draw from it there being nothing so well carried but that it may be liable to some mens exceptions Verse 17. For this deed of the Queen shall come abroad The least aberration in a star is soon observed so the miscarriages of great ones are quickly both noted and noticed Publike persons are by Plutarch compared to looking-glasses according to which others dresse themselves to pictures in a glasse-window wherein every blemish is soon seen to common Wells which if they be poysoned many are destroyed The common people commonly are like a flock of Cranes as the first flies all follow So that they shall despise their husbands Which indeed ought not to be no not in their hearts Let the wife see that she reverence her husband Eph. 5. ult God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal when Sarah is crowned and chronicled for this that she obeyed her husband calling him Lord. It is here taken for confessed that Vasthi despised her husband and that others would thereby take heart to do the like is therehence inferred But doth that necessarily follow and must the Queen therefore be presently deposed yea put to death as the Jew-Doctours tell us she was King Asa deposed his grandmother Maacha but that was for Idolatry Our Henry the eighth beheaded his wife Anne Bullen but that was for supposed and but supposed adultery Queen Elizabeth narrowly escaped with her life because she was accused but falsely of conspiracy against the Queen her sister But what had Vasthi done Condemned she is without reprival and the Countrey must come in but was never called to give in evidence against her that haply never saw her nor heard of her offence Is this fair-dealing Verse 18. Likewise shall the Ladies of media and Persia say Say what We will not do as our Lords command us Like enough all this for their tongues were their own and their wills no lesse That free-will about which there is so much ado made when men once lost the women caught it up and hence they are so wedded to their own will saith one merrily Quicquid volunt valdè volunt what they will do they will do contra gentes saith another And for talking and telling their minds The Rabbines have a proverb that ten Kabs measures of speech descended into the world and the women took away nine of them These Ladies of Media and Persia were feasting with the Queen when the King sent for her ubi quid factum est garritur potitatur saltitatur Feverdent in verse 9. saith an Interpreter at which time they were chatting and bibbing and dancing and when their mirth was marred they would not spare to speak their minds and ease their stomachs what ever came of it We read in our own Chronicles of the Lady de Breuse that by her railing and intemperate tongue she had so exasperated King John whom she reviled as a tyrant and a murtherer that he would not be pacified by her strange present four hundred kine Speed 572. and one bull all milk-white except only the eares which were red sent unto the Queen Then shall there arise too much contempt and wrath Contempt on the wives part and wrath on the husbands wives shall slight their husbands and they again shall fall foul upon their wives so that conjugium shall become conjurgium and the house they dwell together in shall be no better then a fencing-school wherein the two sexes seem to have met together for nothing but to play their prizes and to try masteries This made Sylla say I had been happy if I had never been married Verse 19. If it please the King Courtier-like lest he should seem to prescribe to the King or to prejudice the rest of the royal Counsellours he thus modestly prefaceth to his ensuing harsh and hard sentence He knew well enough it would please the King at present in the minde he now was in and to prevent any alteration he moves to have it made sure by an irrevocable Law that he might not hereafter be censured for this his immoderate and unmerciful censure but be sure to save one howsoever Let it be written saith he among the Lawes of the Persians Which the King himself could not repeal Dan. 6.8 15. but once passed and registred they remained binding for ever I have read of a people among whom the Lawes they had lasted in force but for three dayes at utmost Legem dicimus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato This was a fault in the other extreme Lawes are to be made with due deliberation and then to be established and not altered without very great reason as sometimes there is sith Tempora mutentur nos mutemur in illis That Vasthi come no more before King Ahashuerus But be absolutely deposed and divorced Here was no proportion betwixt the offence and the sentence This judgement was like the Laws of Draco of which Aristotle saith that they were not worth remembrance but only for their great severity as being written not with black but with blood And let the King give her royal estate unto another The more to vex her Surely such an exauthoration of so great a personage with so great disgrace and ignominy could not but be very grievous yea worse then death High seats as they are never but uneasie so the fall from them must needs be dangerous and dismal How well might holy Esther sing with the Virgin Mary God putteth down the mighty from their thrones and exalteth them of Low degree Luke 1.52 Verse 20. And when the Kings Decree that he shall make shall be published But why should any such thing be published at all unlesse the King be ambitious of his own utter dishonour Is there none wiser then other but that the King must beray his own nest tell all the Empire that he was drunk or little better and did in his drink determine that against his fair Queen that he so soon after repented He should have done in this case as a man doth that having a secret sore clappeth on a plaister and then covereth it with his hand that it may stick the faster work the better Had Ahashuerosh been wise the world had been never the wiser for any thing that Vasthi had done c. But Memucan hath some colour for his bad counsel a goodly vail to cast over it All the wives shall give to their husbands honour They shall not dare to do otherwise unlesse they mean to be likewise divorced But will terrour breed true honour is soothing right submission Quem metuunt oderunt fear makes hatred and people honour none to speak properly but whom they love sincerely Those lordly husbands that domineere over their wives as if they were their slaves and carry themselves like lions in their houses must not look for any great respect there This man promised himself great matters when he thus said The wives shall give iittenu in the masculine gender to signifie the wives voluntary
bereave him of the use of his hands lest he should offer him any violence yet hath he alway as he sitteth in his throne lying at hand ready by him a target a scimiter an iron mace with bow and arrowes Sors ista tyrannis Muriti ut gladiis vivant cinctique venenis How much better Agesilaus King of Spartans who walked daily among his subjects doing justice Xenoph. orat de Agesil and is therefore by Xenophon worthily preferred before this stately King of Persia how much better Queen Elizabeth who often shewed her selfe to her people and chearfully received nosegayes flowers rosemary from mean persons She got the hearts of her subjects which Philip of Spaine her stately Contemporary never could do by coupling mildnesse with Majesty and stooping yet in a stately manner to those of low condition So reserved she was that all about her stood in a reverent awe of her very presence and aspect but much more of her least frown or check wherewith some of them Speed 1235. who thought they might best presume of her favour have been so suddenly daunted and planet-stricken that they could not lay down the grief thereof but in their graves There is one Law of his A wretched Law it was written not with black but with blood and condemned by very heathens for barbarous and pernicious to the publike For if the King may not be come at but upon paine of death what shall become of the poor oppressed and how shall he ever heare of the rapines and other miscarriages of his Favourites and under Officers by whom he shall be even bought and sold and himself never the wiser as Aurelian the Emperour complained Orpheus that ancientest of Poets faineth that Lite or Petitions are Joves daughters and ever conversant about his Throne David heard the woman of Tecoa Solomon the two harlots and King Joram the affamished woman that called to him for justice with Help O King Philip of Mâ—cedon â—ighted the old wife that check't him for his neglect of her and Trajan the widow that would not be put off till another time Plutarch This was King-like His office is to judge the people with righteousnesse and the poor with judgement He shall judge the poor of the people and break in pieces the oppressour Psal 72.2 4. To put him to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenaeus No such danger in approaching Gods Presence he soliciteth suitours and seeketh such as may come before him John 4.23 This was anciently figured by the door of the Tabernacle not made of any hard or debarring matter but of a veile easily penetrable which also now is rent Psal 65.2 1 Tim. 2.8 to shew our easie accesse to Him who heareth prayers and willeth that all flesh come unto him lifting up in all places pure hands without warth and without doubting Except such to whom the King shall hold out the golden Scepter In token that he called for them Thus whom he would be slew and whom he would he kept alive as Dan 5.19 But Esther should as afterwards she did have trusted God with her life and with a Romane resolution have said Necasse est ut eam non ut vivam It is necessary that I venture not that I live That she was fearful when her life lay upon it we may impute to the weaknesse of her sex or rather of her faith against which sense fights sore when 't is upon its own dunghil I mean in a sensible danger Natures retraction of it self from a visible feare may cause the pulse of a Christian that beats truly and strongly in the main point the state of the soule to intermit and faulter at such a time Abraham shewed some trepidation and Peter much more But I have not been called to come in to the King these thirty dayes There was hot love the while his concubines perhaps had engrossed him Doves are said to draw the charet of Venus and those neither change their mates not forsake their company Haman was all the doer now about the King as our King Richard the second his Favourites Knights of Venus rather then Bellona saith the Chronicler conversing with the King not without suspicion of foule familiarity as Walsingham writeth Speed 746. Sodomiticâ labe infecti ferè emnes saith another Verse 12. And they told to Mordecai Esthers words See the Note on vers 9. She would have been her own Messenger but might not The greatest are not alwayes the happiest The Lady Elizabeth once wished her selfe a merry milkmaid Verse 13. