thy selfe or friends thou shalt die as some translate in a good old-age or as Mr. Broughton thou shalt die in lusty old-age Time shall not wither thee nor drinke up thy blood and spirits Thou shalt have a spring in the Autumne and a Summer in the winter of thy life As it was with Moses Deut. 34. 7. who died when he was an hundred and twenty yeares old yet saith the text His eye was not dimme nor his naturall force abated This is to die in a full old-age full of daies yet full of strength and health It is a great blessing when a man is in this sense youthfull in old-age when others see with foure eyes and goe with three leggs he uses neither staff nor spectacles but renews his strength like the Eagle Or we may take the sense more generally for any one that liveth long and liveth comfortably as it was said of Abraham Gen. 25. 8. That he died in a good old-age an old man and full of yeares He died in a good old-age The young-man is counsel'd To remember his Creator in the dayes of his youth before the evill daies come Eccles 12. 1. What are those Those evill daies are the daies of old-old-age The words following being an Allegoricall elegant description of old age old-Old-age in it selfe is the evill day The lives of many old-men are a continuall death They live as it were upon the racke of extreame paines or strong infirmities therefore it is a speciall blessing for man to be old and yet to have a good old-age that is a florid comfortable old-age To have many yeares and few infirmities is a rare thing In some old-age flourishes and in others old-age perishes Job gives us this difference in the use of this word Chap. 30. 2. Yea whereto might the strength of their hands profit me in whom Chelad old-age was perished As if he had said some old-men are active and strong but these who were faded and flatted in all their abilities in what stead could they stand me They were a trouble to themselves and therefore could be no comfort unto others This full old-age is explained further by way of similitude He shall die in a full age lie as a shock of corne commeth in in his season When a young man dye he is as greene corne The Psalmist imprecates that some may be like the grasse or corne on the house-top that withereth before it is cut downe whereof the mower Psal 129. 6 7. filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosome The life of a man sometimes is like corn growing upon the house top that withereth Or as it is in the parable of the sower Mat. 13. like the corne that fell on the high-way side or among stones and thornes which came not in in it's season it never staid the ripening or reaping but was eaten up or dried or choaked before the harvest Now here man is compared unto corne sowed in good ground well rooted and continuing out it's season and is brought in ripe at harvest Old-age is the harvest of nature Some divide mans life into seven parts comparing it to the seven planets Some into five comparing it to the five acts of an interlude but commonly the life of man is divided into foure parts and so it is compared to the foure seasons of the yeare And in that division old-age is the winter-quarter cold and cloudy full of rheumes and catarrhs of diseases and distellations But here old-age is the harvest though thou art a very old-man thou shalt not die as in winter but thou shalt die as it were in harvest when thou art full ripe and readie as a shock of corne that is laid up in the barne The generall judgement of the world is compared to a harvest and death which is a particular day of judgement is a harvest too Those words He shall come to his grave as a shock of corne are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascendere significat â—vanescere velut in auras tolli velè medio tolli further considerable the Hebrew is He shall ascend as a shock of corre and that referring to death is sometimes translated by cutting off or taking away Psal 102. 25. Cut me not off in the midst of my daies The letter is Let me not ascend in the midst of my daies Whether it have any allusion to that hope or faith of the Saints in their death that they doe but ascend when they die or to their disappearing to the eye of sence when they die because things which ascend vanish out of sight and are not seene In either sence when the Saints are cut downe by death they ascend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè significat acervum frugum qui in And they are elegantly said To ascend as a shock of corne because that is taken from the earth and reored or stackt up and so by a Metaphor it signisies a Tombe or a monument errected or high-built over a dead corpse much after the manner of a shock of corn area erigitur Metaphoricè tumultum ceu currulum teâ—rae vel monumentuÌ„ sepulcro imposiâ—um So the word is used He shall remaine in the tombe or Heape Job 22. 32. So then the sum of this verse is a promise of comfort and honour in death He shall die in a full age when he is readie and ripe for death Yet this is not to be taken strictly that every godly man dies in such a full old age in an age full of daies or full of comforts Many of Gods best servants have had evill daies in their old age their old age hath had many daies of trouble and sickness of paine and perplexity But thus it is with many in old age and this is especially to be look't upon as an Old Testament promise when the Lord dealt more with his people invisible externall mercies Yet in one sense it is an universall truth and ever fulfilled to his people for whensoever they die they die in a good age yea though they die in the spring and flower of youth they die in a good old age that is they are ripe for death when ever they die when ever a godly man dies it is harvest time with him though in a naturall capacity he be cut down while he is green and cropt in the bud or blossome yet in his spirituall capacity he never dies before he is ripe God ripens his speedily when he intends to take them out of the world speedily He can let out such warme rayes and beams of his Spirit upon them as shall soone maturate the seeds of grace into a preparednesse for glory whereas a wicked man living an hundred yeaers hath no full old-old-age much lesse a good old-old-age he is ripe indeed for destruction but he is never ripe for death he is as unreadie and unripe for death when he is an hundred years old as when he was but a day old He hath not begun
