to him spoken of in the former verse and the declaration of it in that word or warrant which went out from God to the messenger about his deliverance from going downe to the pit This mercy or recovery in the full extent of it hath a two-fold respect First to his body Secondly to his soule The mercy as it respects his body is layd downe in the 25th verse His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne as in the dayes of his youth The mercy which respects his soule or the state of his inward man is layd downe in the 26th verse He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto him his righteousness In this recovery of his soule-state we may further consider First the causes of it First The Instrumentall cause prayer He shall pray unto God Secondly The principall or efficient cause of it together with the first moving cause The kindness of God He will be favourable unto him Secondly The consequence of this his renewed soule-state He shall see his face with joy Thirdly The matter wherein this joyfull state doth consist in the close of the 26th verse For he will render to man his righteousness So much for the scope and parts of these two verses which shew the blessed issue which God gives this distressed and sick man from his afflictions and sorrowes Vers 25. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes By flesh he meanes the naturall flesh of the body this flesh shall be fresh yea fresher and not only fresher then it was before he fell sick in his man-hood but then it was in his child-hood fresher then a childes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollitur recreatus fuit alibi quam hic non legitur Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod virentem significat ac vegetuÌ„ ut cap 8. 16. et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod syriacè significat crescere q. d. revirescet plantarum more et germinum Merc The word which we render comparatively fresher signifies to wax soft or tender 'T is no where read in the whole Bible but here Grammarians say it is compounded of an Hebrew word which signifies to be greene or flourishing Chap 8.16 and of a Syriack word which signifies to increase and grow as a plant we render it as noting the man mending apace as some sick men upon recovery doe in his strength and health He shall be fresh-coloured who before was pale and wan he shall be full-fleshed who before was fallen and leane so that when he saith His flesh shall be fresher then a childes 'T is an Elegant hyperbolical expression to shew his perfect recovery from that mortal sickness to health As if he had sayd God will restore him so that there shall be no scarr nor print no dregs nor appearance of his former disease seene upon him We know how tender and soft how delicate and faire the flesh of a little child is how sweete his countenance is how full of good blood his veines are how healthy and strong as to his time his whole body is Thus it shall be with this sick man His flesh shall be freshâ—r then a childes he shall be as if he were new-borne or entred a second time upon the stage of this world Our spirituall estate of renovation by Christ is set forth as a youthfull or child-like state as to the purity and perfection of it Eph 5.27 Christ shall present us to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing The Church hath her sin-spots and wrinckles now in her militancy but when Christ shall present the Church at last triumphantly to himselfe then as himselfe was ever without spot or wrinckle so shall the Church be Her flesh shall indeed be fresher then a childes being perfectly recovered out of her spirituall sickness Notat perfectissimum sanitatis modum qui nullum transacti morbi vestigium relinquit Mert And thus in proportion Elihu assures the penitent sick man that when his peace is renewed with God and his spirit set right for God his very flesh shall be without spot or wrinckle fresher then a childes The latter part of the verse beares the same sence He shall returne as in the dayes of his youth That is he shall not barely recover his health and get upon his leggs againe as we say he shall not meerely escape death and the grave but he shall have an addition of bodily ability he shall as it were be young againe As sickness makes a young man look old so recovery from sickness makes the old man look young That 's to returne to the dayes of his youth Hence Note First Bodily beauty health and strength are the Gift of God He gives them and takes them away at pleasure or having taken them away he can give them backe when he pleaseth He kills and he makes alive he bringeth downe to the Grave and bringeth up as Hannah sayd in her Song 1 Sam 2.6 How low soever a man is brought by sickness either proper or metaphoricall the Lord is able to rayse him up againe We read v. 21. in how pitifull a plight the sick man was how rather like a carkasse then a living man he lookt His flesh was consumed that it could not be seene and his bones which were not seene stood out as much as to say He was nothing but skin and bones yet when in that case all hopes were gone and all natural helps fayled it was no hard matter with God to cure him When the skill of the Physician and the vertue of medicines fayle the power of God fayleth not As it is in reference to those outward dangers and desperate exigents which we meete with in this world by enemies and persecutors when we look upon our selves as dead men when all hope of deliverance