be ashamed in the evill time and in the dayes of famine they shall be satisfied The soule of a believer sees salvation in destruction food in famine he hath wine well refined to drinke marrow and fatnesse to feed upon when the world knowes not how to give him or will not give him a dry crust or a cup of cold water He sees a hiding place when all others lye open to the danger he sees a place of refuge a covert from the raine and from the storme when others stand naked under them The summe of all is A godly man sees himselfe so protected in dangers so provided for against all wants he sees in the promises such a Magazin of armes such stores of bread that he feares no weapon form'd against him and feeds when no table is spread for him Danger secures destruction saves and famine fattens him that is in danger destruction and famine he knowes whither to goe for food salvation and safety even unto God who is all this to him and will be more if he need it Upon these grounds it is that the text saith At famine and destruction he shall laugh Observe hence A godly man a true believer is not onely not afraid of outward evills when they come but through faith he is above and triumphs over them Not to be afraid of faime and destruction when they come is too low for his spirit He shall laugh when they come Hence the Apostles exulting language We glory in tribulation we are exceeding joyous in all our tribulations And to this sence we may interpret that of Peter speaking of the sufferings of the Saints 1 Epi. 4. 14. The Spirit of glory resteth upon them that is a spirit of glorying and holy rejoycing whereby the soul is carried up as it were upon Eagles-wings above and beyond reproaches All evills lie below a believer when he is lifted up with this spirit of glory This spirit of glory resting upon us through him that loved us makes us more then conquerours over tribulation distresse persecution famine nakednesse perill or sword Rom. 8. 35. More than conquerours Who can expresse how much that is No tongue can tell what it is to be more then a conquerour when Christ would advance the exceeding greatnesse of that reward which Givers shall receive Luke 6. 38. He saith not barely Give and it shall be given you good measure but you shall have it pressed down and yet more shaken together that is not all neither but you shall have it running over Now a measure will runne over as long as you will poure there is no stint no bounds to that gift which shall be given running over A vessell will run over continually poure as long as you will So here you shall not onely have a conquest but more then a conquest and what that is is as much and more than all our thoughts are able to comprehend Hence also the Apostle speaking of that great enemy the last enemy Death 1 Corinth 15. 55. brings in the believing soule in a kinde of holy triumph laughing at and even jearing death in the sence of the Text O death where is thy sting As if a man having disarmed his enemy should say now Sir where 's your sword where 's your pistoll Christ hath disarmed death taken away its sting now the believer may laugh in the face of death Oh death thou thoughtest to make us all smart where is thy sting thou thoughtest thy selfe a conquerour able to devoure and subdue us all but where is thy victory Such is the laughter here meant And in the same sense Leviathan the mightiest of living creatures that sea monster to whom upon the earth there is not the like he is made without fear Chap. 41. 33. is said to laugh at the shaking of the speare Job 41. 29. He is so armed with impenitrable scales that shake a speare at him he laughs at you it is an allusion to those that are armed with proofe they feare neither sword nor shot The truth is a beleever is shot-free shake the speare at him shake famine shake destruction at him threaten him with this or with that he laughs at all because he hath armour of proofe wherein he may safely trust He hath a shield a shield of faith which will quench even the fiery darts of Satan much more then the fiery dangers of the world The Histories of the Primitive Church are full of this holy laughter and heroicall magnanimity of the Saints grapling with the greatest evils How did those renowned Martyrs even baffle death and deride their torments from this principle of faith in Christ conquering them not slighting them from a principle of selfe-neglect When Polycarpe was threatned to be torne in peeces with the teeth of wild beasts let them come saith he and grind me I shall make very good bread so that the very tormentors were more tormented with the holy scorne and laughter of suffering Christians than the Christians were with the torments which they suffered In 2 Sam. 2. 14. When Abner and Joab the two great Generals met Abner saith unto Joab Let the young men arise and play before us the sport was to fight and fighting unto death and yet these stout Souldiers being above feare call it playing one with another It is the word here in the text let them come and laugh together before us As if these young men were of such courage that they could laugh at death and goe to killing one another as if they were to goe to play with one another Surely there is little reason for such courage killing of men is no laughing matter no matter of sport for as Abner said unto Joab not long after vers 26. shall the sword devoure for ever knowest thou not that it will be bitternsse in the end There is little cause to account the beginning of that a sport which will be bitternesse in the end But when the Saints are to joyne in the deadliest battell or to meet with the deadliest death for Christ or from the chastning hand of Christ they have reason enough to account it a sport and to laugh at destruction in this sense cleared because they know it will be sweetnesse and comfort in the end Valour sometimes laughs at danger much more may faith Psal 68. 