of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these which are of the daughters of the Land what good shall my life do me Better be out of the world than see my sons miscarry These two sights to see children suffering or to see them sinning are a pain not only to the eyes but to the hearts of parents But to see them First Prosperous in their way Secondly Pious keeping the way of the Lord to have and see such children and childrens Children to the third and fourth generation how delightful is this The Apostle John professed 3 Epist ver 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth He means his spiritual children those whom he had converted to the faith and begotten to Christ in the ministery of the Word O what a joy was it to that holy Apostles heart to see them walk answerably to the profession of the Gospel and his expectation Now as that was so great a joy to him that he had no greater so 't is an unspeakable joy when godly parents see their natural children spiritual and walking in the truth To see children new born to see them gracious and to see them prosperous also what a blessed sight is this And this was the sight doubtless which Job had he saw his children His sons and his sons sons to the fourth generation His blessedness as to all without him in this life was at the highest when he saw the prosperity of his children both in soul and body Thus Job was blessed every way he was blessed with riches blessed with long life blessed in the multiplication of his family he was blessed also in his death as appeareth in the next and last words of this Chapter and Book Vers 17. So Job died being old and full of days As Solomon said Eccles 12.13 Hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandements So I may say now Hear the conclusion of all men To fear God and keep his commandements is the consumating end of our lives but to dye is the consuming end of all our lives and to a good man 't is an entrance into eternal life Such and so Job died The Lord having spoken of his life is not silent about his death The story the holy story brings Job to his grave and that could not but be a blessed death which was the close of a gracious life So Job died Death is the separation of the soul from the body 't is the sleep of the body in the grave and thâ— rest of their souls in heaven who dye in the Lord. There is no difficulty in these words take a note or two from them First Death takes all sooner or latter Job lived a long time but he did not out-live death Mors ultima clausula vitae Mors ultima linea rerum he enjoyed an hundred and forty years prosperity in this world yet he left the world He lived long yet a day came when he could not live a day longer 'T is said of all the long livers Gen. 5. They died Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and he died Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and he died Methuselah the longest liver in this world lived nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died Here Job lived an hundred and forty and so he dyed David put the question of all men Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death How great or how good how rich or how wise how strong or how valiant soever any man living is he must dye How long soever any man hath lived in this world he must dye for the world must dye there must be a dissolution of all things and therefore a dissolution of all men Psal 82.6 7. I said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Kings and Princes who have the priviledge to be called gods have not the priviledge of God not to dye like men This is a common theam I intend not to stay upon it only let me tell you death will overtake us all sooner or later upon a double account First Because it is appointed Secondly Because it is deserved It is appointed unto men once to dye Heb. 9.27 and all men have deserved to dye to dye eternally and therefore much more to dye naturally Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death past upon all men for that all have sinned Now seing the condition of all men is a dying condition receive these four cautions First Prepare for death There is no avoiding it at the long run therefore be ready to entertain it at last and because we may dye at any time be preparing for death at all times How miserable are they who are so old that they cannot live and yet so unprepared that they are afraid to dye Job died and we must If so Is it not our wisdome to prepare for death Secondly Submit quietly to the arrest of death There is no striving with the decrees of God Our death is under a divine appointment Eccles 8.8 There is no discharge in that war no priviledge to be pleaded no exemption no prescription Your strength cannot stand against the assaults of death your prudence and policy cannot find any way of escape from it nor can your piety or godliness deliver you out of the hands of natural death As there is no work nor devise nor knowledge in the grave whither we are going Eccles 9.10 so there is no knowledg no device no wisdom can keep us from going into the grave no not our graces Grace is as salt to the soul preserving it from moral corruption for ever But it cannot keep the body from natural corruption in this world Mors est nobis nimis domestica utpote quam in viscaribus nostris circumserimâ— Plutarch in Consol ad Apoll. because our graces in this world are mingled with corruption Death is domestical to us that is we have the seed of it within our selves we carry it daily in our bowels and in our bosomes therefore submit quietly to it for there is no avoiding it Thirdly Seing all must dye get that removed which is the troubler of a death-bed and the sting of death get that removed which makes death bitter get that removed which makes death the King of terrours so terrible that is sin This should be our study all the days of our life to get rid of sin to be dying to sin daily because we must dye at last and may dye for all that we know or can assure our selves any day we live 1 Cor. 13.56 The sting of death is sin Whensoever or in what way soever we dye it will be well with us if the sting of death be first pulled out and whensoever we dye after never so long a life it will be miserable if we dye in our sins as Christ told the Jews in
