harshnesse Not that every man must be left to himself and let alone to live as he lifteth Admonition is a Christian duty and the word of exhortation must be suffered sharp though it be and to the flesh irksome better it is that the Vine should bleed then dye Had Job been guilty he would or should have been as Vespasian is reported Patiâ—utissimus veri patient of a reproof But his friends falsly accused him for an hypocrite and fell foule upon another mans servant whom they had nothing to do to condemn Rom. 14. And hence this expression of his discontent Verse 5. If indeed yen wil wagnifie your selves against me Or will you indeed magnifie your selves against me scil because of mine error as vers 4. which yet ye have not convinced me of Will ye insult over me therefore and throw dirt upon me Of Bonassus a certain beast as big as an On Aristotle reporteth Hist Animal lib. 9 cap. 45. that having hornes bending inward and unfit for fight after that he is wounded by the hunters he flyeth for his life and often letteth flye his dung for four yards or more upon the dogs or men that pursue him to their great annoyance In like fort deal many disputers of this world when they cannot make good their matter by strength of Argument they cast upon their adversaries the dung of calumnies so seeking to magnifie themselves against him and pleading against him his reproach And plead against me my reproach Affliction exposeth a man to reproach Where the hedge is low the beast will be breaking over See Zeph. 3.12 with the Note there Verse 6. Know that God hath overthrown me Do not you therefore add affliction to the afflicted which is so odious a thing to God Psal 41.2 Diodaze and 69.26 but regard the greatnesse of mine evils which draw these complaints from me that seem so immoderate to you See Job 6.2 And hath compassed me with his net Hath encompassed me round with affliction that I can get out no way An hunting term Job 10.16 Laâ—â— 1.23 Ezek. 12.13 Hos 7.12 Bildad had made much mention of nets and grins chap. 18.8 9. where in God ensnareth and ensnarleth the wicked Job granteth that Gods not had encompassed him but withal denyeth himself to be wicked or that his friends should therefore reproach him but rather pity him Verse 7. Behold I cry out of wrong but I am not heard Nothing is more natural and usual then for men in misery to cry out for help Jobs great grief was that neither God nor man would regard his moanes or deliver him out of the Net God did not rescue him men did not right him or relieve him His outcry seemeth to be the same in effect with that of Habakkuk the Prophet chap. 1.2 3. O Lord how long shal I cry and then wilt not hear even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save Why dost thou shew not iniquity and cause we to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously c. verse 13. Thus Job but with out an answer as the Lion letteth his Whelps four themselves hourse for hunger yea till they are almost dead ere he supplieth them Sure it is that God alwayes heareth his Jobs though he doth not alwayes answer in our time and in our way Yea it is an hearing and an answer of prayer saith one that we can pray though unheard and unanswered I cry aloud Heb. I set up my Note cum gemitu ululatu with groaning and howling Men never pray so earnestly as in greatest afflictions Heb. 5.7 Hos 12.4 then their prayers like strong streams in narrow streights bear down all that stands before them Verse 8. He hath fenced up my way c. Here Job carried away as it were with a torrent of grief ampâ—sieth his miseries by many other comparisons And first of a Traveller whom nothing so much troubleth in his journey as hedges and darkness God saith Job hath every way hedged me out of content and comfort so that though I seek it never so I cannot find it Gods people are oft brought into greatest straits as David Psal 31. and 142. Israel at the red sea Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20. that they may learne to depend upon the divine providence c. And he hath set darknesse in my paths I am benighted and know nor wither to go or how to get out Darknesse is full of errour and terror A child of light may walk in darknesse Isai 50.10 Yea in the valley of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 yet is he never without some spark of faith which guideth him in the deepest darknesse until he behold the Sun of righteousnesse Light is sowne for the righteous c. heavinesse may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal 30. ver 6 And as before the day breaks the darknesse is greatest so here Verse 9. Gen. 37.23 He hath stript me of my glory This is the second comparison ab externo corporis cultu habitu saith Merlin From the outward habiliments and habits of the body Our King Richard the 2d when he was to be deposed was brought forth gorgeously attired in his Robes royal with a crown upon his head a Scepter in his hand c but soon after despoiled of all and unkinged So it fared with poor Job stripped and bereft of all that he formerly gloried in and was respected for as a man robbed hath all his cloathes taken off and is lest naked In him it appeated that mortality was but the stage of mutability as one saith of our Hâ—â—y 6. who of a most potent Monarch Daniels Hist was when deposed not the Master of a Molehil nor owner of his own liberty And hath taken the Crown from off my head Hence some infer that Job was a King the same with Jobab King of Edom mentioned Gen 36.34 But this is uncertaine sith Crown is often in Scripture taken allegorically for Riches Authority Dignity and other Ornaments These were taken from Job yea from off his head See Lam. 5.16 But he had a better Crown quae nec eripi nec surripi potuit which could not be taken away viz. that crown of twelve Stars or celestial graces Rev. 12.1 together with that Crown of glory the fruit of the former that is incorruptible and fadeth not away 1 Pet 1.4 Happy Job in such a Crown and that he was in the number of those few heads destined to such a Diadem David had whatever Job had a Crown of pure gold set upon his head Psal 21. this was a great mercy to so mean a man sith beyond a Crown the wishes of mortal men extend not But David blesseth God for a better Crown Psal 103.4 Who crowneth thee with loving kindnesse and tender mercies And how was this set on his head Who for giveth
from the fault And the night He would be sure so â—it the time whether it were day or night He that is 〈◊〉 out of Gods way knoweâ— not where he shall stop or when he 〈◊〉 step back Take heed therefore to they wayes that thou sin not with thy tongue Psal 39.1 Jam. 3. that unruly member Hanc frâ—nis hanc â—â— compesce catenis When Gods hand is on thy back let thy hand be on thy mouth keep it as with a bridle or muzzle Psal 39.1 Passionate speeches teâ—iter volant non â—â—viter violant The best that come of them is repentance Job when he was once out could keepe no mean but what he had said against day and night he amplifieth by the parts and first for the Day ver 4.5 and then for the Night 6 7 8. c. Verse 4. Let that day be darknesse thick darknesse as that once was in Egypt Exod. 10.23 A day of trouble and distresse a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknesse Zeph. 1.15 Let it be a dreadfull and a dismall day let sorrow and sadnesse overshadow it let mourning and tears overwhelme it let it be as when the Sun hideth his head in a mantle of black and is eclipsed at which time all creatures here below flag and hang the head In the gloomiest day there is light enough to make it day and distinguish it from night though the Sun shine not But Job would have no light to appear on his birth-day Thus be throweth out words without wisedome and as Hinds by calving so he by talking casteth out his sorrows Job 39.3 Let not God regard itâ— or require it let it passe as not worth looking after let him not take care of it or powre downe any speciall blessing upon it as he doth upon his people every day but especially upon the Sabbath-day Gods market day called by the Jewes desiderium dierum the desire of dayes and by the Primitive Christians Dies Lucis the Day of Light Neither let the light shine upon it And what is the air without light that first ornament of the visible world so what are all creature-comforts unlesse God shine through them What a wo-case is that poor soul in that walketh in darknesse and hath none of his light Isa 50.10 how lamentable is such an one deserted â—eâ—ghted how doth he find himself in the very suburbs of hell it self where the paine of losse is greater then the paine of sense 2 Thes 1.9 and to note thus much Iob here after he had said Let that day be darknesse addeth as a greater evil Let not the light shine upon it Verse 5. Let darknesse and the shadow of death stain it Let it be â—â—es luctuosus â—ethalis such a deadly dark day that each man may think it his last day fatall and feral Let there not be dimnesse only such as appeareth through a painted glasse died with some obscure colour but horrid and hideous darknesse such as was that at our Saviours passion when the Sun was totally â—â—â—â—ed and a great Philosopher thereupon cried out either the God of Nature suffers or the world is at an end To darknesse Iob here emphatically addeth the shadow of death The shadow is the dark part of the thing so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death death in its blackest representation Now let these stain it saith he or challenge it or espouse it In nocte funestatur mund◠〈…〉 saith Tertullian elegantly Let a cloud dwell upon it Crescâ—t 〈…〉 Auxesin oratio Iob heapes up words like in sound and not unlike in sense Grief had made him eloquent as hoping thereby to ease himself Let a cloud dwell upon it a fixed cloud not such an one as continually hangeth over the Island of St. Thomas on the back side of Africa Abboâ—s Gâ—â—g 251. wherewith the whole Island is watered nor such aâ—dloud of grace as God promiseth to create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies that upon all his glory may be a defence Isa 4.5 But such as St. Paul and his company were under before the shipwrack Act. 27. when neither Sunne nor starre appeared for many dayes together the heavens being wholly muffled c. Let the blacknesse of the any terrifie it or Let the â—eat of the day terrifie it as it befalleth those that live under the torrid Zone where nothing prospereth The Atlantes a certain people are said to curse the rising Sun it doth so torture them with extreme heat When the dog star ariseth those are in ill case who dwell in hot Countries towards the East they are troubled and terrified Some take the word Chimrine here rendred blacknesse for those 〈◊〉 mentioned by the Prophets those Chimney-Chaplains of the Heathen idols and so render it thus Let the Priests of the day terrifie it that is Let those who used to observe and distinguish dayes note it for a terrible day otherâ— understand it of the noon-day divels that should vex people on that day with hellish heâ—â—â—â— and fures the â—â—lgar Latine hath it thus Let Hinc forsan tenebra Cimmeria as it were the bâ—ternesseâ— of the day terrifie it and to the 〈…〉 the Chaldee Paraphrast Iob still riseth in his discourse making use of many poeticall figures and tragicall phrases pickt out for the purpose Verse 6. As for that night let darknesse seize upon it Having spent his spleene upon the day he now vents himself upon the night according to that division verse 3. As for that night of mine unhappy conception or birth let tenebrosus turbo as the Vulgar here hath it Caligo perpetua inufitata Mercer a dark tempest or a tempestuous darknesse grasp it or invade it let it be as dark as pitch by a darknesse superadded to its naturall darknesse Let it not be joyned unto the dayes of the yeare Let nature quite disclaime it and disjoint it from the day following let it not be reckoned as any part of time that measure of all our motions Some render it Ne gaudeat inter dies Let it not rejoyce it self among the dayes of the year as one of them The night hath glory by union with the day this he wisheth taken from it Disunion and division is a curse and the number of two hath been accounted accursed because it was the first that departed from unity And let it not come into the number of months Drus. Deleatur è calendario let it be razed out of the Calendar and not have any place in the computation of time The Hebrewes call the Moon and a Month by the same Name because the Moone is renewed every month Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luna Verse 7. Lo let that night be solitary And so consequently sorrowfull for alonenesse is comfortlesse optimum solatium sodalitium There is a desirable solitarinesse such as was that of