12 13. Though ye have lyen among the pots yet shall we be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold This is the confidence of the Saints when they lye among the pots or among the pot-ranges as some interpret it where the scullions lye and are besooted and black'd over at the fire of afflictions till they looke like very scullions that yet they shall be gilded over soone after Or it may be understood of the bounds and limits of the enemies Country and so it is a description of great danger for they who lye upon the borders of an enemies Country are in continuall feare of an
when God formed man out of the dust of the earth and had breathed into him the breath of life the result of all is and man became a living soule it is not said man became a living body though life was breathed into the body and the body stood up and lived yet the best part is named for all the dust and the clay are as it were quite forgotten in the story man became a living soule And that may be a reason why the fear of God and keeping 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Commandements Eccles 12. ult is called all man because these things chiefely concerne that part of man which upon the matter is all man The feare of God and keeping his Commandements are soule worke and tend to the eternall welfare of the soule and though the body shares in all the blessings and assists in most labours of the soule yet the soule labours most for and is the chiefest seate of blessednesse How strangely have some departed from this point of truth which the Scripture every where writes as with a Sun-beame who instead of making the soule to be the chiefe part of man deny that man hath any such part And whereas some toucht at before err'd on the right hand saying that Man was nothing but a soule These goe astray more and more dangerously on the left hand saying that Man hath no soule at all An opinion howsoever lately drest in some finenesse of wit and subtilties of Philosophy yet in it self so grosse so dishonourable to man so contrary to this Text and the whole tenour of the word of God that I hope it is very mortal and will shortly find a grave in every heart but theirs who have more reason to wish it then to maintain it I intend no dispute about it beyond the Argument before me which if it be not demonstrative as many others from Scripture are yet it carries at least a faire probability and an ingenuous ground for how can man be said to dwell in a house of clay if he himself be nothing else but a house of clay or how can the inhabitant and the house be in all but one and the same But I shall dwell too long upon these houses of clay in which man cannot dwell long for it followes Which are crushed before the moth What strength is there in houses which are crushed before the moth or as others read it Which shall be consumed after the manner of a moth Master Broughton thus Beaten to powder as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad facies tineae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in medum tineae Sept. Velut à tinea Vulg. Pagnine moth be they That is They are crushed as soon or as speedily as a moth Another They are consumed as it were with a moth A fifth translates differently from all these Which are crushed and consumed before Arcturus Arcturus is a Constellation in Heaven about the North Pole we read of it in the 9th of this Book of Job verse 9. Which makes Arcturus Orion and the Pleiades c. The same word here signifies a moth and sometimes a Constellation a knot or company of Stars The sense of this reading is made out thus They are crushed before the face of Arcturus That is they are crushed as long or whilst Arcturus doth continue in plain English as long as there is a Star in Heaven man will be a mortall man or man will never change this condition of mortality while the world stands We may thus expound it by that Psal 72. 17. where the Prophet describing the Kingdome of Christ in the extent both of place and time saith His name shall be continued as long as the Sun the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad facies solu His name shall continue before the face of the Sun to continue before the face of the Sun is to run in a line of equall continuance with the Sun so here They are crushed before the fate of those Starres that is they shall be in such a crushing perishing condition as long as those Starres continue which is as long as the course of this world continues Our owne translation which comes cleer to the letter of the Originall is further to be looked into They are crushed before the moth It may have a three-fold interpretation First before the moth that is before in time or sooner then the moth How quickly is a moth crushed man may be crushed before it sooner then it is crusht Secondly Before the moth may be as much as in the presence of the moth as if he should say man thinks he is able to stand it out against a potent Adversary yea against God himselfe but alasse poore creature he is not able to stand before a moth or contend with a flye if God arme any of them against him Thirdly They are crushed before the moth that is man is crusht and torne vext and worne out by a thousand miseries and troubles which attend his life before ever the moth has to doe with him before ever he lyes downe in the bed of death before the moth that is for the moth to fret on or as a companion for the wormes All these renderings though they differ in words come neer and meet in the same generall sense namely An illustration of mans frailty Take them first by way of similitude Man is crushed as it were with a moth it notes thus much to us That death consumes us without noise secretly and silently To doe a thing as a moth is to doe it silently and without noise Hos 5. 