yet 't is subject to construction and layeth us open to reproofe Lastly We may learne from the dealing of Elihu with Job That in all disputations and matters of controversie with others we should take heed that we fasten no uncharitable interpretation upon the words of our adversary nor adde any thing of our owne to them nor wrest them besides their grammaticall and genuine construction yet even those speeches which are true in some respect if they exceed the bounds of modesty may freely be reprehended For we ought not only to doe that which is good and speake that which is true for the matter but we ought to doe and speake in a good or becoming manner Thus farre of the first fault which Elihu found and reproved in Job his over-confidence in saying he was not faulty or in justifying himselfe In the two next verses he blames him with reflecting over-boldly and unduely upon the dealings of God The particulars whereof were expressed before in opening the whole Context and come now to be further opened Vers 10. Behold he findeth occasions against me Quaerit adversum me et invenit confractiones i.e. ut confringat et irrita faciat omnia mea studia instituta et conatuâ— ut nihil ossequar eorum quae quaero et instituo Merc Ecce confractiones adversum me invenit Bez 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confractiones contritiones et quasi abolitiones Sunt qui reddunt occasiones quasi esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 literis transpositis alij querelas Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inde Hiphit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fregit confregit irritum fecit Merc and counteth me for his enemy These words containe the first part of the second charge For the clearing of which I shall first explicate the words then by way of observation shew what matter of charge or evill there is in them Behold he findeth occasions against me I have heretofore shewed the emphasis of that word Behold And therefore I passe it here Behold He that is God findeth occasions against me or strictly from the Hebrew he findeth breaches The verbe is translated Breake Psal 141.5 It imports such a breaking as is also a bringing to nought Psal 33.10 'T is likewise applyed to the breaking of the heart by discouragements Numb 32.7 And it is significantly enough translated here He findeth breaches against me that is something or other to make a breach upon me something to complaine of against me The word is rendred in these three sences First An occasion Secondly A Breach Thirdly as the Septuagint a complaint or accusation We may joyne all three together for a complaint or accusation is commonly an occasion of breaches among men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accusationem autem adversum me invenit Sept Qui querelas amâ—t quaerit occasiones unde illas excitat Bold Deus studiosè quaesivit ansam me persequendi he that loves breaches will seeke and seldome misseth occasions of complaint We say of a man that is of a troublesome spirit and given to contention which is also Mr Broughtons translation Behold he picketh a quarrell against me though I give him no just matter of offence yet he either findeth or maketh one Thus most of the Hebrew writers carry it he fâ—ndeâ—h occasions to alter his former course with me to cast me off to lay his hand upon me even to ruine and break me to pieces Hence observe To seeke occasions against another is hard and uncharitable dealing Josephs brethren were very suspitious of this Gen 43.18 The men were afraid because they were brought to Josephs house and they said because of the money that was found in our sacks mouth the first time are we brought in that he may seek occasion against us As if they had said we well perceive he would gladly have some matter to accuse us and so to detaine us upon that occasion Thus said the King of Israel 2 Kings 5.7 when Naman came to him with a message from his Prince to desire him that he would heale him of his Leprosie The King of Israel began presently to startle and thought it was nothing but a meere trick and a device to bring on some further designe what said he Am I God to kill and make alive that this man is come to me wherefore consider I pray you and see how he seeketh a quarrell against me They may be judged to watch for a discourtesie who desire courtesies of us beyond our power This made the King of Israel jealous that the King of Syria being confident of future successe by his former successes against Israel was by this device only seeking an occasion to renew the warre We have an eminent Scripture to this purpose Dan 6.4 5. Daniel being advanced high at Court it drew a great deale of envie upon him among the Princes and Presidents and therefore they resolved to try their
Hoc nominè justus non es quod deum in jus provocare ausus â—s Merc There is a third antecedent which we may take up from severall passages in the former part of the Booke and that is because thou hast so often and so importunately desired to plead with God and hast made so many suites for a hearing with him as if thou hadst somewhat to say which might acquit thy selfe and shew reason why God should not deale thus with thee For though Job did not desire to plead with God as having any intent to accuse him of doing him wrong yet he was therefore to be blamed because he desired to plead with him seeing it becomes man to submit to the judgement of God without murmuring or complaining So then Elihu had cause to charge him with this God indeed passed it by as knowing it did not proceed as in the wicked from malice but from weakness and ignorance as Job also himselfe humbly confessed at last Behold thou hast too often called for Justice in this thou art not just Mr Broughton renders Loe here thou art not in the right These words in this or here may also have a negative reference to what Job had been charged with before by his friends As if Elihu had sayd I doe not charge thee with such crimes as thy friends have loaded thee with heretofore I doe not burden thee with grosse impiety nor with hypocrisie I doe not tell thee thou hast oppressed the poore or wronged the widdow and the fatherlesse I have nothing of this sort to say against thee But in this or here I have somewhat to say wherein my judgement also is that thou art not just nor in the right for however thou art otherwise or in other things upright and righteous however just thou hast been in thy transactions with men and pure in thy worship toward God yet in this I am sure and I dare say it openly and avowedly thou art no wayes justifiable much lesse just in that thou hast cryed up thy owne innocency and spoken so much of the hard dealings of God with thee yea hast been so bold as to desire a day of hearing even before God himselfe Let this be the Question or matter under debate Whether or no Job speaking thus highly of himselfe and thus boldly of God hath done right or no Elihu undertakes the negative he engageth to prove that Job had not done well or right how innocent soever he was in speaking so much of his own innocency or how hardly soever God dealt with him in making so many complaints of his severity Elihu undertakes to prove this negative and Job never durst undertake the affirmative that he had done right or well in speaking or doing so and therefore in the close of the business he sits downe convinced that he had been too bold with God and too forward in justifying himselfe His argument which runs through this whole discourse to make good his negative assertion may be formed up thus He that speakes much of his owne righteousnesse and seemes to reflect upon the righteousnesse of God at least that God hath been over-rigorous with him is not just nor justifiable in this But thou O Job hast spoken thus of thy selfe and thus of God in the extremity of thy paine and in the anguish of thy spirit Therefore in this thou art not just nor justifiable No man of understanding can take thy part or be an Advocate for thee in this matter As for me I must needs be and am resolved to be an Advocate for God against thee The Major or first proposition is not exprest in the text the conclusion is given in the beginning of the 12th verse and the assumption or 2d proposition is collected from Job's owne mouth in severall places of this Booke Againe besides the generall scope of the words and the tendency of Elihu in this dispute we may consider the manner of his speech how he deales with Job Behold in this thou art not just In this manner of treating with Job the sweetnesse of his spirit and likewise the boldnesse of it are observable These two vertues or excellencies of an Advocate shew themselves plainly in this one passage Behold in this thou art not just For consider First He expresseth his reproofe negatively he doth not say Behold in this thou art wicked or thou hast impiously blasphem'd the name of God but he speakes at as low a rate as may be Behold in this thou art not just or justifiable thou hast not done right or thou art not right there is a great good temper of spirit and a mixture of much meeknesse in such negative expressions it being much lesse to say to a man in this thou art not just nor justifiable then to say positively or directly in this thou art unjust and deservest to be condemned For though there be no difference in the thing between not being just and being unjust yet there is much more mildness in the words and a man takes lesse offence when told that he is not just then in being told that he is unjust The imputing of a crime to a man is more and worse then the denying him a vertue or that he is vertuous Hence note We ought to temper our reproofes with much gentlenesse and meeknesse We should not speake cutting words if other words will serve the turne Thus the Apostle directs us Gal 6.1 Brethren if a man be overtaken with a fault ye which are spirituall restore such a one with the spirit of meeknesse considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted deale as gently with a fallen brother as thou wouldest with a man whose bones are dislocated or broken so much the metaphor there used imports There is a time indeed when we must rebuke as the Apostle gives direction Tit 1.13 sharply or cuttingly we must goe to the quicke that they may be found in the faith but there is a great regard to be had to the state and spirits of those with whom we have to deale As it is our duty to receive the word with meeknesse James 1.21 some receive the word proudly riggidly in the worst sence they can yea they receive it rebellingly now as we ought to receive the word with meeknesse so 't is good to speake the word with meeknesse with as much meeknesse and tendernesse as the case will beare Secondly consider this manner of speaking Behold in this thou art not just Elihu tells him plainly of his faults he reported them before and here he applyed them home to his person Behold in this thou rememberest thy owne words Thou canst not but take notice what thou hast spoken now I tell thee in this thing thou art not just Elihu doth not speak doubtingly nor fearefully nor doth he tell Job what the thoughts of others were upon the matter but he tells him directly categorically plainly from himselfe in this thou art not just Hence note We are to hold out our convictions
