turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye children of men Here 's man turning and returning upon the saying of God man turneth to death he returneth to dust and shall at last return from the dust and all this when God saith he must Our life is a very frail thing and it is in the hand of God to continue or take it away to let us hold it or gather it home to himself Thirdly From the manner of speaking If he gather to himself his spirit and his breath Note When man dieth he is gathered to God When as Solomon allegorizeth the death of man Eccl. 12.6 7. The silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken c. Then shall the dust that is the body return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it that is each part of man when he departeth this world shall go its proper way and return to that which is most congenial to it his body to the earth from whence it is his soul to God of whom it is God is a Spirit the creating Spirit and our created spirits are gathered to God when they are separated from the body yet remember there is a two-fold gathering or returning of the spirit to God First To abide and be blessed with him for ever thus the spirits of believers or saints only are gathered to God when they depart out of this world Secondly There is a gathering of the spirit to God to be judged and disposed of by him to receive a sentence of life or death from him And thus the spirit of every man or woman that dieth is gathered to God be they good or bad believers or unbelievers Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for men once to die but after this the judgement 'T is the Statute Law of God man must die and the sound of Judgement is at the heels of death That Text saith but after this the Judgement The general day of judgement shall not be till the resurrection of man from the dead But there is a personal judgement or a determining of every mans state when he dieth and for that end every mans spirit is gathered to God to receive his sentence The spirits of wicked men are gathered to him and condemned the spirits of the righteous are gathered to him and acquitted We are come saith the Apostle Heb. 12.23 to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect David knew he must be gathered to God but he earnestly deprecated such a gathering as most shall have Psal 26.9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men It is this word when sinners die they are gathered but David would not be gathered as they are gathered They are gathered to God but it is that they may be for ever separated from him they are gathered to a day of vengeance and wrath Therefore David prayed Gather not my soul with sinners Death is called a gathering in a threefold reference First A gathering to our people Thus it is said of Aaron Num. 20.24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the land c. Death separates the people of God from their people that is from those that are like them on earth but it will be a means of bringing them into the society of their people or fellow believers who are gone before them into heaven Secondly Death is called a gathering to our Fathers 2 Chron. 34 28. Behold I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace There 's a gathering to a more special company and that with other like Scriptures are an argument that we shall know our relations in heaven For to be gathered to our Fathers spoken of in the first part of the verse is more then to be gathered to the grave spoken of in the latter and by our fathers we are to understand more of our fathers then the grave hath in its keeping which is but their bodies even their souls which are kept in heaven Thirdly According to the phrase of this Text death is called a gathering to God If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath Whence Note Fourthly The spirit or soul of man hath its original from God It is of him to whom it returneth The soul or spirit of man is of God in a more special way then his body is for though God giveth both yet the Scripture in the place before named speaks of the soul as the gift of God but passeth by the body Eccles 12.7 The dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it 'T is God not man alone who hath given us these bodies but 't is not man but God alone who hath given us these spirits therefore men are called the fathers of our flesh that is of the body in way of distinction from God who is the father of spirits Heb. 12.9 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live that is shall we not rather be subject to God then to man Father of spirits is an Attribute or Title too high and honourable for any but God One of the Ancients in his gracious breathing after God brake out into this holy Passion My soul O God came from thee and my heart is unquiet or restless until it return to thee again God is our center and our rest He gathereth to himself mans spirit and when he doth so what then what 's the issue of it Elihu tells us what in the next verse Vers 15. All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again to his dust As if he had said As soon as ever the spirit is gathered the flesh is consumed or as we render perisheth All flesh may be taken in the largest sence not only for all men that live but for all living creatures Thus largely Moses extendeth it Gen. 6.17 Behold saith the Lord I will bring a flood of water to destroy all flesh that is all the Beasts of the earth and Fowls of the ayre together with Mankinde except a few of each in the Ark so Psal 136.25 Who giveth food to all flesh that is to man and beast for his mercy endureth for ever Yet some understand this first part more narrowly for all flesh except man because he addeth in the latter part of the verse and man shall return again to his dust But I conceive we are to take all flesh here for all men and only for men it being usual in Scripture to put the same thing twice under different expressions So then All flesh that is every man be he who he will shall perish Thus as all flesh is restrained to man so it extendeth over all men yea over all things of man Isa 40.6 All flesh is grass and all the