plant while it is rooted by the springs of heavenly promises And what is mine end that I should prolong my life The letter of the Hebrew is That I should prolong or lengthen out my soul that my soul should inhabit longer in the tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my body The word prolong is differently joyned to life or dayes Deut. 5. 16. Honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy dayes may be prolonged c Ezek. 12 22. Son of man what is that proverbe that you have in the land of Israel saying The dayes are prolonged and every vision faileth To prolong dayes and prolong life are the same Yet hear the word Nephesh soul which we translate life may be taken for desire which is a vehement act of the soul The soul expresses it self so much in desires that the same word may expresse both And so we may render Jobs sence thus What is my end that I should lengthen out or extend my desires any further after the things of this world or that I should defer and put off my desires after the things of the world to come Is there any thing in this life worth my staying for it or any thing so worthless in the next that I should not wish presently to enjoy it In this sence the word Nephesh is often used as Gen. 23. 8. Abraham speaks to the children of Heth If it be your soul or your desire we translate if it be your mind that I should bury my dead So Prev 23 2. If thou be a man given to thy appetite or whose desires are thy Lord and master as the elegancy of that place beares And again Psal 27. 12. Psal 41. 2. Eccl 6. 9. The word is applied to signifie the will or desire So here What is mine end that I should prolong my life or my desire of life His End may be considered two wayes First His end may be taken for the latter part of his life which Eliphaz promised would be very comfortable Thou shalt come to thy grave in a good old age as a shock of corn commeth into the flore As if Job should say you are promising me good dayes and a happy old age but what is mine end what 's the latter part of a mans life that he should desire to prolong his dayes to take it out why should I desire to prolong my life I am now well stricken in years and as for the end the latter part of a mans life it is nothing for the most part but trouble and sorrow As old Barzillai 2 Sam. 19. 35. when David offered him the pleasures of the Court answers I am thus old and can I taste my meat and taste my drink or hear musique What is the Fagge-end of mans life that one should hunger after it The sweetest comforts of this life are in the fore-part of life in the spring of youth in the strength and flower of age As for the winter of life what is that but wet and cold but clouds and darkness What is my end of old age that I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that But rather we may take this End First For the end of his troubles As if he had said What end so gainfull or comfortable can I have of these evils that should recompence my pains in bearing them till I receive it No worldly comforts can answer my sorrows and therefore why should I desire to prolong my life for them Secondly Take End for the very last term of life not that latter part or condition of a mans life troublesome old age as before or a renewed estate as here But take End for the ending the termination the period of life What is my end that I should prolong my life and so End is as much as death what is my death that I should desire to live I know no evil in death that should make me afraid of the end of my life I know no such trouble in dying that I should be desirous to spinne out this troublesome life longer surely the trouble and pain of death is not so much as the present trouble and pain of my life and as for any other trouble I fear none then What is my end that I should prolong my life that I should not desire death or that you should be so angry with me for desiring it Hence observe first There is no strength in man that may give him assured hope of long life What is my strength that I should hope No though man be in the flourish of his age the greenesse of his years yet what is youth or strength or beauty what all those fair leaves and fruits which hang upon and adorn this goodly tree that he should hope to hand long Man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 39. 5. He that hopes to live upon any of these things hopes in a vain thing trusts but in a shadow Our hopes to live this natural life as well as the spiritual and eternal must be in the living God The Image of death sits upon the best of our strength and beauty while we grow we decline and while we flourish we wither The lengthening of our dayes is the shortning of them and all the time we live is but a passage unto and should be but a preparation for death We are most miserable if in this life only we have hope and we are most foolish if our hopes of this life be in our own strength And because there is no strength in nature which may give us hope to live long It is our greatest wisdome to consider what provision we have in grace to maintain our hopes that we shall live for ever They are in an ill case who when they cannot hope to live long care not to settle their hopes of living eternally It is a most sad spectacle to see a languishing body and a languishing hope meet in one man Some have a Kalender in their bones shewing them they have but few dayes here and many distempers upon the whole body crying in their ears with a loud voice what is your strength that you should hope to live who yet prepare not at all to die They are both unready and unwilling to be dissolved when they see no hope to keep up their tabernacle from desolution Secondly taking the word in the last sense which I conceive rather to be the mind of the holy Ghost in this place observe That there is no evil in the death of a godly man which should make him unwilling to die or which should make him linger after this life What is the end of a godly man that he should prolong his life All the bitterness of death is removed or sweetned by Christ Death the King of terrours is made a servant to let us in to our comforts by the power of Christ that prince of life who hath abolished death and brought life
but a day long Jonahs Gourd came up in a night and perished in a night and man commeth up in the morning and perisheth in the evening The Naturalists speake of a Fly they call Ephemeron a creature of one day which comes forth in the morning is very active about noone but when the Sunne declineth it declines too and sets with the setting of the Sunne Man is an Ephemeron a creature of one day for howsoever his life consisteth of many dayes is often lengthened out to many yeares yet betweene morning and evening or from morning to evening he is destroyed The first step he sets upon the stage of the world is a going out of the world his ascending to the height of his natural perfection hath in it a decent One part of his life compared with another is an increase but the whole in reference to his end is a decrease his life is but a breathing death life shortning as fast as it lengthns his life is death hastning upon him continually A hand breadth is quickly measured Behold saith David Psal 29. 5. thou hast made my dayes an hand breadth nothing needs no time to passe it in mans age in it self is but little and comparatively it is nothing it fals under no calculation before the face of Eternity Mine age is nothing before thee But though the life of man be thus short and himself be destroyed between a morning and an evening yet death lasts long they perish for ever without any regarding They perish for ever Death it seemes is everlasting They perish the word is often used in this book for the dissolution of soule and body not for the annihilation of either as perishing properly imports to perish is here but to dye for thus even the righteous perish and no man layes it to heart Isay 57. 