Godly men at least intimated in this and toucht before conclude that they are happy when they appeare most miserable and that at their worst estate they are altogether above uncertainty For as they have a foundation so such a foundation as will stand all stormes and weathers What can be added to their felicity who are in an estate so good in the nature of it that they need not desire a change and so sure in the foundation of it that they need not feare a change much lesse an overflowing flood Eliphaz proceeds to describe the particular wickednes of those men or how they did Expresse their wickednesse Whose foundation was thus overflowne They say unto God depart from us c. JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 17 18. Which said unto God Depart from us and what can the Almighty doe for them Yet he filled their houses with good things but the counsell of the wicked is farre from me IN the former context Eliphaz had charged Job with impiety against God and called him to consider the dispensations of God in former times towards impious men here he shewes us what their impiety was It was impiety hightned into blasphemy The seven abominations which were in their hearts brake out at their lips and were vomited out of their mouths in blacke choler in choler as blacke as hell Vers 17. Which said unto God depart from us c. These words are filled with the very spirit of malice against God himselfe And we have the same breathed out in the same language in the former Chapter at the 14th verse there the reader may finde them explicated and I shall add somewhat for a further explication here Which said to God depart from us To this hight of madnes doe some wicked men arise their spirits being bigge with sinne they bring forth or belch out this monster of words They say to God depart from us They as it were send God a writ of Ejectment they doe not pray or entreate God to depart from them but with as much rudenes and incivillity as unholynes and prophanenes Say unto God depart from us 'T is a word of command from man but such a one as breakes all the commandements of God Moses Numb 16.26 beseeches the people saying Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs but here we have wicked men not praying God to depart but bidding him they say depart from us David speakes to the wicked Psal 119.115 Depart from me ye evill doers for I will keepe the commandements of my God he bids them begone He would not give them the least wellcome or entertainment And so Jesus Christ is described speaking to the wicked in the day of Judgement Matth. 7.23 Depart from me away get you out of my presence I will not have to doe with you I will doe nothing for you Depart His is a word of command indeed which though they have no will to obey yet they shall obey it whether they will or no. Thus in the present text wicked men presume to say to God himselfe depart from us c. Hence note First That wicked or meere carnall men have some appearances and impresses of the presence of God upon their spirits They could not say to God depart from us had they not some impressions and notions of God of the will and Law of God of the truth and power of God upon them They who are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them doe yet feele a presence of God with them Act. 17.27 That they should seeke the Lord if haply they might feele after him and finde him though he be not farre from every one of us Take mankind in generall good and bad beleevers and infidels there is a neerenesse of God unto them unto them all and that not onely a neerenesse of God in what the Apostle there speakes of common preservation vers 28. In him we live and move and have our being or of naturall communications of which the Apostle speakes there also From him we receave life and breath and all things vers 25. But further God is with them by a twofold light first by a light of Direction secondly by a light of Conviction All have a Light of direction 1. by the Law written in their hearts The Apostle is expresse for this Rom. 2.14 For when the Gentiles he meanes it of Gentiles unconverted which have not the Law doe by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law that is formally published and preached to them are a Law unto them selves Which shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witnes c. And as all have a light of direction from the Law written in their hearts or in the booke of Conscience so also 2. they have a light of direction from the Law of the creation or from that which is written of God in the Booke of the creature The same Apostle makes this the ground of the righteousnes of God in that dreadfull Revelation of his wrath against all ungodlynes and unrighteousnes of men be they who they will who hold the truth in unrighteousnes because that which may be knowne of God is manifest in them or to them for God hath shewed it to them But how or where hath God shewed them this The Apostle answers in the next verse Rom. 1.20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearely seene being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse So that though all men have not a light of direction from God so powerfull as to change them and make them holy yet they have a light so cleare and full as is enough to make them guilty And when they refuse to follow this light of direction in doing what is right then followes that other light of convictiō their consciences troubling them or as the Apostles phrase is Rom. 2.15 their thoughts accusing them because they have done that which is not right This presence of God is common to all men to the worst of men and this is it which provokes them to say to God depart from us And this is argumēt enough to stop the mouth of the Atheist who saith in his heart there is no God when as yet he cannot stop the mouth of his owne conscience from saying there is a God while hee sayth and this he alwayes sayth eyther in plaine termes or in that which is equivalent to God depart from me And from hence wee may observe Secondly That the presence and manifestations of God to wicked men are a trouble to them None are troubled with the neerenes of God to them but they who are farre from him all naturall men are farre from God in state and in heart and God is neere all naturall men eyther in his word or in his works