poor that 's the case of some it is the Lords with-holding of his blessing which makes all his labours fruitless and successless such a man is indeed one of God's poor or a poor man of God's making and God will surely make the poverty of such a man if he continue in a believing dependence upon him and in an humble submission to him if he know how to want as well as to abound how to be hungry as well as to be full and in every estate hath learned therewith to be content as the holy Apostle had then I say God will surely make the poverty of such a man better to him then riches or the largest portion of this worlds enjoyment The poor of God's special making are under his special keeping and blessing As they have but little so they want nothing God himself will always be not only enough but all to them Take two further inferences from the whole verse First Princes great and rich men must not expect to fare better with God because of their greatness or riches For He doth not regard the rich more then the poor Secondly The meanest man needs not fear that he shall fare the worse before God for his meanness The most high God will not overlook those in a low estate he regardeth the poor as well as the rich and that 's matter of great comfort to the poor when disregarded by the rich Though the Lord doth not make all men of an equal respect in the world 't is his will that some men should be more regarded by men then others are yet himself in the sence opened beareth an equal respect to them all He regardeth not the rich more then the poor for they are all the work of his hands JOB Chap. 34. Vers 20 21 22. In a moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away and the mighty shall be taken away without hands For his eyes are upon the wayes of man and he seeth all his doings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves IN these three verses Elihu doth two things principally First He sets forth the judgements of God Secondly He gives an account of the equity of them He sets forth the judgements of God First More generally Upon People and Nations Secondly Upon Princes and Governours All this in the 20th verse And in this judgement of God upon Nations we may take notice First Of the nature of it and how it is described and that is laid down three wayes First They shall die Secondly They shall be troubled Thirdly They shall pass away Under these Notions the judgement of God upon People and Nations is exprest Secondly We may here consider the suddenness of all this In a moment they shall die Thirdly We may consider the season or rather as to man the unseasonableness of it it shall be though in a dreaming time when they little dream of it The people shall be troubled at midnight Thus we have the judgement or sad dispensation of God described in this 20th verse both as to the acts of it and likewise as to the manner of it upon the people Elihu having shewed the judgement of God upon the people in the former part of this 20th verse declares also his judgement upon the Princes in the latter end of it The mighty shall be taken away without hand Where we see First How Princes are expressed or called They are the mighty Secondly What kinde of judgement befalleth them They are taken away Thirdly The manner how this is brought about They are taken away without hand From the matter of the judgement of God both upon people and Princes Elihu proceeds to give the reason why the Lord deals thus with both This he doth in the two verses following First Because of their sin They are workers of iniquity in the close of the 22th verse Secondly Because as they are workers of iniquity so God is fully acquainted with all their iniquity c. He seeth all their works and the iniquity of their works nothing can cover it or them from his fight and therefore as Elihu asserts the omniscience of God positively in the 21th verse so negatively in the 22th verse There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Now seeing the works of those Nations and Princes were naught and the naughtiness of them was evident to God how could he but punish them And how just and righteous is he in punishing of them By all this Elihu clears his general Assertion or the point he drives at all this chapter over namely to prove that God is righteous against which position he tells us before Job having spoken dangerously he was engaged to maintain it vigorously which he doth here especially in that eminent branch of it mentioned at the 19th verse That he accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poor For Princes as well as common people fall under his hand So much for the parts and resolution of these three verses as also for the general scope of them Yet before I