the danger of pride poor proud is so common that it is grown into a proverb And they especially who are poor in spirituals grow proud in spirit as it was with the Laodicean Angel Rev. 3.17 But further they are proud who lift up themselves in any thing of self As First in their natural parts wit understanding memory elocution Secondly in their acquired parts learning knowledge skill Thirdly in their moral vertues sobriety temperance justice Fourthly in their spiritual graces faith love self-denial 't is possible to be proud for a fit of these or to have a fit of pride come upon us upon the exercise of these Fifthly in their holy duties and performances prayers fastings c. Sixthly in their legal righteousness and good deeds alms charities We seldom do well or any good especially as we ought and duty binds us much good but we think too well of our selves that we are better than we are or too much both of the good we have done and of our own goodness As the great goodness of God or the greatness of his goodness appears chiefly in this that he can make all things even evil things and those not only the evils of trouble but the evil of sin work together for our good Rom. 8.28 so the great evil of mans heart or the greatness of that evil appears chiefly in this that it causeth all things even good things and those not only the good things of this natural life but the good belonging to and done in the power of a spiritual life to work to our hurt sometimes for a time and would to our ruine for ever did not the Lord over-rule it Seventhly the favour which they have with men whether they be the mighty the Princes and powers of the world or the many the common people of the world How are some lifted up because they are the darlings of the people because the multitude eyes them points at them and applauds them To be lifted up in any of these things or in any thing else and what is there not only of an earthly but of an heavenly pedigree and extraction in which the vain heart of man is not ready to be lifted up unduly forgetting God from whom all good comes to be lifted up I say in any of these things layes man open to the wrathful resistance of God and all such God will bring down and abase therefore let us be empty of our selves and beware of being found among the proud yea of being in any kind or degree proud It is dangerous to have any pride found in us but woe to those who are found proud Thirdly If the Lord hath such an eye to and upon proud men and will thus bring them low Then let us not be afraid of proud men why should we be afraid of them who are falling Prov. 15.33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honour is humility But what saith the same Solomon Prov. 18.32 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty As soon as ever we see any man shewing a proud heart by pride of life we may quickly conclude the Lord is about to pluck him down One very great reason why the Lord hath laid many who were once as mountains low as valleys was the pride of their hearts When pride buds the rod blossometh that is God is preparing for the correction if not for the destruction of proud ones And as it is sad to see pride bud at any time so then especially when the rod blossometh that is when God is correcting us with his rods Fourthly Then do not envy proud ones We are apt to envy those that are high in place though they are proud in spirit but do not envy proud ones how high how great soever you see them for they are in danger of falling according to the truth of this Scripture and many others When proud men are in their fullest ruff and highest ascent then they are nearest a dreadful downfall Before destruction the heart of man is haughty saith Solomon Prov. 18.12 and before honour is humility And the Apostle Peter having given this counsel to those who are humbled by affliction 1 Epist 5.6 humble your selves under the mighty hand of God subjoyns this comfortable promise in the close of the verse That he may exalt you in due time Fifthly Then pride is a very provoking sin The Lord who declares himself against all sorts of sinners declares himself most against proud sinners Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord mark what followeth in the same verse though hand joyn in hand he that is the proud man shall not be unpunished Pride is the Devils sin the Devil is that Mystical Leviathan spoken of in the 41th Chapter of this Book who is a King over all the children of pride They who are not subject to God proud men above all men are not are the Devils subjects He is a King over all the children of pride There are four things in which the provocation of the sin of pride consists any one of which may provoke God to pull down proud ones First Proud men set themselves in the place of God Lucifer by whom the proud Babilonian is meant said Isa 14.14 I will be like the Most High Thus the Lord said of the Prince of Tyrus Ezek. 28.2 Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas yet thou art a man and not God though thou set thy heart as the heart of God See how that proud Prince thought to carry it as God as if he had been the founder of his own strength How can the Lord but be provoked with such an affront as this Proud Babilon spake this language and at as high a rate Isa 47.8 I am and none else besides me is not this to speak just like God I shall not sit as a widdow neither shall I know the loss of children Secondly As pride is an usurpation of the place and power of God so of the providences of God A proud man knoweth not how to acknowledge God in any mercy nor how to be humbled under the hand of God in any affliction He mindes not God either in what he enjoyeth or in what he suffereth is not this a provocation Thirdly Pride must needs provoke God as a proud man sets himself against all the Commands Laws of God God cannot but be provoked to see all his Laws and Commands slighted by man A proud man will keep no bounds nor would he be kept in any Fourthly Pride is a Mother sin it brings forth many other sins As Unbelief is a Mother sin so is Pride Hab. 2.5 He is a proud man neither keepeth at home who enlargeth his desire as hell and is as death and cannot be satisfied but gathereth unto him all Nations and heapeth unto him all people The
Lords stock and treasure can never be drawn dry he is an ever-over-flowing fountain If you had much at the beginning you may have much more at the latter end So much of these words as they hold out the restoring of Jobs estate in general the particulars are summ'd up in the close of the verse For he had fourteen thousand Sheep and six thousand Camels and a thousand yoke of Oxen and a thousand She-Asses The encrease of his estate is here set forth in cattel only as his first estate was cattel were the riches of those times and Countreys yet doubtless his estate encreased in every thing or kind First his family and servants encreased to look to so many cattel Secondly his Lands and pastures encreased to feed them Thirdly his house and buildings encreased to receive and lodge so numerous a Family Fourthly his honour and dignity increased Some affirm that whereas before he had only some small principality under his government now he was declared King over all the Land of Vz Thus all sorts of good things were given him double but whether at once or by degrees is not exprest Some of the Rabbins have a fancy and it is a wild one that Jobs cattel which were taken from him were not carried quite away but only driven into some other Country and there kept so that when he was restored they were brought home to him again with this double encrease This may well go for a fancy for not his own cattel but cattel of the same kind were restored to him double There is no difficulty in these words The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning giving double or twice as many Sheep Oxen Camels Asses as he had before Hence note Outward good things Sheep and Oxen Houses and Lands Gold and Silver are a blessing as they come from God unto his servants Here is nothing said of the best things all was but Sheep and Oxen yet in these Job received a blessing The Lord Deut. 28.4 made large promises of blessings to his obeying people or to his people in case of obedience and all in outward comforts Blessed shalt thou be in the City and blessed shalt thou be in the field blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattel the encrease of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep blessed shall be thy basket and thy store Spiritual things are the best blessings spiritual things are not only the noblest but the most necessary blessings The favour of God the light of his countenance pardon of sin grace in our hearts these are excellent blessings and these make us exceedingly blessed and no doubt but Job did chiefly look after these blessings this good man desired the light of Gods countenance the shinings of his face upon him the workings of his grace and spirit in him the evidences of his love to him infinitely above cattel corn and wine A godly man accounts himself but in a poor condition if he were to reckon all his estate in Houses and Lands in Sheep and Oxen yet these are a blessing from the Lord upon him and so he accounts them And still it must be remembred which hath already been touched that before the coming of Christ before there was a full discovery and a clear manifestation of the grace of God in Christ to his people they in those times were much led and fed with promises of temporal blessings The faithful were allured to heaven by earthly things Jesus Christ who came down from heaven to