bidding him receive that lavv which the mouth of God had spoken to Moses but though whether the law vvere then formally spoken or no is a dispute yet it is vvithout all dispute that the mouth of God had then given a lavv or rule of life to his people and so Eliphaz might safely and truely say Receive I pray thee the law from his mouth there having been a Revelation of the minde of God among the faithfull in all ages and times God never left his people to their own will nor them to be their own Guide and Counseller For when the Apostle sayth Rom. 2.14 that the Gentiles having not the law are a law unto themselves his meaning is not that they had no law but one of their own devising They indeed had not the law of God formally spoken to their eares and preserved in tables of stone but they had the substance of the law of God naturally vvritten in their hearts So then there hath alwayes been a lavv from his mouth formally in the Church naturally in the world Therefore saith Eliphaz Receive the law from his mouth and when he saith Receive the law from his mouth it may have a double Opposition First To the vvill and vvisdome of Job As if Eliphaz had said Thou hast been hitherto a law to thy selfe that is thou hast followed thy own advice Ex ore ejus notanter dicit i. e. non ex ore aut arbitrio tuo Merc. run on upon thy own head now Receive the lavv from his mouth Man naturally hath high thoughts of himselfe and vvould be a law to himselfe Not as Rom. 2.14 which place vvas touched before The Gentiles not having a law wâ—re a law to themselves that is they had the law of God written in their hearts by nature but besides that there is a lavv which man vvould be to himselfe against that law of nature vvritten in his heart and against the light of nature shining in his conscience he would set up a law even his own Lust in opposition to the law of God Thus he vvould be a law to himselfe and not Receive a law from the mouth of God Therefore saith Eliphaz Now receive the law from his mouth Secondly from his mouth may be opposed to the mouthes of others as if he should say if thou wilt not trust us nor take our vvord then trust God vve vvould not have thee depend upon us nor upon any man living not on the Judgement or Authority of any Creature but receive the lavv from his mouth there is a law and a truth come from God let thy faith be guided and thy life ordered by that Hence Note It is our duty to receive the rule from God The Lord hath povver to give us the law and vve must receive the lavv from him None have povver to Impose a lavv upon us but God himselfe nor may we devise a lavv for our selves God is the onely Master of the Conscience he alone can say Receive the law at my mouth If you aske vvhat is it to receive the law I ansvver it is more then to give it the hearing To receive is first to beleeve the lavv secondly to receive is to honour and reverence the law thirdly to receive the lavv is to yeeld up our selves to the obedience of it to be cast into the mould of it to subject our selves vvholly to the minde of God in it Then vve receive the lavv vvhen vve take the Impressions of it have as it vvere the Image and stampe of it upon our spirits and in our lives fourthly then we receive it vvhen as it followes in the Text we lay up his word in our hearts barely to receive it is not enough you must lay it up treasure it up And lay up his word in thy heart This is opposed First To forgetfullnes of the vvord Praecedentis partis ex positio amplificatio Ita legem suscipe ut ponas proprie disponas arte cura sollicitudine observandi Receive the lavv and let it not slip out of thy memory Secondly It is oppos'd to negligence in the practice of the law lay it up that it may be forth comming to direct thee in every duty In Conversion the law is vvritten in the heart every godly man hath a Copie of the lavv in his heart That 's the description of a godly man Psal 37.31 The law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide vvhich is not an universall exclusion of all fayling slipping as if every godly man were as much past sinning as he is past perishing but vvhen 't is sayd none of his steps the meaning is few of his steps shall slide or he shall never slide so in any of his steps as not to recover his feete and get up againe He shall vvalke very holily so holily as if all his vvalkings vvere but one continued act of holines But to the text None of his steps shall slide quite and for ever out of the vvay because the law of God is in his heart What David speakes in that propheticall Psalme of Christ Psal 40.8 Thy law is within my heart is true in its degree of every Christian all the lawes of God are in his heart That Character is againe given of them Psal 84.5 In whose heart are thy wayes there is a suiting of the minde of