peculiar To touch these is to touch the apple of Gods eye Zach. 2.8 they are sacred persons And do my Prophets no harm The Patriarchs were such Gen. 20.7 so are still all godly Ministers whom they who harm by word or deed have not so much knowledge as Pilats wise had in a dream See Psal 14.4 Vers 16. Moreover he called for a Famine How easie is it with God soon to stawe us all by denying us an harvest or two If he do but call for a Famine it is done He brake the while staff of bread Either by withdrawing bread that staff of mans life or his blessing from it for man liveth not by bread alone or at all but by every word c. Mat. 4. without which bread can no more nourish us than a clod of clay In pane conclusus est quasi baculus qui nos sustineat See Hag. 1.6 with the Notes Vers 17. He sent a man before them An eminent and eximious man Cujus vita fuit coelum queddam lucidissim is virtutum stellis exornatum to be their friend in the Court and to provide for their livelihood No danger befalleth the Church but God before-hand provideth and procureth the means of preservation and deliverance 2 Pet. 2.9 Even Joseph whom they had sold God ordereth the disorders of the world to his own glory and his peoples good Vers 18. Whose feet they hurt with fetters God hereby fitting him for that great service as he did afterwards Moses by forty years banishment in Miâ—ian and David by Sauls persecution till his soul was even as a weaned child Psal 131.2 He was laid in iron Heb. His soul came into iron or the iron entred into his soul but sin entred not into his conscience See a like phrase Luke 2.35 Vers 19 Until the time that his word came The time that Gods purpose and promise of deliverance was fulfilled This word of God prophane persons call Fate Fortune c. The word of the Lord tried him That he was Affliction-proof and still retained his integrity 1 Pet. 1.7 Vers 20. The King sent and loosed him By his own Master Potiphar who had laid him there at his wives in stance such as are bound ignominiously for righteousness sake shall be one way or other loosed honourably Vers 21. He made him Lord of his house Thus for his short braid of imprisonment where of he never dreamt Joseph hath eighty years preferment more than ever he dreamt of God retributions are very bountiful Vers 22. To bind his Princes at his pleasure To over-aw and to over-rule them to bind them in prison if need so required as himself had been bound and that at his pleasure or according to his own soul sine consensu Pharaoh saith Rabbi Solomon without Pharaohs consent as he dealt by Potiphar say other Rabbins And to teach his Senators wisdome Policy and piety which yet the Egyptians long retained not Vers 23. Israel also came into Egypt Whither he feared to go till God promised him his presence and protection Gen 46.3 4. God saith the same in effect to us when to descend into the grave Fear not to go down I will go down with thee and be better to thee than thy fears Jacobs best and happiest dayes were those the spent in Egypt Vers 24. And be increased his people greatly Against all the power of Egypt set against them And made them stronger than their enemies They were not so for present but the Egyptians conceited and feared they would be so Vers 25. He turned their hearâ— to hate Mens hearts are in Gods hands and he formeth and fashioneth their opinions of and affections to others at his pleasure yet without sin To deal subtilly with his servants Seeking to imbase and enervate their spirits by base drudgeries imposed upon them So afterwards dealt the Persian Tyrant with Hormisaus and the great Turk with the Christians Vers 26. He sent Moses his servant Quande duplicantur lateres venit Moses say the Jews as this day And Aaron c. God usually sendeth his by two and two for mutual helps and comfort Vers 27. They shewed his signs Heb. The words of his signs for Gods wondrous works are vocal they are real sermons of Gods power and justice See Exod. 4.8 Vers 28. He sent darkness Palpable darkness by reason of most black and thick vapours of the earth mingling themselves with the air such as Aben-Ezra said that hee once felt sayling upon the Ocean the gross vapours there putting out the light of fire and candle and not suffering them to be re-inkindled And they rebelled not against his word They that is the plagues called for came immediately with an Ecce me Or They that is Moses and Aaron refused not to denounce and inflict those plagues though Pharaoh threatned so kill them where a man would wonder at Pharaohs hardness and hardiness that being in the midst of that deep and dreadful darkness he could rage against God and threaten with death his servant Moses The Arabick reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendreth it Et irritarunt sermonem ejus And they the Egyptians provoked