lift us up thither who took our nature that we might partake of the divine nature who was cloathed with our flesh to shew that God dwelleth in us and hath joyned us to his glory and immortality Jesus Christ I say was known only in shadows and remote prophesies in those times and therefore it was necessary the Lord should deal with them accordingly and allure them by promises of cattel and corn and children especially by the promise of long life which hath the greatest resemblance to and bears the fairest image of eternal life and all because the heavenly life was not then so perfectly discovered as it is now in these Gospel-times For though it be a truth that all the good things of the world are not sufficient to make a love-token yet God gives those good things to his people as tokens of his love and they see love in them and these lesser good things are then best to us when we can look on them as blessings coming from the love of God which we may do First When we can say we have got and keep them with a good conscience Secondly When we use and order them with prudence Thirdly When we dispence them charitably and freely according to the needs and necessities of others When we truly and intentionally honour God with our substance in doing acts of love it shews that he hath given it us in love Fourthly When the Lord with encrease of riches gives us an encrease of grace when our souls thrive as well as our estates then we may look upon riches as coming to us in love Sheep and Oxen Gold and Silver without a just and wise and gracious possessing and using of them prove curses at last not blessings snares not favours There are none so unhappy as foolish rich men none so base as covetous rich men none so intollerable as proud rich men none so vile and despicable as sluggish voluptuous rich men none more ungodly and irreligious than they who having riches trust in them and dote upon them only when the Lord gives spiritual things with temporal grace with goods they are mercies to us When Luther received a favour from a great Prince he began to be afraid that God would put him off with such things A godly man receives a portion in earthly good things but he will not take all the good things of the earth for his portion Now as all spiritual things are better than temporal so among temporals some are better than others Job received good things when his cattel were doubled but he had better blessings of this life restored to him than those his estate restored double in cattle was nothing to his children restored single as it follows in the next words Vers 13. He had also seven sons and three daughters This is the third part of Jobs restauration sons and daughters We may consider this blessing First In the number Secondly In the sex In number his children were seven and three As to sex they were both sons and daughters he had seven sons and three daughters in all ten just the number he had before as we read at the second verse of the first chapter Some of the Jewish Rabbies before spoken of say his former children were not indeed slain but removed during the time of his affliction and that being ended were restored the same both in number and
c. The Hebrew Text doth not expresse this Adverb of time there 't is onely the Lord answered but we well supply it rendering then the Lord answered as if the Penman had said at that very nick instant or juncture of time the Lord came in the words were no sooner out of the mouth of Elihu he had no sooner concluded his speech with Job but the Lord began and answered Job and if the Lord had not just then interposed possibly Job might have replyed and a new heat might have risen to the encreasing of his troubles and the inflaming of all their Spirits as was hinted before therefore the Lord to stop all further proceedings or speech between them two began presently to speak himself Then the Lord answered Take this Observation from it The Lord will appear in the fittest season It was time for the Lord to appear lest this poor man should have been utterly swallowed up with sorrows and over-whelmed with his affliction or lest he should have been drawn out too long and too far in his bitter complainings and impatiency The Lord is a God of judgement blessed are they that wait for him Isa 30.18 He is a wise God and knows how to time every action he knowes when to appear when to shew himself As he himself will not contend for ever Isa 57.16 so neither will he let others contend overlong least the Spirit should sail before him and the soules which he hath made This is a comfortable truth with respect both to Nations and Persons both to the case of the Church of God in general and of every believer in particular The Apostle Peter having counselled the afflicted to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 addes this encouragement in the next words to do so that he may exalt you in due time though not in your time nor at your day the day when you would have him do it yet he will do it in time and in due time that is when it shall be most fit and best for you Thus he appeared to and for Job in the Text when the sorrowes of his heart were enlarged and when he had most need of such an appearance The Lord knows how at any time and when 't is the most proper time to relieve his servants Then The Lord answered Job The word here used is Jehovah and several of the Learned take notice that it is here used with a special significancy for in the discourses of Job and his friends throughout this Book other names of God are if not universally yet mostly used as Elshaddai Eloah c. In the first Chapter indeed where God is spoken of by the divine Historian or sacred Penman of this History he is named Jehovah as also in some other such like places but in the body of the dispute not so And two reasons may be given of it First The name Jehovah imports the Being of God and therefore God himself being about to speak of his giving a Being to the whole Creation and to several sorts of creatures he is most properly represented by his name Jehovah which as it implyeth that he is the First Being the Fountain of his own Being or that he is of himself so that he gives a Being to all things and that in him as the Apostle told the great Philosophers of Athens Acts 17. we live and move and have our being Secondly The Lord though he came in a Whirle-wind yet manifested himself in a clearer light to Job than ever he had done before Now as in the third of Exodus when the Lord sent Moses to the people of Israel to bring them up out of Egypt to Canaan which was a great work one of the greatest that was ever done in the world and in which the Lord made the most glorious discovery of his Power Justice and Mercy when God I say sent Moses upon this service he said unto him Exod. 6.2 3. I am the Lord I am Jehovah and I appeared unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the Name of God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them God being about to make himself more known in the world than he had been to that day by his dreadful plagues upon Pharaoh and the miraculous deliverance of his people out of Egypt as he said chap. 9.16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared in all the earth The Lord I say being about to doe these great things for the manifestation of his own greatness gave this charge to Moses at the sixth verse of the sixth chapter before mentioned Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am Jehovah and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians c. Thus in this latter part of the book of Job the Lord being about to loosen the bonds of Jobs affliction and to ease him of his burden as also to declare and manifest himself more clearly to him than formerly as he confessed chap. 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eyes have seen thee he therefore assumed his great name Jehovah Then the Lord Answered Job c. But some may say Job had not spoken lately much lesse last Elihu spake out six whole Chapters since Job spake a word and though Elihu gave him the liberty yea almost provoked him to speak yet he laid his hand upon his mouth he spake not a word How then can it be said The Lord answered Job To avoid this difficulty Some render Then the Lord answered concerning or about Job And these turn the whole discourse of God in this and the next Chapter upon Elihu in favour of Job I shall touch upon that opinion and interpretation as was said afterwards but at present affirm that Job was the person to whom the Lord here directed his Answer and to take off this doubt how the Lord could be said to answer Job when Job had not spoken last but Elihu I answer as upon a like occasion it hath been elsewhere shewed in this book ch 3.2 that sometimes in Scripture a Speech begun is called an Answer where nothing had been spoken before to which that speech could be applied in way of answer Matth. 11.25 Matth. 17.4 The reason of this Hebraisme is because such as begin to speak do either answer the necessity of the matter or the desire of the hearers and so they give a real and vertual though not a formal Answer Yet there are two considerations in which we may apply the word Answer formally and strictly taken to Job First If we consider Job's wishes and requests Secondly If we consider Job's complaints and though the word be somewhat hard his murmurings The Lord may be said to answer Job as to his wish desire or request because Job had earnestly desired and requested more than once that God would take