God and the heart of man together in regeneration But novv the duty spoken of in the Text is another thing for a man that hath the lavv vvritten in his heart may yet possibly forget to lay up the vvord and law of God in his heart he may under temptation and the pressures of corruption be negligent in that it is the worke of a godly man who hath the lavv of God in his heart already continually to lay up the law in his heart and so vve are to understand such Scriptures as these Pro. 7.3 Keepe my Commandements and live and my law as the apple of thine eye binde them on thy fingers write them on the table of thine heart c. The first writing of the law in the heart is by the finger of the Spirit by Gods own finger As it was God that first wrote the lavv in tables of stone vvith his own finger so it is he that writes the law in these fleshy Tables of the heart by the finger of the Spirit yet Solomon perswades his son to vvrite the law upon the Table of his heart vvhen grace is received and the law once written in our hearts vve doe as it vvere put in severall fresh Copies of the law vve are continually writing divine notions and Instructions upon our hearts this renewed act is ascribed to us because we through grace joyne in it We have an Expression of like import Pro. 4.21 My Son attend to my words encline thine eare to my sayings let them not depart from thine eyes keep them in the midst of thine heart The heart is
reader to his choyce I shall only give the observation which riseth clearely from this God never giveth wicked men any just cause to be weary of him He never doth them any wrong and he often gives them many a blessing and have they any reason to bid him depart he is usually very patient towards them and doth never bring any evill upon them till they have doubly deserved it and have they any reason to be displeased at that yea whensoever he punisheth them in this world he punisheth them then their sinnes deserve indeed there is a punishment behinde adaequate and commensurate to their sinne but they shall never be punished beyond what or more then their sin deserves Seeing then their punishment in the next life though it will be great beyond imagining yet shall not be great beyond deserving and all their punishments in this life are lesse then the demerit of their sinne As was paenitentially confessed by Ezra in the name of the Jewes after they had been broken by the sword and brought into captivity for their sinne Chap. 9.13 Seeing I say 't is but thus with them when 't is worst with them What hath the Allmighty done against them is not all their destruction meritoriously from themselves Againe How much soever God punisheth them in this life they have no reason to complaine or say to God depart from us for even those punishments are messages from God to awaken them out of their sinnes and so to prevent worser punishments therefore when God perceived that stubborne people going on in their sinnes telleth them he will smite there no more as implying that it was his favour to smite them Isa 1.5 Why should ye be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more Surely then such have no reason to say to God depart from us when he smites them as if he did them ey ther hurt or wrong seing he smites them that they might returne unto him Those judgements of God are a mercy which are sent to teach man his duty Now if the judgements of God have somtime mercy in them and never have any injury in them what hurt or injury can there be to man in the service of God Hath the Allmighty done any thing against them whom he lovingly invites to the doing of his will And yet some complaine of wrong when they are onely called to doe what is right and cry out as if God hurt them when he doth but governe them The Lord calls his murmuring people to account about this thing Mich. 6.3 O my people what have I done to thee that is what hurt what wrong have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against mee As if he had sayd thou hast nothing to bring against me in evidence unlesse it be my kindnes as it follows ver 4. For I brought thee up out of the Lord of Egypt and redeemed thee our of the house of servants and I sent before thee Moses Aaran and Miriam O my people remember c. Consider all my dealings with thee all the deliverances I have wrought for thee all the Statutes and Ordinances all the Lawes and Commandements which I have given thee and then let thy Conscience speake What have I done unto thee which is an evill to thee or wherein have I wearied thee in the things which I have required thee to doe I have done many good workes for thee and I have commanded thee to doe many workes such workes as are not onely good in themselves but good for them who doe them for which of these is it that thou art weary of me There is not that wicked man in the world but God may say to him what have I done to thee or what have I called thee to doe that thou shouldest be weary of mee that thou shouldest desire me to depart from thee Thus if we reade the words in this latter sence What hath the Allmighty done against them They carry a reproofe of their ingrâ—titude against God who had not hurt them yea who had done them good If we reade the words in the second sence What can the Allmighty doe against them They carry a high contempt and slight of his power as if God could doe them no hurt If we reade the words in the first sence according to our translation which I rather pitch upon they carry upon contrary termes a like contempt of the power of God as if he could doe them no Good