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther He would not take her excuse but seemes to say unto her as one once did to a Philosopher that in a great tempest at sea asked many trifling questions Are we perishing and doest thou trifle Aul. Gell. So Doest thou cast off the tare of community 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and provide for no more then thine own safety Think not with thy self that thou shalt escape in the Kings house Any more then Serena that Christian Empresse wife to Dioclesian did or Eliz. Queen of Denmark glad to flie for her life because a Lutheran or Queen Katharine Parre who hardly escaped the fire by the favour of her husband Henry the eighth Sure it is that the feare of man bringeth a snare as fearful birds and beasts fall into the Hunters toile but he that trusteth in the Lord as good Mordecai did and as he would have Esther to do shall be safe or shall be set on high out of harmes way his place of defence shall be munitions of rocks Esay 38.15 Like as the coney that weak but wise creature Prov. 30.24 26. Prov. 29.25 flieth to the holes in the râ—cks and doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her when the Hare that trusteth to the swiftnesse of her legs is at length overtaken and torne in pieces More then all the Jewes The Law was general and irreversible Darius sought to deliver Daniel and could not And 〈◊〉 at once Medina's 〈◊〉 in eighty eight sword knew no difference nor would make any in that general Massacre like as in that at Paris they poisoned the Queen of 〈◊〉 murdered the most part of the Peerlesse Nobility in France their wives and children with a great sort of the common people Verse 14. But if thou altogether holdest thy peace And so make thy self guilty of a sinful silence nay of the death of so many innocents for not to do good when it is in the power of a mans hand Qui non cum potest servat occidit is to do evil and not to save is to destroy as our Saviour sheweth Mark 3.14 Passive wickednesse is deeply taxed in some of those seven Churches Rev. 2. and 3. In a storme at sea it is a shame to fit still or to be asleep with Jonas in the sides of the ship when it is in danger of drowning Every man cannot fit at the Sterne but then he may handle
to perish Merdecai maketh use of the self-same termes that Haman had done chap. 3.13 that all men might know that his commission was altogether as large as the others and that they would vim vi repellere stand upon their guard slay all such as should seek their lives and fight stoutly pro aris foris This Cic. pro milone saith Tully is Lex non scripta sed nata ad quam non docti sed facti non instituti sed imbuti sumus c. that which uncorrupted nature teacheth every man Both little ones and women this seemeth spoken in terrorem that the enemy might forbear to meddle if not for their own sakes Yet for their wives and children whom many hold more deare to themselves then their own lives But the Text may be better read thus To destroy to slay and to cause to perish all the power of the people and Province that would assault them their little ones and women And to take the spoile of them for a prey This also would work much with those that had estates to lose For money is the Monarch of this present world and many had as live part with their blood as their good Verse 12. Vpon one day in all the Provinces c. That once fatal day but henceforth the brunt once past festival That long-looked-for day wherein the enemy hoped to revel in the Churches ruines to frame Comedies out of her Tragedies to wash their feet in her blood yea to ride their horses up to the Saddle-skirts therein as Farnesius the Popes Champion threatened to do in Germany and Minerius in France and the Papists here in England at the death of Queen Elizabeth and again upon the good success of the Powder-plot that great crack and black day as they called it For the speeding and furthering whereof they had a devillish ditty consisting of a seven-fold Psalmody which secretly they passed from hand to hand with tunes set to be sung for the cheating up of their wicked hearts with an expectation as they called it of their day of Jubilee This is one passage therein Spec. bell sacr 20◠Confirme your hearts with hope for the day of your Redemption is not far off The year of visitation draweth to an end and Jubilation is at hand c. The Psalter is hard to be had for they are taken up by the Papists as other books be that discover their shame But do what they can shame shall be the promotion of fooles as it was of Haman but the wise as Mordecai shall inherit glory Prov. 3.35 Verse 13. The Copy of the writing Transcripts of the Original were every where published and proclaimed as the contrary Edict had been before chap. 3.14 This must needs amuse and amaze the people but who durst say to their Monarch What doest thou Is it safe to take a Lion by the beard or a Beare by the tooth That the Jewes should be ready against that day God sometimes taketh notice in his vindictive justice as of the offending member Judg. 1.6 7. Luke 16.24 so of the place where 1 Kings 21.19 Henry the third of France was stabbed to death in that very chamber where he had contrived the Massacre of Paris and of the time when mischief should have been acted to prevent and punish it as Exod. 15.9 10. Ladislaus King of Bohemia and Hungary having conspired with other Popish Princes to root out the true Christians in Bohemia on such a day on his marriage-day was immediately before in the midst of his great preparations visited with a pestilent sore in his groine whereof within thirty six houres he died Henry the second King of France M. Clarks Examples the self-same day that he had purposed to persecute the Church and burne certain of his guard whom he had in prison for religion at whose execution he had promised to have been himself in person in the midst of his triumph at a Tourney was wounded so sore in the head with a speare by one of his own subjects that ere long he died Act Mon. 1784. The Duke of Guise threatened to destroy utterly the Town of Orleans but was himself slain that very evening The Constable of France made a vow that so soon as he had taken St. Quintons he would set upon Geneva but sped as ill as Julian the Apostate did Ib. 19.14 when going against the Persians he swore that upon his return he would offer the blood of Christians But the Galilaean as he called Christ in scorne took an order with him ere that day came the Carpenters sonne had made ready his coffin as was foretold him by a Christian in answer to that bitter jeare To avenge themselves on their enemies This was no private revenge but licensed by the chief Magistrates entrusted by God with the administration of his Kingdome upon earth by the exercise of vindictive and remunerative justice Rom. 13.4 And here Bonis nocet qui malis parcit He wrongeth the good that punisheth not the bad True it is that private revenge is utterly unlawful unlesse it be in a mans own necessary defence where the case is so sudden that a man cannot call in the help of the Magistrate but must either kill or be killed Otherwise that of Lactantius holdeth true Non minus mali est injuriam referre quà m inferre And that of Seneca immane verbum est ultio Revenge is a cruel word Manhood some call it but it is rather doghood The manlier any man is the milder and more merciful as David 2 Sam. 1.12 and Julius Caesar who when he had Pompey's head presented to him wept and said Non mihi placet vindicta sed victoria I seek not revenge but victory The Jewes here sought not revenge but safety If they had been sold for bondmen they had borne it in silence and sufferance the language of the Lamb dumb before the Shearer chap. 7.4 Verse 14. So the Posts that rode upon mules and camels went out Thus God provided that his poor afflicted should be speedily comforted and assured that their prayers were accepted when this good newes came flyng towards them as on the wings of the wind over the mountaines of Bether all lets and impediments Thy words were heard and I am come for thy words saith the Angel to Daniel chap. 10.12 yea as these Posts were hastened and pressed on by the Kings commandment so was the Angel Gabriel caused to flie swiftly chap. 9.21 or as the Hebrew hath it with wearinesse of flight to bring the Prophet an answer to his prayers Who would not then pray to such a God as maketh his Angels Spirits his Ministers a flame of fire to convey seasonable relief to his poor Suppliants Being hastened Heb. Frighted and headlonged by a solicitous celerity hasting and hurrying for life as we say being driven on to a dispatch with utmost expedition they threw themselves onward their way as the second word here used importeth
their lives Not one whereof was lost in this hot encounter in this sharp revenge they took off their avowed enemies This was even a miracle of Gods mercy Who would not feare thee O King of Nations c. And had rest from their enemies Or That they might have rest from their enemies who would not otherwise be quieted but by the letting out of their life-blood but would make an assault upon the harmelsse Jewes though it were to die for it so that upon the matter they were their own deathsmen besides the wilful losse of their immortal soules which our Saviour sheweth Mat 16.26 to be a losse 1. Incomparable 2. Irreparable And slew of their foes seventy and five thousand Neither was it any dishonour to them to be God Almighties slaughtermen Even the good Angels are Executioners of Gods righteous judgements as they were at Sodom in Sennacheribs army and oft in the Revelation There cannot be a better or more noble act then to do justice upon obstinate Malefactours But they laid not their hands on the prey They would not once foule their fingers therewith No godly man in Scripture is taxed for covetousnesse that sordid sin See the Note on verse 10. Verse 17. On the thirteenth day of the moneth Adar On this day they stood for their lives that they might rest from their enemies And accordingly On the fourteenth day of the same rested they i. e. the very next day after their deliverance they would not defer it a day longer but kept an holy rest with Psalmes and sacrifices of praise those calves of their lips the very next day whiles the deliverance was yet fresh and of recent remembrance This they knew well that God expected Deut. 23.21 and that he construeth delayes for denials Hag. 1.2 4. he gave order that no part of the thank-offering should be kept unspent till the third day to teach us to present our praises when benefits are newly received which else would soon wax stale and putrifie as fish I will pay my vowes now now saith David Psal 116.18 Hezekiah wrote his Song the third day after his recovery Queen Elizabeth when exalted from a prisoner to a Princesse and from misery to Majesty before she would suffer her self to be mounted in her charet to passe from the Tower to Westminster Englands Eliz. she very devoutly lifted up her hands and eyes to heaven and gave God humble thanks for that remarkable change and turn of things And made it a day of feasting and gladnesse Exhilarating and chearing up their good hearts that had long layen low with a more liberal use of the creatures that they might the better preach his praises and speak good of his name and that sith they could not offer up unto him other sacrifices prescribed in the Law because they were far from the Temple they might not be wanting with their sacrifice of thanksgiving which God preferreth before an oxe that hath hornes and hoofs saith the Psalmist Words may seem to be but a poor and slight recompence but Christ saith Nazianzen calleth himself the Word and this was all the fee that he looks for for his cures Go and tell what God hath