a sinfull way this is rebellion this is sin in the very height of it This was the rebellion of Ahaz 2 Chron 28.22 Who in the time of his distresse trespassed yet more against the Lord. And this was the rebellion of Judah Isa 1.5 Why should ye be strieken any more ye will revolt more and more Take heed of this 't is too much that we sin at all let us not be found adding rebellion to our sin I may say these two things concerning the habit or any act of sin First It is a burthen to a Godly man O wretched man that I am sayd Paul who shall deliver me from this body of death Secondly As it is a Godly mans burthen when he sins so it is his care and study not to sin he would not sin at all he watcheth himselfe that he may not sin in the least degree That was the Apostle Johns desire and care for all the Churches 1 John 2.1 My little children these things I write unto you that ye sin not I would have you watch over your hearts and wayes so narrowly that no sin might slip you that ye might not have a wrong thought nor speake an idle word how much more should we take heed that we adde not rebellion to our sin There is somewhat of rebellion in every sin even in the sins of good men but 't is sad when they adde rebellion to their sin Samuel gives a dreadfull description of that sin which is rebellion 1 Sam 15.23 Rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft and stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry Witch-craft is that sin wherein men have much converse and compliance with the devill The devill and the witch or the devill and the Diviner as our Margin hath it act as loving companions they have mutual converse yea commerse they trade together Rebellion is that sin or we sin rebelliously when we declare our selves most averse to God The witch declares himselfe a friend to the devill the rebellious soule defieth and despiseth God now those sins that have most compliance with the devill and most defiance against God are put together if a man doth much set himselfe to oppose God by sinning against light against reproofes and against providences whether the gracious or afflicting providences of God If a man I say rebell thus against God it is like the sin of witch-craft which is compliance and converse with the devill Here is an extreame on the one side and an extreame on the other side yet both meete rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft and stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry These latter words are exegaticall stubbornness that is when a man is stout and will goe on his way is as Iniquity and Idolatry We may consider a great elegancy in those words Stubbornness is as Idolatry What is Idolatry it is worshipping or giving honour to a false god which is indeed worshipping the devill all Idolatry is devill-worship the witch worshippeth the devill intentionally and so doth the Idolater though he intend it not 1 Cor 10.20 The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devills and not to God I doe not say every error or fayling in worship is devill-worship but that which is Idolatry indeed or the setting up of a worship of our owne devising is Idolatry and devill-worship Thus stubbornness is as Idolatry and rebellion is as witch-craft What is witch-craft compliance with the devill What is Idolatry devill-worship a falling downe to the devill Let the wicked consider what they doe when they rebell and let the people of God take heed of any sin or way of sinning which may be accounted rebellion To sin with much will against much light against many reproofs from men and against the reproving or against the inviting providences of God hath rebellion in it He addeth rebellion to his sin Secondly Taking the words in the mildest sence Note Sometimes a good man may goe backward he may be worse and worse and doe worse and worse We should be alwayes growing in grace that 's the condition of believers and their duty yet under some dispensations they may decline for a time and grow worse and worse adding that which is like rebellion to their sin Thirdly If we consider these words in connection with the former Elihu having prayed for further tryall upon Job as fearing that else he might adde rebellion to his sin Note He that is not throughly convinced and chastned may quickly grow worse and worse He may or he will adde rebellion to his sin I doe not know where a mans sin will end if the Lord should let him alone 'T is a mercy that any man especially that God hath a continuall inspection over us if some mens wayes were not tryed and questioned they might adde rebellion to their sin who knows where they would stop it is a mercy to have both words and actions examined by brethren and Churches how sadly else would many wander yea it is a mercy to be tryed by affliction When God keeps us from a foule way by building a wall against us it is a mercy else we might adde rebellion to sin No man knowes the measure of his owne evill heart or what it would doe for though believers have a generall promise to be kept by the power of God to salvation yet how lamentably have good men â—â—llen though kept from falling away Elihu aggravates this yet further by the example of Job in the latter and last part of the verse He clappeth his hands amongst us and multiplieth his words against God He clappeth his hands or maketh a noyse amongst us as Mr Broughton reads it clapping of the hands in Scripture hath a three-fold signification First It implyeth passion or sorrow A man under affliction claps or wrings his hands for griefe Both those gestures are of the same significancy Secondly There is a clapping of the hands with indignation when we are very angry then we clap our hands Thirdly There is a clapping of the hands for joy or in a way of triumph when a man thinks he has conquered and got the day he claps his hands and so doe they who are on his side Psal 47.1 O clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voyce of triumph Explosurus esset nos ut qui vicisset nos disputando Pisc I conceive Elihu intends Job clapping his hands in this third sense he clappeth his hands amongst us or insults over us as if he had conquered and wonne the Garland and therefore Elihu prayed that he might be further tryed This is another aggravation of that ill frame which Elihu conceived Job to be in And indeed to clap our hands when we have done or spoken evill is worse then the evill which we have either done or spoken He clappeth his hands And multiplieth his words or may multiply words against God Solomon saith Pro 10.19 in the multitude of words there doth not want sin that is