go on to the particular explication of them I would only minde the Reader of another Translation of the whole 20th verse which varieth somwhat from ours rendring it as a description of the judgement of God upon Princes by the violence of the people whereas according to our Translation it is a description of the judgement of God both upon people and Princes The Translation I mean is that of the Vulgar Latine which runs in this form Vers 20. Suddenly shall they die Subito morientur in media nocte turbabuntur populi per transibunt auferent violentum absique manu Vulg. at midnight the people shall be in a tumult and shall pass over and take away the violent man without hand This Reading and the expositions given upon it prove That God is so far from accepting the persons of Princes that he does not only tell them their own and reprove them to their face for their wickedness and Apostacy as was shewed from the former reading of the 18th verse but deprives them also of their dignity and pulls them from their power And he doth it in such a manner that every man may understand and see the hand of God in it because they see no hands in it The less of man appears in any work of providence whether it be in a way of mercy or of judgement the more of God is to be acknowledged in it and where nothing of man appeareth all or the whole must be attributed unto God The judgement which Elihu speaks of here seems according to this Interpretation to have much of man in it yet because the men supposed to be in it are looked upon as such as can do little in it or ought to do nothing in it therefore 't is said to be done without
of the night as the words may be rendred that 's a great aggravation of the judgement The night is a time of rest and midnight is the time of deepest rest so that for the people to be in a tumult or troubled at midnight is to be overtaken with matter of fear when fear seemed furthest off or when they suspected nothing to make them afraid David saith of some Psal 3.5 There were they in great fear where no fear was To fear at midnight is to fear when usually no fear is that is when people are at rest in their beds And so to say the people shall be troubled at midnight signifieth either First the coming of trouble upon a secure people Cum maximè securi upon a people who thought themselves and while they thought themselves not only out of the noise but reach of danger Or secondly It may signifie the coming of trouble upon a people altogether unfit to help themselves when a man is asleep he cannot give counsel how to prevent danger and while he is in his bed he is in no posture to oppose it All this may well be included in what Elihu saith The people shall be troubled at midnight Hence Note First There are National troubles as well as personal God can scare not only a family or this and that particular man but a whole people at once he cannot only make a childe or a woman but a multitude yea an Army of mighty men tremble like a childe and faint as the weakest woman A people are many yet every man shall be as if he were alone or but one in the midst of innumerable dangers and of a thousand deaths Moses in his Song foresaw the dread of Nations upon the report of the Lord 's miraculous conduct of Israel through the red Sea Exod. 15.14 15 16. The people shall hear and be afraid sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina all the inhabitants of Canaan shal melt away And when Christ speaks of those dreadful Prognosticks of his coming he not only saith There shall be signes in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars but upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity Luke 21.25 Secondly Observe Both personal and publick troubles are at the command of God as both publick and personal peace are A people as well as a person may and shall be troubled even at the midnight of their greatest security if God give the word I make peace saith the Lord Isa 45.7 and create evill that is the evill of trouble There will be occasion afterward to speak further of this poynt from those words v. 29. When he giveth quietness who can give trouble and when he hideth his face who can behold him Whether it be done against a nation or against a man only trouble of all sorts is at the command of God if he saith to such or such a mischiefe goe to a nation it will goe if he bid the sword trouble them if he bid pestilence trouble them if he bid famine trouble them if he bid their owne divisions trouble them the people shall be troubled yea they shall be troubled at midnight Whence note Thirdly Trouble takes or seazeth upon many when they least expect it God can send trouble when no man thinkes of it At midnight every one is in bed all are for rest and quiet The Lord usually executes his judgements upon the unwary world upon a secure people Exod 12.29 At midnight the Lord smote all the sirstborne in the land of Egypt c. And Pharoah rose up in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt We read also 2 Kings 19.35 In that night the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred four-score and sive thousand It was not a day-battel but a night-battel When they were all gone into their tents and were at rest when the Army was secure In that night did the Lord fight them by an Angel and made a mighty slaughter among them Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slaine in the night Dan 5.30 even in that night wherein