Justice Fire is prepared for both their Tabernacles that is for their whole estates or for all that belongs unto them Yet Eliphaz may seem rather to ayme at bribe-takers or unjust Judges among whom he secretly numbers Job who suffer themselves to be corrupted with gifts and to have their eyes put out by rewards The Septuagint is expresse in that sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 munera accipientum 70. Fire shall consume say they the Tabernacles of bribe-takers And indeed if there were no bribe-takers there would be no bribe-givers as we say There would be no Theeves if there were no Receivers The Receiver makes the Theife and corrupt Judges who take bribes make so many bribe-givers Further The word which we translate Bribery signifies properly a gift and the Text may be rendred thus Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of gifts There are many gifts which are farr from bribes There are five sorts of gifts First Gifts of charity to the poore Secondly Gifts of freindship between equals Thirdly Gifts of duty from inferiours to those above them to testifie either thankfulnesse or obedience Fourthly Gifts of bounty and grace from Superiours to those who are below them to testifie their favour to them and that they are wel-pleased in them or in their services There is no hurt either in giving or receiving these gifts These are onely testimonies of respect from man to man and tend onely to maintaine humane society But there is a fifth sort of Gifts which we may call gifts of injury or in the language of the Text Gifts of Bribery These are given either to pervert or delay Justice and to overthrow a man and his cause The Hebrew expresseth a gift in generall and a bribe by the same word Quid est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ—d facit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unum dantem scilicet accipientem quam primum accipit munus ab ipso tunc accedit anima ejus ad ipsum fit si cut ille ipse Rab. Becei c. Buxtorf Lex because as all bribes are gifts so very many gifts are bribes Gifts of charity of freindship of duty of favour are but few in comparison of bribing gifts And 't is exceeding hard for any man that is interessed in affaires of Judgement between man and man to receive a gift from either of them and not be brib'd by it to transgresse the rules of equity and righteousnesse A gift transformes the Judge into a party or makes as the Hebrew criticks tell us upon that word the Judge and party to be but one person Lastly The tabernacles of bribery may be taken not onely in generall for the estates of those who have given or taken Bribes but particularly for the very Houses which have been built by giving or taking Bribes Some have built houses with what they have gotten by giving Bribes and many by taking Bribes have got enough to build houses While such look on their houses and dwellings they may say if they will say the truth Injustice hath built us these houses these are the Tabernacles of bribery A Traveller comming to Rome and viewing many famous structures Haec sunt peccara Germanorum and goodly houses there asked who built them It was answered These are the sins of Germany the meaning was that the Money brought for Pardons out of Germany built those Houses So we may say of many faire places and goodly dwellings These are Bribes and Oppressions such a man built these by iniquity Bribes may build houses but bribe-takers cannot protect them The Tabernacles of bribery shall be consumed Hence Observe First Bribery is an odious sin That sin which is put to expresse all sins against our neighbours must needs be a very odious as well as a very comprehensive sin God loves judgement bribery opposeth what God loves God commands charity as well as judgement and delights to see men bountifull as well as righteous Yet charity without judgement and bounty without righteousnesse are an abomination to God God is a God of judgement they that are against judgement act not onely against the rule which God makes but against the example which God gives It is as much the honour of God that he is a God of judgement giving all their due as that he is a God of mercy giving to all his what they have not at all deserved Secondly Observe That which is sinfully gotten shall be miserably lost Fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery There is nothing gained though much be gotten by injustice Many give bribes to undoe others and all who receive bribes undoe themselves what is the advantage of any sinfull gaine when the fire of Gods wrath consumes the gainer What shall a man give in exchange for his soule And as the losse is infinite that comes by sin in reference to the next life so at best the gaine is little in reference to this present life Either the actor of injustice or his Heire shall finde a fire in the foundation a fire in the Stones and Timber of his House and downe 't will come Bribery never bought any lasting materialls to build with Woe be to him saith the Prophet Hab. 2.9 10 11 12. that coveteth an evill covetousnesse or according to the Hebrew that gaineth an evill gaine to his house that he may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evill Thou hast consulted shame to thy house c. For the Stone shall cry out of the wall and the beame out of the Timber shall answer it What shall the stones cry Or what shall the beame answer The stones shall cry that the morter in which they were layd was tempered with the blood of innocents and the beame shall answer that it was set up by pulling downe the poor Those are crying sins indeed which cause stones that cannot speak to cry And what answer can be given for those iniquities which provoke Timber beames to answer Such is the iniquity of oppression and injustice which are the fruits of bribery See a paralell place Jer. 22.13 14 15 16 17. the summ of which may be drawne up into this conclusion given by Eliphaz Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of Bribery Eliphaz having thus described the perishing estate of wicked men as an argument to deterr and stave them off from wickednesse concludes his whole discourse with an Allegoricall recapitulation both of their sin and misery in the last words of this Chapter Vers 35. They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit They conceive mischeife The Scripture is frequent in this metaphor we have it Psal 7.14 almost word for word Behold he travelleth with iniquity and hath conceived mischeife and hath brought forth falshood Isa 59.4 They conceive mischeife and bring forth iniquity The Apostle James Chap. 1.15 speaks the same language When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death All
words of truth and tended to peace Some truths may be burthensome at some times to a good heart Hard words are alwayes burthensome Job had store of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consolatores laboris aut molestiae Heb. The letter of the Hebrew gives the sense thus Yee are comforters of trouble that is troublesome comforters As if he had sayd Yee doe not comfort me in my troubles but yee trouble me with your comforts Yee are comforters made up of trouble that 's the predominant Element which denominates your complexion and constitution yee are so troublesome that you seeme to be nothing but trouble Our rendering in the concrete is cleare to Jobs scope Miserable comforters are yee all Hence Observe Some while they goe about to act the part of comforters doe but add to their sorrow whom they pretend to comfort and in stead of comforters prove tormenters But when doth a man deserve this title A miserable comforter That which caused Job to charge his Freinds with this miscarriage of their paines with him will resolve the question and tell us when First They gave him little hope of good or they did not open to him a doone of hope wide enough 't is true they made some overtures that way which yet comparatively to what they ought were scarce considerable And Eliphaz who had been somewhat large upon the point in his first congresse with Job speakes nothing of it in his last For as if he thought his case desperate and had given him for a lost man he shuts up in the darke as we see in the close of the former Chapter where he thunders out the judgements of God upon Hypocrites and Bribe-takers without so much as one word of comfort to the penitent This is to be a Miserable comforter The song of comforters should at least be mixt like that of David to the Lord of mercy and of judgement Psal 101.1 A song of judgement alone or most of judgement to a heavy heart may be called like that of Jeremie A Lamentation but it is not a Consolation Secondly They as was toucht before tyred out his afflicted soule with tedious discourses and unpleasing repetitions they alwayes harped upon the same string and that makes no musicke to a disconsolate soule As God complaines of those prayers as unpleasing which are full of unnecessary repetitions so also those counsels are unpleasing to man which are made up of needlesse repetitions To presse the same point though true oft and oft is a wearinesse to the spirit and because it suggests this suspition that the hearer doth oppose or resist that truth it proves an upbraiding rather then a teaching or a comforting Comfort must be stolne in unawares by a holy sleight of hand it must not be beaten in with beetles as it were by force of hand Solomon tels us Prov. 25.12 As an earering of Gold Subrepere debet consolatio fucum facere affectibus Sen. and an ornament of fine Gold so is a wise reprover upon an obedient eare What he speakes of a reprover is as true of a comforter and he onely is fit to be a reprover who is skil'd or knowes how to be a comforter Hee that will open or launce a soare had need be acquainted with the meanes of healing it The spirit of God who is the Reprover John 16.8 is also the Comforter John 14.26 We may therefore take up Solomons Proverbe here As an earering of Gold and an ornament of fine Gold so is a wise comforter upon an obedient eare They who hang Jewels in their eares as it was the custome of those times and is to this day take that which is of great price and value yet of little weight No man hangs a Talent or a great lump of Gold in his eare Gold is precious but much Gold is ponderous and burdens rather then adornes the eare the bulke of it is more combersome then the beauty of it is conspicuous Esto correptio non levis pretii sed levis pâ—ndeâ—is So comfort which is the most pleasant Jewell of the eare should be pure and precious as the Gold of Ophir but yet it must be like an earering which though it be not light in regard of worth yet it is light in regard of weight We must not load but guide a man with counsell nor must we burden him with many but ease him with pertinent words of comfort Thirdly That which rendered them yet more miserable Comforters was their unkinde grating upon that string of his sinfulnesse and studyed hypocrisie Job acknowledged himselfe a sinner and that he could not be justified in the sight of God by any righteousnesse of his owne yet still his freinds were unsatisfied about his sincerity and still they presented him with suspicions of secret wickednesse as the cause of all his sufferings still they told him of the sad fate of Tyrants of Oppressours of unjust Judges of unsound and false-hearted Worshippers and though they did not apply these Parables personally to Job yet the generall discourse sounded as if they had sayd Thou art the man Now as the Apostle speaks concerning death 1 Cor. 15.56 so we may say concerning any affliction The sting of affliction is sin the sting of sicknesse the sting of poverty the sting of disgrace is sin when the least trouble is armed with sin the strongest tremble at the sight of it A godly man can easier beare the weight of all afflictions then the weight and burthen of one sin so long as he sees all cleare between God and his owne soule so long as he can looke up to God as having his sin pardoned and can approve his heart to God that he lives not in any knowne sin in this case though the Lord lay the heaviest burthen of affliction upon him he can goe lightly under it The spirit of a man will beare all these infirmities but if his spirit be wounded either with the guilt of sin or with the feare of the wrath of God how can hee beare it This afflicts more then all other afflictions This was it which caused Job to cry out Miserable comforters His Freinds ever upbraiding him with his sin his sin his sin as the root and therefore as the sting of all his troubles They applyed nothing but these corrasives to his wounded soule which called alowd for the balme of Gilead There are two sorts of miserable comforters First They who flatter the soule that lives in sin Secondly They who embitter and burden their soules who being under burdens of sorrow are also in bitternesse for their sin Some sow Pillowes under the elbowes of those who delight in sin and dawbe them up with untempered morter others thrust Swords and shoot arrowes into the bowels of those who mourne for sin and in stead of bringing well-tempered morter to binde and cement their soules lay hard stones under them which vex and gaul their soules Both are Miserable comforters They who