they might sin against God he knew no sin they had run into nor could charge them with any excess but he was jealous they had sinned nor did Job speak thus as if his meaning were that possibly in their feasting some corruption might work in them he knew there is no man in the best duties of his life wholly freed from the workings of sin but he had this jealousie that they might have fallen into some great sin and so provoked God greatly against them therefore he did as it were way-lay such guilt and early sought reconciliation with God As Job was thus jealous of his children so a gracious heart though he cannot charge himselfe with this or that evill yet he is apt to suspect his owne heart and feares it may be worse with him then possibly it is Secondly When he saith If I have done iniquity This humble man though he doth suppose that he might have done iniquity yet he doth but suppose it Hence note A godly man may live free from the doing of any grosse sin He doth not put an if upon it whether he had sinned or no but whether he had done iniquity Zachariah and Elizabeth were not without sin but they did no iniquity for saith the text Luke 1.6 They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse It cannot be imagined but that the people of Israel sinned yet Num 23.21 God saw no iniquity in Jacob nor perversenesse in Israel There may be such a time in the Church when the people of God have no iniquity no provocation to be seene or found among them Though a Godly man cannot deny but he hath sinned yet he can affirme that he hath not indulged himselfe in any sin If I have done iniquity I will doe no more The Hebrew is I will not adde We render I will doe no more As if he had sayd If upon tryall it be found that I have done iniquity yet I will not adde iniquity to iniquity I will not goe on I will not persist nor proceed in iniquity I will not take a step more in any way which God shall discover to me to be an evill way If I am out of the way I will not goe on in my way Hence observe First A godly penitent person is resolute against sin His will is set against it I will doe no more I shewed in opening the former verse It is meere to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement I will offend no more in what sence a godly man may make such a promise or say I will sin no more here I say A godly man is resolute against sin especially against great sins As a carnall man hath but very weake resolves for the doing of good he hath as some expresse it but a velleity somewhat like a will to doe that which is good so a carnall man makes but weake resolves against evill he hath not a setled will but a kind of noleity against it He makes some flourishes of profession against it but he is not resolvedly ingaged against it whereas a godly man is resolute both as to the doing of good and the not doing of evill If a godly man might have his will he would never sin more And as a Godly man waiteth joyfully for that state of glory wherein he shall sin no more so a resolution to sin no more hath as I may say somewhat of glory in it In glory we shall sin no more and where grace is in truth that soule would gladly be rid of sin and sin no more A godly man is resolved against all ungodlinesse and this is a kind of entrance into glory Againe Whereas the penitent man saith I will doe no more Note Continuance in any knowne sin for saith he what I know not teach thou me or in that which is made knowne to us to be sinfull is inconsistent with true repentance Repentance for and continuance in sin cannot consist in the same subject This is the voyce of every gracious soule I would not sin any more or I would not continue any longer in sin To sin is common to man but to continue in sin is proper to a wicked man To erre and faile that 's humane but to persevere in error is diabolicall Sin will continue in us while we continue in this world but they that are not of the world doe not will not continue in sin how long so ever they are in the world Sin may be considered three wayes First as remaining in us Secondly as reserved Thirdly as preserved by us There is sin remaining in the best of Saints on this side heaven Rom 7.20 21 22 23 24. Sin is reserved only in carnall men they save their sins and would be saved not from but in their sins Sin is preserved or maintained and defended in the worst of wicked men Sin is heightned to the utmost where 't is not only retained but maintained and preserved The Apostle having closed the fifth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romanes in the triumph of Gospel grace That as sin hath reigned unto death so grace might reigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by Jesus Christ our Lord begins the next with a prevention of the abuse of this Grace What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein How can we continue in sin that are partakers of Gospel grace Sin will continue in us but we cannot continue in it The question implyeth a kind of impossibility We were once dead in sin but now we are dead to sin how then can we live or continue in it Perseverance is either our best or our worst To persevere is best when we persevere in good and to persevere is worst when we persevere in evill It is bad to be or doe evill but it is worse to abide in evill The first best is not to sin the next best is not to continue nor lodge in sin no not for an houre Paul sayd in another case Gal 2.5 To whom we gave place by subjection no not for an houre We should not give place to sin no not for a minute but resist it to the utmost and totally displace it if we can Lastly From the Hebrew elegancy which saith I will not adde Note A godly man may commit sin after sin but he doth not adde sin to sin When he hath committed any one sin he breaks it off and dedestroyeth it by repentance He doth not adde sin to sin because the sin formerly committed is destroyed by repentance His former sin is taken off the file before he acts a second who heartily repenteth of the first and as heartily resolveth not to commit a second Such a man doth not run a round of sinning and repenting though he sinneth after â—he hath repented Daniel gave that advice to Nebuchadnezzar Dan 4.27 Break off thy sins by
or the pains of his body he looked upon himself as one free among the dead that is as a dead man his life drew near to the destroyers And hence Fourthly Others read the words not in an active sence as we Destroyers but in a passive His life draweth nigh to those who are destroyed or dead Dying men are so neere to that they may be reckoned as dead men That word of encouragement in the Prophet Isa 41.14 Which we render Feare not thou worme Jacob and ye men or as we put in the Margin Few men of Israel is rendred by some others Feare not thou worme Jacob and ye that are dead of Israel that is who are in your owne fearefull apprehensions or in the opinion of your proud and prepotent enemies as dead men or nigh unto death or as we may expound it by that of Paul concerning himselfe and his fellow-Fellow-Apostles with respect to the continuall hazzard of their lives 1 Cor 4.9 men as it were appoynted unto death yea as the learned in the Hebrew language tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haec vox ex eo nata videter quod simus morti subjecti Ita et a Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et à latinù mortalu usurpatus Martyn the word translated in the Prophet men with the change but of one poynt and that only in the position of it signifieth properly dead men We find the word applyed specially to wicked worldly men Psal 17.14 who are there called the hand of God to afflict or take away the lives of Godly men and are sayd to have their portion in this life the word I say is applyed to them as implying that how much soever they rejoyce either in the