done for thee With these calves of our lips let us cover Gods Altar and we shall finde that although he will neither eat the flesh of bulls nor drink the blood of goats yet if we offer unto God thanksgiving and pay our vowes unto the most High Psal 50.13 14. it will be look't upon as our reasonable service Rom. 12.1 Verse 18. On the thirteenth day thereof and on the fourteenth What they could not do on one day they did it on another Men must be sedulous and strenuous in Gods work doing it with all their might and redeeming time for that purpose Eccl. 9.10 On both these dayes they destroyed their enemies They did their work thoroughly Let us do so in slaying our spiritual enemies not sparing any Agag not reserving this Zoar or that Rimmon but dealing by the whole body of sinne as the King of Moab did with the King of Edom Amos 2.1 burn the bones of it to lime destroy it not to the halves as Saul but hew it in pieces before the Lord as Samuel As Joshua destroyed all the Canaanites he could lay hold on As Asa spared not his own mother as Solomon drew Joab from the Altar to the slaughter and put to death Adoniah the darling so must we deale by our corruptions ferretting and fetching them out of their lurking holes as these Jewes did their enemies on the fourteenth day that had escaped the day before Sith we must either kill them up all or be killed by them for as that one bastard Abimelech slew all Gideons sonnes upon one stone so one lust left unmortified will undo the soul And as one sinner so one sin may destroy much good Eccl. 9.18 And on the fifteenth day of the moneth they rested So shall the Saints do after death which will be the accomplishment of mortification for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 and filled with joy Isa 35.10 The ransomed of the Lord shall then return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladnesse and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Verse 19. Therefore the Jewes of the villages c. Pagani This is expounded in the next words that dwelt in the unwalled townes Such as is the Hague in Holland that hath two thousand housholds in it and chuseth rather to be counted the principal village of Europe then a lesser City Made the fourteenth day c. See verse 17. while the Jewes in Shushan were destroying the remainder of their enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Mac. 15.36 This day was afterwards called Mordecai's Holiday And of sending portions one to another See Nehem. 8.10 To the rich they sent in courtesie to the poor in charity and both these to testifie their thankfulnesse to God for their lives liberties and estates so lately and graciously restored unto them Verse 20. And Mordecai wrote these things He wrote with authority as a Magistrate say some that the Jewes should keep these dayes with greatest solemnitie He wrote the relation of these things before-mentioned say others as the ground of this annual festivitie Or else it may be meant more generally that Mordecai was the Pen-man of the Holy Ghost in writing this whole book of Esther as was before hinted And sent letters unto all the Jewes both night and farre Propinquis longinquis that they might all agree together about the time and manner of praising God and so sing the great Hallelujah See 2 Cor. 1.11 2 Chron. 20.26 27 28. Psal 124.1 2. and 126.1 Psal 136. penned for a recorded publike forme to praise God among the multitude Psal 109.20 and in the great Congregation Psal 22.22 25. David would go into the presses of people and there praise the Lord Psal 116.18
Redeemer lived c. So might Simeon because he had seen Gods salvation and so might Paul who had fought a good fight and kept the faith But how could Plato say in the eighth of his lawes The communion of the soule with the body is not better then the dissolution as I would say if I were to speak in earnest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato His master Socrates when to die was nothing so confident for he shut up his last speech with these words as both Plato himself and Cicero tell us Tempâ—â— est jam hinc abireâ— It is now high time for us to go hence for me to die and for you to live longer and whether of these two is the better the gods immortall know hominem quidem arbirâ—or sciro neminem it is above the knowledge I believe of any man living Thus he but Job was better perswaded otherwise he would have been better advised then thus earnestly to have desired death And cut me off Avidè me absumat quasi ex morte mea ingens lucrum reportaturâ—â— Let him greedily cut the 〈◊〉 so the word signifieth even as if he were to have some great gain Piâ—eda or get some rich booty by my blood Verse 10. Thou should I 〈◊〉 have comfort yea I would harden my self in sorrow c. I would take hard on and beaâ— what befalleth me as well as I could by head and shoulders had I but hopes of an end by death as having this for my comfort I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. I have boldly professed the true Religion Ps 40.10 116.10 119.43 not â—â—ared to preach the truth sincerely to others for Gods glory and their good however you may judge of me I never rejected the word of God but have highly honoured it so that my desire of death is not desperate as you may conceive but an effect of good assurance that by death heaven advanceth forward that happy term when all my miseries shall end at once and hence it is that I am so greedy after the grave Verse 11. What is my strength that I should hope q. d. Thou hast told me O Eliphaz that if I frame to a patient and peaceable behaviour under Gods chastisement I shall go to my grave in a good old age c. but alasse it is now past time of day with me for that matter my breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me chap. 17.1 Were I as young and lusty as ever I have been some such things as ye have promised me might be hoped for but alasse the map of age is figured on my forehead the calenders of death appeare in the furrowes of my face besides my many sores and sicknesses which if they continue but a while will certainly make an end of mee And what is mine end i.e. The later part of my life what is that else but trouble and sorrow see this elegantly set forth by Solomon Eccles 12.2 3 4 c. That I should prolong my life That I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that De re râ—st lib. 1. cap. 1. Rather let it be my â—are with Varro ut sarcinas colligam antequà m proficiscar è vita to be ready for death which seemeth so ready for mee Verse 12. Is my strength the strength of stones Or Is my flesh of brasse Is it made of marble or of the hardest metal as it is said of one in Homer that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of brazen bowles and of Julius Scaliger that he had a golden soule in an iron body he was a very Iron sides but so was not Job he had neither a body of brasse nor sinewes of iron to stand out against so many stormes and beare so many batteries he felt what he endured and could not long endure what he felt As for the damned in hell they are by the power of God upheld for ever that they may suffer his fierce wrath for ever which else they could never do And as for those desperate Assasines Baltasar Gerardus the Burgundian who slew the Prince of Orange Anno Dom. 1584. and Ravilliac Ferale illud prodigium as one calleth him that hideous helâ—hound who slew Henry the fourth of France in the midst of his preparations and endured thereupon most exquisite torments this they did out of stupidity of sense not solidity of faith and from a wretchlesse desperation not a confident resolution Verse 13. Is not my help in me Have I not something within wherewith to sustaine me amidst all my sorrowes viz. the testimony of my conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 â—o this is my rejoycing this is my cordial c. Innuit innocentiam suam aâ— vita integritatem saith Drusius he meaneth the innocency and integrity of his heart and this was the help Job knew he had in store this was the wisedome or right reason he speaketh of in the following words and is wisedome or vertue driven quite from me no no that holdeth out and abideth when all things else in the world passe away and vanishâ— as the word Tushijah importeth Job had a subsistence still for his life consisted not in the abundance which he had possessed but was now bereft of The world calleth wealth substance but God giveth that name to Wisedome only The world he setteth forth by a word that betokeneth change for its mutability Prov. 3.8 and the things thereof he calleth Non-entia Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes saith he upon that which is not and which hath no price but what opinion setteth upon it Grace being a particle of the divine nature is unloosable unperishable Virtus post funera venit Verse 14. To him that is afflicted Heb. melted viz. in the furnace of affliction which melteth mens hearts and maketh them malleable as fire doth the hardest metals Psal 22.15 Josh 7.5 Pity should le shewed from his friend By a sweet tender melting frame of spirit such as was that of the Church Psal 102.13 and that of Paul 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is weakâ— and I am not weak sc by way of sympathy who is offended and I burne not when others are hurt I feele twinges as the tongue complaineth for the hurt of the toe and as the heart condoleth with the heele and there is a fellow-feeling amongst all the members so there is likewise iâ— the mysticall body From his friend who is made for the day of adversity Prov. 17.17 and should shew â—ove at all times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et cum fortuna statque cadisque fides and especially in evil times but poor Job bewaileth the want of such faithfull friends David also complaineth to God his onely fast friend of those that would be the causes but not the companions of his calamity that would fawn upon him in his flourish but forsake him in his misery