vve have used them both for our owne good and the good of others I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thus saith the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised Jer. 31.18 Ephraims outward moanes were as musick in the eares of God Ephraim did not murmure against God but he bemoaned himselfe Ephraim was not angry at his chastisement but Ephraim mourned being chastised God heard this fully in hearing hee heard it or it pleased him to heare it It is our duty to testifie our sorrow by the saddest notes of a troubled spirit and it is a delight to God when vve doe so not that hee delights in our sorrows but he delights in the witnesse vvhich vve beare to his wisedome righteousnesse and faithfulnesse in sending those sorrowes I heard Ephraim bemoane himselfe Will an offendor that lookes for mercy come before the Judge in rich apparrell or in some affected dresse Comes he not rather in his Prison clothes puts he not on the garments of heavinesse The Messengers of Benhadad put dust on their heads and ropes about their necks and sack-cloth on their loynes when they came to mediate for the life of their Master And thus the Lord speakes to the Israelites Exod. 33.5 when they had sinned and he was wroth Put off your Ornaments that I may know what to doe with you Ornaments are uncomly when God is threatning judgements It is time for us to lay by our bravery when God is about to make us naked Sack-cloth sowed upon the skin and our horne in the dust are the best ensignes of an afflicted state The Prophets counsell indeed is Joel 2.13 Rend your hearts and not your garments Rending the garments may be taken not onely strictly for that act but largely for all outward actings of sorrow Yet when he saith Rent not this is not a prohibition of but a caution about the outward acting of their sorrow Not in Scripture is not alwayes totally negative it is often directive and comparative So in this place Rend your hearts and not your garments is your hearts rather then your garments or be sure to rend your hearts as well as your garments The one must be done the other ought not to be left undone See more of this Chap. 1. Vers 20. upon those word Then Job rent his Mantle Thirdly Observe Great sorrow produceth great effects and leaveth such impressions as testifie where it is The Apostle saith of the sorrow of the World That it worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World may be taken two wayes First For the sorrow of carnall worldly men whose sorrow for sin is only a vexing of their hearts not a breaking or humbling of their hearts which being separate both from true faith for the pardon of sin and from any reall purpose of leaving their sin worketh death both temporall death often wearing out their naturall life lingringly and sometime destroying their naturall life violently as in Judas as also hastning them on to eternall death of which it selfe is a foretast or beginning Secondly This sorrow of the World is a sorrow for the losse of or disappoyntments about worldly things This also worketh both those deaths in meere worldly men and when it is excessive as under a temptation it may be in a godly man it may be sayd to worke the death of the body in him yea great and continued sorrow though it be not excessive worketh towards this death in a godly man drying his bones and drawing out his spirits as is cleare in Job on whose eye-lids the very shadow of death sate while hee wept and sorrowed 'T is hard to dissemble a little griefe but a great deale cannot be hid As godly sorrow manifests it selfe in excellent effects upon the soule of which the Apostle numbers up seven at the eleventh Verse of that Chapter For this selfe same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulnesse it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves c. Now I say as godly sorrow manifests it selfe in manifold effects upon the soule so doth the sorrow of the World set its marks upon the body As a good mans heart is made cleane by weeping the teares of godly sorrow so every mans face is made foule by weeping the teares of worldly sorrow and as godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation and life eternall so the sorrow of the World vvorketh an entrance to temporall death yea we may say that godly sorrow doth sometimes worke temporall death Paul was afrayd lest the incestuous person while he was repenting might be Swallowed up with over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 vvhich as vvee are to understand cheifely of a swallowing up in the gulfe of despaire so we may take in that also as a consequent of the other a swallowing of him up in the Grave of death as if hee had sayd The poore man may both despayre and dye under this burden if you let it lye too long upon him As soone as Heman had sayd in his desertion My soule is full of troubles he presently adds And my life draweth nigh unto the Grave I am counted with them that goe downe to the pit free among the dead Psal 88.3 4 5. To which he subjoyns Ver. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction and then expostulates Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead Shall the dead arise and praise thee As if he had sayd These sorrows will bring me to my grave or in the language of Job On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Till wee enjoy a life beyond the reach of all sorrows wee shall not be beyond the reach of death Hence that promise Revel 21.4 God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine And as that life which hath no death in it shall have no sorrow in it so that life which is a continuall death the life of the damned is nothing else but sorrow There shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore Mat. 13.42 Their eyes shall ever weep their faces shall ever be foule with weeping and on their eye-lids the shadow of death shall dwell for ever Fourthly The hand of God being heavy upon Job he defiled his horne in the dust and fouled his face with weeping he regarded neyther the beauty of his face nor the dignity of his condition all was nothing to him Learne from it Great afflictions take off our respect to the World and all worldly things What is honour What is Gold or Silver What is a goodly House What is a beautifull Wife and pleasant Children What are fine cloathes or a faire face in a day of sorrow or in the approaches of death Spirituals are highest prized when we are lowest Grace shines clearest in worldly darknesse but the light of worldly enjoyments is darknesse to us and that vvhich some esteeme as a Sun is but a
I finde not one wise man among you So much may be sayd without passion or reviling Nor did he question their wisedome in generall but as hath been answered for him upon a like passage onely to the point in hand As if he had sayd after all this arguing You are still besides the matter you have not hit the joynt of my case come to mee I will shew you your mistake and make it plaine that you are all out Venite ad me audiendum ostendam vos omnes decipere Drus Hence Observe First It is no fault to speake of men as we finde them The rule of Christ Matth. 7.1 Judge not that yee be not judged forbids first rash judgement of men secondly wrong judgement of men thirdly finall judgement of men that 's peculiar to God but it doth not forbid all judgement of men We may call a Spade a Spade and him unwise who is so All reproving is taken away if all judging be for wee must reprove no man but whom we judge faulty Let the righoeous smite me saith David Psal 141.5 Hee meanes it not of smiting with the Sword but of smiting with a deserved censure as if he had sayd If I have done amisse let me hear of it yea let me smart for it by a faithfull reproofe Secondly Observe A wise man may doe or speake that which is a just forfeiture of his present reputation for wisedome This proceeds sometimes from a speciall judgement of God upon men who in anger blasts their abilities and commands a decay upon their greatest treasures of wisedome Isa 29.14 The wisedome of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid It shall be so saith God the understanding of man is as much at Gods dispose as his riches or honours are Now as this proceeds sometimes from the speciall judgement of God upon man so it may proceed at any time from the naturall frame of man who at the best is a creature composed of light and darknesse of wisedome and folly of knowledge and ignorance of grace and corruption of an old man as well as of a new The over actings of the worser part may soone leave a good and a wise man in the maine under an ecclipse both of his goodnesse and wisedome David sayd in his hast and as hee sayd it he sinned in saying so All men are lyars But we may say it with fullest deliberation and not sin at all in saying so that All men are lyars The Apostle saith it Rom. 3.4 while he saith Yea let God be true and every man a lyar that is Let this be acknowledged and confessed by all That God cannot lye such is his power that hee can neyther deceive nor be deceived but let it be as much acknowledged that every man is under a possibility to be deceived yea and to deceive in the worst sense that in some sense every man is actually deceived or a Deceiver which proves this to be a truth Every man is a lyar The lye is that which no man will beare at the hand of man yet all must beare it from the hand of God it is indeed a dishonour but it is no slander to say that every man is a lyar and because he is so hee may soone dis-intitle himselfe of wisedome We must not lay too much upon men for when they speake and doe most unwisely they speak and doe most like men The Prophet Hos 6.7 saith They like men have transgressed the Covenant The Hebrew is They have transgressed like Adam The Apostle speakes of some over whom death reigned who yet had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Rom. 5.14 Infants dye and they dye in that sin which Adam committed though they never come to commit sin actvally as Adam did but all who sin actually sin after the similitude of Adams transgression He set the first Copy and all his Posterity have written after him Wee doe but shew what we are and whence we are when we sin even a company of men the Sons of Adam To be a man is also to be a sinner Now as it may be sayd we like men have transgressed so we like men are unwise It is very easie for the wisest man to doe unwisely wee have but shewed our selves men when we have shewed our selves unwise That hath obtained as an Axiome It is humane for man to erre One of the wisest sentences among men is That man may doe unwisely He that doth all things wisely is more like God then a Man nor can we doe any thing wisely but as God is pleased to teach and guide us As we have need to aske our daily bread from God for the support of our bodies so our daily wisedome from God for the management of our affaires As God takes the wise in their