without them but a foundation is of absolute necessity there cannot be continuing house without a foundation Fourthly The foundation is the support of the whole building that bears and upholds all the rest But some may say What are the foundations of the Earth I answer A foundation may be taken either properly or metaphorically formally or allusively The foundations of the Earth are not formal but metaphorical foundations 'T is a speech borrowed from men who must have a proper foundation for their buildings The Earth is not laid upon any formal but it hath a vertual foundation The Scripture saith sometimes that the Earth is founded upon the seas and established upon the floods Psal 24.2 yet in a proper sense the Sea is not the foundation of the Earth It 's said also Job 26.7 He hangeth the Earth upon nothing The whole bulk of Sea and Earth together are one Globe one Building formed and compacted together But the Earth may be said to have foundations and that God hath laid the foundations of it for this reason Because the Earth is set fast and firm it is like a house that hath foundations not only a foundation but foundations it stands most firm A house builded upon a rock Matth. 7.25 stands fast and immoveably in all weathers because built upon a sure foundation A house builded upon the sands falls it hath no sure foundation The Earth is made firm strong and sure as those houses or buildings that are raised upon rocks and is therefore said to have foundations Why is Heaven or the state of glory called a City having foundations Heb. 11.10 but because the state of glory or that glorious City is a firm state or as it is called in another place Chap. 13.14 a continuing City A City which shall it self continue for ever and whose Citizens without succession continue for ever Now though the Earth be but a moveable tent or weak cottage in comparison of Heaven or our heavenly state yet God in his infinite Wisdom and Power hath formed and established it so firmly for the habitation of man and all inferiour creatures upon its own center that the Lord may truly be said to have built it upon foundations or to have appointed foundations for it as 't is often expressed elsewhere Psal 102.25 Psal 104.5 Prov. 8.29 as well as here Where wast thou When I laid the foundations of the Earth The form of the words is considerable in opposition to that opinion of some of the Ancients Aquin. in loc who attributed the site of the Earth and of the other Elements not to any divine supernatural Power of the Maker but to the very Nature of the Earth or the necessity of the Matter according to which heavy things tend downward and light things rise high so according to that opinion the Earth being a heavy body falleth lowest or took its place of its self Now that this opinion may be consuted and shut out of doors the Lord compares his making of the World to the building of a house which is ordered according to the reason of the builder so that though it be a truth in Nature that heavy things fall lowest yet we are to ascribe all to the Wisdom of God the Disposer of them who hath done all things according to the pleasure of his own Will and that with such admirable contrivance that man is not able to comprehend it as the last words of the verse intimate Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding But before I pass to those words in the latter part of the verse I shall gather up some observations from this former part of it Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth c. Hence Note First The time of man upon Earth compared with the Eternity of God is nothing Where wast thou David Psal 39.4 prayed that God would teach him how frail he was as to the duration of his life and he adds in the next verse Mine age is nothing before thee The age of man is nothing before God if we consider it as to its beginning or if we consider it as to its ending When began the age of the most aged man Are not all men of yesterday God had an eternity of Being before man was upon the face of the earth And what 's the age of man as to its continuance As it began but yesterday that is a very little while ago or but the day past so it may end to morrow that is within a few dayes to come yea possibly before the next day or the morrow cometh Boast not of to morrow Prov. 27.1 both because thou knowest not what a day may bring forth nor whether as to thee a to morrow shall be brought forth Death sweeps men suddenly from the face of the earth only the Lord alwayes is and is alwayes the same All things change but God is not changed He is himself and his years fails not Then what 's mans age compared to God Note Secondly God is the first Being Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth God alone was before all things yet he was not at all alone Anteomnia erat deus solus ipse sibi mundus locus tempus omnia Tertul. adversus Praxeam cap. 5. For as one of the Ancients saith He was to himself a world place and time and all things Thirdly God is an Eternal Being It 's possible for one to be first and not to be eternal One man may have a Being before another and not have a Being from eternity but God had an eternal Being before the world had a Being or man any Being in the world There are Things of three sorts First Such as have had a beginning and shall have an end and be no more Thus it is with all meer sensitive Creatures the Beasts of the Earth and Fowls of the Ayre they perish there 's an end of their being when they die or come to the end of their lives Secondly There are other things which have had a beginning yet shall have no end As Spirits Angels good or bad and the souls of men yea the bodies of men though they are subject to and are cut off by death yet they shall return again and having been sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption and be clothed with immortality which is a piece of Eternity Thirdly There is a Being which is without beginning and without ending and that is Gods Being only or the Being of God who thus exprest himself to Moses I am and I am that I am Exod. 3.14 That word takes in all Time past present and to come yea past present and to come are all one in Gods Being Psal 90.1 Thou hast been our habitation from generation to generation That is We thy people have alwayes or in all revolutions of time dwelt or sheltered our selves in thee and then at the second