shaken out of it 14. It is turned as clay to the seal and they stand as a garment 15. And from the wicked their light is with-holden and the high arm shall be broken THe Lord in dealing with Job had already put sundry Questions to him about the earth and about the sea as hath been shewed in the former part of this Chapter here the Lords calls his thoughts up into the ayre or bids him look to the heavens and duly consider the light of the Sun In this the Lord intends the same thing which he had done before while he was questioning Jâ—b about the Earth and the Sea namely to humble him and bâ—ing him â—o a full submission by shewing him his weakness and utter insufficiency as also to set forth his own wisdom power and greatness Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days c. We may gather up the general sense of these four verses in oâ— this brief sum As if the Lord had thus bespoken Job If thou answerest that the things I have already questioned thee about were before thy time and therefore must needs be done without either thy counsel or assistance then I ask thee farther Hast thou ever hastened or retarded hast thou quickened or stopt the rising of the Sun at any time since thou wast born or hast thou ever caused the morning light in any one of these Jew days which thou hast seen to spread it self far and near even every where to the uttermost parts of the earth that so those evil doers and night-birds who being children of darkness cannot but hate the light and love the works of darkness might by its rising be at once discovered and affrighted This seems to be the purpose and scope of God in these words More particularly Vers 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days That 's the first Question Hast thou since thy days given the morning its charge to Mr. Broughton translates implying that every morning the Sun receives as it were fresh orders from some hand or other now hast thou given out orders for â—â—e morning light Doth the day-light obey thee Doth the Sun arise at such times and places as thou hast appointed Hast thou commanded it so we render The word notes commanding with fullest authority Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vâ—tâ— jubâ—re oâ—essâ— exhibere sisterâ— in actum â—oâ—spectum edâ—câ—re Imperium voluntatis efficaâ— intelligitur quod statim sequitur effâ—ctus a command to appear and be ready upon duty a command to stand forth and do what is enjoyned This word of command is most proper unto God Psal 33.9 He spake the word and it was done he commanded and it stood fast The command of God is a creating command it puts things into act his saying gives them a being his calling them to work makes them work or sets them a work Now saith God Hast thou commanded the morning Hast thou O Job such a word of command upon any câ—eature for the producing of any effect motion or action Hast thou commanded The morning Aâ—anando latine dicitur mane quâ—d cum sole manâ—t dies abâ—â—ience By the morning the Lord means the morning light As if he had said Hast th u raised the Sun out of its bed and brought forth the morning hast thou like the Master or Lord of this great family the World called up thy servants and set up thy light for them to work by hast thou commanded the morning that is caused the Sun to rise which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race Psal 19.5 No saith the Lord it was not 't is not thou that commandest the morning it is I that command the morning I commanded the first morning Gen. 1.5 I said Let there be light and there was light and the evening and morning were the first day It was I who the fourth day said Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons for days and for years It was I that made two great lights the Sun and Moon the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night Gen. 1.14 15 16. The first morning and all the mornings the light-bearer or the light-bringer came forth and appeared at my command not at thine Hast thou commanded the morning Since thy days There is somewhat special in those words Since thy days We may take them either of these two ways First As if the Lord had said Cum dixit A diebus tuis Ostendit id antequam ille nasceretur factum esse perpetuum illum naturae ordinem in manu dei esse non hominum Merc. Was there no morning before thy days Or Was there not a morning befoâ—e thou hadst a morning in the world Did the birth of the morning wait till thou wast born Did it not look forth noâ— appear till thou didst appear Surely there were mornings hundreds of years before thou hadst a morning in the world The morning did not stay for thee nor for thy day Secondly Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days That is since thou camest into the world hast thou had the honour priviledge and power to awaken and call up the morning as thou dost thy houshold servants Know O Job that as there was a morning before thou wast born or hadst a day in the world so since thy day thou hast neither made the morning nor raised up the morning light that power is now in my hand as it was before thou wast in being thou art but of yesterday of a few days there was a morning before thy days and since thy days many have continued and come forth daily yet not at thy command but at mine As I brought forth the light in the first day of the Creation so the fourth day I created the Sun into which I gathered the light and at whose rising the morning shews it self Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days 'T is a daring Question thou hast not I have done it and not thou Hence Note First What God will have done he can command to be done or it shall be done at his command The Lord needs not labour to produce the most difficult effects he can produce them as a Lord by a word speaking he needs not intreat nor treat about the bringing forth of any matter his will is enough to bring it forth What God will have done shall be done Thus it was at the beginning when God created all things and gave them a being and thus it hath been ever since for the moving of all things to their several ends and issues to this day all hath been done by a word of command David Psal 148. calling the Sun Moon and Stars to praise the Lord gives that as the reason vers 5. for he commanded and they were created Now I say as
give deliverance to his people in the very nick of time when the months of their sorrow and burdens are fulfilled for he knows the number of them The children of Israel had long and sore bondage in Egypt but no longer than the months which were appointed for as soon as they were fulfilled their bondage was ended and they delivered mark how the Spirit of God records it to a day Exod. 12.41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred aâ—d thirty years even the self-same day it came to pass that all the h sts of the Lord went out from the Land of Egypt Nor doth the sacred Record leave it thus but adds vers 42. It is a night to be much observed or according to the letter of the Hebrew A night of observations unto the Lord for bringing them out from the Land of Egypt This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations But Moses said in the former verse It was the self-same day Why doth he say here It is a night c And this is that night of the Lord c. The reason I conceive was this The word day may be taken largely for a natural day consisting of twenty four hours now because the four hundred and thirty years were fulfilled and ended at the beginning of that day the Jewish account of dayes beginning at evening â—herefore their deliverance began then and did not stay till the morning Thus exact is the Lord keeping his word not only to a day but to a piece yea to the very hour of a day And as the Lord gave that people deliverance just when those years were fulfilled according to that ancient prophecy so doubtless when the forty two months or which is the same the thousand two hundred and threescore dayes for his witnesses prophecying in sack-cloth Rev. 11.2 3. shall be fulfilled then they also shall come out of their bondage from under mystical Egypt and Babylon Men have been long guessing at the fulfilling of those forty two months but may we not say to them concerning the birth of that prophecy in the same sense that the Lord doth here to Job concerning the particular time when the wilde Goats of the rock and the Hinds bring forth Canst thou number the months that they fulfil As the particular time of the Hinds fulfilling her months so of Sions fulfilling her months of sorrow in this world is a secret which the Lord hath reserved to himself and keeps fast lockt up in the Cabinet of his eternal counsels Knowest thou the time when they bring forth The Lord having thus questioned Job about the time of the bringing forth of these two creatures in these two verses proceeds to question him about the manner of their bringing forth or the painfulness of it Vers 3. They bow themselves c. These words are a description of the hard travel of the Hinds not of the Goats as Interpreters generally agree Bowing of the body is the posture of any creature in travel to bring forth As if the Lord had said Is it thou O Job that hast or I that have given them an instinct in nature to put their bodies as wilde as they are considerately into such a posture when their pains come upon them as may be most easeful for themselves and least hurtful to their off-spring by bowing their bodies to dilate the passages of nature and so by a natural Midwifry to deliver themselves of their burdens as followeth They bring forth their young ones The word rendred bring forth signifies to cleave asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè findo diffindo trajicio implying