owne craftinesse 1 Cor. 3.19 so he can take wisedome from the crafty and unlesse he supply wisedome to the vvise they will soone be so overtaken by their own folly that of a whole throng of them it may be sayd by him that engageth with them I have not found one wise man among you Thirdly Observe Wise men are rarely to be found There are store of subtle men and crafty men there are but too many but the wise man is a rare Jewel It was for a wise man that the Prophet commands a search to be made when he sayd Jer. 5.1 Run yee too and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seeke in the broad places thereof if you can finde a man Jerusalem was full of men and yet a man could not be found when diligently sought for What man was this The next words describe him for a wise man indeed if there be any that executeth judgement and seeketh the truth I cannot say that such wise men are thick sowne but I am very sure they are thinn come up Paul found so great a scarsity and dearth of them even among the Saints in the Church of Corinth that though he doth not say it positively with Job here I have not found a wise man among you yet he speakes it Interrogatively and chidingly 1 Cor. 6.5 I speake to your shame is it so that there is not a wise man among you No not one that shall be able to judge betweene his Brethren There are not many knowing wise men among all men but judging wise men are fewest of all Fourthly Observe Wise men are apt to shew themselves unwise in expounding and judging the providences and dealings of God toward man The workes of the most wise God are all right but few men are wise enough to pick out the right meaning of them Providence is carryed about the World in a Chariot of light and yet there is much darknesse in the minds of most men about it This arises chiefely two wayes First From the seeming confusions which are in the world God doth not keep a method nor
word All that ever was done in the World hath been done by the breath of Gods mouth that is by the word or decree of God So some understand that of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.8 And then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit or breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Antichrist hath stood long and he hath been for some time declining his downfall hastens the breath of God will leave him breathlesse As he hath stood by the flattering breath of men so he shall fall by the consuming breath of God This consuming with breath notes either as before the easinesse of that consumption 't is done with a breath or the way and manner of doing it 't is done by the command and decree of God or by the Preaching of the Gospell which indeed gives Antichrist his fatall blow and shakes all the Towres of mysticall Babylon and is called by the Prophet The rod of his mouth Spiritu oris sc ipsius impii credo potius referrendum esse ad impium quasi ille sibi ipsi fuerit mortis causa dum contra Deum loquitur confidenter libere Sanct. and the breath of his lips Isa 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Life and death sit upon the lips of Christ he hath a reviving breath and a killing breath he quickens the deadest heart and deads the quickest the proudest heart with a word speaking By the breath of his mouth the wicked goe away Further The breath of his mouth say some is the breath of the wicked mans owne mouth By the breath of his mouth shall he goe away That is by the words which breath out of his mouth His passionate distempered speeches shall undoe him while he speaks either outragiously and blasphemously against God or falsely and seditiously towards man his ruine enters at the opening of his lips The motion of the breath is the preserver of life Spiritu oris sui i. e. suis verbis quae spiritu halitu in ore ormantur and while breath lasts life lasts yet many a mans life had lasted longer had it not been for his breath The wicked mans breath proves his death and his tongue which hath been a scourge to others becomes a Sword to himselfe His words possibly have wounded and his breath hath been the death of many But now he is wounded by his owne words and crusht to death by the weight of his owne breath or by the fall of his owne tongue upon him So the Psalmist gives it Psal 64.8 They shall make their owne tongues to fall upon themselves that is Their owne words shall be brought as a Testimony against them and condemne them The tongue is a little member saith the Apostle James Chap. 3.5 and therefore a light member yet it falls heavy as heavy as lead A man were better have his House fall upon him then that in this sense his tongue should fall upon him Some have been pressed to death because they would not speak but stood mute before the Judge but more have been pressed to death by their sinfull freedome or rather licentiousnesse in speaking this hath brought them to judgement and cast them in judgement Their tongue hath fallen upon them and by the breath of their mouth they have gone away Lastly but I will not stay upon it because the Originall doth not well beare it these words are cast into the forme of a similitude describing the manner how the wicked man and all his glory shall goe away even as a breath or as his breath As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away that is he shall go speedily he shall goe suddenly A breath is soon fetcht it is both come and gone in a moment A breathing time is a Proverbiall for a little time much like that In the twinckling of an eye Thus man comes and goes is come and gone especially a wicked man who is driven by the wrath of God as soon as seen by others as soon as he hath breathed himselfe It will not be long ere he goes and he will not be long a going For as the breath of his mouth he shall goe away The breath of man goes continually and so doth the life of man while man sleeps his breath goes and so doth his life while man stands still his breath goes and so doth his life The breath indeed is sometimes in a hurry and goes faster then it doth at other times but though the life of man doth not goe faster at one time then at another yet it alwayes goes Or if at any time our life may be sayd to goe faster then at another it is when our breath is by some stop in its passage at a stand and when ever our breath comes to a full stop our life is not onely going but quite gone The life of man hath so much dependence upon his breath that it is called Breath and the breath of life When God formed man out of the dust of the ground he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soule Gen. 2.7 And as soon as God calls back this breath of life man becomes a dead body or a carkasse The life of man must needs goe as his breath for it goes with his breath and when the life of a wicked man is gone all that he called his his worldly glory goes with him In that day all his thoughts perish For As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away Eliphaz having layd downe the wicked mans sad condition and the causes of it concludes with a use or application of the whole Doctrine at the 31. Verse Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity c. JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 31 32 33 34 35. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence It shall be accomplished before his time and his branch shall not be greene He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and shall cast off his flower as the Olive For the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit ELiphaz layd downe his Doctrine at the 20. Verse of this Chapter That a wicked mans life is a miserable life he travells in paine all his dayes and having insisted long upon the proofe he now gives us the application of it in a use of dehortation Vers 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity He inforceth this dehortation by a summary repetition of the Doctrine before delivered which he doth First Plainly in the close of the 31. and in the beginning of the 32. Verses For vanity shall he his recompence it shall be accomplished before its time Secondly He doth it allegorically in the
need not wonder though some who are watchful against them are deceived by them but it would be a wonder and such a wonder as yet was never seen if they should not be deceived who never watch against them First Our owne hearts which have not onely an impotence or weaknesse as I noted before whereby they are apt to be deceived but there is in our hearts an activenesse yea an efficacy to deceive we are not onely passive but active we are seldome if at all deceived till wee deceive our selves And as some men are very active in deceiving others so all men are active in a degree to deceive themselves Jer. 17.9 The heart of man is deceitfull and desperately wicked The heart is deceitfull in reference to a threefold object First The heart would deceive God himselfe and impose upon the All-wise That 's the designe of a Hypocrite his businesse is to deceive God though the issue be the deceiving of himselfe Secondly The heart of man is deceitfull in contriving wayes to deceive and supplant other men The complaint of the Prophet goes very high upon this Mich. 7.2 The good man is perished out of the Earth and there is none upright among men they all lye in waite for blood they hunt every man his brother with a net To lye in waite is the act and a Net is the instrument of a Deceiver The Prophesie of Christ goes yet higher Matth. 24.24 For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. Deceit workes to its utmost possibility when it puts hard to deceive those whom to deceive is impossible If Elect men could be deceived God should be deceived in his Election But this is impossible and therefore that is the man who is elect is deceiveable but because he is an elect man he cannot be deceived And though an elect man may be deceived in some things for even he is subject to errour because he is still while in this World the subject of sin yet he cannot be so farr deceived in any thing as to null or frustrate his election How restlesse is man to deceive man seeing he ceaseth not his endeavour to deceive where he cannot prevailingly deceive Thirdly Which I conceive the Text in Jeremiah specially aymes at the heart of man is very busie to deceive himselfe 'T is bad enough to deceive others but to deceive our selves is worse and that not onely because it makes us more miserable but more sinfull Selfe-deceit is the most sinfull deceit The heart of man is desperately wicked there is no hope that it will leave off to doe wickedly seeing it is of counsell against its owne peace And surely man is not onely under a possibility to be deceived in regard of the impotence and blindnesse of his heart but also under an impossibility not to be deceived in regard of the skill and unwearyed activity of his heart to deceive himselfe Secondly Man hath another deceiver continually about him The World and all that is in the World The lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life all these are but as so many snares and juggels to cozen and deceive poore man Thirdly The Devill who is The Deceiver of whose devices we are not ignorant saith the Apostle he is full of tricks and plots he hath his methods his arts to deceive Ever since the Devill deceived himselfe he hath been studying how to deceive man he doth not onely goe about like a roaring Lyon but like a subtle Serpent and a cunning Fox seeking whom he may devour or he is a Lyon to devour those whom he hath first deceived as a Fox or as a Serpent Man is a perswadable creature Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem The Originall word there used to perswade signifies also to deceive because perswasions are often made as Engines or baytes to deceive There is also a kind of holy fraud in the Gospell and man is as it were deceived into the obedience of it Being crafty I caught you with guile I fetcht you over did I not saith Paul 2 Cor. 12.16 Now as man is somtimes deceived for his good so he is often and easily deceived for his hurt by these three deceivers Satan the World