his word or rebelled against it Vers 39. He turned their waters into blood A just hand of God upon them for their cruelty in drowning the Hebrew Infants and a real forewarning if they could have seen it of the death of their first-born and their final overthrow at the red Sea And slew their fish Which was a great part of their food Piscis à pascendo dictus Vers 30. The land brought forth frogs in abundance Like grass that grows upon the ground or as fishes spawned in the Sea as the word signifieth Gen. 1.20 Some think they were not common frogs sed venenat as hâ—rrendas quales sunt rubetae bufones Ab. Ezra but Toads and Lizards Crocodiles some think came out of the River and destroyed people In the chambers of their Kings Regis regulorum inter medias enseâ— medias custodias This was the finger of God as it was likewise when a Town in Spain was overturned by Conies and another in Thessaly by Moles a City in France undone by Frogs Plin. l. 8. c. 29 and another in Africa by Locusts c. Vers 31. He spake and there came divers sorts of Flyes Heb. a mixture so of Waspes Hornets Dog-flyes the most troublesome of all other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sorts of Insects And Lice in all their coasts This the Magicians could not do Quid ciniphe vilius c saith Philo What 's baser than a Louse yet hereby God can tame the sturdiest of his rebels Some Kings and other Grandees have dyed of the lousie disease as Herod Philip of Spain c. Vers 32. He gave them Hail for Rain Rain was geason in Egypt but now they had hail for rain a giftless gift Heb. He gave their rain hail Exod. 9.23 And flaming fire in their land That they
measure to trust in it that is to think our selves simply the better and the safer for it as our Saviour sheweth and this Disciples after some wonderment at length understood him so Mark 10.23 24. Hence that strict charge 1 Tim. 6.17 And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches Contrary to Jer. 9.23 This Psalm sets forth the better gloriation of a Beleever in the grace of God and in his blessed condition wherein he is lifted up above the greatest Worldings Vers 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother And therefore all Mony that hath been given for Masses Diriges Trentals c. hath been cast away seeing Christ is the only Redeemer and in the other World Mony beareth no Mastery neither can a man buy off death though hee would give never so much Death will not regard any Ransome neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifts as Solomon saith in another case Prov. 6.35 Fye quoth that great Cardinal Beanford will not Death be hired Act. Mon. in H. 6. Will Mony do nothing Wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it c. Lewis the Eleventh would not hear of death all the time of his last Sickness but when he saw there was no remedy he sent for the Holy Water from Rhemes together with Aarons rod as they called it and other holy Reliques Epit. Hist Gall. Balth. Exner. Val. Max. Christ p. 391. thinking therewith to stop Deaths mouth and to stave him off but it would not be O Miser saith one thereupon hoc assidue times quod semel faciendum est Hoc times quod in tua mann est ne timeas Pietatem assume superstitionem omitte mors tua vita erit quidem beata atque eterna Vers 8. For the redemption of their soul is precious i.e. the price of life is greater than that any man how wealthy soever can compass it Mony is the Monarch of this World but not of the next And it ceaseth for ever i.e. The purchase of a longer life ceaseth there is no such thing beleeve it Job 36.18 19. Deut. 23.22 Zech. 11.12 To blame then were the Agrigentines who did eat build plant c. as though they should live for ever Vers 9. That be should still live for ever As every wicked man would if it might be had for mony for he knoweth no happiness but to Have and to Hold on the tother side the Grave he looketh for no good whereas a godly manholdeth mortality a Mercy as Phil. 1.23 he hath Mortem in desiderio vitam in patientin as Fulgentius saith he desireth to dye and yet is content to live accepting of life rather than affecting it enduring it rather than desiring it And not see corruption Heb. The pit of corruption The Chaldee understandeth it of Hell to the which the wicked mans death is as a trap-door Vers 10. For he seeth that wise men dye likewise the fool This to be a truth etiam muta clamant cadavera the dead Corpses of both do preach and proclaim by a dumb kinde of eloquence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death maketh no difference Pallida mors equo c. It is appointed for all men once to dye It lieth as a mans Lot as the word signifieth Heb. 9.27 and all men can say We are all mortal but alas we say it for most part Magis us◠quam sensu more of custom than feeling for we live