of this and especially in this book which shewes that we are very apt to forget it A point this is easie to be known but very hard to be believed every man assents to it but few live it and improve it to reformation Mine eyes shâ—ll no more sâ—e good sc in this world for in the world to come hee was confident of the beatificall vision chap. 19.27 Hezekiah hath a like expression when sentenced to die I said in the cutting off of my dayes I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living that is in this life present Psal 27.13 and 52 5. and 142.5 Isa 53.8 called also the light of the living John 9.4 Psal 56.13 I shill behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world Isa 38.11 And this both sick Job and sick Hezekiah tell the Lord and both of them begin alike with O remember Isa 38.3 God forgetteth not his people and their condition howbeit he requireth and expecteth that they should be his Remembrancers for their own and others good Isa 62.6 7. See the Margin Verse 8. Thâ— eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more In death we shall neither see nor be seen but be soon both out of sight and out of mind too It is storied of Richard the third that he caused the dead corps of his two smothered Nephews to be closed in lead and so put in a coffin full of holes and hooked at the ends with two hookes of iron and so to be cast into a place called the Black-deeps Speed 935. at the Thames mouth whereby they should never rise up nor be any more seen Such a place is the grave till the last day for then the sea shall give up the dead which are in it and death ad he grave shall render up the dead that are in them Rev. 20.13 then shall Adam see all his nephews at once c. Thine eyes are upon me and I am not Thou even lookest me to death like as elsewhere God is said to frown men to destruction Psalm 80.16 and Psalm 104.29 they are not able to endure his flaming eyes sparkling out wrath against them What mad men therefore are they that speak and act against Him who can so easily do them to death If God but set his eyes upon them for evil as he oft threatneth to do Amos 9.4 Job 16.9 they are undone Verse 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away A cloud is nothing else but a vapour thickened in the middle Region of the aire by the cold encompassing and driving it together psalm 18.19 vessels they are as thin as the liquor that is in them but some are waterlesse the former are soon emptied and dissolved the later as soon scattered by the wind and vanish away See the Note on verse 7. So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more sc to live and converse here with men as ver 10. Or he shall come up no more sc without a miracle as Lazarus and some others long since dead rose againe he cannot return to me said David of his deceased child 2 Sam. 12.23 God could send some from the dead to warn the living but that is not now to be expected as Abraham told the rich man Luk. 16. Those spirits of dead men that so oft appeared in times of Popery requiring their friends to sing Masses and Dirges for them and that drew this verse from Theodorus Gaza sunt aliquid manes lethum non omnia finit were either delusions or else divels in the shape of men That Job doubted of the Resurrection or denied it as Rabbi Solomon and some other both Hebrew and Greek writers conclude from this text is a manifest injury done to this good man and a force offered to the text as appeareth by that which next followeth Verse 10. He shall return no more to his house Either to dispatch businesses or to enjoy comforts he hath utterly done with the affaires of this world Melanchthon telleth of an aunt of his who having buried her husband and sitting sorrowfully by the fires side saw as she thought her husband coming into the roome and talking to her familiarly about the payment of certaine debts and other businesses belonging to the house and when he had thus talked with her a long time he bid her give him her hand she at first refused but was at length perswaded to do it he taking her by the hand so burnt it that it was as black as a coal and so he departed Was not this the divel Neither shall his place know him any more His place of habitation or his place of honour and ruledome these shall no more acknowledge him and welcome him back as they used to do after a journey Death is the conclusion of all worldly comforts and relations Hence wicked people are so loth to depart because there is struck by death an everlasting parting-blow betwixt them and their present comforts without hope of better spes fortuna valete said one great man at his death Cardinall Burbon would not part with his part in Paris for his part in paradise Fie said another rick Cardinall will not death be hired will mony do nothing Never did Adam go more unwillingly out of paradise the Jebusites out of the strong-hold of Zion the unjust steward out of his office or the divels out of the demoniack then gracelesse people do out of their earthly tabernacles because they know they shall return no more and having hopes in this life only they must needs look upon themselves as most miserable Verse 11. Therefore I will not refraine my mouth Heb. I will not prohibite my month sc from speaking I will bite in my grief no longer but sith death the certaine end of all outward troubles is not farre from mee I will by my further complaints presse the Lord to hasten it and not suppresse my sorrowes but give them a vent I will speake in the anguish of my spirit Heb. In the straitnesse or distresse of my spirit which is almost suffocated with grief I will complaine in the bitternesse my soul his greatest troubles were inward and if by godly sorrow for his sinnes he had powred forth his soule in an humble confession as some understand him here he had taken a right course but thus boisterously to break out into complaints savoureth of humane infirmity and sheweth quantae sint hominis vires sibi à Deo derelicti what a poor creature man is when God leaveth him to himself Mercer and subjecteth him to his judgments Verse 12. Am I a sea or a whale Can I bear all troubles as the sea receives all waters and the whale beares all tempests This as is well observed was too bold a speech to God from a creature for when his hand is on our backs our hands should be upon our mouths as Psalm 39.9 I was dumb or as others read it I should
terrible doubtlesse because they had no warning of it as they had of other plagues How oft do men chop into the chambers of death their long-home the grave all on the sudden as he that travelleth in the snow may do over head and ears into a marle-pit Death of any sort is unwelcome to nature as being its slaughterman but when sudden It is so much the more ghastly and those that desperately dare death to a duel cannot look it in the face with blood in their cheeks only to those that are in Christ the bitternesse of death is past the sting of it pulled out the property altered as hath been already noted Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse saith a Learned Expositor here lay in the grave and hath left perpetual beams of light there for his purchased people Mr. Caryl The way to the grave is very dark but Christ hath set up lights for us c. And of the shadow of death The shadow is the dark part of the thing so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death death in its most hideous and horrid representations the shadow of death is the substance of death or death with addition of greatest deadlinesse Without any order Heb. and not orders What then confusion surely without keeping to rules or ranks mens bones are mingled in the grave whether they have been princes or peasants it cannot be discerned Omnia mors aequat as chesse-men are put up all together in the bag when the game is ended without distinction of King Duke Bishop c. so here Junius rendreth it expertem vicissitudinum without any interchanges distinctions vicissitudes or varieties as of day night summer winter heat cold c. of which things consisteth the greatest part of the brevity of this world And where the light is 〈◊〉 darknesse How great then must needs be that darknesse as our Saviour speaketh in another case Matth. 6.23 Surely when by the return of the Sun there is light in the land of the living in the grave all is abyssed and sunk into eternal might as the bodies of those two smothered Princes were by their cruel Uncle Richard the third in the black-deeps a place so called at the Thames-mouth in the grave light and darknesse are both alike and as the Images in Popish Temples see nothing though great wax candles be lighted up before them so the clearest light of the Sun shining in his strength would be nothing to those that are dead and buried Let this be much and often thought on mors tuâ— mors Christi c. Cyrus that great Conqueror lying on his death-bed praised God saith Xenophon that his prosperity had not puffed him up for he ever considered that he was but mortal and must bid adieu to the world Charls the fifth Emperour of Germany caused his sepulcher and grave clothes to be made five years before his death and carried them closely with him whithersoever he went Samuel sent Saul newly annointed to Rachels sepulcher 1 Sam. 10.24 that he might not surfet upon his new honours c. CHAP. XI Verse 1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite WIth a most bitter invective savouring more of passion then charity Zophar rejoyneth or rather revileth innocent Job mis-interpreting his meaning verse 4. and laying to his charge 1. Loquacity or talkativenesse 2. Lying 3. Scoffing at Gods good providence and mens good counsel 4. Self-conceitednesse and arrogancy besides rashnesse boldnesse c. For want of better arguments against him he falls foul upon him in this sort And if the adversaries of the truth do the like by us as our Saviour saith they will Matth. 5.11 and as himself after Job and many other of his members had the experience of it we must not be over-troubled Zophar signifieth a watcher he watched for Jobs halting and took him up before he was down he is stiled the Naamathite from Naamah a city in the land of Vz eighteen miles from Jobs Pyramis saith Adricomius which signifieth â—air But he dealeth not so fair with his friend as had been fit for he giveth him no honour or respect at all but treateth him with singular sharpnesse and violence or rather virulence of speech hear himâ—elfe Verse 2. Should not the multitude of words be answered Should not he who speaketh what he will Nunquid qui multa loquitur non audiet Vulg. hear what he would not yes Job shall now or you 'l want of your will but if Job have talked more then his part came to the truth is his speeches are longer then any of those his three friends which are all except that first made by Eliphaz chap. 4. and 5. comprehended in one chapter whereas his take up two three or more he may well be excused considering the sharpnesse of his disease the ungentlenesse of his friends and the sense of Gods displeasure which his soul laboured under Zophar and the rest looked upon him as a wretched hypocrite and were angry that he would not yeild himself so they accused his former conversation as wicked what way had he therefore to defend and assert his own integrity but by words and must he yet passe for a pratling fellow a man of lips a very wordy man one that loveth to hear himself talk because he will not be by them out-talked and over-born by their false charges Most sure it is that profane and profuse babblings are to be avoided and to bring fulnesse of matter in fewnesse of words it is very commendable Quà m multa quà m paucis said Tully of Bruâ—â—s his Laconical Epistle how much is here in a little but 1. Every man cannot be a short-spoken Spartan It is reported that in Luthers house was found written Melancthou hath both matter and words Luther hath matter but wants words Erasmus hath words at will but wants matter Every one hath his own share all are not alike-gifted 2. He is to be accounted talkative who uttereth unprofitable words and far from the purpose beside the point and so Zophar himself was to be blamed in this whole discourse of his wherein he talketh much but speaketh little Concerning the infinite and unsearchable wisedom of God he argueth truly and gravely but yet nothing fitly to convince Job who himself had said as much and more of the same subject The counsel also that therehence he giveth Job doth little or nothing concern him it being the same in effect that Eliphaz and Bildad had said before him Zophar therfore was the locutuleius the talkative man here mentioned rather then Job the lipâ—-man adversus sua ipsius vitia facundus satis and as Bion was wont to say that the Grammarians of his time could discourse wel of the errors of Vlysses but not at all see their own so it befell Zophar And should a man full of talk be justified Heb. a man of lips so called as if he were made all of lips and had no other members Shall such an one