Gospel and to prepare the way for Christ by whom grace and truth came The Baptist was as it were the loop and button between the legall and the Gospel dispensation therefore his name might well be called John And there is frequent use in Scripture of the Adverb which comes from this Verb to signifie injuries received without desert or undeservedly Ps 7.4 Yea I have delivered him that without cause was mine enemy or that was mine enemy gratis And again Psal 35.7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause have they digged for my soul Yet more as the word signifies the doing of good gratis or when there is no desert so any injury done gratis or when no provocation hath been given the party so to doe Now as all the mischief which the wicked plot against or doe to the people of God is undeserved and floweth meerly from their malice so all the good which God doth for his people is undeserved and floweth purely from the fountaine of his free grace or from his compassions which faile not And surely the Lord deserveth highest praises from man for any good he doth him seeing what he doth is gratis or undeserved Further This Hebrew word Chinnam answers the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred freely Rom. 3.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratis i. e. ejus gratia Bez We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ How can unjust men deserve justification Therefore Mr Beza translates We are justified gratis that is by his grace Againe When it is said then he or the Lord is gracious it may be taken two wayes First as to be gracious implyeth the intrinsecall graciousness of his nature or that mercifullness and kindness which dwells in the heart of God and which indeed is God for the graciousnesse of God is the gracious God thus God is alwayes and altogether gracious he is infinitely and uncessantly gracious Secondly when it is said he is gracious it may note only the graciousness of his acts and dispensations thus as I may say the Lord is gracious ad hinc et nunc as he sees cause at this time he is gracious and not at that time that is he puts forth acts of grace now and not then The Lord puts forth acts of grace both according to the pleasure of his own will without respect to any thing in man as also without respecting what man is or doth according to his pleasure And thus we are chiefly to understand it here then he is gracious God is gracious in his nature alwayes and alwayes alike gracious but he is not alwayes alike gracious in his dispensations or in giving forth acts of grace he is gracious to man according to his secret will as he pleaseth but he is gracious according to his revealed will as man pleaseth him Hence Observe first The first cause and spring of all our mercies is the graciousnesse of God Or All our mercyes flow out from the grace of God That 's the fountaine yea that 's the Ocean which seeds and fills all the Channels of mercy which stream to us as our happiness in this world and for our everlasting happiness in the world which is to come All is of grace fundamentally or because the Lord is and will be for ever gracious Thus the Lord spake to Moses Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious My mercy shall flow our when and to whom and where I please And the proclamation which he made of himselfe in all his royall Titles runs in the same straine Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity If we consider God first in doing us good Secondly in forgiving us the evill which we doe Thirdly in delivering us from the evills which we now suffer Fourthly in delivering us from the feare of future sufferings all is from grace and from free grace He doth us good though we are undeserving any good that 's grace yea he doth us good though we are ill deserving and that 's more grace He doth all for us through grace First in spiritualls and Secondly in temporalls not only doe the good things of eternall life but the good things of this present life flow from grace unto his own people Not only the health of their souls but the health of their bodyes not only deliverance from hell but deliverance from sickness also flow from his free grace in Jesus Christ Therefore of all their mercies and salvations both as to the foundation and top-stone of them the people of God must cry as the Prophet Zachery Chap. 4.7 foretells the people of God should say of that longed for deliverance when that great mountaine should become a plain before Zerubbabell grace grace unto them That is grace hath begun them and grace alone will maintaine continue and perfect what it hath begun As there is nothing in us except our misery which moves the Lord to begin so there is nothing in us but our inability which moves the Lord to perfect what he hath begun He seeth we cannot and therefore he will perfect what he hath begun and all this he doth that he may exalt his own name and perfect the praise of his free grace towards us More distinctly that all comes from grace or from the graciousness of God may note these five things to us First not only that God doth all for his people freely or without desert But Secondly that he doth all things willingly or without constraint for his people Thirdly that he doth all things forwardly for his people He doth very much unaskt and unsought and he is not much askt or hardly drawne to doe any thing for his people Though he hath said of some things I will be sought unto or inquired after that I may doe them for you Ezek. 36.37 yet his mercies are never forced nor wrested from him by intreaties but flow from a principle of love naturally as water out of a fountain Fourthly he doth all rejoycingly even with his whole heart and with his whole soul Mercy pleaseth him and he is pleased with occasions of shewing mercy 't is no burden to him to doe us good mercy proceeds from his nature and therefore he delighteth in mercy Mic 7.18 yea to be mercifull is his nature and therefore he cannot but delight in it Fifthly graciousness being the very nature of God implyeth that he will do us good liberally and constantly or that as the Apostle James speaks he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he doth not upbraid us with our poverty who receive nor doâ—h he upbraid us with the riches of the gifts which himself bestoweth And because they flow from his nature therefore he doth not in the least empty himself how much soever he fills the creature with his gifts or goodness Some men
eternall death or going downe to the pit of hell Fourthly In that this word deliver him is given to the messenger Observe God conveighs deliverance and mercy to us by men like our selves He will have the creature beholding to the creature for his mercy though mercy come freely and only from himselfe God delivereth the sick and the sinner in such a method that we may owne though not stay in his messengers as the instruments of his favour God who can doe all things by himselfe will not doe many things but by meanes He saith to the messenger Deliver him from going downe to the pit You will say How can a Minister or a Messenger deliver the sick from going downe to the pit I answer as was touched before he delivers him by declaring to him the minde of God by acquainting the sick with the promises of deliverance and by pressing him to believe and rest upon them by assuring him that as God is able to performe the promise so he is faithfull and willing to performe it yea that he hath given some tokens for good that he will deliver him from going downe to the pit Thus the worke of Gods free grace mercy and power is oftentimes attributed to instruments and second causes because they have their place and use in the bringing about the purposes of God for the good of his people Hence some men are called Saviours And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion Obad v. 21. No man can save either from temporall or eternall destruction He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Ps 68.20 yet saith the Prophet there shall come Saviours that is God will rayse up worthy men principall men as another Prophet cals them Mic 5.5 who shall destroy Zions enemies Thus Paul admonisheth Timothy Take heed to thy selfe and to thy doctrine continue in them for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee 1 Tim 4.16 The Apostle James Chap 5.20 speakes the same thing He which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And the same Apostle faith as to the case in the text at the 15th verse of the same Chapter The prayer of faith shall save the sicke Though none can save yet many are means of our salvation And the Lord is pleased to honour those who are the meanes of any salvation so farre as to say They save It is indeed the duty of all to ascribe the all of every worke and piece of salvation and deliverance to God only When the people stood wondering at Peter and John after they had healed the lame man Peter answered Acts 3.12 Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why looke ye so earnestly on us as if we by our own power or holiness had made this man to walke The God of Abraham c. hath glorified his Son Jesus As if they had said Therefore doe ye also glorifie him not us for delivering this lame man Though God is pleased to put much honour upon man by speaking of what himselfe doth as if man had done it yet he will not give the glory of what he doth to any man nor may any take it God saith to the messenger deliver him from going downe to the pit but woe to that messenger who saith when he is delivered I have delivered him from going downe to the pit Thus we see the spring of the sick mans recovery it is from the graciousness of God and we see the meanes of it God gives a warrant to his messenger saying Deliver him from going down to the pit But what is the procuring or meritorious cause of this deliverance As the Text hath shewed us the first moving cause The grace of God so it shewes us the meritorious cause by which his deliverance is procured Things are so ordered in the Covenant of grace that though the Lord acts with infinite freeness yet he hath appointed and ordered a way in which alone he will doe what he freely doth This is expressed in the last clause of the verse Fer I have found a ransome But where did God find it certainly in his own bosome in his own heart Jesus Christ came out of the bosome of the Father there he was God found him in and with himself God did not find the ransome by chance nor did he find it by advice and consultation with others but he found it in himself in his own infinite wisdome and goodness that is he contrived it he invented i◠there This rare this most excellent thing a ransome is the Lords own invention I have found it I know how to doe this man good I know how to save him and doe my