as if our lives were rivetted upon Eternity and we should never come to a reckoning Heu vivunt homines tanquam mors nulla sequatur Ant velut infernus fabula vana foret And the bruitish person perish His life and his hopes ending together But it would be considered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wise men dye as well as fools good men dye as well as bad yea good men oft before the bad Isa 57.1 Jeroboams best Son dyed before the rest because there was some good found in him And leave their wealth to others Nec aliis solùm sed alienis to meer strangers this Solomon sets forth as a great vanity It was therefore a good speech of a holy man once to a great Lord who had shewed him his stately House and pleasant Gardens You had need make sure of Heaven or else when you dye you will be a very great loser Vers 11. Their inward thought is that their houses c. Some joyn this verse to the former and read the words thus Where as each of them seeth that wise men dye likewise the fool c. yet their inward thought is c. they have a secret fond conceit of their own immortality they would fain beleeve that they shall dwell here for ever The Hebrew runneth thus Their inwards are their houses for ever as if their houses were got within them as the Pharisees goods were Luke 11.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So here Internum vel interiora not the thoughts only but the very inmost of the thoughts of wicked Worldlings the most retired thoughts and recesses of their souls are about these earthly things these lye nearest to their hearts as Queen Mary said when she dyed Open me and you shall find Calice at my heart It was a pittiful case that a rotten town lay where Christ should and yet it is ordinary They call their Lands after their own names So to make them famous and to immortalize them at once Thus Cain called his new-built City Enoch after the name of his Son whom he would thereby have to be called Lord Enoch of Enoch This is the ambition still of many that take little care to know that their names are written in Heaven but strive to propagate them as they are able upon Earth Nimrod by his Tower Absolom by his Pillar Alexander by his Alexandria Adrian by his Adrianople c. But the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 and those that depart from God shall be written in the earth Jer. 17.13 c. Vers 12. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not Howsoever he think to eternalize himself and be grown never so great dye he must whether Lord or Losel and dye like a beast a carrion beast unless he be the better man but only for his pillow and bolster At one end of the Library at Dublin was a Globe at the other a Skeliton to shew that though a man was Lord of all the World yet hee must dye his honour must be laid in the dust The mortal Sythe saith one is master of the royal Scepter and it moweth down the Lillies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the field Perperam accommodatur bic versiculus saith another this verse is not well interpreted of the first man Adam to prove that he sinned the same day wherein he was Created and lodged not one night in Paradise He
I am judged I am damned Pet. Sutor de vita Carth. This very much wrought upon the heart of Bruno saith he and occasioned him to found the Carthusian order Waldus a French Merchant was so affected with the death of one that died suddenly in his presence that he thenceforth became a right godly man and the Father of the Waldenses those ancient Protestants in France called also The poor men of Lions But oh the dead lethargy the spirit of fornication that hath so besotted the minds of the most that they can see death and yet not think of it they can look into the dark chamber of the grave and never make the least preparation for it if for present they be somewhat affected and have some good impressions yet they soon vanish as the water circled by a stone cast into it soone returns to its former smoothnesse as chickens run under the wings of the hen whiles the kite is over them or in a storm but soon after get abroad againe amd dust themselves in the Sun As Nebuchadnezzar had seen a vision but it was gone from him so here if men at the house of mourning have â—ome good motions they improve them not to resolutions or draw not forth their resolutions into execution c. Verse 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away Journyeth not their excellency with them so Broughton rendreth it By their excellency here some understand the soule called by David his glory A Philosopher said Favorium there was nothing excellent in the world but man nothing in man but his soul The Stoicks affirmed that the body was not a part of a man but the instrument or rather the servant of the soul Hence the Latines call the body Corpus or Corpor