he made a feast to a thousand of his Lords and dranke wine before the thousand v. 1. In that night not only of his security but of his jollity and sensuality when he had even drowned himselfe and his great Lords with wine and belly-cheare in that very night the City was broken up and Belshazzar slaine History tells us what dreadfull work was made upon the Babylonians that night The great Judgement day is so described Jesus Christ will at last trouble the world at midnight The Day of the Lord so cometh saith the Apostle 1 Thes 5.2 as a thiefe in the night when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them c Christ himselfe shadowing his coming under the parable of the ten Virgins who all slumbred and slept tells us Math 25.6 At midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroome conteth goe ye out to meete him Though some were in a better condition then others some wise some foolish yet all slept and it was a kind of midnight to them all Christ will come and the people shall be troubled at midnight and then there will be a dreadfull Cry among the secure drowsie world Therefore the Counsell of Christ is most proper Math 13.35 Watch because ye know not at what houre your Master may come whether at even or at midnight or at Cock-trowing or in the morning It is hard to be put to it at midnight 't is sad to be in a sleepy or slumbring condition when evill comes The Gospel sheweth us how much that man was troubled when his neighbour came to borrow bread of him at midnight Luke 11.5.7 Trouble me not my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee If it be matter of trouble to be called out of our bed to doe a courtesie for a friend at midnight O what will it be to be called up to Judgement or to be surprized with any Judgement at midnight Therefore prepare and be ready for all changes At midnight the people shall be troubled And passe away These words are a third part of the description of the Judgement of God upon a people they shall die they shall be troubled they shall passe away that is some of them shall die all shall be troubled others shall passe away There is a three-fold notion of passing away First Some expound it thus They shall be carried captive out of their own Country This with the former two make up a perfect Judgement upon any people Some shall die or be slaine all shall be troubled and vext they shall be at their wits end and the rest shall be carried away captive Secondly They shall pass away that is they shall pass into their graves the forme of speech here used may well beare that
sense for death is a passing away a passing out of this world Psal 37.36 Transire intelligo non pro migrare aliò sed pro abire in sepulchrum Merc Loe he passed away and was gone that is he died And that which is as death to the heavens and the earth their great change when ever it shall be is called a passing away Math 5.18 Till heaven and earth passe away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise passe away from the Law till all be fullfilled that is the Law shall stand in force as long as the world stands Thus to passe away is to die But I conceive we are to expound this third branch of the Judgement distinctly from the former two and therefore for as much as we have death in the first words it will not be proper to take in death here againe or to expound passing away by dying The third notion of they shall passe away is they shall run or flee for it they know not whether they shall flee for their lives from the danger impending over them As some shall die and all be troubled so not a few shall endeavour to save their lives by flight Christ in the Gospel foretold the great troubles and afflictions which should come upon Jerusalem and in them there was a sad concurrence or meeting of these three Judgments in the text For when after forty yeares the Romans invaded and ruin'd their City many dyed were destroyed by sword and famine all the people were troubled Oh in what a hurry were they to see the Romane Eagle displayed before their Gates and then they passed away that is as many as could withdrew and got out of the danger It is reported in history that before the Seidge of that City a voyce was heard in Jerusalem saying Migremus hinc let us passe from hence they who believed that warning departed soone after And as some passed away before the Judgement came so when it was come many were striving to be gone or to passe away Therefore Christ admonished them Math 24.20 Pray that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabath day I conceive we are to understand this text distinctly of such a passing away In a moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight and passe away they shall doe what they can to secure themselves by out-running the danger Note from it First God hath variety of meanes to humble a sinfull people Into how many wayes doe the Judgements of God divide themselves severall persons beare severall parts here is death to many trouble to all flight to some That in the Prophet answers it fully Jer 15.1 where the Lord protesting that nothing no not the intercession of Moses and Samuel should take him off from his resolve against that people saith Such as are for death to death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for the captivity to the captivity There 's pestilence and sword and famine and captivity ready at the call of God to take away a provoking people Secondly