seems past gone then the Lord alwayes can and often doth deliver The Apostle gives us his experience of it 2 Cor 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves he spake not thus in regard of sickness but of trouble and persecution As if he had sayd The malice and wrath of our enemies was such that we thought we should never escape We had the sentence of death in our selves but providence suffered it to be so that we should not trust in our selves but in God who rayseth the dead As it is I say in such dangers so in dangerous deadly sicknesses when a poore creature hath the sentence of death in himselfe when he makes no other reckoning but to dye as good King Hezekiah sayd of himselfe in his sickness Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lyon so will he breake all my bones from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me yet then as in his case so in many cases the Lord stretcheth forth a healing hand and takes the sick man up againe to continue in
then ten thousand of those vanishing delights Yet how many are there who run themselves to the graves mouth and into the thickest throngs of those destroyers for the taking up of such pitifull and perishing delights who to please their flesh for a few moments in surfeiting drunkenness and wantonness bring many dayes yea moneths and yeares of paine and torment upon their flesh yea and not only shorten I meane as to what they might probably have had by the course of nature the number of their dayes but suddenly end extinguish them It hath been sayd of old Gluttony kills more men then the sword that is it casts â—â—em into killing diseases 'T is a maxime in warre Starve your enemy if you can rather then fight him cut his throat without a knife destroy him without drawing a sword that is with hunger Some are indeed destroyed with hunger and hunger if not relieved will destroy any man Yet surfeiting destroyeth more then hunger and 't is a more quicke and speedy destroyer We have knowne many who have cut their owne throats by cutting too much and too fast for their bellyes Pampering the Body destroyeth more bodies then starving Many while they draw nigh to their Tables their soules as Elihu here saith are drawing neere to the grave and their life to the destroyers Therefore remember and consider O ye that are men given to appetite as Solomon calleth such Pro 23 2. or rather as the Hebrew elegancy there hath it ye that are Masters of appetite studying your Bellyes till indeed ye are mastered by appetite to you I say remember and consider Health is more then meate and life then dainty faire All the content that intemperance can give you cannot recompence you for the paines that sickness will give you you may have pleasure for an houre or two and sickness for a moneth or two for a yeare or two And if all the pleasure we take in satisfying that which though it may be glutted yet will not be satisfied a lust cannot recompence the paines that are found in a sick bed for a few dayes moneths or yeares how will it recompence any for those everlasting paines that are found in hell where the damned shall be alwayes conversing with death and destruction and yet never dye nor be destroyed Fourthly Forasmuch as sickness is often accompanied with such grievous dolours and racking tortures let the sick pray much that they may be armed with patience who knows what tryalls and extremities sickness may bring him to Though the beginnings and first appearances of it are but small like the cloud which first appeared to the servant of Eliah onely of a hands-breadth yea though it begin but with the little finger of the hand yet as that little cloud did the whole face of the heaven so this little distemper may over-spread the whole body and put you to the exercise of all your patience it may hang and encrease upon you till it hath broken your bones and consumed your flesh and brought you to the graves mouth therefore pray for patience Lastly Let not the strong man glory in his â—â—â—ngth nor the healthy man in his health sicknesse may come shortly and then how strong soever any man is downe he must and lye by it There 's no wrestling away sickness any way if God send it and bid it come but by wrestling with God as Jacob did Gen 32. in prayer If you thinke to wrestle away bodily sickness by bodily strength and striving with it you will be throwne and get the fall Who can stand before a feaver or a consumption when they arrest us in the name of the Great King and carry us prisoners to our beds Therefore let no man glory in his strength if any man doe it shewes at present his morall weakness and his naturall weakness may quickly teach him another lesson and spoyle his glorying JOB Chap. 33. Vers 23 24 25 26. If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransome His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall return to the dayes of his youth He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render to man his righteousness THese words hold forth the third way by which God speakes or reveales himselfe to man and recovers him out of his sin As if Elihu had said When God hath brought a man to his sick bed and he yet continueth in his blindness not perceiving either his owne errour or the purpose and intention of God to him If then besides all this God so order the matter that in his mercifull providence he provideth for his further instruction and sends a speciall messenger as he doth me to thee an interpreter which