1. But doth man perish thus dyes he for ever shall there not be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returne a resurrection shall not soule and body be reunited how is it said then they perish or dye for ever For ever is some time put for an infinite time and some time for an indefinite time 1 Chron. 23. 25 The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto his people that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever And yet the Jewes are now so farre from dwelling in Jerusalem that they have scarce rest or dwelling among any people The like sense of for ever reade 1 Kings 2. 33. Psal 132. 12 14. Yet further for ever is put for the finite time of one mans life 1 Sam. 27. 12. He shall be my servant for ever that is as long as he lives Psal 23. 6. I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever that is as long as I live In the text before us for ever is as long as this world lasts it notes the utmost terme of time not which is without terme eternity They perish for ever that is they shall not live in this world any more as Job 14. 14. If a man dye shall he live again As if he had said man can dye but once he cannot live againe that is in this world shall he any more return to his house to his wife and children to his riches or honours and shall he here againe enjoy such an estate as he had before That Psal 103. 16. explains it so As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth for the winde passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more that is he shall never returne to that locall place or civill place in which he lived he shall not return to that place of magistracy or ministrey to that place of merchandizing or trading of husbandry or handicraft where he convers'd before Thus his place will know him no more Man dyes but once and therefore when he dies he is said to dye for ever There is a second death but it is only a second condition of life Some shall so live for ever that they shall be dying for ever The misery of all men here is that they are dying while they live the misery of the damned hereafter will be that they are living while they dye We see then that as life is a continuall going out of the world so from death there is no returning to the world they perish for ever when once you die you are dead for good and all as we say there 's an end in respect of any work proper to this world whether naturall civill or spirituall A dying man perishes for ever from eating and drinking from any outward content or pleasure When Barzillai was as it were but upon the borders of death and confines of the grave 2 Sam. 19. 25. he bespeaks David thus who had invited him to Court Can I taste what I eat and what I drink and it followes Can I any more heare the voice of singing-men and singing-women Can I any more as if he had said I am now nigh unto death these delights are gone they are perished for ever I can hardly taste any thing I eat or drink the pleasant Voice or musicall Instrument can I any more hear much more then in death it self are all these outward comforts perished and will perish for ever Againe in respect of civill works he that dyes perishes for ever no more buying or selling or trading or de aling all these things are past and past for ever Yea death puts an end to all spirituall workes such as were the Saints exercise and duty upon the earth at the grave there 's an end of them also a dying man perishes for ever in respect of repenting or believing in respect of praying or hearing the word These are heavenly works but the time for these is while you are upon the earth none of these labours are in Heaven or Hell no nor in the grave whether thou goest as the Preacher concludes Ecclesiastes 9. 10. Therefore Isay 38. 18. Hezekiah in his sickness makes it one part of his suit to God that he might be spared for saith he the grave cannot praise thee they that go downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth the living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day To praise God shall be the work of Saints for ever and yet the Saints dying are truly said perish for ever from praising God All that praise shall cease in death which belong to the wayes of grace and then such praise begins as suits with glory which is our end That Hezekiah means it of such praise and not of all praise is cleare from his own words Verse 20. We will sing my song to the stringed instruments all the dayes of my life in the house of the Lord that is in the ordinances of thy publick worship They that are in the house of the grave cannot praise the Lord in his house And though the praises of the Lord in Heaven are transcendent
or are cut downe by some hand of justice The off-spring of a godly man are compared to grasse but in another reference To grasse first because of their multitude and secondly because of their beauty they shall flourish and be green as the grasse which is very pleasant to the beholders eye And in this also Eliphaz aimes at the death of Job's children Thou hast lost thy children they perished miserably but if thou Hoc dicit quia Iob filios amiserat Merc. returne that blessing shall returne thy seed shall be great and thy off spring shall be as the grasse of the earth The blessing of children hath been shewed in the first Chapter therefore I shall but name a point or two now First That The posterity of godly parents stand neerer then others under the influence of heavenly blessings As grace doth not runne in a blood so neither do blessings infallibly runne in a blood yet the children of those who are blessed are neerest a blessing And their possibilities for mercy are fairest Many promises are made to them they are heires apparent of the promises in their parents right others to appearance are strangers from the promises Though we know free grace chuseth often out of the naturall line The mercies of God are his own and it is his prerogative to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Secondly When he summes up the blessings of a godly man the blessings of his children are cast into the account Whence note That the blessings of the children are the blessings of the parent As the parent is afflicted in the afflictions of his children so he is blessed in their blessings Relations share mutually both in comforts and crosses Children are their parents multiplied and every good of the child is an addition to the parents good A flourishing and a numerous posterity is a great outward blessing Some have the choisest of spirituall blessings who want this Isa 56. 