12. God himselfe saith that he will be as a moth unto Ephraim and as a Lion ver 14. when he saith he will be as a Lion it implieth open judgements which come violently and visibly which come in like thunder roaring as a Lion upon them But when he saith I will be as a moth unto Ephraim the meaning is I will send silent and secret judgements upon you which shall eate out your strength corrode your power and blemish the beauty of your garments and you shall not perceive it Ye shall be undone consumed and as we speak Proverbially ye shall never know who hurt you The open enemies of the Church are threatned with secret judgements under this notion of a moth Isa 50. 9. Loe they shall wax old as doth a garment the moth shall consume them Againe Chap. 51. 6 7. Feare ye not the reproach of men neither be ye afraid of their revilings For the moth shall eate them up like a garment and the worme shall eate them like wool that is whereas your enemies have made a great noise and clamour with their revilings against you I will come against them without noise they shall perish with as little clamour as a garment doth that is eaten with moths And thus the life of man is ordinarily consumed as it were by a moth sicknesses and diseases enter secretly into his house of
clay they lye in the frame and between the rafters of this house sucking up the spirits and wasting the strength spending the heate and drinking up the naturall moisture of the body we know not how we consume but we consume we know not how we decline but we decline we dye we know not how but we dye Is it not then as with a moth creeping upon us yea feeding upon us without noise Againe Take it by way of similitude not as before actively or instrumentally they are crushed as by a moth or as a moth crushes but passively or subjectively They are crushed as a moth that is they are crushed as a moth is crushed alluding to the easinesse of crushing a moth A moth is dust as soone as you crush it the least touch kills it Man in his house of clay is so weake that if God doe but touch him he dies and falls to dust the Lord needs not bring his great Artillery and make batteries against the body of man the body of man is no such strong Fort or Bulwarke to stand out a long siege or endure much assaulting and opposition he is crushed as a moth betweene your fingers Hence David most humbly deprecates the stroake of God which he saw comming or felt as come because he was not able to beare it Psal 39. 10. Remove thy stroake away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand Lord if thou strike me thus I shall quickly consume And least you should think that Davids flesh he being a King was tender and delicate and so lesse able to beare any hardship therefore in the following words he puts the case in generall concerning man or man-kind Take the man whose strength is as the strength of stones and his flesh as brasse yet this man breakes and vanishes under the hand of God so he affirmes ver 11. under this passive consideration of a moth When thou with rebukes doest correct man for iniquity thou makes his beauty to consume away like a moth And then closes with that common axiome of mans mortality surely every man is vanity Selah Further Man may well be said to be crushed or die even as a moth for as the garment breeds the moth and then the moth eates the garment so besides that power of God or the outward stroake of his hand of which David spake mans own distempered body breeds ill humours they diseases and these breed death As it was with Jonas gourd so it is with us we give life and suck to a worme in our own roots which sucks out our life causing our leaves to fall and our goodly branches suddenly to wither Thirdly From that sense he is crushed before Arcturus or as long as the Starres continue Observe That as mans state is fraile and weake so it will be the for ever of this world Doe not looke that ever there shall rise up a generation of men that shall have better houses then houses of clay or houses stronger built then our present buildings As we are risen up in our fathers stead a generation of sinfull men so we are risen up in our fathers stead a generation of weake mortall men and our children will arise in the stead of us their fathers a generation of men as mortall as we their fathers Till the whole compages and course of nature be changed man shall not exchange the infirmity of his nature He shall never be without crushing sicknesses till he is above them The sad story of man holds on still and growes yet more sad before it was crushing now it is destroying Verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it We may understand the former verse of naturall death and this of casuall and violent death Destuction and perishing import violence Though I conceive naturall death be here also intended They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it or as Mr. Broughton reads it between a morning and evening they are wasted without any regarding or without any thinking upon it They are destroyed that is they are subject or liable to destruction A mane ad vesperam i. e. per torum diem quâ—ppe mane vespera sunt paâ—tes diei Drus That phrase from morning to evening notes the whole day it is as much as to say they are destroyed continually or all the day long as the Apostle speaks out of the Psalme Rom. 8. 