Note To passe away or to be put to our flight is a grievous Judgement To flee from the face of the pursuer to run for our lives who knows the trouble and terror of it but they that have been in it what a mercy is it that our dwellings are continued to us that we abide in our places that we neither die in a moment are not surpriz'd by midnight-feares but rest quietly in our beds though feares at midnight have been ready to surprize us What a mercy is it that we are not passing away running fleeing into the wildernesse as the poore Churches of God have done in severall ages So much of Judgement upon the people in that three-fold notion of it We have here also Judgement upon Princes And the mighty shall be taken away without hand Not only the many but the mighty shall feele the Judgements of God For as 't is sayd in the former verse He accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poore The mighty and the meanest of men are alike to God when they are alike in sinning against God If they doe evill alike they shall suffer evill alike God accepteth no mans person The mighty shall be taken away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fortis robustus excellens fortitudine pluraliter Abirim in genere forte significat The word rendred mighty taken plurally is used in Scripture to denote not only mighty men but any creature that excells in might And therefore according to the exigence of the place it signifies sometimes Angells who being spirits exceed all flesh in might The people of Israel in the wilderness did eat Angells food Psal 78.5 the food of the Abirims of the mighty or strong ones And as it is applyed to Angells who exceed the strongest men in strength so it is applyed to any sort of strong beasts to the horse Jer 47.3 to Bulls Isa 34.7 Jer 50.11 Psal 22.13 Psal 68.31 Thus the word riseth above man to Angells and falls below man to the beasts of the earth here 't is applyable only to strong and mighty men of whom yet there are three sorts First Some are men of a mighty arme Secondly Others are mighty in Armes Thirdly There are men mighty in Authority The first of these is a natural mighty man he hath a mighty arme a strong body or he excells in bodily strength The second is a marshall mighty man a souldier a man of warre The third is the Magistratical mighty man he is cloathed with power both to punish and reward Possibly he may have no bodily might yea possibly he is no souldier yet a man of such power he is that he commands whole Nations Now take the word Mighty in any of these three senses and it is a truth the mighty shall be taken away the mighty in strength of the Arme the mighty in strength of Armyes the mighty in power and dignity are by the hand of the Almighty God taken away They shall take them away saith the Hebrew text that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et amovent potentem impersonaliter Pisc say some according to the first translation mentioned the people shall violently take away the mighty But by an usuall Hebraisme we may read it Impersonally the mighty shall be taken away concealing or leaving it to be understood by whom Like that speech to the rich man Luke 12.25 This night doe they require thy soule of thee so we put in the Margin that is as the text hath it this night thy soule shall be required of thee they shall take thy soule that is it shall be taken away so here they shall take away the mighty that is the mighty shall be taken away or removed We may take notice of a two-fold remove or taking away First There is a
helples as is imaginable yet the Lord is able to save them he wil do it in the fittest season As this is true in reference to Princes and Nations in their publique capacity so private Christians may take up the comfort of it What though great distress and affliction be nigh and no hand to save you yet the Lord can save without hand if you are low he can raise you though none lend a hand to raise you if poor he can enrich you if weak he can strengthen you though you have no means for either It is an everlasting spring of comfort that the Lord can do all things without hand that he needs not be beholding to the creature nor stands in need of their help to effect either threatned judgments against Babylon or his promised mercies unto Sion Thus we have seen Elihu describing the righteous though severe dealings of God both with people and Princes who despise his counsels and provoke his wrath The reason why they fall under his wrath is further discovered in the next words JOB Chap. 34. Vers 21 22. For his eyes are upon the wayes of man and he seeth all his goings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves IN the former verse Elihu reported the judgement of God both upon the people and upon the Princes of the earth In a moment shall they die c. In these two verses he gives us a proof that the Lord is righteous in judgement both upon Princes and people or he assignes the ground of it That the words are a reason of the former the Causal Particle in the beginning of the 21th verse puts it out of question Vers 21. For his eyes are upon the wayes of men As if he had said God doth not these things he troubles not Nations and Nobles People or Princes by an absolute and soveraigne power or because he will but he finds just cause to do it What men do is enough to justifie God in what they suffer He hath alwayes power enough in his hand to destroy all men and to turn