is a singular favour of God to explain and expound the meaning of his dealings with him and what his owne condition is to bring him to a true sight and sence of his sin and to set him upright in the sight of God by the actings of faith and repentance this soone altereth the case and hereupon God is presently appeased towards him Then he is gracious and then many blessed fruits and effects of his grace doe follow and are heaped on him Here therefore we have a very illustrious instance of Gods loving kindness to poore sinfull man recovering and fetching him backe when he is as it were halfe dead from the gates of death restoring him both as to soule and body putting him into a perfect so farre as on this side heaven it may be called perfect state and giving him indeed what he can reasonably desire of him In the context of these foure verses Consider First The instrument or meanes by which God brings this about and that is by sending a messenger or a choice interpreter to the sick mans bed to counsel and advise him Vers 23. If there be a messenger with him c. Secondly We have here the motive or first moving cause of this mercy that is the grace or free favour of God then he will be gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going downe to the pit that is being gracious he will give forth this word for his deliverance Then he is gracious to him c. v. 24. Thirdly We have here the meritorious Cause of this mercifull deliverance and that is a ransom I have found a ransom at the latter end of the 24th verse Fourthly We have the speciall benefits of this deliverance which are two-fold First Respecting his body He is delivered from the pit of death v. 24. And not only so but he hath a life as new as when he began to live His flesh shall be fresher then a childes the dayes of youth shall returne to him againe v. 25. Secondly We have the benefit respecting
hands Histories have given many examples and dreadful instances of such calamities falling upon Princes by the rising of the people and then they are said to be taken away Without hand That is Without any foreseen appearance of such a mischief a hand which was not thought of being lifted up against them It is said of wicked Zimri who slew his master that when he saw the people conspire against him and the City taken he went into the Palace of the King's house and in the heat of his rage set it on fire and burnt the Kings house over him and died 1 Kin. 16.18 Justine reports the like conclusion upon a like occasion of Sardanapalus that effeminate and voluptuous Monarch of the Assyrian Empire They who prosecute this Translation conceive Elihu reflecting upon Job in all this who was very uncivilly treated by his own people from whom he had deserved highest respects as he complained at the 30th chapter they raised up against him the wayes of their destruction they used him very rudely even despightfully and he was in a pining consuming condition as a man taken away without hand But I shall not insist upon this reading but take the words according to the scope before given as a description of a mixt judgement from God a judgement partly upon the people and partly upon Princes a judgement upon the many and a judgement upon the mighty In a moment shall they die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Punctum momontum tempus exiguum Illipsis praeposition◠ב In a moment The Text is a moment they die Not that they shall die but a moment or be only for a moment dead but they shall die before a moment is over there is an Elipsis of the preposition Beth in the Hebrew which we supply in our Translation In a moment they shall die A moment is the least particle or parcel of time we cannot imagine any thing shorter then a moment 't is the very point of time Psal 30.5 His anger endureth for a moment saith David when he would shew how very short comparatively the anger of God towards his people is but in his favour is life Thus Solomon Prov. 2.19 He that speaketh truth his tongue shall be established but a lying tongue is for a moment A lye cannot last long he that speaks truth what he speaks to day is good to morrow and to morrow and will be good for ever but a lying tongue is for a moment that is his lies will be discovered and usually they are quickly discovered though he live long to tell lies or doth nothing but tell lies as long as he liveth yet his lyes are not long lived Job describing the joy of the hypocrite chap. 20.5 saith It is but for a moment like a fire of thorns a blaze and gone when the Apostle would strengthen and encourage the hearts of believers against all the troubles and sorrows of this present life he calls them 2 Cor. 4.17 First light Secondly short Our light afflictions that are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And that we might know how quick the devil was at his work with Christ the Scripture saith Luke 4.5 He shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world in a moment of time As to shew the instantaneousness of our change from death to life in the resurrection it is said 1 Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last Trump we shall be changed So to shew the extream suddenness of these mens change from life to death it is said here In a moment They shall die They Who Both great and small one and another of them shall die or be swept away by death in a moment There is a twofold death First Natural When either sickness or old age dissolves the earthly house of