desperation And the like is recorded of Mr. Rob. Bolton Psal 119.109 Aliqui suspicantur Jobum respondentem c. Pineda But of any good man that destroyed himself we read not Davids life was in his hand continually and he in daily danger of losing it yet have I not forgotten thy law saith he which flatly forbiddeth all the degrees of self-murther as the worst sort That Satan tempted Job to this sin some do probably collect from this text A man is to expect if he live but his dayes saith a Reverend Casuist to be urged to all sins to the breach of every branch of the ten Commandments and to be put to it in respect of every Article of our Creed Verse 15. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Though he should multiply my miseries and lay stroke after stroke upon me till he had dashed the very breath out of my body yet he shall not be so rid of me for I will hang on still and if I must needs die I wil die at his feet and in the midst of death expect a better life from him Dum expiro spero shall be my motto The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 yea his hope is most lively when himself lieth a dying superest sperare salutem my flesh and my heart faileth saith he but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psalm 73.26 True faith in a danger as the blood gets to the heart John 14.1 and if it self be in good heart it will believe in an angry God as Isai 63.15 16. the Church there thought she should know him amidst all his austerities yea in a killing God as here yea as a man may say with reverence whether God will or no as that woman of Canaan Matth. 15. who would not be damped or discouraged with Christs either silence or sad answers and therefore had what she came for besides an high commendation of her heroical faith But or neverthelesse I will maintain mine own wayes before him We have had the Triumph of Jobs trust here we have the ground of it viz. his uprightnesse the testimony of his conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had his conversation in the world 2 Cor. 2.12 This was his cordial without which grief would have broke his heart Psalm 69.20 this was his confidence even the clearnesse of his conscience 1 John 3.21 Uprightnesse hath boldnesse and that man who walks uprightly before God may trust perfectly in God Job was either innocent or penitent He would therefore either maintain his wayes before God and come to the light Quem poenitet peccasse pene est innocens Sen. Agam. that his deeds might be manifest that they were wrought in God John 3.21 Or else he would reprove and correct his wayes so the Hebrew word signifieth also that is he would confesse and forsake his sins and so be sure to have mercy according to that soul-satisfying promise Prov. 28.13 Verse 16. He also shall be my salvation So long as I judg my self God will not judg me 1 Cor. 11.33 Nay he will surely save me for God will save the humble person Job 22.29 Merlin in loc what is humiliation but humility exercised Non est igitur inanis electorum fides res evanida nec infirma saith an Interpreter here therefore the faith of Gods elect is no empty or vain thing but a light shining from the spirit of God and such as overcometh the very darknesse of death It is a sure testimony of Gods good will toward us and an infallible perswasion of our salvation such as slighteth the worlds false censures overcometh temptations of all sorts laugheth at death and through the thickest darknesse of affliction beholdeth the pleased face of God in Christ through whom we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him Eph. 2.12 For an hypocrite shall not come before him No that 's a priviledg proper to the Communion of Saints therefore I am no hypocrite as you have charged me to be chap. 4.6 and 8.13 for I dare both offer to maintaine my wayes before him to be upright for the maine and I doubt not but he will be my salvation and that I shall appear before him in heaven this no hypocrite shall ever doe How should he say when as he is an unclean caytiffe as the Hebrew word signifieth flagitiosus so Vatablus rendreth it a flagitious impious person a very juggle so the Septuagint a fair professor indeed but a foul sinner Caneph Corant Deo dolus non ingreditur moyled all over and even buried in a bog of wickednesse he is a wicked man in a godly mans cloaths saith one He doth but assume religion saith another as the divels do dead bodies without a soul to animate them He is like the painted grapes that deceived the living birds or the golden apples with this motto No further then colours touch them and they vanish He knowes that he is naught and that God knowes it too how then should he approach him or appear before his throne No he dare not for the very shew of his face doth testifie against him as the Prophet speaks in another case or if he do he shall not be able to subsist there Psalm 5.5 he shall not stand in judgment Psalm 1.5 but shall runne away with these or the like words in his mouth Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isai 33.14 Woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of this mighty God 1 Sam. 4.8 None Mat. 24.51 for he shall surely assign you a part with the divel and hypocrites when as the righteous shall give thanks unto Gods Name and the upright only shall dwell in his presence Psal 140.13 Verse 17. Hear diligently my speech Heb. Hearing heart that is incline your ears and hear as Isai 55.3 Mark and attend hear me not only but heed me too interrupt me not neither give me the slip as it may seem they were ready to do when they heard him professe such a deal of faith and hope under so many and heavy afflictions wherein they thought that either he was besides himself or at least besides the cushion as we say and utterly out See verse 6. and observe that it is but needfull often to stirre up our auditors to attention Job makes more prefaces then one to be heard so do the Prophets often Hear the word of the Lord Hear and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it So doth the Arch-prophet more then once Revel 2. 3. And Matth. 13.19 Who hath ears to hear let him hear All Christs hearers had not ears or if they had yet they were stopped or if open yet the bore was not big enough O pray that God would say unto us Epphata be opened for a heavy ear is a singular judgment Verse 18. Behold
bear them out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But God acknowledgeth them not as such only of them to whom much is given much shall be required For they are all the work of his hands Both for their persons for they are all equally his creatures and for their conditions which God also hath cut them out and apportioned Thus he is said to have made Moses and Aaron that is to have advanced them 1 Sam. 12.6 and Christ is said to have made the twelve when he ordained them to the Apostleship Mar. 3.14 Verse 20. In a moment shall they die Be they mean or mighty they are when God pleaseth suddenly swept away by the hand of death as Chesse-men are into the bag without distinction of Kings Dukes Bishops or Common people And the people shall be troubled at midnight as were the Egyptians when their first-born were slain in their dead sleep Exod. 12.29 not without much terrour and tumult and as were the Army of Sennacherib 2 King 19.35 and Belshazzar with his Babylon Dan. 5.30 31. The people shall be troubled they shall be shaken as leaves in a great wind or be carried away as by a mighty torent when they were most secure and dreamt of no such danger Neither in all these alterations and various occurrences is God unrighteous sith he is debtour to none neither doth he any thing without reason and right And passe away Praeteribunt id est peribunt they shall passe into the grave as Eccles 1.4 One generation passeth and another cometh or they shall perish as when it is said Heaven and earth shall pass away The Vulgar hath it Pertransibunt It is not transibunt they shall passe saith Gregory but pertransibunt they shall pass thorow because the wicked are alwayes passing on to perdition throughout all their lives And the mighty shall be taken away without hand That is without seeing the hand that smiteth them which is saith One a divine force invisibly cutting asunder the thred of their lives in a moment Psal 76.12 The Lord cutteth off the spirit of Princes The Hebrew importeth that he slips them off as one should slip of a flower betwixt his finger or as one should slip of a bunch of grapes c. The Original here is They shall take away the mighty that is the Angels shall as Luk. 12.20 hurry them out of the world without hand that is without mans help without humane violence Verse 21. For his eyes are upon the wayes of man Gods Providence like a well-drawn picture that eyeth each one in the room observeth all things he seeth cause enough thus to proceed in judgement against a person or people though we see it not And although one man knoweth not another nor doth any man well know himself yet God following as it were all men hard at the heels doth with his eyes narrowly observe and mark what way every one walketh in he seeth all his goings Let not men therefore please themselves in their sinful practises as if God saw them not because for a time they scape unpunished Saculi laetitia est impunita nequitia but sin and punishment are tyed together with chains of Adamant and cannot long be asunder Verse 22. There is no darkness nor shadow of death c. Sinners would fain shroud and secret themselves from Gods all-seeing eye for which end they search all corners with Adam and hope that their evil pranks and practises shall never come to light but that cannot be for not only darkness and the shadow of death but Hell also is naked before him and destruction hath no covering Job 26.6 See the Note there See also Psal 139.12 and Amos 9.2 3. Heb. 4.13 with the Notes Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Either from Gods all-seeing eye or punishing hand Adam is pulled out of the thicket Manasseth from among the thorns Zedekiah and his family from between the two walls many Jews out of the privies and other lurking-holes where they lay hid at the last destruction of Jerusalem Verse 23. For he will not lay upon man more then right Plus quà m par est Nam non sâ— virum poncâ— trà He cannot over-do likely no though he should inflict upon him all the torments here and tortures in hell sith death in the utmost eâ—tent of it is the just hire of the least sin Romans 6.23 See Ezr. 9.13 with the Note That he should enter into judgement with God Commence a suit against him or challenge him into the schools to argue it out with him as thou Job hast offered to do but unadvisedly sith God hath justice on his side as the very Heathens also saw when they set Themis their goddesse of Justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 next of all to Jupiter their chief god Verse 24. He shall break in pieces mighty men c. Infinitè conterit validos so Tremellius rendreth it He infinitely mawleth the mighty and breaketh them in pieces like a potters vessel Psal 2.9 Without number Or Without inquisition as knowing all things afore-hand and not needing any evidences or examination of witnesses Or without end because their ruine is endlesse Ruina majorum sit cantela minorum And set others in their stead As is to be seen in the rise reign and ruine of the four mighty Monarchies and others not a few that had their times and their turns as the Kingdom of the ten Tribes which in a few years fell into nine several Families and few of those Kings died a natural death No more did the Emperours of Rome till Constantine See Dan. 2.21 Psal 113.7 8. Verse 25. Therefore he knoweth their works It appeareth by their punishment that God took notice of their wicked works though they thought otherwise yea when they know not or are not aware of it he overthroweth them therefore This he doth in the night i. e. suddenly and unexpectedly Others render it Assoon as he hath changed the night they are crushed that is as soon as he hath brought forth the light which revealeth all things Ephes 5.13 and layeth them open to publick view who before were taken for better men they are destroyed as publick Pests Verse 26. He striketh them as wicked men c. Complodit eos saith Junius scilicet ut inflatas vesical in sun ipsorum sede he striketh upon them as blown bladders in their own seat This is an elegant similitude setting forth the sudden overthrow of graceless great Ones as with a kind of noise and not without publick notice for it followeth In the open sight of others Heb. In the place of beholders in proscenio as upon a Stage or Scaffold Discant justitiam moniti non temnere â—imen others may hear and fear and do no more so God is pleased for this purpose to hang up some notorious offendors as it were in gibbets as Pharaoh Sennacherib Antiochus Herod Julian c. See those Writs of Execution 1 Cor. 10.5 6 7