this world back into its first nothing but he never useth his power nor puts it forth without cause For his eyes are upon the wayes of man c. God is a Spirit the simplicity of his Essence is his first and highest perfection he is purely incorporeal yet as the passions of man's minde so the members of his body are often in Scripture attributed unto God we read of the face of God of the hand of God of the ear of God and as in many other places so in this of the eyes of God Now as the ear of God notes only his power of hearing and the hand of God his power of working so the eye or eyes of God note only his power of seeing knowing and discerning the wayes of men And when Elihu saith his eyes are upon the wayes of man his meaning is only this he clearly discerns and understands the wayes of man These words his eyes are upon the wayes of man intimate First A present act he doth not say they were or they will be upon the wayes of man but they are Secondly They imply as a present so a continued act his eyes are so upon the wayes of man that they are never off them The eyes of God dwell as it were upon the wayes of man His eyes are said indeed to run to and fro through the whole earth 2 Chron. 16.8 yet they do not wander from one object to another but are fixed and setled upon every one Thirdly they imply an intentive act or the seriâ—usness of the heart of God upon the wayes of man We may behold a thing and yet take no great notice of it but when our eyes are said to be upon any thing this imports they are busied much upon it Fourthly This manner of speaking signifieth not only a clear sight but that which is operative carrying with it a most exact scrutiny or disquisition of the wayes of men according to that expression of the Psalmist Psal 11.4 His eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men God doth not only behold but his eye-lids try the wayes of men that is he so looks upon them that he looks through them and discerneth what they are to the utmost God doth not only behold the body and bulk of our actions but the soul and spirit of them and while he seeth them he seeth into them All this and much more then we can apprehend is comprehended in those words His eyes are upon The wayes of man The word is plural not way but wayes which shews the extensiveness of the sight or knowledge of God The word being put indefinitely is to be taken universally His eyes are not confined to this or that object to this or that place to this or that person but his eyes look over all His eyes are upon the wayes of man Yet further the wayes of man may be distinguished First As they are either internal or external The internal wayes of man are the wayes of his heart as the Prophet hath it Isa 57.17 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart And these wayes of the heart our inward wayes are first our thoughts what we imagine and conceive secondly our affections what we love and what we hate what we rejoyce in and what we mourn for declare the way of our hearts Thirdly The wayes of the heart are a man's purposes resolutions and intentions what to do Fourthly The wayes of the heart are man's designes or his aims what he drives at or proposeth as his end in all that he doth In this latitude we are to understand the present Text when Elihu saith the eyes of God are upon the wayes of man remember they are upon his thoughts upon his affections upon his purposes upon his designes and aimes all these are before the Lord as it is said of Christ Johâ— 2.25 He needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man that is both the state of his heart and all the movings of it And if the Lord's eyes be upon the internal wayes of man then certainly they are upon the external wayes of man if he knoweth what work the heart is at or about certainly he knoweth what the hand is at or about He that knoweth which way the minde goeth cannot but know which way the foot goeth His eyes are upon the external wayes of man but 't is his chief glory that his eyes are upon the internal wayes of man Gen. 6.5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth He saw man's actions or outward wayes were very wicked but besides that saith the Text He saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually He saw the wayes within what was formed up or as the word there notes what creatures were made and fashioned in the minde of
sight of God Jer 32.19 He is great in councell and he is mighty in working for his eyes are upon all the wayes of the sons of men to give to every one according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Fourthly If the eyes of the Lord are upon all the wayes of the Children of men then the Lord will call all men to an account for their wayes Why doth he take notice of their wayes but to bring them to a reckoning That 's the Apostles conclusion Rom 14.12 So then every one of us shall give an account of himselfe to God God would not take an account of our wayes while we live if he did not intend to bring us to an account when we dye As the omniscience of God fits him to call every man to an account so it is an evidence that he will Why should our wayes and workes be strictly observed and recorded if they were not to be judged Fifthly This truth that the eyes of God are upon all the wayes of man should awaken every man to take heed as David resolved he would Psal 39.1 to his wayes Did we walke as remembring we are under his All-seeing