own honour and Justice no hurt no wrong my honour is saved Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotet expiationem aut redemptionem tum etiam pretium quod pro redemptione offertur Significat etiam cooperire linire aut operire bitumine quasi pristinam faciē rei alicujus aut immunditiem abscondere quod elegantèr refertur ad ab stertionem peccati Pined my Justice is satisfied in doing it I have found a ransome The word here rendred a ransome signifies in the Verb to cover or to hide that which before lay open that it appeare no more Grace brings another face upon things a new face I may say upon our souls The covering of sin elegantly denotes the pardon of sin And what reason have we to be thankfull and rejoyce when sin our soul durt and deformity is covered We have very foul faces I meane outward conversations and more foul souls or inward inclinations till the Lord is graciously pleased to put a covering upon them If we cover our own sins we shall have no mercy but if the Lord once cover our sins he cannot deny us mercy that being it self our greatest mercy and the fruit of his great mercy The Mercy-seat so famous in the Mosaicall Poedogogy is exprest by this word which properly signifieth a Covering The Mercy-seat was it self a Covering of pure gold laid over the Arke in which Arke the Law was put Exod. 25.17.21 Thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above upon the Arke and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee And as the dimensions of the Arke were two Cubits and a halfe in length and a Cubit and a half in breadth so the same were the dimensions of the Mercy-seat Vers 10.17 which figured that as the Mercy-seat fully covered the Arke wherein the Law was so Christ should fully cover all our sins which are transgressions of the Law The righteousness of Christ is as long and as broad as the Law and so our sins being covered with that shall never appeare against us Therefore also from above this Mercy-seat between the two Cherubims the Lord said vers 22. I will meete thee and I will
to him spoken of in the former verse and the declaration of it in that word or warrant which went out from God to the messenger about his deliverance from going downe to the pit This mercy or recovery in the full extent of it hath a two-fold respect First to his body Secondly to his soule The mercy as it respects his body is layd downe in the 25th verse His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne as in the dayes of his youth The mercy which respects his soule or the state of his inward man is layd downe in the 26th verse He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto him his righteousness In this recovery of his soule-state we may further consider First the causes of it First The Instrumentall cause prayer He shall pray unto God Secondly The principall or efficient cause of it together with the first moving cause The kindness of God He will be favourable unto him Secondly The consequence of this his renewed soule-state He shall see his face with joy Thirdly The matter wherein this joyfull state doth consist in the close of the 26th verse For he will render to man his righteousness So much for the scope and parts of these two verses which shew the blessed issue which God gives this distressed and sick man from his afflictions and sorrowes Vers 25. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes By flesh he meanes the naturall flesh of the body this flesh shall be fresh yea fresher and not only fresher then it was before he fell sick in his man-hood but then it was in his child-hood fresher then a childes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollitur recreatus fuit alibi quam hic non legitur Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod virentem significat ac vegetuÌ„ ut cap 8. 16. et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod syriacè significat crescere q. d. revirescet plantarum more et germinum Merc The word which we render comparatively fresher signifies to wax soft or tender 'T is no where read in the whole Bible but here Grammarians say it is compounded of an Hebrew word which signifies to be greene or flourishing Chap 8.16 and of a Syriack word which signifies to increase and grow as a plant we render it as noting the man mending apace as some sick men upon recovery doe in his strength and health He shall be fresh-coloured who before was pale and wan he shall be full-fleshed who before was fallen and leane so that when he saith His flesh shall be fresher then a childes 'T is an Elegant hyperbolical expression to shew his perfect recovery from that mortal sickness to health As if he had sayd God will restore him so that there shall be no scarr nor print no dregs nor appearance of his former disease seene upon him We know how tender and soft how delicate and faire the flesh of a little child is how sweete his countenance is how full of good blood his veines are how healthy and strong as to his time his whole body is Thus it shall be with this sick man His flesh shall be freshâ—r then a childes he shall be as if he were new-borne or entred a second time upon the stage of this world Our spirituall estate of renovation by Christ is set forth as a youthfull or child-like state as to the purity and perfection of it Eph 5.27 Christ shall present us to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing The Church hath her sin-spots and wrinckles now in her militancy but when Christ shall present the Church at last triumphantly to himselfe then as himselfe was ever without spot or wrinckle so shall the Church be Her flesh shall indeed be fresher then a childes being perfectly recovered out of her spirituall sickness Notat perfectissimum sanitatis modum qui nullum transacti morbi vestigium relinquit Mert And thus in proportion Elihu assures the penitent sick man that when his peace is renewed with God and his spirit set right for God his very flesh shall be without spot or wrinckle fresher then a childes The latter part of the verse beares the same sence He shall returne as in the dayes of his youth That is he shall not barely recover his health and get upon his leggs againe as we say he shall not meerely escape death and the grave but he shall have an addition of bodily ability he shall as it were be young againe As sickness makes a young man look old so recovery from sickness makes the old man look young That 's to returne to the dayes of his youth Hence Note First Bodily beauty health and strength are the Gift of God He gives them and takes them away at pleasure or having taken them away he can give them backe when he pleaseth He kills and he makes alive he bringeth downe to the Grave and bringeth up as Hannah sayd in her Song 1 Sam 2.6 How low soever a man is brought by sickness either proper or metaphoricall the Lord is able to rayse him up againe We read v. 21. in how pitifull a plight the sick man was how rather like a carkasse then a living man he lookt His flesh was consumed that it could not be seene and his bones which were not seene stood out as much as to say He was nothing but skin and bones yet when in that case all hopes were gone and all natural helps fayled it was no hard matter with God to cure him When the skill of the Physician and the vertue of medicines fayle the power of God fayleth not As it is in reference to those outward dangers and desperate exigents which we meete with in this world by enemies and persecutors when we look upon our selves as dead men when all hope of deliverance seems past gone then the Lord alwayes can and often doth deliver The Apostle gives us his experience of it 2 Cor 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves he spake not thus in regard of sickness but of trouble and persecution As if he had sayd The malice and wrath of our enemies was such that we thought we should never escape We had the sentence of death in our selves but providence suffered it to be so that we should not trust in our selves but in God who rayseth the dead As it is I say in such dangers so in dangerous deadly sicknesses when a poore creature hath the sentence of death in himselfe when he makes no other reckoning but to dye as good King Hezekiah sayd of himselfe in his sickness Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lyon so will he breake all my bones from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me yet then as in his case so in many cases the Lord stretcheth forth a healing hand and takes the sick man up againe to continue in
stile Psal 67.1 God be mercifull to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us that is give us tokens and pledges of his favour Secondly How see we the face of God Doth not God tell Moses No man can see my face and live How then can the face of God be seene I answer The face of God which was touched before as taken for the essence of God or for his essentiall glory cannot be seene That 's too transcendent a glory for man to behold What we see of God is but some ray or beaming out of light and glory from himselfe we cannot see himselfe The essentiall or personall glory of God is that face which cannot be seene but the declarative glory of God is a face of God which may be clearely seene by faith in the light of his word and workes And to see the face of God is nothing else but for a man to know in himselfe as the Apostles word is in somewhat a parallel case Heb 10.34 that God is gracious to him that is to have an assurance of his favour or a reflect act of faith about it The holy Spirit sheweth us what God is and what the things of God are 1 Cor 2.12 We have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God that is that we mayâ—e enlightned with the knowledge of the grace goodness and favour of God to us discovered in the Gospel The Spirit sheweth us this blessed face of God and we see it by the actings of our faith all our visions of God in this life are visions of faith upon whose wings all our intellectuall powers soare aloft and are carried up to God Faith is not only a worke of the will in consent and application but a worke of the understanding by assent and knowledge Thus we see God as a Spirit is only to be seene with a spirituall eye The vision of God is intellectuall the vision of faith Videre faciem dei nihil aliud est quam sentire apud animum suum deum propitium Coc In Jubilo i. e. in quodam inexplicabili gaudio Aquin Thus the reconciled sinner finding God favourable to him he seeth his face with joy The word signifies joyfull acclamation or shouting for joy such as men use after great favours done them and benefits or rather bounties bestowed upon them There is a seeing of the face of God with terror so the wicked shall see God that is they shall have manifestations of Gods displeasure they shall be made to see him with shame and sorrow They shall say when they see him to the mountaines and rockes fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe They who never saw the face of God with joy shall see it with horror amazement Saints see it with joy they