3. God comforts those that have no children Doe not say that thou art made a dry tree for I will give thee in mine house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters As if he had said the name of sons and of daughters is a very great comfort but it is not the greatest comfort the best biessing thou shalt have a name and a place better than of sons and daughters Vers 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corne commeth in his season From personall present blessings of this life and the blessings of posterity Eliphaz descends to shew the blessing of a godly man in death A happy death is the close of temporall happinesse and the beginning of eternall A happy death stands between grace and glory like the Baptist between the law and the Gospel and is the connexion or knitting of both And as it was said of John That among them who are borne of women there arose not a greater then he neverthelesse he that is least in the kingdome of heaven is greater then John So we may say that among all the blessings of this life there is none greater then a blessed death neverthelesse that which is least in eternall life is a greater blessing then a blessed death It was an observation among the Heathen That no man is to be accounted blessed untill he die But when life is shut up with a blessing then man is fully blessed As in reasoning so in living the conclusion lyes in the premises A happy death is the result of a holy life Thou shalt come to thy grave That phrase notes two things First A willingnesse and a chearfulnesse to die Thou shelt come thou shalt not be dragged or hurried to thy grave as it is said of the foolish rich man Luk. 12. This night shall thy soule be taken from thee But thou shalt come to thy grave thou shalt die quietly and smilingly as it were thou shalt goe to thy grave as it were upon thine owne feet and rather walke then be carried to thy Sepulcher Secondly it notes the honor and solemnity of burying Thou shalt come to thy grave with honour as it is said of Ahijah the son of Jeroboam 1 King 14. 12 13. When Messengers were sent to the Prophet to enquire whether he should recover the Prophet tels them The child shall die and all Israel shall mourne for him and bury him For he only of Jeroboam shall Come to the grave because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam He only shall come to thy grave the rest shall be thrust into the grave or lye unburied but he shall come that is he shall be buried with honour others shall have reproach cast upon them when the earth is cast upon them Thou shalt come to thy grave In a full age So we translate The word is expounded two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senium senectutis tempus wayes In a full age that is in an age when thou shalt be full full of estate full of wealth and honour thou shalt have abundance when thou diest And so it points at Jobs present poverty though thou hast nothing now scarse a ragge to thy backe or a sheet to winde thee in if thou shouldst die yet seeke unto God and thou shalt die in a full age in a golden Age thy wants shall be supplied and thy losses repaired to the full But rather a full Age notes here a sulnesse of daies though the other fullnesse of estate be not excluded The Prophet puts the same difference between aged men and men full of dayes as is between children and young men Jer. 6. 11. I am full of the fury of the Lord I will powre it out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together The aged with him that is full of dayes That is all ages shall feele the fury of the Lord. A full age is an age full of daies or compleate to the utmost time of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life Some of the Jewish Writers observe that the numerall letters of this word Chelad make up threescore which they conceive is In numeris notat 60 ea prima senectus est non matura Quidam Hebrae orum viâ—idem senectam nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putant significari ut Caph sit similitudinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—uâ—è virtutem humidum sonat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senctutem itaque pollecetur-non quidem mâ—lestam morbosam sed vegetaÌ„ paelicem the age here meant but threescore is not a full old-oge it is rather the beginning of old-age Therefore fulnesse of age is by others interpreted to be strength of age thou shalt die in an old age yet thou shalt have strength and comfort in thy old-age thine old-age shall not be a troublesome age thou shalt not be weake and crazy distempered and sick a burthen to
loathsome We may hence learne what our own bodies are The Apostle Phil. 3. 21. cals the body a vile body not that the worke of God was vile The worke of God was noble and honourable in all he wrought especially in that Master-peece of it the fabrique of mans body but as the body is come out of the hands of sinne so it is a vile body that is it is a body subject to corruption and will quickly corrupt be vile and loathsome 1 Cor. 15 53. This corruptable must put on incorruption The body of man is but one remove from wormes and corruption Chap. 17. 4. I have said to corruption thou aâ—t my Father and to the worme thou art my mother We shall quickly bear the image of our parents wormes and corruption Then be not proud of your bodies nor of your beauties They who are now the fairest and goodliest to looke upon may quickly have a broken and a loathsome skin A disease one fit of sicknesse will spoile all thy beauty deface and blemish thy excellent feature and if a disease doth it not old-age will time will draw furrows in thy face and make wrinkles in thy brow Strength and beauty of body are no matches for time All things were made in time and time will marr all things So long as generation continues corruption must Againe take heed of pride in cloathing The two externals of which man is most subject to be proud are beauty and apparell Cloaths are a flag of vanity and pride sits upon the skirts But remember how fine soever your cloathing is this day and houre God can put you on another suite before to morrow We see what change of apparrell Iob had a godly man an humble man That which God did to try the grace of one he can quickly do to punish and chastise the sin of another he can quickly put you on such clothing as you shall have little cause to be proud of He can make you weare wormes and clods of dust And if we consider it we have little reason to be proud of clothes for if we follow the best of them to their originall they will be found to be but a clothing of wormes and clods of dust what are silkes sattins and velvets but the issue of wormes And what is your gold and silver what your pearls and precious stones are they any thing if you will resolve them into their principles but clods of dust They are indeed better concocted by the heat of the Sunne refined and polished by the art of a man but if you search their pedigree they also are but clods of dust In your most glorious aray you are but cloathed with dust and wormes and if you be proud of such cloathing God can cloth you with worms and clods not onely of unrefined and unpollished but of putrified and filthy dust Thus we see the first thing the picture or description of Iobs body His friends at first sight might be convinced that a body in such a case could take little rest day or night He carries on his complaint a degree further at the 6. verse Verse 6. My daies are swifter than a Weavers shuttle and are spent without hope My daies are swifter The Seventy render it thus My daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are swifter or nimbler than a word or speech Nothing moves faster or passeth away more lightly than a word a word is gone and it is gone suddenly Hence the similitude is used proverbially Psal 90. 