and his owne Heart perswade him by an unholy deceit to dwell in the Tents of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bis potest sumi cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credet ne credat in vanitatem cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceptus deceptus inquam per vanitatem ne in eam fida Againe Some who by vanity understand sin read the word Vanity twice Let not him that is deceived by vanity trust in vanity that is Let not him that is deceived by sin trust in sin which interpretation yeelds us this truth Sin is deceitfull or thus Sin doth nothing but deceive The Apostle Heb. 3.13 chargeth sin with deceit to its very face Exhort one the other while it is called to day least any of your hearts be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sin there are three eminent evils in sin First There is a pollution in sin it defiles Secondly There is basenesse in sin it dishonours Thirdly There is a deceitfulnesse in sin it would make us beleeve we shall be and receive that which it is not able to performe Hence the Apostle Rom. 6.21 puts the question to those who were once the servants of sin What fruit had yee then in those things whereof you are now ashamed He asketh them and bids them aske their owne hearts what fruit had you as if he had sayd I know when you were servants of sin your sins promised you great matters great rewards the Tree of sin seemes to be loaded with fruits the bowes of it looke as if ready to break with goodly fruits fruit pleasant to the eye sweet to the taste and desireable to make one wise but I beseech yon tell me what fruit had you in those things wh reof you are now ashamed If you be ashamed to tell me I will tell you The end of those things is death that 's all the fruit which the Tree of sin beares Sin deales with us as Jaell with Sisera Judges 4.18 Shee stood at the Tent doore when he came panting from the Battell and said to him Turne in my Lord turne in shee took him into her Tent and layd him downe covered him warme and when he asked her for Milke shee gave him Butter Butter in a Lordly dish here were fine words and seeming promises yet shee honestly deceived him Shee put her hand to the Naile and her hand to the workmans Hammer and nayled his temples to the ground Thus sin bids us turn in promises to cover us warme gives us Butter in a Lordly dish but never tells us of that wofull end and wretched catastrophe which it
shall perish As the Relative lookes to the wicked man himselfe Observe An untimely death is the portion of a wicked man He shall be accomplished in a day that is not his or before his proper day In opposition to which Eliphaz had promised Chap. 5. That a godly man shall come like â—sheafe of Corne into the Barne fully rype Now saith he This wicked man shall be like untimely fruit accomplished cut off and perishing before his time We have such an Expression Eccl. 7.17 Be not righteous over much neither make thy selfe over-wise why shouldest thou destroy thy selfe Be not over much wicked not that there is any mediocrity in wickednesse or that a man can be wicked in due proportion but saith he take heed of high actings in wickednesse why shouldest thou dye before thy time Some wickednesses lye close men live and continue in them long unseen others are so open and abominable that their actors are abnoxious to the hand of Justice He that is wicked overmuch that is extreamely wicked shall be cut off some way or other before his time Quarrellers dye by the Sword Drunkards dye by surfet Adulterers decay into filthy diseases Sorcerers are killed by the Devill Malefactors of all sorts are cut off by the sentence of the Magistrate Most desire to live long and yet they take a course to make their lives short they forget that short way to long life Psal 34.12 That promise Isa 65.20 stands opposite to this threatning There shall be no more there an infant of dayes Implere dies ad longam faelicemque senectam pertinet vel denotat illam aetatis maturitatem quae non annorum numero sed pietatis perfectione definitur nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes A good man fills his dayes a wicked man shall be accomplished or there shall be an end of him before his day both before that day which he would live to according to the course of his desire and before that day which he might live unto according to the course of nature Besides a wicked man never fills his dayes though he be full of dayes he that is not prepared for death how old soever he is dyes before he is rype he is rype for destruction but he is neither rype nor fit for death The youngest Saint that dyes dyes rype though he dye before he come to that estate Pii licet aetate juvenes senes sunt moribus wherein nature useth to crop men off yet he as the Apostle speaks Ephes 4.13 is come to the fulnesse of the stature of Christ Secondly Referring these words unto the estate of a wicked man it shall be accomplished or cut off before the time that is his pomp and greatnesse all that he hath gotten together of which he spake in the precedent part of the Chapter shall be scattered suddenly Hence Note Wicked men often outlive all their worldly enjoyments Some live to be their owne Executors they dispose or rather dissipate all they leave nothing when they dye for others The pride of wicked men shall have a fall their present possessions and future hopes shall come to nought Prov. 3.16 Solomon tells us that Wisedome hath length of dayes in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour We may say of sin Shortnesse of dayes is in its right hand and in its left hand poverty and disgrace The former point saith that a wicked mans dayes are short he shall be cut off before his time death cuts him off The latter saith his pomp his riches and honour all these shall be cut off before the time We have seen some who have raised great estates by sin and they have seen an end of all in misery Thirdly Taking the Antecedent to be the designes and contrivements of the wicked man Hence Note The counsells designes and contrivements of wickedmen doe often prove abortive They are accomplished before their time Their plots break out before they are ripe and then all 's spoyled So it was with the Powder Plot it was accomplished before the time it was discovered before it could be acted we have often seen grand designes layd in the dust crusht in the shell and nipt in the very bud As the Prophet reproves some for staying too long in the place of breaking forth of Children Hos 13.13 That is they have let their purposes dye under tedious consultations or irresolutions for acting So we may deride others for staying too little in the place of breaking forth of Children God in judgement hastens them to action before their designes are fully matured by consultation It is accomplished before his time And his branch shall not be greene In the close of this Verse and in the next Eliphaz in severall metaphors prosecutes the declining condition of wicked men His branch shall not be green 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sig. manum ramum rami sunt veluti brachia manus arboris His branch Or his hand shall not be green so the word signifies properly And that some understand in a figure his hand shall not be green that is himselfe shall be unapt and unfit for work When an arme is dryed up or a hand palsied it is unserviceable The hand of a godly man is green he is laborious and fit for labour the hand of the wicked man as it is alwayes sinfully dried up in reference to the doing of any good so it is often judicially dryed up lest it should do hurt his hand shall not be green that is he shall not have power to do that evill which he would When Jeroboam put forth his hand from the Altar c. his arme dryed up so that he could not pull it in againe to him 1 Kings 13.4 His hand his arme was not green he could not use it to hurt the Prophet Zech. 11.17 The wicked Idoll Shepheard is threatned His arme shall cleane be dryed up and his right eye shall be utterly darkned that is He shall neither have counsell nor strength he shall neither be able to advise nor to act his eye shall be darkned so that he shall not be able to see his way his arme shall be dryed up he shall not be able to attaine his end Psal 75.5 None of the men of might have found their hands as we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily He cannot finde his feet so of a man that acts lamely and lazily or of a Souldier that fights faintly and cowardly He cannot finde his hands or in the language of the Text His arme or hand is not green We translate metaphorically so the word signifies not a hand but a branch because a branch or bough of a Tree puts forth from the body of it as the hand or arme is stretcht from the body of a man by this branch we may understand either of those two things noted before First The estate of the wicked man for that is as a branch shooting
alluding to the naturall conception formation and production of Children We have these three in the Text before us the order of the words being a little altered Here is first Conception They conceive mischeife Secondly Formation Their belly prepareth deceit Thirdly The birth Bring forth vanity More strictly to the method of Eliphaz we have first The conception secondly the birth of sin And as if one birth were not enough they returne to their work providing for a new birth of the old man Their belly prepareth deceit They conceive mischeife The word which we translate Mischiefe signifies properly labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labor molestia perversitas hard labour or labour accompanied with a great deal of paines and sorrow it signifies also wickednesse perversnesse We translate mischeife They conceive mischeife or some mischeivous devise to the dishonour of God and the wrong of man They conceive Conception is here the worke of the minde we ordinarily say We conceive such a thing that is We take it in or apprehend it by an act of the understanding Here 's the truest character of a wicked man he is one that conceives mischeife The allusion teacheth us First That a wicked man sins with much freedome of spirit or he sins freely He conceives mischeife The conceptions of the minde cannot be forced nor can the conceptions of the body and therefore the Law resolves it That there is no rape where conception follows These conceptions are the joynt actings of the will and understanding both concur in them an unregenerate person is free to doe evill he needs not be forced to it he cannot be forced from it and every evill is the more evill by how much the more freely it is done The more voluntarily we sin the more wickedly we sin Againe The conceptions of the minde are deliberate there is a collecting of one thing from another a debating in conceiving Hence Note Secondly Wicked men sin with deliberation They sit downe and meditate they lay the frame of wickednesse in their hearts and then set it up or act it with their hands Note thirdly All the conceptions of wicked men are wickednesse They are very fruitfull in wickednesse and they beare no other fruit Mischeife is not onely that which he conceives but all that he conceives he conceives nothing else A wicked man cannot think or conceive one good thought he may think of that which is materially good but he conceives no good Gen. 6.5 All the thoughts of the imaginations of his heart are onely evill and that continually All the Creatures which he formes in his minde all the children of his understanding are deformed and monstrous He conceives mischeife which as it notes a continued act so an act continued about or upon the same object Fourthly Observe To be a contriver a plotter a conceiver of mischeife is worse then then to be an actor or a doer of mischeife It is ill to have a hand in any sinfull evill it is worse to have a head in it but worst of all to have a heart in it Conceivers of mischeife alwayes have their hearts and heads in mischeife and if they are not stopt will have their hands to it too they who are plotters and designers would be actors Hence