present enjoyments of this naturall life or in the hopes of a long naturall life in this world yet they alwayes are within one poynt or pricke with a pen which is the shortest imaginable space of death In which sense also St Paul speaking of the different state of the body now in this life and after the resurrection from the dead saith 1 Cor 15.54 When this mortall shall have put on immortality that is when we who now live in dying bodyes or in bodyes bearing the markes or tokens of death and looking like dead men shall have put on the beautifull and glorious robes of immortality Then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written Death shall be swallowed up in victory Whereas now death which is ready enough to get the victory over healthy and strong men is so ready to get the victory over weake and sicke men that their life may very well be sayd according to this fourth and last interpretation to draw nigh to the destroyed or those that are already dead Thus if in stead of Death-Bringers or destroyers we read Destroyed or those that have been brought to death the meaning of Elihu in this passage is plaine and easie importing the sicke man so sicke that there is scarce a step or but a poynt between him and those who are actually dead But whether we take the word in this passive sence and translate The Destroyed or in the active as we and translate destroyers thereby understanding either Angels in speciall or diseases in Generall sent by God to destroy or take away the life of the sicke man which way soever of these I say we expound the word it yeilds a cleare sence as to the scope of the text and as to the truth of it upon the matter the very same His life draweth nigh to the destroyers Hence note First Diseases are destroyers Either they themselves destroy when they come or the destroyer comes with them Psal 90.3 Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest returne ye children of men 'T is a Psalme penned by Moses lamenting the frailety of mankinde He lived to see all Israel whom under his hand and conduct God brought out of Egypt dye â—â—cept that renowned two Caleb and Joshua And therefore he having seene the great destruction of that people for their murmurings and unbeliefe for their ten-fold provocations in the wilderness might say from his owne experience more then most men to that poynt of mans mortality And as God turned that people to destruction and sayd according to that irrevocable sentence Gen 3.19 Returne ye children of men to your originall and first materiall dust so he saith the same to men every day who as they are dust so we see them returning to their dust Every disease if so commission'd by God is death and every paine if he say it the period of our lives Againe Elihu is here speaking of a man whom the Lord is but trying teaching and instructing upon his sick bed yet he saith His soule is drawing neere to the grave and his life to the destroyers Hence observe Those afflictions which are but for instruction may looke like those which are for destruction When the Lord hath a purpose only to try a man he often acts towards him as if he would kill him If any shall say this is hard I answer A ruffe horse must have a ruffe rider Ruffe wood will not cleave without a beetle and wedges We put God to use extremities that he may bring us to a moderation Our spirits are often so ruffe and head-strong that they must be kept in with bit and bridle they are so tough and knotty that there 's no working no cleaving of them till the Lord sets his wedges to us and layes on with his beetle of heaviest and hardest afflictions In a word we even compell him to bring us to deaths-doore that he may teach us to live Now seeing paines and sicknesses of which Elihu speakes as the way and meanes by which God speakes to sinfull man are accompanied with such dreadfull symptomes and effects loathing and losse of appetite consumption of the flesh and the breaking of the very bones the soule drawing neere to the grave and life to the destroyers seeing I say there are such sad effects of sicknesse remember First Health is worth the praying to God for Secondly Health is worth the praising of God for and that considered either first as continued or secondly as restored 'T is a mercy not to be pained not to be sicke 't is a more sencible though not a greater mercy to be freed from paine and recovered out of sickness While we are kept free from paines and sicknesses how thankfull should we be and when we are freed from and brought out of the bonds of bodily paine and sicknesses how soule-sicke yea how dead are we if we are not thankfull Thirdly Seeing paines and sicknesses are such sad afflictions be wise and carefull for the preservation of your health doe not throw away your health upon a lust doe not expose your selves to lasting paines and pining sicknesses for the satisfying of a wanton sensuall appetite The health and strength of this frayle body are of more value
eternall death or going downe to the pit of hell Fourthly In that this word deliver him is given to the messenger Observe God conveighs deliverance and mercy to us by men like our selves He will have the creature beholding to the creature for his mercy though mercy come freely and only from himselfe God delivereth the sick and the sinner in such a method that we may owne though not stay in his messengers as the instruments of his favour God who can doe all things by himselfe will not doe many things but by meanes He saith to the messenger Deliver him from going downe to the pit You will say How can a Minister or a Messenger deliver the sick from going downe to the pit I answer as was touched before he delivers him by declaring to him the minde of God by acquainting the sick with the promises of deliverance and by pressing him to believe and rest upon them by assuring him that as God is able to performe the promise so he is faithfull and willing to performe it yea that he hath given some tokens for good that he will deliver him from going downe to the pit Thus the worke of Gods free grace mercy and power is oftentimes attributed to instruments and second causes because they have their place and use in the bringing about the purposes of God for the good of his people Hence some men are called Saviours And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion Obad v. 21. No man can save either from temporall or eternall destruction He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Ps 68.20 yet saith the Prophet there shall come Saviours that is God will rayse up worthy men principall men as another Prophet cals them Mic 5.5 who shall destroy Zions enemies Thus Paul admonisheth Timothy Take heed to thy selfe and to thy doctrine continue in them for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee 1 Tim 4.16 The Apostle James Chap 5.20 speakes the same thing He which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And the same Apostle faith as to the case in the text at the 15th verse of the same Chapter The prayer of faith shall save the sicke Though none can save yet many are means of our salvation And the Lord is pleased to honour those who are the meanes of any salvation so farre as to say They