36. For thy sake are we killed all the day long The morning and the evening are the parts of a naturall day Gen. 1. 5. or the two termes of a civill day these include and take in the full compasse of the day This sense teacheth us That man is destroyable every moment He wasts in one sense while he growes and dies from the morning of his birth and comming into the world to the evening of his returne and going out of the world And not only so but he is obnoxious to the violent assaults of death every day and all houres of every day From the morning when he rises to the evening when he goes to bed he walkes among armies of dangers and within the Gunshot of destruction The Apostles catalogue of perils is true to this day 2 Cor. 11. 26. In perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own countrymen in perils by the Heathen in perils in the City in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren Every place is a peril and every person a peril Where can we goe with whom can we meete and not goe among or meete with perils And doe not all these perils speake destruction from morning to evening Pauls experiences both in regard of a natural but especially of violent death brought forth these conclusions which come full up to the point I die daily 1 Cor. 15 31. in deaths often 2 Cor. 11. 23. we are killed all the day long Rom. 8. 36. Secondly Take the words as a proverbiall speech by which the shortest time is signified As Isa 38. 12. Hezekiah complayning sets forth his mortall sicknesse threatning present death and cutting off thus Mine age is departed and removed from me as a sheapheards tent I have cut off like a weaver my life he will cut me off with pining sicknesse from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me that is either continually or suddenly from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me I am wasting perpetually or before night within the compasse of this day thou wilt destroy and make an end of me these were the thoughts of my heart when I was in the hands of that acute dispatching disease The Psalmist Psal 90. 5 6 describes man as grasse in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut downe and withereth that is man continueth but a very short time His life is but a spanne long or
discerning the constitutions of men and studying remedies that whosoever did follow his rules and keep to his directions should never dye by any disease casually he might and of age he must but he would undertake to secure his health against diseases a bold undertaking But he who by his art promised to protect others to extreame old age from the arrest of death could not by all his art or power make himself a protection in the prime of his youth but dyed even as one without wisdome before or when he had seene but thirty Secondly they dye without wisdome That is they cannot carry their wisdome away with them as not their worldly riches and pompe so nor their worldly wisdome and knowledge Chap. 36. 12. Thirdly They dye even without wisdome that is they prepare not wisely for death This is the condition of most men their excellency goes away with them and they die without wisdome they have had wisdome but they die as if they had none that is they apply not their wisdome while they live to fit themselves for death They die before they understand what it is to live on why they live This wisdome is wanting in most men and of all such the Psalmist concludes to this sense of the place Man being in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Psal 49. 20. That is he perishes foolishly and without wisdome like a beast though in his life a man of honour and excellency He Moriuntur in simenâ—es vel insipienter Drus Prius moriuntur quam quicquam intellexgâ—iâ—t de divina sapientia Mer. that dies unpreparedly dies foolishly It is the wisdome of man to live in the world in the meditation of and preparation fo his departure out of this world And it is such a wisdome as is above man therefore David prayes Psal 39. 4. Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is that I may know how fraile I am as if he had said Lord I have been considering this and that thing haply Davids thoughts were in the dust and he had been handling the clay out of which he was made yet saith he by all those considerations of my naturall constitution I cannot bring my heart to be so sensible of my frailty as I ought to be therefore he turnes himselfe to God Lord make me to know this thing Here is our wisdom when we seek to God to spiritualize naturall considerations and make them effectuall for the attaining of this wisdom the knowing of our end and the measure of our days But is it not some ignorance of our duty no petition for the knowledge of our end May we desire to know what God hath no where promised to reveale To petition for the literall knowledge of our end that is what yeare or day our lives shall end is a sinfull curiosity and a presumptuous intrusion into the secret will of God But to petition for a spirituall knowledge of our end that is how we may end well any day of the yeare or any houre of the day is a holy duty and an humble submission of our selves to the revealed will of God Thus to know our end how soone ceasing as one translates short lived and brittle ware we be Thus to know how defective we are as the Greeke renders it or what we lack namely to the end of our dayes is above the instruction of any creature We may preach and you hear of death as long as you and we live and yet not know he frailty of our lives till God makes us know it therefore saith he Lord make me to know how fraile I am none could teach him this lesson but God himselfe The same holy desires are breathed out Psal 90. 12. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome as if Moses had said Lord I have been numbring my dayes my selfe and telling over my life I can tell no further than three or foure score and yet though I can tell no farther I cannot apply my heart unto wisdome we need but little Arithmetick to unmber our dayes but we need a great deale of grace to number them A child may be wise enough to number the dayes of an old man and yet that old man a child in numbring his own dayes that is not able to number his own dayes so as to apply his heart to wisdome To number them so is a very speciall point of wisdome the true Christian Phylosophy perfectly Meditatio moâ—tis vita est perfecta Greg. Moral 13. Suâ— ma philosophia Bern. to meditate on death is the perfection of life And it is therefore our wisdome to die well because we can die but once Aman had need doe that wisely which he can doe no more An errour in death is like an error in Warre you cannot commit it twice We have most reason to looke to it not to erre at all where it is not possible to erre againe Actually to erre twice is more sinfull but not to have a possibility of erring twice is most dangerous We transgresse the lawes of living over and over a thousand thousand times But as for the lawes of dying no man ever transgressed them a second time That we so often transgresse the law of living is an aggravation of sin upon all men And that we can transgresse the law of dying but once is the seale of misery upon most men Let us then cry unto God to be taught this great wisedome how to die and not without wisedome JOB Chap. 5. Vers 1 2. Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne For wrath killeth the foolish and envy slayeth the silly one c. THE five first verses of this Chapter containe the fourth Argument by which Eliphaz goes on to convince Job of sinful hypocrisie And the conviction is made two wayes from a two-fold comparison First He compares Job to the Saints and finds him unlike to them Secondly He compares Job to the wicked and finds him like to them if so then Job must needs be a hypocrite who had carried it faire all the while in the world for a great professor and yet when he comes to the tryall was unlike all the Saints and most like the wicked of the world The first Argument may be thus framed He is not a just or a holy man who in his affliction is altogether unlike holy and just men But Job thou in thy affliction art altogether unlike holy and just men Therefore thou art not a holy or a just man The proposition is implied The Minor or the Assumption is in the first verse Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne As if he should say Inquire as much as thou wilt thou shalt find none among the Saints like thy selfe they who have been somewhat like thee of whom
wilt find none to answer thee To this sense Mr. Broughton translates Call now if there be any that will defend thee that is be thy patron or advocate in word or in the example of their lives If there be any that will answer thee For ehe word which we render answer signifies not only answering unto a question but an answering to a condition or a correspondency in practise Verbum respondeâ—e in hoc loco significat poâ—â—us similitudinem vel comparationem quam responsionem Bold There is an answering by likenesse of works as well as by fitnesse of words A reall answer and a verball answer Take it so and then Call now to the Saints call them all by their names intends only thus much see if there be any that are like thee or sute either thy spirit or thy condition if there be any to whom thou mayest paralell thy selfe either in the matter or manner of thy sufferings Thou art more like a Heathen who knows not God then any of the Saints in these complainings And seeing out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaks these words speake thy heart abounding in sin but empty of grace Face answers face in the water But neither thy face nor heart will answer either heart or face of any of the Saints in these waters of affliction We find this word signifying similitude or comparison or the equivalence of one thing to another in that instance Eccles 10 19. Money answers all things the meaning of it is that money in a proportion or value suites paralels and fits all things There is nothing in the world but you may suite it with a proportion of money money will answer it money answers or is like all things by an equivalency though not in a formality And to which of the Saints wilt thou turne The Septuagint reade it To which of the Angels wilt thou looke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the learned Mercer adheres to that translation as thinking that by Saints are meant Angels though he be so farre from laying any bottome in the words for the Popish opinion of the mediation of Angels that he expressely condemnes it but he gives the sense thus as if Eliphaz had reproved Job of pride for contesting with God when as if he did turne himselfe to Angels he should find himselfe farre below and much overmatcht by them What thou dust and ashes more righteous and just than God Though he charged his Angels with folly yet even they are too wise and holy for thee to deale with If thou wert put into the ballance with Angels how light wouldst thou be then how much lighter then vanity art thou being weighed with God But the Hebrew is better translated Saints The word signifies a thing or person separated or set apart from common and dedicated to a speciall especially a holy use Holinesse in the generall nature of it is nothing else but a separation from common and dedication to a divine service such are the Saints persons seperated from the world and set apart unto God The Church in generall which is a company of Saints is taken out of and severed from the world The Church is a fountaine sealed and a Garden inclosed so also every particular Saint is a person severed and enclosed from the common throng and multitude of the world Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you 2 Cor. 6. 