they are called Workers of iniquity They have an inward Shop and an outward Shop first they work it in their thoughts and mould it there and then it comes out To conceive mischeife is properly the Devils trade he rather deviseth then acts wickednesse There are many wickednesses in the World which he cannot act but he is or would be the plotter setter and contriver of them all This is the wickednesse of the Devill and every conceiver and deviser of mischeife is of the Devils trade A good man may possibly doe evill but a wicked man deviseth evill As it notes the spiritualnesse of a man in holinesse when he doth not onely act that which is good but his heart is upon it he conceives and frames it in his minde So it notes a man spiritually wicked when his minde frames wickednesse The Apostle concludes of himselfe Rom. 7.25 So then with my minde I serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sin Not that he willingly gave up his flesh to sin but that he was carryed through the infirmity of the flesh to some sinfull actings while his minde his devisings and contrivings were according to the Law of God and he delighted in the Law of God concerning the inward man This is the spiritualnesse of holinesse and without this there is no outward act of any account with God It is what the minde moves to not what the mouth speaks or the hand doth which commends us to God What is it to God that we serve his Law with our flesh if with our minds we either serve the Law of sin or doe not serve the Law of God Man is not what he acts but what he conceives unlesse he act what he hath conceived They conceive mischeife And bring forth vanity Now they come to the birth they are in travell after conception they bring forth and the Childs name is Vanity The Originall word is rendred three wayes First We say Vanity Secondly Another saith Lyes A third saith Iniquity The word will beare any of or all the three translations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vanitat mendacium perversitas They bring forth vanity a lye iniquity They who conceive mischeife may bring forth any thing but what is good Those three words may serve the same thing every vanity is a lye and any lye is vanity and iniquity is both lye and vanity The persons of whom Eliphaz discourseth are sayd to bring forth vanity on these three grounds First Because they somtimes bring forth no fruit at all they are conceiving mischeif but they can make nothing of it their conceptions end in abortions they devise and plot but all is hatching of winde The Church is so expressed though in a different case Isa 26.17 18. Like as a Woman with Childe neer the time of her delivery is in paine and cryes out in her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord Wee have beene with childe we have been in paine The Church had conceptions for good shee hoped that the Lord would have done some great thing for her yet after her conception and travell see what shee brings forth We have beene in paine and brought forth winde that is nothing at all it proved a meer timpany for so he explaines it We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the Inhabitants of the World fallen that is we have not obtained that deliverance that we hoped for in the earth neither have our Enemies who are called by the Prophet The Inhabitants of the World been subdued under our power they have not fallen Now as the Church and people of God sometimes are disappointed in their expectations they conceive yet
Oracles of God like little Children who must have the same precepts and lines often and often inculcated upon them he gives it us in the forme of this Text Isa 28.10 For precept must be upon precept line upon line that is they must be continually followed with precepts they must have many and yet they scarse learne one or as others expound that place the Prophet describes the scornefulnesse of that people who jeered the Messengers of God for their frequency in Preaching with a riming scoffe Precept upon precept line upon line here a little and there a little which single tearms the Prophets had often used in their Sermons Now which way soever we take the proper sense of that place yet the common sense of the words reaches this in Job for precept upon precept speakes there a multitude of precepts even as here breach upon breach speakes a multitude of breaches or breaches all over And the Apostle Paul expresseth himselfe in this straine while he gives the reason of the recovery of Epaphroditus from a dangerous sicknesse Phil. 2.27 He was sick saith Paul nigh unto death but God had mercy on him and not onely on him but on mee also least I should have sorrow upon sorrow that is many sorrows heaped up together So then when Job complaines of his breaking with breach upon breach the plaine meaning is that he had many very many breaches His very wounds were wounded there was nothing in him Vulnera ipsa vulnerat Non habet in nobis jam nova plag◠locum or about him to be smitten but what had been smitten already As if he had said I am so full of breaches and afflictions that there is no whole space or roome left for a new breach for another affliction As he that lyes upon the ground can fall no lower so he that is all broken cannot be broken any more Job had breach upon breach in his estate his Cattle and goods were taken away Job had breach upon breach in his Family most of his Servants and all his Children were destroyed Job had breach upon breach in his body that was sick and soare Job had breach upon breach in his credit hee was called Hypocrite againe and againe Job had breach upon breach in his soule that was filled with feare and terrour from the Lord. Hence Note The best Saints on earth are subject not onely to great but various troubles to breach upon breach God is pleased to smite them sundry times and he smites them sundry wayes 'T is no argument that a man shall be no more afflicted because he is afflicted or that God will not smite againe because he hath smitten already God doth not stay his hand by looking upon the number but upon the effect and fruite of our afflictions Every Childe of his whom he corrects must looke for more corrections till repentance hath had its perfect worke and every Champion of his whom he tryes must looke for more tryalls till faith and patience have had their perfect worke God would not give his Children so much as one blow or one breach not so much as a little finger of theirs should ake were it not for one of these ends and untill these ends be attained they shall have many blowes and breaches even till the whole head be sick and the whole heart faint till from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundnesse in them but wounds and bruises and putrifying soares As the Vine-dresser cuts and cuts Vt in vineis labor labori cura curae semper additur c. Sanct. prunes and prunes the Vine this day and the next day because once cutting or pruning will not serve to make it fruitfull So the Lord prunes and cuts and pares and breaks and breaks not to destroy his people but to make them as pleasant Vines bring forth abundantly eyther the fruits of godly sorrow for their sins committed against him or the proofes and experiments of the graces which they have received from him This latter was Jobs case and the cheife cause why he was broken with breach upon breach And no sooner had the Lord by his roaring Cannon made breaches in him fayre and assaultable but he presently takes his advantage as Job shewes elegantly pursuing the Allegory in the last clause He runs vpon me as a Giant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sicut fortis potens idem valet Gigas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a breach is made in the wall the beseigers run up to assault and storme the place Job keepes to the Souldiers language the Lord hath made breach upon breach and now He runs upon me as a Giant There are three things in this expression First The speed which God made to assault him He runs Secondly The strength that God puts forth in assaulting him he runs not as a Childe not as a weak man no nor as the ordinary sort of strong men but as a Giant or mighty man who exceeds other men as Goliah did David both in strength and stature Quando aliquis dicitur aut currere aut aliquid agere sicut Gigas nihil aliud denotat quam magno animo strenuè rem aliquam aggredi Bold Thirdly Running as a Giant notes courage as well as strength A Giant runs fiercely and fearelesly David compares the Sun at his rising to a Bridegroome comming out of his Chamber and to a Giant or strong man it is the word of this Text who rejoyceth to run a race Psal 19.5 Giants are swift and Giants are strong Some men are strong but not swift of foot but no man can be swift of foot unlesse he be competently strong Giants are both in excesse And therefore Job puts both together He runs upon me as a Giant And yet I conceive this running doth rather imply the fiercenesse of the Giant then his swiftnesse Giants are dreadfull and terrible to behold they are called Nephilim in the Hebrew of diverse Texts which comming from the root Naphal to fall signifies fallers and that in a twofold sense First Because they Apostatiz'd or fell from God his truth and worship which Moses seemes to intimate while he describes the first great personall defection of the World Gen. 6.4 There were Giants in the earth in those dayes these he opposeth to the Sons of God in the same Verse who had also greatly corrupted themselves so that Vers 5. God saw the wickednesse of man was great upon the earth For the Sons of God they who owned a profession of Religion being the Posterity of Seth they mingled themselves with the wicked of the World as for the Giants they disowned God and were totally departed or fallen from his obedience and were therefore as some apprehend called Nephilim or Fallers Secondly They were so called because either through the vastnesse of their strength and stature or through the feircenesse of their mindes and spirits they were men of violence great oppressors
is He shall be forgotten hee shall be as if hee had not beene And thus it is applyed to the pardon of sin Psal 32.1 Sin is vailed with the worthinesse and obedience of Christ as with a Garment and is to God as a thing forgotten or out of minde when once it is forgiven In both these senses Job seemes to bespeak the earth O earth cover not my blood Sanguis terra tegitur quando facinus dissimulatur nec vindictam exposcit that is If thou hast any of my blood doe not dissemble it bring it forth be not as if thou knewest of no such matter As simulation makes that to be which is not so dissimulation makes that not to be which is Againe Cover not my blood that is Forget it not if thou hast such a record upon thy Fyle let it be continued and remembred that the Generations to come may judge how I have been dealt with by this present age or how I have dealt in it O earth cover not my blood But what is his blood which he would not have covered His blood may be taken two wayes First Passively for his sufferings and grievous afflictions which were even to blood The Apostle tels the Hebrews Ye have not resisted to blood striving against sin Heb. 12.4 There is a threefold strife against sin First Against sin already acting and moving in our selves Secondly There is a striving against that sin which others move us to act whether by promises or by threatnings Thirdly There is a striving against that sin which others act The Apostle as I conceive intends one of or both the latter sorts of striving against sin which is indeed a striving against sinners and in this strife he saith Ye have not resisted unto blood yee have I grant resisted to the losse of your goods yea and to the losse of your credit and reputation in the World Chap. 10.33 34. but know yee are not come to the heat of the Battell till your bodies bleed Ne tegas sanguinem meum i. e. injuriam mihi latam qua innocens pereo Merc. yee have lost no blood yet striving against sin Job resisted or rather submitted to blood he had lost blood in the great fight of affliction