are all young Virgins taken and stollen from forraine Nations where after they have been instructed in good behaviour and can play upon instruments sing dance and sew curiously they are given to the Grand Signior as presents of great value They live just as Nunnes do in great Nunneries c. That Esther was brought also In the general survey she was taken among the rest and brought to the Court an ill aire for Piety to breath in exeat aulâ Qui vult esse pius Fraus sublimi regnat in aulz Sen. But necessity is an hard weapon As the Turks at this day so the Persian Kings then took all their subjects to be their slaves holding not only their estates but their lives and all they have at their dispose without respect either to the cause or manner To the custody of Hegai keeper of the women Clapt up as it were in a glorious prison being not to come abroad but when the King calls nor to frequent any society but such as is appointed her for her necessary attendance and comfort See the like in the description of the Grand Signiors Seraglio chap. 4. Verse 9. And the maiden pleased him Hegai cast his favour upon her not because she was the fairest noblest most industrious most courtly c. but because God wrought his heart to it as he did Potiphars and Pharaohs to Joseph Jonathans to David Darius's to Daniel c. It is the Lord that gives favour and fashioneth mens opinions of us He gave Solomon honour and Paul prayes to him that his service may be accepted of the Saints Row 15.31 And she obtained kindnesse of him His favour was not empty favour professional only as that of Courtiers And he speedily gave her c. As resolving shortly to recommend her to the King who he knew would be much ruled by him in his choyce Here were shadows of many excellent vertues in a blind Ethnik who may in some sort teach true kindnesse and doth condemne those that boast of false liberality He dealt not basely but bountifully with Esther Her things for purification See ver 3.12 With such things as belonged to her Heb. Her portions or allowances of food raiment c. which this faithful officer interverted not for his own private gaine but rather inlarged himself in the true bestowing thereof And seven maidens When he might have put her off with one he enlargeth himself and even stretcheth his authority that he might by these maide of honour attending her set her forth as a Queen aforehand Which were meet to he given her Or which were very comely speciosa vel spectatae And he preferred Heb. He changed her sc for the better as God doth his people when he taketh them to heaven where they change place but not company as that good man said upon his death-bed and are brought from the jawes of death to the joyes of eternal life from shadows to substances D. Preston from misery to majesty c. a greater change then that of Queen Elizabeth from a Prisoner to a Princesse or that of our Henry the fourth Dan. hist 48. who was crowned the very same day that the year before he had been banished the Realme The Latines call prosperous things Res secundas because they are to be had hereafter they are not the first things Vnto the best place of the house of the women Or Vnto the best condition Gods best children shall have the best of the best fat things full of marrow wines on the lees well refined Esay 25.6 Jacob and his family had the best of the Land of Egypt that Granary of the world as one calleth it His posterity had a land that flowed with milke and honey What Countreys comparable to those that professe the Gospel Godlinesse is profitable to all things having the promises of both lives c. Verse 10. Esther had not shewed her people Because the Jewes were slighted as captives and forlorn how dear to the gods that Nation is faith Cicero it appeareth quòd est victa quòd elocata O at pro L. Hac quòd servata in that they are conquered captivated and not utterly destroyed by us they were also generally hated as different in Religion and would not so much as drink with Heathens lest they should drink things sacrificed to Idols They held it meritorious in after-times to kill an idolater as Tacitus testifieth and at this day they say Optimus inter gentes c. The very best among the Gentiles is worthy to have his head bruised as a Serpent A nasty people they are still and bloodthirsty odious and sordid An historian telleth us of an Emperour travelling into Egypt and there meeting with certaine Jews he was so annoyed with the stench of them that he cryed out O Marcomanut ô Quadi ô Surmaetae tandem alios vobis deteriores inveni Ammian lib. 2. This is the basest and most contemptible people that ever I light upon Aug. in Psal 58 The Romanes would not own them when they had conquered them as they did other Nations though they complied never so much and were their servants The Turks so hate them for crucifying Christ that they use to say in detestation of a thing Heyl. Geog. I would I might die a Jew then as when they would assure any thing in execrationibus dicunt Judeus sim si fallo they curse themselves Sanctrus in Zech 8.13 and say Let me be held a Jew if I deceive thee This lyeth upon them as a punishment for their unexpiable guilt in putting to death the Lord of life But in Esthers time they were hated chiefly for their Religion In prudence therefore she concealeth her kindred as being not called to give an account of her faith and living private might well performe her devotions and yet not thrust her self into observation For Mordecai had charged beâ— that she should not shew it Lest she should be cashiered the Court for a Jeweâ—se which was then held crime enough as afterwards it was in Nore's dayes to be a Christian and this hand perinde in crimine quà m odio humani generis as Tavitus hath it not for any great fault so much as by the hatred of mankind incensed and set on work by the Devil doubtlesse to root out the true Religion and to set up himself in the hearts of men as god of this present world Hence those complaints of Tertullian and Justin Martyr in their Apologies for Christians that their name and not their crimes was hated and hissed out of all companies Tert. Apoâ— c 1. 2.3 Just Apol. 2. Odio publico est confessio nòminis non examinatio criminis Solius hominis crimen est c. Wisely therefore did Mordecai charge Esther to conceal her self for present so long as it might be done without prejudice to the truth and scandal to her profession Worthily also did holy Esther in obeying Mordâ—cai her faithful foster-father in ruling
Verse 18. Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the womb Why but was not that a mercy David esteemed it so and gives God the glory Psalm 22.9 But discontent is an utter enemy to thankfulnesse The bird sings not till she have taken up her stand to her mind Some mens eyes are so bleared and glazed with tears for what they want that they cannot see what good they have cannot see mercies for blessings Job here in a distemper wisheth himself as he had done before chap. 3. Who can understand his errors Psalm 19.12 either unborn or presently dead without the distance of one day betwixt his birth and his burial In quo errorem erravit non levem vir alioqui pientissimus this was a worse wish then if he had desired that his life might be presently taken away from him for herein he sheweth himself unthankful to God for all his former benefits and not so only but angry with God for the good he had done him thus we have seen dogs in a chafe fly at their masters and children in a pelt strike at their parents But these were the voices of the flesh lusting against the spirit which afterwards being justly reprehended for them first by Elihu and then also by God himself he repressed and repented of in dust and ashes Psalm 42.6 Oh that I had given up the ghost and no eye had seen me sc with delight for what pleasure is there in seeing a dead corps especially a still-born child see Gen. 23.4 with the Note This text teacheth us saith an Interpreter what sad effects extreme grief and pain worketh in the very best it distempereth their spirits and so disturbeth them that their complaints look like the blasphemies of the wicked and they sometimes wish absurd things dishonourable to God and prejudicial to themselves Verse 19. I should have been as though I had not been Here he sings the same song as chap. 3. and 6. It is hard to say how oft a child of God may discover the same infirmity Our lives are fuller of sins then the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks I should have been carried from the womb to the grave He makes mention of the grave as a desirable place which yet in the two last verses he describeth as a place of darknesse and disorder Thus Job himself was in the dark and in his passion he throweth out words without wisedome Itaque solicitè orandus est Dius saith one here God is therefore to be earnestly intreated that when we are hard put to 't with pain and misery we may not give way to unruly passion nor suffer our tongues to out-lash as they will be apt to do See Psal 39.1 confer Psal 22.77.88 89. and we shall see David well nigh as far out as Job in his complaints and wishes but God can put a difference between the godly and sin in them as between poison and the box that holdeth it He can also pity them as we do poison in a man which yet we hate in a toad c. Verse 20. Are not my dayes few And oh that they might not be also evil sith I shall not much trouble the world oh that I might not find much trouble in the world What man is he that would fain see good dayes saith David Psalm 34.12 What man is he that would not saith Austin in answer to him Job and David joyn in one and the same suit for a truce from trouble sith their time here was so very short Psalm 39.13 and 89.47 Cease then and let me alone After he had vented his passions he fals again to his prayers Ye have done all this wickednesse saith Samuel to the people who had been over-importunate for a King yet turn not aside from following the Lord c. 1 Sam. 12.20 Whilest prayer stands still the whole trade of godlinesse stands still Saints though they have sinned yet must not restrain prayer but go home to God again with shame in their faces and tears in their eyes and he will speak peace only they must be sensible that their Father hath spit in their faces c. That I may take comfort a little A modest request the poor man speaks supplications begs a farthing They who are lowly make low demands Oh that I were but a door keeper oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight c. Verse 21. Before I go whence I shall not return Before I go out of this world never more to return hither to enjoy the comforts that are here to be had Death is a departure hence 1 Pet. 1.15 Luke 9.31 And so the Ancients Irenaeus Clement and others used to call it I shall