17. Turne thee it is both a witty and judicious conceit that Eliphaz in these words alludes to painters or Picture-drawers who when Alluâ—ere vide tur ad pictâ—res qui frequenter ad prototypum exemplar quod incitari conanâ—ur oculos dirigam ad illud convertuntur they are drawing the Picture of a Man or of any other thing frequently turne their eyes upon the proto-type upon that which they are to draw by when a man sits as they speake to have his picture taken the Artist turnes his eye often upon him so here to which of the Saints wilt thou turne thee to see thy picture or to see any one like thee where wilt thou looke now and by looking observe a Saint of thy complexion a holy man like thy selfe If the pictures of all the Saints were lost none of them could be found in or coppied out from thee The word which we translate turne Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non simpliciter respicere signâ—ficat aut aliquid intueri sed cum qu daÌ„ animi intentione ad aliquem fluem doth not signifie simply to looke about or turne the eye but to turne the eye about with much intention or curiosity of observation to make a discovery and find out somewhat Sometime it signifies to looke in compassion Psal 25. 16 Turne thee unto me saith David and have mercy upon me for I am very low To looke in compassion notes a strictnesse of observation to find out what charity or mercy should supply such a look or view of his estate David desired that God would turne his eye upon him to what end that he might consider and find out all his necessities and in mercy succour him So then To which of the Saints wilt thou turne sounds thus much upon what Saint wilt thou fix thine eye to find thy own likenesse a representation of the sufferings thou bearest or of thy bearing these sufferings Take the summe and sense of the whole verse thus Call over the roll or catalogue of all the Saints which either ever were or at this day are upon the face of the earth See if there be any whose condition or actions will answer in proportion unto thine turne thine eye upon all the holy ones see if thou canst observe any like thy selfe in the matter or manner of thy afflictions in the dealings of God with thee or in thy complainings against God Job thou standest alone for all the Saints goe to the fooles of the earth and to the prophaner Infidels among them thou mayest haply meet thy patterne and among their records reade the story of thy own impatience and miscarriage For as it followes wrath billeth the foolish and envy slayeth the silly one How like a foole and silly one art thou who hast thus almost vext thy selfe to death at thy own troubles and pinest with envy at the prosperity of others Such seemes to be the connexion and dependance of the second verse with and upon the first which I shall presently descend to open when I have added an observation or two from the former already opened It was good advice which Eliphaz gave Job in that condition namely to take view of the Saints and to compare himselfe with them Thence observe It is profitable for us to look to the example of the Saints either those departed or those alive and by them to examine both what we doe and how we suffer God hath given us not only his
enterprise 'T is so all along therefore Psal 2. 1. it is said Why doe the Heathen imagine a vaine thing a vaine thing because a thing successelesse their hands could not performe it It was vaine not only because there was not true ground of reason why they should imagine or doe such a thing but vaine also because they laboured in vaine they could not doe it And therefore it followes v. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord hath them in derision The Lord sees what fooles they are and men yea themselves shall see it The Prophet gives us an elegant description to this purpose Isa 59. 9. They weave the spiders web but their webs shall not become garments neither shall they cover themselves with their workes As if he had said they have beene devising and setting things in a goodly frame to catch flies they have been spinning a fine thread out of their braines as the Spider doth out of her bowels such is their web but when they have this web They cannot cut it out or make it up into a garment They shall go naked and cold notwithstanding all their spinning and weaving all their plotting and devising The next broome that comes will sweepe away all their webs and the Spiders too except they creepe apace God loves and delights to crosse worldly proverbs and worldly crase How many visible demonstrations have we of this in our times How many cunning but ruining devices lie by the wals at this day unacted They went through the Head-worke but they could not get through their Hand-worke We may say as in the Psalme 76. 