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
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
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
to his enemies to the Islands he will repay recompence Secondly as vanity in the former clause is taken for the Creature Observe The Creature is most vaine to those who trust it The Creature is a vaine thing in his hand who beleeves and trusts in God but it is exceeding vaine in his hand who trusts on it and the more it is trusted the more vaine it is If we make it our staffe it will be our scourge if we leane upon it as our rock it will run into our hands like a broken Reed The best way to keep up our comforts in the Creature is to keep our distance from the Creature And they shall finde most content in the World who live furthest off it and expect least from it God is good and the more we trust him the better he is to us yea he is not good at all to us unlesse we trust him But the best of creatures trusted to become evill yea an Idoll to us Trust not in vanity such are all creatures in their best estate for vanity shall be your recompence Againe The word which we translate recompence signifies a change or the exchange which is made of one thing for another While Job exalts the value and excellency of wisedome above all created excellencies he saith Chap. 28.17 The Gold and the Chrystall cannot equall it and the exchange of it shall not be for jewells of fine Gold So some render it here Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity A radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commutatio vanitas erit commutatio ejus i. e. in nihilum redigetur for vanity shall be his change Whensoever he changeth he shall change into vanity or when he hath driven a trade in sinfull vanity to the highest the best exchange which the Merchandize thereof yeelds him is miserable vanity Vanity can produce nothing to us but vanity The effect is not better then the cause nor the fruit then the Tree and that which we receive in exchange though it may be of another kinde yet it is of no better value then that we give in exchange Hence Observe That a wicked mans state never changeth for better but from good to bad or from bad to worse Till the man himselfe be changed from bad to good his state can never change from bad to good And suppose his outward state be good then the worst thing that can befall him is this that his state should not change His setlednesse in that which is civilly good doth but more settle him in that which is morally evill They have no changes therefore they feare not God Psal 55.19 What can be worse for man then this nâ—t to feare God who is the chiefest good Who would not feare to be without changes when he heares that being without them keeps out this feare Suppose further That the wicked mans outward estate be evill then it is worse to him when he changes to outward good if he change from sorrow to joy from povery to riches from sicknesse to health from a prison to liberty in all these or in any other of like nature with these he changes to his losse That man can never change for good who continues evill Such a mans outward estate often changes from bad to worse if it change from bad to good that is bad for him and if being good it change not at all that is worst of all It is a part of the misery of man that his state is changeable but that is incident to the best of men We shall not be unchangeable in our state till we come into the presence of God who is unchangeable in his nature We may say also considering the many troubles which we are subject to in this life that it is a part of our happinesse that our state is changeable Those changes which are from evill to good or from good to better are to be numbred among our blessings such are the changes of the Saints all their changes are for the better yea those changes of the Saints which are from joy to sorrow from riches to poverty from health to sicknesse from liberty to a prison from life to death in a word their changes from any kinde of outward temporary good to outward temporary evill are yet for their good He cannot change but for his good who is good and who abides alwayes under this promise that all shall work together for his good An evill and a good man differ in nothing more then in their changes nor should any selfe-consideration provoke an evill man more to desire that he may be changed to good then this that his changes may be for good Who would continue or trust in vanity were he perswaded that vanity shall be his change Secondly Observe That such as our way is such will our end be If we walk and trust in vanity we shall have vanity for our recompence or our change Every mans end is virtually in his way So the Apostle argues ellegantly Gal. 6.7 Be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man sowes that shall he reape he that sowes to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption he that sowes to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting If the Husband-man sow tares he must look to reap tares A seed time of tares and a Harvest of Wheat were never heard of in the same ground As the seed is such is the crop Isa 3.11 Woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hand shall be given him There is nothing worse for some then to have their reward brought in and all that is owing to them payd The very receiving of their debts and rewards is their undoing for ever All the misery of a wicked man is summed up in this He shall have the reward of his hands Wrath and death and Hell are his rewards and all the wages which the work both of his hands and heart can earne and these he shall have fully payd to him Vaine he hath been and vanity shall be his recompence Some read this Verse not as a dehortation Let not him that is deceived trust or beleeve in vanity but as a negative proposition for that particle in the Hebrew which sometimes carryeth a prohibition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malo simpliciter negare quam prohibere Merc. Non credet qui vanitate errat quod vanitas erit permutatio ejus Merc. Non credet fore ut ejus faelicitas permutetur ad meâ—am vanitatem deveniet Vatâ—bl notes also a bare negation so here He that is deceived with vanity will not beleeve the same word signifies both to beleeve and trust that vanity shall be his recompence He will not beleeve a change much lesse such a change This is a cleare sense and it hints us this Observation That a wicked man is full of infidelity or unbeleife that his estate is evill or shall
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
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
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
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
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
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