have unexpressible comfort and contentment in beholding God they shall rejoyce with shouting as in the yeare of Jubile when they sounded out their joyes with trumpets or made a joyfull noyse 'T is no ordinary but a triumphant joy with which the godly see the face of God Extraordinary sights affect with extraordinary joy Now the face of God being the highest and most glorious sight in the world it must needs affect the beholder with a glorious with a Jubilean joy He shall see his face with joy First It being sayd He shall see his face with joy upon his prayer and the humbling of himselfe before God Observe God hides or vayles his face till we humble our soules and seeke his face God will not be seene at all times no not by his owne people There are severall cases in which he turneth away his face in anger or drawes a curtaine as it were yea a cloud between himselfe and the soule And this he doth First and most usually to try his people how they can beare his withdrawings and to see whether or to what they will betake themselves when he takes himselfe so much from them that they cannot see him Secondly He doth it often to chasten and correct man for sin To be under the hidings of Gods face is the saddest effect of sin to a sencible or an awakened soule David made a grievous complaint because of this what ever the cause or occasion of it was Psal 13.1 The absence of God from him though possibly but for a short time was so tedious to him that he cryed out How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me Even Jesus Christ while he stood in the place of sinners bare the hiding of his fathers face as the summe of all those punishments which were due to and deserved by our sin This pressed him more then all bodyly sufferings and made him cry out while he hung upon the Crosse My God my God not why hast thou left me to be crucified but why hast thou forsaken me Math 27.46 Thirdly God hideth his face from some because the manifestations of it have not been received thankfully nor improved rightly We ought to give thankes for the light of the Sun shining in the ayre and also doe our worke in it Is it any wonder if God cloud and eclipse the light of his countenance towards those who neither prize it nor improve it If you would alwayes see the face of God then be ye alwayes seene at the worke and in the wayes of God Secondly Observe It is the sole priviledge of Gods Favourites or of those to whom he is favourable to see his face As no man can see that face of God his essentiall presence so none but Godly men shall see this face of God his comfortable or blessed-making presence Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb 12.14 There is a two-fold vision or sight of God and that negative assertion may be understood of either or of both There 's first a vision of God on earth thus we see his face as was shewed before in the actings of faith For though the Apostle opposeth these two faith and sight We walke by faith and not by sight 2 Cor 5.7 yet faith hath its sight we walke not by sight as the worldly men walk who doe as they see and make their eyes both the guide of their consciences and the in-bringers of their comforts we walke not by outward sight nor doe we make conclusions how to guide our conversations by what we see We walke by faith and that 's the sight which we have of God while we are here on earth which cannot possibly be without holiness faith being so great a part of our holiness and by drawing vertue from Christ dayly the maintainer of it all Secondly there is a sight of the face of God in glory And if none can enter into glory but holy men then no man without
oppose me if thou hast such words ready as have the weight of reason or authority in them to maintaine thy cause bring them forth I am not afraid of what thou canst object neither am I unwilling to heare thy defence Some expound Elihu speaking Ironically at least Rhetorically If thou hast any thing to say answer me speake and spare not As if he had sayd Possibly thou canst set all right and shew me where I am wrong Possibly thou thinkest I have spoken amisse when I sayd In this thou art not righteous goe to then shew me my mistake or wherein I have misapprehended thee make it good if thou art able against my assertion that thou art just and righteous even in that wherein I have endeavoured to detect thy unrighteousness Possibly thou mayst bring me to be of thy opinion and then surely I shall justifie thee Artificiosa prohibitio per concessionem Simile est illud poetae I sequere Italiam ventis pete regna per undas Virgil Aeniad 4to and retract my censure of thee Rhetoricians call this an Artificiall prohibition by a concession or the admitting of another to doe that which they know he cannot doe when he hath done his utmost or as we say hath left no stone unturn'd to doe it But I conceive Elihu spake plainly to Job and did not like a subtle Orator put him upon impossibles but like a sincere friend soberly and seriously invited him to doe and say as much as was possible in his owne defence If thou hast any thing to say answer me Hence note Wise men though they have more to speake and purpose to speake more yet are willing that others should speake too Though they can speake still yet they are ready to sit still and heare The most prudent speakers are also patient hearers Elihu when he began to speake Chap 32.18 19. compared himselfe to a full bottle he was even burdened with his owne conceptions I am full of matter sayd he there the spirit within me constraineth me Behold my belly is as wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new bottles And though he had not halfe emptied himselfe yet he could stop his vessel and containe himselfe Answer me I will heare Though Elihu was warme in his worke labouring tooth and nayle to convince and humble Job and shew him wherein he had exceeded and offended though he was teaching him to give glory to God and to ahhorre himselfe as at last he did repenting in dust and ashes yet he was unwilling to determine till he had heard him speake if he had any thing to speake and a minde to speake it Hence note 'T is but equall to give him leave to speake for himselfe with whom we are unsatisfied How else can we either get satisfaction or give an account why we remaine unsatisfied We must not condemne any man in hast nor judge him till we have heard him Necessary stops are no delayes They may procure not only a better but a speedier issue of our business especially in matters of controversie Politicians have a rule Take time and you may doe any thing To make hast slowly is the surest way of making hast Many a journeying man had rid more miles in a day if he had not rid too fast They who will doe all at once or in a breath often loose their breath but seldome doe any thing that 's worth the doing And as hastiness hinders us in doing so it altogether unfits us for censuring Time brings forth truth a sentence deferred may afterwards be given but when it is once given it cannot be recalled therefore it is good before we censure to heare every man out If this moderation and wel-tempered ingenuity were exercised in all our controversies with others it would be a great helpe to the ending of controversies And we should either see no reason to condemne many or condemne them with more reason had we patience to heare them But when first we will not heare an answer or when secondly we suppresse our opposites with power and violence whom we cannot answer or convince by argument or thirdly when we interpret what they say in answer to the worst sence or fourthly when we are glad to finde any weakness or insufficiency in their answers and are so hasty to condemne that we will not give them leave to recollect their thoughts or thinke better on 't to mend their answers and explaine their meaning either by speech or writing it is impossible breaches should be healed differences reconciled or that ever we should come to a cleare full understanding of one another This offer made by Elihu to Job is a good patterne and shewes us how to deale with brethren in all such cases and that which followeth sheweth the best and noblest ground of such amicable condiscentions even a willingness not only to agree with but to embrace those from whom we differ That 's the generall sence of what Elihu assureth Job and would have him confident of in the next words For I desire to justifie thee As if he had sayd I have not spoken all or any of these things to thee because I would conquer thee nor doe I now provoke or invite thee to speake because I have a mind to lye at catch or entangle thee in thy answers for I tell thee my heart and my ayme in this overture is I heartily desire to justifie thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word whereby Elihu expresseth this desire signifieth more then a bare desire It notes first an earnest desire or strength of desire Secondly A pleasing desire or delightfull desire The highest act of desire is delight delight is the intention and strength of affection Non mihi volupi est ut tu im causam injustā estendam velim enim esse justam nec esse in te quod reprehendi possit Merc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est non modo pietatis sed et veritatis laudem tribuere significat se magis propendere ad defendendum quam increpandum Coc or desire at rest As if Elihu had sayd I have not spoken out of ill will to thee or desire of victory over thee nor would any thing be more welcome newes to my soule then to see just cause of justifying thee it doth not please me at all to prove that thou art not just it would extreamly please me even ravish my heart with joy if thou couldst prove thy selfe or thy cause so just and faultlesse that nothing could be blamed or reproved in either I desire to justifie thee That is not only to judge thee a godly man or a man fearing God which I already doe but to judge that thou hast in all things both done and spoken well which as yet I doe not nor can unlesse thou shewest me better reason for it then hitherto thou hast done To justifie another is foure wayes applyed in Scripture as was shewed more largely