save It is indeed the duty of all to ascribe the all of every worke and piece of salvation and deliverance to God only When the people stood wondering at Peter and John after they had healed the lame man Peter answered Acts 3.12 Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why looke ye so earnestly on us as if we by our own power or holiness had made this man to walke The God of Abraham c. hath glorified his Son Jesus As if they had said Therefore doe ye also glorifie him not us for delivering this lame man Though God is pleased to put much honour upon man by speaking of what himselfe doth as if man had done it yet he will not give the glory of what he doth to any man nor may any take it God saith to the messenger deliver him from going downe to the pit but woe to that messenger who saith when he is delivered I have delivered him from going downe to the pit Thus we see the spring of the sick mans recovery it is from the graciousness of God and we see the meanes of it God gives a warrant to his messenger saying Deliver him from going down to the pit But what is the procuring or meritorious cause of this deliverance As the Text hath shewed us the first moving cause The grace of God so it shewes us the meritorious cause by which his deliverance is procured Things are so ordered in the Covenant of grace that though the Lord acts with infinite freeness yet he hath appointed and ordered a way in which alone he will doe what he freely doth This is expressed in the last clause of the verse Fer I have found a ransome But where did God find it certainly in his own bosome in his own heart Jesus Christ came out of the bosome of the Father there he was God found him in and with himself God did not find the ransome by chance nor did he find it by advice and consultation with others but he found it in himself in his own infinite wisdome and goodness that is he contrived it he invented i◠there This rare this most excellent thing a ransome is the Lords own invention I have found it I know how to doe this man good I know how to save him and doe my own honour and Justice no hurt no wrong my honour is saved Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotet expiationem aut redemptionem tum etiam pretium quod pro redemptione offertur Significat etiam cooperire linire aut operire bitumine quasi pristinam faciē rei alicujus aut immunditiem abscondere quod elegantèr refertur ad ab stertionem peccati Pined my Justice is satisfied in doing it I have found a ransome The word here rendred a ransome signifies in the Verb to cover or to hide that which before lay open that it appeare no more Grace brings another face upon things a new face I may say upon our souls The covering of sin elegantly denotes the pardon of sin And what reason have we to be thankfull and rejoyce when sin our soul durt and deformity is covered We have very foul faces I meane outward conversations and more foul souls or inward inclinations till the Lord is graciously pleased to put a covering upon them If we cover our own sins we shall have no mercy but if the Lord once cover our sins he cannot deny us mercy that being it self our greatest mercy and the fruit of his great mercy The Mercy-seat so famous in the Mosaicall Poedogogy is exprest by this word which properly signifieth a Covering The Mercy-seat was it self a Covering of pure gold laid over the Arke in which Arke the Law was put Exod. 25.17.21 Thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above upon the Arke and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee And as the dimensions of the Arke were two Cubits and a halfe in length and a Cubit and a half in breadth so the same were the dimensions of the Mercy-seat Vers 10.17 which figured that as the Mercy-seat fully covered the Arke wherein the Law was so Christ should fully cover all our sins which are transgressions of the Law The righteousness of Christ is as long and as broad as the Law and so our sins being covered with that shall never appeare against us Therefore also from above this Mercy-seat between the two Cherubims the Lord said vers 22. I will meete thee and I will
price I have found a ransome I am well paid saith God for mans deliverance This ransome every poor soul may plead before the Lord for his deliverance both from sickness death and hell He that hath nothing to offer to the Lord as indeed the best have nothing of their own worth the offering and if they offer any thing of their own of how much worth soever it may seem to be it will not passe nor be accepted he I say that hath nothing of his own to offer yet may tell him he shall be well paid he may tell God he shall have more by saving him then by damning him If he damne him he shall have but his own blood the blood of a creature for satisfaction but if he save him he shall have the blood of his Son the blood of God as a ransome for his salvation Thirdly Observe Though the Gospel was not clearly and fully revealed in those elder times yet it was then savingly revealed How doth the grace of God shine forth in mans deliverance by a ransome in this Scripture Here is nothing said of deliverance from sickness by medicines but by a ransome and if they knew that deliverance from a disease must come in by a ransome how much more that deliverance from damnation must come in that way The old Patriarkes had the knowledge of Christ to come and not only was there a knowledge of him to come in that nation and Church of the Jewes but the light scattered abroad the Land of Vz had it Job had it as hath appeared from severall passages of this Booke Elihu had it as appeareth by this Fourthly Observe Not only our eternall deliverances but even our temporall deliverances and mercies are purchased by the blood of Christ A beleever doth not eate a bit of bread but he hath it by vertue of the purchase of Christ Christ hath bought all good for us and Christ hath bought us out of all evill Christ hath not only purchast deliverance from hell and salvation in heaven for us but he hath purchast deliverance from a sick bed and freedome from bondage to men for us Zech. 9.11 As for thee also saith the Lord by the blood of thy Covenant that is the Covenant which I have made with thee I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water that is from the Babylonish captivity The Jewes were delivered from corporall slavery as well as spirituall by the blood of Jesus Christ and so are the Covenant people of God to this day The blood of the Covenant serves to all purposes for the good things of this life as well as of that which is to come Nothing else can do us good to purpose or deliver us from evill but the blood of Christ Ps 49.7 8. They that trust in their wealth boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can by any meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him In some cases as Solomon saith Prov. 13.8 The ransome of a mans life are his riches As a mans riches doe often endanger his life all the fault of some men for which they have suffered as deep as death hath been only this they were rich so a man by his riches may redeeme his forfeited or endangered life he may buy off the wrath of man and so ransome his life by his riches But