himselfe What the day of darknesse is learne upon the former Verse He beleeveth not that he shall returne out of darknesse there I shewed a fivefold darknesse here I shall reduce it to one of these two The day of darknesse is either the day of death or the day of affliction so 't is taken Eccles 5.17 All his dayes hee eateth in darknesse that is hee is in sorrow all his dayes Though he hath Sun light or Candle light enough at his Table yet he hath no light in his heart So the Prophet Amos 5.20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darknesse and not light Even very darke and no brightnesse in it There is a day of the Lord which is nothing but light and there is a day of the Lord which is nothing but darknesse that is of tribulation and anguish upon the soule that sins The Prophet Joel calls it A day of darknesse and of gloominesse a day of clouds and of thick darknesse He knowes that the day of darknesse is Ready at hand The word which we translate ready signifies two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paratum firmum stabilem certum esse denotat Drus First that which is prepared Secondly that which is established or confirmed We translate to the former the day is ready or prepared others render to the latter sense the day is established and setled his day of darknesse shall certainely come upon him And whereas wee translate Ready at hand noting the neernesse of the danger Others Tygurina per manum intelligere videtur ipsa impiorunt scelera per paraphrasim sic sententiam elucidat Scit quod suis factis periculosa tempora accersierit to note the cause of the danger render He knowes that his owne hand hath made a day of darknesse that is The villanies and wickednesses which he hath committed cause the clouds of judgement to gather and look black upon him his unrighteousnesse hath hastned on his ruine and wrapt him up in darknesse He hath brought an evill day upon himselfe by his evill deeds or as the Prophet speaks His destruction is from himselfe He hath pulled downe his House with his owne hands and is the sole author or contriver of his owne sorrows This is an experienced truth but I rather take the words as we render The day of darknesse is ready at hand that is it is neer and will shortly seize upon him Hence Observe First Many a wicked man growes into an assurance of his approaching misery It is as hard to perswade some wicked men that their state is naught as it is to perswade some good men that their state is good yet as many of the Saints conquer unbeleife and come not onely to have some hopes but high assurances that there is a day of mercy at hand for them that they are in a present happy state and eternall happinesse waite for them so a wicked man after long debate may have his unbeleife conquered and though he hath been sowing pillowes under his owne elboes though he hath slighted all the Counsells Admonitions and threatnings of faithfull Freinds though notwithstanding all this he continue long speaking peace to his owne soule and saying all is well yet I say this man may have his unbeleife conquered and know at last that there is a day of darknesse ready at hand when his eyes are opened to see what he hath done and what he hath been he sees that God hath rejected all his confidences and that he shall never prosper in them Secondly Observe That for a man to be assured of his owne misery is the height of misery Eliphaz puts it here among the punishments of wicked men This assurance makes his heart shake this knowledge is full of feare and therefore full of torment As to know that a day of light and deliverance is ready at hand is light while we are in darknesse and deliverance while we are in trouble So to know that a day of darknesse and misery is ready at hand is darknesse to wicked men while they are in externall light and misery in the midst of all their mirth And as it is the highest comfort of the Saints to know that they have eternall life to know that they are in the favour and live in the love of God a man may be in it and not know it and then though he shall doe well at last yet his state is but uncomfortable and he that is an heyre of Heaven may walke as an heyre of Hell with a troubled spirit but to know that it is so this is Heaven before we come at Heaven so it is the deepest sorrow of any man in this life to know that he hath eternall death an assurance of this setled upon the spirit though I conceive a man cannot have an absolute assurance of it yet to have strong impressions upon the spirit that he shall never be saved or that Hell is prepared for him this is Hell before he is cast into Hell A soule that doubts of mercy and of the favour of God is in a very sad condition but the condition of that soule is unexpressibly sad which is assured of judgement and of the wrath of God Thirdly Observe That as a wicked man may know that he shall be miserable in the end so hee may know that his misery is neere at hand An evill conscience awakened is the worst Prophet it is full of sad presages like Micah to Ahab Haec est paenae impii pars nou modica quod cogatur ipse sibi ominari malum Pined it never Prophesied good but evill and it doth not onely Prophesie of evill afarr off but neer or ready at hand 'T is true an evill conscience usually puts the evill day farr off 2 Pet. 3.4 There shall be scoffers saying Where is the day of his comming c. The day of darknesse is farr enough off it hath been long talked of but we doe not see it say these despisers But when an evill conscience is awakened then he sees evill neer and himselfe dogg'd at the heeles or as the former Verse speakes Waited for of the Sword As a Beleever when the eye of faith is cleare sees mercy neer at hand Faith makes God neer and then all good is neer So an Unbeleever when the eye of his conscience is cleared sees misery neer Observe Fourthly The misery of a wicked man is unmoveable His day of darknesse is established by an irrevocable decree there is no getting it off he is under a Divine Fate A day of darknesse may come over the Saints but that day blows over David sayd once of his day of light It shall never be dark and of his Mountaine it shall never be removed yet he was deceived But a wicked mans day of darknesse shall never be light nor can he use any proper meanes to turne his day of darknesse into light He cannot pray and it is pâ—â—â—er that turnes darknesse into light he cannot
beleive and it is Faith that turnes a day of darknesse into light he hath not a Christ to goe unto and it is Christ onely who can turne darknesse into light death to life and the Waters of sorrow into the Wine of joy his darknesse shall never be removed who hath not Christ who is light to remove it Verse 24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid they shall prevaile upon him as a King ready to Battell In this Verse we have a double effect of those troubles which are the portion of a wicked man the first effect is They shall make him afraid the second effect is They shall prevaile upon him both which are illustrated by an elegant similitude they shall make him afraid and they shall prevaile upon him as a King ready to Battell Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid Trouble without and anguish within so some expound He shall have straits in his state and a strait upon his spirit both meeting shall not onely afflict him but make him afraid The word may be translated to fright rather then to make afraid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angustia They shall scare him not onely out of his comforts but out of his wits and senses There is a threefold feare First Naturall Secondly Spirituall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perterâ—uit pertuibavit To be spiritually afrayd is good and to be naturally afrayd is not evill So Christ was not onely afrayd but amazed Mark 14.33 Thirdly There is a distracting vexing feare which is both a passion and a perturbation This is at once the sin and punishment of wicked men Consider with what weapons and instruments God fights against a wicked man he doth not say Sword and fire shall make him afraid Armies of enemies shall make him afraid but trouble and anguish shall doe it God can create and forme weapons in our owne hearts to fight against us Inward anguish is farr more greivous then any outward stroak Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soule that sins whether of Jew or Gentile Anguish is the edge of tribulatioâ— both joyned wound soule and body yea strike thorougâ— both at every blow Hence Note It is worse to be afraid of evill then to feele it Every thing is to us as we apprehend it good is not pleasing to us nor evill afflictive to us unlesse we think it so They who are not afraid of death welcome it when it comes others through feare of death are held in bondage all the dayes of their life Secondly Observe Distracting feare is the portion of a wicked man The troubles of the righteous are many but their feares are few Psal 112. His heart is fixed he shall not be afraid 'T is not sayd he shall not heare evill tydings I know no man whose eares are priviledg'd from such reports but he shall not be afraid I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about Psal 3.6 Though I walke in the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evill Ps 23.4 are the resolves of faith Whosoever hath much feare hath but little Faith Wherefore are ye afraid O ye of little Faith Mat. 8.26 and how can they but be afraid when stormes arise who are of no faith when Faith increaseth feare decreaseth and when Faith is come to the height feare is gone where there is no Faith there can be nothing but feare trouble and anguish shall make him afraid that 's the first effect But that 's not all anguish doth not onely feare the wicked man but prevailes against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circumivit Angustia vallabit Vulg. Some render Trouble and anguish intrench about him The sense is the same it is such an intrenchment as concludes in a conqeust the beseiger prevailes A second reads it thus Trouble shall make him afrayd and anguish shall intrench about him The Originall joynes the two Substantives together and the Verbe is plurall Terrebit eum tribulatio angustia vallabit eum Trouble and anguish shall make him afrayd they shall prevaile against him From this second effect Observe Evill shall get the upper hand of evill men A good man possibly may be afraid and afraid sinfully excesse of feare may take hold of him but he shall not be prevailed against Pro. 24.16 The just man falls seven times a day into affliction and trouble and riseth up againe trouble may throw him down but it cannot keep him downe Mic. 7.8 Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall rise the Church rises in her falls and shee sometimes foresees her rising when shee is fallen The wicked fall and rise no more And whereas the Saints are more then conquerours through him that loveth them wicked men are more then conquered they are utterly ruined lost and vanquished because not beloved There are two battells wherein we cannot stand without the strength of Christ First The battell of inward temptation Secondly The battell of outward affliction We are no match for either unlesse Christ be our Second Satan hath desired thee saith Christ to Pâ—ter to winnow thee as Wheate hoping to finde or make thee Chaffe But I have prayed that thy Faith faile not Peter fell into temptation yea he fell in the temptation yet because Christ undertook for him the temptation could not prevaile against him And as there is no conquest over Satans temptation but by the strength of Christ so none over affliction which is Gods temptation but by the strength of Christ 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation that is no affliction taken you but what is common to man yet no man can stand under that alone which may befall any man therefore it followes But God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able c. Man alone is not sufficient so much as to thinke one good thought how then shall he thinke good thoughts enow alone either to scatter a temptation or to beare an affliction To carry the soule out in such a conflict requires more then one good thought yea more then many good thoughts it requires good actings yea and sufferings too how shall he doe this without the strength of Christ No wonder then if the lesser of these yea the least of the lesser the least affliction prevaile against a wicked man and if while he runs with Foot-men they weary him how shall he contend with Horses with trouble and anguish shall not these prevaile against him as a King ready to battell Which is the illustration of the wicked mans downefall Trouble and anguish prevaile against him But how Not a little not with strength onely enough to turne the scale of the conflict but mightily even with much strength to spare As a King ready to battell There are foure interpretations for the making out of