as of old they speak quasi cordis puer sive famulus And Plato saith Camer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that that is not the man that is seen of him but the mind of a man that 's the man And in the 19 verse of this chap. man is said to dwell in an house of clay that is the soul to inhabit the body The soul goes away with the name of the whole person the soul indeed is the man in a morall consideration and is therefore elsewhere called the inward man 2 Cor. 4.16 1 Pet. 3.4 and the hidden man of the heart the body compared to it is but as a clay-wall encompassing a treasure a course case to a rich instrument a leathern sheath to an excellent blade Dan. 7.15 or as a mask to a beautiful 〈◊〉 Now at death this excellency of a man departeth returneth to God that gave it Eclesias â— 7 His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish even the most excellent effects of his mind and spirit as the word signifieth Psal 146.4 And as that so all other excellencies go away at death Psal 39.11 and 49.13 even the whole goodlinesse of man Isa 40.6 whether it be the good things of the mind as wisedome science conscience judgment or of the body as beauty and health or of fortune as they call it as favour and applause together with plenty of prosperity No mans glory goeth down with him into the grave Psal 49.16 Where is now the flourishing beauty and gallantry of Caesar saith one his armies and honours his triumphs and trophies where are the rich fools great barnes Nebuchadnezzars great Babel Agrippa's great pomp c Have not all these made their bed in the dark leaving their excellency behind them Are they not many of them gone to their place as a stone to the center or as a foole to the stocks They dye even without wisdome Heb. They die and not with wisedome They die like so many beasts but for their pillow and bolster without any care to lay hold on eternall life 1 Sam. 3.33 they die as a fool dieth Not in wisedome that is in abundance of folly saith Pineda and this is most mens case their wit serves them not in this weighty work of preparing to die they put farre away the thoughts of it and hence they die tempore non suo Eccles 7.17 when it were better for them to do any thing rather then to die To live with dying thoughts is an high point of heavenly wisedome Psal 90.12 Deut. 32.29 How might one such wise Christian chase a thousand foolish and hurtfull lusts 1 Tim. 6.4 which drowne mens soules in perdition and destruction CHAP. V. Verse 1. Call now if there be any that will answer thee THe beginning of this chapter is hard saith Mercer till you come to the seventh or eighth verses and then all is plain and easie That which Eliphaz driveth at here is to drive Job out of all good conceit of his own condition and to perswade him that never any good man suffered such hard and heavy things as he or at least suffered them so untowardly and impatiently Call I pray thee saith he call over the roll look into the records of former Saints and see if thou canst find among them all such another knotty piece as thy self that needed so much hewing and made such a deale of complaining Was there ever the like heard of Call now if there be any one answerable to thee Broughton rendreth it Call now if there be any one that will defend thee that is be thy Patron or advocate in word or in the example of their lives And to which of the Sâ—â—nts wilt thou turn q. d. Thou art alone neither maist thou hope to meet with thy match in the matter or manner of thine afflictions unlesse it be among hypocrites and gracelesse persons as verse 2. The Septuagint read it To which of the Angels wilt thou look And the Popish Commentators think they have here an unanswerable ground for their Doctrine of invocation of Saints and Angels But did not the buzzards take notice of an Irony here and that Eliphaz assureth Job that it would be in vain for him to call to any Saint c Is it not plain or probable at least that he here meaneth the Saints living in this world or if not yet is Gregory the great of no authority with them who acknowledgeth none other to be called upon here meant but God and that the Saints are mentioned to Job in derision as if it were a ridiculous thing to call to them departed out of this life who cannot hear us Verse 2. For wrath killeth the foolish man Such as thou art Job hot and hasty pettish and passionate fretting thy self to do evil and so provoking God to fall soule upon thee as a just object of his wrath to thine utter ruine without repentance Surely with the froward God will show himself froward Psal 18.26 Neither hath ever any one hardened himself against the Lord and prospered Job 9.4 For why he is wise in heart and mighty in strength as it is there every way able to