What can the Allmighty doe for them Vers 18. Yet bee filled their houses with good things The Hebrew is And be filled their houses with good things wee translate yet which better cleares the meaning and scope of the Text according to our reading of the former verse They say to God depart from us and what can the Allmighty doe for them yet he filled their houses with good things As if he had sayd they thought God could doe nothing for them Horum quidem domos ipse impleaver at bonis Jun q. d. Dei benificijs abusi sunt turpitèr tanquam de spolijs dei ipsius triumphaverunt Jun whereas indeed he did all for them all the good they had they had it from God He filled their houses that is he gave them abundance he did not onely put some good things into their houses but he filled their houses with good things they had a plentifull state God gave them a rich portion in the good things of this world his corne his wine his oyle his flax his gold his silver were their portion He filled them and they rebelled against him He bestowed many benefits upon them which they abused to serve their lusts and vainely triumphed in what he freely gave them as if they had been spoyles forcibly taken from him Hence Observe first That God doth them good that are evill Christ perswaded his hearers and us in them upon this account to love their enemies That they and we might be the children of our father which is in heaven For he maketh his Sunne to rise on the evill and on the Good and sendeth raine on the just and on the unjust Matth. 5.45 As God hath some peculiar people so he hath some peculiar blessings and good things which the world in common shares not in but he hath a sort of blessings and good things which are the common share of the world raine and Sun fat and sweet Gold and silver are such good things as their hearts and houses are often filled with whose hearts and house are empty of goodnes These good things God gives them who know no more why he gives them then they did why he did not suddenly bring evill upon them of whom the Apostle speakes Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance when God doth good to those that are evill whether it be by bestowing good upon them or by withholding evill
so cares not who sees him some are ambitious to be seene while they doe so and though any should be so modest that they doe not desire to be seene while they doe so yet no man that doth so is affrayd to be seene and usually such come to the light to the light of other mens knowledge and they would come further into the light of their own knowledg such are free to come to light of all sorts that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God when a man comes to the light he gives a fayre evidence that his workes are wrought in God how ever it argues both that he desires they should be such as are wrought in God as also that he is willing they should come to the tryall whether they are wrought in God or no that is whether they be so wrought as if God did worke in him or whether there be any appearance in them that he hath wrought them in the light and love in the strength and helpe of God Now as when a man comes willingly to the light it shewes that he hath an honest perswasion in his breast that his workes are good So when we see any seeking corners and shunning the light by which others may see them or that light by which they may see themselves this shews that they have a troublesome conviction upon their consciences that their workes are so farre from being wrought in God that they are wrought against God that is against his mind and will This the Apostle teacheth in the example of the old Gentiles Rom. 2.15 They shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts their conscience bearing them witnesse and their thoughts in the meane while accusing or excusing one another Were there not an unextinguishable light in nature by which even a natural man may have some glimmerings of and discernings between good and evill he would no more avoyd the sight of others when he doth evill then when he doth good And seeing he thus naturally avoydes the view and sight of all men when he doth evill This doth more then intimate that there is a Judge above nature who without respect of persons will reward every man according to his workes Conscience is Gods Deputy in man and what that being rightly enformed doth in man God will doe too Wee are so assured by the Apostle John 1 Joh. 3.21 If our heart condemne us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things As if he had sayd this is an argument that there is a God to condemn because the heart condemnes For God is greater then the heart God is the supreame Judge the infallible Judge the heart is but an under-officer unto him Why should the heart of a man smite him why should he be troubled when he hath done evill why should he be so troubled to be seene in doing evill were it not that there is a God who judgeth both the hearts and wayes of men While the foole saith in his heart there is no God Psal 14.1 the heart of a foole sayth there is a God while he saith in his heart there is no God to see my sin his heart saith to him cover thy sin that it may not be seene and what English can we make of this saying of his heart but this There is a God For though Job spake here of such grosse sinners as have reason enough to hide themselves and their doings from the eyes of men lest they should bring them both to shame and punishment yet even those sinners are fearefull to have their sins discovered who need not feare any punishment but from the hand of God Secondly Observe Sin befools the sinner or sinners are very foolish They are glad if they can escape the eye of man when as their sins are alwayes under the eye of God What is the eye from which darknesse can hide us to that eye which seeth through darkenes If one see them saith the text they are in the terrors of the shadow of death and yet they are not terrifyed that One seeth them That One seeth them alwayes who is more then all men and yet they are satisfyed if they are not seene of men That which they would not doe if a little childe did see them they dare doe though the Great God of heaven and earth see them What the Prophet speakes of feare in reference to suffering wee may say much more of feare in reference to sinning Isa 51.12 13. Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye and forgettest the Lord thy Creator Who art thou surely thou art so far from being a Godly man that thou art lesse then a man in this thing even a foole and a beast What doest thou feare to sin in the presence of a man or when a man who shall dye seeth thee and forgettest that the Lord thy maker seeth thee that he seeth thee who hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth Well might the Apostle 2 Thes 3.2 joyne these two together unreasonable and wicked men and give the reason of both in the words which follow for all men have not faith Where there is no faith there is much wickednesse and he who is much in wickednesse is nothing in reason Faith is above reason but not against it wickednesse is not onely below reason but quite against it They who act against that rule which is given by God to man act also against that reasō which is given by God to man No man acts so much against faith as he who doth not beleeve that God seeth him in all his actings nor doth any man act more against reason then he who beleeveth that God seeth him and yet is more afraid to be seene of men then he is to be seene of God JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 18. He is swift as the waters his portion is Cursed in the earth he beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards THere are foure Apprehensions concerning the general scope of these words First Job is conceived here describing a fourth sort of wicked men or the same men acting a fourth sort of wickednes for having as hath been shewed from the former words first drawne out the doings of the murtherer and secondly of the Adulterer and thirdly of the theife at land digging through houses he in the fourth place as some Interpret the text proceeds to discover the Pyrate who is a theife upon the water a Sea-theife He is swift as the waters or he is swift upon the waters The letter of the Hebrew is He is swift upon the faces of the waters he moves in and upon all waters It is usuall in Scripture to call the outward part of any thing the face of it as the face of the heavens is that part of the heavens which doth outwardly appeare to us or is next to our eye O ye hypocrites sayth Christ Math. 16.3 ye can discerne the face of
layd up in the dust 241. The natural place of Gold should abate our desires after it 242. Gold the most excellent metal in five respects 382 Grace renders a man precious 383. The glory of grace is that it continueth 659 Greatest and strongest as easily cast downe by God as the least or weakest 665 Growth of Grace 397 H Hands purenes of hands what 290 Hardnes of heart in sin when the sinner can feed upon it 494. Hard heart trembles not at the reproofes of God 790 Heart lift up to heaven the worke of Grace 106. Laying up the word in the heart hath a twofold opposition 225. The heart of man is the Arke where the word of God must be layd up 227. Truth in the heart better to us then truth in the booke 228. Heart of man makes more false Gods then his hand ever made 128. The word to be hid in the heart 407. Soft heart what several sorts of it 457 Heathens confined their Gods to certain places 114 Heaven is the place of Gods speciall residence 105. 111. Two inferences given from it 106. Heaven and hel know no changes 779 Heavens what the garnishing of them is 804. Visible heavens are full of Beauty 807. Severall inferences from it 807 808 Hel in what sence it consumes those who are cast into it 624. What meant by hel in Scripture 746. Hel is destruction 747. Hel expressed by eight words in Scripture 751 Heresie like a flood yet bounded by God 777 Hiding the word of two sorts 227. Three ends of hiding the word in the heart 228 Hidings of God from his people 367 368. God hideth himselfe five wayes 368. God will be as hid to his people sometimes after the use of much meanes to finde him 371 High places of God what they are 684 Holynes the Lord takes pleasure in it three reasons why 22 23. Why we should be every where holy 113. Holynes hath boldnes with God 261 328. Holynes gives us weight and honour 602 Holy-Ghost sin against the Holy-Ghost what it it in general 557 Honour a threefold honour arising to God by the fall of the wicked 189 Houses God hath two speciall houses 808 Humble persons of two sorts 287. Humble persons under the speciall care of God 288 Hypocrites some not discovered in this world 330. Hypocrites feare the judgement of God or to be tryed by God 330. An hypocrite cannot rejoyce that God knoweth him shewed in three things 377. Hypocrites cannot hold out when they come to the tryall 384 I Jelousie guilt makes men full of it 642 Ignorance wicked men love it 554. A twofold ignorance 560 561 Imitation of God our duty 390 Impenitency under sin cōmitted worse