which he indured hee was wounded all over Now say some he cryes O earth cover not my blood that is These my bloody sufferings what I have endured let it be remembred But we cannot well accommodate this interpretation to the Text For first there may be as much vanity in desiring the evils wee have suffered as the good wee have done should be knowne we must let God alone to erect the monument of our sufferings that must be none of our care Secondly Wee cannot so much as suspect that Job would maintaine the memory of his sufferings against God yet it was he who smote Job though by the hand of Satan and wicked men This Job had acknowledged more then once with much humble submission and therefore hee doth not desire that his blood might be forth-comming in a way of contestation with him Further If we looke onely to those instruments of his affliction who had indeed done him wrong Surely the spirit of this good man as it was farr from meditating revenge so his scope and businesse here was rather to bring himselfe to a tryall then them rather to have his owne innocency cleered then their guilt proved And therefore we have called these words an imprecation upon himselfe in case he were guilty not an accusation of their guiltinesse In pursuance of which generall sense we must expound blood under another notion And therefore Secondly Blood may be taken actively and so it falls under a threefold consideration First Blood is put for the generall sinfulnesse or corruption of mans nature as also for any particular sin as it is wrapt up in mans naturall corruption Augustine One of the Ancients interprets Davids prayer Psal 51.14 Deliver me from blood or bloods or as we render from blood-guiltinesse O God not of that speciall sin or not of that onely the death of Vriah but of all sin which saith he therefore beares that title because it flowes from the polluted nature of man which the Scripture calls flesh and blood That of the Prophet is more proper to this point Ezek. 16.6 When thou wast in thy blood I sayd unto thee live that is When thou was wrapt in and defiled with thy sin and misery then I had pitty on thee and spake life into thee Every soule tumbles in blood till it is sprinkled with blood our blood is our filthinesse and the blood of Christ is our holinesse freeing us at once from the guilt and from the staine of sin This corruption of nature together with that issue of it the transgressions of life may be called bloud for two reasons First Because it deserves death and is a state of death wee are dead in sin and the wages of sin is death and as any kinde of death may be expressed by blood so a violent death is the pouring out of blood Secondly It may be called blood because sin is expiated by blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission no not of the least sin Secondly Blood signifies some notorious sin or sins Great sins are not onely bloody sins Sanguinis nomine intelligitur peccatum gravissimum ac detestandum facinus but in Scripture language blood Isa 1.15 When yee make many prayers I will not heare Why For your hands are full of blood that is Of great and foule crimes For should wee take blood there for any sin according to the former interpretation then whose prayer shall be heard Who is it that sins not yea who is not full of sin So that by hands full of blood he meanes hands stained with great sins or with sins if small in themselves yet which greatens the least sin loved and unrepented of Ezek. 9.9 Thus saith the Lord The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the Land is full of blood that is Of all kinde of wickednesse Ezek. 24.7 For her blood is in the middest of her shee set it upon the top of a rock shee poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust Which words describe as the sin of Jerusalem so her impudence in sinning Her blood was in the midst of her it was not cast behinde the doore or put into a corner Shee set it upon a rock and not onely so but upon the top of a rock as if shee not onely cared not who saw it but had taken care that all might see it Shee poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust In which words the Prophet alludes to that Law Levit. 17.13 commanding that the blood of a Beast should be poured out and covered with dust And againe Hos 4.2 By swearing and killing and stealing and committing adultery they breake out and blood toucheth blood
Christ his being a Paraclete or an Advocate and the spirits being an Advocate John 16.7 If I goe not away saith Christ the Comforter or the Advocate will not come unto you that is The holy Ghost will not come unto you One Advocate goeth away that the other Advocate may come Christ is an Advocate by way of impetration the spirit is Advocate by way of application Christ is an Advocate vvith God to get mercy for us the spirit is an Advocate with us to prevaile on our hearts to receive that mercy Though Christ be our Advocate in Heaven pleading for us with the Father yet if we had not the spirit to plead in our hearts on earth we â—ould never receive the good that Christ hath purchased for us of his Father Christ appeares for us in Heaven Heb. 9.24 He appeares as an Atturney in Court for his Client he is gone to Heaven to appeare for us the spirit comes from Heaven and appeares in us Christ began the worke of his intercession here John 17. Hee is gone into Heaven to continue and perfect it The spirit doth both begin and perfect his intercession here he doth not plead for us but in us or the spirit makes intercession for us by stirring us up to prayer by teaching us how to word and mould or rather how to sigh and groane our prayers Christ makes intercession for us by presenting and tendering those prayers to the Father which the spirit helpes us to make or by making prayers for us himselfe to the Father Some dispute how they inquire much after the manner how Christ makes intercession or performes the office of an Advocate for us but it is enough for us to know that hee is an Advocate or that he makes intercession for us though we are not able to describe the manner how Whether it be First Onely by presenting himselfe to the Father and his appearing for us which is an equivalent if not a formall intercession Or secondly By the tendering of his righteousnesse and merits as satisfaction to the Father Or thirdly By expressing our wants and his desires for us Whether by all these or by which of these or whether by some other way is not determinable by us yet this is cleare that he performes the office of an Advocate for us and that we receive every good thing from the hand of God through his hand Further Christ may be considered First As an Advocate for the whole Church There are some causes of common concernement to all the people of God Thus he was an Advocate for Jerusalem when under bonds and captivity in Babylon Zech. 1.12 Then the Angell of the Lord not a created but the creating Angell or the Angel of the Covenant who is the Son of God answered and sayd O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten yeares And as Christ pleads for the whole Church so for every particular member of the Church and that also under a twofold notion He is Advocate first to take away our sins If any man sin saith the Apostle John 1 Epist 2.1 we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous c. Secondly Christ is an Advocate for us with the Father in our sufferings and troubles to get them taken off from us or sanctified to us Doubtlesse Job made use of Christ continually as an Advocate to take off the guilt of sin yet here he makes use of Christ as an Advocate to get off his sufferings especially these misjudgings of his Freinds who deeply censured and aspersed him because of his sufferings yea a Beleever makes use of Christ as an Advocate to get any good thing whether little or great whether for soule or for body as much as he doth for the removing of any evill whether of sin or trouble Secondly Observe The Doctrine of a Mediator betweene God and Man was knowne and beleeved in the World long before Christ came into the World Many saw Christ by Faith before he was seene in the flesh Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seene Heb. 1.1 And as it is the evidence of things so of persons that are not seen Christ tells the Jewes John 8.56 Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And when the Jewes quarrelled at this Thou art not yet fifty yeares old and hast thou seen Abraham Jesus sayd unto them Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am As Abraham saw his day by Faith so David in spirit called him Lord Mat. 22.43 And as these persons with all the holy Elders saw Christ by Faith in the promise so the whole Ceremoniall Law was a representation of Christ to faith by sense Every slaine Sacrifice spake the death of Christ and the sprinkling of that blood the sprinkling of their consciences and ours for the remission of sins Yea They did all eate the same spirituall meat that is the same which we now eate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of that spirituall Rock that followed them and least we should mistake what was meant by that Rock the Apostle expounds it himselfe And that Rock was Christ The Rock did not follow them but Christ who was signified by that Rock did follow them They who are built upon Christ the Rock shall never be moved yet Christ is a moving as well as a living Rock to those who are built upon him whither soever they move he follows them Thus Jesus Christ was meate and drinke to the Jewes as well as to us for he is the Lamb slaine from the foundation of the World Revel 13.8 that is The vertue ot his death saved all who have been saved from the foundation of the World As Christ was slaine from Eternity in the counsell of God so he was slaine from the beginning of time in the promise of God Gen. 3.15 which was the publication of his death he was then also slaine as to the heart of Beleevers whose Faith having once a word for it makes that which is absent in regard of place spiritually present and that which is not in regard of time truely to be Thirdly Observe The Mediatour betweene God and man hath beene knowne and beleeved in all Ages under a twofold nature both God and Man We have both in this profession of Jobs Faith He beleeved the Mediatour to be God for he saith Mine eye powreth teares to God There is the divine nature He beleeved that the Mediatour should be man and therefore adds The Son of man for his freind there is his humane nature so that not onely the generall Doctrine of the mediatorship of Christ but this particular about the constitution of his person as Mediator was also knowne Had not our Advocate been man he could not have suffered for us and had hee