their extream pain in bringing forth or that it is to them as grievous as the rending and cleaving of their bodies could be So the word is translated Chap. 16.13 where Job making a lamentable complaint about his sufferings under the hand of God expresseth it thus His archers compass me round about he cleaveth my reins asunder Such torture have these poor creatures in bringing forth their young which is more plainly set down in the close of the verse They cast out their sorrows Which may be understood two ways First bowing to free themselves of their young ones their sorrows end or there is an end of their sorrows they are cast out Secondly Thus they cast out their sorrows that is their young ones are cast out which have put them to much sorrow grievous throws so may well be called their sorrows as Rachel called that child with which she had such hard travel Ben-oni The son of her sorrows Gen. 35.18 The word which we render sorrows signifies cords and bonds implying that these creatures are girded and bound about with extream pain until by the power of God in nature they receive deliverance Some are bound and girded with troubles in and from the world who yet are not sorrowful we through faith may even glory in tribulation Rom. 5.3 but they who are sorrowful are alwayes bound and therefore the same word signifieth bonds and sorrows They cast out their sorrows Hence note First Even wilde and savage creatures bring forth with pain This is part of that vanity brought by mans sin upon the creature of which the Apostle speaks Rom. 8.22 We know that the whole creation or every creature groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The creatures groan as bâ—ing laden with a heavy burden and they travel in pain as a woman with child to be eased and delivered of her burden even those creatures which in proper sense neither travel nor bring forth yet are said to groan and tâ—avel in pain by reason of the sin of man and therefore the Apostle â—aith They groan and travel in pain together that is all the creatures joyn in this They do not some groan others sing some travel in pain and others travel in or take their pleasure but they are all as it were sensible of their sad change and bewail it sadly and saith the Apostle they groan and travel until now or unto this now not as if their groaning did then cease when this was said but to shew that it had continued without ceasing until that instant now and so it will continue until the manifestation of the sons of God spoken of vers 19. As soon as man sinned the Lord laid that affliction on the woman In sorrow shalt thou bring forth Gen. 3.16 Now that which was first declared an affliction with respect to the woman is fallen upon all creatures in their degree they all are more or less pained in travel or travel in pain The sin of man hath brought sorrow upon the whole world even upon sinless creatures therefore man should pity poor creatures in their sorrows his sin having brought those sorrows upon them How vile then are they who meerly to satisfie their lusts encrease the sorrows of the creature
Egyptian Sea Isa 11.15 and quotes a Jewish Doctor who expounds it so To this I may reply That other learned men and among them the late Annotators upon our English Bible deny that exposition and are very confident that by the Egyptian Sea is meant not Nilus but the Red Sea which out of the main Ocean shoots into the Land in form and fashion of a tongue Secondly He answers that not only the River Nilus and the Lakes adjoyning to it which abound with Crocodiles but several other great Lakes both in holy Writ and by many Writers are called Seas and therefore he concludes the argument will not hold that by the name Leviathan the Crocodile cannot be signified because the Sea is here assigned as the seat or habitation of Leviathan I grant this is is not a concluding argument against the Crocodile yet from these words we may gather a probable argument for the Whale for as the word Sea is taken sometimes in a large sense for great Rivers and Lakes where Crocodiles are so in strict and proper sense it alwayes signifies the Ocean where Crocodiles are not And the Scripture tells us that the proper place appointed by God for the most proper Leviathans seat is not the Sea in a large and improper sense but in that which is most strict and proper even that which is called the great and wide Sea Psal 104.24 25. as was shewed before And that we have reason to believe that God spake to Job of and about the most proper and eminent of all those animals which by Scripture allowance may be called Leviathan was there also shewed And if so then we must necessarily understand the great and wide Sea by that Deep in the Text which Leviathan maketh to boyl like a pot and by that Sea also which he by his boysterous motion makes like a pot of ointment Thus the Lord in this verse hath told us what work Leviathan makes when he is below in the deep and raising himself towards the surface of the Sea in the next he tells us what he doth when he swims aloft Vers 32. He maketh a path to shine after him c. That is he swims with such force and violence neer the surface of the water that you may see a plain path behind him he makes a great foam or froth upon the waters which shines like a beaten way 'T is good in one sense to make a path shine after us that is by the holiness and righteousness of our lives The path of the righteous shines as the morning light Prov. 4.18 A righteous man walketh not in dark black defiled filthy pathes his are paths of light and such as lead to that blessed inheritance among the Saints in light But the path of an unrighteous man shines only like Leviathans path with an ugly foam or froth or at best 't is but like the shining of a pinching frost or of an aged head which is not whiteness Aestimabit abyssum quasi senescentem Vulg. Vsitatum est ut canum incanescere mare dicatur Haec inter tumidi late maris ibat imago Aurea sed fluctu spumabant caerula cano Virg. l. 8 Aeniad describens navale bellum Augusti atque Antonii Totaque remigio sumis incaâ—uit â—â—de Catullus but hoariness and so 't is still like Leviathans path as it followeth in the latter part of the verse One would think the deep to be hoary The word signifies the hoariness of the head of an old man When we grow old our hair changeth colour and the head is hoary Leviathan makes such a foamy path that one would think the Sea gray-headed or that a hoary frost covered the Sea That metaphor was often used by the old Poets All I shall say from this verse is to take notice of the good providence of God that this hurtful and dangerous creature Leviathan gives such warning where he is While he lies below in the Sea he can do no hurt and as often as he raiseth himself up he makes a path to shine he makes the Sea hoary by which we may the more easily discover and avoid him whereas otherwise he might do mischief unawares or easily surprize the unwary passenger 'T is mercy when they who like Leviathan are able to do much hurt make such a path shine after them as gives any an opportunity to escape them and keep out of danger Thus we have as it were the picture of Leviathan drawn by the hand of God himself And from all it appears that he is a very None-such or that his fellow is not to be found he hath no equal in the visible world such another is no where to be had Thus the Lord concludes Vers 33 34. Vpon the earth is not his like who is made without fear he beholdeth all high things he is a King over all the children of pride These two verses contain the close of all they are as it were the Epilogue the Epiphonema or closing words with which the Lord shuts up his whole discourse about this creature As if he had said Why should I wade further in a description of him by particulars I will say all I will wind up all in a word he is such a one as in the earth there is not his like Or as if the Lord had said to Job I told thee before of Behemoth that he is the chief of my ways yet he comes far short of Leviathan for upon earth there is not his like Leviathan is not only the chief in his own dominion among the fishes of the sea but also among the beasts of the earth the strongest and stoutest of which are not to be compared with him Before I proceed with the opening of these two verses according to our translation which generally holds out Leviathan to be the Whale and before I touch some other translations which bear the same interpretation I shall propose the translation and interpretation given by the learned Bochartus which accommodates these two concluding verses fully to the Crocodile His translation runs thus and so doth his interpretation as followeth There is not his like upon the dust so made Non est ei simile super pulverem ita factum ut non atteratur that he should not be bruised or broken He translates the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as we upon the earth but upon the dust thereby implying that a creeping thing is here intended by Leviathan For saith he the feet of the Crocodile are so short that he rather creepeth than goeth and therefore he may well be reckoned among creeping things And hence Serpents being creeping things are called Serpents of the dust Deut. 32.24 Now though the Crocodile be a creeping thing yet he differs from ordinary creeping things and Serpents for they may easily be trodden upon and bruised as the Lord said to Adam concerning the Serpent the Devil it that is Christ the seed of the woman shall bruise thy head