9. We spend our daies as a tale that iâ— told or as a meditation so some translate suddenly or swiftly a discourse is quickly over whether it be a discourse from the mouth or in the mind and of the two the latter is far the more swift and nimble of foot a discourse in our thoughts out-runs the Sunne as much as the Sunne out-runs a snaile the thoughts of a man will travell the world over in a moment he that now sits in this place may be at the worlds end in his thoughts before I can speak another word So that the translation of glosse by speech or meditation aggravates the sence and extends it to the highest But the word properly signifies as we translate a Weavers shuttle which is an instrument of a very swift and sudden motion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the word which we render Swifter signifies that which is fitted for the swiftest motion Any light thing because those things which are light move swiftest and we call a good runner a man light of foot Hab. 1. 8. The horses of the Chaldeans are thus described Their horses are swifter or lighter of foot than the Leopards so swifter or lighter than the weavers shuttle which passeth the loome or web with such speed that it is growne to a Radius Textoris dictum proverbiale radio velocius proverbe for all things which are quick and transient The Latines expresse it by that word which signifies a ray of the Sunne which is darted in a moment from one end of the heavens to another But a question rises Iob in the third Chapter and so in the fifth complains that his life was so prolonged and slow-paced that it was very tedious to him and in this Chapter by a repeated request he spurrs and hastens his life to it's journies end he thought it seemes his time not wing'd but slow footed how is it then that in this place he complaineth of the swiftnesse of his daies My daies are swifter than a Weavers shuttle I answer In a word By his dayes here we are to understand his good dayes his dayes of comfort and prosperity the dayes of my peace and plenty are slipped away and gone even as a weavers shuttle But when he complains that his life is slow-footed and requests that his dayes might move faster he meanes the dayes of sorrow and trouble which had overtaken him in his journey the former were too swift and the latter too slow It is as if he had said Alas all my faire dayes of prosperity are gone they are slipt away as a weavers shuttle they are as a tale that is told nothing remaines of them but the remembrance which is an addition to my sorrow but now I have dayes that seeme long very long they hand upon my hands I cannot get them off my sorrowes clog my time and make every houre seeme a yeare Hezekiah in his complaint upon his sick bed useth this allusion Mine age is departed and removed from me as a shepheards tent I have cut off like a weaver my life Isa 38. 12. As the weaver cuts off the thred when the web is finished so it is with me I have cut off as a weaver my life Not that Hezekiah was active in his own death we are not to understand it so for he pray'd that God would spare him and he spake this upon the promise of God to lengthen out his life and to tye the thread of his dayes
superesse non solum excessum quantitatis significat sed etiam qualitatis dignitatis ficut verbum latinuÌ„ supero non solum superesse sed etiam vinceâ—e excellere Pined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word signifies a quantitive remainder or overplus both of persons and things so also a qualitative excesse or remainder or that which exceeds in quality any excesse in the goodnesse of a quality is called excellency Thus Jacob cals Reuben in regard of his primogeniture the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power yet blots him in the next Verse because of his sinne thou shalt not excell Gen. 49. 3 4. This sense of the word suits well with the scope of the text in hand His excellency that is whatsoever doth excell or is best in him But what is that Some by his Excellency understand the soule as if he had said that best part of man the soule which may be opposed to clay and dust before spoken of that noble guest that royall inhabitant of this house of clay goeth out when death enters Death dissolves the union between soule and body Or rather we may take excellency for any speciall endowment first of the body as beauty or strength Secondly of the minde as wit and knowledge learning or skill Thirdly we may take it for those worldly excellencies of riches honour or authority when a man goeth out all these excellencies which are in him or which are about him go out too This excellency is the same which is called the goodlinesse of man by the Prophet Esay 40. 6. The voice said cry what shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof is as the flower of the field Not only is the flesh but the goodliness thereof fading also So here not only the house of clay and the foundation of dust but the excellency of it all the adorning and polishing the guilding and painting the rich hanging and precious furniture of this house go away Taking excellency here for the soule then we see wherein our excellency consists As man was the principall part of the creation so the soule is the principall part of man The constitution of the soule is mans naturall excellency and the conversion of the soule is mans spirituall excellency Secondly observe Death is the going away or the departure of the soule from the body Death is called sometime a departure of body and soule out of the world Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luke 2. Man goes to his long home Eccles 12. 5. I go the way of all flesh saith Moses and I goe away saith our Lord Christ of his death Death is also called a departure of the soule from the body The death of Rachel is thus described Genesis 35. 18. And it came to passe that as her soule was in departing for she dyed From the other interpretation which I rather insists upon Observe that in death all a mans naturall and outward excellency whatsoever leaves him and departs from him Psal 49. 16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his house is increased why for when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away with him his glory shall not descend after him though a man have an excellent out-side a great stock of riches beauty and honour though he have excellent linings of wisdome and knowledge yet all ends as to him when he ends and therefore David concludes Psal 39. Man at his best state or in his best estate is altogether vanity The excellencies that are in him goe away in that day all his thoughts perish his counsels and his projects perish with him One of the ancients standing by Caesars Tomb who was one of the most accomplisht men in the world for naturall civill and morall excellencies learned valiant noble rich and powerfull he I say standing by Caesars Tomb wept and cried out where is now the flourishing beauty of Caesar what 's Vbi nunc pulchâ—itudo Caesaris quo abiit magnificentia tua become of his magnificence where are the armies now where the honours of Caesar where are now the victories the triumphs and trophies of Caesar All 's gone all 's departed the goodlinesse of them is as the flower of the field his excellency which was in him is gone away And thus it will be said of all those who without grace are most excellent in any thing below Though your clay be curiously wrought and stampt with such beauty as renders you almost Angelicall to the eye of others Though your bodies are strongly joynted and blessed with such health as renders your lives most active and comfortable to your selves though your mindes are stored with variety of learning and you know as much as is knowable in the whole circle of Nature or of times yet when Death comes all these excellencies go away Nothing will stay by us then and go not from us but with us but the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord for whom Paul did and we ought to suffer the losse of all things and count them but dung that we may winne Christ Phil. 3. 