this tabernacle The natural death of some is very lingring and slow others are suddenly snatcht away they die in a moment Secondly There is a violent death thus many are taken away by the sword Martial or Civil others casually The Text is true both of natural and violent death either of them may overtake us in a moment yet I conceive the latter is here chiefly intended In a moment shall they die that is some sudden destruction shall come upon them they shall be surprized by an unlooked for disaster and removed out of the world while they had not a thought of their removal Hence Note First Death of any sort may befal all sorts of men None can plead exemption or priviledge from the grave It is appointed to men once to die most die a natural death and any man may die a violent death who knows how he shall go out of this world Christ told Peter John 21.18 When thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not This spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God And what kinde of death was that The Church History assureth us 't was a violent death He as his master Jesus Christ was nailed to a Cross and dyed We come but one way into the world but there are a thousand wayes of going out Note Secondly Death comes suddenly upon many men and may upon all men The whole life of the longest liver in this world is but a moment compared to eternity and there is not any moment of our life but with respect to second causes we are subject to death in it We alwayes in some sense though at some times more carry our lives in our hand and how soon or by what hand they may be snatcht out of ours we know not Now if our whole life be but a moment and we subject to death every moment how should we stand prepared for death every moment And how sad is it to think that they who may die the next moment should for dayes and weeks and moneths and years never prepare for death Most are loth to think of the end of their lives till they are nearer the end of them yet no man knoweth how near he is to the end of his life Many put off the thoughts of death till it cometh yet none can put off the coming of death they would remove the meditation of death to the fall of their leaf to the winter and worst of their old age yet they are not able to remove death one moment from the Spring and best of their youth Note Thirdly Violent death by the sore and severe judgement of God often sweeps multitudes away in a moment God can thrust whole throngs of men yea whole Nations into their graves together it is said Numb 16.21 of Corah and his companions The earth did cover or swallow them up in a moment And the Lord commanded Moses to say unto the children of Israel Exod. 33.5 ye are a stiff-necked people I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume
their hearts are soft and tender but I will take away the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh Yet Secondly as to the poynt in hand there are conditionall acts of grace I may call them second acts of grace or renewed acts of grace For when after conversion we fall into sin and by that evill heart of unbeliefe remaining in a great measure unmortified we depart from the living God Heb 3.12 God doth not give out fresh acts of grace but upon repentance and the renewings of our communion with him Having once received grace we being again helped and assisted by grace act graciously before God declares himselfe gracious to us When a man is cast upon a sick bed for sin that 's the case of many the Lord will see repentance before he will raise him up againe James 5.15 The prayer of faith shall save the sick and if he hath committed sins they shall be forgiven him that is if he being cast upon a sick bed to correct or chasten him for the sin that he hath committed shall humble himselfe and seek the Lord by prayer praying and calling for prayer Then the sin committed shall be forgiven him and the Lord will raise him up againe 'T is not the prayer of another that can obtaine deliverance for the sick much lesse the forgiveness of his sins if himselfe be prayer-lesse and repentance-lesse But while others pray for the sick mans bodyly health they praying also for his soules health the Lord gives him repentance for his sin and then a comfortable sight of pardon So then before the Lord puts out these second acts of grace he looks for and finds something in the creature yet still that also is an effect of his grace both to them and in them They who have already received grace must stir up their grace and renew acts of grace thorough grace towards him before he dispenses acts of grace towards them And as consolation in this life so that highest and last act of grace salvation in the life to come is not bestow'd upon any till they are fitted God calls and converts the worst of men those that are in their filth and mud and mire but he will not save a filthy person he will have him first purged and prepared Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not enter into the kingdome of God 1 Cor 6.9 and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb 12.14 There is no eternall salvation without preparation nor is there any promise of temporall salvation without it When a man is sick to death as in the text salvation comes not the Lord is not gracious till the sick mans spirit is humbled and set right till the messenger hath shewed him how he may stand upright before the Lord and he hath imbraced his message then and not till then he is gracious