express the perfection of this creature he saith He is made without fear Hence note Thirdly The less fear the more perfection unless it be of that fear which is our perfection the fear of God then indeed the more fear the more perfection We may distinguish of fear There is godly fear and natural fear The less natural fear the more perfection but the more godly fear The more perfection the more we fear God the more perfect we are but the less of natural fear or fear of the creature we have the more perfect we are The perfection of the godly is often exprest by being above or by being delivered from fear Psal 91.5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terrour by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day The Lord saith to many fear but there are but few of whom he saith and for whom he undertakes that they shall not fear especially in a time of such great fear as is spoken of in that 91st Psalm a time of Plague and that in the heat when the slain of the Lord are many and men fall by thousands on the one hand and on the other Trust in God is the special qualification of the person who stands under the protection of that promise in the Psalm last mentioned And the same promise is made to a man fearing God Psal 112.7 No evil tidings shall make him afraid David professed this gracious fearlessness Psal 46.2 Although the earth be removed and the hills be carried into the midst of the sea yet will not I fear And again Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil 'T is the perfection of a man not to fear outward dangers therefore Christ rebuked his Disciples Mat. 8.28 Wherefore did ye fear O ye of little faith Their faith was very little else their fear would not have been so great Now as it is thus in man the less of natural fear the greater is his perfection so also among other creatures it is a note of their perfection to be made without fear for it shews the greatness of their courage as also of their strength And this is absolutely the perfection of God whose infinite insuperable power and strength is answered with a most constant serenity and immutability of mind who as he wants nothing so he fears nothing Thus our translation carrieth the verse I shall touch upon a second before I part with it Non est in pulvere potestas ejus Coc. Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat dominatum potestatem quia quae dominatum habent super reliqua solent esse materia comparationum similitudinem ideo significat comparare vel assimilare His dominion is not over the dust he is made without fear The reason of this variety of translation is because the word which we render like signifies power or dominion and the reason why the same word signifies to have power as also to compare or be like is because those things which are great above others use to be the matter of comparison And hence it is that as we and others render upon earth none is like him or to be compared to him so others taking the word strictly and properly say his dominion or magistracy is not upon the earth The text thus read shews the Lords great goodness to men upon the earth that having made such a huge vast dreadful creature he hath not given him any power or dominion upon the land but by his providence hath shut him up in the sea where he can do less hurt for if Leviathan or a creature of his bigness and power should live upon the land there were no living by him either for man or beast As it is an argument of Gods care of and benignity to mankind that those land creatures Lions Tygers c. which destroy and prey upon others are so ordered that in the day time they retire to their dens Psal 104.22 and when night comes then they go abroad God shuts them up in the day time when they might do most hurt or hinder man from doing good that is the duties of his calling abroad in the open fields ver 23. 'T is also a great part of the wisdom and good providence of God to shut up the Leviathan within the bounds of the sea his power his dominion is not over the dust or upon the land The Author of this translation glosseth it thus How small a matter were it saith he to say that Leviathan hath not his like upon earth far another thing is here intended or handled Here Divine providence is hinted to us which gives laws and limits to earth and sea and to all things contained in them He hath not formed nor fitted the body of Leviathan with members of use upon the earth therefore the sea is his dominion not the land This is a truth and a useful consideration Yet I conceive the Lord doth here rather highten the power of Leviathan by saying He hath not his like on earth For it being taken for granted that he hath not his like in the sea nothing could be said more to set forth his greatness than this that he hath not his like at land And some of the Hebrew Doctors say the Lord spake thus because beasts on the land are stronger than fish in the sea and they give a reason for it upon a Philosophical ground because much moisture weakens Therefore the wonderful even preternatural strength of Leviathan appears in this that he being a water animal should yet be both bigger and stronger than any best of the earth Vpon the earth there is not his like who is made without fear Which as it is here asserted so it is demonstrated in the following words Vers 34. He beholdeth all high things he is King over all the children of pride There is a three-fold interpretation of those words in the former part of this verse He beholdeth all high things Understanding by the Relative He Leviathan for there is another reading which I shall touch in the close First These words may be expounded as an argument of the mighty courage of Leviathan He as it was said before is made without fear for he beholdeth all high things that is let things or persons be never so high never so great never so formidable he beholdeth them boldly he doth not wink and look but with open face beholds the most high and terrible things Omne sublimo videt est velut declaratio praecedentium Factus est ut nullum timeret Bold for as it is said before he is made without fear Secondly He beholdeth all high things that is he beholdeth them with disdain as if this were a signification of the matchless pride of Leviathan He looks upon high things how high soever they are as his underlings or as if they were not good enough for him to bestow a look or a cast of his eye upon He is
whatsoever his dealings be with you Though you murmur not though you speak not hard words of his dealing with you yet if you think hardly of him and question his justice or goodness in your hearts he takes notice of it Seventhly take heed of discontentful thoughts with your own condition though sad and bitter This was Jobs sin and it is conceived that he spake thus as acknowledging that he lay open before God as knowing all his thoughts of discontent Eighthly above all take heed of blasphemous thoughts of God which the devil hoped to bring Job too Take heed of these and of every every evil thought though not acted knowing also that every evil act hath its evil thought belonging to it and that no thought can be with-holden from God Thus much for the first part of Jobs humiliation his exalting of God in his omnipotency and in his omnisciency he is omnipotent he can do every thing nor can any of his thoughts be with-holden from him by any power of man he is omniscient no man can with-hold or hide his own thoughts from God Job having made that great acknowledgement of the power and knowledge of God I know thou canst do every thing neither can any thought be with-holden from thee comes to the confession of his own weakness and ignorance Vers 3. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge therefore have I uttered that I understood not Who is he That is what manner of man is he or what is he for a man what a man hath he been That hideth counsel We had these words at the second verse of the 38th Chapter where the Lord said chidingly to Job Who is this that darkneth counsel by words without knowledge Here Job saith humbly to God Who is this that hideth counsel There is some change in the words little if any in the sense There the Lord said Who is he that darkneth Here Job saith Who is he that hideth c. both may be taken as intending the same thing darkning and hiding being of a like signification and things in the dark can no more be seen than things hidden Yet some Jewish Writers conceive that Job here doth somewhat abate what the Lord spake or did extenuate the matter as to his own faultiness and miscarriage As if he indeed granted that he had hid or concealed the counsel of God but would be excused in this that he had darkned it This is a nice difference and I doubt not but the spirit of Job was so low and graciously humbled that he spake with the most and highest fervency to humble himself when he said Who is he that hideth counsel But how had Job hid the counsel of God I answer First He had hid the counsel of God by not declaring it so much or so fully as he ought David prophecying of Christ saith Psal 40.10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation What is meant by not hiding in the former part of the verse is expressed by declaring in the latter part of it and when he saith I have declared his meaning is I have amply and clearly made known thy faithfulness So that because Job had not so clearly as he should declared the righteousness or the righteous counsels of God concerning him and his dealings with him he may be said to have hid the counsel of God While we do not magnifie God we lessen him while we do not declare to the utmost his power we hide it and therefore Job thus chargeth himself Who is he that hideth Or we may take it thus more distinctly Job hid the counsel of God First by being so much in setting forth his own innocency How much he insisted upon that argument hath been shewed before from other places of this book While we set forth our selves we obscure God Job should have been less in his own commendation and more in the praises of God Secondly Job may be said to have hid the counsel of God because he was so much in amplifying and aggravating his own sufferings not well considering the counsel of God in laying those sufferings upon him Had he duly weighed the counsel of God in afflicting him he would have proceeded as he began Chap. 1. 