the highest threat I go away and ye shall dye in your sins John 8.21 They that dye in their sins dye a double death at once a temporal and an eternal death together And to those who have got the sting of death pulled out that is the guilt of sin removed and washed off by the blood of Christ I would Fourthly Take this caution If you would have death easie to you dye more and more to sin daily Some who are dead to sin may find much life of sin remaining in them and they who have much of the life of sin in them will never dye easily they will find strong bands in their death which in another sense some wicked men find not Psal 73.4 While either sin or self or the world are lively in us death will be greivous to us Therefore let them who are dead to sin never think themselves dead enough to it while they live they who are most dead to sin and the world have the sweetest and most comfortable passage out of the world So Job dyed Being old It must needs be that Job was an old man when he had lived an hundred and forty years after all his changes before this change came Why then is it added he died being old or being an old man Surely to teach us this lesson Old age and death cannot be far asunder 'T is a truth young men and death are not very far asunder youth and death are at no great distance but when we see an old man we may conclude that death and he are very near neighbours While we see an old man with his staff in his hand we may say he carrieth a rapper in his hand by which at every step he knocks at the door of the grave There is no man not the youngest man that can reckon certainly upon one day beyond what he hath and therefore Solomon admonisheth us Prov. 27.1 Beast not of to-morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth And the Apostle James checks those who would reckon upon a day he tells them upon the matter That they reckon without their hoast James 4.13 Go to now ye that say to day or to-morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain And then at the 14th verse Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for saith he What is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away They that are youngest have not a day nor an hour in their power to reckon upon what then have they that are old We may say of them They are even past their reckoning A woman near her time will sometimes say she hath but a day to reckon and some will say they have never a day to reckon old men may say so they have not a day to reckon Young men may dye old men must dye Then let old men be much in the meditation of death let them be often looking into their graves their gray hairs that do so are found in the way of wisdom Job dyed being old There was no longer staying for him in this world Once more Job dyed being old And full of days There is a twofold fullness First A fullness of satiety Secondly A fullness of satisfaction They are full in a way of satiety who loath that which they are filled with 't is burthensome to thâ—m They are full in a way of satisfaction who having enough are pleased and desire no more Some expound this Text of Job in the former sence he was full of days that is he had a fullness of satiety upon him he had lived so long that his life was a burden to him he had lived till he was weary of living his life was tedious and grievous to him It is said Revel 9.6 In those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them That which most flee from some pursue and it fleeth from them None are so unfit to dye as they who upon the account spoken of in that Text seek death and desire to dye I do not conceive that Job was full of days in the former notion as the stomack may be full of meat and loath it or be burthened with it but as having had enough of it though well liked to the last morsel And I am sure he was not full of days when he dyed in the latter notion as one wearied with the troubles of his life for all his latter days were a blessing to him and he blessed in them all His last days in this world being his best days of worldly enjoyment he could have no reason upon any worldly account to desire a departure out of the world I grant a good man though he hath not lived many days may be full of days even to weariness by reason of his temptations corruptions and sins of which kind of weariness the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.2 In this earthly house of the body we grown earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven And upon this account possibly Job himself might be weary of his life and desire the death of his body that he might be delivered from the body of that death But Jobs worldly life was as sweet as it was long he was as full of blessings as he was of days and therefore doubtless he was only satisfied with living not tired with it He did not loath his natural life nor did he hunger after a longer life in this world he hungred after eternity not time He did not hunger after a longer life as they do who have their portion in this life how long soever they have lived A worldly man is never satisfied with living in the world he never hath his belly full of living here while he sees he may as Job might fill his belly with the good things of this life But as Job had lived very long and very well on earth so he knew there was a better life to be had in heaven and therefore was full of days both as having had many and as having no desire after more on earth As he was not which David deprecated Psal 102.24 taken away in the midst of his days so he was willing to come to the end of his days and for that reason might well be said to dye being old and full of days Secondly These words so Job died being old and full of days may note as his willingness to dye so the easiness of his death he was come to a full ripeness for death Fruit that is fully ripe is soon gathered and sometimes drops off alone from the tree Job was every way ripe for death his body was ripe he was full of days his soul was ripe he was full of grace surely then his was a spontaneous death a very sweet way of dying His natural strength was not much being old