at the second verse of the former Chapter First and chiefly 't is applyed or attributed to God himselfe Rom 8.33 It is God that justifieth God puts man into a state of justification he justifieth his person so fully that none can of right lay any thing to his charge much lesse condemne him upon any charge layd against him Secondly Man justifieth God Luke 7.29 30. And all the people that heard him and the Publicans justified God being baptized with the baptisme of John God himselfe who is the Judge of all men is condemned by many men and when things are at worst he alwayes hath some to justifie him Man justifieth God when he honoureth God taking his part and owning both his power and his righteousnesse in whatsoever he doth It is impossible God should be unjust and God is pleased to say we justifie him when we maintaine his wayes as just and righteous Thirdly Man justifieth himselfe when he is either lifted up proudly in the thoughts of what he is or hath done well Luke 18.11 or when he upon good grounds can maintaine that to be well done which he hath done Fourthly Man justifieth man when he either consents to or approves of what he hath done or spoken whether it be good or bad he that approves of a man justifies him though the man be unjust Prov. 17.15 He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are an abomination unto the Lord. Let a man be never so wicked and doe never so wickedly some through ignorance of his wickednesse and others through love to and liking of his wickednesse being such themselves will approve of him and give him their good word But as Christ speaks Math. 11.19 Wisdome is justified of her children that is the true lovers and followers of wisdome having a right knowledge and estimation of her worth will stand by her and speake for her when slighted by the blind and unknowing world And as this is true of declarative wisdome so especially of Christ who is essentiall wisdome His children highly prize and justifie him while the world condemns and contemns him In this fourth sence Elihu is to be understood here I desire to justifie thee that is to give testimony unto thee or subscribe thy certificate that thou art worthy of commendation Though Elihu was a man of a very warme and keene spirit full of fire and mettle yet he discovered a very honest bent and a well governed intention towards Job in saying I desire to justifie thee for 't is as if he had said It would not please me at all to see cause of further censure but it would please me fully to see cause of approving and acquitting thee Therefore doe but state thy case and make out the merits of it and I shall yield so soon as I see cause So then Elihu did not carry himself in this business first as a party or as one that had taken a side and was resolved to hold it as some doe right or wrong because he had appeared in it Nor Secondly was he hurryed by passion or intemperance of spirit Nor Thirdly was he hood-winkt by prejudice or fore-stalled by his opinion against the person Nor Fourthly was he engaged by love to contention or hopes of victory Nor Fifthly was he purposed to suppresse smother or keepe downe the truth Nor Sixthly had he any desire to asperse Job and make him appear black Nor Seventhly had he a mind to grieve the man or burthen him with accusations but declared a cleare candor and much melting compassion towards his afflicted Antagonist hungring and thirsting yea even longing for a just occasion to justifie him Verbum justificare sumitur pro justitiam exercere justè ac recte procedere q. d. statui apud me juxta aequitatis leges tecum agere Bold Some I grant expound this word justifie as used here by Elihu in a very bare and barren sence as if it implyed only thus much I will doe thee right or I have no mind to doe thee wrong but surely the word is much more fruitfull and beares the signification of a great willingness in Elihu to render Job as faire as possibly he could or as his cause would beare to all the world he waited to understand so much of him and by him as might enable him to say he had neither spoken nor done any thing amisse Hence note First A good man is glad to see any mans cause or case prove good or better then he thought it The Apostle giving severall Characters of Gospell love or charity saith 1 Cor. 13.6 It rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth As charity rejoyceth not in the doing of iniquity so neither doth it when others are found to have done iniquity But it rejoyceth much when any who are either suspected or charged with iniquity are upon due tryall found cleare and acquitted Paul wished that all who heard him had been not only almost but altogether such as he except his bonds Acts 26.29 It is a great argument that a man is good and just when he heartily wisheth that he who hath given occasion to others to think ill of him may at last appeare better then they thought him Secondly note A good man seekes not victory but truth and the good of those he deals with When he contends earnestly with others he desires as earnestly that truth may gaine by that contention Where a spirit of strife uncharitableness possesseth the minds of many men they love to be vexing trampling upon those they deale with rather then helping and enforming them This evill spirit is the familiar of this age That which the Apostle spake Phil. 1.15 of not a few who had the name of Gospel Ministers some preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will the one preach Christ of contention not sincerely the same may be said of many disputers and polemicall writers they doe it enviously they doe it out of love to strife and contention not out of love either to truth or to those with whom they contend and strive this is a bad spirit a spirit far unlike that which ruled in Elihu who wished that the sharpest reprehensions he gave Job might end in his justification There should be such a spirit in man contending with man as there is in God contending with man who doth not thunder against sinners because he would have them perish or delighteth in their destruction but doth it first to awaken them secondly to humble them thirdly to convert them fourthly to justifie them and lastly to save them for ever I write not these things saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.14 to shame you but as my beloved sons I warne you As if he had said I intend not to asperse you or throw dirt upon you but only advise you to wipe off the dirt that is cast upon you or to keep your selves out of the dirt I would either be
a means to cleanse you or provoke you to preserve your selves cleane Note Thirdly It is our duty to justifie those whom we oppose when they can clear themselves As Elihu spake very ingeniously so not at all beyond his duty we should be glad when they whom we have suspected or charged appeare faire or better then we suspected he that doth so must be justified as we must not hold the truth of God so we must not hold the credit of our neighbour in unrighteousness We should have three ends in dealing and debating with others First to convince them of their errours and sins Secondly to recover them out of sin and errour Thirdly to acquit them in what they appeare and can approve themselves not to have sinned or erred Elihu aimed at and attained the first and second in his debate with Job and it would have been a greater contentment to him if there being no need of those two he had seene cause only to have done the third Speak said he for I desire to justifie thee Vers 33. If not hearken unto me hold thy peace and I shall teach thee wisdome Elihu having desired Job to speake and he either refusing or having nothing to say he re-assumed and re-inforced his former counsell Hearken unto me hold thy peace These words were opened v. 31. therefore I need not stay upon them here If not hearken c. and indeed what should they doe but hear and submit who have nothing to answer or reply especially when so gainfull an overture is made them for their encouragement to hear as Elihu made Job in the next words which are also the last of this discourse And I shall teach thee wisdome Elihu may seeme to take much upon him and shew himself very confident when he thus undertook and promised to teach Job wisdome yet doubtless the ground of his confidence was not in himselfe but in Gods assistance and in Jobs humble silence As if he had said I see thou wilt not speake but heare hear then and I shall teach thee wisdome for God I hope will be with us in this matter and both open my mouth to speak and thine eares to hear that which is wisdome indeed having given thee a heart to receive instruction he will instruct thee to profit and make thee wise to know tâ—y duty and doe it by my ministry though a weake and unworthy instrument in his hand I shall teach thee wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Kal disâ—ere in Piel docere hinc Aleph Paedagogus antecassor dux doctor qui aliis solet praeire sicut Aleph prima litera reliquas antecedit The word which we render to teach in another conjugation signifieth to learne and the Nowne signifieth a leader or governour As that first letter Aleph in the Hebrew Alphabet is the leading letter to all that follow so a Teacher should be a leader he should goe before those that heare him by good example as well as by wholsome doctrine Be thou an example of the Beleevers saith the Apostle Timothy 1 Epist 4.12 who was set up in the Church of Ephesus a Teacher and an Instructer Further when Elihu saith I will teach thee wisdome his meaning is I shall acquaint thee with that which may make thee wise or I shall shew thee wherein true wisdome doth consist And that consists chiefly in these two things First in the knowledge of our selves Secondly in the knowledge of God As if Elihu had said I doubt not but I shall make thee know more fully what thou art as also who God is And it plainly appeares in the close that Job got a fuller light in both by what Elihu said to him He got a suller soul-sight of the soveraignty and highnesse of God and a deeper humiliation in the sight of his own sinfullness and vilenesse He that hath learned and is in the power of these two lessons is questionless a wise man and he that faithfully teacheth these two lessons doth not at all over-rate his doctrine if he call it wisdome nor doth he put too high a title upon his paines and endeavours if he saith to his Auditors or Schollars I will teach or have taught you wisdome Lastly When Elihu said I will teach thee wisdome we must not conceive that he looked upon Job as unwise or ignorant Elihu knew well enough he had not to doe with a child or an ideot but with a man of knowledge with a man who was skilfull in the word of righteousnesse whose senses as the Apostle expresseth it Heb. 5.14 were exercised to discern both good and evill His meaning then when he said I will teach thee wisdome was only this I will teach thee to be wiser and more knowing in some necessary truths then as yet thou art or at least hast appeared to be Or we may give his sence in the language of the Apostle 2 Cor. 1.24 I will teach thee wisdome not as having dominion over thy faith but as a helper of thy joy Hence note First There are none so wise none so holy but they may learne more wisdome to be yet more holy 'T is out of question he was never good who thinks he can be no better nor doth he yet know any thing aright who saith he needs know no more It is very sad which is the case of many 2 Tim. 3.7 to be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth Yet they who through grace have been enabled to come to the knowledge of the truth must be ever learning and the more any man doth know the more he seeth his need and the more willing he is to be taught and know more The feare of God that is wisdome saith Job Chap. 28.28 and to depart from evill is understanding and God testified of Job that he feared him and eschewed evill in the first verse of this Booke now if so wise so good a man as Job might learne wisdome let none think themselves too wise or too good to learne Secondly Note True wisdome consists in the true knowledge of our selves and of God This was the theame or subject upon which Elihu insisted he was not teaching Job humane philosophicall or naturall wisdome but heavenly and divine wisdome the greatest meere naturall Philosophers in the world which title sounds them lovers of wisdome were meere strangers to that which we call true wisdom and as the Apostle chargeth them Rom. 1.21 22. became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools Thirdly Note There is nothing worth the learning or knowing but that which makes us truly wise For that only sheweth us the way to be truly happy 'T is our wisdome to work for a right end and that work can never attaine its end but by the choyce of right means Through desire saith Solomon Prov. 18.1 a man having separated himself seeketh and intermedleth with all wisdome The desire