Si non castè saltem cautè say the Popish Shavelings who are sometimes taken in the manner as was that carnal Cardinal Cremonensis Acts Mon. fol. 1065. Ibid. 1905. Barns Funccius Luth. Coloq the Popes Legat here in Hen. 8. dayes and Dr. Wâ—ston Dean of Windsor in the Raign of Queen Mary apprehended in Adultery and for the same deprived of all his Spiritual Livings by Cardinal Pool Pope John the twelfth being taken a bed with another mans wife was killed immediately by her husband In Germany a Gentleman of note and his Harlot were served in like sort as Luther relateth So was Reâ—â—â—ldus the Eighth King of Lombardy and Sergui a King of Scotland Of all these P.Mel. Chron. Lang. Chron. and many more esusdem furfuris it may well be said as here that being noted and notified they were in the terrors of the shadow of death Which death to escape Verse 18. He is swift as the waters He stayes not long in a place but flies away swiftly like the River Tigris swift as an arrow out of a bow to avoid punishment Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters The meaningâ—s saith One they are as a light thing upon the streams of water running swiftly and carrying it away with speed Some that it is spoken in respect of their swift passing on from one wickednesse to another or their never being settled after such wickednesse committed but alwayes ready to be overturned as a ship that is unballasted and so to be drowned in the sea Their portion is cursed on the earth Cain-like they wander up and down à corde suo facti fugitivi but their sin will surely find them out neither can they run out of the reach of Gods rod c. This Job saith lest any should gather from what he had said before that it should be alwayes well with the wicked and ill with the godly Some take it curse-wise thus Let their portion on earth be accursed neither let them turn themselves to the Vineyards scil either to dresse them or to taste of the fruits of them He beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards That is say some to run away by them which were common wayes to Cities but by some other obscure by-way that he may not be found In Vineyards something is to be done at all times that way therefore they take not lest they should be discovered and punished Beza rendreth it He turneth not into the way that is the nature of the Vines which by cutting and pruning sprouteth out and becometh more profitable Others sense it far otherwise The concise brevity and ambiguity of the words together with the change of number hath caused a cloud upon them Verse 19. Drought and heat consume the snow waters Here also brevity hath bred obscurity Snow waters as they are more subtile so they sooner sink into the dry earth so dye the wickeds quickly and easily See chap. 21.13 31. There are that read the whole verse thus In the drought and heat they rob and in the snow waters they sin to the grave that is they rob and run into other flagitious practises in all weather Summer and Winter and never give over till they dye They persist in their sins saith Calvin wherein they have been nuzzelled up even to their grave This is a good sense Luther tells of one filthy Adulterer so set upon that sin that he was heard to utter these abominable words If I were sure to live here for ever and that I might still be carried from one Brothel-house to another I would never desire any other heaven then that Vae dementiae impietati Theat Hist pag. 568. This beastly man breathed out his wretched soul betwixt two harlots Once I knew a most odious Adulterer of seventy years old saith another great Divine who having wasted his flesh and state with harlots and lying neer death was requested thus Potter call upon God M. Dan. Rog. he replyed with his ordinary oathes Pox and Wounds is this a time to pray I knew saith a third Reverend man a great swearer who coming to his death-bed Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedinesse after sin Mr. Bolton that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could yet as though he had been already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell he desperately desired the standers by to help him with Oathes and to swear for him Athenaeus reporteth of one covetous Mammonist that at the hour of his death he devoured many pieces of Gold and sewed the rest in his coat commanding that they should be all buried with him And our Chroniclers write of King Edward 1. that he adjured his son and Nobles Dan. Hist 202. that if he dyed in his Expedition against Bruce King of Stots they should not interre his Corps but carrie it about Scotland till they had avenged him on that Usurper Verse 20. The Womb shall forget him Some read it The merciful man forgetteth him scil because himself was mercilesse Or because he was a trouble to the world and a common Pest therefore good men are glad to be so rid of him and in stead of