to be made a by-word 448. C. Carnal reasonings are the strong holds of sin 135. The armour and weapons of sin 136 137. Changes of wicked men for the worse 182. Changeableness of our estate both a part of our misery and a great mercy 182 183. Children of God why so called 441. Children may smart for their Fathers sin 441. Christ is comfort cloathed in our flesh 35. They are most free who serve Christ most 90. Two battells in which we cannot stand without the helpe of Christ 121 122. The great love of Christ to sinners how it appeares 286. God did not spare Christ when hee stood in our place 305. Name of Christ the essentiall forme of prayer 337. To pray in the name of Christ hath three things in it 338. Christ why called the Son of man 386. Christ is a surety for his people as well as an Advocate 425. Christ was and is most ready to undertake the cause of sinners 426. Churches their happinesse when freed from the mixture of prophane and erroneous persons 85. A double danger by mingling with such in Church fellowship 86. Chusing or to make choyce what 19. Cleane Man how cleane under a fourfold notion 59. Company of Freinds and Children a great mercy 251. Man a sociable creature 252. Some company is a burden 253. The comfort of society consists in the suitablenesse of it 254. None but good company in Heaven 254. Comforters miserable comforters who shewed diverse wayes 214 215. Two speciall sorts of miserable comforters 217. Three things to be considered by those who undertake to be comforters 217 218. To know how to comfort others is a speciall gift of God 218. Two great duties of a comforter 234. He that would comfort a distressed soule must watch for advantages both from his speech and silence 244. Condemnation selfe-condemnation strongest 20. Consolation it is easie with God to comfort those who are most disconsolate 32. Consolations of two sorts 33. Consolation is the proper gift of God 34. God can turne all our crosses into comforts 36. It is happy for Saints that consolation is in the hand of God shewed in foure particulars 37. Consolation rightly administred by man is the consolation of God 38. To count the consolations of God small is a very great sin shewed upon two grounds 38 39. Counsels of evill men disappointed 188 203. Though the counsels of evill men be disappointed yet they will goe on three grounds of it 206. 207. Conscience how neglected 99. Conscience evill and its defects considered two wayes 99 100. The offices of conscience 99. Foure sorts of evill conscience 100. Guilty conscience thinkes every man he meets his enemy 107. He is ever in danger and under the curse 108. A twofold evill conscience shewed 343. A guilty conscience cannot endure plaine words 411. Covetous man an infatiablâ— gulfe 114. Craft alone how sinfull 19. Crosse good men are apt to have strange thoughts about the crosse or sufferings for or from Christ 472. D. Darknesse five sorts of darknesse 102. Two sorts of darknesse 160 161. Day how changed into night 509. Death an untimely death the portion of a wicked man 186. Death inexorable we must goe with it when it calls 397. A beleever speaks familiarly of death 398. It is gâ— d to put death under easie notions 398. Dâ—ath hastens so should wee to be ready for dâ—ath 399. Rest in death 525. Nothing desireable in death it selfe 525. The familiarity of some beleevers with death described 529. Corruption the portion of the dead 530. Deceived what it is to be deceived 170. Man is very apt to be deceivâ—d 172. Mans aptnesse to be deceived ariseth two ways ibid. There are three notorious deceivers 172 173. Deceiver he that publisheth that which is false though he had no intent to deceive is yet a deceiver 412. Decree of God carries all before it 165 166. Devils trade what 200. Disgrace a great affliction to dye under a blot of disgrace 400. Dissimulation what it is 346. Drinking iniquity like water seven parallels betweene the drinking of iniquity and the drinking of water 70. Dropping why put for prophesying in Scripture 377. Dust shaking off the dust of the feet notes three things 319. To be raised from the dust or layd in the dust what meaneth 319 320. E. Earth and all earthly things the gift of God two wayes 83. Earthly things continue not two reasons of it 157. East-winde why it signifies passions in man 7. Earnest what it is 420. Elâ—ct persons how impossible they should be deceived 173. Enmity everlasting between the godly and the wicked 475. End our end will be such as our way is 183. Envy what it is 265. Errour we may be guilty of errours by consequence though we doe not hold them 15. They who mainetaine errour among men shall not finde favour with God 436. Everlasting things so called two ways 24. Evils of body or minde when they may be said to be incurable 242 243. Eye as man sees so much of man is seene at his eye 46. Two sins very visible in the eye 47. A looke of the eye how powerfull 266. Examples of two sorts in Scripture 451. Ezekiel why so often called Son of man 368. F. Faith want of faith in times of affliction how greivous 105. The great benefits of faith in such a state 105 106. He that hath no faith knows not whither to goe for the supply of any want 115 116. Faith how necessary in prayer 340. Fatnesse wicked men described by it 146. Father a wicked Father brings a curse upon his Children 190. Fathers provoking their Children very dangerous 415. Feare of two sorts 11. To cast off the feare of God is highest wickednesse 12. Holy feare like a Porter at the doore 16 17. Naturall feare what it is 95. Pannick feare 96. A wicked man most subject to vexing feare 96. Three sorts of fear 120. Feare of evill worse then evill 120. Distracting feare is the portion of the wicked 121. Fire how taken in Scripture 194. Three reasons why the judgements of God are called Fire 194. 195. Flame taken two wayes 162. Flattery hath a force in it 437. Flattery is a kinde of language by it selfe 438. An ordinary way of flattering sick freinds 439. Two ways of flattering men 440. How Gâ—d may be sayd to be flattered ibid. Flattery a very great sin 441. Especially flattery in spirituall things 442. Flatterers prove most hatefull at last to those whom they have flattered 442 443. Freinds the best of them may prove unfreindly 375. Freind taken two wayes 387. G. Gehenna why it signifies Hell 455. Giants to run on like a Giant what 310. Two reasons why Giants are called Nephilim in the Hebrew 311. Gifts of five sorts 196. A gift and a bribe signified by one word in the Hebrew and why 196. Gnashing of the teeth ascribed to men notes four things 264 265. God the cleanest creatures are uncleane befooe him 64. The hand stretcht
office or work of conscience is to observe and take notice of what we doe conscience should as it were keep a Day-Book and follow us up and downe with Pen and Inke to write all our motions A second worke of conscience is to testifie what we have done and which way we have moved A third is to accuse us when we doe evill and to acquit us when we doe well Now as a wicked mans conscience is alwayes morally evill because stained and polluted with sin So many times his conscience is naturally evill too that is it will neither take notice of nor check him for his sin When the wicked mans conscience is in this evill state he thinkes his state good enough and so he is at quiet Casuists tell us of foure sorts of evill consciences all which may live out of the hearing of these dreadfull sounds First A blind ignorant conscience that cannot discerne between morall good and evill Secondly A secure conscience which thinkes not of any penall evill Thirdly A dull lazy sleepy conscience which hath little or no sense either of what is done or suffered Fourthly A feared conscience which is altogether senselesse A conscience thus disabled to performe its worke being either blind secure sleepy or feared is tame and quiet with the worst of men But all this while though this wicked man hath some ease yet he hath no peace his conscience while seared is farr enough from being setled his conscience while asleep is farr enough from rest It is with such as with some sick men aske them how they doe they will say Very well when as indeed they are so sick that they know not how ill they are they take death it selfe for health and their not feeling of paine for the curing of their disease But when the conscience of a wicked man is once enlightned softned and awakned he cannot but have these dreadfull sounds which will neither give nor let him receive any rest Conscience will awake at last and speak terrible things conscience will be a Bounnerges a terrible Preacher thundring out not only a chiding reproofe but a sentence of condemnation and then the wicked will even gnash their teeth because conscience did no sooner use its teeth they will gnaw their tongues for sorrow because conscience had no tongue to speak or they no eares to heare what it spake till it was too late A dreadfull sound is in his eare In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In paâ—e The Hebrew is In peace the destroyer shall come upon him Peace is so neer allyed and so great a freind to prosperity that one word may well serve both The wicked mans destroyer shall be to him like Joab to Abner and Amasa shedding the blood of Warr in Peace and putting that blood upon the Girdle about his loynes c. 1 Kings 2.5 But some may demand How doth this suite with the former Verse Where Eliphaz told us that A wicked man travells in paine all his dayes How is he in prosperity if he travells all his dayes in paine I answer The denomination is given from the greatest part of a