others judge what the Word of God no! but whether they speake according to the word of God or no In this sense every one must judg sor himselfe we must not take all for granted but try what we heare by the eare as we doe what we eat by the mouth Thirdly Note A spiritually judicious and considerate man will take time to judge of things that are spoken as the pallate doth of meates that are eaten The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat God hath given man a faculty for that end and he is to use his faculty We commonly fay Look before you leape Surely then we should tast before we eate and prove all things whether they are good or no before we electively hold that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 The noble Bereans received the word with all readinesse of mind yet they would make no more hast then good speed to receive it for as the Text saith Acts 17.11 They searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so Fourthly Here are two Organs of sense spoken of the ear and the mouth both are of great use to man but one of them the eare is of a more frequent and noble use Beasts have both mouths and eares but because theirs is only a sensitive life they make more use of their mouths then of their eares Whereas man whose life is rationall yea and spirituall too must or ought to make more use of his eares then of his mouth How doth this reprove all those who are more in trying meats then in trying words or more for tasting then they are for hearing It was a complaint of some in the former age that they made themselves like bruit beasts which having both those powers of hearing and tasting have yet no regard to hearing but are all for feeding and eating They carry it like beasts and are more bruitish then a beast who employ their mouths more then their eares A beast is made in that low forme to live to eat and worke and so to dye man is of a higher forme next to that of Angells and for him to spend his time in eating and drinking as if his worke lay at his mouth not at his ear is to degrade himself and lead a bruitish life The Apostle brings in such bruits speaking thus 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye not a word of using their eares they say not come let us hear the word of God let us seek bread for our soules but come let us eat and drink now for a man to be so much in eating as to neglect hearing and meditating what doth he but make himselfe like a beast of the earth who should be like the Angels in Heaven dayly rising up to a spirituall and heavenly life God lifts us up to Heaven as I may say by the eares Our eares were not given us only to heare delightfull sounds or to commune one with another about the affaires of this life the use of the eare is yet more noble even to helpe us in the receiving of all saving and sanctifying knowledge Faith comes by hearing Rom. 15.17 and so doth every grace both as to the implantation and growth of it till we come to glory Therefore consider how you use this excellent sense of hearing and how you improve in spirituals by what you have heard We were made after the Image of God in knowledge and righteousnesse and it should be the great designe of our lives to get this image renewed and that is done at the eare 't is wrought by hearing faith repentance and every grace come in and are wrought at the eare Some scoffe at this latter age calling it a hearing age not a working age we say they are much for ear-work little for hand-work all for Preaching nothing for doing nor can this reproach be quite wiped off seeing with our plenty of Preaching there is so little practising as if men had turned all the members of their body into eares and were nothing but hearing To doe nothing but heare or to heare and doe nothing to heare much and act little is a high provocation To have a swel'd head and a feeble hand is the disease of Religion Yet let not voluptuous Epicures who are all for the palate and belly-cheere think to excuse themselves for not hearing or for seldome hearing because some who hear much are found doing little or seldome do what they hear for as these shall be condemned by the word which they have heard and not done so shall these for not hearing the word which would have shewed them what to doe It hath been anciently said The belly hath no eares nor will they either mind hearing or mind what they hear who mind their bellyes not for hunger and the support of nature that is as Solomon speaks Eccles 10.17 for strength but for drunkennesse or surfet Cum eo vivere non possum cui palatum magis sapiat quam cor Plutarchus in vita Catonis When a voluptuous person desired Cato that he might live with him No said Cato I like not your society I doe not love to converse with a man who useth his mouth more then his eares who is busied more to please his tast in eating and drinking then to enrich his understanding by hearing and discoursing The Apostle Tit. 1.12 referring them to one of their own Poets calleth the Cretians evill beasts slow bellies They were not slow to fill their bellyes but their full bellyes their belly being their God as he told some among the Philippians Chap. 3.19 made them slow yea reprobate to every good word and worke Solomon gives man a great charge when he saith Prov. 23.23 Buy truth and sell it not The mart for those most precious commodities grace and truth is kept not at the belly but at the eare there we buy without money and without price both grace and truth to get these is to be wise merchants The best market we can make the best trade we can drive is with and at our eares The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat And from this Elihu infers Vers 4. Let us chuse to our selves judgment let us know among our selves what is good This verse containes the second request which Elihu made to Jobs friends The summe of it is that they might proceed judiciously and fairly in the cause before them As if he had said Seeing it is the office of the eare to try words as the mouth tasteth meat let us see what we can do with our eares towards the determination of this matter Job hath often wished to find one with whom he might debate and try this cause in judgment let us give him his wish and having throughly weighed the matter and merits of his cause let us see what justice will award him Let us chuse to our selves judgment c. Let us chuse To elect or chuse is the worke of the will And to chuse
gall and the fruit of righteousness into Hemlock Right done is sweete and wholesome but right denied is bitter as Gall and banefull like Hemlock Secondly When Judgement is defer'd stopped or delayed then 't is taken away for a time To have judgement long delayed is alwayes next degree to the deniall of it and sometimes delay is more cruciating and grievous then a deniall Thirdly A mans judgement is sayd to be taken away when the ground or cause of Gods proceeding with him in judgement is hid or unmanifest Judgement as to us is not when the reason of it doth not appeare to us or when we see not the reason of it To feel Judgement and not to see the cause of it turnes it into a torment we say commonly Things that appeare not are as if they were not When the reason or ground of our sufferings is not understood 't is as if we suffered without any ground of reason When Job complained God hath taken away my Judgement we are not to understand him as if Elihu intended it in the first or grossest sence that God had subverted his judgement or had done him wrong Elihu could not suspect he had any such blasphemous opinion of God for that had fullfilled the Devills prophecy of him He will curse thee to thy face But when he sayd God hath taken away my Judgement he meant it according to the two latter interpretations either that God deferred long to restore him and answer his prayer or that God had hid from him the reason of his dealing with him so that he could not make it out how or why he was so sorely and grievously handled Job knew well his owne innocency but he did not well consider Gods soveraignty which alone answers enough for him how much soever he in this world afflicts the innocent And therefore for as much as God held him long in that sad condition and in the meane time hid his judgement or the reason of it from him this was Jobs grievance and the burden of it pressed him to cry out God hath taken away my Judgement In this he was too bold with God and therefore he justly fell under this censure of Elihu As if he had sayd It doth not at all become thee O Job as a creature as a man much lesse as a new creature or as a godly man to cry out as thou hast done that God hath taken away thy Judgement because he doth not give thee an account nor tell thee why he judgeth thee therefore humble thy selfe that ever thou hast sayd and take heed thou say it no more God hath taken away my Judgement Hence note First God sometimes lets the goodness of his most precious servants lâ—e in the dark He goeth unusuall wayes with many of his choycest servants he doth not alwayes declare their right nor deale with them according to the ordinary rule in giving good to them that are good as not alwayes evill to them that are evill the Lord is at his liberty in these present distributions he is supream and hath power over all flesh and so keepes their judgement in the clouds or a secret to himselfe Secondly Note The Lord sometimes is pleased to defer and delay to doe his servants right And thus he takes away their Judgement Though he hath a purpose to give it them yet he doth not presently give it them at last he will make even with all men each man shall have his judgement he will reward every one according to his worke and the righteous shall without doubt have a good reward Thirdly Note When God doth either hide or defer the Judgement of a godly man it doth very much affect yea and afflict his heart We are usually much afflicted with any dark dispensation upon many accounts especially upon this because it makes us obnoxious to every mans censure When God takes away our judgement we fall under the hard