sighing over him say Let the worm feed sweetly on him 't is well he is gone as he lived wickedly so he dyed wickedly let him be no more remembred or honourably mentioned but moulder away and fall as a rotten tree Others interpret the words of the sudden and easie death of the wicked thus The womb shall forget him that is saith Beza being once dead neither his mother nor his wife do bewail and lament his death because without that pain and torment that many suffer when they depart the world The wormes shall feed sweetly on him Moritar impunitus he maketh the worms a feast with his fat Corps as Dr. Taylor Martyr made account to have done if buried in Hadley Church-yard and feels no pain He shall be no more remembred And this is reckoned up as a piece of his happiness See Eccles 8.10 with the Note there And wickednesse that is the wicked person that crooked piece that can hardly ever be set straight again Shall be broken as a tree As a rotten tree blown down by the wind Verse 21. He evil intreateth the barren that beareth not Who had more need to be comforted then further afflicted But Homo homini Daemon Jacob and Elkanab loved and comforted their wives under this crosse The Vulgar rendreth it He hath fed the barren whereupon some expound it of wicked mens feeding Whores and maintaining them for their pleasure keeping them barren that they may keep their beauty And doth not good to the widow i.e. Doth her much hurt for not to do good is to do evil Mark 3.4 He hath afflicted his barren wife and evil intreated the poor desolate widow his mother What marvel then if the womb forget him c. if his wife bewail not so unkind an husband
them and gripple after them are many much-worms heaping apriches and not knowing who shall gather them Psal 39.6 laying up as if their lives were riveted upon eternity or were sure to leave it to their Children who yet shall never enjoy it This is a great vanity saith Solomon and yet such dust-heapes as these are to be found in every corner And prepare raiment as the clay Tantum vestium quantum est luti saith Vaâ—ablus that he have as great store of suits in his wardrobe as he hath dirt in his ditches Verse 17. He may prepare it but the just shall put it on Well may he prepare it so Broughton Let the wicked men toyle and take pains for it God hath prepared for him an executour never mentioned in his Will God gave the Egyptians and Canaanites Goods to Israel Nabals to David Humanâ— to Mordecai See Prop. 28.8 Eccles 2.26 This plague among the rest God threatneth the disobedient with Deut. 28.30 Sed haec non semper saith Mercer although we see not this alwayes so to fall out but the contrary yet it is easie to observe that many spend their strength and waste their wits in congerendo converâ—endâ— in getting and gathering these outward things and then when to possess them might leem a happiness thev die and leave them to uncertain heirs as did Absolom and Alexander the Great who left his Ring to Perdiccâ— Plut. but his Dominions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him that should best deserve them And the innocent shall divide the silver Shall share it among them as their Childs-Portions Solet enim Deus dividere aliis dona aliis 〈…〉 lucium saith Brentius here God gives gifts unto men even to the rebâ—llâ—â—â— but the use and enjoyment of those gifts he bestoweth upon the righteous The former have 〈…〉 sure and trouble therewith Juvenal Prov. â—â— 16 Miserâ—est 〈…〉 The later have howsoever contented godliness and though they gather less of this Manna here below yet they have no waâ—â— Verse 18. He buildeth his house as a moth Which lodgeth it self in some stately garment and thinks there to 〈…〉 which he hath feathered as the silk-worm endeth his life in his long wrought clew but is fool 〈◊〉 or 〈…〉 so shall the oppressor be cast out of his 〈◊〉 buildings which he hath with much cost and care erected rather for 〈…〉 It is 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—ful to build houses only men must not build 〈…〉 with 〈◊〉 and hurt to others 〈…〉 so this word it 〈…〉 long custome received never build any thing sumptuously for their own private 〈◊〉 but conâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 with 〈…〉 Turk hist f. 342 or Vineyard who setteth him up a Booth Cabin or Cottage to defend him from the parching heat of the Sun which lasteth only for one summer at utmost so here The experience whereof we have had abundantly in these late desolation wars for how many gallant houses have been utterly ruined Vt praeter nomen solum nihil amplius extet Verse 19. The rich man shall lye down That is the wicked rich man as Jam. 5.1 Magna cognatio ut rei sic nominis divitiis vitiis He shall lye down viz. in the streets as being left house-less But he shall not be gathered i. e. Taken into house or harbour