wicked mans life and that is trouble and paine Or secondly if an instance can be given of any wicked man that hath had more good dayes then evill or that hath had no ill dayes at all in regard of any outward trouble and paine then we may reconcile the Text thus his prosperity is beside his state yea Est amplificatio malae cujusdam impiorum securitatis q. d. si contingat impium nihil timere sed secure agere tunc inopinato opprimetur Pined in his very prosperity he is in paine In the midst of laughter his heart is sorrowfull and the end of his mirth is heavinesse Prov. 14.13 His is but a seeming not a reall prosperity Further these words are an aggravation of his misery because if at any time he appeares prosperous and free from feare then sudden destruction overtakes him Or lastly The destroyer may be sayd to come upon him in prosperity because in his best dayes he feares the destroyer he suspects danger when he sees none and is therefore never out of danger Who this destroyer is is left here at large Et cum pax sit ille insidias suspicatur Vulg. Omnia etiam tuta tyranni impii timent Merc. no particular one is specified but any terrible one is intended Eliphaz doth not say A Destroyer but The Destroyer One both powerfull and skilfull to destroy shall come upon him He shall not onely come to him but come upon him to come upon is to invade or to assault A freind comes to a man with kindnesse and embraces to visit or salute him an Enemy comes upon a man with blowes and violence to wound and destroy him In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him Hence Observe When wicked men thinke themselves most safe they are neerest to destruction 'T is seldome that they thinke themselves safe and when they doe they are furthest from safety When the wicked spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever Psal 92.7 Their temporall short spring is not onely an antecedent but an argument of their eternall Winter And their Winter is not the going downe of the sap to the root but the pulling of them up by the roots they shall be destroyed Job 20.22 In the fulnesse of his sufficiency hee shall be in straits When it is full Sea with him his Channell shall be dryed up It was sayd to that Foole Luke 12.20 This night thy soule shall be taken from thee The destroyer came upon him indeed in his prosperity when he sang himselfe asleepe with Soule thou hast goods layd up for many yeares he could not keep his soule one night 1 Thes 5.3 When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with Childe and they shall not escape The generall destruction of wicked men in the day of judgement shall come as a theefe in the night We have a representation of this in that wofull tragedy which the Lord acted upon the Egyptians Exod. 12.30 At midnight there was a grevious cry he came upon them as a theefe in the night for the Lord smote all the first borne of the Land of Aegypt they dyed in their warme beds in prosperity the destroyer came upon them This is bad enough yet not the worst of the condition of wicked men For Vers 22. He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse he is waited for of the Sword This is a further account of the inward misery or paine which afflicts the spirit of a wicked man He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse Hee looketh not that he shall escape from darknesse So Master Broughton There are five interpretations given about this darknesse out
of which the wicked man beleeves he shall not returne First Some understand it of the darknesse of sin but a wicked man cannot be sayd to despaire of that about which he never had any hope Pii spe se armant in spem contra spem sperant Merc. or desire Secondly Some understand darknesse litterally and plainly of the darknesse of the night and interpret thus He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse that is he is so haunted with feares every night when he lyes downe that he thinks he shall never live till the morning This is a good sense Thirdly Others understand this darknesse to be death he hath a perfect sound of dread when death comes because he beleeves not that he shall returne out of that darknesse The resurrection is the consolation of the Saints in the midst of greatest dangers and thickest darknesse because though they dye yet they beleeve they shall returne out of darknesse But a wicked man who beleeves or hopes for nothing beyond the time of this life if he be once cast into the Grave either thinkes he shall lye there for ever or if he beleeves he shall rise yet he doth not beleeve that he shall rise out of darknesse for he shall rise in darknesse and goe downe to everlasting darknesse Fourthly A fourth expounds it of internall darknesse the darknesse of his spirit or of those mists and clouds which hang about his minde A godly man falling into this darknesse doth not actually beleeve he shall returne out of it for such a faith were his returne out of it but a wicked man as he hath no ground so no possibility continuing in the state he is to beleeve it Saul had a wofull dark spirit and beleeved not that he should returne out of it by the helpe of God therefore he went to a Witch a Counsellour of the Prince of darknesse for helpe But fifthly I rather conceive as often elsewhere so here by darknesse is meant outward affliction When the destroyer comes upon him and he is cast into a sad darke condition he hath no faith for himselfe that he shall returne out of it or be delivered from it This is an extreame agravation of the miserable state of a wicked man who either hath no outward prosperity or his prosperity is nothing to him he enjoyes it not but if ever he fall into outward misery how great is his misery so great that he gives himselfe for gone a lost man for ever He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse Observe hence That a wicked man neither doth not can beleeve deliverance from evill First He hath no ground to beleeve promises are the foundation of faith A wicked man may be under promises of conversion from his sin but he is not under any promise of mercy while he continues in his sin the whole Book of God yeelds him not in hat state any speciall promise for so much as a bit of bread when he hath bread he hath it from providence not from a promise or but from a generall promise He is fed as a Beast is fed the Lord being the preserver of Man and Beast He cannot have a speciall promise himselfe not being an heyre of promise Therefore when he falls into darknesse he hath no ground to beleeve Whereas a godly man never hath so much ground to beleeve as when he falls into darknesse because then he hath more promises then before his outward losses gaine him the advantage of many sweet promises which till then he could not plead for the succour and nourishment of his faith As a wicked man hath no promise of God in the sense explained at any time so a godly man hath most promises of God in evill yea in the worst of times And as a wicked man hath no ground to beleeve so he usually hath no heart to beleeve as he hath no reason to hope for better things so he hath no courage his spirit sinks and fails when his state doth Abigall had no sooner told Nabal that the destroyer was comming upon him in his prosperity but his heart sunke within him like a stone and he dyed away presently Secondly The best of a wicked mans faith that he shall returne out of darknesse is but a presumptuous fansie or meer Foole-hardinesse A good man is like a Childe in his Fathers house who takes no care but casts all upon his Parents in the greatest storme he commits the helme to Christ as Pilot he can say as David Psalm 42. when he is in trouble Why art thou disquieted O my soule He cals his soule to question and would have his soule give him a reason Why art thou troubled my soule hope in God for I shall yet praise him But a wicked man hath no God to hope in therefore he cannot say I shall yet praise him That man cannot cast his burden of cares upon the Lord Psal 55.22 who cares not how he burdens God with his sins therefore he must beare and sinke under both burdens himselfe He cannot beleeve that he shall returne out of the darknesse of trouble who delights and sports in the darknesse of iniquity Againe Consider this is brought as a proofe of the wofull condition of a wicked man It is misery enough that the destroyer shall come upon him but this is more miserable he cannot beleeve deliverance from destruction Hence Observe That want of faith in time of affliction is more greivous then affliction It is worse not to beleeve deliverance then to fall into trouble as the life of faith is the best life so the life of unbeleife is the worst life Despaire of good is the greatest evill Faith is not onely the support and reliefe of the soule in trouble but it is the victory and tryumph of the soule over trouble Faith doth not onely keep the soule alive but lively Faith keeps the soule fat and in good plight Faith is a sheild both against temptation and affliction But every blow falls upon the bare skin of an unbeleever Faith is a sheild both against the fiery darts of the Devill and with a difference against the fiery darts of God also Let God himselfe cast his darts at a Beleiver Faith secures him from hurt though not from wounds yea his very wounds through a worke of faith shall worke his good It is the comfort of a man that feareth God and obeyeth the voyce of his Servants that while he walketh in darknesse and hath no light he is bid to trust in the name of the Lord and to stay upon his God Isa 50.10 But while a man that doth not feare God walkes in darknesse and hath no light his misery is that he can neither trust in God till light comes nor that light will ever come How happy are the righteous to whom light ariseth in darknesse How unhappy are the wicked who being in darknesse conclude that the light will never arise Faith makes all