5. None of the men of might have found their hands The men of craft sound their heads but the men of might blessed be God have not yet found their hands to execute up to the height of the divisers either wit or malice In this we see the glorious prerogative of God How many thousand thousand thousand thoughts do men loose The thoughts of many yeares are lost in a moment God never lost nor never shall loose one thought And therefore David puts these two together in a breath Having said Psal 33. 10 The Lord bringeth the counsell of the Heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect In the next verse he subjoynes The counsell of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations And as the counsel of the Lord stands so he causeth the counsell of those to stand who consult for him He confirmeth the word of his servants and performeth the counsell of his Messengers Isa 44. 26. So that their hands shall performe their enterprise as the Lord encourageth the ancient people Zac. 4. 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house his hands shall also finish it And againe Chap. 8. 13. Fear not let your hands be strong As if he had said Feare not goe on with your worke For your hands shall performe their enterprise you shall not beaten from your worke neither shall ye work in vain The Lord himselfe hath no barren counsels and he makes all the counsels which are for him bring forth in their due time desired fruit the longed for and beloved issue Lastly observe That It is a great and wonderfull worke of God to disappoint the devices and stop the enterprises of crafty men Eliphaz puts this among the wonders of God This is reported in a way of admiration concerning God Isa 44. 25. He frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad he turneth wise men backwards and maketh their knowledge foolish The wisdome of God is most seen in defeating the wise as the power of God is most seene in overthrowing the strong While we consider that Theirs are secret devices and that they are subtill devices that they have many devices and that they have many wayes to bring these devices to passe it cannot fall below a wonder in our thoughts that their thoughts or devices are not accomplished Therefore the Psalmist concludes Psal 124. Vnlesse it had bin the Lord who was on our side c. we had bin swallowed up quick and taken in their snare As if he had said if we should have had any lesse then God to helpe us we had been gone all the world could not save us To passe through a place full of gins and snares and pits set and made on purpose to take a man and that man not taken is marvellous in our eyes Thus it is with the people of God they walk among snares and traps The trade of most wicked men is to be Trap-makers Snare makers if not Sword makers against the Saints of the most high They meet with devices upon devices and plots upon plots now that God shall disappoint all these and exalt his people to safety in the very face of death and dangers how admirable But some may object Yet we see that at least some of these plots are not disappointed at least some of these devices take and we have seen bloudy hands performing their enterprise I answer in a word First this text and the observation bottom'd upon it are to be understoood of what is often done not strictly of what is alwaies done The Lord very frequently disappoints the devices of the crafty But secondly their very successe is a disappointment and their prosperity is their curse For their cause is under a curse and so are their persons when both seeme most succesfull If outward judgements slay not wicked men Their prosperitie shall Pro. 1. 32. Thirdly all the successe which the devices of wicked craftie ones have tends to the fulfilling of Gods counsels more then their own So that though it be to the eye or in the letter success to them yet in truth and upon the matter it is success to the cause of God Craft prevailes no further no longer on earth then serves to accomplish the counsels of heaven and fulfill what infinite wisdom hath devised Therefore when you see any devices of the craftie thrive know that God is serving himselfe upon them and that they are but acting What his hand and counsell hath determined before to be done Act. 4 28. As Christ himselfe overcame by dying so doe they who are Christs they have successe in all their disappointments and these are disappointed in all their successes and die while they overcome No sinfull device of man ever did or ever shall prevaile beyond a contribution to the just and holy purpose of God All their prevailings are disappointments who intentionally oppose though they really accomplish the good pleasure and purpose of God JOB Chap. 5. Vers 13 14 15. 16. He taketh the wise in their own craftines and the counsell of the froward is carried headlong They meet with darknes in the day time and grope in the noon day as in the night But he saveth the poor from the Sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty So