8. For notwithstanding all other knowledge and wisdome we shall dye and conclude as this Chapter concludes of man without wisdome They dye even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without wisdome or word for word They dye not and in wisdome We may understand it two wayes First as if he had said though men are excellent in wisdom yet they dye their wisdom is to them in death as if they had no wisdome they have no more priviledge or defence against the stroak of death by all their wisdome learning Nalla est sapi entia qua mortem effugiant Merc. and knowledge then fooles or bruit beasts who have no knowledge no wisdome at all they dye even without wisdome or even as if they had no wisdome Died Abner as a foole dyeth said mourning David 1 Sam. 3. 33. yes Abner dyed as a foole dyeth And so in one sense doe the wisest of men He was the wisest of all the children of men and he spake it by the wisdome of God who asking this question How dyeth the wise man answers as the foole Eccles 2. 16. Let not any man pride himself in the excellency of his wisdome for that dwels in a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust his frailty is not curable by his excellency nor his mortality conquerable by his wisdome he shall dye as if he had no wisdome And some who have most worldly wisdome dye Non in sapientâ—a extenuatio est i. e. in magna stultitia Pined with least yea they with the greatest folly Not in wisdome may be an extenuation or a more gentle easie expression for in abundance of folly I remember it is observed concerning Paracelsus a great Physitian a man exceedingly verst in Chymicall experiments that he brag'd and boasted he had attained to such wisdom in
discerning the constitutions of men and studying remedies that whosoever did follow his rules and keep to his directions should never dye by any disease casually he might and of age he must but he would undertake to secure his health against diseases a bold undertaking But he who by his art promised to protect others to extreame old age from the arrest of death could not by all his art or power make himself a protection in the prime of his youth but dyed even as one without wisdome before or when he had seene but thirty Secondly they dye without wisdome That is they cannot carry their wisdome away with them as not their worldly riches and pompe so nor their worldly wisdome and knowledge Chap. 36. 12. Thirdly They dye even without wisdome that is they prepare not wisely for death This is the condition of most men their excellency goes away with them and they die without wisdome they have had wisdome but they die as if they had none that is they apply not their wisdome while they live to fit themselves for death They die before they understand what it is to live on why they live This wisdome is wanting in most men and of all such the Psalmist concludes to this sense of the place Man being in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Psal 49. 20. That is he perishes foolishly and without wisdome like a beast though in his life a man of honour and excellency He Moriuntur in simenâ—es vel insipienter Drus Prius moriuntur quam quicquam intellexgâ—iâ—t de divina sapientia Mer. that dies unpreparedly dies foolishly It is the wisdome of man to live in the world in the meditation of and preparation fo his departure out of this world And it is such a wisdome as is above man therefore David prayes Psal 39. 4. Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is that I may know how fraile I am as if he had said Lord I have been considering this and that thing haply Davids thoughts were in the dust and he had been handling the clay out of which he was made yet saith he by all those considerations of my naturall constitution I cannot bring my heart to be so sensible of my frailty as I ought to be therefore he turnes himselfe to God Lord make me to know this thing Here is our wisdom when we seek to God to spiritualize naturall considerations and make them effectuall for the attaining of this wisdom the knowing of our end and the measure of our days But is it not some ignorance of our duty no petition for the knowledge of our end May we desire to know what God hath no where promised to reveale To petition for the literall knowledge of our end that is what yeare or day our lives shall end is a sinfull curiosity and a presumptuous intrusion into the secret will of God But to petition for a spirituall knowledge of our end that is how we may end well any day of the yeare or any houre of the day is a holy duty and an humble submission of our selves to the revealed will of God Thus to know our end how soone ceasing as one translates short lived and brittle ware we be Thus to know how defective we are as the Greeke renders it or what we lack namely to the end of our dayes is above the instruction of any creature We may preach and you hear of death as long as you and we live and yet not know he frailty of our lives till God makes us know it therefore saith he Lord make me to know how fraile I am none could teach him this lesson but God himselfe The same holy desires are breathed out Psal 90. 12. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome as if Moses had said Lord I have been numbring my dayes my selfe and telling over my life I can tell no further than three or foure score and yet though I can tell no farther I cannot apply my heart unto wisdome we need but little Arithmetick to unmber our dayes but we need a great deale of grace to number them A child may be wise enough to number the dayes of an old man and yet that old man a child in numbring his own dayes that is not able to number his own dayes so as to apply his heart to wisdome To number them so is a very speciall point of wisdome the true Christian Phylosophy perfectly Meditatio moâ—tis vita est perfecta Greg. Moral 13. Suâ— ma philosophia Bern. to meditate on death is the perfection of life And it is therefore our wisdome to die well because we can die but once Aman had need doe that wisely which he can doe no more An errour in death is like an error in Warre you cannot commit it twice We have most reason to looke to it not to erre at all where it is not possible to erre againe Actually to erre twice is more sinfull but not to have a possibility of erring twice is most dangerous We transgresse the lawes of living over and over a thousand thousand times But as for the lawes of dying no man ever transgressed them a second time That we so often transgresse the law of living is an aggravation of sin upon all men And that we can transgresse the law of dying but once is the seale of misery upon most men Let us then cry unto God to be taught this great wisedome how to die and not without wisedome JOB Chap. 5. Vers 1 2. Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne For wrath killeth the foolish and envy slayeth the silly one c. THE five first verses of this Chapter containe the fourth Argument by which Eliphaz goes on to convince Job of sinful hypocrisie And the conviction is made two wayes from a two-fold comparison First He compares Job to the Saints and finds him unlike to them Secondly He compares Job to the wicked and finds him like to them if so then Job must needs be a hypocrite who had carried it faire all the while in the world for a great professor and yet when he comes to the tryall was unlike all the Saints and most like the wicked of the world The first Argument may be thus framed He is not a just or a holy man who in his affliction is altogether unlike holy and just men But Job thou in thy affliction art altogether unlike holy and just men Therefore thou art not a holy or a just man The proposition is implied The Minor or the Assumption is in the first verse Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne As if he should say Inquire as much as thou wilt thou shalt find none among the Saints like thy selfe they who have been somewhat like thee of whom
to live when he dies or he is at the end of his naturall race before he hath set one step in his spiritual Gray haires are the shame and should be the sorrow of old-age when they are not found in the way of righteousnesse From the former branch of this verse observe First To have a comely buriall to come to the grave with honour is a great blessing It was threatned upon Jehojakim the sonne of Josiah as a curse That he should have the buriall of an Asse and be drag'd and cast out beyond the gates of the City Jer. 22. 19. That man surely had lived like a beast whom God threatn'd by name that when he died he should be used as a beast though we know the bodies of many of the servants of God have been scattered and may be scattered upon the face of the earth like dung The dead bodies as the complaint is Psal 79. 2. of thy servants have they given to be meat to the fowles of the heaven the flesh of thy Saints to the beasts of the earth Yet to them even then there is this blessing reserved beyond the blessing of a buriall they are ever laid up in the heart of God he takes care of them he embalmes them for immortality when the remains of their mortality are troden under foot or rot upon a dunghill Secondly observe A godly man is a volunteer in his death He commeth to the grave A wicked man never dies willingly Though he sometime die by his own hand yet he never dies with his own will Miserable man is sometimes so over-prest with terrours and horrours of conscience so worne out with the trouble of living that he hastens his own death Yet he Comes not to his grave willingly but is drag'd by necessity He thrusts his life out of doores with a violent hand but it never goes out with a cheerfull mind He is often unwilling to live but he is never willing to die Death is welcome to him because life is a burden to him Only they come to the grave who by faith have seene Christ lying in the grave and perfuming that house of corruption with his owne most precious body which saw no corruption Observe thirdly To live long and to die in a full age is a great blessing Old Eli had this curse pronounced upon his family 1 Sam. 2. 31. There shall not be an old man in thy house Gray haires are a crown of honour when they are found in the way of righteousnesse It is indeed infinitely better to be full of grace than to be full of daies but to be full of daies and full of grace too what a venerable spectacle is that To be full of years and full of faith full of good workes full of the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Christ How comely and beautifull beyond all the beauty and comelinesse of youth is that Such are truly said to have filled their daies Those daies are fill'd indeed which are full of goodnesse When a wicked man dies he ever dies emptie and hungrie he dies empty of goodnesse and he dies hungry after daies That place before mentioned of Abraham Gen. 25. 8. is most worthy our second thoughts He dies in a good old-age an old man and full so the Hebrew we reade full of years As a man that hath eaten and drunke plentifully is full and desires no more So he dyed an old-man and full that is he had lived as much as he desired to live he had his fill of living when he died And therefore also it may be called a full age because a godly man hath his fill of living but a wicked man let him live never so long is never full of daies never full of living he is as hungry and as thirsty as a man may speake after more time and daies when he is old as he was when he was a child faine he would live hill He must needs thinke it is good being here who knowes of no better being or hath Impij quamvis diu vivant tamen non implent dies suos quia spem in rehus temporarijs collocantes perpetua vita in hoc mundo peâ—frui vellent no hopes of a better It is a certaine truth He that hath not a tast of eternity can never be satisfied with time He that hath not some hold of everlasting life is never pleased to let goe this life therefore he is never full of this life It is a most sad thing to see an old man who hath no strength of body to live yet have a strong mind to live Abraham was old and full he desired not a day or an houre longer His soul had never an empty corner for time when he died He had enough of all but of which he could never have enough and yet had enough and all as soon as he had any of it eternity In that great restitution promised Isa 65. 20. this is one priviledge There shall be no more there an infant of daies nor an old man that hath not fil'd his daies There is much controversie about the meaning of those words The digression would be too long to insist upon them Only to the present point thus much that there is such a thing as an Infant of daies and an old man that hath not fill'd his daies An infant of daies may be taken for an old child that is an old man childish or a man of many years but few abilities A man whose hoary head ann wrinkled face speak fourscoure yet his foolish actions and simple carriage speake under fourteene An old man that hath not fill'd his daies is conceived to be the same man in a different character An old man fils not his dayes First When he fulfils not the duty nor reaches the end for which he lived to old-age That man who hath lived long and done little hath left empty daies upon the record of his life And when you have writ downe the daies the months and yeares of his life his storie 's done the rest of the book is but a continued Blanke nothing to be remembred that he hath done or nothing worth the remembrance Now as an old man fils not his daies when he satisfies not the expectation of others so in the second place his daies are not fill'd when his own expectations are not satisfied that is when he having lived to be old hath yet young fresh desires to live when he finds his mind empty though his body be so full of daies that it can hold no longer nor no more He that is in this sense an infant of dayes and an old man not having filled his dayes though he be an hundred yeares old when he dies yet he dies as the Prophet concludes in that place accursed he comes not to his grave under the blessing of this promise in the text in a full age Lastly observe Every thing is beautifull in its season He shall come to his grave like a