evill good to us and all good better unbeleife makes all good evill to us and all evill worse Faith like the Horse Job 39.19 laughs at the shaking of the Speare unbeleife trembles at the shaking of a leafe Faith findes food in Famine and a Table in the Wildernesse In greatest dangers faith answers I have a great God when outward strength is broken and all lyes a bleeding faith answers The promises are strong still they have not lost a drop of blood nor have they a skarre upon them When God himselfe apreares angry faith answers I know how to please him and I can goe to one in whom he is and will be wel-pleased for ever Thus faith pulls out the sting of trouble draws out the gall and wormwood of every affliction But where faith is wanting every affliction is full of gall and wormwood and every trouble vexeth with a double sting It stings such as it is a trouble and it stings them more as they see no comfort in nor way out of trouble The darknesse of darknesse is this Not to beleeve that we shall returne out of darknesse And he is waited for of the Sword This clause is neer in sense to the latter part of the former Verse and yet in this variety of expression there is some variety of intention For the clearing of it two things are to be enquired First What is meant by the Sword Secondly What is meant by waited for of the Sword The Sword is taken two wayes in Scripture First litterally for That weapon of Warr and by a Synechdoche the Sword is put for all weapons of Warr as also by a Metonymie for Warr it selfe When the Sword is threatned in Scripture Warr is threatned Secondly The Sword is taken for the power of the Magistrate who beares not the Sword in vaine Christ is described as a King armed with his Sword Isa 11.4 By the Sword that is with the Word of his mouth he will slay the wicked Nempe sua sententia tradens eum justitiae ministro Christ will pronounce a sentence of condemnation and deliver them up to execution Thus the Judge slayes the Malefactor by the sword of his mouth Further by a Synechdoche the Sword is taken for all manner of evill and trouble Quicquid pungit percutit torquet cruciat in scripturis sanctis gladius appellaturs Hieron in cap. ult Isa whatsoever hurts or afflicts is comprehended under the notion of a Sword Luke 1.35 Old Simeon tells the holy Virgin in his song Also a Sword shall passe through thy soule his meaning is not that she should be cut off in Warr by the hand of the Souldier or in peace by the sentence of the Judge but that sore troubles and afflictions like a sharpe Sword should pierce her soule Here the Sword may be taken either for the Sword of War or of Peace or for any evill that befalls the Wicked Man But how is he waited for of the Sword the Originall word is rendered two wayes First Actively Secondly Passively Some render actively Hee is waiting for of the Sword He stands expecting the Sword and that in a double sense Circumspectans undique gladium Vulg. Sc. vel quo pereat vel quo se defendat Tanquam exspecula expectat Tigur Hebraizantes tenent esse participium passinum hinc Rab. Levi. exponit Conspicitur a gladio Aspectus gladio Vatabl. Est Hebraismus ut videeri a gladio sit ab hostibus observari per insidias Decretus in manu ferri Sept. Conspectus ipse ad gladium Mont. Nempe a Deo conspectus destinatus ad gladium Praevisus enim est ad gladium Sym. he waits for the Sword which he feares will destroy him or he waits for a Sword which he desires to defend him Mr. Broughton gives this sense Having watch hee thinketh upon the Sword Againe others render it passively He is waited for of the Sword when he thinkes not of it The Sword lies in ambush to surprize him A man is sayd to be waited for by an Enemy when he intends to assault him unawares To be thus waited for by the sword is to be waited for by sword-men And it is as great a disadvantage to be seen of the Sword before we see the Sword as it is according to the old Proverb to be seen of the Wolf or of the Crocodile before we see either The wicked is waited for of the Sword not for any service but for the revenge it owes him the Sword lyes behind the doore or under a bush to snap him as he passeth The Septuagint in stead of he is waited or watched or looked for by the Sword render thus He is decreed into the hand of the Sword leading us to the appointment and destination of God who hath set him out and marked him for judgement Hee is appointed to the Sword Such a decree the Prophet seems to poynt at Jer. 15.2 where he brings in the Lord as resolved to proceed in judgement against all prayers and intreaties though made by his greatest Favorites Though Moses and Samuâ—l stood before me yet my minde could not be into this people but such as are for death to death and such as are for the Sword to the Sword That is such as are decreed into the hand of the Sword let the Sword take them the decree shall stand the sentence is irrevocable Taking the Text actively Observe That a wicked man thinks every one his enemy He dreames of danger when he sleeps and where ever he comes he waites for the Sword He that hath a minde to hurt others feares it is in the minde of every one to hurt him He that is harmelesse is fearelesse Nunquam non divinâ—m ultionem expectat vel metuit Merc. Ex omni parte inimicos sibi imminere videns Aquin. Qui de nullo confidit de omnibus timet id and while we goe about doing good we are free from the suspicion of evill Cain having murthered his Brother complaines of the Lords sentence against him Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth and from thy face shall I be hid and I shall be a fugitive and a Vagabond on the earth and it shall come to passe that every man that finds me shall slay me Gen. 4.14 Cains complaint is the Comment of this Text Every one that findes me shall slay me is I wait for or I expect the Sword Cain speaks as if an Army were continually pursuing him or as if the avenger of blood were alwayes ready at his heels And that which aggravates the wonder of this jealousie is that we can give account but of one man alive in the World besides himselfe at that time and that was his owne Father Adam we read not of any Son that Abel left behind him nor had Cain any Son upon record at that time and yet he cries out as if the World had been full of Inhabitants and every
to his enemies to the Islands he will repay recompence Secondly as vanity in the former clause is taken for the Creature Observe The Creature is most vaine to those who trust it The Creature is a vaine thing in his hand who beleeves and trusts in God but it is exceeding vaine in his hand who trusts on it and the more it is trusted the more vaine it is If we make it our staffe it will be our scourge if we leane upon it as our rock it will run into our hands like a broken Reed The best way to keep up our comforts in the Creature is to keep our distance from the Creature And they shall finde most content in the World who live furthest off it and expect least from it God is good and the more we trust him the better he is to us yea he is not good at all to us unlesse we trust him But the best of creatures trusted to become evill yea an Idoll to us Trust not in vanity such are all creatures in their best estate for vanity shall be your recompence Againe The word which we translate recompence signifies a change or the exchange which is made of one thing for another While Job exalts the value and excellency of wisedome above all created excellencies he saith Chap. 28.17 The Gold and the Chrystall cannot equall it and the exchange of it shall not be for jewells of fine Gold So some render it here Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity A radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commutatio vanitas erit commutatio ejus i. e. in nihilum redigetur for vanity shall be his change Whensoever he changeth he shall change into vanity or when he hath driven a trade in sinfull vanity to the highest the best exchange which the Merchandize thereof yeelds him is miserable vanity Vanity can produce nothing to us but vanity The effect is not better then the cause nor the fruit then the Tree and that which we receive in exchange though it may be of another kinde yet it is of no better value then that we give in exchange Hence Observe That a wicked mans state never changeth for better but from good to bad or from bad to worse Till the man himselfe be changed from bad to good his state can never change from bad to good And suppose his outward state be good then the worst thing that can befall him is this that his state should not change His setlednesse in that which is civilly good doth but more settle him in that which is morally evill They have no changes therefore they feare not God Psal 55.19 What can be worse for man then this nâ—t to feare God who is the chiefest good Who would not feare to be without changes when he heares that being without them keeps out this feare Suppose further That the wicked mans outward estate be evill then it is worse to him when he changes to outward good if he change from sorrow to joy from povery to riches from sicknesse to health from a prison to liberty in all these or in any other of like nature with these he changes to his losse That man can never change for good who continues evill Such a mans outward estate often changes from bad to worse if it change from bad to good that is bad for him and if being good it change not at all that is worst of all It is a part of the misery of man that his state is changeable but that is incident to the best of men We shall not be unchangeable in our state till we come into the presence of God who is unchangeable in his nature We may say also considering the many troubles which we are subject to in this life that it is a part of our happinesse that our state is changeable Those changes which are from evill to good or from good to better are to be numbred among our blessings such are the changes of the Saints all their changes are for the better yea those changes of the Saints which are from joy to sorrow from riches to poverty from health to sicknesse from liberty to a prison from life to death in a word their changes from any kinde of outward temporary good to outward temporary evill are yet for their good He cannot change but for his good who is good and who abides alwayes under this promise that all shall work together for his good An evill and a good man differ in nothing more then in their changes nor should any selfe-consideration provoke an evill man more to desire that he may be changed to good then this that his changes may be for good Who would continue or trust in vanity were he perswaded that vanity shall be his change Secondly Observe That such as our way is such will our end be If we walk and trust in vanity we shall have vanity for our recompence or our change Every mans end is virtually in his way So the Apostle argues ellegantly Gal. 6.7 Be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man sowes that shall he reape he that sowes to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption he that sowes to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting If the Husband-man sow tares he must look to reap tares A seed time of tares and a Harvest of Wheat were never heard of in the same ground As the seed is such is the crop Isa 3.11 Woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hand shall be given him There is nothing worse for some then to have their reward brought in and all that is owing to them payd The very receiving of their debts and rewards is their undoing for ever All the misery of a wicked man is summed up in this He shall have the reward of his hands Wrath and death and Hell are his rewards and all the wages which the work both of his hands and heart can earne and these he shall have fully payd to him Vaine he hath been and vanity shall be his recompence Some read this Verse not as a dehortation Let not him that is deceived trust or beleeve in vanity but as a negative proposition for that particle in the Hebrew which sometimes carryeth a prohibition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malo simpliciter negare quam prohibere Merc. Non credet qui vanitate errat quod vanitas erit permutatio ejus Merc. Non credet fore ut ejus faelicitas permutetur ad meâ—am vanitatem deveniet Vatâ—bl notes also a bare negation so here He that is deceived with vanity will not beleeve the same word signifies both to beleeve and trust that vanity shall be his recompence He will not beleeve a change much lesse such a change This is a cleare sense and it hints us this Observation That a wicked man is full of infidelity or unbeleife that his estate is evill or shall