bespeaking us as once hee did Jacob Fear not to go down to Egypt so down to the grave for I will go with thee and will surely bring thee up again Gen. 46.4 Or as he did his labouring Church Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast That thou wouldst keep me secret In limbo Patrum say the Papists in parabola ovis capras suas quaerentes Vntil thy wrath be passed For it is such as I can of my self neither avoid nor abide Turn it away therefore or turn it into gentlenesse and kindnesse Psal 6.4 and be friends again Jer. 2.35 Or secret and secure me til the resurrection when all thy wrath will be gone from me That thou wouldst appoint me a set time Heb. set me a statute set down even what time thou pleasest either to send me to bed or to call me up again so that thou wilt but be sure at last to remember me And remember me Job is willing to die out of the world but to die out of Gods memory to be out of sight but not out of mind that God should bury him in the grave but not bury his thoughts of him he could be content to be free among the dead free of that company but not as the slain that lie in the grave whom God remembreth no more Psal 88.5 Job would be remembred for good as Nehemiah prayeth and be dealt with as Moses was whose body once hid in the valley of Moab did afterwards appear glorious in Mount Tabor at the transfiguration Verse 14. If a man dye shall he liâ—e again This he speaketh in way of admiration at that glorious work of the Resurrection See the like question chap. 15.11 Gen. 3.1 and 17.17 So the Apostle Rom. 8.30 31. having spoken of those glorious things predestination vocation justification glorification concludeth in these words What shall we say then We cannot tell what to say to these things so much we are amazed at the greatnesse of Gods goodnesse in them Surely as they have a lovely scarlet blush of Christs blood upon them so they are rayed upon with a beam of divine love to them that are in Christ We read of that godly and learned Scotch-Divine Mr. John Knox that a little before his death he gat up out of his bed and being asked by his friends why being so sick he would offer to rise and not rather take his rest he answered that he had all the last night been taken up in the meditation of the Resurrection and that he would now go up into the pulpit that hee might im part to others the comforts which thereby himself had received And surely if he had been able to have done as he desired I know not what text fitter for his purpose he could have taken then these words of Job If a man die shall he live again He shall without question and those that deny it or doubt of it as the Sadduces of old and some brain-sick people of late they erre not knowing the Scriptures this among the rest which are express for it and the power of God Mat. 22.29 being herein worse then divels which believe it and tremble worse then some heathens who held there would be a resurrection as Zoroastres Theopompus Plato c. worse then Turks who at this day confesse and wait for a resurrection of the body at such a time as the fearful trumpet which they call Soor shal be sounded by Mahomet say they at the commandment of the great God of the judgment All the dayes of mine appointed time or warfare will I wait till my change come i. e. till my death Prov. 31.8 men appointed to die are called in the original children of change or till the resurrection come when we shall all be changed 1 Cor. 15.51 our vile bodies shall be changed and conformed to Christs most glorious body the standard Philip. 3.23 in beauty agility impassibility and other Angelical perfections When I awake saith David sc at that general Resurrection I shall be full of thine image Psalm 17.15 I shall be brought from the jawes of death to the joyes of eternal life where are riches without rust pleasures without pain c. Three glimpses of this glorious change were seen 1. In Moses his face 2. In Christs transfiguration 3. In Stevens countenance when he stood before the council Such a change as this is well worth waiting for what would not a man do what would he not suffer with those noble professors Heb. 11. to obtain a better resurrection I would swim through a sea of brimstone saith one that I might come to heaven at last The stone will fall down to come to its own place though it break it self in twenty pieces so we that we may get to our center which is upwards c. Sursum cursum nostrum dirigamus manantem imminentem exterminantem mortem attendamus ne simul cum corporis fractura animae jacturam faciamus Let us wait and wish every one for himself as he once did Mî sine nocte diem vitam sine morte quietem Det sine fine dies vita quiésque Deus Verse 15. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee At the Resurrection of the just thou shalt call me out of the grave by thine All-powerful voice uttered by that Archangel with the trump of God 1 Thes 4.16 1 Cor. 15.52 Psalm 50.3 4. and thou shalt not need to call twice for as I shall not need then to fear as the hypocrites will to shew my face so I will readily answer Here I am Mr. Boroughs yea as that dying Saint did so I will say I come I come I come I will even leap out of the grave to obey thine orders and I doubt not but to draw me out of that dark prison thou wilt lend me that hand of thine whereof I have the honour to be the workmanship Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands I know that thou thy self for the love thou bearest me of thy goodnesse who am thy creature Abbot and on whom thou hast shewn favour and reprinted thine image wilt long after the consummation of my happinesse for then I shall be like unto thee more like then ever for I shall see thee as thou art and appear with thee in glory Col. 3.4 1 John 3.2 being next unto thee Luke 22.30 Yea one with thee John 17.21 and so above the most glorious Angels Heb. 1.14 The King shall greatly desire my beauty Psal 45.11 and rejoyce over me as the bridegrom doth over his bride Isa 62.5 See chap. 10.3 The word here rendred Thou wilt have a desire signifieth Thou wilt desire as men do after silver The Lord seemed to deal by Job as men do by drosse to put him away as wicked Psalm 119.119 neverthelesse he believed that he would look
forth by a most lively and lightsome hypotyposis giving us to see as it were the horses rushing into the battle and to hear him snoaring and snorting with disdain and despight bringing every where horror and disorder Verse 22. He mocketh at fear c. Heb. He laugheth by an elegant Prosopopaeia such as this Book is full of Non vanos horret strepitus He feareth no colours when once ingaged in fight but counts that a sport and play whereof others are afraid Neither turneth he back from the sword Or any other offensive weapons these cannot make him turn taile or recoil he is never more furious then when he sees himselfe covered with his blood Vires animosque à vulnere sumit Being wounded he biteth and kicketh and fighteth no lesse stoutly then the Rider himself doth Verse 23 The Quiver rattleth against him The Arrow those messengers of death come whisking and singing about his ears so the bullets now in so much use but he is unappaled thereat The glittering Spear Heb. The flaming Spear as Gen. 3.24 that is bright and clear shining like a flame of fire which must needs be terrible but not at all to the War-horse And the Shield Or rather Javelin Launce or the like he feareth not a wood of Pikemen set in array against him Verse 24. He swalloweth the ground with fiercenesse He runs over it as fast as if he did swallow it up at a draught Terram pra cur sus celeritate ebibere epotare videtur Merc. In fremitu commotione An hyperbolical Metaphor With fierceness and rage Or With commotion or unquietness there is an elegancy in the Original that cannot be englished Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet He is so over-joyed when that sign is given to begin the battle Others he cannot stand still when he hath once heard the sound of the Trumpet Verse 25. He saith among the Trumpets Ha ha Or Euge. A Note of rejoycing which he seemeth to utter in his language these are Poetical termes He smelleth out the battle afar off He knowes that the onset is about to be given Pliny writeth That horses will perceive aforehand the very time of the fight if it be but By the thunder of the Captaines and the shouting The Captains adhortation and the Souldiers acclamations c. The Hebrew word signifieth the noise either of joy or sorrow both are commonly heard in battles For every battle of the Warriour is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood Isai 9.5 The glory of all this that is said of the horse Bodin theat Nat. p. 407. the Lord assumeth to himself and yet the horse is not so couragious but that he is as much afraid of and troubled at the sight of the Stone Taraxippe which therehence also hath its name as the Elephant is at the sight of an Hog and a Lion of a Cock wherewith they have a natural antipathy as Naturalists tell us Verse 26. Pennabi◠Doth the Hawk flye by thy wisdom Or Doth the hawk plumescere get her feathers by thy wisdome The word cometh from a root which signifieth strong because the strength of fowles is in their wings their delight in high flying Hath the Hawk her wings from thee and doth she recruit and use them artificio auspicio tuo by thy Art or Industry Tame them indeed men may and bring them to hand as Falconers do for pleasure more then for profit but neither can they give them their wings nor repair them when broken And stretch her wings toward the South Thereby to furnish her self with a second plumage whilst she flyeth into those hotter Countries where as they say her old feathers by the Sunnes heat fall off and new tome in their room Verse 27 Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command Mount plum up which no bird else can do to an infinite height even out of sight not without an eye still to her prey which by this means she spyes sooner and seizeth upon better A fit embleme of an hypocrite who seemes to soar aloft but it is for some self and sinister respect Mat. 24. he seeketh not the Lord Jesus Christ as the sincere hearted do but his own belly Rom. 16.18 And make her nest on high Not in plaines but on lofty tops and inaccessible Rocks for the safety of her young ones Of the nature of Eagles read Aristotle De Nat Animal lib. 9. cap. 32. and Pliny lib. 3. cap. 10. They tell us That there is an enmity between the Eagle and the Serpent and because the Serpent seeketh to destroy the young Eagles she setteth her nest on high to safeguard them And if any man seek to rob her nest she doubteth not to assault him with her wings and talons Formidable she is to all birds save only the Hawk who is able to deal with her if he can but avoid the first shock Verse 28. She dwelleth and abideth upon the rock c. Which are counterscarfed and encompassed with Precipices there she makes her nest in the clefts and crags The reason whereof see in the Note on the Verse afore-going Vpon the crags of the Rocks She nesteth not upon the sand as the Ostrich doth ver 14. And in this so great difference of birds and other creatures is seen the wonderful Power and Providence of God Verse 29. From thence she seeketh the prey Besides fowles whereof shee is called the Queene she preyeth upon Hares Hinds Foxes and such other beasts as she can master Hence that complaint of the Hare In me omnis terraeque marisque aviumque ruina est Martial And her eyes behold afar off To a very great distance She is sharp-sighted and first sees her prey and then seeks it She is also so strong sighted that she can look intently into the body of the Sun without being dazeled and by that property makes proof of her young ones whether they be right or not Those that cannot so behold the Sun she drives out of the nest as spurious Those that can she owneth Schol in Deu◠32.11 and beareth abroad with her upon her wings as Munster noteth out of R. Solomon that none can shoot them but through her body and thereto Moses alludeth Exod. 19.4 Verse 30. Her young ones also suck up blood Heb. They glut-glut blood the Hebrew word jegnalegna dam seemes to be made from the sound in sucking The young Eagles not yet able to tear the prey brought unto them by the old one with their talons suck the blood with their Beak and so are flesht in blood betimes And where the slain are there is she This is true of all the kinds of Eagles but especially of the Vulturine Eagle which is of a very sharp smell as well as sight and by a strange sagacity of nature resorteth with her young to places of slaughter and bloodshed she followeth Armies and feedeth on carcasses which they can smell say some Naturalists