by any man but abhorred by all for his former cruelty He openeth his eyes and he is not He looketh about him on every side but findeth no succour There are that understand it of death The rich man shall lye down Tigur sc in the dust of death but shall not be gathered that is nec honorifice funerabitur he shall not have the honour of a comely burial Besides he openeth his eyes and he is not upon his death-bed he looks about for comfort the Mole they say never openeth her eyes till the pangs of death are upon her but in stead thereof shall see that three-fold terrible spectacle Death Judgement Hell and all to be passed through by his poor Soul Hence and no wonder Verse 20. Terrours take hold on him as waters Abundantly suddenly irresistibly he is even swallowed up by them and over-whelmed as he that is plunged into a deep pit full of water or that hath the proud surges going over his soul Psal 124. The misery of it is That these waters are fiery and Hell is a lake but a burning lake and such also as hath eternity to the bottom A tempest stealeth him away in the night i. e. Furtim repontè horribiliter Night is it self full of terrour but much more when a tempest is up and theeves are abroad c. Oh! it must needs be a terrible time indeed when death shall come with a Writ of Habeas Corpus and the Devil with another of Habeas animam upon a man at once Petrus Sutorius speaketh of one that preaching a funeral Sermon on a certain Canon at Paris and giving him large commendations Pet Sutor de vit Carth. heard at the same time a voice in the Church Mortuus sum judicatus sum damnatus sum I am dead judged and damned Oh! let us but think with our selves though it pass all thought what a screech the poor foul giveth when hurled into Hell there to suffer such tortures and torments as it shall never be able to avoid or abide Verse 21. The East-wind carrieth him away Deus subito severo suo judicio God by his sudden and severe Judgement Lavaâ— hurrieth him hence to the place of torment without the least hope of ever either mending or ending And he departeth But with as ill a will as ever did Lot out of Sodom Adam out of Paradise the Jebusites out of Jerusalem the unjust Steward out of his Office the Devil out of the Demoniack And as a storm hurleth him Turbinat eum Tosseth him as a Ball into a far Countrey as if he were wherried away by a fierce whirlewind or served as pastime for tempests Verse 22. For God shall cast upon him and not spare But set himself to inflict upon this cursed caytiff all the plagues written and unwritten in his book full vials of vengeance an evil an only evil even punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort mischief without measure torments without end and past imagination He would fain flee out of his hand But that will not be like a wretched caytiff he runs without resting but Gods hand pursueth him till he perisheth He may shuffle from side to side as Balaams Ass did he may skip up and down as the wounded Deer Sed haeret lateri lethalis arundo the deadly Dart sticks in his side c. Verse 23. Men shall clap their hand at him c. Heb. He shall clap c. Every He shall or God shall as some read it God shall kick him off this Stage of the world and then men shall clap and hiss at him in signe of detestation as they did once at
most modern Interpreters conceive that David doth here ingenuously confesse that he grudged against God considering the greatnesse of his grief and the shortnesse of his life And the measure of my dayes An admalorum qua perfero compensationem sufficiant whether they are likely to be enow to make mee amends for my grievous sufferings This hee seemeth to speak either out of impatiency or curiosity at least That I may know how frail I am How soon-ceasing and short liv'd Quam darabilis sum Tremâ— Vatablus hath it quam mandanus sim how long I am like to be a man of this World this vale of misery and valley of tears Vers 5. Behold thou hast made my dayes as an handbreadth i. e. Four fingers broad which is one of the least Geometricall measures or a span-long as some interpret it Now to spend the span of this transitory life after the wayes of a mans own heart is to bereave himself of a room in that City of Pearl and to perish for ever Or take it for an handbreadth should a man having his lands divided into four parts answerable to those four fingers breadth leave three of them untilled should he not make the best of that little time that he hath that he be not taken with his task undone Themistocles dyed about an hundred and seven years of age and when he was to dye he was grieved upon this ground Now I am to dye faith he when I begin to be wise But Stultus semper incipit vivere saith Seneca and such complaints are bootlesse O live quickly live apace and learn of the Devil at least to be most busy