change my place but not my company said that dying Saint who had here walked with God in uprightnesse Tertul. and was now to bid adieu to all worldly interests The old Romans were wont to say of a dead friend Abiit eversurus est He is gone and will come again It seems hereby that they had some darke notions of a Resurrection whence also their Poets called a dead body a soul animamque sepulchro condimus The Hebrews did the like Virg. Aeneid Numb 5.2 and 9.10 and 19.11 Hag. 2.14 as having a more sure word of Prophesie and Job was clear in this point firmly believing the resurrection of his body chap. 19.26 27. It must needs be therefore that he speaks here of not returning into this world See the like chap. 16.22 Psalm 39.13 2. Sam. 12.23 Even to the land of darknesse c. See the Note on verse 22. Verse 22. â—â—land of darknesse c. This is not a description of hell and of the state of the damned as some would have it for Job never meant to come there no more then Jacob did Gen. 37.35 and 42.38 But it is such an elegant description of the grave 〈◊〉 exceedeth the phantasie of Poets and the rhetorick of all heathen Orators There is something like it in Davids Psalms especially Psalm 88.11 12. where the grave is called a place of perdition a land of forgetfulnesse and of darknesse whereinto they who descend praise not God Psalm 115.17 In respect of their bodies they do not they cannot Isai 38.18 Hell indeed is much more a land of darknesse as darknesse it self it is that outer-darknesse a darknesse beyond a darknesse as the dungeon is beyond the prison and the pains of hell are the chains of darknesse now death is â—eâ—â—â—aâ—binger to the wicked and hence it is so dreadful in the apprehension and approach of it that mens hearts do even die within them as Nabals did through fear of death and they tremble thereat as the trees of the wood or leaves of the forrest with Ahaz Isai 7.2 Darknesse we know is full of terrour the Egyptians were sorely a frighted by their three dayes thick darknesse in so much as that none stirred off his stool all that while Exod. 10.23 and it was the more
terrible doubtlesse because they had no warning of it as they had of other plagues How oft do men chop into the chambers of death their long-home the grave all on the sudden as he that travelleth in the snow may do over head and ears into a marle-pit Death of any sort is unwelcome to nature as being its slaughterman but when sudden It is so much the more ghastly and those that desperately dare death to a duel cannot look it in the face with blood in their cheeks only to those that are in Christ the bitternesse of death is past the sting of it pulled out the property altered as hath been already noted Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse saith a Learned Expositor here lay in the grave and hath left perpetual beams of light there for his purchased people Mr. Caryl The way to the grave is very dark but Christ hath set up lights for us c. And of the shadow of death The shadow is the dark part of the thing so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death death in its most hideous and horrid representations the shadow of death is the substance of death or death with addition of greatest deadlinesse Without any order Heb. and not orders What then confusion surely without keeping to rules or ranks mens bones are mingled in the grave whether they have been princes or peasants it cannot be discerned Omnia mors aequat as chesse-men are put up all together in the bag when the game is ended without distinction of King Duke Bishop c. so here Junius rendreth it expertem vicissitudinum without any interchanges distinctions vicissitudes or varieties as of day night summer winter heat cold c. of which things consisteth the greatest part of the brevity of this world And where the light is 〈◊〉 darknesse How great then must needs be that darknesse as our Saviour speaketh in another case Matth. 6.23 Surely when by the return of the Sun there is light in the land of the living in the grave all is abyssed and sunk into eternal might as the bodies of those two smothered Princes were by their cruel Uncle Richard the third in the black-deeps a place so called at the Thames-mouth in the grave light and darknesse are both alike and as the Images in Popish Temples see nothing though great wax candles be lighted up before them so the clearest light of the Sun shining in his strength would be nothing to those that are dead and buried Let this be much and often thought on mors tuâ— mors Christi c. Cyrus that great Conqueror lying on his death-bed praised God saith Xenophon that his prosperity had not puffed him up for he ever considered that he was but mortal and must bid adieu to the world Charls the fifth Emperour of Germany caused his sepulcher and grave clothes to be made five years before his death and carried them closely with him whithersoever he went Samuel sent Saul newly annointed to Rachels sepulcher 1 Sam. 10.24 that he might not surfet upon his new honours c. CHAP. XI Verse 1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite WIth a most bitter invective savouring more of passion then charity Zophar rejoyneth or rather revileth innocent Job mis-interpreting his meaning verse 4. and laying to his charge 1. Loquacity or talkativenesse 2. Lying 3. Scoffing at Gods good providence and mens good counsel 4. Self-conceitednesse and arrogancy besides rashnesse boldnesse c. For want of better arguments against him he falls foul upon him in this sort And if the adversaries of the truth do the like by us as our Saviour saith they will Matth. 5.11 and as himself after Job and many other of his members had the experience of it we must not be over-troubled Zophar signifieth a watcher he watched for Jobs halting and took him up before he was down he is stiled the Naamathite from Naamah a city in the land of Vz eighteen miles from Jobs Pyramis saith Adricomius which signifieth â—air But he dealeth not so fair with his friend as had been fit for he giveth him no honour or respect at all but treateth him with singular sharpnesse and violence or rather virulence of speech hear himâ—elfe Verse 2. Should not the multitude of words be answered Should not he who speaketh what he will Nunquid qui multa loquitur non audiet Vulg. hear what he would not yes Job shall now or you 'l want of your will but if Job have talked more then his part came to the truth is his speeches are longer then any of those his three friends which are all except that first made by Eliphaz chap. 4. and 5. comprehended in one chapter whereas his take up two three or more he may well be excused considering the sharpnesse of his disease the ungentlenesse of his friends and the sense of Gods displeasure which his soul laboured under Zophar and the rest looked upon him as a wretched hypocrite and were angry that he would not yeild himself so they accused his former conversation as wicked what way had he therefore to defend and assert his own integrity but by words and must he yet passe for a pratling fellow a man of lips a very wordy man one that loveth to hear himself talk because he will not be by them out-talked and over-born by their false charges Most sure it is that profane and profuse babblings are to be avoided and to bring fulnesse of matter in fewnesse of words it is very commendable Quà m multa quà m paucis said Tully of Bruâ—â—s his Laconical Epistle how much is here in a little but 1. Every man cannot be a short-spoken Spartan It is reported that in Luthers house was found written Melancthou hath both matter and words Luther hath matter but wants words Erasmus hath words at will but wants matter Every one hath his own share all are not alike-gifted 2. He is to be accounted talkative who uttereth unprofitable words and far from the purpose beside the point and so Zophar himself was to be blamed in this whole discourse of his wherein he talketh much but speaketh little Concerning the infinite and unsearchable wisedom of God he argueth truly and gravely but yet nothing fitly to convince Job who himself had said as much and more of the same subject The counsel also that therehence he giveth Job doth little or nothing concern him it being the same in effect that Eliphaz and Bildad had said before him Zophar therfore was the locutuleius the talkative man here mentioned rather then Job the lipâ—-man adversus sua ipsius vitia facundus satis and as Bion was wont to say that the Grammarians of his time could discourse wel of the errors of Vlysses but not at all see their own so it befell Zophar And should a man full of talk be justified Heb. a man of lips so called as if he were made all of lips and had no other members Shall such an one
of a wicked man runneth out as the sand in an hour-glasse that doth little good He considereth not that upon this little point of time hangs the crown of eternity and that the very next moment he may be cut off from all possibility of repentance acceptation and grace for ever Hence his many troubles here all which are but typical of those hereafter besides the fear of death which maketh him all his life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 It were much to bee wished that men would consider their time is short their taske long and that therefore they should use all speed and diligence lest so as children have usually torn their books they have ended their lives before they have learned their lessons And full of trouble Or of indignation commotion perturbation Those three vultures Fear Anger Griefe are frequently feeding upon his heart whiles he is in this world and like a ship in a storm he is tossed much but saileth little or nothing Few and evil are the dayes of my pilgrimage saith good old Jacob Gen. 47.9 Thâ—tis ap Hom. Iliad And she in the Poet could say as much of her son Achilles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 2. He cometh forth like a flower What he had asserted concerning the shortnesse of mans life is here illustrated by two elegant similitudes frequently used not in Scripture only Isa 28.1 and 40.6 Jam. 1.10 11. 1 Pet. 1.24 but in Heathen Authors as were easie to instance A flower hath a spring and a fall so have men their times and their turns their rise and their ruine Why and how man in his flourish is like to a flower See Psal 103.15 16. where he is compared to a flower of the field which lies open to all inconveniencies not of the garden which is much sheltered from sharpe winds fenced from the teeth and feet of beasts from the hands of children strangers c. And is cut down Heb. cut round or circumcised sc by some nipping or blasting wind such as that East-wind Gen. 41.23 or some cropping hand or its own fading nature and then it is not saith David Psalm 103.16 that is it neither continues any longer in being nor returns any more into being no more doth man though in his time never so flourishing He fleeth also With post-baste as one that fleeth for life so doth he from life every moment yeilding somewhat unto death Orimur morimur finisque ab origire pendet Life as fast as it increaseth decreaseth It is improper saith one to ask when we shall dye but rather when we shall make an end of dying As a shadow As the shadow of a dial our lives are continually hasting to their period and never make stop By these and many the like comparisons common in this book and other Scriptures we see how much God desireth that we should mind our mortality too blame then are those who have one leg in the grave and the other in hell and yet do put far away thoughts of death and under gray hairs nourish green hopes and desires neither may young men be excused who bind upon long life Vitae summa brevis spem neâ— vetat inchoare longam and boast of to morrow Prov. 27.1 sith they know not what a great-bellied day may bringforth The Jewes have a proverb that many times old camels carry young camels skins to the market And how often see we elder folk carry young mens and childrens bodies to the graves And continueth not Heb. standeth not as a pillar but vanisheth as a shadow yea Hor. lib. 1. corm 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindar as a dream of a shadow as the Greek Poet hath it The Vulgar translateth He continueth not in the same state To have no shadow of turning noteth the perfection of God Jam. 1.17 Verse 3. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one sc to observe his faults strictly and to punish him for the same severely doth this become so great a Majesty This Job speaketh non citra stomachum not without stomack as forgetting himself through impatiency saith Mercer and seeking to ease himself any way of the pains and colours he sustained being carried out of himself by his unruly passions By this question Job doth nontam admirari quum arguere saith Brentiús not so much wonder as warble with God that he should care for so poor a creature whom it might beseem him rather to contemn But Job should have remembred that God openeth his eyes upon man not to punish him only but to help and relieve him Psalm 31.15 And at another time Job could set it upon the score of Gods favours to man that he visiteth him every morning viz. by his fatherly chastisements and trieth him every moment chap. 7.17 18. And bringest me into judgment with thee Poor me who am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Me gravissimit tuis judiciis extra ordinem divexas Merl. thrice a man that is most miserable even me thou questionest in the rigour of thy righteous judgment See a like expostulation Psalm 89. and all to move God to compassion Our frailty is a good pleadable argument to this purpose Verse 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one q. d. I confess I am unclean but what can I do withal or how can I do otherwise sith I do but my kind But was this a sufficient plea David was of another mind when he alledged this as a great aggravation of his blood-guiltinesse Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Psalm 51.5 q. d. I have not only fallen into these foul sins but I have done it out of the venemousnesse and vitiosity of my nature commonly called original and by the Apostle inhabiting sin Rom. 7.17 as by the Schools peccatum peccans the sinning sin as that which is the source and seminary of all actual disobediences And because this uncleannesse is natural to us therefore it maketh us as loathsome to God as a toad is to us because poison is in the nature of it Papists say but not truly that Original sin is the smallest of all sins not deserving any more of Gods wrath then only a want of his beatifical presence and that too without any pain or sorrow of mind from the apprehension of so great a losse They hold also those motions of the heart not consented to to be no sins but necessary conditions arising from our constitution and such as Adam had in his innocency Contrary-wise Job here grants a birth-blot upon all and layes his hand upon it as the cause of the length of mens troubles and shortnesse of their lives only he forgetteth himself saith Mercer here when hee pleadeth that hee should rather bee pitied then thus sharply punished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ethic. lib. 3. cap. 5. because hee was naturally enclined to sinne and cannot avoid it For as Aristotle saith of
open a way to his hard heart by his glistering sword which accordingly befel him Terrors are upon him Heb. the terrible upon him which some interpret of Divels hell-hags The Vulgar rendreth it Then horrible outs shall come upon him The word is used for Gyants Deut. 2.10 The Emins shall fall upon him that is men of fierce and cruel spirits But better take it for terrors as we render it and so the sense is That the wicked when he sees he must needsly dye is surprized with greatest anxieties and perplexities of spirit as beholding that threefold dreadful spectacle Death Judgement Hell and all to be passed through by his poor soul Verse 26. All darknesse shall be bid in his secret place That is saith Diodate wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he meet with some horrible mischance Men that are proscribed and sought for to death usually hide themselves as divers Jewes did in Privies at the last destruction of Jerusalem and were thence drawn out to the slaughter The Duke of Buckingham in Richard 3 his time was betrayed by his servant Bannister Appianus telleth of a Roman hid by his wife De Bell. Civ Rom. and then discovered by his wise to the Murtherer to whom she soon after also was married Others render and sense the words thus The wicked shall come into darknesse propter abscondita for his secret sins And others thus R. Sel. All darknesse is laid up for his hid treasures that is God or men have taken order that hee shall lose his riches as well as his life though he hide them never so secretly A fire not blowne shal consume him i. e. say some calamities whose causes shall be unknowne and shall proceed immediately from God See Isai 30.33 Many of the Greeks interpret this Text of Hell with its unquenchable fire Matth. 3.12 which being created by God and kindled by its breath that is by his Word it burneth everlastingly Albeit God many times punisheth wicked men here with fire from heaven as he did Sodom Nadab and Abihu those Captiances of fifties with their companies 2 King 1. Tremellius rendreth it thus A fire consumeth him non accensum flatu I say Him not kindled by blowing but burning of his own accord Vt stipule aut stupae Ut cremium aut arefactum liguum as stubble fully dryed or hurds or sear wood See Nab 1.10 with the Note It shall go ill with him that is left His posterity shall never prosper but be rooted out Eliphaz and Bildad had said the same thing and all to pay poor Job whose family was now ruined It shall surely go ill with him or He shall be wringed saith Broughton alluding belike to the sound as well as the sense of the Hebrew word Verse 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity Job had called heaven and earth to record of his innocency chap 16.17 18. This is not to do now saith Zophar for all creatures have conspired thy ruine and contributed thereunto Wind Fire Sabeans c. so that he that hath but half an eye may see thee to be a wicked person Such as are wicked indeed not only secundum dici as Job but secundum esse as Ahab cannot look to heaven above or to earth beneath without horrour to think even these if other witnesses faile shall bring to light their secret sinnes and come to give testimony against them before the great Iudge at the last day And the earth shall arise up against him Night will convert it self into Noon against the evil-doers and silence prove a speaking evidence Earth cryed Cain guilty the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera as a Traytor and Rebel to the highest Majesty Yea Servi ut taceant jumenta loquentur the Asse hath a verdict to passe upon Balaam A Bird of the Aire shall carry the voice that but whispereth Treason Eccles 10.20 Yea if nothing else will reveal iniquity it will reveal it selfe It will prove like the Oyntment of the right hand of which Salomon saith that it wrayeth it self Prov. 27.16 Verse 28. The increase of his house shall depart All his posterity shall be destroyed and so shall his prosperity too even all at once with a sudden ebb in the day that God visiteth him with his wrath and righteous judgements All the wicked mans wealth and revenue shall be wretchedly wasted and embezelled by one meanes or other And his goods shall flow away As waters The Apostle saith The fashion of the world passeth away viz. as a hasty headlong torrent or as a Picture drawn upon the ice Thou carriest them away both persons and things as with a flood Psal 90.5 Verse 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life Psal 17.14 As a King when he reprieveth a Traytor alloweth him a subsistence prisoners pitance at least Yes the worst of men divide the wealth and honors of the world between them for a time Nebuchadnezzar had Tyrâ—s as pay for his paines in Egypt And the whole Turkish Empire is nothing else but a crust cast to his dogs by the great house keeper of the world saith Luther But besides this God hath provided a far other portion for them saith One and that by way of inheritance never to be parted from them viz. all the forementioned miseries and many more all torments here and tortures in hell This is the inheritance Quam nunquam deserere non magis quam seipsos pottrunt which will stick to them as close as the skin to the flesh or the flesh to the bones it falls to them as the inheritance doth to the heir chap. 27.13 and 31.2 or as the mess of meat doth to the invited Guest Misery is the heritage of the wicked as they are children of disobedience and their wages as they are workers of iniquity their present prosperity also is a piece of their punishment Isai 1.5 Prov. 1.32 The words of Zophar are ended Let others reply as they please but he hath done Prastat herbam dare quam turpiter pugnare No surer sign of an evil cause then a powerlesse pertinacy CHAP. XXI Verse 1. But Job answered and said Disproving and refuting that Proposition of theirs concerning the infelicity of the ungodly by Reason by Experience and by Divine Authority All which evince and evidence that neither is prosperity a proof of mens innocence nor adversity a mark of their wickednesse as Zophar and his fellowes would have it And that they might not any more interrupt him nor think him too rough he useth a gentle Preface craving attention and pressing them thereunto by many Arguments in the six first verses Verse 2. Hear diligently my speech Heb. In hearing hear The Greek hath it Hear hear that is hear me out have so much patience with me as not to interrupt me any more yea hear with understanding Let your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
in changeable colours as often changed as moved Gods name is I am Exod. 3.14 And if Pilate could say What I have written I have written nothing shall be altered how much more may the Lord who is the same yesterday to day and for ever His Decrees are immutable his power irresistible Some think that Job complaineth here of Gods absolute power and little lesse then tyrannical exercised against him an innocent person If so Job was surely much to blame sith Gods absolute power is never sundred from his Justice and it must be taken for an undoubted truth that his judgments are sometimes secret but alwayes just And what his soul desireth even that he doth Id est Cupit ac facit statim ejus voluntas est executio that is He desireth and doth it forthwith his will is present execution It is his pleasure to lay load of afflictions upon me but wherefore it is I know not But Job should have known that as God is a most free Agent so his wil is not only recta but regula neither may any man here presume to reprehend what he cannot comprehend Verse 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me He hath performed all my necessaries so Vatablus rendreth it 't is the same word that was used for appointed or necessary food ver 12. Voluntas Dei necessitas rei God hath decreed thus to deal with me and therein I must rest satisfied And many such things are with him I know not but that there may be many more sufferings yet decreed to come upon me in his secret counsel Fiat voluntâ—â— Domini Godly people though they know not many times what the Lord will do and how he wil deal with them yet they always know that he is a merciful father to them and wil order all for the best This should content them and keep them from chatting against God and from nourishing hard conceits of him or heavy conceits of themselves as if wicked because afflicted Verse 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence At the consideration of his formidable Power and Majesty I am troubled and terrified troubled at my present calamities and afraid of fiercer This verse then seemeth to be a correction of that wish of his above verse 3. and not unlike that ch 13.21 Withdraw thine hand far from me and let not thine dread make me afraid Then call then and I will answer c. When I consider I am afraid of him I have alwayes imagined that as it were weakness to fear a man so it were madness not to be afraid of God Let me be accounted timorous rather then temerarious Verse 16 