then the sin committed 44 Imprisonment when a cruelty 54 Inconstancy of a carnal man shewed two wayes 602 Industriousnesse of the wicked in sinning 517 518 Infinite what Nothing strictly infinite but God 40 Innocent oft charged with foulest crimes 83. Innocent taken two wayes in Scripture 192 Joy at the troubles which befall wicked men how lawfull 186 187. What kind of joy that is not and what it is 192 Judge God the most desireable Judge to the godly and sincere five grounds of it 429 430. A Godly man rests in the Judgement of God 336. God is every way fitted to be a righteous Judge 378. In a Judge two things specially needfull 378 Judging man apt to judge favourably of himselfe hardly of others 48. We must take heed of Judging upon suspition 48. What Judging of others forbidden 49 Judgement wicked ripe for judgement sometimes before ripe in years 143. Judgements of God have somewhat of mercy in them 168. Judgements of God upon the wicked how matter of Joy to the righteous 184. Why the Judgements of God upon the wicked are not visible 482 Jupiter Hammon why so called 618 Justice how blind and how seeing 124 Justice must be done for the example of others 182 183 Justice of God honoured by the fall of evill men 189 Justification selfe justification extreamely displeasing unto God 24. God hath no respect to our righteousnes in the busienes of Justification 29. Justification what it is 700. Man hath nothing of his owne to justifie him before God two grounds of it 702. A twofold Justification 703 K Keeping the way of God twofold 392 Knowers of God or they who know God who they are 473. Every Godly man is a knower of God 476. Some godly men know God much more then others who are godly too 478 Knowing and understanding taken two wayes 334. 372 Knowledge evill men will act against their owne knowledge 555. Knowledge of God how and what God knoweth 121. The most secret wayes of man even the way within him is knowne to God 373. A general inference from this knowledge of God 374. It is the Joy of the upright that God knowes their most secret wayes 374. That God knowes the wayes of a godly man assures him of three things 375. Nothing is hid from the eye or knowledge of God 749. All our knowledge of the wayes and workes of God is but in part 819 L Labourer not to be wronged 536. Nothing cheape but poore mens labours why sayd so 538. It may be a dangerous thing to be the labourers purse-bearer but for a night 539 Land-markes the removing of them very sinfull 489 Law of God the Elegancy of the Hebrew word whereby it is expressed opened 220. Law taken two wayes 222. To receive the Law what it is 225. God onely can give a Law to the conscience 224. Law how written in our hearts by God and how by our selves 226 Left-hand declining what it importeth 396 Levelling principles confuted by the naturall state of the creature 117 Leviathan or Whale the mighty power of God in forming the Leviathan 814. An inference from it 815 Liberty threefold where the Spirit is 262. Life of man in what sence it should alwayes hang in doubt to him 641. How no man is sure of his life 643 Light of God fourefold 695 Light God is with all men by a twofold light 157. Light threefold shining upon the wayes of a Godly man 282. Light twofold 550. Wicked love not the light neyther to see what good they should doe nor to be seene in the evill they doe 554. Light internall against which the wicked rebel twofold 550. Holy truth is light 551. How divine truth is like light shewed in severall resemblances 552. Sinning against light exceeding sinfull 557. Foure degrees of sinning against light 558 They who sin against light are ready for every sin 560 Looke of God twofold 652 Love true love to man will not easily conceave or nourish suspition 102 Love we cannot be constant in that which we doe not love or affect 561 Lusts and corruptions like a stormy Sea within us 801 802 Lyars men are made lyars two wayes 670. The worst that can be sayd of a man is that he is a lyar 672 Lye false doctrine is a lye 671
hath powred out upon you the spirit of deepe sleepe and hath closed your eyes what or who are those eyes the next words enforme us the Prophets and Rulers the seers hath he covered The Hebrew word which we render rulers is heads Rulers are the heads of a people and what is a head without eyes or having its eyes covered God did not cover the eyes which were in the peoples personal heads but he covered the eyes which were in their publicke heads He hath closed your eyes that is those that should be as heads and eyes to you your Prophets and your rulers Thus also say some Government is expressed by an eye Deut. 33.28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone Fons vel oculus Jacob suum imperium habebit in terra Canaan Bold Apud persarum reges quidam fuerunt qui dicebantur oculi aures Zenoph the fountaine of Jacob shall be upon a land of corne and wine also his heaven shall drop dew That which we translate the fountaine of Jacob others render as well and as truely from the Original the eye of Jacob that is say they the Magistracy the ruling power as if he had sayd as the people of Israel in generall shall dwell in safety so their eye their government or their Governours in speciall shall be blessed with plenty they shall be upon a land of corne and wine It hath been observed also in antiquity that great Princes had certaine men in office whom they called their eyes Princes have their eyes and eares in every place that is their Officers Thus we may expound this Text the Adulterer sayth No eye shall see me The