metaphor taken from fire from a Torch or Candle which is the sense of the Tygurine translation My dayes faile as a Candle or as a Lamp which when the oyle is consumed goes out Mr. Broughton keeps to the metaphor of fire Deus mei ritu lucernae deficiunt Tygur My dayes are quenched There is a flame of life in the body the naturall heat is preserved by the naturall moysture these two Radicall heat and Radicall moysture worke upon each other and as long as Radicall moysture holds out to feed the Radicall heat life holds out but when the heat hath once sucked and drunk up all the moysture in some acute diseases it drinks all at a draught as the flame drinkes up the Oyle of the Lampe Vita extinguitur quando humor nativus in quo vita consistit extinguitur then wee goe out or as Job speakes here Our dayes are extinct Excessive moysture puts out the fire and for want of moysture it goeth out Hence Note First Mans life as a Fire or Lampe consumes it self continually There is a speciall disease called a Consumption of which many dye but the truth is every man who dyes dyes of a Consumption he that dyes of a Surfet may be sayd in this sense to dye of a Consumption The fewell and food of mans life is wasted sometimes more sparingly and gradually but 't is alwayes consumed except in those deaths which are meerely occasionall or violent before man dyes Againe Job speaks peremptorily My dayes are extinct He was not then dead but because hee saw all things in a tendency to death and was himselfe in a dying posture therefore he concludes My dayes are extinct Hence note Secondly What we see in regard of all preparatorie meanes and wayes ready to be done we may speake of as already done The Scripture speakes often of those things which are shortly and certainly to come to passe as come to passe and as the Apostle argues in spirituals We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren and he that believeth hath eternall lif So we may argue about naturals he that is sick beyond the help of meanes and the skill of the Phisitian is translated from life to death and we may conclude of a man in this case he hath tempoall death or he may say of himselfe as Job doth in the next words The graves are ready for me The Originall is very concise it is only there The graves for me we supplie those words Are ready And because of that shortnes of the Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepulchra mâ—hi Cum mutila sit oratio indifferens est ut variis modis porfici possit there have been many conjectures for the supplie or filling up of the sence Some thus The graves for me that is there is nothing for me to thnke of now but only a grave I may lay aside all other businesse and attend that alone how I may lye downe in the dust with peace I am not a man for this world it is best for me to retire or withdraw my soule quite from the earth seeing I have no hope to keepe my body long out of it or if I doe let out my soule to the earth it shall be only to so much of it as will hold my body or serve to make me a grave The graves for me Secondly The graves for me that is I desire or wish for nothing but a grave A grave for my money as wee say of a thing that we greatly desire so saith Job A grave for me As if he had more largely spoken thus As I perceive I am going to the grave so I desire to goe thither I have as to this sence made a covenant with death Sepulchra mihi supple opto quaero cogito aut quid simile Sepulchra mihi inhiant ego sepulchris q. d. Aliis omnibus rebus valedico atque renuncio Jun. and an agreement with the grave The grave and I shall not fall out now that I am ready to fall into it For if I had my vote or might put downe in writing what I would have I would write A Grave A Grave for me as I am declining and decaying in my body so my spirit and my minde are as willing that my body should decay I am as ready for the grave as that is for me A grave for me So the words carry a reciprocation of readinesse betweene Job and the Grave The grave gapes for me and I gape for the grave Wee may parallell this kinde of speaking with that in the Booke of Canticles Chap. 2.16 where the Spouse saith My beloved is mine and I am his The Originall is My beloved to me and I to him There are no more words then needs must be The largenesse of their affection bred this concisenesse in language My beloved to me and I to him We are to one another as if we were but one The expression notes two things First Propriety My beloved to me or my beloved is mine that is I have a propriety in him Secondly It notes possession I have him I have not onely a right to him but I enjoy him I have not onely a title but a tenure God hath given me Liverie and Seisin as our Law speakes he hath put me into possession of Jesus Christ and I have given Jesus Christ full possession of me I am no longer my owne but his and at his dispose So here The grave for me and I for the grave The grave is my right yea the grave is my possession The grave is a house that every one hath right to and some are so neere it that they seeme possessed of it The grave is mine saith Job or I am as a dead man ready to be carryed to my grave The grave is not made ready till man is undressed by death and so made ready for the grave We say of very old men though in health and we may say of very sick men though young They have one foot in the grave Job speakes as having both his feet in the grave Yea wee may say that Job speakes as if he had not onely his feet in the grave but which is farr more his heart in the grave There are many who have their feet in the grave whose hearts are at furthest distance from it Job had both Heman Psal 88.4 5. describes his condition in such a language My soule is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave I am accounted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man of no strength free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and that are cut off from thy sight That Scripture may be a Comment on this My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me Further Job speakes in the Plurall number he saith not the grave is ready for me but The graves
are ready for me Why how many graves must Job have Would not one grave hold him Or was Job covetous to have many graves Many houses will not serve some men when they live but one house will serve any man when he dyeth A little roome will hold those dead for whose covetous and ambitious minds the whole World was not room thy enough while they lived Ordinary men will have here their Winter-houses and their Summer houses their Citty houses and their Country house their houses on the Plaine and their houses on the Hill men have variety of houses while they live but one is all when dead Why then doth Job say The graves are ready for me He saith it to shew that death abounded to his apprehension or that he could not escape death As if he had sayd Wheresoever I set my foot I step upon a grave Plurima mortis imago The Poet describing a tragicall state saith There was much of death to be seene or many appearances of death Job saw deaths and bâ—held graves every where gaping for him Paul was in deaths often and Job was in many deaths at once The graves are ready there are many Pits making I am sure to fall into one there 's no avoyding it Learne from it First That In times of sicknesse and affliction discourses of the grave are the most seasonable discourses Death should be much in our thoughts and much in our speech at all times but most of all in times of sicknesse or of danger Some when they are sick cannot abide to heare a word spoken of the grave others will forbid such as come to visite the sick to speak a word of death Comâ—naeus lib. 10. Lewis the eleventh King of France was so excessively afrayd of death that hee had given command to his Attendants not to give him any warning of the approach of this his last Enemy by Name It was worse then death to him to heare of death and yet before he dyed he was told of it not onely plainely but rudely The French Historian reports that his very Barber with some other inferiour Servants as if they had rather come as Judges to pronounce the sentence of death upon him then as freinds to be his remembrancers of death told him bluntly and abruptly without preface or preamble or the least word of comfort to sweeten such a bitter potion That his fatall houre was come that neither his Hermit nor his Physitian could keep him alive a day longer They who are unwilling to heare or speake of death shall heare it spoken of whether they will or no. Death should be much upon the tongue and more in the thoughts of good men when they are in health but when they are in their naturall preparation for death sicknesse is a naturall preparative for death they should be very often in their spirituall preparations by thinking and discoursing of it Secondly From this manner of speaking The grave for mee Observe That A godly man is sometimes as ready for the grave as the grave can be for him Let it come as soone as it will it cannot come too soone as the grave gapes for him so doth he for the grave as the grave hungers for him so doth he for it and nothing can satisfie him but a grave I desire saith Paul to be dissolved He was ready for the grave And ready he was not in a vaine wish O I would dye and I desire to dye but from a grounded hope that he should be well in death Saul 2 Sam. 1.9 was sorely wounded the graves were ready for him and he was ready for the grave too But whence was it It was not from his preparednesse to dye but from his impatience to live as appeares both by the true History of his death and by the false report of it made by the Amalekite The former saith 1 Sam. 31.4 Then sayd Saul unto his Armour-bearer Draw thy sword and thrust me through therwith lest these uncircumcised come thrust me through abuse me Saul upon this account was so ready for the grave that he begg'd to be thrust into it and when he could not obtaine that miserable favour he thrust himselfe into it so the latter part of the Verse informs us But his Armour-bearer would not for he was sore afrayd therefore Saul took a Sword and fell upon it The Amalekite reports Saul thus bespeaking him 2 Sam. 1.9 Stand I pray thee upon me and slay me for anguish is upon me because my life is yet whole in me Man dyes not by peece-meale now a little and then a little nor is life divisible when it departs it departs together but when Saul had no minde to live it troubled him that he was no neerer death A dishonour was fallen upon him the day was lost and he was wounded Saul could easier dye then out live this disgrace Such a readinesse to dye many have had it vexeth them to live dye they will because they cannot live as they would this is a readinesse of desperation not of preparation Job was much troubled paine and smart afflicted him and they had some influence upon his desire of death but his chiefe motive was above what old Simeon desired to depart in peace because his eyes had seen his salvation Job desired because he knew by Faith that God was his salvation Thirdly Job speakes chearefully of the grave Hence learne A Beleever in the greatest afflictions of this life sees ease and refreshing in death He knowes that he shall bury all his sorrows when himselfe goes to the grave yea that then his sins as well as his afflictions goe to their grave too and shall never rise againe Fourthly Job speakes confidently he shall dye presently the grave was ready for him But it was not so Jobs grave was nor ready and he outlived this black day many a fayre yeare Hence Observe A good man may mistake the times and seasons of Gods dispensations to him He thinks yea concludes he shall dye when he shall not dye Wicked worldly men doe not beleeve they shall dye when they must they cannot be perswaded that they shall dye when they are ready to dropp into their graves Job seemed to have an assurance that he should dye yet he did not God reprived him from death and restored him from trouble We are never the neerer the grave because we prepare for it speak and meditate on it or resolve to goe into it It is not our holding back from the grave that wil keep us out of it nor our willingnesse to goe to the grave that will put us into it It is good to mistake upon the best side God usually recalls those from death who are most ready at his call to dye Fifthly In that he speaks of Graves in the Plurall number Learne this There are many wayes of going out of the World though there be bilt one way of comming in Whither soever we are going wee are