For God maketh my heart soft Methinks I feel it fall asunder in my bosome like drops of water and dissolved with manifold afflictions so that I am hardly able to hear up any longer I am almost done as we use to speak and my heart faileth me How should it do otherwise when God with-draweth from his the supplies of his Spirit Phil 1.19 that Spirit of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 Dr. Preston Acts 20.22 saith that great Apostle And now behold I go bound in the Spirit up to Jerusalem c. Whereupon One gives this good Note The Spirit hemmeth us about comprehendeth and keepeth us When a man 's own strength would fall loose this supernatural strength stayeth and strengtheneth it Hence that of David Psal 138.3 In the day when I cryed unto thee thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul So Psal 27.14 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart which else will melt as did the hearts of the men of Jericho Josh 2.11 like metal melted with fire or like ice thawed into water and spilt upon the ground which cannot be taken up again And this is the soft heart Job here complaineth of God had dispirited him and The Almighty troubleth him sc With the thoughts of his Almightinesse See Psal 39.11 Tot malis ingruentibus Jun. and with so many miseries growing upon him Now it is not amisse for Gods people thus to be melted and troubled otherwhiles for by this meanes shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isai 37.9 Verse 17. Because I was not cut off before the darknesse i.e. The afflictions that now are upon me It is a mercy to some to dye betime as Josiah and those righteous ones Isai 57.1 who were taken away from the evil to come when Gods glory was to passe by he put Moses into the hole of the rock so he sometimes doth his servants till the glory of his Justice hath passed upon others Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face i.e. He hath neither prevented my troubles by death as I wished he would have done chap. 3. Nor yet will he put an end to them by the same means for Mors erumnaruns requies Chancers Motto Death is a rest from trouble To the tossed soul it is as Mount Ararat was to Noah where the Ark rested as Michal was to David a means to shift him out of the way when Saul sent to slay him or as the fall of the house was to Samson an end of all his sorrowes and servitude CHAP. XXIV Verse 1. Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty HEB. Why are not times hidden from the Almighty q.d. Who could think any otherwise that had not been at the Sanctuary Ps 73.17 and there heard Wo to the wicked it shall go ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be sooner or later given unto him Isai 3.11 The Jew-Doctors conclude but falsly from this Text that Job denyed the Divine Providence And the Vulgar Latine to salve the matter and save Job from the imputation of Epicurisme takes the boldnesse to leave out the Interrogative Why and rendreth it thus The times are not hidden from the Almighty lest by making it a question Job should affirm that times and events are hidden from God or at least should wish and desire that they were so Vatablus thinketh that Job here putteth on the person of one that denyeth Gods Providence or at least doubteth of it as if he should say Ye my friends say that nothing is hidden from God and I now demand of you how the times and those things which are done in time can be otherwise then hid from him when as we see wicked men so to take their swinge in sin and yet for ought we see to escape unpunished It should seem by his winking at wicked practises that he takes no care how things are carried in this present world Brent as certainly he would do were he diligens mundi Oeconomus an t rerum humanarum conscius This indeed might stagger a David or a Jeremy in a passion as Psal 73.2 c. Jer. 12.1 and make a Diagoras or an Averroes turn Atheist But Job was better instructed in
any it is meerly because it stands in the light of their wicked wayes as the Angel did in Balaams way to his sin Nor abide in the paths thereof They have no stability Hos 6.3 nor settledness in well-doing They follow not on to know but soon give over the pursuit and practise of holiness not caring to adde to Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge c. 2 Pet. 1.3 Verse 14. The murderer rising with the light Betimes whiles it is yet darkish for here Job sheweth how those that do evil hate the light and take the fittest opportunities for a dispatch of the deeds of darkness daily digging descents down to Hell and hastening thereto as if they feared it would be full before they come thither They spend therefore the whole day in wicked pranks and practises proùt videtur commodum as shall seem best for their purposes interdin latrones nocte fures agunt By day they do what mischief they may in woods and desarts at night they return into the City and there play the theeves hoping to do it un-observed Bernard Thus every such one may better say then that Ancient did Totum tempus perdidi quia perdite vixi I have lost all my time by spending it loosely and basely I have been too faithful a drudge to the Devil whom Christ calleth a murthâ—rer Joh. 8. and Tertullian calleth Furem Veritatis a thief of the Truth Two notable Theeves of Naples Rain de Idol Rom. prafat whereof one was called Pater-noster and the other Ave-Maria had murthered an hundred and sixteen several persons at several times and in divers places These were worthily put to a cruel death by the Magistrate who possibly might by his connivence and slackness in doing his office be himself guilty of some of those murders sith to restrain justice is to support sin and not to correct is to consent to the Crime Hemingius maketh mention of a Felon who was indicted of seven murders while the Judge was studying what grievous punishment should be inflicted upon such a bloody villain an Advocate steps to the Bar and pleading for him proved That the Judge was guilty of six of the murders for thâ—â— the Felon was not put to death for the first offence Killeth the poor and needy Without Authority such as Magistrates have to kill Malefactors and Souldiers in a lawful Battel to kill their Enemies Sum Talbotti pro occidere inimicâ—s meos Speed this blunt boisterous sentence was written upon the renowned L. Talbots Sword whilest he warred in France and without any present necessity for his own lawful defence as Exod. 2.22 when he must either kill or be killed provided that he endeavour first to save himself by flight if possibly he can For that Tenet of Soto a Popish Casuist is the most false Quia fugs est ignominiosa That it is lawful for a man in his own defence to kill another because it is a shame to flie And that also of Navarrus that for a box on the ear it is not unlawful to kill another Ad bonor em recuper 〈◊〉 for the recovering of his honour And in the night is as a thief That is very thief for this as is magis expreâ—◠〈◊〉 veritatis as Mercer speaketh he would not seem to be but yet is an arrant thief ending the day with theft which he began with murder How these two sins go commonly coupled see Hos 4.2 and Isai 13.16 Verse 15. The eye also of the Adulterer waâ—teth Observeth expecteth and longeth till it cometh Vt videas illâ—m non precare infirmitate sed malitiâ saith Vatablus This sheweth that he sinneth not of infirmity but of forethought malice and wickednesse which he plotteth and ploweth as the Scripture phraseth it purveying for the flesh Quotidie perire me sentio Suer Rom 13. ult putrifying alive under a â—abe of impure lusts and daily perishing therein as Tiberius at Caprea by his own confession This beast was not ashamed of his detestable filthinesse as being a most impure and impudent defiler of other mens beds But the Adulterer here spoken of seeks the covert of the twilight and another of a disguise He putteth hu face in a secret place so the Hebrew hath it wrapping it in his cloak or getting on a Vizzard which saith he shall render me unknown and none eye shall see me For as for Gods eye either he conceits him blind or presumes him indulgent not doubting or an easie and speedy pardon This is charged upon David 2 Sam. 12.10 Because thou hast despised me c. viz. in thinking to sin secretly not considering mine All-seeing eye not caring though I looked on c. therefore shall all come to light verse 12. Sin secretly committed shall bee strangely discovered yea perhaps the sinner himselfe shall confesse his sinnes as Judas So sooner on later God wil bring every work into judgement with every secret thing Ecclesiasâ—es 12.14 See also Ecclesiasticus 23. Verse 16. In the dark they dig through the earth c. Heb. He digs through houses i.e. the Adulterer doth to come at his Strumpet with whom he had agreed upon a place of meeting for that evil purpose and in whose bosome by night the dark and black night as Solomon calleth it Prov. 7.9 he spareth not to bury his name substance soul and carcasse whilst they glut their unclean desires by the favour of the darknesse This is a bitternesse beyond that of death Eccles 7.26 But the divel presenteth his Butter in so Lordly a dish that the soul spies not the hammer and nail in his hand till he have driven it into the Temples Roger Mortimer who digged that hole at Notingham Castle and was afterwards hanged at Tiburn a just reward of his Ambition and Uncleannesse had the experience of this They know not the light i.e. They brook it not but run full butt against it because it discovereth and disquieteth them See on ver 13. Verse 17 For the morning is unto them as the shadow of death i.e. They are in deadly fear lest the light should bewray them and expose them to condigne punishment How fearful was Judah of being shamed after he had thus sinned Gen. 38.23 And how forward to save his credit by sending his Kid by the hand of that hang by Hiram Ter. in Eun. That young man in Terence was sore ashamed to be seen in the Eunuchs garment a token of his Uncleannesse whereas to have done the deed did nothing so much trouble him But the children of light hate and shun sin more for the filth that is in it then for the fire that is in it the blacknesse of that coal offendeth them more then the heat of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato condemneth the Poets for setting forth Jupiters Adulteries whereby the people were drawn to the like wantonnesse and for saying it were no matter though men did commit sin so they could hide it