ruling or Magistraticall eye shall not see me and if what I doe be not seene by that eye let others see what they will and say what they please I shall not suffer at all for what I doe and then all 's well that 's as much as I care for And here we may note That As some Adulterers have their eyes abroad that is agents to espy out Beauties for them So most of them if not all are afraid of the eyes of others Thirdly No eye shall see me that is not the eye of God God himselfe shall not see me Thus the adulterer hopes to hide his sin from his eye who is indeed all eye Homines latere cupiens Dei oculum non timeus and whose eye is over all Thus the adulterer supposeth himselfe under such a vayl of darknes that he is free not onely from the eye of men on earth and from the eye of those who are gods upon earth but even from the eye of the God of heaven Hence observe First A sinner is full of vaine presumption He presumes that the sin which he commits against the light of his owne conscience shall never come to light he presumes that the sin which he commits in his owne eye shall not come to the eye of others I have elsewhere noted this ignorant confidence of carnal men and onely name it here Secondly Note It is not the act of sin but the discovery of it which a wicked man feareth He cares not what wickednesse he doth so he may goe unseene a godly man is afraid of doing evill though he could doe it with greatest secrecy or under the darkest cover he is afraid to doe evill because of the evill and unrighteousnesse of it because of the pollution and unanswerablenesse of it both to his owne duty and the goodnesse of God to him but it is the discovery not the iniquity of his worke which the hypocrite feareth Thirdly As the eye is taken for the eye of the Magistrate Observe That it is the punishment of sin at which a wicked man is troubled he is not troubled at the sin it selfe 'T is the consequence of sin not the nature of it the smart of sin and not the filth of it which the wicked would avoyd Lastly As no eye is exclusive also to the eye of God Note Wicked men presume that their sins are secret even to God himselfe They thinke sure God can see no further nor no better then man And so they have hopes to hide themselves not onely from the eyes of men but from the eyes of God as we may see plainly Jere. 23.23 Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord This question can any shews that some had flattered themselves into such a conclusion that they could so hide themselves in secret places that God could not see them The holy Psalmist sayd Psal 139.12 The darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light to thee are both alike But a wicked man sayth the darknesse hideth from thee the night is night to thee O what beggerly apprehensions have men of God! As if he whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne could not see without Sunlight or as if he could not see but in the light who made the light Vanus est qui purat se in tenebris esse tutum cum lucem vitare non possit quae lucet in tenebris tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt Ambros Naturalists say of those living creatures which have fiery eyes that they can see as well in the darke as in the light the reason is because they see not by taking in the species of the object into the eye but by sending out a light from their own eye upon the object God hath fiery eyes indeed he needs no outward light to see by who is nothing else but light Vaine sinner what can be darknes to him who is light and in whom there is no darkenes at all There is nothing doth more argue the blindnes of a sinner then this simple saying of his No eye seeth me unlesse it be that simple practice of his which he useth to the same purpose and which is discovered as his last shift in the last words of this verse And he disguiseth his face The Hebrew is He setteth his face into a secret he muffles himselfe he changeth his habit he puts on a visard harlots were wont to disguise themselves Gen. 39.14 when Tamar tooke upon her the habit of an harlot the Text saith She put on a disguise so here the Adulterer puts on a disguise he puts a cozzening face upon his face and then thinkes that though he be seene yet he cannot be discerned and that though some may see where he is yet none shall see who he is He disguiseth his face One would have thought that being in the twilight and the darkenes of the night ready to compasse him about that no eye could see him he should not need to have put on a visard or a muffler yet he doth so he puts a disguise upon his face Which may teach us That when a man doth ill he never thinks he is safe or secret enough When a mans conscience tells him he sins he would not