about to frame and O how many how exceeding many or innumerable are they yet God saw not onely some or many but every one of them It was said by one of the Ancients upon this place Profundum mâ—ris deuâ— ingreditâ—r quâ—ndo visitare mentes etiam pressâ—â— sceleribus non dedignatur Greg. l. 29. c. 7 God goes to the depth of the sea as often as he goeth into the depth of mans heart and beholds what is there And there â—e beholds not onely the great but small beasts as the Psalmist calls the fish of the sea that is not onely great but small lusts and foolish imaginations the huge multitudes and shoals of vain thoughts which swim and play in that wide sea of mans heart are distinctly seen and as distinctly judged as if but one were there Thirdly From the scope of this place note That seeing we cannot search into the depth of the sea it should stay our curiosity in searching into and stay us from discontent when we cannot find the depth of Gods Counsels concerning us and of his Providences towards us There is a dutiful search into the Works of God David speaks of it Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure in them They are sought out that is they who have pleasure in them do and will endeavour soberly to search them out as much as may be but let all take heed of searching them wantonly or presumptuously that is either to satisfie their curiosity or with an opinion that they can reach the depth of them The Lord would have us satisfie our selves in the ignorance or rather nescience of those natural things which he hath not made known to us Surely then which is as hath been said the scope of this Chapter we should be satisfied though we in some cases know not nor can perceive the reason of Gods providential dealings either towaâ—ds particular persons and families or his Church in general Will any wise or sober man vex and disquiet himself will he be angry and pettish because he knows not all the secrets of the earâ—h and sea as some say Aristotle the Philosopher was to death and drowning because he could not find out the reason why the sea in one place ebbed and slowed seven times in one day Why then should we be impatient because the reason of Gods proceedings with the sons of men or of the strange ebbings and slowings of things in the sea of this world is secreted and hidden fâ—om us And therefore when we are not able to enter into the springs of this sea nor to walk in the search of this depth let it not trouble us but humble us as it did Job to whom the Lord put these questions and proceeded to put more and more hard questions if harder can be in the next words Vers 17. Have the gates of death been opened or revealed unto thee Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Here is another strange question Who among the living hath had the gates of death opened to him Oâ— hath viewed the doors of the shadow of death We read often in Scripture of the gates of death Psal 9.13 Num illius profunda quae verè dixirim mortis regiam c. rimatus es Bez. Psal 107.18 and which is all one of the gates of the grave Isa 38.10 but who knows what these gates are yet we may say something towards the clearing of this question A gate in strict sense is that by which we are admitted into any place and so the gates of death are That whatsoever it is by which we enter into death or go into the black hall of the grave Again The gates of death are any great and eminent danger Then we may be said to be at the gates of death when our lives are in great hazard to be lost either by the violence of enemies or by any violent sickness In the former sense David spake in way of supplication Psal 9.13 Have mercy on me O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me thou that liftest me up from the gates of death that is from deadly danger In the latter he spake by way of narration in his elegant description of the sick Psal 107.18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death that is they are ready to die or sick unto death And thus said King Hezekiah upon his sick-bed and as he thought a little before upon his death-bed Isa 38.10 I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my years that is of those years which I might have reckoned upon as mine according to the common account of mans life or the usual course of nature These are the more general gates of death and about these all agree But there are several opinions what should be specially intended by the gates of death in this place Portae mortis sunt causae corruptionis quantum advirtutes corporum â—â—lestium Aquin. in loc First One riseth very high saying that by the gates of death we are to understand the visible heavens because the heavenly bodies send down sometimes malignant influences which have a mighty power to corrupt the bodies of men here below so causing death to carry them away Thus he imagins death issuing out of the clouds as out of opened gates upon men on earth But that 's a far fetcht interpretation Secondly Oâ—hers go to the utmost contrary point and say by the gates of death we are to understand Hell The Papists give a description of several receptacles for souls departed under the earth they make at least three distinctions First Limbus Patrum The place where they affiâ—m the souls of the Fathers were before Christ came in the flesh and had accomplished the work of our redemption here on earth Secondly Purgatory the place where the souls of all that die not in mortal sin as they distinguish are reserved to be purged by temporary punishments before they can get to heaven Thirdly The lowest of all is that which we call Hell the place of the damned whither all go say they and we too who die in sin without repentance This place of torment some take for the gates of death But seeing the Lord is here speaking of natural things not of moral actions not of the consequents of them rewards and punishments therefore though we may truly call Hell the gates or power of death yet that notion as well as the former is altogether heterogeneal in this Text. Thirdly Several expound the gates of death in connection with the former verse for the depth or bottom of the sea where many dead carcases lie rotting all such as are cast away by shipwracks or die at sea being usually thrown into the deep and therefore at last the sea shall give up her dead as well as the earth Fourthly The gates of death