the sea regarded him not Xerxes beat the sea and cast a pair of fetters into it to make it his prisoner but to no purpose God here chides it by an elegant Eclipsis or Aposiopesis Illic ponet sc ventus elationem fluctuum tuâ—rum and it is quieted immediately as Jon. 1. Matth. 8. Think the same of the waters of Afflictions Verse 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy dayes It may be thou wilt say These are ancient things done long before I was born but ask me of things within my reach and remembrance Well then what saiest thou to the Sun-rising Hast thou either lengthened or hastened it at any time since thou wert born causing it to rise at such or such an hour in such or such a point of heaven according to the divers degrees and situations of the Zodiak No this is more than ever any man could do The day is thine the night also is thine saith David Thou hast prepared the light and the Sun Thou hast set all the borders of the earth thou hast made summer and winter Psal 74.16 17. If all the Emperours and Potentates of the earth should conjoyn their forces to hinder or hasten the rising of the Sun they could never do it Joshua did indeed stop the course of the Sun but that was by the power of God set a work by his faithful prayer Whence One cryeth out O admirabilem piarum precum vim ac potentiam quibus etiam coelestia cedunt O the admirable power of Prayer force of Faith which is such as the visible heavens are sensible of and giveth way to how then should earth or hell stand before it And cause the day-spring to know his place The word day-spring comes from blacknesse for it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear light at first but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aurorasic à nigrore dicta qui eam comitatur rather dark than light Verse 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth That is suddenly illighten the whole Horizon for which cause also David ascribeth wings to the morning Psal 139. so that the light is not a body nor as some will have it a substance but an accident The truth is no man can tell what it is of any certainty an admirable creature it is surely a divine and heavenly thing than which nothing is more desirable nothing more profitable Two excellent uses of it are here set forth 1. To refresh men by the sight of the earth and the things thereon 2. To set us upon serious employments such as is the punishment of evil doers for so some interpret those next words That the wicked might be shaken out of it sc By banishment or rather by death inflicted upon them in the light for their deeds of darknesse Or at least that those Lucifugae tenebriones those inauspicate night-birds who hate the light because their works are evil might be shamed and shunned Their Motto is Jam lux inimica propinquat See chap. 24. vers Virg. 13 17. Verse 14. It is turned as clay to the seal That is The earth now discerned by reason of the aire inlightened The sense is this Like as clay in the lump that hath no figure stamped upon it is changed by a seal impressed Piscator and receiveth the figure of the seal upon it self so the earth which by night was without form by reason of darknesse when once the Sun is up is figured as it were that is it shewes the several figures stamped upon it And they stand as a garment All the several fruits flowers and various workmanship of God in her produced creatures that grow thereupon Abbot appear as a stately garment or ornament on a man Mat. 6.28 29. the Sun-beams shining upon it as lace Verse 15. And from the wicked their light is with-holden They have no such joy of those comforts which the light affordeth but as it discovereth their dark practises Ephes 5.13 so it bâ—ingeth them forth to condigne punishment Vtpote indignos qui hac luce fruantur And his high arm shall be broken i. e. His strength tyranny and power whereby he oppressed others as with an out-stretched arm lifted up to strike with violence this shall be broken as Moabs was Jer. 48. and as all the wickeds shall be but the Lord upholdeth the righteous Psal 37.17 It is well noted that this verse is an Exposition of the latter part of vers 13. as the former verse was of the former part And well might Mercer say of this and the three following Chapters Sunt hac alta insignia munulla difficilia these are things high and excellent and somthing dark and difficult Verse 16. Hast thou entred into the springs of the sea Heb. Into the teares of the sea Vsque ad ploratamaris Job 28.11 for springs poure out water as eyes do teares and the same Hebrew word signifieth an eye and a spring because saith One the eye is of a watery constitution or to shew that from it as from a spring or fountain did flow both sin it self the cause of sin and misery the punishment of both and because by it came the greatest hurt therefore God hath placed in it the greatest tokens of sorrow iisdem quibus videmus oculis flemus Now if Job cannot fathom the Sea much lesse can he the deep counsels of God Or hast thou walked in the search of the deep Et in vado voraginis ambulasti No that 's Gods walk alone Psal 77.19 whatever the Papists legend of their St. Christopher Verse 17. Have the gates of Death been opened unto thee sc That thou shouldest know when how and of what Disease every man shall die together with the state and condition of the dead Or hast thou seen the doers of the shadow of death No nor any man living hath ever seen those dark and dismal receptacles of the dead called here the shadow of death that is so dreadful that they were enough to strike a man dead Verse 18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth Heb. The bredths i. e. the length also and circumference thereof Geographers define the length of the earth from East to West the bredth from North to South and they have their supputations and conjectures Frigidae sunt et leves conjecturae Mercer Pencer and others tell us that if there were a path made round the earth an able foot-man might easily go it in 900. dayes Which if he could yet what mortal man though he should live 900. years could ever visit and view the whole face nature and dimension of the earth wherein are so many deserts and bogs unpassable Or what Job can give a reason why God made the earth of such a length and bredth and no more when he could so easily have done it How much lesse can he of Gods secret and unsearchable judgements and why should he so desire to know the cause wherefore he is
unto the lord the glory c. It was hard for the Heathens to forgo their superstitions Tully resolved he would never do it c. therefore they are here so pressed to it See â—ev 14.6 7. With the Notes there One Expositor geiveth this note here Ternarius numerus est sacer â—b mysterium Triadis ideo enim co scriptura gaudet The Scripture oft presseth or expresieth things thrice over in reference to the mystery of the holy Trinity Bring an offering Reasonable service Geneb Rom. 12.1 spirituall sacrifices acceptable by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 Vers 9. O worship the Lord c. Supplicate proni fall flat on your faces See Psal 95.6 In the beauty of holinesse i.e. In his courts as verse 8. or in holy beauty as some render it that is in true faith and with good affections Fear before him Rejoyce before him with trembling Psal 2. Vers 10. Say among the Heathen Proclamate undique praecones c. Make proclamation every where that now the Lord Christ reigneth and that there shall bee a generall Jubilee The World also shall be established There is no true stability but where Christ reigneth he will settle peace and good order which the Devil that turbulent spirit and his agents desire to disturb and to set all on an hurry-comb Vers 11. Let the Heavens rejoyce c. Let there be a general joy for the general renovation by the comming of Christ Rom. 8.22 after which the whole creation groaneth also Basil and others by Heaven Earth c. understand Angels men of all sorts an Islanders seamen fieldmen woodlanders c. Vel est similâ—tudo ad denotandam in mundo pacem saith Kimchi Or it is a similitude to note peace all over the World And surely when Christ came there was an universal aut pax aut paectio saith Florus peace or truce under the government of Augustus Let the Sea roar Heb. Thunder Externo fragore bombo testetur internam animi laetitiam let it testify its joy perstrependo reboando by roaring its utmost Vers 12. Let the field be joyfull c. And so give check to the hardnesse of mans heart not at all affected with those benefit by Christ wherein they are far more concerned than these insensible creatures which yet have lain bed-ridden as it were ever since mans fall and earnestly wait for the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 Vers 13. Before the Lord for he commeth for he commeth Certainly suddainly happily c. for this is the summe of all the good news in the World that Christ commeth and commeth that is saith Basil once to shew the World how they shall be saved and a second time to judge the World for neglecting so great salvation c. PSAL. XCVII VErs 1. The Lord reigneth This is matter of greatest joy to the Righteous Gandeo quod Christus Dominus est alâ—oqui totus desperassem I am glad that Christ is Lord of all for otherwise I should utterly have been out of hope saith Miconâ—us in an Epistle to Calvin upon the view of the Churches enemies Let the multitude of Isles be glad As more happy herein than any of those called the Fortunate Islands Turk Hist or than Cyprus anciently called Macaria that is The blessed Isle for her abundance of commodities Vers 2. Clouds and darknesse are round about him As once at the delivering of the Law so now in the publishing Gospel he is no lesse terrible having vengeance in store for the disobedient 2 Cor. 10.6 It is a savour of death to unbeleevers Christ came to send fire on the earth Luk. 12.49 Righteousnesse and judgement c. Mercy Christ hath for the penitent judgement for the rebellious who seek to dethrone him Woe to those Gospel-sinners Vers 3. A fire goeth before him For even our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 and not the God of the Jews only as shall well appear at the last day 2 Thes 1.8 See the Note on verse 2. Vers 4. His Lightenings enlightened the World His Apostles those fulmina Ecclesinstica shall spread Gospel-light and amaze people the Lord working with them and confirming their word with signes following Mar. 16.20 Vers 5. The hills melted like wax Nothing shall be so stout and steady as to be able to stand before them Before the Lord Adon Dominator The Maker and Master of all the rightfull Proprietary and Paramount The Latine translation hath it All the earth is before the face of the Lord. Vers 6. The Heavens declare his Righteousnesse As so many Catholick Preachers Psal 19.1 50.4.6 By Heavens some understand Angels concurring with men to glorifie God Others the heavenly bodies pleading Gods cause against Atheists and Idolaters They that worshipped the Sun were Atheists by night and they that worshipped the Moon were Atheists by day as Cyrill wittily Vers 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven images Those Instruments of Idolatry and lurking-places of Devils diabolicae inspirationis instineâ—us participes Such and their Servants we may lawfully pray against That boast themselves of Idols As did that Idolatrous Micah Judg. 17. Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 3. Julian called therefore Idolian the Papists at this day See D. Rainolds de Idololatria Romana Worship him all ye Gods i. e. All ye Angels saith the Greek and Arabick and the Apostle saith the same Hob. 1.6 proving Christ to be God-man This Psalm saith Beza is highly to be prized of all Christs as containing a most divine Epitome of all Gospel-mysteries Vers 8. Sion heard and was glad Heard what the downfull of the Devills Kingdom and the erecting of Christs scepter this was good news to the Church and her Children Bern was the first Town that after the Reformation burnt their images Zurich followed on an Ashwensday which they observe and celebrate every year to this day with all mirth playes and pastimes Act. Mon. as an Ashwednesday of Gods own making Vers 9. For thou Lord art high above all the earth Declared now to be so with power as Rom. 1.4 and the World convinced of singularr sottishnesse in fancying other divinities Thou art exalted far above all gods Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come Ephes 1.21 Here then we have the superexaltation of Christs person and the Apostle manifestly alludeth to it Ephesians 4.10 Phil. 2.9 Vers 10. Ye that love the Lord As having tasted of Christs sweetnesse being justified by his merit and sanctified by his Spirit 1 Pet. 2.4 1 Cor. 6.11 carried after him with strength of Desire Psal 42.1 and Delight Psal 73.25 Such as these only are Christs true subjects others will pretend to him but they are but Hangbies unlesse the love of Christ constrain them to hate evill to hate it as Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.9 Sin seemeth to have its