all the riches in the world cannot buy his life out of the hand of sickness though a man would lay out all his substance and spend all that he hath upon Physitians as the poor woman in the Gospel did yet that could not doe it We need the blood of Jesus Christ to help us out of a sick bed and from temporall sufferings as well as from hell and everlasting sufferings And the more spirituall any are the more they have recourse to the blood of Christ for all they would have whether it be freedome from this or that evill or enjoyment of this or that good Therefore First When we hear of a ransome let us remember that we are all naturally captives Here is a ransome for our souls and a ransome for our bodies we are ransomed from hell and ransomed from death surely then we are through sin made captives to all these Secondly In that the ransome is exprest by a word that notes hiding or covering it should mind us that Jesus Christ by his blood which is our ransome hath covered all our bloody sins and surely the blood of our sins will appeare not only to our shame but to our confusion unlesse the blood of Christ cover them Thirdly We may hence infer The Lord shall be no looser by saving the worst of sinners His Son hath taken care for that he hath undertaken to see his Honour saved and his Justice satisfied Fourthly In all your outward afflictions and sicknesses apply to the blood of Christ for healing for helpe and deliverance Fifthly Being delivered from going down to the pit from death by sickness blesse Christ for his blood We are rescued from the arrest of death from Deaths Sergeant sicknesse by the blood of Christ And remember that as Christ ransomes us from going downe to the grave when we are sick so Christ will ransome us from the power of the grave when we are dead Hosea 13.14 I will ransome them from the power of the grave Which though it were primarily meant of the deliverance of the Jewes out of Babylon where they seemed to be not only dead but buryed yet the Apostle applyeth it clearly to the ransoming of the body dead indeed and laid in the grave by the power of Christ at the generall resurrection 1 Cor. 15.54 For then shall be brought to passe that saying that is written Death is swallowed up of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory Yea Christ hath ransomed all those from going down to the pit of hell who take hold of his ransome by believing See that you have an interest in this ransome else you will never have deliverance from going downe to that pit We read not all the Scripture over of any ransome to deliver those who are once gone downe to that bottomlesse pit They that are in the grave shall be ransomed and recovered by the power of Christ but they that goe into hell shall never be ransomed from thence Take hold of this ransome that ye may have full deliverance both from sickness leading to death here and from hell which is the second death hereafter JOB Chap. 33. Vers 25 26. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne to the dayes of his youth He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto man his righteousness IN these two verses Elihu proceeds to shew the perfecting of the sick mans recovery the foundation of which was layd in the Lords graciousness
to him spoken of in the former verse and the declaration of it in that word or warrant which went out from God to the messenger about his deliverance from going downe to the pit This mercy or recovery in the full extent of it hath a two-fold respect First to his body Secondly to his soule The mercy as it respects his body is layd downe in the 25th verse His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne as in the dayes of his youth The mercy which respects his soule or the state of his inward man is layd downe in the 26th verse He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto him his righteousness In this recovery of his soule-state we may further consider First the causes of it First The Instrumentall cause prayer He shall pray unto God Secondly The principall or efficient cause of it together with the first moving cause The kindness of God He will be favourable unto him Secondly The consequence of this his renewed soule-state He shall see his face with joy Thirdly The matter wherein this joyfull state doth consist in the close of the 26th verse For he will render to man his righteousness So much for the scope and parts of these two verses which shew the blessed issue which God gives this distressed and sick man from his afflictions and sorrowes Vers 25. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes By flesh he meanes the naturall flesh of the body this flesh shall be fresh yea fresher and not only fresher then it was before he fell sick in his man-hood but then it was in his child-hood fresher then a childes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollitur recreatus fuit alibi quam hic non legitur Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod virentem significat ac vegetuÌ„ ut cap 8. 16. et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod syriacè significat crescere q. d. revirescet plantarum more et germinum Merc The word which we render comparatively fresher signifies to wax soft or tender 'T is no where read in the whole Bible but here Grammarians say it is compounded of an Hebrew word which signifies to be greene or flourishing Chap 8.16 and of a Syriack word which signifies to increase and grow as a plant we render it as noting the man mending apace as some sick men upon recovery doe in his strength and health He shall be fresh-coloured who before was pale and wan he shall be full-fleshed who before was fallen and leane so that when he saith His flesh shall be fresher then a childes 'T is an Elegant hyperbolical expression to shew his perfect recovery from that mortal sickness to health As if he had sayd God will restore him so that there shall be no scarr nor print no dregs nor appearance of his former disease seene upon him We know how tender and soft how delicate and faire the flesh of a little child is how sweete his countenance is how full of good blood his veines are how healthy and strong as to his time his whole body is Thus it shall be with this sick man His flesh shall be freshâ—r then a childes he shall be as if he were new-borne or entred a second time upon the stage of this world Our spirituall estate of renovation by Christ is set forth as a youthfull or child-like state as to the purity and perfection of it Eph 5.27 Christ shall present us to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing The Church hath her sin-spots and wrinckles now in her militancy but when Christ shall present the Church at last triumphantly to himselfe then as himselfe was ever without spot or wrinckle so shall the Church be Her flesh shall indeed be fresher then a childes being perfectly recovered out of her spirituall sickness Notat perfectissimum sanitatis modum qui nullum transacti morbi vestigium relinquit Mert And thus in proportion Elihu assures the penitent sick man that when his peace is renewed with God and his spirit set right for God his very flesh shall be without spot or wrinckle fresher then a childes The latter part