have any other tell him so too The Adulterer feares twilight is too light for him and therefore while the naturall darkenes is so imperfect he puts his face into perfect artificiall darkenes Job yet proceeds to shew this cowardly temper of sinners in their feare to be seene eyther by a further discovery of the same sort of sinners or of another sort in the same frame Vers 16. In the darke they dig through houses which they have marked for themselves in the day time they know not the light We have all along the words and the works of darknesse In the darke they dig through houses The question is who are here meant by these diggers some understand the verse of the adulterer And whereas he speaks here in the plurall number and before in the singular 't is frequent in Scripture say they to vary the number while the same subject is continued And that while he saith They the meaning is One and All of them are bent and apt enough to doe thus But is digging through houses the worke of an Adulterer In answer to this it hath been storyed and remembred that Adulterers have used such boysterous practices to come at their unlawfull pleasures Haec domorum perfossia non ad latrocinia nocturna sed ad turpes artes penetrandi in alienas domos manifestè pertinet Pined they have digged through houses to make private passages that they might not be discovered when they came to or when they departed from their lovers It hath been commonly sayd that hunger will break through stone walls and 't is a truth that wantonnes will doe so too Some have been so mad upon their lusts that if they could not finde a way they would make one to meete with their paramours Upon this consideration we may fayrely enterpret this verse as the former concerning the Adulterer But I rather conceive that this 16th verse containes a description of another sort of sinners Theeves or Robbers Because Ego libentius haec de latronibus quam de Adulteris caperem Quia hoc latrones saepe faciunt Adulteâ—i non nisi per quam raro Sanct though it be true that Adulterers doe sometimes digge through houses yet this is both more frequently and more properly the busienes of Theeves Another reason to perswade this understanding of the present Text may be because so we have a fuller and more particular enumeration of several sorts of sin and sinners In the darke they dig through houses To dig through houses is the worke of a theife And thus Christ speakes of the theife Luk. 12.39 And this know that if the good man of the house had knowne what houre the theife would have come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to have been broken through Jacob sayth of Simeon and Levi Gen. 49.6 In their anger they digged thorow a wall Some breake thorow walls for want or in covetousnesse to rob and steale others for anger and in wrath to kill and destroy They dig thorow houses Which they had marked for themselves in the day time See the method and cunning of these robbers here are three poynts of their sinfull skill First they marke houses the word signifies to marke with a seale as if they did put their seale upon other mens houses for their owne use Theeves goe abroad in the day time to espy where they may commit a robbery with best advantage and they set their marke upon such houses as they resolve to rob or which I rather take to be the meaning they diligently observe the strength of the house the wayes to the house what company is in the house where they may with most ease and advantage breake into the house All this they doe in the day by way of preparation and in the darke they put their purposes into execution In the darke they digge through houses which they had marked in the day Hence note Sinners would make sure worke they would not misse And therefore they eyther set their marke upon a house or exactly marke it O how witty and how cunning men are to doe mischiefe Secondly Whereas they went from Towne to Towne and any house they saw and liked they marked it for themselves Learne An unjust person makes every thing his owne if he can come by it if he can but get it He sayth of another mans house this is mine I will fill my own house with the spoyle and plunder of this Thirdly The theife marked houses In the day time He digged through them in the night but he made use of the day he would not breake open a house in the day but had somewhat to doe towards the breaking open of a house in the day he marked it in the day Hence note That time which suites not one wicked purpose may suite another The theife makes use of all times he makes use of the day to marke houses and of the night to digge them through He is carefull to take his time to doe the worke of the day upon the day and the worke of the night in the night They know not the light But why doth Job adde this sayd he not before that they marked houses for themselves in the day How then doth he say They know not the light Knowing is not meant of a bare act of knowledge as if they knew not when it was light and when it was darke or as if they knew not the nature of light what kinde of creature it is But not to know is not to affect They know not the light that is they care not they love not the light In which sence words of knowledge are often used in Scripture Nah. 1.7 The Lord knoweth the soule that trusteth in him The Lord knows those that doe not trust in him he knows those that are unbeleiveing as well as those that beleive in a way of discerning who they are but he knows the soule that trusteth in him in a way of loving and approveing him Non nosse lucem est non amaâ—e so here They know not the light that is they have no love to the light no delight in the light they care not for the light But it may be objected It should seeme these men cared for the light and liked it well for they made much use of it In the day they marked houses I answer When Job sayth They know not the light we may restraine it to one part of their busienes and that the maine Their digging through houses for this purpose which was their principall purpose they knew not the light that is they neyther loved nor liked the light darkenes was more welcome to them I shall not give any notes from these words here having before especially at the 12th verse where it is sayd They are such as rebel against the light they know not the wayes of it c. been somewhat large upon the same subject As also because the next verse is but