quickly turne to corruption As soone as a body is dead it is a carkasse and after it hath been a while a carkasse 't is nothing but corruption Hence some render it not I have sayd to corruption but to the pit or grave so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father to the worme O Mother O Sister The Grave is so proper a place for corruption that 't is proper enough to expresse corruption by the Grave And besides those wormes which are generated out of the putrefaction of mans body there are vvormes ready generated in the Grave to entertaine us wormes are the proper inhabitants of the Grave there they keep house as Father and Mother and Sister to vvelcome and embrace such as descend into it Master Fox reports of Doctor Taylor a famous Martyr of Christ in Queene Maries time who vvas burned at Hadley in Suffolke that when he knew he should suffer death by fire he sayd I have been deceived my selfe and I shall deceive many at Hadley when some hearing this began to hope he would recant and shrink from that profession of the Gospel which hee had made At last he explained himselfe I am a man of a very full fat body which I had hoped should have been buryed in Hadley Church-yard but I see I am deceived and there are a great number of wormes there which might have had good cheere upon my carkasse but I shall deceive them all my body being to be burned The Earth breeds wormes in its owne bowels and our body which at the best and alive are but refined earth being once dead yeeld another race of wormes Job may be supposed speaking unto both or eyther I have sayd to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister We may hence Observe That some Beleevers are so farr from fearing that they are familiar with death Other Texts in the former passages of this Book have occasioned like Observations yet as often as this occasion is renewed it will not be unprofitable to renew this Observation To vvrite the same things vvhere wee read the same things yet the Reader will not finde them the same is not unprofitable I say some Beleevers are familiar vvith death I am farre from saying that he vvho is not is no Beleever There are not in all the same degrees of holinesse though holinesse be the same in all but a Beleever may arrive at such a composure of spirit at such a stature of holinesse as not to feare death There are some Beleevers and it is their sin who are but little acquainted vvith death they seldome goe out to the Grave or look into the pit they are going to he that hath often conversed with death in the meditation vvhich is a Beleevers vvay of the death of Christ cannot be affrayd to dye if he know what that death of Christ meanes vvhich he hath meditated upon He that knowes it throughly may as the Prophet speakes in another case Isa 11.8 play upon the hole of this Aspe and put his hand upon the den of this Cockatrice yea such a Beleever may not onely play and put his hand upon the Grave which is the hole of this Aspe and the den of this Cockatrice but he can play with the Aspe it selfe and take up the Cockatrice in his hand with this Aspe or Cockatrice he can sport himselfe as with a Brother or a Sister O how different are the thoughts of carnall men and their vvords of death How dreadfully doe they speake and think of the Grave An Unbeleever saith of the Grave It is a prison not a house he findes no bed in darknesse 't is to him a Dungeon he saith to corruption Thou art my foe and to the wormes yee are to me as Feinds and Furies Hee cannot beare the thought of them much lesse their sight and presence Saints speak courtingly of death there is a kinde of holy courtship in the language of Job Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 came out to Samuel delicately for sayd he Surely the bitternesse of death is past but he was deceived for Samuel hewed him in peices and when he sayd the bitternesse of death is past hee meant death was past Hee did not beleeve but that death would be bitter when ever it should come but he thought death was past for that time how ever and so he came out delicately hee stood as a Courtier yea as a King before Samuel because he had escaped as he supposed that King of terrours Thus the Saints come out delicately indeed and court it in the very face of the King of terrours for they know the bitternesse of death is past though they were assured they must dye presently They doe not say Death is past they know death will come and they must dye but the bitternesse is past the Gall and Worme wood is taken out and upon this account they can say to corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worme Thou art my Mother and Sister Thirdly Note Corruption and wormes are the portion and companions of the dead Onely Jesus Christ was exempt from this portion who though he submitted himselfe to death for sinners yet having no sin himselfe he was not at all subject to death nor was it possible that hee should be holden of it hee was the holy one he had no corruption in his spirit and therefore his flesh saw no corruption Acts 2.31 But as for all flesh they having corrupted all their wayes their flesh shall see corruption in the end Take two Corolaries from this First Let no man glory in bodily beauty in honours or alliances Corruption will shortly seaze upon the most beautifull body wormes will crawle upon the smoothest cheeks upon the fayrest face and into that mouth which now boasteth great things and speakes so proudly this earth must turne to earth and then the greatest kindreds and noblest Pedigrees will be lost or swallowed up in this Corruption is my Father and the worme my Mother and my Sister Man is corruptible while he lives and when hee dyes he is corruption Every man living is but a worme Jesus Christ who abased himselfe to the lowest condition of man saith I am a worme and no man Psal 22 6 When man dyes as he goes to the wormes so he makes wormes who would be proud of his flesh did he know that 't is but corruption and wormes once removed and that it must suddenly move back againe to corruption and wormes Secondly Seeing death hath nothing of its owne but darknesse corruption and wormes which are all unpleasing and a regret to flesh and blood therefore live much in Christ who onely gives a remedy against all these evills If we live in the Grave of Christ that will make the darknesse of our Grave light and the corruption of it sweet unto us He that upon good interest can say to Christ Thou art my Father thou art my Brother thou art my All can say rejoycingly to corruption Thou art my Father
our rest together is in the dust They shall goe downe Spes meae omnia mea recte in plurali dicit significans non spem tantum sibi ab illis propositam sed omnes alias spes hujus vitae Merc. Who or vvhat shall goe downe There is no expresse Relative in the Hebrew They that is say some these hopes he speakes in the plurall Number as if hee had sayd All my hopes about this life are going downe to the pit The best of worldly hopes and worldly things are dying and perishing mine are to me as dead and perished Secondly Others understand it of Job himselfe for the word vvhich wee translate Barrs signifies also the members of the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vectes significat ea omnia quae velut vectes aliquid sustentant Aliqui Rabbini ad ipsum Jobum referant quod ipsius fulchra i. e. membra brachia vires robur descendent Vectibus sepulchralibus descendent Jun. Mâ—ae videbitis istas expectationes quas praedicatis una cum corpore ferretro efferri in sepulchrum Jun. As if he had sayd I my selfe shall goe downe to the Pit or Grave A third thus They shall descend upon the barrs of the Grave The meaning is Yee shall quickly see mee and all my worldly hopes which yee so much speake of put together in a Coffin and carryed out upon a Beire to the Grave for buriall This going downe to the barrs of the Pit according to our reading imports that he and his hopes should descend to the lower parts of the earth the Grave and be buryed there the pit would shut him in and make him fast enough The Grave is a Prison and there are Barrs or bolts belonging to that Prison vvhich shut the Prisoners in there 's no breaking of that Prison The Decree of God is the Barre of the Grave and his purpose locks it up till the day which himselfe hath appointed for the resurrection from the dead and the judgement vvhich is to follow As the evill Angels are reserved in chaines of darknesse to the Judgement of the great day so are the bodies of men chained and barred downe in the darknesse of the Grave till God sends out the Arch-angel with the sound of a Trumpet to summon them to his Barr. Yet further these words are interpreted as spoken in derision of those overtures which his Freinds made to him about worldly happinesse Per irrisiâ—nem haec dicta sunt Cajet As if he had sayd You perswade me that I shall have much good in the World very well let it be so but doe you thinke that I can carry my Goods my Houses and Lands my Silver and Gold my Corne and my Wine to make merry with in the Grave Shall I and the greatnesse you promise me live together in the Grave and make our abode in darknesse The Septuagint seeme to favour that sense rendering it An bona mea mecum ad infernos descendent aut pariter super pulverem descendemus Shall my Goods goe with me to the Grave or shall wee descend into the dust hand in hand vvhen I surrender this battered Fort into the hands of death shall I march out with Bagg and Baggage to these Subterranean dwellings The Apostle affirmes That we brought nothing with us into this World and he doth more then affirme It is certaine saith he we can carry nothing out 1 Tim. 6.7 And therefore vvhat doth it availe a dying man to tell him of riches seeing vvhen he dyes he must leave all his riches Master Broughton translates plainely thus To the midst of the Grave all shall descend when wee shall goe downe together in the dust From which our reading of the latter clause varies but a little When we shall rest together in the dust The vvord vvhich we expresse by rest is derived by some from a root signifying to descend or goe downe hence the difference of translation The Hebrew particle im which we render When signifies also For or Forasmuch Further it is sometimes taken conditionally for If as also interrogatively for utrum whether according to all which acceptions this clause hath undergone a variety of reading But I passe them by and keep to our owne When our rest together is in the dust or for as much as we shall rest together in the dust Of this rest I have spoken before Chap. 3.17 There the weary be at rest thither I referr the Reader Wee may also take Jobs sense in this place by that which hee speakes so cleerely out to this point Chap. 30. Vers 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living I shall not stay here to draw out Observations matter of this purport about the certainty of and about our rest in death having occurred heretofore All that I shall add for the close of this Verse and Chapter shall onely be an offer towards the resolution of a doubt vvhich may arise upon the vvhole matter of Jobs continued resolves for death and his refusals of any entertainment of the hopes of life Hence it may be questioned Did not Job sin in giving up his hope and in refu ing to be comforted when his Freinds wise and godly men laboured to assure him of deliverance I answer First Job was vvilling to be comforted but hee did not like their way of comforting which vvas indeed a wounding for the promises vvhich they made him did all along carry an implication of his guilt they never promising him any deliverance but upon the supposition of his repentance from those wickednesses vvith vvhich they charged him vvhereas hee utterly denyed their charge in the sense which they layd against him Secondly I answer Wee cannot altogether acquit Job from blame in judging his state so deplorable and remedilesse For though with an eye to the creature and all second causes there was no probability or possibility for his recovery yet Job should have raised his hopes upon the power and Al-sufficiency of God he might have remembred that as his affliction was extraordinary and the hand of God very visible in it So his deliverance also might have been as extraordinary and that God could have put forth as strong and as visible a hand to restore him as he did to cast him downe 'T is sayd of Abraham Rom. 4.18 19. that he against hope beleeved in hope nothing appeared for the support of his hopes yet Abraham did not say Where is my hope or why should I waite for Children He considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred yeares old neyther yet the deadnesse of Sarah's wombe These naturall impediments came not to his minde while he had a word from the Lord of nature Hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbeleife but was strong in Faith giving glory to God But we may say of Job from the continuall tenour of his owne answers that he