21. to bless God both in and for his affliction Thirdly He may be said to have hid the counsel of God because he expostulated with God as severe towards him in his afflictions as if Gods counsel had been only to put him to pain Such complainings of the living man Jeremiah chockt while he said of God Lam. 3.33 He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men As it is not in the heart or counsel of God to afflict men with his heart as the words there imports so not to break their hearts unless with godly sorrow for their sin by affliction Therefore Job speaking so much of Gods severity hid the counsel of God which was only to try his graces and his goodness and graciously to do him good in the latter end Who is this that hideth counsel Without knowledge Or for want of knowledge But was Job an ignorant man was he without knowledge No but he had not a right knowledge of the counsel of God concerning himself which though it was some excuse to him yet it did not altogether excuse nor acquit him from the fault Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge I shall not stay upon observations from this verse because I did it at the second verse of the 38th Chapter I shall only consider that difference among Interpreters about this word counsel to whom it doth refer Quis est enim qui celat à te consilium Sept. First some refer it to Job and conceive that he chargeth himself with this error that he had hid his own counsel from God or that he thought his counsel was hidden from him The Septuagint render it plainly to this sense Who is he that hideth counsel from thee No man can hide the counsels nor the most secret intendments of his soul from God all things even the thoughts of the heart are naked and manifest before his eyes with whom we have to do 'T is best for us to reveal our selves to him from whom we cannot with all our skill and cunning conceal our selves as was further shewed from the latter interpretation of those words in the former verse No thought can be with-holden from thee But we may fully discharge Job of this for he often professed that his most secret wayes were known to God yea that the way of his and every mans heart was known to God Chap. 10.19 If I sin then thou markest me Read also Chap. 16.19 Chap. 31. vers 1. And if we look back to the 5th verse of the first Chapter there 't is reported of Job that he offered sacrifice for his children after their feastings for saith he it may be that my sons have sinned and
received Sixthly There are gifts of incouragement to those that are industrious and deserve well which we may call remunerative gifts These are as oil to the wheel of ingenuous spirits in a good work it is lawful at any time and sometimes necessary to bestow such gifts Seventhly There are gifts of bribery which pervert justice and put out the eyes of Judges They are not the rewards of industry but the wages of unrighteousness such as Balack would have given Balaam he offered him great gifts I will promote thee to honour But what was it for even to hire him to curse the people of God Let all take heed of giving or taking gifts to pervert justice or to encourage any in the doing of any wickedness or unworthiness these are corruptive gifts Further Whereas they gave not only a piece of money or a lamb but every one an ear-ring of gold which we may consider not only as to the matter as it was gold but as to the form as it was an ear-ring or an artificial piece of gold that an ornamental piece of gold they might have given gold and probably they did in the pieces of money which they gave him but they gave him ear-rings also in which the fashion or use is most considerable and the workmanship more worth than the mettal Hence Note It is lawful to wear ornaments Not only may we wear that which serves for a covering to the body but that which is for the adorning of it An ear-ring is an ornament As all are to wear cloths to hide their shame and nakedness so some may wear robes to shew their state and greatness Job received ear-rings he did not cast them by as vain things When Abraham sent his servant to take a wife for his Son Isaac he stored him with cabinets of precious jewels to bestow upon her Gen. 24. and when he found Rebeccah at the well and found who she was he took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold and gave them to Rebeccah And afterwards when her parents had given consent to the marriage then ver 53. The servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave them to Rebeccah c. Abraham would not send such things to a Wife for his Son had they been vain in their own nature or sinful in their use Yet take the point with these cautions We may wear ornaments but First We must not be proud of them Secondly We must not set our affections upon them Thirdly We must beware of an affectation in wearing them Fourthly We must take heed of wastfulness we may not lavish out an estate upon ornaments nor make our selves poor to make our selves fine I grant some Scriptures speak negatively in appearance as to the use and wearing of jewels and ornaments 1 Tim. 2.9 In like manner also let women adorn themselves in modest aparel in shame fastness and sobriety not with broidened hair or gold or pearl or castly array This Scripture seems to cross the point directly and so doth that other 1 Pet. 3.3 Whose adorning speaking of women let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair and of wearing of gold and of putting on of aparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart How then can good women wear these ornaments I answer These Scriptures do not absolutely forbid the wearing of ornaments but only as to those exceptions before given to wear them in pride or to set our affections upon them or to affect them or to wear them wastfully beyond our purse and place such wearing of ornaments is indeed unlawful Again it is not sinful to have or use ornaments but to make them our ornaments that is sinful our adorning must be the hidden man of the heart that must be grace That this is the Apostles mind is clear because he saith their adorning must not be the putting on of apparrel as well as not the plating of the hair and wearing of gold Therefore the negation is not absolute but comparative let not them count these their ornaments but grace or the hidden man of the heart As the Lord saith I will have mercy and not sacrifice that is mercy rather than sacrifice so I will have the hidden man of the heart not costly jewels and apparel your ornament that is I esteem the one much rather than the other and so ought you to esteem both your selves and others accordingly Take this caution further Times of affliction and suffering are very unseasonable to wear ear-rings of gold and ornaments When there is any great appearance of the displeasure of God against a people then how unsutable are all our pleasant things The Lord said to the people of Israel Put off your ornaments that I may know what to do with you Exod. 32. When we live in such a time in humbling days or are called to humbling duties we should be very watchful about these things and rather appear in raggs than robeâ— with dust upon our heads rather than with ornaments upon our backs Thus far of the first part of Jobs restauration the return of his friends and the significations of their friendliness towards him eating bread with him bemoaning him comforting him and presenting him with gifts of honour if not of enrichment pieces of money and earings of gold Yet all their civilities and bounties reached but a little way if at all towards that restauration which the Lord intended him the doubling of his whole estate which he soon received in full measure heaped up pressed down and running over as will appear in opening the two next verses and those which follow to the end of the chapter JOB Chap. 42. Vers 12 13. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning For he had fourteen thousand Sheep six thousand Camels and a thousand yoak of Oxen and a thousand She-Asses 13. He had also seven sons and three Daughters IN these two verses we have the second and the third part of Jobs restauration His friends were restored to him in the former verse his further restauration is set down in these two verses First generally at the beginning of the 12th verse So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Secondly Particularly and First With respect to his Cattle of outward estate for he had saith the Text Fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand Camels c. Secondly With respect to his issue or children vers 13. He had also seven Sons and three daughters Vers 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning In these words we may take notice of four things First the means or as I may call it the procuring cause of Jobs increase or of his growing and flowing prosperity it was a blessing Secondly We have here the Author or Fountain of this blessing it was the Lord. Thirdly