And as in these words we have the occasion of this grace so in the following words we have the publication of this grace Then he is gracious And saith Deliver him from going downe into the pit And saith that is the Lord gives out an order presently he gives out a warrant for the release of the sick man When earthly Princes have once granted pardon to an offender they say deliver him they signe a warrant for his deliverance out of prison or they signe a pardon and say deliver him from death when he is at the place of execution Thus concerning this sick man God saith deliver him from going downe to the pit The word rendred deliver signifies also to redeem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideÌ„ quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redemit liberavit verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non alias reperitur et pro ratione loci intelligitto et exponitur pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc 't is used in this forme no where else in all the Scripture To free deliver or redeeme a man intimates his person in hold then will he say deliver him From what there are as many sorts of deliverances as there are of troubles each particular strait and trouble hath a proportionable deliverance There is deliverance First from captivity or bondage Secondly from want or poverty Thirdly from imminent sudden danger or perill by land or Sea Fourthly from sicknesses and diseases Fifthly from death and that two-fold First from temporall Secondly from eternall death Here when he saith deliver him we may determine this deliverance by the latter words of the text to be a deliverance from deadly sickness deliver him from going downe to the pit that is deliver him from death To goe downe to the pit is often in Scripture put to signifie dying Further The pit implyes corruption because in the pit or grave the body corrupts It is sayd indeed Numb 16.30 of that rebellious triumvirate Corah Dathan and Abiram they went downe alive into the pit but they went downe to death and ordinarily the dead only goe downe to the pit The same phrase is used Psal 28.1 Psal 88.4 Ezek 31.14 Ezek 32.18 24 29 30. That text is very remarkeable Prov 28.17 He that offereth violence to the blood of another he shall flee to the pit let no man stay him That is The murderer who in wrath and hatred or upon private revenge destâ—oyeth the life of any man shall hasten to destruction either as chased and hurried by his owne feares like Cain and Judas or as prosecuted by the justice of the Magistrate And as he thus hasteth to the pit so let no man stay him that is First let no man conceale him Secondly let no man move for his impunity or sollicite his pardon or if any doe then Thirdly let not the Magistrate grant his pardon For the old universall Law tells him his duty Gen 9.6 He that sheddeth mans blood by man that is by the Magistrate commanding and by his officers executing shall his blood be shed And as another Law hath it Deut 19.13 Thine eye shall not spare him c. The Magistrate who is in Gods stead may not say of him as here God doth of the sick man Deliver him from going downe to the pit His blood is ill spared who would not spare the blood of another But it may be questioned for as much as the text saith only in general deliver him Into whose hands this warrant for his deliverance is delivered or who is directed to deliver him Master Broughton represents God speaking this to the sick mans disease for thus he renders the text Then he will have mercy upon him and say Spare him O killing malady from descending into the pit God will speak thus to the disease and there is a great elegancy in it spare him O killing malady Diseases come and goe at Gods command they hurt and they spare at his direction As the Lords breath or word bloweth away the winds Math 8.27 The men marvelled saying Who is this that even the winde and the seas obey him So the Lords
price I have found a ransome I am well paid saith God for mans deliverance This ransome every poor soul may plead before the Lord for his deliverance both from sickness death and hell He that hath nothing to offer to the Lord as indeed the best have nothing of their own worth the offering and if they offer any thing of their own of how much worth soever it may seem to be it will not passe nor be accepted he I say that hath nothing of his own to offer yet may tell him he shall be well paid he may tell God he shall have more by saving him then by damning him If he damne him he shall have but his own blood the blood of a creature for satisfaction but if he save him he shall have the blood of his Son the blood of God as a ransome for his salvation Thirdly Observe Though the Gospel was not clearly and fully revealed in those elder times yet it was then savingly revealed How doth the grace of God shine forth in mans deliverance by a ransome in this Scripture Here is nothing said of deliverance from sickness by medicines but by a ransome and if they knew that deliverance from a disease must come in by a ransome how much more that deliverance from damnation must come in that way The old Patriarkes had the knowledge of Christ to come and not only was there a knowledge of him to come in that nation and Church of the Jewes but the light scattered abroad the Land of Vz had it Job had it as hath appeared from severall passages of this Booke Elihu had it as appeareth by this Fourthly Observe Not only our eternall deliverances but even our