vve have used them both for our owne good and the good of others I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thus saith the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised Jer. 31.18 Ephraims outward moanes were as musick in the eares of God Ephraim did not murmure against God but he bemoaned himselfe Ephraim was not angry at his chastisement but Ephraim mourned being chastised God heard this fully in hearing hee heard it or it pleased him to heare it It is our duty to testifie our sorrow by the saddest notes of a troubled spirit and it is a delight to God when vve doe so not that hee delights in our sorrows but he delights in the witnesse vvhich vve beare to his wisedome righteousnesse and faithfulnesse in sending those sorrowes I heard Ephraim bemoane himselfe Will an offendor that lookes for mercy come before the Judge in rich apparrell or in some affected dresse Comes he not rather in his Prison clothes puts he not on the garments of heavinesse The Messengers of Benhadad put dust on their heads and ropes about their necks and sack-cloth on their loynes when they came to mediate for the life of their Master And thus the Lord speakes to the Israelites Exod. 33.5 when they had sinned and he was wroth Put off your Ornaments that I may know what to doe with you Ornaments are uncomly when God is threatning judgements It is time for us to lay by our bravery when God is about to make us naked Sack-cloth sowed upon the skin and our horne in the dust are the best ensignes of an afflicted state The Prophets counsell indeed is Joel 2.13 Rend your hearts and not your garments Rending the garments may be taken not onely strictly for that act but largely for all outward actings of sorrow Yet when he saith Rent not this is not a prohibition of but a caution about the outward acting of their sorrow Not in Scripture is not alwayes totally negative it is often directive and comparative So in this place Rend your hearts and not your garments is your hearts rather then your garments or be sure to rend your hearts as well as your garments The one must be done the other ought not to be left undone See more of this Chap. 1. Vers 20. upon those word Then Job rent his Mantle Thirdly Observe Great sorrow produceth great effects and leaveth such impressions as testifie where it is The Apostle saith of the sorrow of the World That it worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World may be taken two wayes First For the sorrow of carnall worldly men whose sorrow for sin is only a vexing of their hearts not a breaking or humbling of their hearts which being separate both from true faith for the pardon of sin and from any reall purpose of leaving their sin worketh death both temporall death often wearing out their naturall life lingringly and sometime destroying their naturall life violently as in Judas as also hastning them on to eternall death of which it selfe is a foretast or beginning Secondly This sorrow of the World is a sorrow for the losse of or disappoyntments about worldly things This also worketh both those deaths in meere worldly men and when it is excessive as under a temptation it may be in a godly man it may be sayd to worke the death of the body in him yea great and continued sorrow though it be not excessive worketh towards this death in a godly man drying his bones and drawing out his spirits as is cleare in Job on whose eye-lids the very shadow of death sate while hee wept and sorrowed 'T is hard to dissemble a little griefe but a great deale cannot be hid As godly sorrow manifests it selfe in excellent effects upon the soule of which the Apostle numbers up seven at the eleventh Verse of that Chapter For this selfe same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulnesse it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves c. Now I say as godly sorrow manifests it selfe in manifold effects upon the soule so doth the sorrow of the World set its marks upon the body As a good mans heart is made cleane by weeping the teares of godly sorrow so every mans face is made foule by weeping the teares of worldly sorrow and as godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation and life eternall so the sorrow of the World vvorketh an entrance to temporall death yea we may say that godly sorrow doth sometimes worke temporall death Paul was afrayd lest the incestuous person while he was repenting might be Swallowed up with over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 vvhich as vvee are to understand cheifely of a swallowing up in the gulfe of despaire so we may take in that also as a consequent of the other a swallowing of him up in the Grave of death as if hee had sayd The poore man may both despayre and dye under this burden if you let it lye too long upon him As soone as Heman had sayd in his desertion My soule is full of troubles he presently adds And my life draweth nigh unto the Grave I am counted with them that goe downe to the pit free among the dead Psal 88.3 4 5. To which he subjoyns Ver. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction and then expostulates Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead Shall the dead arise and praise thee As if he had sayd These sorrows will bring me to my grave or in the language of Job On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Till wee enjoy a life beyond the reach of all sorrows wee shall not be beyond the reach of death Hence that promise Revel 21.4 God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine And as that life which hath no death in it shall have no sorrow in it so that life which is a continuall death the life of the damned is nothing else but sorrow There shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore Mat. 13.42 Their eyes shall ever weep their faces shall ever be foule with weeping and on their eye-lids the shadow of death shall dwell for ever Fourthly The hand of God being heavy upon Job he defiled his horne in the dust and fouled his face with weeping he regarded neyther the beauty of his face nor the dignity of his condition all was nothing to him Learne from it Great afflictions take off our respect to the World and all worldly things What is honour What is Gold or Silver What is a goodly House What is a beautifull Wife and pleasant Children What are fine cloathes or a faire face in a day of sorrow or in the approaches of death Spirituals are highest prized when we are lowest Grace shines clearest in worldly darknesse but the light of worldly enjoyments is darknesse to us and that vvhich some esteeme as a Sun is but a
are ready for me Why how many graves must Job have Would not one grave hold him Or was Job covetous to have many graves Many houses will not serve some men when they live but one house will serve any man when he dyeth A little roome will hold those dead for whose covetous and ambitious minds the whole World was not room thy enough while they lived Ordinary men will have here their Winter-houses and their Summer houses their Citty houses and their Country house their houses on the Plaine and their houses on the Hill men have variety of houses while they live but one is all when dead Why then doth Job say The graves are ready for me He saith it to shew that death abounded to his apprehension or that he could not escape death As if he had sayd Wheresoever I set my foot I step upon a grave Plurima mortis imago The Poet describing a tragicall state saith There was much of death to be seene or many appearances of death Job saw deaths and bâ—held graves every where gaping for him Paul was in deaths often and Job was in many deaths at once The graves are ready there are many Pits making I am sure to fall into one there 's no avoyding it Learne from it First That In times of sicknesse and affliction discourses of the grave are the most seasonable discourses Death should be much in our thoughts and much in our speech at all times but most of all in times of sicknesse or of danger Some when they are sick cannot abide to heare a word spoken of the grave others will forbid such as come to visite the sick to speak a word of death Comâ—naeus lib. 10. Lewis the eleventh King of France was so excessively afrayd of death that hee had given command to his Attendants not to give him any warning of the approach of this his last Enemy by Name It was worse then death to him to heare of death and yet before he dyed he was told of it not onely plainely but rudely The French Historian reports that his very Barber with some other inferiour Servants as if they had rather come as Judges to pronounce the sentence of death upon him then as freinds to be his remembrancers of death told him bluntly and abruptly without preface or preamble or the least word of comfort to sweeten such a bitter potion That his fatall houre was come that neither his Hermit nor his Physitian could keep him alive a day longer They who are unwilling to heare or speake of death shall heare it spoken of whether they will or no. Death should be much upon the tongue and more in the thoughts of good men when they are in health but when they are in their naturall preparation for death sicknesse is a naturall preparative for death they should be very often in their spirituall preparations by thinking and discoursing of it Secondly From this manner of speaking The grave for mee Observe That A godly man is sometimes as ready for the grave as the grave can be for him Let it come as soone as it will it cannot come too soone as the grave gapes for him so doth he for the grave as the grave hungers for him so doth he for it and nothing can satisfie him but a grave I desire saith Paul to be dissolved He was ready for the grave And ready he was not in a vaine wish O I would dye and I desire to dye but from a grounded hope that he should be well in death Saul 2 Sam. 1.9 was sorely wounded the graves were ready for him and he was ready for the grave too But whence was it It was not from his preparednesse to dye but from his impatience to live as appeares both by the true History of his death and by the false report of it made by the Amalekite The former saith 1 Sam. 31.4 Then sayd Saul unto his Armour-bearer Draw thy sword and thrust me through therwith lest these uncircumcised come thrust me through abuse me Saul upon this account was so ready for the grave that he begg'd to be thrust into it and when he could not obtaine that miserable favour he thrust himselfe into it so the latter part of the Verse informs us But his Armour-bearer would not for he was sore afrayd therefore Saul took a Sword and fell upon it The Amalekite reports Saul thus bespeaking him 2 Sam. 1.9 Stand I pray thee upon me and slay me for anguish is upon me because my life is yet whole in me Man dyes not by peece-meale now a little and then a little nor is life divisible when it departs it departs together but when Saul had no minde to live it troubled him that he was no neerer death A dishonour was fallen upon him the day was lost and he was wounded Saul could easier dye then out live this disgrace Such a readinesse to dye many have had it vexeth them to live dye they will because they cannot live as they would this is a readinesse of desperation not of preparation Job was much troubled paine and smart afflicted him and they had some influence upon his desire of death but his chiefe motive was above what old Simeon desired to depart in peace because his eyes had seen his salvation Job desired because he knew by Faith that God was his salvation Thirdly Job speakes chearefully of the grave Hence learne A Beleever in the greatest afflictions of this life sees ease and refreshing in death He knowes that he shall bury all his sorrows when himselfe goes to the grave yea that then his sins as well as his afflictions goe to their grave too and shall never rise againe Fourthly Job speakes confidently he shall dye presently the grave was ready for him But it was not so Jobs grave was nor ready and he outlived this black day many a fayre yeare Hence Observe A good man may mistake the times and seasons of Gods dispensations to him He thinks yea concludes he shall dye when he shall not dye Wicked worldly men doe not beleeve they shall dye when they must they cannot be perswaded that they shall dye when they are ready to dropp into their graves Job seemed to have an assurance that he should dye yet he did not God reprived him from death and restored him from trouble We are never the neerer the grave because we prepare for it speak and meditate on it or resolve to goe into it It is not our holding back from the grave that wil keep us out of it nor our willingnesse to goe to the grave that will put us into it It is good to mistake upon the best side God usually recalls those from death who are most ready at his call to dye Fifthly In that he speaks of Graves in the Plurall number Learne this There are many wayes of going out of the World though there be bilt one way of comming in Whither soever we are going wee are