eye O how circumspectly should we walke doth the Lord inspect our wayes O how should we inspect our owne wayes It argueth a great deale of Atheisme in the heart if not the grossest Atheisme yet Atheisme quo-ad hoc as to this or that thing while that which some are afraid to doe if a man yea if a child see them they are not afraid to doe though they heare that God seeth them To feare to doe a thing when the eye of a creature is upon us and yet to doe it notwithstanding God seeth us what is this but either an unbeliefe that the eye of God seeth us or a contempt of his All seeing eye This Divine Attribute the All-seeing eye of God wel wrought upon the heart by faith is enough to over-aw the sinfullnesse of our hearts And though the people of God have a higher principle upon which they forbeare the doing of evill then this because God will see it and punish it yet to keep the heart in a holy feare of doing evill upon that principle is both needfull and our duty The Apostle would not have servants doe their Masters commands with eye-service as men-pleasers It is indeed a baseness in a servant to doe his duty meerely because his Masters eye is upon him or to forbeare to doe what is against or beside his duty because his Master seeth him but how great is the impudence and wickedness of that servant who will not keep to his duty when his Masters eye is upon him So in this case meerely to forbeare doing evill because we heare God sees us is eye-service but how great is their wickedness who will not forbeare to doe evill though they heare and know that God seeth it Which Elihu confirmes yet further in the next words Vers 22. There is no darkness nor shaddow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves This verse holds out that truth negatively which the former held out affirmatively There Gods knowledge of mans wayes was asserted here his ignorance or nescience of the wayes of man is denied There is no darkness c. The words seeme to be the prevention of an objection For some possibly might say 'T is true indeed God hath a large knowledge his eye seeth farre but we hope we may sometime be under covert or compassed about with such darkness that the Lord cannot see us Therefore saith Elihu there is no darkness nor shaddow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves The Prophet gives a parallel proofe and testimony of this knowledge of God both in the affirmative and negative part of it Jer 16.17 where he first asserts that God seeth all mine eyes are upon all their wayes and then denyeth that any thing is a secret unto him They are not hid from my face neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes These latter words of the Prophet are of the same signification with these of Elihu There is no darkness c. We may take darkness two wayes First for naturall darkness that darkness which spreads it selfe over the face of the earth upon the going downe of the Sun 't is the privation of Light Secondly there is artificiall darkness that darkness which men make to hide themselves and their actions in from the eye of God or man many are very skillfull yea and successefull in making shaddowes to hide their actions from men They cover the evill which they have done with such cunning excuses or flat denyalls and they cover what they purpose to doe how foule soever under such faire trappings of words and specious pretenses they glosse their worst actions and intentions with such appearances of good that the wisest and best sighted men cannot finde them out When Absalon had a most unnaturall as well as a most disloyall purpose to rayse a tebellion against his king-father he coloured it with a devout profession of performing a vow This was artificiall darkness 'T is reported by the naturall Historian of a little fish which seeing its enemy neare casts out a kinde of blackness from it selfe which darkens the water and so escapes the danger Thus men indeed hide themselves from man and they would hide themselves from God too but there is no darkness neither naturall nor artificiall that can cover their wayes from his eye No Nor shaddow of death The importance of this expression hath been opened more then once in this book chap. 3.5 chap 10.21 chap. 12.22 chap. 28.3 therefore I shall not stay upon it here only consider when he saith There is no darkness nor shaddow of death by shaddow of death he means extreamest darkness If there be any darkness as Job speaks chap. 10.22 like darkness it self and whose light is as darkness that is it The metaphor is taken from the grave where the dead being buried have not the least glympse ray or shine of light coming in to them death wraps us up in extreamest darkness And we finde in Scripture the shaddow of death put first to express the extreamest of spiritual darkness or the darkest spiritual state Isa 9.2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shaddow of death upon them hath the light shined that is they that were wrapped up in the ignorance utter unbelief of God in Christ to these is Christ the true light of God the Sun of righteousness preached and openly revealed and they pressed to the receiving of him that their souls may live further as the shaddow of death is put for the worst of spiritual evils or to note man's natural state before conversion so likewise it is used in Scripture to note the worst of his spiritual evils who being converted is in a spiritual state He that is in a