temporall deliverances and mercies are purchased by the blood of Christ A beleever doth not eate a bit of bread but he hath it by vertue of the purchase of Christ Christ hath bought all good for us and Christ hath bought us out of all evill Christ hath not only purchast deliverance from hell and salvation in heaven for us but he hath purchast deliverance from a sick bed and freedome from bondage to men for us Zech. 9.11 As for thee also saith the Lord by the blood of thy Covenant that is the Covenant which I have made with thee I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water that is from the Babylonish captivity The Jewes were delivered from corporall slavery as well as spirituall by the blood of Jesus Christ and so are the Covenant people of God to this day The blood of the Covenant serves to all purposes for the good things of this life as well as of that which is to come Nothing else can do us good to purpose or deliver us from evill but the blood of Christ Ps 49.7 8. They that trust in their wealth boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can by any meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him In some cases as Solomon saith Prov. 13.8 The ransome of a mans life are his riches As a mans riches doe often endanger his life all the fault of some men for which they have suffered as deep as death hath been only this they were rich so a man by his riches may redeeme his forfeited or endangered life he may buy off the wrath of man and so ransome his life by his riches But all the riches in the world cannot buy his life out of the hand of sickness though a man would lay out all his substance and spend all that he hath upon Physitians as the poor woman in the Gospel did yet that could not doe it We need the blood of Jesus Christ to help us out of a sick bed and from temporall sufferings as well as from hell and everlasting sufferings And the more spirituall any are the more they have recourse to the blood of Christ for all they would have whether it be freedome from this or that evill or enjoyment of this or that good Therefore First When we hear of a ransome let us remember that we are all naturally captives Here is a ransome for our souls and a ransome for our bodies we are ransomed from hell and ransomed from death surely then we are through sin made captives to all these Secondly In that the ransome is exprest by a word that notes hiding or covering it should mind us that Jesus Christ by his blood which is our ransome hath covered all our bloody sins and surely the blood of our sins will appeare not only to our shame but to our confusion unlesse the blood of Christ cover them Thirdly We may hence infer The Lord shall be no looser by saving the worst of sinners His Son hath taken care for that he hath undertaken to see his Honour saved and his Justice satisfied Fourthly In all your outward afflictions and sicknesses apply to the blood of Christ for healing for helpe and deliverance Fifthly Being delivered from going down to the pit from death by sickness blesse Christ for his blood We are rescued from the arrest of death from Deaths Sergeant sicknesse by the blood of Christ And remember that as Christ ransomes us from going downe to the grave when we are sick so Christ will ransome us from the power of the grave when we are dead Hosea 13.14 I will ransome them from the power of the grave Which though it were primarily meant of the deliverance of the Jewes out of Babylon where they seemed to be not only dead but buryed yet the Apostle applyeth it clearly to the ransoming of the body dead indeed and laid in the grave by the power of Christ at the generall resurrection 1 Cor. 15.54 For then shall be brought to passe that saying that is written Death is swallowed up of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory Yea Christ hath ransomed all those from going down to the pit of hell who take hold of his ransome by believing See that you have an interest in this ransome else you will never have deliverance from going downe to that pit We read not all the Scripture over of any ransome to deliver those who are once gone downe to that bottomlesse pit They that are in the grave shall be ransomed and recovered by the power of Christ but they that goe into hell shall never be ransomed from thence Take hold of this ransome that ye may have full deliverance both from sickness leading to death here and from hell which is the second death hereafter JOB Chap. 33. Vers 25 26. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne to the dayes of his youth He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto man his righteousness IN these two verses Elihu proceeds to shew the perfecting of the sick mans recovery the foundation of which was layd in the Lords graciousness
turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye children of men Here 's man turning and returning upon the saying of God man turneth to death he returneth to dust and shall at last return from the dust and all this when God saith he must Our life is a very frail thing and it is in the hand of God to continue or take it away to let us hold it or gather it home to himself Thirdly From the manner of speaking If he gather to himself his spirit and his breath Note When man dieth he is gathered to God When as Solomon allegorizeth the death of man Eccl. 12.6 7. The silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken c. Then shall the dust that is the body return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it that is each part of man when he departeth this world shall go its proper way and return to that which is most congenial to it his body to the earth from whence it is his soul to God of whom it is God is a Spirit the creating Spirit and our created spirits are gathered to God when they are separated from the body yet remember there is a two-fold gathering or returning of the spirit to God First To abide and be blessed with him for ever thus the spirits of believers or saints only are gathered to God when they depart out of this world Secondly There is a gathering of the spirit to God to be judged and disposed of by him to receive a sentence of life or death from him And thus the spirit of every man or woman that dieth is gathered to God be they good or bad believers or unbelievers Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for men once to die but after this the judgement 'T is the Statute Law of God man must die and the sound of Judgement is at the heels of death That Text saith but after this the Judgement The general day of judgement shall not be till the resurrection of man from the dead But there is a personal judgement or a determining of every mans state when he dieth and for that end every mans spirit is gathered to God to receive his sentence The spirits of wicked men are gathered to him and condemned the spirits of the righteous are gathered to him and acquitted We are come saith the Apostle Heb. 12.23 to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect David knew he must be gathered to God but he earnestly deprecated such a gathering as most shall have Psal 26.9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men It is this word when sinners die they are gathered but David would not be gathered as they are gathered They are gathered to God but it is that they may be for ever separated from him they are gathered to a day of vengeance and wrath Therefore David prayed Gather not my soul with sinners Death is called a gathering in a threefold reference First A gathering to our people Thus it is said of Aaron Num. 20.24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the land c. Death separates the people of God from their people that is from those that are like them on earth but it will be a means of bringing them into the society of their people or fellow believers who are gone before them into heaven Secondly Death is called a gathering to our Fathers 2 Chron. 34 28. Behold I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace There 's a gathering to a more special company and that with other like Scriptures are an argument that we shall know our relations in heaven For to be gathered to our Fathers spoken of in the first part of the verse is more then to be gathered to the grave spoken of in the latter and by our fathers we are to understand more of our fathers then the grave hath in its keeping which is but their bodies even their souls which are kept in heaven Thirdly According to the phrase of this Text death is called a gathering to God If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath Whence Note Fourthly The spirit or soul of man hath its original from God It is of him to whom it returneth The soul or spirit of man is of God in a more special way then his body is for though God giveth both yet the Scripture in the place before named speaks of the soul as the gift of God but passeth by the body Eccles 12.7 The dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it 'T is God not man alone who hath given us these bodies but 't is not man but God alone who hath given us these spirits therefore men are called the fathers of our flesh that is of the body in way of distinction from God who is the father of spirits Heb. 12.9 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live that is shall we not rather be subject to God then to man Father of spirits is an Attribute or Title too high and honourable for any but God One of the Ancients in his gracious breathing after God brake out into this holy Passion My soul O God came from thee and my heart is unquiet or restless until it return to thee again God is our center and our rest He gathereth to himself mans spirit and when he doth so what then what 's the issue of it Elihu tells us what in the next verse Vers 15. All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again to his dust As if he had said As soon as ever the spirit is gathered the flesh is consumed or as we render perisheth All flesh may be taken in the largest sence not only for all men that live but for all living creatures Thus largely Moses extendeth it Gen. 6.17 Behold saith the Lord I will bring a flood of water to destroy all flesh that is all the Beasts of the earth and Fowls of the ayre together with Mankinde except a few of each in the Ark so Psal 136.25 Who giveth food to all flesh that is to man and beast for his mercy endureth for ever Yet some understand this first part more narrowly for all flesh except man because he addeth in the latter part of the verse and man shall return again to his dust But I conceive we are to take all flesh here for all men and only for men it being usual in Scripture to put the same thing twice under different expressions So then All flesh that is every man be he who he will shall perish Thus as all flesh is restrained to man so it extendeth over all men yea over all things of man Isa 40.6 All flesh is grass and all the