person This is as groundless a dream as the other about his cattle and so I leave it For That his children were really slain with the fall of the house where they were feasting the history makes evident in the first chapter and that he had the same number of children not the same children restored is all that is evident in this Only here a question ariseth and some trouble themselves much about it to little purpose how to make good that of the 8th ver where 't is said The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before whenas he had but just so many sons and daughters as he had before Here is no doubling of them and it may be thought that the Lord being now blessing his latter end more than his beginning should have given him more children double children because the more children the greater is the blessing I answer First Negatively The reason why his children were not double though his cattle were was not First Out of any want of power in God he could have doubled his children as well as his cattle Nor was it Secondly For want of love or good will to Job Nor was it Thirdly As Tertul. lib. de patientia c. 14 one of the Antients Tertullian gives the reason that Job might never want something to exercise his patience with while he lived forasmuch as he saw himself shortned in that mercy Nor was it Fourthly As Aquinas conceived because if his children had been doubled as well as his estate then his children would not have had a double estate nor more than they should have had before Forty proportionably divided among twenty yields each of them no greater a portion than twenty will do to ten Nor was it Fifthly Because the Lord would not have him over-burdened with cares about their education none of these were any reason why Jobs children were not doubled to him in number as well as his cattle And therefore I answer affirmatively First For the word double or twice as much in the Text which this seems not to come up unto we may easily salve that difficulty for the Text speaks not of persons but of things or of his substance with respect to doubling or a twice as much As for his children they come in with an also as an additional blessing to all the rest He had also seven sons and three daughters Secondly Those words twice as much need not be taken strictly as was shewed before Job might and doubtless did receive a double mercy in his children though their persons were not doubled nor multiplied as will appear further afterwards Thirdly I answer it was the pleasure of the Lord to give him no more than the same number of children and that may suffice us Fourthly Some of the Ancients are much pleased with this other answer saying Job in a sence had his children doubled for his slain children were not lost but gone before and lived still in a blessed state They having immortal souls and being the seed of the righteous their father had reason to believe them safe in Abrahams bosome Those children are not lost to their parents when they dye Tibi non perit qui Deo non perit Non numero sed valore quod occultè insinuatur in filicabus quae pulcherrimae fuisse leguntur Aquin. who are not lost to God or are not themselves lost children Fifthly Though Jobs children were not doubled in number as his cattle were yet we may judge them doubled to him in goodness and vertuous qualities The beauty of his daughters is expressely noted in the following words And shall we think that God who had a blessing for Job blessed his children only with fading bodily beauty doubtless their minds were more richly indowed and their souls more beautiful than their bodies And if Jobs daughters were such we may well conceive his Sons were not inferiour to them in gracious qualifications and that they much exceeded the sons he had before his affliction Some have spoken doubtfully at least of Jobs former children as if though good yet not very good and they give two reasons for it out of this book First Because when they went to feast at each others houses Job used to offer sacrifice feaâ—ing his children had cursed God in their hearts Secondly Bildad chap. 8.4 seems to lay a blot upon his former children If thy children saith he have sinned against him and he have cast them away for their transgression c. which may intimate the sinful miscarriages of his former children in the course of their lives as well as that dreadful accident by which they dyed Yet I conceive we need not cast any such blot upon them they might be good though these were better and so a double mercy to their father He had also seven sons and three daughters Hence note Children are great blessings When the Lord told Abraham Gen. 15.2 I am thy shield and exceeding great reward Abraham said Lord what wilt thou give me seing I go childless As if he had said what is an inheritance without an heir Children are a blessing which God many times denieth his own children God denied Abraham that blessing long yet gave it him at last Abrahams servant reporting the blessings of God bestowed upon his master put this as chief Gen. 24.35 The Lord hath blessed my master greatly he is become great he hath given him flocks and herds silver and gold men servants and maid servants what follows and Sarah my masters wife bare a son to my master when she was old Abrahams servant counted this the complement of all his masters outward blessings that as the Lord had given him a great estate so a son to inherit and possess it after him And if children be a blessing let all who have them take heed of looking upon them as a burthen And seing they are a blessing of the Lord seing they come from him let all who have them be admonished to bring them up for him or as the Apostle directs In the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Whatever we receive from God we should use for him and return to him our estates should be serviceable to the Lord and above all we should labour to make our children serviceable to him Thus we have seen the three parts of Jobs restauration First His friends Secondly His wealth Thirdly His children were restored to him But Job had four losses and we hear nothing about the restoring of the fourth First He lost his substance Secondly His children Thirdly His health Fourthly His friends Here 's a restoring of three of them but nothing is spoken of the fourth which I place third the restoring of his health Now health being the chief of outward blessings better than sheep and oxen and whatever we can have in this world why was not the restoring of that mercy mentioned I answer Though the restoring of his health and strength be not exprest verbally yet it is exprest
equivalently or vertually for when it is said he offered sacrifice when it is said he did eat bread with his friends in his house these are proofs of his health and what was last spoken that he had so many children proves it much more So then though this fourth part of his mercy be not mentioned yet it is implied in all that went before But that being granted 't is further queried when his health was restored whether before he prayed for his friends or in the time of his prayer for his friends or whether after all was done Some make hot disputes about this matter which surely is not much material if we knew the certainty of it nor do I know how any should attain the certain kuowledg of it seing the Scripture is utterly silent as to any determination of it There is one question more The text saith God gave Job twice as much in cattle c. but here is nothing said of his twice as much in grace here is no mention of any amendment in his spiritual state his goods were doubled but was his goodness did Job recover only in temporals I answer First The graces of Job were never lost as his cattle and children were and therefore there needed no mention of the restoring of his graces Satan by the Lords permission put him to it and tried all his graces but could not rob him of one Secondly Jobs graces were not only not lost but doubled in that exercise or combate True grace encreaseth by the ordinary use of it much more by the extraordinary trials of it And doubtless Job who was so eminently gracious increased in every grace while he continued in this fiery trial He said of himself chap. 23.10 When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold I shall come out better than I came in He lost dross and corruption in the trial but no grace nor any degree of grace his graces were doubled or increased A believer thrives as to the inner man in affliction how much soever he loseth and goeth backward as a man As the time of affliction is a special time for the using of grace so for the increasing of it Grace never grows more in a gracious heart than in a day of trouble And though possibly a godly man doth not sensibly or to appearance grow in grace presently yet he truly doth so and in due time it will appear that he hath done so We may take this chapter for a proof of it God himself found Job much bettered in his graces else he had not used him as a mediator for his friends which was as high a spiritual honour as could be put upon him acceptance being promised and given him in that work Nor would the Lord have used that endearing word My servant my servant Job four times in one verse had not Job improved in his service which could not be but by the improvement of his graces God called Job servant once in the first chapter surely he was become a better servant now that the Lord seemed so much delighted to call him servant in this last chapter of the book when he had taken full trial of him by suffering as formerly by doing We may well conclude Job was become a more humble servant a more profitable servant a more holy servant a more spiritual servant than ever he had been when we find the Lord insisting so much upon and so often repeating that relation to him My servant Job His sufferings had mended his service and his passive obedience had fitted him more for active God was so much pleased with his service that he took pleasure to call him servant So then we may answer the querie proposed Jobs increase was not only in cattle that had been but a poor increase his increase was also in grace and goodness and he who was a servant of the Lord before was then a more approved servant The Lord having told us in the close of this verse how many sons and daughters Job had he is pleased to give us a character or description of his daughters in the two verses following JOB Chap. 42. Vers 14 15. 