of Hell as it were and doth therefore set up as loud a cry after God as once Micah did after his mawmets Judg. 18. and farre greater cause he had And to the Lord I made supplication He knew that the same hand alone must cure him that had wounded him neither was Gods favour recoverable but by humble confession and hearty prayer Some think to glide away their groans with games and their cares with cards to bury their terrours and themselves in wine and sleep They run to their musick with Saul to building of Cities with Cain when cast out of Gods presence c. sed haret lateri lethalis arundo but as the wounded Deer that hath the deadly arrow sticking in his side well he may frisk up and down for a time but still he bleedeth and will ere long fall down dead so it is with such as feek not comfort in God alone as make not supplication to Him for Him as return not to God who hath smitten them nor seek the Lord of Hoasts Isa 9.13 Vers 9. What profit is there in my blood c i.e. In my life say some q. d. To what purpose have I lived sith Religion is not yet settled In my death say others Diolat and better a violent death especially and out of thy favour Now all beleevers have ever abhorred such a kind of death before they were reconciled to God and had a true feeling of his grace Shall the dust praise thee c See Psal 6.6 with the Note Vers 10. Hear O Lord and have mercy upon me When faith hath once said to God what it hath to fay it will wait for a good answer relying on his mercy and expecting relief from the Lord as here David doth looking in the mean whiles through the anger of his corrections to the sweetneffe of his loving countenance as by a Rain-bow we see the beautifull image of the Suns light in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud Vers 11. Thou hast turned from mee my mourning c. Sustulisti luctum latitiam attulisti See the Note on vers 5. Ver. 12. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee i.e. That my tongue oyled from an heart enlarged may exalt thee according to my bounden duty and thine abundant desert A good tongue that watcheth all opportunities to glorifie God and edifie others is certainly a mans great glory but an evill tongue is his foul shame Basil expoundeth glory by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit or soul The Chaldee Paraphrast Laudabunt to honor abiles mundi The glorious ones of the World shall praise thee O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Epiphonematica pathetica conclusio Davidi ex summis calamitatibus erepto familiaris He concludeth as he began ingaging his heart to everlasting thankfullnesse and therein becoming a worthy pattern to all posterity PSAL. XXXI A Psalm of David made say Vatablus and others at that time when Saul pursued David in the Wildernesse of Maon 1 Sam. 23.24 But by many circumstances and passages of this Psalm it appeareth more probable that it was as the former composed when Absolom was up 2 Sam. 15.10 c. See vers 11 12 22. of this Psalm with 2 Sam. 17.24 27. 19.33 Joseph Autiq. lib. 7. cap 9. Vers 1. In thee O Lord do I put my trust Hic Psalmus varia mixtus magna affectnum vicissitudine insignis est This Psalm is strangely mixt and made up of many and diverse passions and petitions according to the change of times and estate In the time of affliction he prayeth in the time of consolation he praiseth the Lord Ercles 7.15 In these three first verses is little said but what had been before said and is already opened Let mee never be ashamed i.e. Repulsed worsted defeated In thy Righteousnesse And not according to mine own Righteousnesse saith Kimchi or according to thy faithfullnesse Vers 2. 〈…〉 This repetition of his petition is no vain babbling as Mat. 6.9 but an effect and an evidence of greatest earnestneffe as Mat. â—6 44 For an house of defence Where the enemy can as little hurt mee as when I was in the Hold 1 Sam. 22.4 Vers 3. For thou art my Rock and my fortresse Such places David had been forced to fly to but stil he trusted in God Lead mee and guide mee Duc me deduc me A Metaphor from Captaines and Generalls who lead on their armies with greatest art and industry Vatab. Vers 4. Pull mee out of the net That noted net as the Hebrew hath it Nam Zâ— denet at rem notam omnibus saith Kimchi David was not caught in it but the enemies presumed he would be so selling the hide before the beast was taken as did likewife the proud Spaniards when coming against England in eighty eight they triumphed before the victory and sang Tu qua Romanas suevisti temnere leges Hispano disces subdere collajugo But blessed be God the net brake and wee escaped Psal 124.7 For thou art my strength As a tree is strongest at the root and a branch or bough next the trunck or stock and the further it groweth out from thence the smaller and weaker it groweth too So the nearer the Creature is to God the stronger and on the contrary Vers 5. Into thine hand I commit my spirit So did our Saviour so did St. Stephen and diverse of the dying Martyrs with these very words most apt and apposite surely for such a purpose But what a wretch was that Huberâ—â— who dyed with these words in his mouth I yeeld my goods to the King my body to the grave and my soul to the Devill Thou hast redeemed And so hast best right unto mee O Lord God of truth I know whom I have trusted Vers 6. I have hated them that regard lying vanities i.e. Idols or ought else besides the living God who giveth us all things richly to injoy 1 Tim. 6.17 See Jon. 2.8 with the Note Vanitates vanitatis Vatablus rendreth it and telleth us that some understand it of Astrology R. David doth so in this Note of his upon the Text Astrologos in cantatores in fuga mea non consului sed in Domino prophetis ejus confisus sum I have not consulted Astrologers and Soothsayers in my trouble but have trusted to the Lord and his Prophets Vers 7. I will be glad and rejoyce In the midst of trouble faith will find matter of joy as extracting abundance of comfort in most desperate distresses from the precious promises and former experiences Thou hast known my soul in adversity God knows our souls best Psal 1.6 and wee know him best in adversity Isa 63.16 the Church thought she should know him in the midst of all his austerities Vers 8. Thou hast not shut mee up c. i.e. Not given mee into their power See Psal 27.12 Thou hast set my feet in a large room So that
contentions that were in the Church might be quenched though it were with his bloud so when he dyed he was more sollicitous of the Churches welfare than of his own Vers 2. He shall judge thy people with righteousness sc If thou please to remember thy promise to me and to answer this my prayer of faith founded thereupon And thy poor Or thine afflicted The people the poor afflicted especially are the Lords and therefore not to bee tyrannized over and trampled on by their Governours Vers 3. The mountain shall bring peace i. e. They shall not be so pestered and infested by Theeves and Robbers who usually 〈◊〉 and hide themeselves in hills and hollow places By righteousness By right administration of Justice as it was here in King Alfreds days who ordained that his 〈◊〉 should be divided into Tâ—â—s or Tythings every of which severally should give Bond for the good abearing of each other and he who was of that 〈◊〉 behaviour that he could 〈◊〉 be admitted to these Tythings was forth wich conveyed to the House of Correction The ancientest of these men were called by a specialty the Tything men Vers 4. He shall judge the 〈◊〉 of the people Indeed all indifferently without respect of persons but a poor mans Tale shall be heard and his Cause judged as well as a rich mans Under Christs Government it shall be so howsoever I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith he Rev. 3.9 Amongst men both in sures of Love and of Law Money maketh Mistery Not so here And shall break in peeces the oppressour The Syceyâ—â—nt saith the Creek the Slanderer saith the Latine the Devil say some Over these He shall turn the wheel Vers 5. They shall fear this Who hast blessed them with so good a King such as maketh it his main care to set up God where-ever he hath to do As long as the Sun and Moon 〈…〉 The Lacedonians publickly professed Quoad sol codem it itenire maebit quo 〈◊〉 meet 〈…〉 sociat cum Xerxe 〈◊〉 whiles the Sun shall hold on his course we will never make a League with Xerxes Vers 6. He shall come down like rain upon the 〈◊〉 grass That is he shall bee very dear to us and much delighted in See Job 29.23 with the Note As showers that water the earth This is chiefly fulfilled in Christ who by raining down righteousness maketh his Church to grow and flourish Vers 7. In his days shall the righteous flourish As watered Gardens Jar. 31.12 or as the Willows by the water courses Isa 44.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And abundance of peace The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and affurance for ever Isa 32.17 Christs subjects have peace 〈◊〉 Isa 25.3 a multiplied peace a multiplied pardon Isa 55.7 where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth neither can they commit more than God will remit unto them Vers 8. He shall have dominion also from Sea to Sea Salomon shall from the Mediterranean in the West to the Persian Sea or Indian Ocean in the East And from the river unto the ends of the earth i.e. From Euphrates and the Northern Countries to Aegypt and the utmost pares of all Africa This was a Type of Christs universal dominion thoroughout the whole World Zech. 9.9 Psal 110.1 Vers 9. They that dwell in the Wildereness Wild Barbarous rude people such as were the ancient Britains our Progenitours till Christ the Sun of righteousness shone upon them till they were brought to the obedience of faith Bond in Horsâ— Tunâ— enim sensinâ— evannit ferit as indias ezulavit immanit as corruit crudelites c. for then it was otherwise And his enemies shad lick the dust A Ceremony much in use among the Easterlings Prostrani adorant hiâ—rationemâ— saith Herodotus of the Persians Lib. 1. they worship their betters by falling to the ground before them and how Tridetes King of Parthians worshipped Nero. is to be read in Die Cassius Christs foes shall all bee made his footstool Vers 10. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles i.e. All the Kings of the earth which being encompassed with the Ocean is therefore by the old Geographers called a great Island Judes though part of the Conâ—iâ—â—â—at is called an Isle Isa 20.6 because separated from other Countries with whom God would have his people to have as little to do as might be that they might not be corrupted with forein fashion This was a 〈…〉 in Salomon See 1 King 4.21 24 chap. 10.25 perfectly it is and shall be in Christ De 〈…〉 of the Christ a certain saith Kimchi all the Kingdom of the earth shall one day but his Kingdoms he shall be the 〈…〉 and be alone Ver. 11. 〈◊〉 King 〈…〉 Vers 12. For 〈…〉 If the people complained of See on vers 9. If the people complained of Salomon 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 yoke 〈◊〉 as by thy Father it was but of a sinful 〈…〉 saith 〈…〉 people 〈◊〉 know when they are well but quarrelling at and complaining of the present Government you even 〈◊〉 Christs 〈◊〉 yoke and light burden as if importable Vers 13. He shall spare the poor an 〈◊〉 Hereby David sheweth his Son and all his Successours Quaâ—â— debent 〈…〉 what manner of man a King ought to be Regiment without Righteousness turneth into tyranny it is but Robbery with authority O. Scipio Nastra for his good Government was â—â—â—med Optimus by the Senate and had an house gived him at the Pâ—â—lick charge in 〈◊〉 saira that the poor might repair to him Vers 14. He shall redeem their soul from decent and violence Those two noted Engines of all mischief to the poor viz. privy deceit Ufury the Septuagint and Vulgar render it and open violence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fraud and force craft and cruelty And precious shall their bloud be in his sight He shall be very tender of their lives that they bee not causelesly cast away either in times of Peace or War Precious also in the sight of the Lord Christ is the death of his 〈◊〉 his Martyrs Psal 116 15. Vers 15. And he shall live The King shall according to the poor mans prayer when releeved or the poor shall and the King shall give him gold brought from Sheon or 〈◊〉 the happy Whereupon Prayer shall be 〈◊〉 c. By the poor for him or though 〈◊〉 applying it to Christ and for the increase of his Kingdom and for his coming Vers 16. There shall be an handful of Corn â—amp c. 〈◊〉 The batrâ—â— mountain shall yeeld Corn abundantly and also by handfuls as 〈◊〉 in those seven years of plenty Gen. 41.47 The fruit thereof shall 〈◊〉 The Corn shall 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 like the Trees in Lebanon shaken by the Wind. And they of the city shall flourish Men also increase and multiply Jerem. 31.27 to a very great number as piles of Grass Christs subjects shall Vers 17. 〈…〉 for ever i. e. His Kingdom for it shall not bee nomen
peculiar To touch these is to touch the apple of Gods eye Zach. 2.8 they are sacred persons And do my Prophets no harm The Patriarchs were such Gen. 20.7 so are still all godly Ministers whom they who harm by word or deed have not so much knowledge as Pilats wise had in a dream See Psal 14.4 Vers 16. Moreover he called for a Famine How easie is it with God soon to stawe us all by denying us an harvest or two If he do but call for a Famine it is done He brake the while staff of bread Either by withdrawing bread that staff of mans life or his blessing from it for man liveth not by bread alone or at all but by every word c. Mat. 4. without which bread can no more nourish us than a clod of clay In pane conclusus est quasi baculus qui nos sustineat See Hag. 1.6 with the Notes Vers 17. He sent a man before them An eminent and eximious man Cujus vita fuit coelum queddam lucidissim is virtutum stellis exornatum to be their friend in the Court and to provide for their livelihood No danger befalleth the Church but God before-hand provideth and procureth the means of preservation and deliverance 2 Pet. 2.9 Even Joseph whom they had sold God ordereth the disorders of the world to his own glory and his peoples good Vers 18. Whose feet they hurt with fetters God hereby fitting him for that great service as he did afterwards Moses by forty years banishment in Miâ—ian and David by Sauls persecution till his soul was even as a weaned child Psal 131.2 He was laid in iron Heb. His soul came into iron or the iron entred into his soul but sin entred not into his conscience See a like phrase Luke 2.35 Vers 19 Until the time that his word came The time that Gods purpose and promise of deliverance was fulfilled This word of God prophane persons call Fate Fortune c. The word of the Lord tried him That he was Affliction-proof and still retained his integrity 1 Pet. 1.7 Vers 20. The King sent and loosed him By his own Master Potiphar who had laid him there at his wives in stance such as are bound ignominiously for righteousness sake shall be one way or other loosed honourably Vers 21. He made him Lord of his house Thus for his short braid of imprisonment where of he never dreamt Joseph hath eighty years preferment more than ever he dreamt of God retributions are very bountiful Vers 22. To bind his Princes at his pleasure To over-aw and to over-rule them to bind them in prison if need so required as himself had been bound and that at his pleasure or according to his own soul sine consensu Pharaoh saith Rabbi Solomon without Pharaohs consent as he dealt by Potiphar say other Rabbins And to teach his Senators wisdome Policy and piety which yet the Egyptians long retained not Vers 23. Israel also came into Egypt Whither he feared to go till God promised him his presence and protection Gen 46.3 4. God saith the same in effect to us when to descend into the grave Fear not to go down I will go down with thee and be better to thee than thy fears Jacobs best and happiest dayes were those the spent in Egypt Vers 24. And be increased his people greatly Against all the power of Egypt set against them And made them stronger than their enemies They were not so for present but the Egyptians conceited and feared they would be so Vers 25. He turned their hearâ— to hate Mens hearts are in Gods hands and he formeth and fashioneth their opinions of and affections to others at his pleasure yet without sin To deal subtilly with his servants Seeking to imbase and enervate their spirits by base drudgeries imposed upon them So afterwards dealt the Persian Tyrant with Hormisaus and the great Turk with the Christians Vers 26. He sent Moses his servant Quande duplicantur lateres venit Moses say the Jews as this day And Aaron c. God usually sendeth his by two and two for mutual helps and comfort Vers 27. They shewed his signs Heb. The words of his signs for Gods wondrous works are vocal they are real sermons of Gods power and justice See Exod. 4.8 Vers 28. He sent darkness Palpable darkness by reason of most black and thick vapours of the earth mingling themselves with the air such as Aben-Ezra said that hee once felt sayling upon the Ocean the gross vapours there putting out the light of fire and candle and not suffering them to be re-inkindled And they rebelled not against his word They that is the plagues called for came immediately with an Ecce me Or They that is Moses and Aaron refused not to denounce and inflict those plagues though Pharaoh threatned so kill them where a man would wonder at Pharaohs hardness and hardiness that being in the midst of that deep and dreadful darkness he could rage against God and threaten with death his servant Moses The Arabick reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendreth it Et irritarunt sermonem ejus And they the Egyptians provoked his word or rebelled against it Vers 39. He turned their waters into blood A just hand of God upon them for their cruelty in drowning the Hebrew Infants and a real forewarning if they could have seen it of the death of their first-born and their final overthrow at the red Sea And slew their fish Which was a great part of their food Piscis à pascendo dictus Vers 30. The land brought forth frogs in abundance Like grass that grows upon the ground or as fishes spawned in the Sea as the word signifieth Gen. 1.20 Some think they were not common frogs sed venenat as hâ—rrendas quales sunt rubetae bufones Ab. Ezra but Toads and Lizards Crocodiles some think came out of the River and destroyed people In the chambers of their Kings Regis regulorum inter medias enseâ— medias custodias This was the finger of God as it was likewise when a Town in Spain was overturned by Conies and another in Thessaly by Moles a City in France undone by Frogs Plin. l. 8. c. 29 and another in Africa by Locusts c. Vers 31. He spake and there came divers sorts of Flyes Heb. a mixture so of Waspes Hornets Dog-flyes the most troublesome of all other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sorts of Insects And Lice in all their coasts This the Magicians could not do Quid ciniphe vilius c saith Philo What 's baser than a Louse yet hereby God can tame the sturdiest of his rebels Some Kings and other Grandees have dyed of the lousie disease as Herod Philip of Spain c. Vers 32. He gave them Hail for Rain Rain was geason in Egypt but now they had hail for rain a giftless gift Heb. He gave their rain hail Exod. 9.23 And flaming fire in their land That they