judgements of men And to lie under the ill opinions of men unvindicated or unrighted is no easie burden We have that promise Psal 37.6 He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the noone-day The righteousness and judgement of a good man may be in a mid-night darkness as to man and till that be brought to the light of other mens knowledge himselfe hath sometimes little light of comfort Fourthly Note It is sinfull to complaine and to be troubled as if God had not done us right because we see it not done or because he deferrs to doe it In this Job was most faulty he uttered many passionate speeches about what God had done because things were not brought to an issue nor his condition stated and cleared up either to the world or to himselfe This troubled him more then the extremity of his paine or the greatest of his troubles How stiffely Job stood upon it that his Judgement was taken away will appeare yet further in the next words which Elihu makes further matter of accusation Vers 6. Should I lie against my right my wound is incurable without transgression In this verse we have two other parts of the Inditement brought against Job neere of the same nature with the former wherein he yet more vehemently urgeth his owne integrity and cryeth out both of the greatness and causelessness on his part of his present sufferings More distinctly Elihu in this verse chargeth him First That he did over-eagerly maintaine his owne cause Should I lie against my right Secondly That he spake of God as dealing over-harshly with him My wound is incurable without transgression These things saith Elihu thou hast also sayd Should I lie against my right We read the words as a Question others read them as a direct proposition There is a lie in Judging me or In judicando enim me mendacium est Vulg There is a lie against my right The word which we here translate right is the same which we translate Judgement in the former verse And when he saith There is a lie against my right It is as if he had plainly sayd I am falsely charged I am wrongfully accused I am not such a man as I am supposed nor have I done those things whereof I am suspected Every false accusation brought against a man is a lie against his right Secondly Others read it thus Super judiâ—ium meum faciam mentiri i. e. falsi arguam hominem qui volet mâ—cum contendere Cajet Item Chald I shall make liers against my right that is whosoever stands up to prove any thing against me as you have done saying I am wicked unrighteous or hypocriticall I shall be able to prove him a lier But neither the Grammaticall signification of the words will fairely beare this sence nor doth it well correspond with the former verse In judicio meo mentior Pisc Probarem si mentiri hoc sensu de persona dici inveniretur nam de re usurpari certum est Drus Thirdly Thus I lie
and practices as procured them that ruine Thus the righteous rejoyce when they see the vengeance yea they wash their feere in the blood of the ungodly that is they get comfort and encouragement by seeing the Lord avenge their cause against their adversaries It is sayd Exod 14.30 31. that God having overwhelmed the Egyptians in the red Sea the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the shoar God did not suffer the carcasses of the Egyptians to sink to the bottom of the Sea but caused them to lie upon the shoar that the Israelites might see them And when Israel saw that dreadfull stroak of the Lord upon the Egyptians It is sayd The people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses Thus they were confirmed in their faith by Gods open Judgements upon the Egyptians They were smitten in the place of beholders or in the open sight of others There are yet two other interpretations of these words which I shall touch He striketh them in the place of beholders In loco videntium i. e. exiflentes in statu in quo videre poterant tum per naturalem rationem tum per sacram doctrinam quid esset faciendum et quid esset vitandum Aquin that is saith my Author in such an estate or condition wherein themselves might see both by that natural light which every man hath especially by the light of doctrine and instruction what they ought to doe and what to shun or avoyd In this sense to be smitten in the place of Seers is to see and behold to have light and understanding what to doe or forbeare doing and yet to act against that light and so provoke the Lord to strike us which is a great aggravation both of the sin and punishment of man A second gives it thus He striketh them in the place of seers or where they saw that is he striketh them in the eye of their understanding or in their Judgement he striketh them with spirituall blindness as the Sodomites were with corporall so that they are not able to see their way or what becomes them to doe This is a most severe stroake There are many who when they have abused the light and would not doe what they saw they ought God hath struck them with such blindness that they should not see what they ought to doe Both these are rather tropologicall Expositions then literall yet they may have their use and improvement by way of allusion In this place Elihu having thus held out the openness and exemplariness of the judgements of God upon wicked men proceeds in the following words to shew the equity and righteousnesse of them Vers 27. Because they have turned back from him and would not Consider any of his wayes Here I say lest any should surmise that God takes vengeance without cause the cause is named and assigned why God takes vengeance 't is because they turned back from him they in the pride and stoutnesse of their hearts which great men especially are much subject to refused to obey and follow God and therefore his wrath followed and brake them They turned back from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum è verbo de post eum sic alibi scortati sunt de post dominum i. e. deserto domino There is a two-fold turning back First Corporall Secondly Morall or spirituall none can corporally turn back from God though some attempt it to what hiding place soever we turn our selves we cannot be hid from him who filleth every place But there are many who morally turn back and depart from the living God Sinners would turn their persons back from God and hide their heads they would get quite out of his sight and reach though they cannot but all of them turn back from God in their hearts In two respects sinners in generall may be sayd to turne back from God First when he commands and they will not obey him or withdraw their obedience from his commandements Secondly when he entreates and invites them and they will not come to him nor accept his tendered respects and favours Thus the Lord complained of his owne people Psal 81.11 Israel would none of me God wooed them but they had other lovers and after them they would goe even Israel lightly regarded the God of Israel yea they made a defection from him More distinctly There is a three-fold turning back from God or they who turne back from God are of three sorts First There is a turning back from God by those who have openly followed him or made profession of his name Thus hypocrites and formalists turne back from God This the Scripture calls back-sliding revolting and going a whoring from God Such as these are like perfidious Souldiers who enter and list themselves in an Army marching with them for a while taking their pay yet soon after forsake their colours and turn to the enemy Thus many apostatize from God to the Devill and to the creature or as Paul sayd of Demas they forsake Christ and embrace this present world Luther was charged by his enemies that he was an Apostate and he acknowledged he was but he thanked God for it he indeed turned back from what he did once professe but it was to a better profession he did not turne from God to the world but he turned from the world to God and that 's a blessed Apostacy he did not turn from truth to error but from error to truth he did not turn from pure worship to Idolatry and superstition but from Idolatry and superstition to pure worship How wretched is their condition who are indeed Apostates who turn from God to the world from truth to error from pure worship to Idolatry and superstition from a holy conversation to prophaness loosness and libertenisme to a complyance with the world and a symbolizing with them in their lusts and wickednesse This abominable apostacy is a fruit of hypocrisie Hypocrites turne only their faces to God and Apostates turne their backes upon him or turn back from him And all they who turn only their faces unto God will for their owne advantage or to save themselves turn their backs upon him Hypocrites when put to it when the storme comes ever prove Apostates Secondly There is a turning from God found even in the best followers of God who is there among the Saints on earth that keepes constant un-interrupted communion with God The least degree of inordinate letting downe or turning the heart to the creature is a degree of turning back from God As holiness is our motion toward God and to act holyly is to keep the eye of the soule alwayes upon God so unholiness is an aversion from God David did not say nor could he say though as holy a man as lived that he had never turned from God he could only say that he had not wickedly departed from God Psal 18.21 Thirdly There is a turning back from God proper to all unregenerate