peculiar To touch these is to touch the apple of Gods eye Zach. 2.8 they are sacred persons And do my Prophets no harm The Patriarchs were such Gen. 20.7 so are still all godly Ministers whom they who harm by word or deed have not so much knowledge as Pilats wise had in a dream See Psal 14.4 Vers 16. Moreover he called for a Famine How easie is it with God soon to stawe us all by denying us an harvest or two If he do but call for a Famine it is done He brake the while staff of bread Either by withdrawing bread that staff of mans life or his blessing from it for man liveth not by bread alone or at all but by every word c. Mat. 4. without which bread can no more nourish us than a clod of clay In pane conclusus est quasi baculus qui nos sustineat See Hag. 1.6 with the Notes Vers 17. He sent a man before them An eminent and eximious man Cujus vita fuit coelum queddam lucidissim is virtutum stellis exornatum to be their friend in the Court and to provide for their livelihood No danger befalleth the Church but God before-hand provideth and procureth the means of preservation and deliverance 2 Pet. 2.9 Even Joseph whom they had sold God ordereth the disorders of the world to his own glory and his peoples good Vers 18. Whose feet they hurt with fetters God hereby fitting him for that great service as he did afterwards Moses by forty years banishment in Miâ—ian and David by Sauls persecution till his soul was even as a weaned child Psal 131.2 He was laid in iron Heb. His soul came into iron or the iron entred into his soul but sin entred not into his conscience See a like phrase Luke 2.35 Vers 19 Until the time that his word came The time that Gods purpose and promise of deliverance was fulfilled This word of God prophane persons call Fate Fortune c. The word of the Lord tried him That he was Affliction-proof and still retained his integrity 1 Pet. 1.7 Vers 20. The King sent and loosed him By his own Master Potiphar who had laid him there at his wives in stance such as are bound ignominiously for righteousness sake shall be one way or other loosed honourably Vers 21. He made him Lord of his house Thus for his short braid of imprisonment where of he never dreamt Joseph hath eighty years preferment more than ever he dreamt of God retributions are very bountiful Vers 22. To bind his Princes at his pleasure To over-aw and to over-rule them to bind them in prison if need so required as himself had been bound and that at his pleasure or according to his own soul sine consensu Pharaoh saith Rabbi Solomon without Pharaohs consent as he dealt by Potiphar say other Rabbins And to teach his Senators wisdome Policy and piety which yet the Egyptians long retained not Vers 23. Israel also came into Egypt Whither he feared to go till God promised him his presence and protection Gen 46.3 4. God saith the same in effect to us when to descend into the grave Fear not to go down I will go down with thee and be better to thee than thy fears Jacobs best and happiest dayes were those the spent in Egypt Vers 24. And be increased his people greatly Against all the power of Egypt set against them And made them stronger than their enemies They were not so for present but the Egyptians conceited and feared they would be so Vers 25. He turned their hearâ— to hate Mens hearts are in Gods hands and he formeth and fashioneth their opinions of and affections to others at his pleasure yet without sin To deal subtilly with his servants Seeking to imbase and enervate their spirits by base drudgeries imposed upon them So afterwards dealt the Persian Tyrant with Hormisaus and the great Turk with the Christians Vers 26. He sent Moses his servant Quande duplicantur lateres venit Moses say the Jews as this day And Aaron c. God usually sendeth his by two and two for mutual helps and comfort Vers 27. They shewed his signs Heb. The words of his signs for Gods wondrous works are vocal they are real sermons of Gods power and justice See Exod. 4.8 Vers 28. He sent darkness Palpable darkness by reason of most black and thick vapours of the earth mingling themselves with the air such as Aben-Ezra said that hee once felt sayling upon the Ocean the gross vapours there putting out the light of fire and candle and not suffering them to be re-inkindled And they rebelled not against his word They that is the plagues called for came immediately with an Ecce me Or They that is Moses and Aaron refused not to denounce and inflict those plagues though Pharaoh threatned so kill them where a man would wonder at Pharaohs hardness and hardiness that being in the midst of that deep and dreadful darkness he could rage against God and threaten with death his servant Moses The Arabick reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendreth it Et irritarunt sermonem ejus And they the Egyptians provoked his word or rebelled against it Vers 39. He turned their waters into blood A just hand of God upon them for their cruelty in drowning the Hebrew Infants and a real forewarning if they could have seen it of the death of their first-born and their final overthrow at the red Sea And slew their fish Which was a great part of their food Piscis à pascendo dictus Vers 30. The land brought forth frogs in abundance Like grass that grows upon the ground or as fishes spawned in the Sea as the word signifieth Gen. 1.20 Some think they were not common frogs sed venenat as hâ—rrendas quales sunt rubetae bufones Ab. Ezra but Toads and Lizards Crocodiles some think came out of the River and destroyed people In the chambers of their Kings Regis regulorum inter medias enseâ— medias custodias This was the finger of God as it was likewise when a Town in Spain was overturned by Conies and another in Thessaly by Moles a City in France undone by Frogs Plin. l. 8. c. 29 and another in Africa by Locusts c. Vers 31. He spake and there came divers sorts of Flyes Heb. a mixture so of Waspes Hornets Dog-flyes the most troublesome of all other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sorts of Insects And Lice in all their coasts This the Magicians could not do Quid ciniphe vilius c saith Philo What 's baser than a Louse yet hereby God can tame the sturdiest of his rebels Some Kings and other Grandees have dyed of the lousie disease as Herod Philip of Spain c. Vers 32. He gave them Hail for Rain Rain was geason in Egypt but now they had hail for rain a giftless gift Heb. He gave their rain hail Exod. 9.23 And flaming fire in their land That they
c. Heb. That they would confess it to the Lord both in secret and in society This is all the rent that God requireth he is content that we have the comfort of his blessings so he may have the honour of them This was all the fee Christ looked for for his cures Go and tell what God hath done for thee Words seem to be a poor and slight recompence but Christ saith Nazianzen calleth himself the Word Vers 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul c. This is a recaâ—iâ—ulation of the first part vers 5 6 7. and setteth forth the reason why the Redeemed should praise God out of the sweet experience they have had of his wonderful providence and goodness toward them And filleth the hungry soul with good things This flower the blessed Virgin picketh out of Davids garden among many others out of other parts of holy Scripture wherein it appeateth she was singularly well versed and puts it into her Posie Luke 1.53 Vers 10. Such as sit in darkness c. Here come in the second fort of Gods redeemed or rescued Ones viz. captives and prisoners whose dark and doleful condition is in this verse described And in the shadow of death In dark caves and horrid prisons where there is Luctus ubique pavor plurima mortis imago Such was Josephs first prison Jeremies miry dungeon Lollards Tower the Bishop of Londons Cole-house c. Being bound in affliction and irâ—â— Or in poverty and ivâ—n as Manasseb was Many are the miseries that poor prisoners undergo Good 〈◊〉 had the experience of it and Zegedians and the Mattyâ—â— and divers of Gods dear servants in the late waâ—â— hâ—tâ— A certain-pious Prince discoursing of the dangers that were to bâ—e then expected for the profession of Religion said Nibisse magâ—s metuere quâ—m diururnos carceres that he feared nothing so much as perpetual imprisonment Vers 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God Sin is at the bottome of all mens miseries as the procreant cause thereof For God afflicteth not willingly nor grieveth the children of men Lam. 3.35 but they rebel against his words written in the Scriptures or at least in their hearts and so he is concerned in point of honour to subdue them And contemned the counsel A foul fault See Luke 7.30 Verse 12. Therefore he brought down their heart That proud peece of flesh Quod erat elatum verba Dei contempsit saith Kimchi which had stouted it out with God and thought to have carried it away with a strong hand as Manosseh that sturdy Rebel till God had hampered him and laid him in cold irons Vers 13. Then they cryed unto the Lord See vers 6. And be saved them c. This is comfort to the greatest finners if they can but find a praying heart God will find a pitying heart and rebels shall be received with all sweetness if at length they return though brought in by the cross Vers 14. He brought them out of darkness He sent his Mandamus as Psal 44.4 and that did the deed as Act. 5.19 and 12.7 Vers 15. Oh that men c. See vers 8. Vers 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass If Sampson could do so how much more the Almighty whom nothing can withstand Nature may be stopped in her course as when the fire burnt not Men may not be able to do as they would Angels good or bad may be hindred because in them there is an essence and an executive power between which God can step at his pleasure and interpose his Veto But who or what shall hinder the most High Vers 17. Foâ—ls because of their transgression Propter viam defectionis suae by means of their defection their departing away from the living God through an evil heart of unbeleef Heb. 3.12 And because of their iniquities The flood-gates whereof are set open as it were by that their defection from God For now what should hinder Are afflicted Heb. Do afflict themselves procure their own ruthe if not ruine and so prove sinners against their own souls as those Num 16. Vers 18. Their soul abborreth That is theirâ—st mach loatheth it as unsavoury though it be never so dainty An appetite to our meat is an unconceivable mercy and as we say A sign of health And they draw neer to the gates of death Jam ipsum mortis limen pulsant as till then little sense of sin or fear of the wrath to come See Job 33.19 20 21 22 23. with the Notes Vers 19. Then they cry c. Quando medicus medicine non prosunt saith Kimchi when Physicians have done their utmost See vers 6. Vers 20. He sent his word and bealed them He commanded deliverance and it was done unless there be an allusion to the essential Word who was afterwards to take flesh and to heal the diseased And delivered them from their destructions Heb. From their corrupting-pits or graves which do now even gape for them And he calleth them theirs quia per peccatum faderunt eas saith Kimchi because by their sin themselves have digged them Vers 21. Oh that men c. See vers 8. And for his wonderful works Men are misericordiis miraculis obsesse and it were no hard matter to find a miracle in most of our mercies Vers 22. And let them sacrifice c. If they have escaped sickness let them offer a Passeover and if they have recovered a Thank-offering Heathens in this case praised their Esculapius Papists their Sebastian Valentine Apollonia c. Earâ— of wax they offer to the Saint who as they suppose cureth the ears eyes of wax to the Saint that cureth the eyes c. But it is Jehovah only who healeth us And declare his Works c. Memorize and magnifie them Vers 23. They that go down is the Sea in ships Here we have a fourth specimen or instance of Gods gracious and wise dispensations towards men in their trading or traffiquing by Sea These are said to go down to Sea because the banks are above it but the water is naturally higher then the land and therefore Saylers observe that their ships flye faster to the shore than from it But what a bold man saith the Poet was he that fiâ—st put forth to Sea Illi robur et triplex Circa pectus erat qui fragilem truci Commisit pelage ralem Primus Hec timuit praetipitem Africum c. Harat. Od lib. â— 3 That do business in great waters Merchants and Matriners who fish and find Almug or Coral saith Kimcht who do export and import commodities of all sorts Vers 24. These see the works of the Lord c. In Sea-monsters as Whales and Whirlepools and sudden change of weather and the like not a few Ebbs and Flows Pearls Islands c. These are just wonders and may fully convince the veriest Atheist that is Vers 25. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind c. Of this Seneca