upon him as silver and although he now crushed him together and brake him to pieces as the silver-smith doth an old piece of plate which he means to melt yet that he would in the grave as in a furnace refine him and at the Resurrection bring him out of a new fashion Lo this is the right Logick of faith to make conclusions of life in death and of light in darknesse to gather one contrary out of another Verse 16. For now thou numbrest my steps Or But now thou numbrest c. thou keepest an exact account of every sin of mine of every step that I have trod awry yea though it be but some wry motion of my mind as the Septuagint here translate so curious art thou and critical in thine observations of mine out-strayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See chap. 10.14 But is this Job that speaketh or some other How confident was he 〈◊〉 while and comfortable in the hope of a glorious resurrection but now down again upon all four as we say and like an aguish man in a great fit of impatiency which holdeth him to the end of the chapter But for this who knoweth not that every new man is two men that in the Saints the flesh is ever lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh that in the Shulamite is as it were the company of two armies maintaining a continual contest Cant. 0.13 â—said I am cast out of they sight yet I will look againe toward thine holy Temple Jon. 2.4 See the Note there Dost thou not watch over my sin This is the same with the former but without a figure The Rabbines have a saying that there is not any doubt in the law but may be resolved by the context the Scripture is its owne best Interpreter Verse 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag As the writings or informations of a processe which is ready to be sentenced Deut. 32.34 Hos 13.12 Thou hast as it were sealed up and made sure work with all my sins saith Job to have them forth-coming for the increase of my punishment Look how the Clark of Assizes saith one seals up the indictments of men and at the Assizes brings his bag and takes them out to read the same against them so God dealt with Job in his conceit at least The truth is God had not sealed his transgressions in a bag but had cast them behind his back a bag God hath for mens sins and a bottle he hath for their tears Psalm 56.8 Now Job was one of those penitents that helped to fill Gods bottle and therefore he saw at length though now he were benighted all his sins bag and all thrown into the sea and sinking as a waighty milstone in those mighty waters of free-grace and undeserved mercy And thou sowest up mine iniquity Adsuèsne aliquid iniquitati meae so the Tigurines translate i. e. Wilt thou sew or adde any thing to mine iniquity wilt thou tye to it that tag as a Martyr phraseth it of the Lawes malediction conjoyning the punishment to the sin Adsuere ad iniquitatem est poenas poenis continenter adjungere Merl. Some make this an explication of the former q. d. the bag is not only sealed but for more surety sewed too and that purposely for a purchase of punishment as some sense it Verse 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought q. d. If thou Lord proceed to deal thus rigidly with me viz. to number or cipher up my steps to watch over my sins to seal them up in a bag c. and all this in fierce wrath that thou mayest lay load upon me what mountain what rock what other creature is ever able to abide it chap. 6.12 chap. 7.12 Job had said before Is my strength the strength of stones Am I a sea or a whale Were I these or any the like robustuous creatures yet could not I expect to stand before the displeased Omnipotency who takest the hills like tennis-balls and crackest the rocks like a Nut-shell See Hab. 1.4 5 6. with the Notes And the rock is removed out of his place As in earth-quakes it sometimes falleth out See on chap. 9.5 or by reason of the sea underlaking it decayeth in time and waxeth old as the Hebrew word signifieth Verse 19. The waters weare the stones Gutta cavat lapidem c. the weakest things wear out the hardest by often falling upon them or continual running over them so doth Gods wrath though let out in minnums secretly but surely consume Hos 5.12 I will be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Judah as rottennesse or that little worm teredo that eats into the heart of wood and rots it Thus he plagued the Egyptians by lice and flies There may be much poison in little drops Thou washest away the things that grow out of the earth Or Thou ever-flowest as once in the general deluge when the face of the earth was grown so foul that God was forc'd to wash it with a flood and frequently since we see that after great rains there are huge floods that marre whole meadows and corne fields not only discolouring but drowning all their beauty and plenty This is the fourth comparison used in this and the former verse where a man would wonder saith an Interpreter Olymp. audire Jobum in medus â—rumuis philosophantem to hear Job in the midst of his miseries making use of his philosophy and travelling thus in his thoughts for illustrations of his own case over mountains and rocks c. Thou destroyest the hope of man viz. In destroying the things above-mentioned or so thou destroyest c. though some reserve the raddition to the next verâ—â— so Thou prevailest against him c. i.e. So thou never ceasest with thy might to cast down sorry men till such time as they changing countenance and departing with an heavy and sorrowful heart thou violently throwest them out their lives and hope ending together if they have been wicked as if godly yet their vain and groundlesse hopes of prosperity and plenty c. come to nothing though over the red sea yet Gods people may be made to tack about two and forty times in the wildernesse Verse 20. Thou prevailest for ever against him This and the rest of the words to the end of the Chapter some make to be the Application of the Similitudes Others an Amplification only of what he had said Thou destroyest the hope of man Thou must needs when thou overmatchest and over-masterest him and art never worsted Exod. 15.3 the Lord is called A Man of War the Chaldee there hath it The Lord and Victor of Wars And the word here rendred Ever cometh from a root that signifieth to finish conquer and triumph And he passeth scil Out of the world by a violent or untimely death Violenâ—â— mortâ— aut certe immaturà Merlin with as ill a will many times as the unjust Steward did out
of his Office as the Jebusites did out of the Fort of Zion or as the Devil out of the Demoniack Sâ—d voluntas Dei necessitâ—s rei he passeth because he can neither will nor chuse as they say Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away Eleganter vero mors notatur immutandi verbo saith one Elegant is death set forth by changing the countenance for death taketh away the faire and fresh colour of a man and makes him look wan and withered pale and ghastly It is easâ—e to see death many times before it come in the sick manâ—face in his sharp nostrils thin cheeks hollow eyes c. Facies Hippocratica those Harbingers of death whereby God sendeth for him and so sendeth him away extrudit amandet as once he did Adam out of Paradise Lavaters Note here is Propone tihi semper horribileus speciem mortis ut eò minus pecces Set before thy self alwayes the horrid face of death to restraine thee from sin Verse 21. His sons come to honour and he knoweth it not Whilst he lyeth sick Omnis in Ascanio chari statcura parentis Vir. he regardeth no earthly thing no not what becometh of his children formerly his greatest care whether they be advanced or impaired in their outward condition As when he is dead he can take no knowledge of any thing done in this world Isai 63.16 Eccles 2.19 and 96. be his children or friends rich or poor high or low he is both ignorant and insensible It was a base slander published by a Jesuit some years after Queen Elizabeths death That as she died without sense or feeling of Gods mercies Cambd. Eliz. Prefat so that she wished she might after her death hang a while in the Aire to see what striving would be for her Kingdome As for that opinion of some Papists That the dead do sometimes returne into the Land of the living that they know how things go here and make report thereof to those in heaven it is contrary to the whole Scripture Verse 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain That is say some But as long as he is living his body is afflicted with a thousand evils and though his soul by the condition of her creation be exempt from them yet she beares a part in them and becomes miserable with it A dying man hath sorrow without and sorrow within the whole man is in misery as Job here felt himself Others hold Aben-Ezra Mercer Deodate that this Poetical representation hath no other meaning but that the dead have no manner of communication with the living Broughtou rendreth it His flesh is grieved for it self and his soul will mourn for it self q.d. he takes no thought or care for his children or neerest relations CHAP. XV. Verse 1. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanice and said LApides locutus est In this second encounter Eliphaz falls upon Job not so much with stronger Arguments as with harder words reproving him sharply or rather reproaching him bitterly Facundiâ quadam caninâ with more Eloquence then charity So hard a thing is it saith Beza espetially in disputing and reasoning to avoid self-love as even in these times experience daily teacheth us He hinteth I suppose at the publick Conference betwixt himself and Jacobus Andreas at Mompelgard Lib. 35. Hist whereby the strife was rather stirred then stinted as Thuanus complaineth Or else at the Disputation at Possiacum wherein Beza Speaker for the Protestant party Hist of Counc of Trent 453. before the Queen Mother of France the young King Charles and many Princes of the Blood entring into the matter of the Eucharist spake with such heat unlesse the Historian wrongs him that he gave but ill satisfaction to those of his own side so that he was commanded to conclude Such meetings are seldome successeful saith Luther because men come with confidence and wit for victory rather then verity In this reply of Eliphaz to Job we may see what an evil thing it is to be carried away with prejudice and pertinacy which make a man forget all modesty and fall foule upon his best friends Here 's enough said to have driven this sorrowful man into utter despaire had not God upheld his spirit whiles he is fiercely charged for a wicked man Non affert ullaâ—â— consolationem non invitat eum ad panitentiam sed potiâ—â— ad desperationem complelas Lav. and hated of God neither doth any of his friends henceforth afford him one exhortation to repentance or one comfortable promise as Lavater well observeth Verse 2. Should a wise man utter vain knowledg Heb. Knowledg of the wind light frothy empty discourses that have no tack or substance in them but only words that are no better then wind a meer flash or Aiery nothing Solomon thinks a wise man should beware of falling into this fault lest he forfeit his reputation Eccles 10.1 Dead flyes cause the Oyntments of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour as spots are soonest observed in the whitest and finest garments and envy like wormes and moths doth usually feed on the purest cloth Neh. 6.11 A great many dead flies may be found in a Tar-box and no hurt done but one of them falne into a pot of sweet Odours or precious Perfumes may soone taint and corrupt them And fil his belly with the East-wind Per ventrem mentem intellige per ventum Orientalem vanam opinionem saith Vatablus By belly understand the mind and by the East wind a vain conceit or frothy knowledg blown forth out of a swelling breast to the hurt of others for the East wind is destructive to herbs and fruits Hos 12.1 Gen. 41.6 But doth not Eliphaz here by these bubble of words and blustering questions betraying much choler and confidence fall into the very same fault which he findeth with Job Doth not he also fill his belly with heat so the Vulgar rendreth this Text which kindling in his bosom blazeth out at his lips Doth not this angry man exalt folly and shew himself none of the wisest though he were the oldest in all the company Verse 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk Why But if he do should he therefore be thus rippled up and rough-hewed And not rather reduced and rectified with hard Arguments and soft words Man is a cross crabbed creature Duci vult trahi non vult Perswade him you may compel him you cannot A fit time also must be taken to perswade him to better for else you may loose your sweet words upon him The Husbandman soweth not in a storm The Mariner hoyseth not sail in every wind Good Physicians evacuate not the body in extremity of heat and cold A brother offendâ—d is harder to be 〈…〉 a strong City Prov. 18.19 This Eliphaz should have considered and not so rashly censured Job for a fool and his talk for trash but