Prayer Meditation and the whole course of holy obedience The life of man is a continued temptation and that 's a spiritual warfare a continual bickering with a world of enemies And though they without stand still yet a soul can scarce passe one hour but he shall have many fights and bouts with his own heart In this sence Is there not an appointed time of warfare or temptation to man upon earth Our life is a warfare in divers respects First it is a warfare because Christians do or ought to live under the greatest command of any in the world they ought to stand armed at a call A Souldier is under absolute command he must not dispute the Orders of his General but obey them The Centurian in the Gospel saith I have Souldiers under me and I say to one go and he goeth to another come and he cometh and to a third do this and he doth it which he speaks not as commending the special vertue and good disposition of his own Souldiers but as describing the duty of all Souldiers therefore Souldiary is well defined To be the obedience of a stout and valiant mind Militia est obedientia quadam fortis invicti animi arbitrio carentis suo out of his own dispose A Souldier moves upon direction so must a Christian he is in a warfaring condition he must have a charge or a word from his Commander for every step he treads or action he undertakes Secondly it is a warfare in regard of perpetuall motions and travels A Souldiers life is an unsetled life while he is in actuall service he hath no rest he is either marching or charging and when he comes in his quarters his stay is but little he cannot build him a house he can but pitch him down a tent for a night or two he must away againe Mans life hath no stop we have here no abiding City we dwell in tents and tabernacles waifaring and warfaring out our dayes Thirdly a warfare because of continual watching It is the watch-word which Christ gave his followers I say unto you watch that 's the souldiers word and work too warring and watching goe together The Souldier stands Centinel fearing the enemies surprise A Christian should stand upon his guard and his watch at all hours is not that a warfare Fourthly a warfare because Christians ought to keep their rank and file that is the places and relations wherein God hath set them A Souldier commanded to stand such a ground must not stirre though he die for it and if he stirs by Martial law he shall die There is so much keeping of order in warre and Battels that whatsoever keeps order is said to fight or warre The Sarres are said to have fought against Sisera in their courses Judg. 5. 20. The Stars are embattaild or encampt in their sphears out of which they move not and are therefore often called the Militia or host of Heaven Fifthly a warfare because so full of hazzards troubles and labours or because so much hardship is to be endured A Souldier converses with dangers and dwels in the territories of death continually This caused Deborah to begin her Triumphant Song with praise to the Lord because the people offered themselves willingly Many are forc'd and press'd to the warrs and most who are not press'd by the Authority of others are press'd by their own hopes of gaine or desire of vain-glory and renown A true Voluntiere in warre is a rare man There is so much danger in it that there is seldome much of the will in it The whole life of man is full either of visible or invisible dangers he passes the pikes every day The Apostle reckons eight distinct perlis in one verse which met him which way soever he turned 2 Cor. 11. 26. He was in deaths often And though there are but few such Heroes as he yet 't is seldome but any of us are in deaths Especially while we remember the mighty spirituall enemies and oppositions which encompasse and beset us every day We wrastle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers c. And are therefore advised to take to us the whole armour of God never to stir without our sword Sixthly a warfare in regard of the issue victory and triumph or slavery and death is the issue of our lives Either we overcome and are more then conquerours that 's the Apostles language Rom. 8. or else we are conquered and more then captives that 's the Apostles sence too both in allusion They are taken captive by the Devill at his will To be led captive by the Devill is the lowest captivity lower then any captivity unto men In reference to 2. Tim. 2. 26. the spirituall part of our warfare there 's no comming off upon equall rermes We must be victors or slaves conquer or die Only this is the Saints assurance that as the Captaine of their salvation was made perfect by sufferings and conquer'd by dying so at the worst shall they spirituall death as sinners hath no power over them at all and when they die as men naturall or by men violently they shall receive fuller power Thus our life is a warfare upon earth But take the word as we translate for an appointed time Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth And the reason why it beares that sence is grounded upon these two things 1. Because there is a speciall season of the yeare most fit and Non significat tempus simpliciter sed tempus certum ac constitutum ea analogia quod determinato anni tempore exerceri solet militia Militia ideo tempus determinatum dicitur quia non quae vis aetas bello apta est sed determinata certa sutable for warre 2 Sam. 11. 1. And it came to passe at the return of the yeare when Kings go forth to battell The time for war is such a known appointed season that the same word signifies warfare and any appointed season 2. Because men go out to war at a speciall time of their age There is an appointed setled time of mans life wherein he is fit to beare arms Every age is not fit for arms Old men and children are not fit for the field Hence we finde Numbers the first throughout that the muster of the children of Israel is thus made ver 3 20 22 c. From twenty yeares old and upward all that are able to goe forth to warre The Roman and Greek histories are distinct in this In some Common-wealths from Fifteen to Fifty in others from Twenty to Sixty and in ours the appointed time is between Sixteen Sixty so men are press'd and listed for war And because there is such an appointed or a set time of life in all States to goe out to war therefore that word is elegantly applied to signifie a set or an appointed time for any businesse Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth Vpon earth