wicked Princes til at last they were carried into captivity by the common enemy These the like are the woful effects of Gods hiding his face from a Nation from all which we may well conclude with Elihu in the Text who then can behold him who can bear his wrathful presence when his face or favourable presence is hidden from us To shut up this point I shall only adde that because these hidings of Gods face are gradual as was shewed before therefore they are little taken notice of as the Prophet complained Hos 7.9 Gray hairs are here and there upon them and they know it not that is they are in a declining condition gray hairs are the signes of old age Eorum mihi videtur idoneus sensus omnino Gormanus qui hanc libertatem dei sive pacem concedendi sive condemnandi vel turbandi ad tyrannos tantum coardat eos qui impiè vivunt Sanct. which is the declension of mans life he alludes from the body Natural to the body Civil or Politick they are I say in a declining weakning spending condition yet they lay it not to heart And that 's a sore if not the chiefest judgement of God upon a Nation when hiding his face he hides his judgements from them and gives them up to hardness of heart to blindness of minde and a spirit of stupidity that they see not nor take notice of their own danger nor the departure of God from them which is the cause of it And still the more God hideth his face from a Nation the more miserable they are and withal the more insensible of their misery So much from that consideration of the Text as to a Nation When he giveth quietness who can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him Whether it be against a Nation Or against a man only As this verse respects a man only or a single person it is expounded two or three wayes First Of Oppressors and wicked men as if he had said When God will give a wicked man quietness or prosperity in his sinful way who can make his estate troublous or trouble him in his estate He shall be quiet while the will of God is to suffer him to be so and if God once hide his face from him that is Si deus pacem tribuat impiis quis illius providentiam arcana iudicia coâ—d mnare aud bit Gregor Philip. declareth displeasure against him who can behold him that is who among the mightiest of wicked oppressors can lift himself up against or stand before God Secondly The words are expounded of the oppressed or of godly men as if he had said when God is minded or resolved to give peace and quietness to any of his faithful servants who can hinder him or trouble them and when he is pleased for reason best known to himself to leave any of his faithful servants in darkness and withdraw the light of his countenance from them who among them can behold him that is bear or endure his angry appearances Quum ipse tranquillat sc miseros afflictos quis inquietabit cum abscondit faciem sc ab improbis quis contemplabitur eum i. e. quis improborum aversanti Deo ausit obsistere Jun. A third expounds the former part of the verse according to the second Exposition of the whole verse concerning the oppressed or afflicted godly if God will give them quietness who can give them trouble And the latter part of the verse of Oppressors if he hideth his face from wicked and unjust men who can behold him Further Some who take this sence do not understand it as an act of God hiding his own face but as an act of God hiding the face of the wicked Oppressor as if it had been said When God hideth a wicked mans face and wraps him up as a condemned man or when by the command of the Magistrate after his legal tryal his face is covered being ready to seal the warrant for his execution Hamans face was covered as soon as the Kings word went out against him then who can behold him Some insist much upon this interpretation in allusion to the custome of those times when condemned malefactors had their faces covered and indeed when God wraps up the oppressors face as a condemned man who can behold him that is who can hold up his face against God or resist him in this work of justice But I intend not to prosecute the personal consideration of the Text under these distinct notions but shall only take up the general sence When he giveth quietness to a man who can make trouble and when he hideth his face from a man who can behold him I shall only adde Master Broughton's gloss upon the whole verse when for the poor he kills the mighty none can stay him and when he hideth his favour none can finde it Hence Observe First The quietness or peace of any man of every man is of the Lord. If God will have a wicked man live in quietness to it shall be and God hath given and doth often give them quietness I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green Bay tree Psal 37.35 David spake this from a good witness the sight of his eye I saith he have seen the wicked in much outward pomp and splendour and as the outward peace and quietness pomp and splendour of the wicked is from God so also is both the outward and inward peace of any godly man First The outward peace or the peace of a godly man in his outward estate is of the Lord Psal 4.8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou only makest me to dwell in safety that is thou O Lord wilt watch over me in the night and not suffer me to be surprized by any sudden danger and therefore I will quietly repose my self upon thy gracious promises and throw off those cares and fears which as thorns in the pillow would not suffer me to rest when I lye down in my bed the Lord is my safety even the rest of my body In the 5th chapter of this book ver 23 24. Eliphaz telleth us how the Lord secures the outward condition of a good man and gives him such quietness that even the very beasts of the earth shall be in league and the stones of the field at peace with him and he shall know or be assured that his tabernacle shall be in peace Secondly The inward peace the soul peace the spiritual peace of a godly man is much more from the Lord John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth so give I unto you as if Christ had said I will not deal with you after the rate of the world that is either deceitfully and falsly or rigorously and unjustly I will not give you such measure as the world gives you nor in
it is from the negligence of this man or from the malice of that other man All this while there is no acknowledgement of the hand of God They say not with Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord nor with David Psal 39.9 10. I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Remove thy stroke away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand It is as much our duty and for the glory of God to confess that our afflictions are of God as our mercies and favours Thirdly Observe The chastenings of God must be born they must be endured Many are chastised who cannot say they have born chastisements It 's an ordinary thing to be under chastisement but it s a great thing and requires much holy skill and spiritualness to bear a chastisement the duty of a Christian lies most in two points First in doing or in active obedience Secondly in suffering or in passive obedience and there is as much of God as much of grace as much of holiness yea I may say much more held out in bearing and in suffering then there is in acting or in doing But you will say what is it to bear that you make it so difficult a matter to bear chastisements How must chastisements be born or what is it to bear them I will answer the question under two heads First Negatively To bear chastisement is not First meerly to finde or feel it upon our shoulders as a burthen which pincheth or presseth us so a beast may bear Secondly it is not a bearing meerly because we cannot help it or be rid of our burden for so the worst of men may bear they bear the greatest burthens that God layeth upon them because they cannot avoid them nor ease themselves of them Thirdly It is not a bearing stoutly or slightingly to make nothing of it so proud men bear men of unsubdued spirits unto God and his word regard not what they bear nor what God doth to them Fourthly It is not a bearing them sowrly or sullenly for so discontented persons bear yea so the devil beareth the burthen which the hand of God hath laid upon him Fifthly Nor is it a bearing chastisement faintly or dispondingly so weak believers bear To bear and faint is not the bearing of faith Neither of these are the bearing of chastisement which Elihu intends in this counsel when he saith It is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisment Thus ye see the Negative what the bearing of it is not Secondly I answer affirmatively To bear a chastisement as an act or work of grace is First to bear it sensibly that is feeling the weight of the hand of God and tasting the bitterness of that cup of sorrow which he giveth us to drink Secondly 'T is a bearing of it submittingly humbly patiently laying our selves down at the foot of God and saying as Eli did Let him do what seemeth him good or as David 2 Sam. 15.26 Behold here I am let him do to me as seemeth good unto him We never bear any evil of affliction well till we can say with a sweet resignation of our selves to God do with us what seemeth to thee good And for our encouragement I may say nothing can hurt a godly man which seemeth good to God Thirdly 'T is a contentful bearing or a bearing contentedly Thus Christ spake Psal 40. and 't is cited by the Apostle Heb. 10. Lo I come to do thy will I am content to do it what was that It was to bear or suffer the greatest part of what Christ was to do was to bear or suffer the chastisement of our peace Isa 53.5 and in suffering to be made a sacrifice for us his contentment to do the will of God was a contentment to suffer Of such a spirit should the people of God be bearing chastisement not only patiently but contentedly this is hard but this cannot be left out in the full exercise of that grace Fourthly 'T is to bear it more then contentedly willingly how free was Christ to bear when he said John 18.11 The cup which my father hath given me shall I not drink it Surely I will I am willing to drink it though it be a bitter cup. We are not to will our sufferings but to suffer them willingly there is a vast difference between these two I do not say we are to will our sufferings but we are to suffer them willingly we must suffer what and how and when and how long God will and when God willeth our sufferings we must suffer with our wills or be willing to suffer Fifthly To bear chastisement in the sence here intended is not only to bear it with our will but with our affections not only willingly but acceptably and embracingly 't is to say welcome cross because it is the will of God There is no chastisement that we can rejoyce in or have any affection to considered in it self but to bear chastisement in contemplation of the will of God should work our hearts to an accepting to an embracing to a welcoming of it we should say to all our sufferings welcome by the will of God Sixthly 'T is to bear it prayerfully we must bear silently in opposition to complaining but we must not bear silently in opposition to praying While chastisement is upon our backs supplications must be in our mouths and we must pray first That we may see the reason why or for what cause God chasteneth us Secondly We must pray that we may answer the ends which God aimeth at in chastening us Thirdly That we may have fresh power to bear his chastenings Fourthly That God would be pleased to remove our chastenings While we bear chastenings we may pray and pray hard that God would take them away David had no sooner said I opened not my mouth that is complainingly because thou didst it Psal 39.9 but presently he opened his mouth in prayer vers 10. Remove thy stroke away from me While we bear our cross patiently and willingly it would be our sin not to pray for deliverance from it To say I am under a chastisement and let the Lord keep it upon me as long as he will I will never ask him to take it off were a most unbecoming frame of spirit They that bear affliction most cheerfully should pray most earnestly to be eased of it we must be willing to bear them alwayes yet we must pray that we may not bear them long If a childe under the rod of a parent should not say pray father stay your hand it is enough but let him go on striking and never intimate a desire of his forbearance this were a signe of stubbornness not of patience and submission 'T is as bad not to ask release from our troubles as to murmure at them or to be unquiet under them Remember then you must be as much in the exercise of prayer as of patience under the cross and that in these four