of the verse beares the same sence He shall returne as in the dayes of his youth That is he shall not barely recover his health and get upon his leggs againe as we say he shall not meerely escape death and the grave but he shall have an addition of bodily ability he shall as it were be young againe As sickness makes a young man look old so recovery from sickness makes the old man look young That 's to returne to the dayes of his youth Hence Note First Bodily beauty health and strength are the Gift of God He gives them and takes them away at pleasure or having taken them away he can give them backe when he pleaseth He kills and he makes alive he bringeth downe to the Grave and bringeth up as Hannah sayd in her Song 1 Sam 2.6 How low soever a man is brought by sickness either proper or metaphoricall the Lord is able to rayse him up againe We read v. 21. in how pitifull a plight the sick man was how rather like a carkasse then a living man he lookt His flesh was consumed that it could not be seene and his bones which were not seene stood out as much as to say He was nothing but skin and bones yet when in that case all hopes were gone and all natural helps fayled it was no hard matter with God to cure him When the skill of the Physician and the vertue of medicines fayle the power of God fayleth not As it is in reference to those outward dangers and desperate exigents which we meete with in this world by enemies and persecutors when we look upon our selves as dead men when all hope of deliverance seems past gone then the Lord alwayes can and often doth deliver The Apostle gives us his experience of it 2 Cor 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves he spake not thus in regard of sickness but of trouble and persecution As if he had sayd The malice and wrath of our enemies was such that we thought we should never escape We had the sentence of death in our selves but providence suffered it to be so that we should not trust in our selves but in God who rayseth the dead As it is I say in such dangers so in dangerous deadly sicknesses when a poore creature hath the sentence of death in himselfe when he makes no other reckoning but to dye as good King Hezekiah sayd of himselfe in his sickness Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lyon so will he breake all my bones from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me yet then as in his case so in many cases the Lord stretcheth forth a healing hand and takes the sick man up againe to continue in
out to use ill words to Magistrates though as Paul's case was we are ill used by them Shimei taking the advantage of David's affliction rose up to this height of impudence against him mentioned with indignation by Elihu in the Text he openly and to his face called him Belial 2 Sam. 16.5.7 Come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial But we know what the issue was he paid dear for it at last though David forgave him at present and did not suffer Abishai to take a sudden revenge yet upon his death-bed he delivered him over to his son Solomon to deal with him as he should see good And so great is the offensiveness and unfitness of speaking thus unto a King that the Jewes joyned it with blasphemy against God himself We read 1 Kings 21.13 how two false Witnesses came against Naboth saying Naboth blaspemed God and the King as much as to say we heard Naboth say of the King Belial And as soon as these two had brought in their evidence against him that he had blasphemed God and the King they drew him out and stoned him Blasphemy against God was death by the express letter of the Law Lev. 24.15 16. It was also death by the same Law for any man to curse his Father or his Mother Exod. 21.17 And because the King is Pater Patriae the father of his Country it seems the cursing or blaspheming of him was also punishable by death The Apostle Jude useth an equivalent word in the Greek Ep. of Jude v. 8. reproving a wicked Sect in those times They fear not to blaspheme or speak evil of Dignities There is blasphemy against Princes who are titular Gods as well as against the only true God Kings are to be feared to be submitted to they are to be prayed for therefore not to be reviled Is it fit to say unto a King Belial Yet this doth not stop the mouths of all men from telling Kings and Princes their faults nor doth it justifie a silent dissembling of them much less doth it open the mouthes of any to dawb Kings and Princes with the untempered morter of flatteries Kings are no more to be flattered then they are to be reproached Dignities must not be spoken evil of yet they may be prudently and humbly told of their evils and informed of their failings plainly When Eliah met Ahab who said Art thou he that troubleth Israel Eliah answered 1 Kings 18.18 I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers house in that ye have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baal And we read how boldly Elisha carried it to the King of Israel 2 Kings 3.13 14. What have I to do with thee Get thee to the Prophets of thy father and to the Prophets of thy mother And Elisha said as the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee Thus the Prophets dealt with much gracious severity towards mighty Princes The Prophet Isaiah feared not to say Isa 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodome Give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrah implying that the Rulers of Jerusalem were then but such as the Rulers of Sodome once were and that the people were no better then the people of Gomorrah and it is conceived that for this plainness and liberty of speech which the Prophet Isaiah used toward the Princes and Rulers of Judah he was put to death being cut or mangled asunder with a wooden Sawe One might think that Ezekiel did much forget himself when he gave those opprobrious terms to Zedekiah King of Judah Ezek. 21.25 And thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end yet he sinned not in this harsh reproof of his sin because commanded of God to do it and specially directed by the holy Spirit The Prophets might not diminish a word but must give out what God gave in John the Baptist reproved Herod for Herodias his brother Philips wife and for all the evils which he had done Luke 3.19 And Jesus Christ himself called Herod Fox Luke 13.32 The Prophets were often Instructed and Commissioned to prophesie against the mountains that is against the Princes and Powers of the world and therefore take the state of the point and of our duty about it in these few conclusions that we may not run upon the rocks either way neither upon the rock of blasphemy against Kings and Princes on the one side nor upon the rock of flattery on the other First The Power or State of Princes must never be reviled nor evill spoken of kingly Power and Authority is alwayes to be reverenced and honoured though the Prince be wicked yet his Power is to be reverenced and that 's the purest reverence Regia per se dignitas nunquam non est colenda etiam cum princeps iniquus est For to reverence the power of Princes only because or when they are good and do us good and rule every way according to our mind this is but a piece of selfishness