14. And he called the name of the first Jemima and the name of the second Kezia and the name of the third Keren-happuch 15. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren THe former verse gave us the account of Jobs children He had also seven sons and three daughters Nor is any thing more said of his sons but that they were seven but much more is said of his daughters in these two verses than that they were three and more is spoken of his daughters in three particulars First They are set forth by their names Secondly By the comliness of their persons Thirdly By the greatness of their dowry Their names are exprest in the 14th verse He called the name of the first Jemima and the name of the second Kezia and the name of the third Keren-happuch The comliness of their persons is shewed at the beginning of the 15th verse And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job The greatness of their dowry is set down at the close of the 15th verse And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren Some have queried why no more is said of the sons of Job than how many they were To such this answer may suffice it was the Lords pleasure to have no more spoken of them and where no more is said why should we expect more If any shall further enquire but were not his sons worthy persons that they are put off thus slightly and mention made only of their number not of their weight Were they not worthy to have so much as their names recorded which honour and much more is done their sisters the daughters of Job I answer We may upon good ground believe that Jobs seven sons were worthy persons because they were a great part yea the chief part of his restored happiness for as children are better than riches so among children sons are better than daughters as being the more worthy sex Sons if not well qualified are not only less worthy than daughters but a great cross to their father And therefore it would have been a diminishing of Jobs felicity to have had sons equal in number with the former yet inferior in vertue and man-like qualities we may for this reason safely conclude that though nothing be said of their worth that Jobs sons were worthy persons or persons of praise worthy qualities But seing we have nothing from divine authority but only from well-grounded reason to assert concerning Jobs sons I shall not stay the reader in any further discourse about them but proceed as the text doth with the daugtiters concerning whom we have many things to say from divine authority And First Their names must not be past with silence And
of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these which are of the daughters of the Land what good shall my life do me Better be out of the world than see my sons miscarry These two sights to see children suffering or to see them sinning are a pain not only to the eyes but to the hearts of parents But to see them First Prosperous in their way Secondly Pious keeping the way of the Lord to have and see such children and childrens Children to the third and fourth generation how delightful is this The Apostle John professed 3 Epist ver 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth He means his spiritual children those whom he had converted to the faith and begotten to Christ in the ministery of the Word O what a joy was it to that holy Apostles heart to see them walk answerably to the profession of the Gospel and his expectation Now as that was so great a joy to him that he had no greater so 't is an unspeakable joy when godly parents see their natural children spiritual and walking in the truth To see children new born to see them gracious and to see them prosperous also what a blessed sight is this And this was the sight doubtless which Job had he saw his children His sons and his sons sons to the fourth generation His blessedness as to all without him in this life was at the highest when he saw the prosperity of his children both in soul and body Thus Job was blessed every way he was blessed with riches blessed with long life blessed in the multiplication of his family he was blessed also in his death as appeareth in the next and last words of this Chapter and Book Vers 17. So Job died being old and full of days As Solomon said Eccles 12.13 Hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandements So I may say now Hear the conclusion of all men To fear God and keep his commandements is the consumating end of our lives but to dye is the consuming end of all our lives and to a good man 't is an entrance into eternal life Such and so Job died The Lord having spoken of his life is not silent about his death The story the holy story brings Job to his grave and that could not but be a blessed death which was the close of a gracious life So Job died Death is the separation of the soul from the body 't is the sleep of the body in the grave and thâ— rest of their souls in heaven who dye in the Lord. There is no difficulty in these words take a note or two from them First Death takes all sooner or latter Job lived a long time but he did not out-live death Mors ultima clausula vitae Mors ultima linea rerum he enjoyed an hundred and forty years prosperity in this world yet he left the world He lived long yet a day came when he could not live a day longer 'T is said of all the long livers Gen. 5. They died Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and he died Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and he died Methuselah the longest liver in this world lived nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died Here Job lived an hundred and forty and so he dyed David put the question of all men Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death How great or how good how rich or how wise how strong or how valiant soever any man living is he must dye How long soever any man hath lived in this world he must dye for the world must dye there must be a dissolution of all things and therefore a dissolution of all men Psal 82.6 7. I said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Kings and Princes who have the priviledge to be called gods have not the priviledge of God not to dye like men This is a common theam I intend not to stay upon it only let me tell you death will overtake us all sooner or later upon a double account First Because it is appointed Secondly Because it is deserved It is appointed unto men once to dye Heb. 9.27 and all men have deserved to dye to dye eternally and therefore much more to dye naturally Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death past upon all men for that all have sinned Now seing the condition of all men is a dying condition receive these four cautions First Prepare for death There is no avoiding it at the long run therefore be ready to entertain it at last and because we may dye at any time be preparing for death at all times How miserable are they who are so old that they cannot live and yet so unprepared that they are afraid to dye Job died and we must If so Is it not our wisdome to prepare for death Secondly Submit quietly to the arrest of death There is no striving with the decrees of God Our death is under a divine appointment Eccles 8.8 There is no discharge in that war no priviledge to be pleaded no exemption no prescription Your strength cannot stand against the assaults of death your prudence and policy cannot find any way of escape from it nor can your piety or godliness deliver you out of the hands of natural death As there is no work nor devise nor knowledge in the grave whither we are going Eccles 9.10 so there is no knowledg no device no wisdom can keep us from going into the grave no not our graces Grace is as salt to the soul preserving it from moral corruption for ever But it cannot keep the body from natural corruption in this world Mors est nobis nimis domestica utpote quam in viscaribus nostris circumserimâ— Plutarch in Consol ad Apoll. because our graces in this world are mingled with corruption Death is domestical to us that is we have the seed of it within our selves we carry it daily in our bowels and in our bosomes therefore submit quietly to it for there is no avoiding it Thirdly Seing all must dye get that removed which is the troubler of a death-bed and the sting of death get that removed which makes death bitter get that removed which makes death the King of terrours so terrible that is sin This should be our study all the days of our life to get rid of sin to be dying to sin daily because we must dye at last and may dye for all that we know or can assure our selves any day we live 1 Cor. 13.56 The sting of death is sin Whensoever or in what way soever we dye it will be well with us if the sting of death be first pulled out and whensoever we dye after never so long a life it will be miserable if we dye in our sins as Christ told the Jews in