are ready for us and we have made our bed in the darknesse it is not for us to looke for life here indeed to live to us is Christ but to dye is gaine A Beleever can willingly part with all his earthly possessions for heavenly hopes much more can he joyfully part with all his earthly hopes for the possession of Heaven Thirdly from these expressions The Grave is my house I have made my bed in the darknesse Note A Beleever looks upon death as a state of rest As the whole house is a place of rest compared with the World abroad so the Bed is the speciall place of rest Revel 14.14 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours and their workes follow them They shall follow their worke no more who are followed by their works The Grave is the house and bed of the body to all who dye Heaven is the house and rest of the soule to all those why dye in the Lord. Saints have here a rest in their labours they shall hereafter have a rest from their laboures Lastly Whereas the bed of death is made in darknesse Observe There is nothing desireable in death as considered in it selfe A darke condition is the worst condition Darknesse which in Scripture signifies all evill is a word good enough to expresse the state of death by What desireablenesse there is in death what pleasures in the Grave will appeare further in those arguments which death useth to invite us home to its house the Grave in the next Verse vvhich tels us our most lovely companions yea our sweetest and most endeared relations there are Corruption and Wormes Vers 14. I have sayd to corruption Thou art my Father and to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister Hyperbolae sunt quibus significat se omnem jam vitae cogitationem abdicasse Jun. This Verse is of the same sense with the former onely here Job breaks into an elegant variation of new metaphors and hyperbolicall expressions I have sayd That is I have as it were called to and saluted the retinue and attendants of death as my freinds and kindred As I have made my bed in the Grave and as that is my house so now I am finding out my houshold relations I say to this Thou art my Father and to that Thou art my Mother and Sister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est clamare vocare appellare per electionem nominare elegans prosopopeia per quam Job tumulum alloquitur Bold The word which we render I have sayd c. signifies not barely to say but to cry or call out I have called out to corruption so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father O Sister O Mother to the Worme not barely I have sayd but I cry and not barely I cry Father to the pit but he adds also a note of exclamation O Father Secondly The word imports not generally a calling or crying out to any one that comes next but to some speciall person by way of election and choice or to such as vve know vvell and are acquainted with as the termes of Father Mother and Sister imply Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat etiem occurrere alicui nam occurrentem solemus salutatione vel interrogatione aliqua proprio nomine appellare Further the word signifies not onely to call aloud and to call with election but to goe forth on purpose to call a Freind or to invite him in As when we see an acquaintance comming towards us or our dwellings we step out to meet and welcome him so the word may beare in this place As if Job seeing death drawing towards him had gone out and said O corruption my Father O wormes my Mother my Sister vvelcome vvelcome such an elegancy the word yeelds us I shall not here stay upon any anxious disquisition about the propriety of these relations how Job cals corruption his Father and the vvorme his Mother and Sister or in drawing out comparisons about them vve are to looke onely to a generall proportion not to an exact propriety in these words there 's no need to make out parallels between corruption and a Father or betweene wormes and a Mother or a Sister Onely thus much may be asserted particularly First He speakes thus to shew that he looked on death not onely not as an enemy but not as a stranger Death and he were well acquainted Secondly He speakes thus to shew that death vvas not only not a stranger to him but as one of his kindred He vvas upon as fayre termes vvith death as vvith Father and Mother Thirdly Job speakes thus to shew Vt ostendat mortem sibi in votis esse cunctis illum amicitiae necessitudinis nomininis compellat Pinet that he did not onely looke upon death as in a neere relation to him but as having a kinde of delight and contentment in death vvhat is more sweet to a man vvho hath been in a long journey and is returning home then to thinke that he is comming to his Father and Mother to his Brethren and Sisters As nature gives us kindred by blood so it is a custome to adopt and stampe to our selves kindred by kindnesse one vve call Father and another vve call Mother one is our Brother a second is our Sister a third our Cozen by the mutuall tyes or by the receits and returnes of curtesie Thus we are to take these compellations as intimating vvith vvhat spirit Job entertained the thoughts of death even with no other then if he had beene to fall into the embraces of Father and Mother and Sister He sayd to corruption as we should say to wisedome Prov. 7.4 Say unto wisedome thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman that is Acquaint thy selfe with and be familiar vvith vvisedome so shalt thou keepe thy selfe vvhich is both thy vvisedome and thy happinesse a stranger From the strange Woman Vers 5. Further it may yet be enquired what it is which Job cals Corruption and the worme I have sayd to corruption c. What is this corruption There are two opinions about it First Some interpret him speaking to the corruption and wormes which had already seized upon his body for his diseases and ulcerous sores had bred corruption and wormes As if he had sayd I may well call corruption my Father for I am already full of corruption I may well call the worme my Mother my sister for the wormes creep in and out at my sores continually my body is as if it had layne already in the Grave full of corruption and wormes Secondly Others expound him speaking to and of the corruption and wormes which waited his comming into the Grave The vvord in the Text which wee translate Corruption signifies also the Grave because bodies doe not onely corrupt in the Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fovea corruptio quod in fovea corpus corrumpitur but
quickly turne to corruption As soone as a body is dead it is a carkasse and after it hath been a while a carkasse 't is nothing but corruption Hence some render it not I have sayd to corruption but to the pit or grave so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father to the worme O Mother O Sister The Grave is so proper a place for corruption that 't is proper enough to expresse corruption by the Grave And besides those wormes which are generated out of the putrefaction of mans body there are vvormes ready generated in the Grave to entertaine us wormes are the proper inhabitants of the Grave there they keep house as Father and Mother and Sister to vvelcome and embrace such as descend into it Master Fox reports of Doctor Taylor a famous Martyr of Christ in Queene Maries time who vvas burned at Hadley in Suffolke that when he knew he should suffer death by fire he sayd I have been deceived my selfe and I shall deceive many at Hadley when some hearing this began to hope he would recant and shrink from that profession of the Gospel which hee had made At last he explained himselfe I am a man of a very full fat body which I had hoped should have been buryed in Hadley Church-yard but I see I am deceived and there are a great number of wormes there which might have had good cheere upon my carkasse but I shall deceive them all my body being to be burned The Earth breeds wormes in its owne bowels and our body which at the best and alive are but refined earth being once dead yeeld another race of wormes Job may be supposed speaking unto both or eyther I have sayd to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister We may hence Observe That some Beleevers are so farr from fearing that they are familiar with death Other Texts in the former passages of this Book have occasioned like Observations yet as often as this occasion is renewed it will not be unprofitable to renew this Observation To vvrite the same things vvhere wee read the same things yet the Reader will not finde them the same is not unprofitable I say some Beleevers are familiar vvith death I am farre from saying that he vvho is not is no Beleever There are not in all the same degrees of holinesse though holinesse be the same in all but a Beleever may arrive at such a composure of spirit at such a stature of holinesse as not to feare death There are some Beleevers and it is their sin who are but little acquainted vvith death they seldome goe out to the Grave or look into the pit they are going to he that hath often conversed with death in the meditation vvhich is a Beleevers vvay of the death of Christ cannot be affrayd to dye if he know what that death of Christ meanes vvhich he hath meditated upon He that knowes it throughly may as the Prophet speakes in another case Isa 11.8 play upon the hole of this Aspe and put his hand upon the den of this Cockatrice yea such a Beleever may not onely play and put his hand upon the Grave which is the hole of this Aspe and the den of this Cockatrice but he can play with the Aspe it selfe and take up the Cockatrice in his hand with this Aspe or Cockatrice he can sport himselfe