but when Princes are evill and bring evills upon us yet to bear respect to the Power and Authority which they Exercise this is to honour God and to give true submission to his ordinance Whatsoever the person is the power must be reverentially submitted to Secondly It is high wickednesse to speak evill of the persons of just and righteous Princes that every man will acknowledge Thirdly Kings and Princes must not be reproved for personall or private faults publickly To doe so is against the rule in any mans case much more in the case of Kings and Princes Fourthly Kings are not to be reproved for any of their faults but by those who have a Call to it that was the reason of the liberty which the old Prophets used towards Kings they were specially commanded and Commissioned by God for it and the peril was upon their own heads if they did it not it is not for every one to reprove Princes but for those that are called to it Lastly Even those that are called to it must doe it with much submission though they must not doe it to halves and deceitfully yet they are to doe it respectfully It is not fit to say to a King Belial such rough and unhewne language is not for Princes their faults must only be insinuated if that may serve as Nathan dealt with David who though he knew what his sin was yet he did not say to him Thou murtherer thou Adulterer but intimated the matter by a parable and made him covertly or in a third person charge himselfe before he charged him or applyed the parable personally to him with Thou art the man When Miriam the Sister and Aaron the Brother of Moses spake against him because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married
have performed the commandement of the Lord he was his owne trumpeter and would needs tell the story of his doings himselfe though he had done his businesse to halves Come thou blessed of the Lord I have performed the commandement of the Lord as if it would not serve him to doe his duty unlesse Samuel had seene and taken notice of him Abraham gave proofe of the highest act of faith that ever was in the world yet did Abraham say Come see my faith Moses led the people of Israel forty yeares in the wildernesse through a series of wonderfull tryalls and temptations to the very borders of Canaan which was one of the highest services that ever man undertook and was faithfull in all his house Heb 4.2 yet did he say Come see my fidelity Joshua victoriously expelled the Cananites and divided their land by lot among the tribes of Israel yet did he say Come see my fortitude We heare not a word of any of their doings from those who were sincere When we see men forward to invite the approbation of others by making reports of their good deeds it gives a strong argument of suspicion that they have done what they have done with a bad heart or that as it is sayd of Jehu they have not sought God with all their hearts But some may object Did not Samuel proclaime his own integrity before all the people 1 Sam 12.3 Whose oxe have I taken or whose asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith I answer Samuel spake this to upbraid their ingratitude and discontent not to extoll his owne justice yea some conceive that he made this challenge to give Saul a patterne how he ought to governe rather then to commend his owne government I find the Apostle Paul making large reports of his owne both doings and sufferings 2 Cor 11. But if we peruse that Chapter we shall find him hovering in a suspence of doubts and feares whether or no it were convenient or comely for him to doe so How many preambles and Apologyes did he make before he fell directly upon that unpleasing subject Would to God ye could beare with me in my folly saith he and indeed beare with me And againe I speake as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting And yet all that he spake was not to make a boast of himselfe but to vindicate his Apostleship from unjust and envious calumniations 'T is most certaine He that is sincere desires not to be open but silently satisfieth his soule with the conscience of doing his duty and takes more content in knowing his own integrity then in knowing that others know it Vertue looseth nothing of her value in his esteeme no nor of her lustre in his eye because she is hidden from the eyes of men Like the earth in this poynt he keepes his richest mineralls and most precious gems of grace and goodness below in his bowells or at the center of his heart and will not let them be seene till a kind of necessity diggs them out When Moses after his forty dayes neere accesse to and communion with God in the Mount perceived that his face did shine Exod 34.33 he put a vayle upon it every true Moses whose acquaintance and fiduciall familiarity with God hath stampt upon him the impressions of divine light is so farre from affecting to dazzle the eyes of others with it that he rather puts a vayle of gracious modesty upon it and will not let so much as the light of his good workes be seene but as thereby in which case Christ commands it Math 5.16 He may glorifie his father which is in heaven And herein a Christian followeth the example of Christ in whom though the Godhead dwelt bodily yet he rarely shewed his divine power And when once by a miracle he had made the blind see he also by command made them dumbe concerning that miracle Math 9.30 See that no man know it It was our Saviours counsel to all his followers Mat 6.5 Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth and it was his consolation to them in the next words Your father which seeth in secret himselfe shall reward you openly yea which is a higher consolation then that Himselfe will be your reward Secondly As the designing hypocrite desires to be seene in doing good or to have the good which he hath done seene so he is exceeding censorious and rigid towards those whom he sees falling into evill Christ gives this discovery also Math 7.3 Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye but considerest not the beame that is in thine owne eye concluding at the 5th verse Thou hypocrite why doth Christ call him hypocrite surely because he was so quick-sighted to see a mote that is a smaller fault in his brothers eye but tooke no notice of the beame that was in his owne eye a spot upon his brothers coate was censured more by him then his owne wallowing in the mire I doe not say that the Patriarke Judah was an hypocrite but as those two other Patriacks so he acted one very grosse part of hypocrisie Gen. 38.24 For he no sooner heard that Tamor was with childe but he censured yea condemn'd her presently to death Bring her forth sayd he and let her be burnt and yet himselfe was more faulty then she How hard a Judge was he of that crime in another which was principally his owne Saul had sinned greatly 1 Sam 13.9 in offering sacrifice before Samuel came which was an usurpation of the Priests office and so great a sin that Samuel told him presently God would therefore rend the Kingdome from him yet he thought to put it off with a slight excuse But in the 14th Chapter when Jonathan only offended against a rash command of his putting a Curse upon that people if any did eate before the going downe of the Sun he sentenced him to death for it In the 8th of John How severe were the Pharisees to the woman taken in Adultery they haled her before Christ and pressed the Law that she should be stoned to death yet when Christ sayd v. 7. He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her they being convicted by their owne conscience went out one by one We ought to reprove and not flatter sin in others yet they who are extreamely severe against a sin in others usually favour either the same or a worse in themselves He that is sincere piâ—tieth others as much as reproves them and he reproves them though wiâ—h sharpness yet with meekness at once considering himselfe lest he also be tempted Gal 6.1 and blessing God who hath kept him in or from these temptations Thirdly The designing hypocrite discovers himselfe by laying downe or departing from the profession of religion when his worldly ends are attained Feined zeale cooles or abates is lesse and