as knowing that our time is short Rev. 12.12 To complain of the miseries of life and to wish for death as David here seemeth to do and as did Job chap. 3.19 6.9 7.15 and Moses Num. 11.11 15. Elias 1 King 19.4 Jeremy chap. 20.14 Jonas 4.3 is a sign of a prevailing temptation and of a spirit fainting under it We must fight against such impatiency and learn to do the like by life as we do by a lease wherein if our time be but short we rip up the grounds eat up the grasse cut down the copses and take all the liberty the lease will afford Mine age is as nothing Heb. My world that is my time of aboad in the World is but a magnum Nibil as one saith of honour Punctumest quod vivimus puncto minus a meer Salve vale a non-entity Verily every man at his best estate When hee is best constituted and underlaid set to live Profecto omnimoda vani tas omnis homo est quantumvis constitutus maxime Tremel Kimchi as one would think firmus fixus setled on his best bottom yet even then he is all over vanity All Adam is all Abel as the originall runs elegantly alluding to those two proper names like as Psal 144.3 4. Adam is Abels mate or man is like to a soon vanishing vapour such as is the breath of ones mouth See Jam. 4.14 a feeble flash a curious picture of Nothing Vers 6. Surely every man walkâ—th in a vain shew Heb. In an image or in a shadow as Job 14. 2. in the shadow of death as some sense it his life is like a picture drawn upon the water saith Theodoret it passeth away as an hasty headlong torrent Verily surely surely it is so Selah you may seal to it Surely they are disquieted in vain Heb. They keep a stirre and trouble the World as did great Alexander who surfetting of his excessive fortunes from the darling of Heaven Two fits of an ague could shake greit Tamerlan to death came to be the disdain of the Earth which hee had so oft disquieted So the Emperour Adrian who troubling himself and others to little good purpose dyed with this saying in his mouth Omnia fui nibil profuit I have tryed all conclusions but go nothing And saith not Salomon as much in his Ecclesia stes Hee heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them i.e. Enjoy them See Eccles 2.18 19. and be moderate Think when you lock up your mony in your chest saith One who shall shortly lock you up in your coffin Think how that this very night thy soul may he required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Luk. 12.20 Vers 7. â—eza And now Lord what wait I for q. d. Absit ergo ut de ist is quisquiliis sim anxius Farre be it from mee to trouble my self about these transitory trifles I am bent to depend on thee alone to wait for thy favour and desire it above all earthly felicity to place all my hope on thee alone who being my Lord wilt nor canst not cast off thy poor servant who desireth to fear thy Name Vers 8. Deliver mee from all my transgressions But especially from that of impatiently desiring to dye out of discontent vers 4. The sense of this one sin brought many more to remembrance as a man by looking over his debt-book for one thing meets with more God giveth the penitent generall discharges neither calleth he any to an after-reckoning Make mâ—e not the reproach of the foolish Let not any Wicked one for such are all fooles in Gods dictionary lay this folly in my dish that I so foolishly desired death in a pet Vers 9. I was dumb I opened not my mouth Or Better thus I should have been dumb and not have opened my mouth according to my first resolution I should not have reasoned or rather wrangled with thee as vers 4. but have kissed thy rod in an humble submission and have known that the rod of Aaron and pot of Manna must go together Macrobius writeth that the image of Angeronia among the old Romans was placed on the Altar of Volupia with the mouth closed and sealed up to signifie that such as patiently and silently bear their griefs do thereby attain to greatest pleasures Because thou didst it This is indeed a quieting consideration and will notably quell and kill unruly passions Set but God before them when they are tumultuating and all will be soon husht This made Jacob so patient in the rape of his Daughter Dinah Job in the losse of his goods by the Sabaan spoylers David in the barkings of that dead dog Shimâ—i that noble Lord of Plessis in the losse of his only son a Gentleman of marvellous great hopes slain in the wars of the Low-Countries His Mother more impatient dyed of the grief of it But his Father laid his hand on his mouth when Gods hand was on his back and used these very words I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it Vers 10. Removethy stroke away from mee Having first prayed off his sin hee would now pray off his pain though it lesse troubled him and for ease he repaireth to Jehovah that healeth as well as woundeth Hos 6.1 nam qui