as with a Brother or a Sister O how different are the thoughts of carnall men and their vvords of death How dreadfully doe they speake and think of the Grave An Unbeleever saith of the Grave It is a prison not a house he findes no bed in darknesse 't is to him a Dungeon he saith to corruption Thou art my foe and to the wormes yee are to me as Feinds and Furies Hee cannot beare the thought of them much lesse their sight and presence Saints speak courtingly of death there is a kinde of holy courtship in the language of Job Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 came out to Samuel delicately for sayd he Surely the bitternesse of death is past but he was deceived for Samuel hewed him in peices and when he sayd the bitternesse of death is past hee meant death was past Hee did not beleeve but that death would be bitter when ever it should come but he thought death was past for that time how ever and so he came out delicately hee stood as a Courtier yea as a King before Samuel because he had escaped as he supposed that King of terrours Thus the Saints come out delicately indeed and court it in the very face of the King of terrours for they know the bitternesse of death is past though they were assured they must dye presently They doe not say Death is past they know death will come and they must dye but the bitternesse is past the Gall and Worme wood is taken out and upon this account they can say to corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worme Thou art my Mother and Sister Thirdly Note Corruption and wormes are the portion and companions of the dead Onely Jesus Christ was exempt from this portion who though he submitted himselfe to death for sinners yet having no sin himselfe he was not at all subject to death nor was it possible that hee should be holden of it hee was the holy one he had no corruption in his spirit and therefore his flesh saw no corruption Acts 2.31 But as for all flesh they having corrupted all their wayes their flesh shall see corruption in the end Take two Corolaries from this First Let no man glory in bodily beauty in honours or alliances Corruption will shortly seaze upon the most beautifull body wormes will crawle upon the smoothest cheeks upon the fayrest face and into that mouth which now boasteth great things and speakes so proudly this earth must turne to earth and then the greatest kindreds and noblest Pedigrees will be lost or swallowed up in this Corruption is my Father and the worme my Mother and my Sister Man is corruptible while he lives and when hee dyes he is corruption Every man living is but a worme Jesus Christ who abased himselfe to the lowest condition of man saith I am a worme and no man Psal 22 6 When man dyes as he goes to the wormes so he makes wormes who would be proud of his flesh did he know that 't is but corruption and wormes once removed and that it must suddenly move back againe to corruption and wormes Secondly Seeing death hath nothing of its owne but darknesse corruption and wormes which are all unpleasing and a regret to flesh and blood therefore live much in Christ who onely gives a remedy against all these evills If we live in the Grave of Christ that will make the darknesse of our Grave light and the corruption of it sweet unto us He that upon good interest can say to Christ Thou art my Father thou art my Brother thou art my All can say rejoycingly to corruption Thou art my Father
beggar when he hath abundance A coveteous man is an unsatiable gulfe He only is well who hath enough and he is best who hath in temporalls the least enough But a coveteous man hath not enough though he hath more then enough and much more then needs he always dreams of dearths and suspects the Earth will be barren with these feares he pines yea martyrs himself and is not at all enriched with all his riches he hath sufficient to maintaine twenty yet is told by his unbeleife that he hath not sufficient for one This is vanity and vexation of spirit The life of man doth not consist in what he hath but in what he is and hopes to be his life doth not consist in abundance either for the continuance of it or for the comfort of it A man doth not live more dayes nor more cheerfully any day because he lives plentifully The creature were a God to us if it could do this to us but this God hath reserved in his owne hands how much soever of the creature he gives out that we may know our dependance on him Secondly Observe That imaginary wants or to have an unquiet spirit in the midst of our injoyments is more afflictive then to be in reall want The worst worldly poverty is to be poore when we are rich as it is the excellency of our spirituall estate to be poor in spirit in our greatest spirituall plenty to be little or nothing in our own eyes when we have a great stock of grace So it is the misery of our temporall estate to be thus poor in spirit when we have plenty in the Purse to say we have little or nothing when we have a great stock of worldly goods Zophar concludes of the Hypocrite Chap. 20.21 In the fulnesse of his sufficiency he shall be in streights which may be understood either first That when he is full troubles shall empty him or secondly That while his fulnesse continues even in his fullest fulnesse he shall live as if he were indeed as empty of wealth as he is of goodnesse alwayes spending himselfe with feares that all will be suddenly spent and saying in his heart This will not hold out I shall never be able to bring the yeare about or bring as we say both ends together Hence his cares are endlesse and he grudges himselfe ordinary comforts his worldly sorrow consumes him and he is willing to dye onely to save charges That man is in an ill case who is grudged what he eates or spends by others but it is farr worse for a man to grudge himselfe his necessary expences Some worldly men whose Barns are full are ready to say every one to his soule as he Luke 12.19 Soule take thine ease thou hast goods layd up for many yeares Another hath his Barnefull and yet saith This will not hold one yeare and so gives his soule no ease at all What the Apostle saith of himselfe is true of all those who have an interest in Christ 2 Cor. 6.10 As poore yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things But there are some rich who make many poore and themselves poorest of all for though they have all those things yet they are as if they possessed nothing It is an affliction to be poore for want of riches but it is a curse to be poore in the possession of riches Hee that loves Silver shall not be satisfied with Silver Eccles 5.10 To be satisfied is more then to be rich and he is alwayes poor who is unsatisfied he that expects satisfaction from the creature shall never finde contentation in the creature and he that expects no satisfaction from the creature hath contentation in any portion of the creature A godly man learnes in every estate to be content a carnall man is content in no estate when he is poor he sees he hath nothing and when he is rich he saith he hath not enough Thus he wanders as well when he is rich as when he is poor and is therefore never satisfied Againe He wanders about for bread Where Or saying Where is it Hence Observe A man that is not good is uncertaine where to receive any good Where is it Though a Beleever want bread yet he knowes whither to goe for it and where it is to be had The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof he goes to Heaven for bread as well as for grace he knowes there is bread in the promise and to the promise he goes The promise hath all things both concerning life and godlinesse Christ who is the bread of life gives us bread for this life and having Christ with him we have all things else Bread and cloathing Gold and Silver are layd up in Christ An Unbeleever as hath been shewed hath nothing to doe with promises nor with Christ the fulfiller of promises and therefore he is ever in doubt when he is in want and saith Where is it He knowes not whither to goe nor to whom for the supply of his wants A wicked man is never in his way and in one sense he is never out of his way They may goe any where who know not whither to goe They are never out of their way who have no home East West North or South it is all one to them which way the Staffe falls they goe they have no rule nor line to goe by but though a wicked man know not his particular way yet he often knowes his generall end and that is misery as the next words tell us He knowes the day of darknesse is ready at hand At the 22. Verse Hee beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse that is as was opened in case he falls into evill he thinks he shall never get out of it he hath no faith that he shall recover out of trouble but he hath a strong faith that he shall fall into trouble He knowes that the day of darknesse is ready at hand Here are three things to be cleared First What is meant by knowing Secondly What by the day of darknesse Thirdly What by being ready at hand To know it is here opposed to an uncertaine guesse or to conjecture to know is as much as to be fully perswaded to know is to be assured the highest act of faith is often expressed by knowledge Novit in seipso quod maneat in ruinam Certo sibi persuadet atque hujus rei praesagium ex sui cordis sensu sacit Hereby we know that we know him 1 John 2.4 that is hereby we are assured that we know him so here He knowes that is he is assured it is setled upon his spirit that the day of darknesse is ready at hand This knowledge riseth not from reports abroad but from his owne breast so the Septuagint translates Hee knowes in himselfe that evill shall be upon him As a godly man hath a witnesse for him in himselfe so a wicked man hath a witnesse against him in