destruction Every mouth must be stopped and all the world become guilty before God upon that account Rom. 3.19 yet God doth not destroy And that he hath no content in destroying he bindes it with an Oath Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked c. as if he had said I am not bent upon your destruction I had rather be taken off and save you I pardon I will not destroy If any shall say Hath God no pleasure in destruction Hath he not a will to destroy as well as to save I answer God hath pleasure in destroying but it is in the destruction of those who obstinately resist his Will who refuse both his counsel and his Covenant to such indeed he saith Prov. 1.26 I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear that is the thing you feared cometh as desolation c. That the men in whose calamity God laugheth are such is evident by the character given of them at the 25th verse Ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof As if God had said you have laughed at my counsel therefore I will laugh at your calamity The Lord will declare himself delighted in their destruction who have despised instruction and he will glorifie himself in the actings of his Justice upon them who have slighted and put by the tenders and entreaties of his mercy Yet still God declareth himself more pleased in acting and putting forth his saving power then his destroying power The Prophet Hos 11.8 9. most pathetically represents as it were a debate in the breast of God himself between his Justice and his Mercy How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim Mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together v. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim We see after the debate the Lord determines for sparing not for destroying So then though he can and will not only destroy but laugh at the destruction of obstinate sinners yet he loves to spare rather then to destroy Thirdly From the connexion of these two pardoning and sparing mercy God saith first I pardon and then secondly I will not destroy who are they whom God will not destroy they are are such as he pardons Hence Note Pardoned persons shall never be destroyed As soon as Nathan had said to David the Lord hath put away thy sin the very next word is this thou shalt not dye 2 Sam. 12.13 if Davids sin had not been pardoned Daved must have dyed for it 'T is a Logical Maxime When the Cause is taken away Sublata causa collitur effectus the Effect is taken away Sin is the cause of destruction therefore when God takes away sin which is the cause destruction the effect must needs be taken away too pardon destroyeth sin therefore how can they that are pardoned be destroyed Pardon swallows up sin As the Apostle speaks of life 2 Cor. 5.4 That mortality might be swallowed up of life Here mortality swallows up our lives by degrees but hereafter mortality shall be swallowed up at once of life Now as life shall then swallow up mortality so pardon at present swalloweth up sin for as in our glorified state there shall never any thing of mortality appear so in a pardon'd estate nothing of sin shall appear as to hurt us Sin pardoned cannot be found Jer. 50.20 In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found why not The Lord answers for I will pardon them whom I reserve And if their sins shall not be found surely they shall not be found guilty and therefore not destroyed God may chasten them whom he hath pardoned but he will not destroy those whom he hath pardon'd pardoned persons may smart and smart greatly for sin but they shall not dye eternally for it they shall not be destroyed for it David was pardoned yet God told him the sword shall never depart from thy house and the Lord told him particularly of a sore destruction upon a part of his house presently because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme thou being a Professor hast opened the mouths of the wicked against profession therefore though thou shalt not dye yet the childe also that is born unto thee shall surely dye There are two things which the pardon of sin takes away First the power or reigne of sin where-ever sin is pardoned the strength of it is subdued God doth not pardon sin as Princes do they may pardon an evil doer and yet he still remain as evil and as ready to do evil as ever they may pardon a thief and yet he continue to be a thief still but if God pardons a drunkard an adulterer or a thief he doth not remain a drunkard or an adulterer or a thief still God takes away the power of that sin which he pardoneth Secondly The pardon of sin takes away the punishment of sin it may leave some chastisement but it wholly takes away the punishment The Popish doctrine saith the fault is taken away by pardon but there is a commutation of the punishment eternal punishment is changed into temporal either in this life or that to come hence their doctrines of Purgatory and of Prayer for the dead c. all which stuffe comes in upon this account They cast all men into three sorts some are Apostles and Martyrs men very eminently godly and they go immediately to heaven there are another sort and these are Apostates from or persecuters of the faith notorious sinners these go immediately to hell there are a third or middle sort of ordinary sinners and they go immediately after death neither to heaven nor hell but to Purgatory where they must bear the punishment of their sins till they can be prayed out Christ hath only got so much favour for them say they to change their eternal punishment into a temporal The grace of the Gospel knows nothing of this Doctrine that tells us when sin is pardoned all is pardoned both guilt and punishment both temporal and eternal nothing remains but only chastisement how sorely soever a believer suffers in this life yet strictly taken it is but a chastisement and there remaineth nothing for him to suffer in the life which is to come And if so then Pardon of sin is a precious mercy 'T is so First Because it proceeds from the precious mercies of God Secondly Because it comes thorow the precious blood of Christ Col. 1.14 Thirdly Because it opens a door to all precious mercies as sin unpardoned with-holds all good things from us Jer. 5.25 so sin pardoned opens the door for all mercy