shock of corne that is brought in in his season Even pale death hath beauty in it when it comes in season Eccles 7. 17. Be not wicked over much why shouldst thou dye before thy time No man can dye before Gods time but a man may dye before his time that is before he is prepared by grace and before he is ripened in the course of nature Those two wayes a man dyes before his time First when he dyes without any strength of grace Secondly when he dyes in the strength of nature In this sense the Prophet describes the hand of God upon him Psal 102. 23. He weakned my strength in the way â—â— shortned my dayes and therefore prayes in the 24th verse I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes That is in the strength or best of my times according to the line and measure of nature A godly man prayes that he may not dye out of season but a wicked man never dies in season That threatning is ever fulfilled upon him in one sense if not in both Psal 55. 23 The blood-thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out halfe his dayes A wicked man never lives out halfe his daies for either he is cut off before he hath lived halfe the course of nature or he is cut off before he hath lived a quarter of the course of his desires either he lives not halfe so long as he might or not a tenth not a hundreth part so long as he would and therefore let him dye when he will his death is full of terror trouble and confusion because he dies out of season He never kept time or season with God and surely God will not keep or regard his time or season Vers 27. Loe this we have searched it so it is heare it and know thou it for thy good As Eliphaz began his dispute with an elegant preface so he ends it with a rhetoricall conclusion as if he had said Job I have spoken many things unto thee heare now the summe and upshot of all Loe this we have searched it so it is heare it and know it for thy good Two things he concludes with First with an assertion of the truth of what he had spoken So it is Secondly with a motion for his assent to what was spoken Heare it Or the words may fall under a three-fold consideration As the 1. Conclusion of his speech 2. Confirmation 3. Application And this application is strengthned by a three-fold Motive By a motive first from experience Loe this we have searched it we have found the thing to be true Secondly By a motive from the truth of the thing in it selfe so it is we have searched it we have experience of it so it is the thing is certaine And then Thirdly From the fruit and benefit of it if he submit unto and obey the truth delivered know it for thy good thou shalt reap the profit of it These are three motives by which he strengthens his exhortation in applying the truth he had beaten out in his former discourse We have searched it As if Eliphaz had said we have not taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scrutatus perscrutatus est remota aut abstrusa these things upon trust or by an implicite faith we have not received them by tradition from our fathers but we have searched and tryed and found out that thus the matter stands in Gods dispensations both to a wicked man and to a godly man in all the particulars run thorough in this Chapter Or we have searched that is we have learned these truths by experience That God punisheth not the innocent that man cannot compare in justice with God that hypocrites shall not prosper long and that mans afflictions are the fruit of his transgressions The word signifies a very diligent and exact scrutiny Deut. 13. 14. Thou shalt enquire and make search and aske diligently it is to search as Judges Diligenti inquisitione verita is scrutatiene nec non reconditorum divinae providentiae judiciorum consideratione rem ita se habere compeâ—imâ—â— search and enquire about any crime or question in Law determinable by their sentence and as we search to find the meaning of a riddle Judg. 14. 14. The word is also applied to the searchings and enquiries of a Spie Judg. 18. 2. sent to bring intelligence A spie is an exact inquisitor into all affaires given him in charge for discovery So here we have searched out we have spied out and tryed this thing to the utmost we have as it were read over all the records of divine Truths we have examined all experiences and examples and this is the result the summe of all Loe thus it is A question arises here how Eliphaz can say we have searcht it when as Chap. 4. he saith A thing was secretly brought to me It seemes these were matters attained and beaten out by study not sent in by divine revelation and so are rather the opinions of men then the oracles of God Men inspired by the Holy Ghost speak another language As Thus saith the Lord or this we have received not this we have searched Scripture is given by inspiration from God not by the disquisitions of men Some have hence concluded this speech of Eliphaz Apocryphal Ex quo intelligimus hanc Eliphae dissertionem non or aculi fuisse sed studij nec ad Dei revelantis responsa sed ad humani ingenij inventa pertinere Janson in loc as being rather matter of humane invention then divine inspiration Or the work of mans wit rather then of Gods Spirit But I answer First The Apostle Paul hath sufficiently attested the Divine Authority of this discoruse by alledging a proof out of it 1 Cor. 3. 19. Secondly That which was secretly brought to Eliphaz was that one speciall Oracle Chap. 4. 17. Shall mortall man be more just then God shall a man be more pure then his maker The other part of his discourse to which these words Loe this we have searched refer were grounded upon the experiences which himselfe and his friends had observed in and about the providence of God in all his dealings both with the godly and the wicked all agreeable to that grand principle received by immediate revelation And therefore as he told Job before that the generall position was brought him in a vision so all ages and the records kept of them in all which he had made a diligent enquirie came up fully to the proofe of it As if he had said The Lord told me so and all he hath done in the word proclaimes that it is so His word is enough to assert his own justice but his works witnesse with it Loe this we have searched so it is We have searched He speaks in the plurall number he begun his speech in the fourth Chapter and he concluds it here in the plurall number Yet we are not to think that this was a discourse penn'd