then a Conqueror over them all 'T is not onely granted that Job did hope for a day of joy after his night of sorrow but affirmed that he had a day of joy in his night of sorrow for he could say in a true sense what the Apostle Paul after did as sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing yet his night by reason of his outward troubles and many assaults of inward terrour was changed into a laborious toyling day and his outward light of comfort was short and quickly ended when he had it By reason of the faces as the Originall hath it or sudden appearances of darknesse JOB CHAP. 17. Vers 13 14 15 16. If I waite the Grave is mine house I have made my in bed the darknesse I have sayd to corruption Thou art my Father to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister And where is now my hope As for my hope who shall see it They shall goe downe to the barrs of the pit when our rest together is in the dust JOB prosecutes the former Argument and shewes yet more fully the vanity of those hopes which his Freinds would nourish in him about a temporall restauration Hee shewes also that though himselfe should nourish them and even strive to hope yet hee could no more keepe such hopes from languishing then himselfe from dying If I waite the Grave is mine house If I waite Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affinitatem habet cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perpemdiculum linea Waiting is an act of the minde in expectation of some future good The Originall word signifies an earnest waiting or waiting joyned with much intention of spirit and strong desires as if the minde did let out a Cord or Line to take hold of the thing for which we waite Waiting is nothing else but patience lengthened out upon a promise There are three acts of the soule upon the promises First Beleeving Secondly Hoping Dicitis amici si me humiliem manere meam expectationem atqui cemitis vires meas vitam meam venisse ad ultimam lineam quippe mala mea curâ—m respuunt Coâ— Thirdly Waiting We beleeve the truth of the promise we hope for the good layd up in the promise we waite till that good be given out unto us If I waite saith Job God waites upon us and we waite upon God God waits in mercy we waite in duty God waites to be gracious Isa 30.18 and man waits to be refreshed with the grace of God Job in this place seemes to make light or little of this duty of waiting If I waite or although I waite or what if I waite what shall I get by it Where 's the profit Or what are my commings in He tells us what If I waite all that I shall get by it will be a Grave or a bed in darknesse And all my preferment will be to call corruption my Father and to say of the Worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister Here 's all I am like to have for all my waiting But was this all he looked for by waiting Yes it was all he looked for and all he thought himselfe in a capacity to receive in this World though in that hee was deceived hee had no expectation but to dye and goe downe to the dust he had no hope to rejoyce in any kindred or alliance but wormes and corruption these were his Mother and his Sisters and Brethren If I wait here 's all I shall have Thus as I intimated before the words carry a strong confutation of those hopes which his Freinds endeavoured to raise up in him that God would raise him up Docet praecisam esse sibi his malis omnem vitae spem vel si eam maximè animo fovere velit Si expectem i. e. si expectare studeam Merl. and make him as a Prince among the people if he repented and turned to God No saith hee what doe you tell mee of a great House and of a great Name of a rising Sun and of the morning light why am I so often told of these things I tell you once for all the Grave is my house darknesse is my bed and the wormes are my kindred and companions let me heare no more of these groundlesse prophecyings and unsavory flatteries for my wound is incurable and I am at the last cast If I waite the Grave is my house Againe The word which we translate to waite comming as was toucht before Si aedificavero infernus domus mea Rab. Dan. from a Root which signifies a Carpenters Line by which he measures his buildings Some render the Text thus If I build the Grave is my house As if hee had sayd I have no other house to build but a Grave or when I have builded my best I shall have no other house but a Grave The Grave The same word signifieth Hell as was shewed Chap. 11.8 and therefore I will not stay here upon it If I waite the Grave Is my house He cals the Grave a house because there wee rest as in a house Man goeth forth of his house to labour and comes home to his house for rest Aegyptij defunctorum sepulchra domos aeternas Appellitant Diodor. lib. 1. Some tell us that Job calls the Grave his house in allusion to those formes of making Graves or Sepulchers used in ancient which are also continued in these times with arches and contrivances like a house And have made my bed in the darknesse Intelligi potest de lecto bene ornato super quem reponi solebant principum cadavera Mausoleis quod juxta Hebraeum in plurail dicitur stravi strata mea magnificum quid sâ—nat Pompaticum Bold He speaks still in prosecution of the allusion In a house there are Dining Roomes and there are sleeping Roomes there is the Bed-Chamber and the Bed in the Chamber The Grave is my house saith Job and there I have a Bed I have made it In the darknesse The Grave is a darke place and the Grave is called Darknesse in a double respect First Because there is no light of the body there Secondly Because there is no light of the Sun there The light of the body is the eye and the light of the ayre is the Sun but in the Grave the Sun shines not or if it did yet there the eye sees not therefore the Grave is darknesse I have made my bed in the darknesse And darknesse is most fit for a bed sleepe loves darknesse A working Roome must be light but 't is no matter how darke a sleeping Roome be when we goe to sleep if it be not darke we make it darke that so we may sleep the better The Apostle gives that as an argument why the Saints should not sleep as doe others because they were once darknesse but now light in the Lord. He that is in aeriall light can hardly get his body to sleep and will you who are in spirituall light compose your
soules to sleep All sorts of sleepers covet the darke and therefore they who sleep in death are elegantly described making their bâ—d in darknesse that so they may have as it were all accommodations for their rest I have made my bed in the darknesse It may be questioned towards the clearing of this Verse Did not Job waite Why doth he say If I waite Was hee upon Iffs or And 's about that great and necessary duty Hee resolved peremptorily Chap. 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my change come And is hee so much changed already into an unresolvednesse about his waiting I answer This supposition about waiting is not a negation nor is it a note of his irresolution to waite for any thing but only for that particular about which his Freinds were so busie to awaken and heighten his expectations Job waited upon God for all things which he desired to have onely he did not waite upon God for that which the visible dispensations of God seemed to tell him aloud that he should not have a temporall deliverance yea when he saith If I waite namely for this thing it is an Argument that he acknowledged it a duty to waite upon God for all those things for the receiving of which he had any rule or ground of hope from God Every exception confirmes the rule Hee that saith he doth not wait upon God about that for which hee hath no warrant saith strongly that he ought to waite upon God where he hath a warrant From which consequence we may Observe this unquestionable truth That it is the duty of man to waite upon God Waiting upon God is a duty of the first Commandement it is a part of naturall worship It is not in mans liberty whether he will waite or no hee is commanded to waite David speaks it double and no doubt he laboured to act it double Psal 40.1 Waiting I waited or I waited patiently upon God The Apostle gives that advice to the Saints Heb. 10.36 Yee have need of patience that after yee have done the will of God yee may receive the promise There is doing the will of God and then there is receiving the promise yet we must doe somewhat after we have done the will of God before we can receive the promise and that is we must waite upon him You have need of patience saith the Apostle What kinde of patience There are three sorts of patience First The patience of labouring that he puts in the former part of the Verse it is our doing the will of God Secondly There is the patience of suffering Thirdly There is the patience of waiting after we have both done and suffered the will of God We have need of this patience the patience of waiting that we may receive the promise that is the mercy promised God hath preventing mercies and they come to us before we wait for them but his rewarding mercies must be waited for he will exercise the grace of patience in us by causing us to wait for our reward as he exerciseth the graces of love and zeale in commanding us to doe his will and usually without waiting after we have done his will there is no receiving of the reward for doing his will And for the promises and Prophesies in generall though God never faile his owne time yet he seldome comes at ours That great promise about the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Aegypt was performed punctually to an houre Exod. 12.41 42. It came to passe at the end of foure hundred and thirty yeares even that very night it came to passe that God brought out all the Host of Israel The time being out in the night God did not stay till morning but brought them out that very night We count it a very veniall sin to breake our word for a day or to let a man waite a day beyond the time promised we commonly say A day breakes no square It is not so with God he keeps his time punctually he will not break his word one day Wee read of the shortning of evill times but not of their lengthening God never makes his people waite for good longer then hee hath promised But though God keep his time exactly and come just at the moment he hath prefixed and foreshewed yet we are apt to antedate the promise of God and to set it a time before Gods time We are short sighted and short breathed that which is but a moment in the Kalendar of Heaven seemes more then an age to us Now in this regard there is much need of patience of waiting patience to tarry not onely our time but Gods time which is the meaning of the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 2.3 The vision is for an appointed time but at the end it will speake and not lye though it tarry waite for it because it will surely come and will not tarry The Prophet advises Though it tarry waite for it there 's our duty yet hee presently affirmes It will not tarry So then it may tarry and yet it tarryeth not it may tarry beyond our time but it tarryeth not beyond Gods time It will come and will not tarry that is not beyond the time which God hath prefixed though it may soone tarry beyond the time which we have prefixed therefore if it tarry waite there is no remedy but patience The Apostle James gives the rule Chap. 1.4 Let patience have her perfect worke that is Let all manner of patience worke in you to the end and let it worke to all those ends or purposes to which it is appointed Patience hath her perfect worke First When it puts forth perfect acts Secondly When it perseveres in acting Patience ascends by three steps to the perfection of her worke The first is a silent not a sullen submission or resignation of our selves to the dispose of God Psal 39.9 I was dumb saith David and opened not my mouth because thou didst it Secondly A kinde of thankfull acceptation or kissing of the Rod which smites us If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled saith the Lord Levit. 26.41 and they accept the punishment of their iniquity The phrase imports a welcome receiving of it as of a love-token from the hand of a Freind or that the Rod is not onely justly but mercifully and graciously inflicted This a great perfection of patience and to this Jobs patience attained the very first day of his sorrows while he blessed the Name of the Lord not onely for giving him so many good things but also for taking them away Chap. 1.21 The third step is spirituall joy and serious cheerfulnesse under sorrowfull dispensations This the Apostle exhorts the Brethren to Vers 2. Count it all joy when yee fall into diverse temptations And presently adds intimating that the highest perfection of patience consists in this joy Let patience have her perfect worke As if hee had sayd I have told you what the perfect worke of patience is doe not